PeterRS

I hope you can snap out of that melancholy feeling quickly. Retirement should be a time when life not only becomes easier, it should actually become more interesting. I'm a lot older than you but I certainly know the problems of tighter budgets. Coming from the UK, my pension (that sounds as though it might be a decent sum of money - it's actually little more than beer money, or in my case vodka money!) was frozen the moment I started taking it. I knew this would be the case and had been saving up what I believed would be a considerable sum to see me through retirement. Of course I failed to factor in the dot.com bubble, the 2003 SARS crisis, the 2008 financial meltdown and interest rates plunging to little more than 1% for 15 years or so when I had reckoned on 5%. But since I was running my own little company as all this financial mayhem was going on around me, I loved my work and was happy to continue beyond normal retirement age. Thereafter, I kind of just fell into another part time job - unpaid to start with but hopefully generating some income eventually. At the urging of friends, including one of many decades' standing who was both a newspaper critic and author, I started writing. At first it was one book. Then another on a similar subject followed. The problem with all books by unknown authors is actually getting work publlished. Publishers will not look at you, so you have to go through the dreaded literary agents. Checking the websites of the 200 or more in the UK, each one wants different formal Proposals that can each take up to 8 hours to write. But then having got two published, the third published last summer was a whole lot easier. Having now finished a fourth, I am stuck for a good subject for the next. I do enjoy writing and do want to continue. It fills in a lot of time that otherwise might turn me into the lazy slob I always thought I'd become. Over a very drunken lunch last year, an old university friend very seriously suggested I should pen "The History of A Sex Tourist in Asia." That actually became incredibly tempting until I realised I'd have to change the names of so many people and places, partly to protect their identities and, as importantly, my own! But do think about doing something once you have decided on where you will end up living - a part-time job via the internet, a hobby a . . . whatever. That surprises me, if only because you look far from fat in the photos you posted earlier. I reckon I have a few more kilos and the young man I met in Danang had absolutely no hang up about it at all! (I'm sending you a pm with a little more detail). Sadly this does not surprise me. We really should recall that the Thai people voted in the largest numbers in 2023 for change - change through the new party run by Pita Limjaroenrat. But the elites almost always get their way in Thailand. They were not going to put up with the sort of changes he wanted and manufactured a means both to ban him as an MP and then disband his party. It's not the first time that has happened and I am sure it will not be the last. Young people have no reason to push for change as long as they know they are up against both a brick wall and an iron fence they can never break through. Hopefully Khun Pita and the people around him will make sure he runs in the next election and he is this time so squeaky clean that there can be no grounds for banning him. Then change may come. But it's merely a hope.

How about just a BONGER index - Barely Older Naughty Gentleman's Easy Retirement!!! LOL!

For several years, RTW tickets were always cheaper if purchased in Kuala Lumpur. Then Bangkok took over. However, I once hit a snag with a Bangkok issued RTW ticket. After several stops in Europe, I landed in New York. After 3 days, I flew on to LAX from La Guardia. Since I was packed and out of my hotel room a few hours before i needed to be at the airport, I went down to the Village and bought some porn DVDs. On my return, instead of locking them in my suitcase, I just put them into one of the compartments in my trolley bag. As I went through security, I was hauled aside by a grossly overweight lady and asked if she I would take off my belt and my shoes. She then went through the trolley bag and of course found the DVDs which she proceeded to lay out on a table so that all passengers could see them. That did not concern me as the chance of someone going through that security line who actually knew me was nil. Eventually, everything was repacked and I made it to the gate. Boarding the 767 business class, I had just settled down in the seat when I heard my name called. I was asked to take my luggage and proceeded to the aircraft entrance door. Great, I thought. Upgrade to first class! Not at all! Two airline cops were waiting to escort me off the aircraft and asked me to wait. Then that ridiculous security lady waddled duck-like towards me. I was asked to put my trolley bag on a seat and open it. One cop asked her what had she found. She fished into the compartment and pulled out the DVDs. The cops then turned on her. "You have delayed this aircraft for something that has nothing to do with aircraft safety? Get back to your position before we report you - and fast!" The cops then apologised profusely to me for what I can only assume they regarded as an invasion of privacy. They wanted my address so the airline could send an official apology. I waived that off saying all I wanted to do was get to LAX quickly as I had a dinner engagement. Back in my seat, the purser came to me with a large glass of champagne and another apology. The point of this tale is that I wondered why had this lady pulled me aside. It's not as though I looked anything other than a normal passenger. Only on my return to Hong Kong did a friend who works for Cathay Pacific take a look at my boarding cards. "Look at this," he said. There on my US boarding cards were in quite large letters "SSS". That is because in the US they regard Thailand as semi-dangerous and the letters stand for "Special Security Screening"!

Air traffic controllers not turning up really concerns me. It reminds me of Ronald Reagan's decision to fire 11,359 air traffic controllers after most had gone on strike for shorter working weeks, and hire new ones. How do you train someone to be an air traffic controller almost overnight? Sure, retired ones can come back to the job, but those who are older might suffer from slight eyesight and other ageing issues. To me, an air traffic controller is as important as the pilot of an A380 jumbo, if not more so.

With time on my hands, I used the search engine to try and find that @numazu link. This may not be it, but at least it is a comparison with explanations. Since he visits South America a great deal, e seems to visit Thailand less freqently as his last post was in January. Inevitably his comparisons are between Thailand, South America and renting a guy in his hometown. This was written on his 16th trip to Thailand and is both self explanatory and quite fascinating. BONUS TOPIC: The Monger Index - posted by Numazu on June 30 2018 I'm interrupting my posting this weekend because I am on travel. When am I not on travel? I used to write these trip reports in between trips and at layovers. Now this are a little bit difficult. I will continue next week. But to tide you over, I am cross-posting something I wrote in BoyToy during the end of my Brazil Trip Report. It is a metric I came up with called the Monger Index, or a way to compare the cost of hiring in different countries versus the boys you get back home. It’s a metric me and a buddy of mine came up with while super drunk at the Crowne Plaza Bangkok at 3 AM in the morning years ago. He asked me why I get all these prostitutes overseas. With the airfare and hotel rooms, that cost adds up. Wouldn’t it be just cheaper to hire prostitutes back home? I told him he was crazy because (a) the prostitutes are expensive back home and (b) sex is more fun when on vacation anyway. But I disputed his thesis that it is cheaper to hire prostitutes back home. So I came up with an index that measures how much cheaper it is to get hot guys overseas than in the USA, accounting got airfare and lodging costs. This is the Monger index. I apologize for the math. I am Asian after all. Some assumptions: (1) Time Range: The index would not work in measuring one-offs. Of course ONE prostitute would be cheaper in the USA than ONE prostitute in Bangkok. A $250 an hour prostitute you hire for one hour to take home to your USA house is cheaper than a $50 gogo boy you get in a nice gogo bar if you add the $600 roundtrip airfare one needs to get to the sauna, plus the hotel cost. It will only work if you hire by bulk, and have a longer time range. My assumption for this index example is one week, or 7 days. For example, if you get one guy every day in a week in the USA, that adds up to 7*$250 = $1750. Now we are talking bigger dollars. Have sex in bulk when overseas helps you recoup your cost. (2) Airfare: The index should include the airfare. For my purposes here, I use airfare coming from California, because that's where I live. So for example, a typical off-season RT air ticket to Sao Paulo, Brazil is $1000. For Bangkok, it’s $550. This is a fixed cost in the index. (3) Hotel: Of course you have to assume you are getting a hotel in the city you are mongering in. I assume my hotels will be typical AirBNB’s, with basic amenities in a decent and nearby neighborhood. Translation: not a dump but not fancy, and Uberable or walkable to the sauna and tourist-friendly services. For Sao Paulo I assume of the cost, the AirBNB me and the BF got in Bela Vista last December. It was a decent $50 a night. For 7 nights that adds up to $350. For Bangkok, a typical decent Silom Soi 3 AirBNB costs $45 a night. (4) Overnights: I put in the calculation the cost it takes for hiring a guy overnight. For California, a typical overnight with a hot but not “superstar porn star” hot is $1000. For Sao Paulo, Jonas’ example was 200 reals, but I count his initial 200 reals in the sauna as part of the overnight, so 200+200 = 400 reals, or $104. For Bangkok, its a bit tricky, but I assumed a high-end 3000 baht overnight, or $91. I pay that because of all the sexual acrobatics I require all my boys. It is only fair. So here are the gross calcs. For 7 days, if I hired a boy for one hour and another boy for overnight every day: California Prostitute: Price for one hour times 7 + Price for an overnight times 7 = $250*7 + $1000*7 = $8750 Bangkok GoGo Boy: Airfare + 7 nights in AirBNB + Price for a garoto in the sauna times 7 + Price for a garoto overnight times 7 = $550 + $315 + $52*7 + $91*7 = $1866 Sao Paulo Garoto (Jonas): Airfare + 7 nights in AirBNB + Price for a garoto in the sauna times 7 + Price for a garoto overnight times 7 = $1000 + $350 + $52*7 + $104*7 = $2442 The index is calculated as the ratio of the 7-day cost of USA boys, divided by the total cost in that country. 7-day Monger Index for Sao Paulo = $8750/$2442 = 3.58 7-day Monger Index for Bangkok = $8750/$1866 = 4.70 Issues: (1) I do not count the Uber cost to get to the sauna or gogo bar, or the entrance fee for the sauna, or the cabina price, or the off fee, or the drink costs in a bar. (2) I do not account for food costs. Of course you have to eat whether in the USA or Brazil or Thailand. This may be a future improvement to be added. (3) The airfare is just from California, maybe it’s more or less where you are. Maybe my assumption of $550 for Bangkok is too much or too little. This is just what I see anecdotally. So, with that, here are my Monger Indices for some 6 cities I’ve been to, ranked by the best to worst: 1. Pattaya, Thailand: 5.54 2. Bangkok, Thailand: 4.70 3. Mexico City, Mexico: 4.53 4. Bogota, Colombia: 3.77 5. Sao Paulo, Brazil: 3.58 6. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 3.44 These are solely based on my experience. Your Monger Index may be different. Some observations: (1) Thailand remains the most bang for your buck, because of the presence of cheap decent places to stay in and low cost to fly there from California. (2) Mexico is helped by the fact that it’s so close to California, therefore the airfare is cheap. (3) Brazil on the other hand, is dinged by how expensive the airfares are from California. (4) If I factor in food, Thailand may even get a higher index, and Brazil may get a lower index. (5) Grindr prices were only used in Bogota and Mexico, because I do not have experiences getting anyone there outside of Grindr. So your mileage may vary. (6) Quality of boys is impossible to measure. And it is subjective, so it can’t be put in the index. The index is solely a quantitative metric. For example, twinks may be better in Thailand. Adonises may be better in Brazil. Again, quality is subjective, and can’t be measured meaningfully. Of course, in the end, your mileage may vary, and these indices are only meaningful to me. If you don’t like having sex with Asians, your Monger Index for Thailand is -1000000, for example. Indeed, the whole thread is interesting as it gives responses from other members. If this is not the comparison @floridarob was referring to, sincere apologies - although it is still an interesting read! @numazu is a prolific poster and his posts are always fascinating in their detail. Apologies also to @bkkmfj2648 for interrupting his excellent thread.

I agree. But I raised the issues only because the media has already aired them. And judging by the media today, the issues are not going to go away. The American right will never let up on this Pope. The anti-abortion lobby will never let up. Whether we like it or not, sadly he will not be allowed a two years' grace period. Just because he has American roots, he will continue to be the target of one or other group. A Pope from Argentina or Poland attracts very little media attention outside their own countries. Pope Leo because of his birthright will be in some groups' firing line - and only because he is American they will not give up! Like it or not, his moral authority is already bound up in the often ugly morality of American politics! Just read the awful Steve Bannen's comments yesterday.

Being American, it was almost predestined to happen. After the praise and adulation for an American Pope, now come the recriminations against the Church. No matter that Pope Leo might have had nothing to do with the abuses and the diatribes against homosexuality and abortion, for example, he cannot escape them. He was after all not always based in Peru as some of the media seem to have suggested. He received his Masters Degree in Chicago in 1982. Only part of his time thereafter was spent as a missionary in Peru. He returned full time to Chicago in 1999 for 15 years before going back to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo. Pope Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. One who does not like Leo is Trump's pal Steve Bannen. "He's the worst pick for MAGA Catholics!" Which problably shoots him way up the rankings in most of the rest of the world! Laura Loomer, the far-right American conspiracy theorist and general nut case, accuses him of being "anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro open borders and a total marxist like Pope Francis." Another ringing endorsement sure to please most! More seriously, though, he will have to deal some of the scandals which happened more or less under his watch. What we know so far is that he is regarded as a moderate, although one more open to dialogue that perhaps his predecessor was. He is passionate about helping migrants and the poor, about climate change. On the still pressing matter of sexual abuse, he faces some difficulty. Survivors and advocacy groups claim that he failed to act on serious child abuse claims. The abuse is alleged to have happened during his tenure in both Chicago and Peru. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and other advocacy groups have expressed deep concern over Leo's past handling of cases. SNAP had given evidence to the cardinals who entered the Conclave about his alleged inaction. “This person will be scrutinized from left to right. That’s helpful for victims everywhere because we have this pope who will be under the public eye in terms of things he was involved with in the past,” said Lopez de Casas, himself a victim of abuse. He added, “Staying silent is a sin. It’s not what God wants us to do." In the early 2000s, he allegedly permitted a priest suspended as a result of serious abuse charges to stay in a Friary close to an elementary Catholic parish school. Despite alarm among school officials, the priest remained there for 2 years. According to reports Leo did not inform the school. Later in Peru he was allegedly notified of allegations of serious abuse by two priests but failed to take any action. Although the two young sisters involved spoke directly to Leo in April 2022, the case was dropped for lack of evidence and expiry of the statute of limitations. Then there is Leo's position on homosexuality. Pope Francis did probably as much as he could do to welcome LGBTQ members into the Church's community. He stated it was not up to him to judge a person's sexuality. Leo has not gone nearly as far. In a 2012 Address to Bishops, he said he was pained that Western media and society created "sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel," citing "homosexual lifestyle" and "alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children." While serving as a bishop in Peru, Prevost opposed government plans to add teachings about gender in school, calling "the promotion of gender ideology...confusing" since they "create genders that don't exist," according to the New York Times. I suspect Pope Francis' views were formed long before his election. Might Leo's views have changed? We will no doubt discover eventually. https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-leo-xiv-accused-ignoring-133056079.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall https://people.com/where-does-pope-leo-xiv-stand-lgbtq-issues-what-we-know-11731335

As an avid Broadway fan having seen many dozens of live shows, I booked a ticket for "Wicked" months before I arrived in New York. It is the only musical I can say I truly disliked and walked out of the theatre at the intermission. I hope the movie was better!! But considering its two Oscar wins were only for design, I doubt it was much of an improvement! I note, too, that two of its three Tony Awards were for also for design; none for book, script, music or choreography. Mind you, I am no fan of "The Wizard of Oz" either and that no doubt affected my judgement!

Ha! Trump has now reduced tarriffs to China from 145% to 80%. He is such a loser! Cartoon from The Guarduan UK.

It WAS done in the open. It's now vanished up Musk's asshole. USAID does not at present exist as countries around the world, including our neighbour Myanmar, have had grants rescinded. At the same time blame litle Marco. Rubio is a prime example of an ass licker par excellence.

And then you leave some of your crap on the showerhead for the next person to infect themselves. Unless, that is, you meticulously wash and clean the showerheads.

You say this is actionable? I have no doubt it is. But as I have written you cannot divorce the present from the past, no matter how much it suits your agenda What about all the political prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, all in jail because the USA fought major wars against them, in the case of its one time ally Iraq on false pretences - just like Vietnam!. What about those in jail in Iran? Would they be there had the American CIA allied by its British helpers not wanted control of Iran's oil and engineered the deposing of the country's freely-elected Prime Minister, in his place replacing and then propping up the hated Shah with billions of $$ of cash and weaponry which he could and did use against his own people. Did you ever stop to think that if Iran had been allowed to develop its politics in a peaceful manner without massive interference from the USA and the UK, there almost certainly would have been no 1979 Islamic revolution which destabilised many countries in the world and an Iran, with its lovely people and gorgeous scenery, might now be at least a non-aligned country, even if not one alied to western powers. And what about the prisoners of conscience in neighbouring Myanmar? Mostly they are there because the USA, as the world's superpower, has sat on the sidelines for decades, done nothing and left the country to stew. There are many injustices in our world. What happened with war in Vietnam was the responsibility of the USA. What happened when they lost and ran away remains the USA's responsibiity - plain and simple.

When I heard the new Pope is American, my thoughts flooded back to all the abuse scandals and how the Catholic Church went to massive efforts and spent loads of cash to hush them up. That was unfair! I had not known about the new Pope's years of work with the poor in Peru and then that Pope Francis himself had clearly admired him by making him a Cardinal only two years ago. He deserves time to show us how his Papacy will evolve. Hopefuly it will be similar to that of Francis. But symbols are important. I believe the second thing he should have done after first conducting Mass in the Sistine Chapel was be driven at whatever hour of the night to Santa Maria Maggiore to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis. Nothing would have told the world in simpler terms that he intended to continue Francis' mission. Second, will he, like Francis, avoid the grand Papal apartments and sleep in the priests' guest house? Is he really a man of the people? Only time will tell. But I also have to add another symbol - he is American. No matter his many admirable and praiseworthy years of service spent among the poor in Peru, he was brought up with American values. Every psychiatrist, psychologist, psychoanalyst and psycho-whatever will tell you that the values instilled in us as children rarely disappear other than into the recesses of our minds. Changing those inner belief systems is a hugely complex affair. Then there is the American media onslaught on his family. The world in general never knew that Francis had a living sister until after his death. Yet a day after his election, we have worldwide interviews with Leo's brother and with Joe Aurelio at Aurelio's Pizza where he dined some months before his election - Aurelio even had the gall to say "he blessed us all just by being here!" Portillo's restaurant has added a new Italian Beef Sandwhich named "The Leo". There are even T-shirts now on sale naming him "Da Pope". The Wiener's Circle, an alleged famed hot dog stand in Lincoln Park known for its viral insults and profanities, also debuted a new sign - "Canes nostros ipse comedit," it says. Being transated that means, "He has eaten our dogs!" How utterly disgraceful! We now all know he's always been a White Sox baseball fan! Michael Murphy, director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University, just added to the tackiness “(Prevost) is a bridge builder, since his mom was a Cubs fan, his dad was a Cardinals fan, but as a true South Sider he’s a Sox fan.” The Pope is a bridge builder because of baseball team rivalry? May the good Lord above spare us from further such total irrelevancies! Yet because this is America, it will continue for a long time to come! https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-loudly-proudly-claims-homegrown-235100327.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

You absolutely cannot divorce the present from the past when the present is dependent on what happened in the past!

A true disciple of Oscar Wilde - "True friends stab you in the front."

Sadly, when the Pope starts criticising Trump's policies, it won't last. His first words included the phrase "Evil shall not prevail."

You can state it. But then you have to expand that statement and explain why you omit to mention the reason for their being established in the first place. Had the USA not created two separate countries and then, as it so often did, backed the one which was most insecure, the most rotten and the most corrupt, destablized it by assassinating its Prime Minister, then invaded much of the country and over years bombed the hell out of it with napalm and murdered around 3 million citizens mostly from the North, all before quickly evacuating all its forces when it lost, Vietnam might have been unified much more peacefully without the need for all that carnage, death and destruction. And without the need for the vast majority of the re-education camps. The fact is that both Roosevelt and Truman had failed to agree to Ho Chi Minh's written overtures to keep the French out of Vietnam and to permit a new Vietnam born of nationalism - not colonialism - to develop. Ho was no saint and after the strongly anti-colonial USA had actually given in to General De Gaulle's demands by allowing the French to return, some of the excesses of his regime in the north were certainy brutal. But he was forging a nation when fighting a guerrilla war against French invaders and colonists and then a separate country backed by the United States. Amd when you talk about political prisoners, you also omit to mention that the two countries with the most political prisoners in 2025 are Saudi Arabia and the United States! Vietnam does not even feature in the first 21 countries! What provide absolutely no sources for your comments? https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/political-prisoners-by-country If you think the idea of re-education was born in Vietnam, you are sadly mistaken. And before you expect Vietnam, after all the many years of death and destruction rained down in it by a major world power, to condemn or apologise for anything, you must first have the aggressor and invader - the United States - pay reparations both to the country and the families of the 3 million it murdered. The USA caused the war. Not the North Vietnamese. Has the USA paid reparations? Not one cent, as per this clip dated Aprl 29 2025 - Nor will the world forget that after signing a peace treaty that promised reparations for the irreparable lingering harm caused by the U.S. government and its military, the U.S. reneged. Not only does the U.S. continue to deny billions of dollars in reparations, but it had the unmitigated gall to demand that Vietnam pay the U.S. $140 million in war debts borrowed by the puppet regime of South Vietnam in exchange for normalizing trade relations. https://iacenter.org/2025/05/04/u-s-still-owes-vietnam-reparations/

Can't help thinking about Stephen Sondheim's wonderful lyrics in "Sweeney Todd" when Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are deciding what should go into her pies - lines like MS. LOVETT: What Mr. Todd, what Mr. Todd What is that sound? TODD: Those crunching noises pervading the air! MS. LOVETT: Yes, Mr. Todd, Yes Mr. Todd Yes all around TODD: It’s man devouring man, my dear! BOTH: Then who are we to deny it in here? TODD (spoken): These are desperate times, Ms. Lovett And desperate measures are called for MS. LOVETT: Here we are. Hot out of the oven TODD: What is that? MS. LOVETT: Its priest Have a little priest TODD: Is it really good? MS. LOVETT: Sir, it’s too good, at least Then again they don’t commit sins of the flesh So it’s pretty fresh TODD: Awful lot of fat MS. LOVETT: Only where it sat TODD: Haven’t you got poet or something like that? MS. LOVETT: No you see the trouble with poet Is how do you know it’s deceased? Try the priest! Lawyer’s rather nice TODD: If it’s for a price MS. LOVETT: Order something else, though, to follow Since no one should swallow it twice TODD: Anything that’s lean? MS. LOVETT: Well then if you’re British and loyal You might enjoy Royal Marine Anyway it’s clean Though of course it tastes of wherever it’s been! etc. etc. copyright: Stephen Sondheim Estate Being gay and as one who had visited London many, many times, Sondheim would have been perfectly aware of the gay reference to Royal Marines!

Black smoke this morning, so Trump is still not Pope! 🤣

And try Lodz the movie capital of of Poland! That is pronounced Woodge!

I was in Brazil only once - a day in Manaus and two in Rio. My first day in Rio was a very hot Sunday and churches were packed. Staying on Copacabana, I took a taxi to the centre and started walking around taking in the sights. After around 30 minutes I heard the sound of someone running toward my back. Seconds later there was a hand over my mouth and another grabbing a small gold neck chain. I shouted for help as best I could. As a nearby church was packed to over-flowing, three men came running toward me. My chain had a very difficult clasp and as the thief ran off, it fell to the ground. I was suprised that the police arrived very quickly - less than one minute. But it had been entirely my fault. I had read several guide books and all said make sure you have no valuables on you. I had been wearing that neck chain for about 15 years and never took it off - only because the clasp was so difficult to undo. I just forgot I was wearing it. In any case it was hidden under my T-shirt. But there must have been a glint in the sun which alerted the thief. I thanked the guys from the church and the police, returned to the hotel, put the chain in the safe and resumed my sightseing. That incident, though, did not spoil my trip if only because I knew I was at fault.

I don't think we know eactly how many Palestinian fighters invaded Israel. What they did was brutality in the extreme and inexcusable. But there are several facts we have to be aware of. Almost 2,000 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and 251 taken hostage. Reprisals were bound to follow, but the scale of those reprisals, considering some hostages still have not been released, is massively out of all proportion to the scale of the original attack, both in terms of the horrific number of deaths and the near destruction of most buildings in Gaza. We have to remember that in 1993 there was a glimmer of hope when it seemed a two-state solution would emerge. The Gaza Strip had been handed over to the Palestinians after the creation of israel. Under international law, israel has no right to that land. That illeglly ended with the Six-Day war in 1967 when Israel took it over. The plan for a two-state soution remained in discussion but was doomed to failure after Israel's moderate Prime Minister and was hero, Yitzak Rabin, was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist. The stage was set for the eventual take over of the right wing in Iraeli pollitics. It took until 2005 before Israel dismantled its settlements and left the Strip. Israel assumed leadership would be taken over by the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Two years later the more militant Hamas which had never accepted the state of Israel assumed power. Thereafter for years Natanyahu's governments propped up Hamas. He assumed that reducing the influence of the PLO would virtually end discussion on a two-state solution. So what happened in October 2023 is entirely due to Netanyahu. He took his eye completely off the ball. In August 2023 his own security advisers were telling him that security had become weak and Israel had to so something to beef it up - and quickly. In November 2024 the independent Civilian Commission of Inquiry into October 7, which was organized in July 2024 by survivors of the October 7 attack and the families of victims who were either killed or kidnapped, released a report placing broad blame on the Israeli government for effectively bolstering Hamas throughout Netanyahu’s tenure and leaving the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ill prepared for the assault. Although the report named Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz, the IDF, and intelligence agencies among those responsible for the security failure, it especially condemned Netanyahu for undermining coordination between the political and military echelons. https://www.britannica.com/event/Israel-Hamas-War But then of course we know Netanyahu had other reasons for not concentrating on his country's security. For years Netanyahu has been facing trial for five different cases of bribery, fraud and breach of trust going back to 2016. Although his trial commenced in 2000, it has still not reached a conclusion. Successive hearings have been postponed for a variety of reasons. Prolonging the war in Gaza and entering into conflicts with other nations ensures that judgement in his trial keeps on being postponed. And all the while the USA backs him. There are many rotten apples in the Middle East. Netanyahu is one of them.

On my first visit to Florence I was in the queue for the Accademia to see Michelangelo's statue of David. Behind me was a group of Australians who I expect had arrived in the city the previous evening. One said to the other - "I thought we are supposed to be in Florence today. It's bloody Fie-renzee. Why are we queuing in the wrong city?"

The wikipedia reference was to just one point - the tenfold increase in the Polish population of the UK. Not having lived in the UK for 46 years, I cannot help. My niece, though, is having a house virtually gutted and rebuilt in London and she is very happy with the workmanship, so far.

I do think that may not be wholly accurate. There are approximately 680,000 people born in Poland presently living in the UK. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in the country. According to wikipedia, the Polish population in the UK has increased more than than tenfold since 2001. Polish is the second most spoken language in England! Last year a study reported that the average age of Polish immigrants to the UK now is from 18-35. Although London was a primary base for overseas Poles, Scotland has a significant Polish population, especially in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Many settled in Scotland during WWII.