Hopeless

Well I have to confess that the news from the States is slowly wearing me down. A petition from a Leeds-based solicitor is doing the rounds. It suggests that the Queen should not be forced to meet Donald Trump when he comes to the UK on a "State visit" because it would cause the monarch too much to embarrassment. It was Theresa May's idea to bring old Trumpy-bum over here, and she resolutely stands by the idea in the face of 1 million signatures suggesting she reconsider. Theresa May, we're told, has already infuriated the Queen by answering the monarch's question about what Brexit would actually mean for the country with the vapid, broken-record remark that "Brexit means Brexit." hate Theresa May almost as much as I hate Trump, which is almost as much as I hate Boris Johnson.

It comes to something when American friends are thanking us for signing the petition. My dear friend Christopher Sieber said things were getting "really hairy" over there. And yet people continue to remain apathetic, taking great delight in remaining neutral and burying their heads in the sand whilst the world falls apart. This "silent majority" were the ones who allowed Hitler to do his worst and don't you dare try to claim that this is somehow different. If you don't agree with what is going on at the moment, you have a duty as a human being to register protest before someone you love has their civil rights taken away from them. How long before gay marriage is repealed in the US I wonder? They did it in California, it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

I've been shafted by a tax bill which has meant I've not slept for days now. My accountant is currently in the process of seeing if there's any way of lowering it based on the fact that my earnings for 2017 are 1/6th of my earnings for 2016. It's utterly hopeless. UK tax regulations have always been profoundly complicated and unbalanced when it comes to freelancers with wavering incomes.