Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and the New Year

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and the New Year.

This was always the time of the year when most of us looked forward to the New Year rather than looking back to those far off days from yesteryear. Then we discover or become aware of those passing years which seem to fly past us without ever pausing for breath and just expressing our eternal gratitude for every single day, month, week and year. Our mental and physical health assumes a huge significance and although we take things for granted, we can never be quite sure where life might take us. 

So where are we now? At long last we can also feel the first tentative signs of peace in both the Israel Hamas war and yesterday the Ukraine- Russia conflict. There is a sense here of gentle progress and the first flickering candles of world peace. The idealist in you and for those who cling onto Utopian thinking as a means of  peaceful relations with each other, this could be the right time to get out the party clothes. 

Yesterday, USA president Donald Trump was at his grandstanding best, forever the showman, exhibiting such narcissistic behaviour that you were half inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. So what if Trump believes that he's the best thing sliced bread because the vanity and vaingloriousness remain a fundamental part of his character. He appeared at an event where he knew his ego would be suitably massaged and he loves to have his tummy tickled.

Whatever you may think of Trump he just gets on with the business in an honest, serious thinking way, not so much  a distinguished statesman more a hilarious comedian who just adores the applause, the adulation, the back slapping and invariably thinks of himself as the saviour of the universe. He walked onto the stage convinced that world domination had been achieved and smiled at his audience rather like some saintly figure who can never do anything wrong. 

The discussion yesterday revolved around our friends in Ukraine although not so much President Putin of the stern, disciplined, every so slightly military Russia. We are now approaching that critical turning point where everything that could go wrong may just go right. Putin is still digging in his heels with the most unrepentant words and insisting that only Russia have won this pointless war and that's final. So we're moving in the right direction and perhaps even Putin can see light at the end of this very dark tunnel. 

But Trump stood next to President Zelensky of Ukraine like a man who suddenly realises that this is his greatest achievement since becoming President for the second time. Not only does he think he deserves the Nobel Peace prize but he believes it should come into his possession as soon as possible. So there can be an argument on that point. And yet it still feels as though Donald Trump cuts a farcical figure, a man of  many grandiose statements about everything we may think are obvious. He still looks the most smartly dressed man in the building but you do worry when the words and sentences start tumbling out quite rapidly. 

For the first time since that ill fated encounter earlier on this year, Trump looked Zelensky in the eye and, as if completely oblivious of that verbal bloodbath, thanked Zelensky for his co-operation and sense of fair play and promised to be friends for ever. It was time to be buddies, mutual acquaintances and forget the poison and vitriol that might have passed between them and get on with the future. There is no time to waste and, admittedly, it does look hunky dory and harmonious or half way there.  

And so the day proceeded with just a hint of agreement and compromise in the air. You can never be entirely sure what any  blustering leader of their country might have in store for us. Putin has, up until his point, kept his diplomatic counsel, a man who looks threatening every so often but in real time is probably a pussycat. The domineering and dictatorial in him  flares up like a firework and we all seem to panic when he informs us of his evil intentions. But then Putin denies emphatically the charge that he just wants to start a Third World War because Europe doesn't bother him.

What seems to be Putin's problem is the rest of the world. In Putin's estimation, Donald Trump is a big old softie, tolerable, harmless and inoffensive. Putin can live with Trump without necessarily agreeing with him. So then Trump gets all hot and bothered with Putin and then they make up within the next week. Trump then does his regular round of aeroplane driven interviews before returning back to the White House for a gentle swig of Bourbon, another awkward looking signature and some earnest and well intentioned sessions of soundbites. 

The trouble is that Trump occasionally drifts off into some incomprehensible land of well meaning comments on the events of the day and then complains that he's been totally misquoted. It's fake, the most horrendous fallacy, completely untrue and grossly exaggerated. So he then lashes out at investigative journalists who happened to be female and wonders why everybody keeps turning against him.  Mr President can never seem to get it right because the tactless side of his personality just detests anybody who questions his pearls of wisdom.  

And so as we head into a brand New Year and we're all poised to gather on the final day of 2025. In front of you is the London Eye which turns a whole spectrum of colours . The River Thames, which has been there since the year dot, awaits its yearly revellers, in a jolly mood, happily tipsy and drunk on life. It used to be Trafalgar Square years ago but health and safety soon saw that idea scuppered. Now the Thames, that vast stretch of water that takes thousands of tourists on pleasure cruises along the river, will become overwhelmed with Auld Lang Syne choristers.

They will huddle by the Embankment, squeezed together somewhat claustrophobically it has to be said before belting out those rousing New Year songs. And then we'll all link hands wherever we may be and you'll be heartily congratulated on that new coat you've just bought in John Lewis in London's West End. And then that iconic moment of the year resounds almost timelessly across London. Big Ben, arguably the most impressive clock in the world, chimes twelve times in a way which may have been customary but has still been observed and anticipated since time immemorial.

So if you're at 10 Downing Street, the White House and Kremlin or any corner of the globe, it's time to wish you the happiest, healthiest and most peaceful New Year. There is a sense that the more traditional moments in our lives are somehow a given and perhaps lost in a fog of obscurity. But our fondest wish is for a permanent world peace. There has to be a complete cessation of warfare, hatred and hostility towards our fellow human being. We have to be kinder, gentler and more understanding with just an enormous helping of compassion. This is our life and it'll always be sweet and precious. Have a brilliant 2026 everybody.