They published the most tragic photo ever. I don’t mean, like Lila grimacing or Joey in mid-poo, I mean an horrendous picture of a father and daughter both dead on the banks of the Rio Grande, having failed in an attempt to swim across from Mexico to the USA. They’re from El Salvador. Well, they were. Now they’re not anything. And the photo is emotive and quite frankly devastating. And shows the desperate measures people are prepared to take ‘for a better life’. Maybe a life of greater standard, better education, more affluence, or maybe a ‘better life’ free from the ridiculously high death rate in near-lawless El Salvador. Either way, America is the dream. Which became the absolute worst possible nightmare. Because dead El Salvadorians is always tragic. But a dead kid, a 2 year-old, is simply the worst of everything imaginable. And the front page on the Evening Standard the other night was that terrible picture with the headline along the lines ‘Trump did it!!’ Almost murdered them himself. How? By putting up a border and imposing limits on immigration, checks on refugee applications and for not just simply saying ‘come in, everybody, we can help you!’

Much like we do here. And they do in Australia. And (now) Germany. And France and Canada and virtually every country THAT YOU’D EVER WANT TO LIVE IN.

I hate Donald Trump. I think he’s stupid, dangerous, awful and the most ‘fake’ man ever to accuse the entire world of fakeness against him. I find him a loud-mouthed bullying half-wit. But America had border controls before Trump and will certainly have them after. They just weren’t, and won’t be, as loud as they are now. And no country can afford to simply open its doors to millions of doubtless worthy causes banging on their door. Britain voted to leave Europe to ‘take control of the borders’. Whatever the fuck that might mean in Nigel Farage’s mind.

That poor El Salvadorian took what he considered a ‘calculated risk’. Unfortunately his risk assessment was awry and it ended in total disaster. As it does for thousands every year who die in similar circumstances trying to ‘break in’ to a country, however good and genuine the reasons for wanting entry may be. Talk of ‘wall building’ didn’t kill this poor couple. Desperation did.

On a brighter note, things are looking up for Jeremy Corbyn. Oh, actually, they’re not, they’re looking pretty bleak. He let twice-shamed anti-Semite Chris Nicholson back into the party after his latest suspension and caused a stir. Well, in fact, ‘Jeremy’ had nothing to do with it at all. It was the ‘national executive’ wot dunnit. But everyone knows that its all rigged and nothing that happens in the current Labour Party happens without political considerations, consent from the top man and maximises the number of true Corbynites hanging round Westminster. 108 Labour MPs have signed a petition against bringing Nicholson back. That’s a lot. That’s not a mere protest. That’s a revolution. I hope. And if the guillotine is dusted off in Labour HQ, let’s hope that Corbyn is the first to test its potency.

Happy Friday

A xxxx