OK, I’m back in Blighty, after six months. And what a contrast to the European countries we’ve driven through! Dirty streets, shuttered up shops, few public amenities working, a corrupt government, and a vile public political discourse; quite a shock, after what we’ve seen and experienced in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Or is that just Hull, our final destination; and – with regard to the discourse – the British gutter press?

It’s depressing to be here; but also fascinating, on the eve of a General Election that has the potential – I’ll put it no higher than that – to change most of this. I’m disenfranchised here, by the way, by virtue of my having secured a postal vote, sent to our Swedish address, when I, and most of my compatriots I gather, assumed that the election wouldn’t come before the autumn. If Labour loses North Hull by one vote I’ll be mortified. But even as a non-participant it will be exciting to witness it, in a sporting kind of way: which is how all our British elections are treated by the press (‘Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out’: King Lear); and to witness what is predicted to be the total annihilation of this criminal Tory government. Or does that sound too much like Schadenfreude?

This morning the media debate is centred on Nigel Farage’s claim in a TV interview that Russia’s Ukraine invasion was ‘provoked’ by the expansionary policies of the EU and NATO; which was the sort of excuse (or one of them) trotted out by Hitler before World War Two. It has been roundly condemned in the media. But as it happens, and however much I revile the awful Farage generally, I think there’s some truth in it. I’ve not checked back, but I believe I’ve raised in previous blogs and books over the past ten years my fears that EU and NATO enlargement (‘imperialism’?) could be seen by Russia as threats, with possible dire consequences. Of course that’s no excuse for Putin, as it wasn’t for Hitler; but in the case of nations playing these old-fashioned ‘superpower’ games, it’s a factor to be taken into account.

And it can be seen as another way – Farage’s line of reasoning, that is – in which Moscow could influence British politics; in addition to all the Russian money that has poured into the Tory Party’s coffers, and the cyber attacks that have their origin there, or there-abouts. (Has that inquiry into ‘Russian influence’ on Brexit ever been published, or even completed?) Brexit was obviously to Russia’s advantage; which takes care of the ‘cui bono’ argument there.

Incidentally, and as I’ve mentioned before: in the recent EU elections (where I did vote) Sweden and the other Nordic countries went against the general Rightist trend in the rest of Europe, with the Reds and Greens gaining votes, and the populist and proto-Fascist Sverigedemokraterna falling back. I’ve never been more certain than I am now that I was right to acquire my (dual) Swedish citizenship. I can hardly wait to get back to normality and decency; hopefully in about a month.