Kishwar Desai | UK-US ties to get strained in 2025; music keeps Paul, Ringo, Mick young
As a “perfect storm” blows through the UK, disrupting flights and road travel, it does not augur well for those with planned Christmas get-away holidays. With climate change perhaps staycations seem to be the best bet!
You could always cuddle up at home and wait for Santa while watching the evermore stormy politics over diplomatic representation in the UK and US. What happened to the legendary friendship between the two countries? And now with Elon Musk all set to meddle more in British politics — the political turmoil may get worse in the New Year.
Actually, things have not been very cordial between the Labour government in the UK and Donald Trump’s yet-to-be installed government in the US because (if you recall) Labour volunteers were traipsing around the US trying to persuade voters to not support Trump. Nothing wrong, of course, in trying to ensure that anyone-but-Trump comes to power— except when it does not work! And among those who expressed his disdain for Donald Trump was Peter Mandelson, former Labour spin doctor. Known popularly as the “Prince of Darkness “during the Labour years — Lord Mandelson has been just been appointed UK’s ambassador to the US by the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.
This is an interesting choice because Lord Mandelson has already declared that Trump was close to being a “white nationalist and racist” — and that he was “reckless and a danger to the world”. Not exactly praise, one might say, though it may not be as bad as what others have said about Trump. Not to be outdone, the Trump administration has politely called Mandelson an “absolute moron”.
Diplomacy at its best, one may say! Because if things cannot get worse, they can only improve.
Interestingly — Trump has also just appointed an envoy to the UK — who is the producer of a show that Trump helmed at one stage: The Apprentice. Mark Burnett comes with no diplomatic experience — or work in this area, but this does not seem to bother Trump. So, we will just have to wait and watch about what happens in the next part of this series, which will run for at least four years till the next presidential elections! Someone in Netflix must have already bought the rights.
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Meanwhile political meddling by Elon Musk might become the order of the day. Nigel Farage of the UK’s Reform Party says that he has been promised donations from the tech billionaire at a meeting at Mar-A -Lago, Donald Trump’s estate. This should send shivers down the spine of politicians in the UK, especially since the very right-wing Farage is not doing badly in the opinion polls. While Sir Keir is close to reaching the top of the unpopularity charts — Farage is close to bottom…
Thus, while Elon Musk may not be able to directly donate to the Reform Party (as a foreigner), he could do so through his UK-based subsidiaries.
His support of the right wing in Germany is a case in point. Given the recent incident in which five people have been killed and around 200 injured (which is not directly linked to him, of course) many would like to see the billionaire restrain his enthusiasm for world politics. And stick to tech.
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In fact, the soft power of high tech was in full display during the highly successful concert by Paul McCartney which just ended. One of the highlights was a virtual duet with his fellow Beatle partner — John Lennon — who was killed in the New York in 1980. McCartney played ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ live on stage — while Lennon “sang” from a previous concert also recorded in London. Footage of all the Beatles together filled up the screens through the concert which was the last one in McCartney’s ‘Get Back’ tour.
As past and present were blurred — McCartney rolled out the numbers for two and a half hours at the O2 Arena — and this is not bad for an 82-year-old! In fact, he was also joined on stage by the other surviving Beatle — Ringo Starr.
Does music keep you young? It certainly would seem so for those listening to the two octogenarians playing their hearts out on stage! And not just in London — McCartney’s tour has included shows in Paris, Madrid and Sao Paulo.
Other bands also have some amazing “young” men like the Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger who have also survived “superstardom” and the many challenges that it said brings with it. Perhaps Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney should get together and write a book — or a song maybe — on how they have carried on and on — when so many musicians have succumbed to the perils of success including drugs, sex and rock ’n roll!
On that note and hoping you remain ever youthful— season’s greetings!