Normally it would lift the heart that a Brit had won the Oscar for the best male lead, unfortunately, Gary Oldman's masterly portrayal of Winston Churchill has left many with bile in their mouths at the mirror, showing the sheer tardiness of self-serving politicians and public servants, who assure us all that they are doing their best for this country.
Churchill
Yes, a cigar-chomping, champagne swilling, foul-mouthed drunk, but you can think of no one else who could have saved this country in its darkest hours? At the start of WW11, the kindly natured Neville Chamberlain, worn out by his constant attempts to appease the Nazi regime in Germany which had come to nought, was, within a year of his return from Munich promising, 'peace in our time,' was completely devastated that the UK at war with Germany for the second time within a generation.
He was so worn-out by his exertions, this seriously ill man, died within months of his ousting, in November 1940. It is irrelevant the coating which history has been painted on Churchill, in his delivery, tenacity, sheer bloody-mindedness and flair for the right words at the wrong time, certainly roused the population of the UK to the heights of self-sacrifice, bravery and sheer heroism that has never been surpassed.
OK, Winston can be accused of many things, - racism, rampant nationalism, etc, etc. - but remember we judge him with the eyes of now, not the knowledge of then; he fought in the Boer War, which is almost ancient history to these modern times, and a thousand miles away from current political thinking.
He, unlike our current crop of politicians, made mistakes because he believed in them, not because they came top of some political poll and they misread them.
Brexit
With the appalling decision by the people of Italy - a country who has had as many governments as there are years since WW11 - to back a coalition which in itself is backed by Silvio Berlusconi (a man who really should be in jail), just about hammers a nail into European unity outlined in Rome in 1957.
When the UK leaves the union it will fall apart, not because we are an integral part, but that that part is the cement that holds it all together.
On a day when a group of highly paid MPs are accusing lauded Olympians of cheating - but no firm evidence supplied - and Lord Coe of some veiled collusion in it all, it makes you wonder where integrity has gone.
In a country that is in dire need of heroes, those who are hell-bent on dragging us into a black future should stop and think. Then perhaps they would tell us the truth for a change instead of denigrating those that would make us such!
