When I was in California I noticed a profound change from just half a year earlier. There were “help wanted” and “hiring” signs everywhere. It being rural eastern California, they wouldn’t necessarily be in leading global industries but jobs are, ultimately, jobs. During the long, grim Obama years there was a pervading gloom in the USA. It wasn’t overwhelming necessarily, but it felt as if there was this grey haze over the country. Whether real or merely perceived, it felt as if the only people who mattered were one-legged, purple-haired black transgender Muslims. Any battler or well-adjusted person was deemed to be worthy of contempt.
Somehow, things seem different. The USA isn’t as depressing as it was under Obama. Not that I like Trump or approve of his rhetoric, but it seems as if something is happening again other than the forced, grim acceptance of decline and lack of opportunity. Many people I know in the USA do not like Trump’s mouth and wish he’d be more careful in his choice of words, but they approve of many of his policies and, for many outside the coasts, there’s at last real hope. More than that, there’s real economic progress being made at last.
Coming back to Europe has been a bit of a denouement. There’s a distinct lack of direction or progress, a sense of drift and hopelessness. Denmark’s economy is doing okay, but there are storm clouds on the horizon. Sweden is caught in social and political drift. For years the current government has existed not because it has any reason to exist, but because the opposition is loath to call another vote as the only likely outcome would be a hung parliament. Britain’s had a rough few weeks. The Windrush Scandal and Alfie Evans affair have made the UK look vicious, petty and cruel. The Lords and Eurobots in the Commons seem determined to penalise the UK for daring to think beyond dying Europe.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Lots of jobs being offered here in WA too. But I note genuine concern of most for the environment after Trump has decimated the EPA. Most people think Washington needs exterminating, the lot of them!
Ditto Westminster, useless pack of tossers. Too much partisan infighting not enough getting on with the job.
It would be nice if an administration would come along that would get a good balance on environmental policies. Obama’s was an absolute catastrophe. The EPA were well out of order and virtually everything was regulated into the 10th afterlife. Trump has gone, arguably, too far to the other extreme.
The female-type parent told me that in the Texas Hill Country having a pulse is the only thing you need to get a job. They’re so desperate for staff because the region is growing so quickly that they’re practically recruiting at cemeteries. Even a corpse is a body!
As for Westminster… What the UK needs is a French-style electoral clearance. Vote the lot out, all of them. The only thing keeping the Tories afloat is Cur-bin. The only thing keeping Labour viable is Toxic Tess. If we had Hannan and Hoey as Conservative and Labour leaders we’d be in an infinitely better place, but we don’t and this dog’s breakfast is well inedible.
Well said, Christopher. All Teresa the Appeaser has to do is stuff the Lords with placemen who will (a) stop anyone trying to sabotage Brexit and then (b) vote for the abolition or at least complete reformatting of the Lords. Trouble is, she is so weak minded she will not. We are fortunate that she only has Catweazle leading the Opposition.
FEEG: Tess the Terrible is too weak to do anything and hardly anyone else wants the job at the moment. Every so often she almost looks like she’s got a grip on herself again, only to lose it in the most asinine manner. Unelected “advisers”, giving the cretinous chancellor’s “wisdom” too much credit, etc. New Zealand does perfectly well without an upper house. I had to chuckle a little when I read that, despite all their travails, Cur-bin would not significantly improve on his 2017 performance if another election were to be held this year. A government with a 29pc approval rating would still, in all likelihood, continue to hobble along because of how utterly useless he is.