• Globalism

This has many advantages. I’m writing this on an Apple Mac conceived (exactly fifty years ago) in the USA, made in China (probably) and bought via a European hub in Ireland. You’re reading this thanks to the internet, which in its public-facing form is a bit younger. While doing so you might, depending on the time of day, be drinking wine from Chile or New Zealand, coffee from Kenya or water from France. That’s all the continents covered in two sentences. Numerous other examples could be provided.

It has drawbacks. Viruses in the Stone Age might have taken thousands of years to travel across the world, mutating en route into something perhaps more infectious but a lot less deadly (maybe this is where the common cold came from). Covid did so in about a week.

The simple and far from original point I’m trying to make is that events anywhere now effect people everywhere, and far more quickly and dramatically than ever before. The butterfly effect – which asserts the idea that individual tiny changes can cumulatively produce dramatic result – through globalism now operates with regard to human activity to a heightened extent. Rather than a butterfly, think instead of a dragon about the size of the Isle of Man.

Most people need stuff. Few communities, and even fewer countries, are completely self-reliant and so now find themselves invested in the behaviour of states or corporations over which they have no control.

• Grooming

One group of people who feel they have no control, agency or influence are the vicitms of the grooming gangs in this country.

After a change of heart by the government, a public inquiry has been set up and its terms of reference have recently been published. The Guardian summarises this as saying that the inquiry “will directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response.” I think we know what the answer to these points are.

I was listening to a BBC clip on the radio involving a woman called “Penny” who was abused from the age of twelve. I could barely listen. This article on the BBC website talks to same victim. There are many others.

A public inquiry is obviously good. However, it provides depth where perhaps speed is what’s needed. We have thousands of laws in this country: surely there’s at least one that can be used to deal with the perpetrators? “Penny” said that many of her abusers hadn’t been brought to justice. My fear is that the hard-pressed and time-poor CPS and Police will pause any pending cases on the grounds that at least part of the matters are now sub judice as a result of the inquiry.

This process certainly hasn’t as yet produced any serious restitution for the victims of the PO scandal, despite the fact that the Post Office and Fujitsu were eviscerated during the inquiry.

• Public devotions

A couple of weeks ago, about three thousand Muslims had an “open iftar” event in Trafalgar Square. Many such take-overs of our capital’s largest and most central public thoroughfare – including other religious gatherings, sporting or New Year’s Eve celebrations and political demonstrations – have taken place there without the same level of opprobrium being heaped upon them.

I’ve been to several mass events in Trafalgar Square and see that anyone excluded from the primary aim might feel threatened. Several thousand people in the throes of a joint fervour that you don’t share, whether they’re supporters of Spurs, the Socialist Workers’ Part or Sunni Islam, is intimidating to those who are not. At best, it’s a reminder that there’s a powerful belief force at work to which you are not party; at worst, it’s the start of some herd mentality that could lead to anything.

Why this fear and loathing was particularly directed to this occasion is a sign of the times. It was a political reaction, Islam being – along with wokery and immigration – one of the ways by which the new right measures and gains its support.

It’s not that simple, though, as a glance at this article in The Week reveals.

Its first paragraph describes the entirely predictable and rather boring spat on the subject between the Tories and Labour.

It then goes on to quote the Daily Mail. This extract starts with the claim that women had been “shunted” into the background. Other views are more nuanced, though the Islamic distinction between gender roles is one that a lot of people in The West find very hard to accept.

It goes on to say that “people have the right to worship as they wish, and communal prayer is an important practice.” The latter may be true but I’m less sure about the former if this takes place in public.

The Mail doesn’t stop there, the next comment perhaps revealing the real point of the article after having offered a bit of faint praise. The real problem, it seems, is that this all took place in Trafalgar Square, which is a “symbol of Britain’s proud heritage.”

Really? It was, like Waterloo Station across the river or the Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris, both named after battles in what was essentially an imperialist war. What massive points of principle were involved in that?

The piece then points out the idea of an “open iftar” being inclusive. I can’t get this. Monotheistic religions are, by their very nature, exclusive. Each believes that it has plotted a unique route to salvation predicated on the belief in a unique god, or that god’s chosen instrument. For one monotheistic religion to even recognise the existence of another, still less tolerate it, makes no sense to me. If a devout Muslim is prepared to tolerate the equally devoutly-held views of a Christian, what’s the point of being a Muslim (or vice versa)?

The Week then quoted Qari Muhammad Asim from The Independent: “is it perhaps the case that ‘British Muslims are less entitled to visible participation in public life’ than members of other religions?” You can make your own mind up on the truth of this.

I don’t think that public devotions to whatever cause should be banned but I do see that some people can feel threatened or excluded. I don’t think that people should be persecuted for believing in a particular religion but nor do I see why all its historical baggage should be tolerated without criticism. I do see that all religions, when celebrated en masse, can seem intimidating to those of other persuasions. Guess what – that’s kind of the point of most religions.

• And finally…

• Reform UK has said that it will scrap the tax on short-haul flights for adults travelling with children if it wins the next general election. The BBC says that this “would cost £166m per year and would be paid for through savings made by reducing spending on “migrant welfare, mental health benefit claims and foreign aid.” I’m sure this will play very well in the run-up to the local elections.

• Hedge-fund managers have, probably deservedly, had a bad press. However this week we have news of billionaire hedge-funder Chris Rokos donating £170m to the University of Cambridge. This will, the BBC claims, “create a school of government in Cambridge named after him, with the aim of training leaders of the future.” This seems like a worthwhile goal.

• It seems that Trump is, The Guardian reports, “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from NATO. The article also suggested that this has effectively already happened: “Trump launched the war on Iran on 28 February in partnership with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but without consulting NATO allies.” His particular ire has been reserved for the UK, a country of which he could be a citizen as his mother was born in Scotland and lived there until she was 18.

• King Charles III has been forced into a state visit to Trump-land that offers a number of minefields. The UK’s aim looks like being one of propitiation and flattery for this elozable (see the “Strange word of the week” section below) president. The Guardian suggests that the trip might prove to be “a humiliation”.

• The Artemis II spacecraft has taken off from Florida and is now en route to do a quick fly-by of the moon to make sure that the dark side, which we never see, is still there and doubtless also gather loads of data. This will include photos of the world the astronauts have briefly left behind which they might want to send to the Flat Earth Society (which still exists).

• Sport always provides stories of fallen giants. In football, two teams spring to mind at present. The first is Spurs, now on their tenth manager in five years and their fourth in the last ten months. The odds on their being relegated are shortening with every match. They were the first (and currently the most recent) British team to win a European trophy and the first English club to do the league and cup double in the twentieth century. How on earth has the club got into such a mess? The fact that Arsenal might win the league this season makes it even worse.

• Even more remarkable is the collapse of Italy, which has failed to qualify for its third World Cup finals in a row, a humiliation that no previous winner has experienced. Italy was the first European country to win the trophy, the first to win it twice and has lifted it four times in all, a haul only bettered by Brazil. The last knock-out match the country has won at a World Cup was in the 2006 final – before the first iPhone was released, as Politico puts it.

This play-off defeat to Bosnia came on the last day of qualifying, meaning that the line up for this summer’s tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada is now complete – assuming, of course, that all the participants, including Iran, decide to turn up…

Across the area

• More kerbside plastic recycling available

West Berkshire Council has announced that plastic tubes can now be recycled from home as part of the regular kerbside collections. “This includes all toothpaste tubes both hard and flexible, cosmetic tubes and food tubes” a statement from the Council explains, as well as the tubes used for “herb pastes, cake-icing tubes, hand creams and moisturisers. – if it is hard or soft plastic and tube-shaped it can recycled.”

Residents are asked to squeeze out any remaining content, put the cap on (which can be recycled too), leave flat (these are easier to deal with at the recycling centre) and put in your green bag along with cans, plastic bottles, tubs and trays.

The next ambition is to deal with soft plastic at the kerbside. WBC needs first to upgrade its facilities at Padworth. The government has mandated that this start in 2027 but is declining to contribute any money to help meet the costs. Until that happens, most supermarkets will accept soft plastic.

Mind you, the government mandated some years ago that all councils would have to have separate collection of food waste by 1 April 2026 but, according to the BBC about a quarter of local authorities have still not done it. Some are citing lack of government funding: however, you can’t help feeling that even by the glacial speed at which councils usually operate this is particularly slow going. West Berkshire introduced these collections in October 2022.

• Ridgeway

The government is now considering the three options for Oxfordshire’s re-organisation, two of which would involve the creation of a new Ridgeway Council involving West Berkshire, the Vale and South Oxfordshire.

The main aim of the government’s reforms is to do away with the two-tier system, as prevails in Oxfordshire (but not Berkshire). Another in to make unitary councils larger, with half a million being the optimum population. West Berkshire’s is currently about 163,000, meaning that at some stage it would be expected to merge with one or more of its neighbours. It decided to be proactive and proposed hooking up with the two Oxfordshire unitaries to the north – hence the Ridgeway plan.

The government has already started making some decisions. This includes announcing the future shape of Hampshire, which is currently divided into fourteen council areas. This will be replaced by four unitary (singe-tier) authorities, plus the Isle of Wight which is a unitary at present and will be unaltered.

All four new authorities will be between 400,000 and 570,000, which suggests that Whitehall remains keen to keep to its population target. This might be good news for the Ridgeway proposal, which would create a new council area of about 470,000 people; none of the  other proposals for Oxfordshire would achieve this. A decision from the government is expected in July.

• Social housing

“Making sure we have adequate numbers of decent, affordable housing for rent is essential for the sustainability of our rural villages in Reading West and Mid Berkshire,” local MP Olivia Bailey wrote in her latest e-newsletter.

“This week, I wrote to the Chief Executive of Sovereign Network Group (SNG) raising concerns about the number – over 20 since 2022-23 – of SNG properties for social rent in villages like Beenham, East Ilsley, Sulhampstead, and elsewhere that have been sold.

“I have asked him to set out what plans SNG have in place to ensure that these properties are replaced, so that people who have grown up in our villages have the opportunity to be able to stay there.”

In November 2025, SNG was asked some similar questions by WBC’s Resources and Place Scrutiny Committee and you can read our report of that here. We also took a broader look at the issue in this article, which considered the support that could be provided by organisations like CCB. The reality seems to be the large housing associations have a lot more discretion as to what properties they dispose of than the local council or many of its residents would wish.

I look forward to hearing what response Olivia Bailey receives. From talking to individuals at SNG there seem to be many aspects of the company’s work which tell a more positive story. Officially, however, SNG seems strangely reluctant to tell it. At least, it hasn’t told it to us – maybe Olivia Bailey will have better luck…

• News from your local councils