Post - it matters.

As sure as night follows day, Christmas follows a postal strike.

The EU is marching to Trotsky's tune

In an interview given on the 30th October 1917, Leon Trotsky, one of the architects of the Communist Revolution in Russia, called for the formation of a Federated Republic of Europe. He envisaged the abolition of national frontiers and control of the conglomerate by the proletariat.

"Only a Federated Republic of Europe can give peace to the world," he surmised.

That revolution might have been born of injustice and need, but the intervening years have shown us that idealism and bureaucracy, have not provided a stable platform for governance. In particular, inefficiency, corruption and the lack of personal freedom, helped sound the death knell for the Soviet Union.

"Europe for peace," has a wonderful sound, but the reality was not wonderful to people persecuted in the Soviet states. Eventually the whole system was so unworkable, that it collapsed.

Today, despite all that we have seen, Europe is still intent on following the same type of socialist experiment. As animals, human beings prefer to be managed by local tribal leaders. They want to exercise a degree of control and to be able to replace leaders who are out of touch with community wishes. It is likely that the EU will fail eventually, but we are in for a long period of control by the unelected until then.

Talking about it.

People in the UK invariably start a conversation upon first meeting, with a comment about the weather. It is a trial, to test the ground as to whether further conversation will be permitted.

This habit is deeply ingrained. This week I have been testing myself to see if I could open by talking about something else.

I tried the Chinese opening - " Have you eaten yet?" The recipient of this greeting looked frankly perplexed, (even though I said it in English).

For the rest of the week, I found myself talking about the weather, even though I didn't intend to.

Have a nice dinner!