A regular, Clive Jones, phoned to suggest lunch over Easter. He is going to try to bring his son Harry, who is my godson, which would be a double joy.
Another old friend, Finola Miles, whom I worked with on the Early Evening News and special programmes like elections, texted me out of the blue to see how I was doing. It was even more meaningful because of her kindness and the memories of the good times we had. I admitted that I didn’t miss many people from ITN, but she was one I did.
She was — and is — clever, funny, and loyal. She also asked after the family and the animals; she remembers what matters most to me. She deserves to go much further.
Like millions of others, I watched the successful launch of Artemis II Orion and its crew. It reminded me vividly of watching Apollo 11 in 1969, poolside at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
My father was there on an exchange tour, in the days of a stronger and more mature US/NATO relationship.
President Trump’s threat to leave NATO is profoundly worrying, as Churchill would surely have told him, were he still with us.
NATO was formed in the wake of the Second World War to keep the peace in Europe and to bind the USA into that ambition, so that we would not, as before, have to wait for them to turn up.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union—and its counterpart to NATO, the Warsaw Pact—many former member states subsequently joined NATO and became among its most steadfast supporters, not least Poland, which for so long had been a football between Germany and Russia.
A spin-off of this Trumpian approach is a fresh flirtation with the EU as an alternative. He has always wanted back in. Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd once said that when the EEC wants its own army, we have real problems.
A flag and an anthem are mere fripperies, but an army means a nation-state and challenges the whole NATO settlement. I seriously don’t think Trump realises what he is playing with—or perhaps he simply doesn’t care.
Alastair Stewart: A check-in from a friend or relative means so much - it really fires up the memory banks
| GB NEWSHis Iranian expedition hit home again as Clem and Brian prepared to return to Saudi Arabia after a wonderful break here and on the Isle of Wight.
They soon discovered that airfares to the Gulf had rocketed, and there were very few flights available, even expensive ones. Eventually, they found a Turkish Airlines route to Riyadh, but it involved an 11-hour layover in Turkey.
Thanks, Donald.
I also had to order domestic heating oil. Supply was not a problem, but prices were much higher. Getting fertiliser was trickier and even more inflated in price, but after this winter and summer, the fields needed refreshing.
The clock is ticking on the local elections. We have had one candidate leafleting and canvassing—the Conservative—but nothing from anyone else, although there are plenty of placards up. It will be an interesting judgement on Starmer.
I also had a call out of the blue from my ever-reliable GP, asking me to make an appointment for blood tests and a general check-up on my dementia. This is most welcome, as dizziness and unsteadiness have become growing problems.
If you have a friend or relative with dementia, please do keep in touch regularly—or even just out of the blue. It means so much and really helps to fire up the memory banks.