Joe Biden...

Joe Biden has won. We can breathe again…

Winners and losers...

We can’t say we weren’t warned. Back in 2016, during the last candidates’ debate, Donald Trump said “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win”. Four years on, nothing much has changed. A clearly rattled Trump spoke from the White House last night: a surreal half hour of lies and baseless accusations. “If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us”.

Biden needs just six more electoral college votes to reach the magic number of 270. It’s traditional for the loser in a presidential election to give a short speech of concession and - through gritted teeth, perhaps - to wish the new president all the best. Trump won’t do that, of course, but, in an hour or two, what Donald J Trump does or doesn’t do won’t matter so much any more...

Clinging to power...

Whether Joe Biden wins or loses the election, we know that almost half the American people thought Donald J Trump did a good job as president, and hoped to grant him four more years in the White House. That’s pretty damned depressing. Trump has no interest in the legitimacy of the electoral process, but only in clinging onto power at any cost.

I could-a been a contender! I could-a been somebody! But here I am, licensing a photo of a Harvester restaurant in Didcot, for peanuts. What the hell happened??…

 

Selby Canal...

Had a stroll along the Selby Canal this afternoon. I met a guy with binoculars, who said he was hoping to see the first of the winter thrushes. A flock of chattering fieldfares arrived, on cue, and attacked the berries growing along the towpath…

 

Election day...

It’s election day in America, even though almost a hundred million people have already voted. One of the cornerstones of the democratic tradition is the peaceful transition of power from one government to the next. Yet, according to a poll yesterday, three quarters of the American people are expecting trouble. This may be Donald Trump’s malign legacy: attempting to transform a beacon of democracy into a fascist state, with Trump casting himself as Il Duce. I’m not suggesting he should be strung up, like Mussolini, from a lamp-post, though it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. There might be room, on his grave, for a small dance-hall.

I hope Trump will disappear, along with his Stepford wife and the rest of his over-entitled family. And I hope that Sleepy Joe will win so convincingly that Trump will be unable to bluff or bluster his way back into the White House for a second term as president. 

Licensed today: twilight at McDonald's...

Cawood...

Predictably, religious groups have been critical of the new lockdown rule, which bans communal worship. Looks like they’ll have to thank God for his many gifts to humankind - coronavirus, cancer, floods, droughts, tsunamis, etc - from the privacy of their own homes.

High water in the River Ouse at Cawood this afternoon...

 

Lockdown 2.0...

Well, here we go again. Back in March, most people obeyed the instruction to “stay home”. Six months down the line, and battered by virus-related restrictions, will we all be equally acquiescent this time around? With Asselby being quite a prosperous little village, I feel insulated from the worst effects of the virus… but I know that plenty of people are having a really tough time. With every shop that closes, more cash is being diverted into the coffers of Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, who is currently making about $321 million a day (does that include weekends? I’m not sure). At this rate he could become the world's first trillionaire by 2026…