Whatever else he is at least Trump is consistent

You sense what ever Trump is then at least he follows a clear and obvious trajectory, that is the one consistency of the Trump is the fact that he is inconsistent. His current act of irrationality in bombing and airbase in Syria and provoking not merely their regime there but also the Russians and probably the Chinese.

The explanation that he has given for the attack was that he watched on Fox television the chemical weapons attack and he was upset at the sight of Syrian children dying as a result of the attack. Strange therefore that this is the man who really didn't give a monkeys about Syrian children who were drowning on refugee boats in the Mediterranean and wants to close the borders of America to refugees from places like Syria the they men women beautiful children!

But then over the last 10 weeks we have seen nothing from this man other than hypocrisy, irrationality and absurd decisions.

This is the man who boasts that he has never read a book although he claims to have written 17 books, I wonder how difficult it is to write a colouring book? To put it bluntly the man is a dangerous illiterate and when experts say that the world over the last 48 hours has got closer to a dangerous war situation we need to think carefully about what happens next.

The fact that no one knows what is likely to happen and what this dreadful man is capable of I think we need to be very afraid, in my column in the Chronicle and Echo a couple of weeks ago I argued that the world needs the American people to impeach the bastard very quickly.

His inconsistency is revealed in his attitude to events in Syria. Just two years ago in his inimitable literary style he tweeted that Obama must not cross the red line and commit American troops to any further action in Syria. The whole premise of his America first policy is predicated on non-intervention anywhere in the world, he even wants to build a wall to keep either Mexicans out of America or Americans out of anywhere else that looks vaguely like Mexico.

He also argued that Obama shouldn't do anything without congressional approval and what he did do on Thursday why he launched 92 Tomahawk missiles without congressional approval. Once again Donald a hypocrite the man with the colouring book and blunt pencils has achieved the rare distinction of changing his mind and putting not just his bloody golf causes at risk but the whole world

The perception among commentators is that he is doing this to show that he really isn't a bosom buddy of Vladimir Putin, that way he can deflect the criticism that the Russians using cyber attacks help him win the presidency. As the evidence piles up then that is in fact a plausible explanation for his behaviour, distraction is the best way to draw the world's attention away from his insanity.

However I think he is not simply aware of the need to distract the people of the world from his criminal behaviour I think he needs to distract the people of America from the fact that his promises during election were nothing but flimflam

The most interesting thing I have read this week has been a well researched article in Time magazine, Much was made in his campaign about saving the American coal industry, how he was going to reverse the Obama policies on fossil fuel and climate change. He was going to make American coal great again

He won in states like West Virginia with promises of rebuilding the mining industry, it is possible he was aware that the Obama legislation would make the difference to the future of mining in West Virginia, it was already clear that mining was in serious decline and that the move towards natural gas obtained by the process of fracking was taking over.

West Virginia produces 60% of the coal it did a decade ago and employs about 12,000 people as coalminers down from more than 64,000 in the 1970s. Apart from the market forces that are changing the power industry in America there is the simple fact that after 150 years the coal supplies are running out, what coal remains is far deeper and far more expensive to extract.

When Trump was making his promises last year he must have known the truth of the situation after all he is supposed not only to be a famous writer but also extremely astute businessman. He must have known when he went on the stump trying to win votes in those desperate states that he was not only being economically with the truth but in fact was lying to the people

Everything he does appears to be carefully crafted lies and he is on a daily basis being found out even his passionate supporters in this country like Nigel Farage are realising publicly that the man will say anything and do anything to win power. He accuses people like Assad are being a demagogue and a dictator

I suppose it takes one to know one.

I suppose I should mention Brexit

I have to admit that I'm already extremely bored by the whole European debate.

Many years ago when I was young and innocent I supported the campaign to keep Britain out of the European Economic Community, or as we on the left called it the European Employers Confederation.

I should have realised right from the start that the anti-Common Market group in Northampton was a weird bunch right from the outset, as well as those of us from the left of the Labour party and the Communist Party (well both of them really) there was a smattering of small business people,a few strange patriotic nationalist/royalist types and some people who were really just lonely and wanted company-small group mentality I suppose.

Way back in 1975 it did appear to me that the EEC was really only another way to market monopoly capitalism, to dress up the greed and avarice of the ruling class in a more presentable manifestation-"Look you dumb workers' we're in te business of keeping peace in Europe-hooray for us"

Just as a passing thought, if you consider the events over Europe in the last 40-50 years, that great vision ain't been a resounding success,well I suppose Germany and France haven;t torn great chunks out of each other-but the fate of former Yugoslavia has been nothing to write home about.

And of course the thought that somehow the resurgence of fascism would never happen again

has on a daily basis proved to be a hollow aspiration.

However on balance I voted in last years referendum to remain. I voted on the grounds that it was the least bad option and as the leave campaign was based on nothing more than racism,bigotry,phoney patriotism and peopled by the sort of people I'd cross the road to avoid voting remain was a no-brainer.

But I have to admit I voted reluctantly with no great enthusiasm,and I still find it hard to have any sympathy for the 'European project' especially after the brutal treatment meted out the people of Greece-after the European banks had assisted the Greek banks to collapse their economy.

But we are where we are.We have over the last decades suffered from the retreat from socialism by the Labour Party leadership and the feebleness of the Trade Union movement.

The Labour Party effectively capitulated to the SDP.It may be argued that the SDP failed, it took few MP's with it, won very little electoral success and collapsed into the Liberal Party.But it's influence within the higher levels of the Labour Party remained and indeed strengthened under Blair.

Blairism was  all about managing capitalism,and of course  that is at the heart of Europe,even today the core of Blairite thinking is how far can we compromise with those who Mandelson was so relaxed about-'the filthy rich'

Look how close the Blair cabal were close to the founders of the SDP, and indeed how many former SDP apparatchiks crawled into positions within  New Labour !

But in a way all that was to be expected,the hollowing out of socialism within the Labour party was no surprise, what however has proved to be a far bigger crisis has been the acquiescence of the Trade Unions.When people talk about the good things the EU has brought us they tend to talk about improvements in workers rights,benefits,improved standards of equality and so on.

That may be all true, but I was brought up to believe that bosses never willingly give better conditions to workers,they have to be fought for and won.We know only too well that New Labour made no effort to repeal Thatchers' anti-trade union legislation  and we know too that timidity by the TU leaders has been a result of the hollowing out of trade union strength and the regular failure to demonstrate practical solidarity with workers in struggle because of the failure to repeal anti-trade union laws by New Labour and the reluctance by many union leaders to fight for change in case their members became too militant.!

Back in 1975 our romantic vision was for a United Socialist Europe-that would have been something,but perhaps better than that would have been a Trade Union movement that was Europe wide.Just as capital knows no national boundaries and capital can be switched from one place to another at the click of a switch-a factory goes here,a plant is closed there...

Just imagine how things could be,teachers in Italy are fired,and teachers all over Europe strike or lorry drivers in Malta are victimised and the roads across Europe are empty !

The slogan used to be Workers of the World Unite- right now I'd settle for Workers of Europe Unite !