• Venezuela

Or not. The smash-and-grab raid in Caracas seems to have caught many by surprise; and none more so than Nicolas Maduro who was nabbed, cuffed and flown to the States to stand trial on a range of crimes including narco-terrorism. Trump then announced that the US would be running things there until a new leader could be found and a “safe, proper and judicious transition” that was to Washington’s liking had taken place. The US President has recently added that his country’s involvement in Venezuela “could last for years”.

This is a re-statement of the Monroe Doctrine, first articulated by President James Munroe in 1823, which in essence asserts that both American continents are within the USA’s sphere of influence. The twist Trump has added to the Maduro business is to try to make the Venezuelan President nothing more than a high-profile felon in the war against drugs and so a worthy target for a law-and-order mission.

There are other advantages. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, though these are currently unexploited. If there’s one thing Trump hates – and there are plenty – it’s a source of fossil fuels that’s not gushing. Then there’s Cuba, which has been a thorn in the USA’s side for decades, largely thanks to the hero of the above-mentioned Motorcycle Diaries. That country has relied on Venezuela for cheap oil and other support, which will now stop. Bringing Cuba to its knees would be a legacy indeed for any US President.

Then there’s Greenland, somewhere that’s arguably in North America and so arguably covered by the Monroe Doctrine. Whether it is or it isn’t, Trump has decided that he wants it, by negotiation, by payment or if necessary by force.

This BBC article suggests that Colombia, Mexico and Iran (which isn’t in North or South America the last time I checked) could be next in line. The signal from the Venezuela adventure seems to me “take me seriously.”

Europe doesn’t seem to know how to take it. With the USA a vital part of any part of an end to the appalling war in Ukraine, no one appears keen to rock the boat. Kier Starmer’s Chef Secretary said, as quoted in The Guardian, that “the UK would wait to determine whether there had been a breach of international law”. This seems slightly like saying that it was up to Putin to decide if invading Ukraine had been OK or not.

None the less, we live in the world as it is, not as we would like it to be. Trump has clearly learned much from Putin (who has his own version of the Munro Doctrine, which involves reassembling the former USSR). Xi is probably looking on approvingly as well. Increasingly, the world is divided up into three main spheres of influence, just as Orwell foresaw. Quite which basket Europe ends up in remains to be seen.

• Protesting

Many people have read the story we wrote last month about Andrew Dames, the Quaker and engineer from Cambridge who was sentenced to 26 months for an entirely peaceful protest on a gantry above the M25. His aim was “no new oil”: not a cause with which Trump would have any sympathy. Nor did Andrew Dames’ judge.

Compare this protest to one in Germany a couple of weeks ago. “A far-left activist group in Germany,” the BBC reports, “has claimed responsibility for a suspected arson attack that left tens of thousands of homes, as well as hospitals and businesses, without power in around-freezing temperatures.” about 45,000 homes and over 2,000 business in Berlin were left without power. “The Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) said in a statement that the fossil fuel economy, not cutting power, was the target of the action,” the article continues.

We live in desperate times. Protests against the way the world’s resources are being used can take either of the above forms and anything in between, leaving their perpetrators open to long sentences for even the peaceful ones. Partly as a result of climate change, thousands of people are every day making dangerous and expensive journeys in the hope of making a new life in places like the UK. Here and in many other countries, politics is dominated by immigration and migrants, with the parties promoting the toughest crackdowns getting the most votes: actually solving the problem remains as far away as ever. Large countries attack their smaller neighbours with impunity. Small border disputes flare up and then simmer unchecked, rather as do the increasing number of forest fires. And, remorselessly, the sea rises…

There is, somewhere, a silver lining in all this. However, having just written the above paragraph and with the rain of the latest storm lashing down outside, I’m unable to see it.

• Checking

It seems almost unbelievable that in Switzerland, of all places, fire-safety checks had not been carried out on the bar in Crans-Montana in which forty people died on New Year’s Eve since 2020. They were meant to have been done annually. On being asked why this was, the Mayor said that he did not know. Not a great answer. The families and friends of the victims of the Grenfell disaster in London weren’t given much of a better response.

All this reminds us that national and local authorities and other public bodies, and landlords, have a duty to perform regular safety checks have obligations to perform such checks on the buildings they own or manage at specified intervals. The punishment for the individuals who fail in their duty is often quite slight if they have an organisational structure to shield them: but even if they remain at liberty, they still have to be able to look themselves in the mirror.

In these cash-strapped time, cutting back on the cost of such checks might seem tempting. The work is unglamorous and frequently unpopular. The events of New Year’s Eve have shown that skimping here is not a good idea. I imagine that responsible organisations all over the world will be urgently looking through their records to make sure their own inspections are up to date – at least, I hope they are.

• Awards

The latest Private Eye (1666) features on p15 its annual Rotten Boroughs awards which celebrates (if that’s the right word) some of the excesses and failings of our local councils and those that run them. No gong for Waverley Council, I was disappointed to see, for having so diligently weaponised community infrastructure levy (CIL) charges against many of its residents: but the competition was quite fierce.

Among my picks of the Eye’s picks are the council where the standards committee didn’t meet for 18 months because the members hated each other so much, a councillor who joked about being in the Klu Klux Klan, a council homebuilding company which built no new homes but paid out over £100,000 in bonuses to two directors who happened be friends of the council leader, two councillors who were forced to retire after being stuck off as solicitors and the authority which connected a massive re-chargeable battery to a recycling plant but neglected to switch it on, losing over £250,000 in revenue.

• And finally…

• Yet more bad news for Andrew Windsor or whatever he’s called: this BBC article suggests that he “received millions of pounds from an oligarch using funds from a firm implicated in criminal corruption.”

• Back to Private Eye again, on p20 I learn that X’s new service terms specify that anything you post there (if anyone still does) can be used for any purpose whatsoever, including for training its AI systems. This is probably not that surprising to anyone but it’s a useful reminder that the more extreme the content, the more rabid the bot will become as a result.

• Those who are hoping for a de-Brexit might be comforted by the Prime Minister’s recent statement that, as The Guardian reports, “closer ties with the EU single market are preferable to a customs union”. The paper claims this is “his clearest sign yet” that the government is seeking to further deepen links with Brussels. But does Brussels want closer ties with us?

• You might think it’s difficult to lose a plane the size of a Boeing 737-200 but that’s what Air India managed to do at Kolkata airport for thirteen years. This article in The Independent explained how the muddle happened.

• So, at last, the horror show of the Ashes has come to an end in Australia. I think there are still some one-day games to get through but the main business of the five test matches is over. The 4-1 scoreline is perhaps kind to England as their only victory came in a two-day match (remarkably, two of the tests in th3 series were that short) on a terrible wicket in Melbourne that turned the game into a kind of penalty shoot-out.

“This has been my tenth tour covering England in Australia,” veteran BBC cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew wrote after the final test, “and has been, quite comfortably, the most disappointing.” Whoever signed off the tour’s preparations, he added, should lose their job.

The problem is as likely to psychological. There can be few more terrifying experiences in sport than going out to face a blistering pace attack under an unforgiving sun in front of 50,000-odd equally unforgiving Australians. The only people who seem to have come out of the tour with any credit are Jacob Bethell, Joe Root and the Barmy Army. One has to find positives where one can…

Across the area

• Council finances

The following statement was made by West Berkshire Council on 19 December:

“The Government’s Local Government Finance Settlement announced [on 17 December] will leave West Berkshire Council among the hardest hit councils in the country. The settlement sets out funding for councils for the next three years – up to 2028-29. While the longer-term view will allow the Council to better plan its budgets, the figures show that West Berkshire will see one of the lowest increases in core spending power nationally.

“The Council is still working through the details to understand the full implications of the funding settlement. However, according to Government figures, West Berkshire’s core spending power – which assumes council tax will increase- will rise by just over a third of the national average. Without the projected council tax increases, the Council would have seen an actual reduction in spending power.

“The Revenue Support Grant, a key source of Government funding, will fall sharply from £27 million to £16 million in just two years – almost halving in a short space of time. By 2029, the Council’s core spending power will be £191 million. With inflation at 3%, the cost of essential services such as adult and children’s social care, waste services and debt repayments would consume almost all of this.”

This is in stark contrast to a statement issues by Reading West and Mid Berkshire MP Olivia Bailey on 18 December. In it she “welcomed the Government’s announcement that West Berkshire Council is getting a large funding boost under the Local Government Funding Settlement. The local authority will receive £19.5 million cash injection for essential services, which is an 11% increase in the council’s spending power.”

I’ve contacted her office twice to see if this divergence of opinion can be explained but have so far not received a response. A swift reply was, however, received from WBC’s leader Jeff Brooks on this question whichI posed earlier this week. He’s promised to get back to me soon once he and his colleagues have fully digested the detail of the settlement.

• A look back at 2025

We’ve covered a great many stories relevant to the Penny Post area in 2025. Some have been mentioned more than once for the simple reason that they take time to resolve (and in some cases still haven’t been). We’ve picked out some of the major ones below, several of which won’t go away or keep coming back…

The financial problems of all the local authorities (particularly ones such as West Berkshire Council (WBC) which have responsibility or social care and education) have been getting progressively worse. This is, in general, not their fault but the result of the demands the government makes upon them without providing the necessary funding. Social-care and, in particular, SEN costs are rising steeply with no immediate solution in site. It seems likely that many councils will need to issue Section 114 notices (effectively declarations of bankruptcy) in 2026.

Local government reorganisation – designed to do away with two-tier authorities, make unitary councils larger and have over-arching mayoral authorities – may provide a solution to some of these problems, particularly if greater economies of scale can be achieved and Whitehall can provide a more rational funding settlement. In the short term however, it risks being perceived, and perhaps actually being, a distraction.

WBC feels the its future best lies in a new Ridgeway unitary authority involving the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire. Reading has used the uncertainty to mount a land-grab on some of West Berkshire’s eastern parishes. What views the government has on all the proposals it’s received won’t be clear until later this year.

Sewage and flooding. Generally low groundwater levels have made the problems less acute that in recent years, assisted by the fact that Thames Water has stepped up its work of relining pipes. Much remains to be done. Great credit must go the the various pressure grounds (including the Pang Valley Flood Forum, the Lambourn Valley Flood Forum and SAGLUV) which have been instrumental in accomplishing this.

The Kennet Centre redevelopment has attracted interest not only in Newbury but also further afield. The first (Eagle Quarter) plan was refused by WBC, whereupon an utterly different (Old Town) application was lodged. The Eagle quarter refusal was appealed, and rejected by the Planning Inspector: the Old Town plans, however, were passed by WBC. Most agree that, of the two, this is by far the more preferable although concerns remain about the lack of affordable housing. The demolition work is expected to start some time this year.

Local plans. These are the documents which most planning authorities produce to use their decision-making about development applications and must be periodically reviewed. All the ones in the area were going through this process in 2025, with mixed results. WBC’s new plan, which proved very contentious, was adopted by the the Council in June 2025 (though was more the work of the Planning Inspector and the previous administration than the current one). Wiltshire’s new plan is set to be adopted by the middle of this year.

The Vale and South Oxfordshire’s joint plan was thrown out by the Planning Inspectors in 2025 as it demonstrated a failure to co-operate with Oxford City Council, though changed government guidance seems set to result in this being re-visited. Basingstoke & Deane appears to be in the most difficult position: its attempts to get a new plan agreed have brought it into several collisions with WBC over controversial site allocations near their common border. This issue will certainly run on into 2026.

• Social housing. While conceding that there are organisations like almshouse trusts and some housing associations that are seeking to increase the number of such properties, it seems clear that there’s a serious disconnect between what the area we cover – particularly the rural part – need and what’s provided. We’ve done our best to lobby for change and to explain what seem to be the main fault lines in the system.

• Scrutiny Committees. These must exist at local authorities to look at the work of the administration, past and present, and ask questions about how things could have been done better and could be done better in the future. This work can create friction with the officers and the executive members, past and present. The inquiry into the procurement issues surrounding the proposed Monks Lane sports hub provided a good example of this. The report was eventually produced but not before a long and rather unedifying delay.

• Bins and roads. These are the only two things provided by local councils that everyone in the district uses ands any changes to these always come under particular scrutiny. The major bin changes in 2025 were an increase to the number of items that could be recycled at the kerbside; and the change in the autumn to three-weekly collections for black bins.

On the roads, potholes continue to appear in increasing numbers. There are also plans to increase the 20mph zones in various places (a trial took place in Theale which appears to have been largely beneficial). The pedestrianisation of the town centre of Newbury was also initiated in early 2025. Many of these matters have proved controversial.

• The CIL scandal. Although solved in West Berkshire thanks to determined action from the current administration, it hasn’t been elsewhere. In at least twenty authorities, particularly Waverley in Surrey, the Community Infrastructure Levy – which was designed by the coalition government as a way for developers to help mitigate the impact on the local area of what they build – is being unfairly weaponised against individuals doing conversions and home extensions.

The legislation is poorly drafted and allows unscrupulous councils to take advantage of most people’s unfamiliarity with the intricacies of the system to trap them into triggering eye-watering and life-changing invoices. The highest we’re aware of is about £260,000. Having helped expose this moral and ethical lapse in West Berkshire, we’re doing what we can to support the victims and seek redress. So far, only West Berkshire Council has had the moral courage to do something about this.

• Honourable mentions. As before, we’ve also got to give a shout-out for a large number of organisations which are, like the Scrutiny Commissions at WBC and other councils, dealing with problems and issues not of their making. These include the many voluntary groups and charities which help people with matters ranging from drug-dependancy to fuel poverty; pressure groups and flood forums which have kept residents informed and the Environment Agency and TW on their toes; all the environmental groups, bloggers and campaigners who have done so much to normalise discussions about climate change and bio-diversity and have helped to combat the insidious tide of disinformation; and the parish and town councils in the area, all of which get on with their jobs without payment, increasingly providing services which the parent authorities can no longer afford to do.

We have done our best to support, explain and publicise the work these do and will continue to do so. We can’t list them all – it would be too long and inevitably miss someone out. You know who you are.

Particular mentions must also go to two organisations which our district is particularly lucky to have: Volunteer Centre West Berkshire and Greenham Trust, which help provide the fuel – in the form, respectively, of staff and funds, which many of these groups require in order to survive. We’d also like to mention the Bedwyn Train Passenger Group, an excellent advocate for the area’s rail users and the provider of far clearer information about delays and service changes than can often be found on GWR’s website.

This Week with Brian, published every Thursday, has regular coverage of area-wide issues. The most recent one will be found at or near the top of the Penny Post home page.

News from your local councils