Tulip Mania
These amazing multi-coloured tulips which suddenly appeared in our garden a couple of years ago, give one a hint of why the Dutch went mad about the bulbs in the mid-1600s.
Quote of the Day
”The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith
Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news
J.S.Bach | Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake) | Munich University choir.
In the cantata (of which this is just a spectacular part), performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, everything revolves around the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They wait throughout the night with burning lamps for the arrival of the bridegroom. Five of them have brought along extra oil to keep their lamps burning. The others run out of oil and go off to buy some more. The bridegroom arrives while they are away. Nice to wake up to it on Easter Day!
Long Read of the Day
It’s astonishing to watch from afar how Trump & Co are getting away with what they’re doing. A lot of it has to do with the extraordinary way that Congress has been cowed. But it also has something to do with the fact that cowardice is contagious (as people discovered in 1930s Germany).
This essay by historian Timothy Snyder outlines some of the grim possibilities that faces the American public over the months between now and November.
We are seven months away from the most consequential midterm election in the history of the United States. Meanwhile, we are fighting a war. These are the structural conditions for a coup attempt in which a president tries to nullify elections and take permanent power as a dictator. If we see this, we can stop it, overcome the movement that brought us to this point, and make a turn towards something better.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth are stuck in the logic of escalation, according to which the feeling of defeat today can be reversed by doing the first thing that comes to mind tomorrow. Trump is surrounded by people who are making money from the war; each day of war strengthens a warmongering lobby with personal access to the president. As the war lengthens, the chance that it will be exploited for a coup attempt increases.
Trump tells us that he is chiefly concerned with the permanence of his own comfort and power (think about ballroom and bunker), much of which he will lose when his party is defeated decisively in the midterms. He regularly declares his intention to meddle in the elections. His party backed a bill which would have turned elections into a sham. Trump wants to increase the defense budget by nearly 50% without any review of what the money is for; this is strategic nonsense, and has to be understood as a payoff for the men who, as he imagines, will help him install a dictatorship. Hegseth is meanwhile purging the highest officer ranks of people of principle.
It is up to us to put two and two together: Trump will seek to exploit the war (or the next one) to alter the elections. We bear responsibility for what comes next.
Chart of the Day
Screenshot
Which explains why it is important that the UK government continues to support the BBC as negotiations about the renewal of its Charter continue.
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