We frequently reveal a little of ourselves when we disclose the things we detest and love. Especially little things that delight, fascinate, and entertain us. Here are ten films that I have taken as my own. Of course, the choice is highly arbitrary, and I love many more movies. I am using these devices. They help me reconstruct the foundations of my life. This was before my journey to Galicia. They also support my current life in Bandoxa. They are films, but they also form a small part of my identity.
President Donald Trump’s recent comments about NATO do not indicate a call for collective security reform. Instead, they reveal an intensely transactional view of international partnerships. Urging alliance members to assign as much as 5% of their GDP, an unprecedented figure, to purchasing U.S.-made weaponry and military equipment, Trump has once again reframed global security as a business deal.
Picture the scene. It’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the great gladiatorial stage of British democracy, less Gladiator and more Blazing Saddles at a town planning meeting in Swindon. Keir Starmer, sensible Labour’s hero, their knight in gleaming, sensible shoes, rises from the opposition bench. That look on his face, you know the one, shows a man who’s just alphabetised his law books and is ready to go. Across the gallery, Rishi Sunak sits there, gleaming, like a waxwork who’s been told he has to look “empathetic” by 5 p.m. or he’ll be back in the dock. Starmer adjusts his glasses and launches into one of his trademark cross-examinations. It’s like watching a lawyer interrogate a spreadsheet. “Point one, Mr Speaker!” He declares, and you can hear the ghost of Mel Brooks shouting, “What’s wrong with this guy? Where’s the dynamism?” He cites a statistic: a 17.3% increase in NHS waiting times, in case you’re wondering, and it isn’t. Then another: a £3.2 billion shortfall in council budgets. It’s meticulous, it’s legal, it’s as if he’s building a case to prosecute a toaster for breach of warranty. By the time he gets to his witty quip, “The failure of this government isn’t just a policy, it’s a personality trait!”, he drops like a Gregg’s custard tart allowed to fall by a woman worried about her cleaning bills.
This is a compilation of some of the great Welsh bands, composers and performers over the last five decades. We might be little, but we pack a massive cultural and artistic punch.
Step into the world of the Celts. Their identity stretches far beyond maps and borders. It weaves together a tapestry of shared traditions, vibrant cultures, and timeless stories. This chapter invites readers on a journey through the essence of Celtic identity. It is not just a matter of geography. It is a living, breathing cultural legacy. This legacy has evolved over thousands of years. A common thread unites these places. You are in the misty hills of Ireland. It is the rugged coasts of Scotland. It is even the green valleys of Wales. The windswept shores of Brittany and Cornwall also share this unity. It is a deep-rooted sense of belonging to something ancient, magical, and enduring.
GOOD STRATEGY 