The Russian oceanic research vessel Yantar was again detected just off UK territorial waters, north of Scotland. As far as the Government and UK Defence Chiefs are concerned, she is a spy ship.
The increasingly impressive Defence Secretary, John Healey, held an emergency press conference in Downing Street to tell us, and to tell Russia, and by name, Putin, “we see you, and we know what you are doing”. He added that we were ready should Yantar enter UK territorial waters.
A Royal Navy frigate is shadowing her, and RAF pilots, at whom Yantar’s crew have reportedly fired laser beams to distract and disorientate them, remain on alert. This is dangerous and aggressive behaviour.
A subsequent statement in the House of Commons prompted the usual, tedious tit-for-tat, with Labour blaming the Conservatives for allowing defence spending and readiness to slip… this from a party which not long ago, I recall, wanted to leave NATO and scrap the nuclear deterrent.
I grew up in the Cold War of the 1960s. My RAF father was in Fighter Command, stationed at RAF Leuchars near St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland.
There were near-daily sorties in which he and his comrades scrambled to intercept and shadow Russian, then Soviet, bombers flirting with our borders and defences.
I remember one of the rare occasions when he declined to answer my many questions. There was a big dome-shaped green installation on the base, but he would never tell me what it was for. I assume now it was part of the radar detection system.
Decades later, he was in Bomber Command and part of its QRA, Quick Reaction Alert, force: V-bombers carrying armed nuclear weapons, ready to scramble at four minutes’ notice.
I recall, when he was showing me and my brother the cabin of a Vulcan bomber, I saw an inverted funnel with a long tube, like the communication pipes on old ocean liners. “Don’t touch it,” he said. “It’s for when we need to pee…” We laughed and moved on.
My childhood was fascinating, and my father’s work was literally vital. I often wonder what the children of today’s Royal Navy sailors and RAF aircrews make of it all. There is an element of fear; these aren’t games, and both sides know that.
Less serious, and far more fun, was our annual Homestart quiz night. It clashed with Children in Need on the BBC, but we were committed and went anyway.
For anyone with dementia, such a night is a trial, and any success fills one with pride and a sense of achievement. We had a great table and had invited friends, including Bill and Rose Rawles, who run a brilliant classic-car engineering business with their sons, and generously support many local charities, including Homestart.
Also with us were the widow of former Lib Dem MP David Chidgey and her sister, Lady Wakeham, wife of Lord John Wakeham.
We had great fun working out the answers: the year ABBA won Eurovision, the year Gordon Brown finally left 10 Downing Street with his wife and children, and the year Ted Heath resigned as Conservative leader.
Other questions were trickier, like who played “The Man from U.N.C.L.E”. I was the only one to remember Robert Vaughan. “How did you do that?” someone asked. I pictured the character and ran through the alphabet; when I got to “V”, up popped the name.
It’s a good association trick that anyone can use, but especially helpful for those of us with dementia. We didn’t win, but we did well and raised funds for a terrific charity.
Alastair Stewart: I have a trick to navigate memory problems caused by dementia | GB NEWSInflation slowed, which Rachel Reeves welcomed. Business leaders interviewed said she and her last Budget were responsible for much of the persistent rise in prices, having raised their costs. They aren’t optimistic about her much-leaked next Budget.
Kemi Badenoch had a good line: it would be “the first Budget on record to unravel before it was unveiled”, something that normally happens after a Budget, in the following days or weeks.
Things got no better for Sir Keir Starmer. The able Labour backbencher Clive Lewis let it be known he would be willing to stand down if it helped Andy Burnham return to the Commons to mount a leadership bid. Really think it might happen? “This can’t go on,” as Bill Ryder sang.
One of our brilliant local universities, Southampton, announced a ground-breaking research programme into early detection of dementia, funded by Alzheimer’s Society and involving both sufferers and people not yet affected. Every little helps.
Over a million of us have dementia, and one in three of us will get it or be affected when a loved one does. We rely on friends and family. I’m also proud of our academics.
All in all, a great week with much to be optimistic about.