A royal baby could banish political blues

THE FRIDAY THING: SO what are you looking forward to with the most eager anticipation: the General Election or the arrival of a new child for Will and Kate?

At least the new arrival will take some of the publicity away from Nicola Sturgeon, who still has her eyes set on the prospect of a second referendum on independence for the Scots.

Ms Sturgeon is a formidable character who seems, at least to we English folk in the UK, to see herself as a sort of monarch in waiting, with aspirations to get rid of the English Parliament.

But in the Sturgeon v English politicians battle the people of Scotland seem persuaded they can finally overcome the enemies from the south - not least, perhaps, because of the lack of quality among English MPs.

Nicola has never failed to suggest that she could quite easily banish all those chaps who pose on the Westminster benches and would, in all probability, happily move away from the preening hordes not exactly loved or admired by many in England as well as Scotland.

Against all this talk of political upheaval and the rather dismal quality of the folk we are being asked to vote for in the next few days, perhaps a new-born baby for William and Kate and the birthday for our gracious Queen might just push matters political into the background.

And that is surely where they belong with folk from all sides pleading with one another not to vote for the likes of the Lib-Dems, UKIP and other fringe parties. Is anyone for a touch of democracy, do you think?



THE real horror story of the week has not been the state of British politics but the dreadful loss of life in huge numbers of folk who fled their unsafe and dangerous homeland in a collection of grossly unsuitable boats that sunk, drowning up to 1,000 people, adults and children.

The boats the traffickers used to take them away from the terror and murder at home were simply not suitable for the huge numbers of folk who jumped, clambered and scrambled aboard, believing they would be taken to safety.

Now we know the scale of the deaths of young and old alike, surely it is time we joined forces with other countries across Europe to provide a safety-watch service to prevent these horrors from recurring.

We, along with other nations cannot simply stand by and watch this carnage. The Italians have rescued 13,000 people in the last week as tens of thousands of refugees have left their homes, seeking a better life in other countries. But they are not supported and for far, far too many, escape is a death sentence.