Not a great start to the week this week. I’ve been pretty optimistic since my return from Asia but today (for a variety of reasons) that optimism evaporated. To be honest with the UK the way it is at the moment optimism is a bit of a slog. One only has to look at the mess the Government is making of the rail industry (and as a consequence – net zero) to see that. Add in the fact that once again bankers have been wankers and done their best to crash the global economy, plus a few issues closer to home and it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimism and ‘what am I doing here?’ It will pass. It always does, but there’s no denying the world’s in a mess right now and the UK feels like a failing country. Not that the Tories seem to care. They seem to have given up any real hope of winning the next election on the basis of any competency. Instead they’re cutting back spending to save money for election bribes whilst planning to fight their next campaign on ‘culture wars’ rather than anything tangible. Let’s face it, they’ve no claim to economic competence (Brexit, anyone?) and corruption has been rampant, so what else is left other than to sow more division with such nebulous crap as the ‘war on woke’ whilst at the same time trying to demonise trans people and their rights. It’s straight out of the American far-right playbook of course – hence the ridiculous huffing and puffing over drag acts being a ‘danger’ to children – as if no-one remembers watching mainstream TV in the 1970s where you had Danny la Rue and Stanley Baxter with their own shows, or the Two Ronnies and Les Dawson, and let’s not even mention pantomime. I have a feeling that the next election is going to be a very nasty and divisive affair with repercussions that will go on long after the result is declared.

I know, I’m a right ray of sunshine today, but this is my blog so my rules – and feelings!

Anyway, I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which adds a splash of much-needed colour to life. I spotted this plant in the gardens by the bay in Singapore but I’d no idea what it was. I’ve now been able to identify it as . Mussaenda erythrophylla, otherwise known as Ashanti blood.

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