The Ribble bridge at Mitton used to mark the border between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. My brother & I used to swim on the Yorkshire side then race across the bridge & cheer when we got back to Lancashire. For a short stretch around Clitheroe the Ribble was the border.

I've still got this gem on my shelf. Cheers

"Please Sir, it was my advisers !"

We've spent many summers in France. This is St Gingolph, exactly on the Franco-Swiss border, centre of Resistance, point for smuggling refugees, aid & downed Allied airmen to safety. They rose against the Nazis & innocents were murdered in reprisal. How dare a tin pot Reform patriot mock the French.

Women so often are. I take the chance to show Italian anti-fascists partisans in Turin's liberation. Let's have a round of brave women !

Just an idea. What about a anti-corruption candidate, a la Martin Bell 1979, who dislodged Neil Hamilton MP, who eventually joined UKIP. All other parties to offer no or only token candidates ?

This evening I have the honour and pleasure to be the moderator in the Former MEPs (FMA) "Librorum" presentation of Sean O Neachtain's Irish language reminiscences of his time in the Strasbourg Euro-Parliament. FMA supports "lesser spoken languages". Info: formermembers@europarl.europa.eu

To mark the tenth anniversary of the disaster of Brexit, there is now e-book version of my brief history of UK and Europe since 1945. See: vividlipi.com/product/semi...

I never tire of visiting. I first saw Saxon Switzerland from the Berlin-Prague express in the early '70. Lucky you for having the ability to capture the scenery artistically & sharing it.

Just returned from Sicily (pic Ducal Palace, Noto). Arriving a Catania airport the e-gate worked. Leaving the e-gate didn't work, the border guard manually entered my passport details & I had a finger prints check. By the time the e-gate system works, we'll be back in the EU & Schengen. C'mon Andy !

Relaxing in Marzamemi, Sicily. St Francis' church, where the locals have an annual festival for a good sea harvest, especially tuna, for which Marzamemi is famous. Second, the old tuna processing plant. Tuna to enjoy with a fine, sharp, slightly tangy Sicilian white.

Graceful steel statue of a heron to enhance a lovely walk round Entwistle Reservoir, West Pennine Moors, Lancashire.

Well, I'm 79 years old and I can't wait that long, so I'm campaigning to Rejoin asap. It's a question of political will, not meandering through Byzantine hypothetical discussions. In the meantime please read this excellent book to which I made a contribution. Worth a few Euros.

Gave my "Making of Modern Germany" talk to Blackburn Probus Club. L, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin as a student in 1966, R, Potsdamer Platz 2025 with our daughter. mhindley1947@gmail.com

I feel I've at last entered the modern age with an ebook version of my brief history of UK/Europe relations since 1945, which is on the reading list of several European and N American universities. vividlipi.com/product/semi...

Captain Starmer stays on the Bridge

Amusing aside. Is Gordon Brown (appointed two days ago)about to became the shortest serving PM's adviser/envoy ever.

Today is International Workers Memorial Day, to commemorate those killed & injured at work & to campaign for safety at work for all. Congrats to Blackburn & District Trades Council for organising this street event. Dr Charlie Clutterbuck, pioneer of the "Hazards Magazine" (now "Hazards")

Excellent & informed exchange with students & staff of International Economics, VN Karazin Uni, Kharkiv, after my talk on "European Integration". Ukraine has much to offer Europe, not least proven military skills for the modern age & a highly educated, motivated young generation. Slava Ukriani !

VENUM 26 at Lycee Franco-Allemand, But, France. With uncanny foresight, the subject was the Suez Crisis, which saw power shift from fading Anglo/French Empires to a rising US Empire in the Middle East; an event with lessons for today's war in the region. I gave an intro for the students' roleplay.

Blackburn late 70s, I was one of the organizers of demos against anti-immigration racism & done so ever since. I march & protest against the Viet, Iraq, Putin's war on Ukraine & Israeli gov genocide in Palestine. I'm fully aware of all my country's virtues & many faults, like its casino capitalism.

Lovely gentle ramble. Wharfedale is a most beautiful riverscape. This is the creaky wooden suspension bridge at Hebden & close by the Wharfe breaks through the limestone above Burnsall. Yorkshire folk say after God had rested he realized the world wasn't finished & so went back to create Yorkshire.

Off to the Lycee Franco-Allemand, Buc, France for VEMUN 2026 "Guaranteeing Governance in the Global Future". My role is to give an intro on "Suez 1956, Lessons for Today". Very apt ! Then the students do a role play exercise. I fuller report to come soon on my substack: mhindley.substack.com

Let me take the opportunity to remind you all that protestors can take part in the annual peaceful "Independence From America Day", 4th July at Menwith Hill, Yorkshire, the site of the US Intelligence Gathering Service.

When I do my lecture tours along the Danube, I always explain how "Some Like It Hot" (director Wilder) is a wonderful example of Viennese Jewish humour transported to Prohibition USA.

Trickle down theory in a nutshell

Brussels, where else ? Moules, frites, beer.

In the Q&A session after a presentation of my "Semi-Detached European" to a well-informed Oxford U3A, a guest asked if there was any benefit from Brexit ? I asked the audience and was met by peels of laughter. Details of future presentations from: mhindley1947@gmail.com