UK and Irish passports are valid for ten years. Bertie’s Pet Passport will be valid from Friday until all the pages are full or until we leave the EU without a deal. Then it becomes complicated for Bertie.
In Ukraine polling stations, where Parliamentary elections are taking place on Sunday, are called Precinct Electoral Commissions. This has an American ring calling to mind the administrative area of police stations.
Belt and Braces is what I call China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It marks the second stage of China’s rise to out-grow the United States economically. The first was the industrialisation of China, building cities and transport infrastructure. This all happened within China’s borders.
Imagine, if you will, England in the 16th century after the Reformation; a small country on the edge of a largely Catholic continent. No, no, no, I promise this isn’t going to be about Brexit.