Welcome to my podcast channel. For this exposé on what I think is America's crumbling democracy I'm delighted to be joined by my good friend the Rt Hon Norman Baker. Norman was our MP here in Lewes, England for 18 years. Since leaving Parliament he has been a commentator on a whole range of public affairs appearing on TV and publishing a number of books.

Background notes:

It's difficult to keep track of Trump's anti-democratic actions since he took office for the second term last year in January 2025. First of all, it's the attack on immigrants who have probably lived for decades in the United States by the ICE, heavily armed troopers right throughout the USA.

Then we have the threat to make Canada the 51st state of the USA, which was resoundingly batted off by the excellent Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. But it goes on with Trump threatening to take over Greenland, the illegal regime change in Venezuela, even though that country operated a virtual dictatorship under Maduro. Trump may boast he has brought peace to the Gaza Strip, but what about the more than one million people who are left homeless and the almost total destruction of all buildings and homes in Gaza? Then as like a bolt out of the blue, Trump decides to initiate a war with Iran, which has left many hundreds of people dead or possibly even thousands. And now we hear he is blockading Cuba, preventing oil supplies from getting through. This now is making the situation desperate for millions of civilians in Cuba.

Visit my website for more podcasts and articles - a space where the past meets the present, and where I try to use my experience and travels to bring history, places to life. Enjoy my travels by train and bicycle on trips through England, France and beyond. Check out my thoughts on current affairs and climate change, - some serious and some I hope you will find informative. Join me in these conversations across time and place; past and present.

Ukraine enters the winter of 2026 facing severe strategic vulnerability due to intensified Russian missile attacks on its energy grid and highly volatile U.S. satellite and intelligence support. This could be a critical stage for Ukraine without the satellite coverage it could break the country. With President Donald Trump getting closer to Russian President Putin, the Ukrainian people's future freedom is on a knife edge. Whether or not the Democrats take the US senate or not Trump will remain the Commander Chief of US Armed Forces and thus able to control Ukraine's Future. If he gets any closer to put in the Free World will have a serious problem on its hand and Ukraine could face devastation.

UK MP James McCleary visited Ukraine earlier this year. I was lucky enough to interview him about his visit to Odessa which has been severely damaged in recent weeks by Russian missiles.

James MacCleary’s visit was linked with his attendance at the Black Sea Security Forum 2026, held at Odesa, Ukraine, in May 2026. Attendees included: international military personnel, analysts, lawmakers, and experts to address regional resilience, defence capabilities, and geopolitical strategy.

No Planet B

We re-release this 2026 podcast just as the UK government approved the controversial Jackdaw gas field in theNorth Sea owned by Shell and Equinor is predicted to generate between up to 36 million tonnes of CO₂ (CO₂e) over its 11-year operational lifetime. The opening up of this gas field will not change the price of gas as it is traded on the open market. UK natural gas prices currently stands at 214 pence per therm, - its highest level in almost four years

BUT! There are alternative!

In this episode we are looking at some of the challenging issues of our time. None the least is “how do we provide the energy for industry commerce and for domestic purposes without having to buy gas or oil on the global market”?

I think we're now all aware that because of the war between the USA and Iran fossil fuels are just not getting out to supply the traditional methods of energy generation to countries around the world. Gas prices have surged significantly since the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. by roughly 44% over the past year. Petrol and diesel prices have shot up at the pumps and food prices are rapidly increasing in the supermarkets.

The UK is making progress on energy generation From renewable sources but the UK still relies upon natural gas. 22% of our energy mix from power stations comes from natural gas. As of early 2026, Also, approximately 23 million homes in the UK still rely on natural gas for heating and hot water, accounting for roughly 85% of all residential households. Since oil and natural gas are priced internationally the UK is highly vulnerable to the sort of situation we see in the Middle East. Renewable energy presents an ideal opportunity to make us independent of international fuel price fluctuations. Wind and solar are doing a great job but the problem is they may generate electricity at times when we don't want it. Oil and gas can be stored in terminals close to where it is imported but we haven't solved the problem of “how do we store electricity and provide peak demand”?

The massive rise in gas and oil prices has made it more urgent to switch to an energy source where the price is outside our governments control.

We've already proven that we can generate masses of energy from wind and solar. the government has for some time being contemplating how we solve the problem of Long-term energy storage (LTES), for storing surplus energy from renewable sources

The obvious solution you may say is to provide battery storage. But there are other methods of providing stored energy. In this podcast we're not going to try and cover them all.

With the help of our special guest Brian Darling we are going to look at pumped storage hydropower. Brian Darling is a chartered civil engineer and hydropower specialist and he has his own consultancy Darling Hydro Ltd. He has worked in Nepal, Pakistan, Georgia, Turkey and in a number of countries across Africa In the UK he has worked with such companies as Mott MacDonald.

⁠Visit my website⁠ for more podcasts and articles - a space where the past meets the present, and where I try to use my experience and travels to bring history, places to life. Enjoy my travels by train and bicycle on trips through England, France and beyond. Check out my thoughts on current affairs and climate change, - some serious and some I hope you will find informative. Join me in these conversations across time and place; past and present.