Omar's Diary for Sunday 8th July 2018

Dressage - Royal Acot - Glorious Goodwood - Jay Rayner - Servant Trump - Free Trade - Football

Quite a few of you already linked to Lady and Man Servant on social media will have seen by now that Man Servant came first yesterday on the equine named Benney in a dressage competition yesterday.  They are all rather pleased with themselves at this success

The last diary I published was for the final day of Royal Ascot for which I never received my official invite.  Without any assistance from Man Servant or resorting to the tried and tested litter tray method involving the scatological services of Mitsie I actually finished the festival with a profit of four Dreamies.  Yes, four whole Dreamies which may not sound like a lot but it is four less Dreamies for the servants known as turf accountants to keep.

A profit is a profit and this minor profit is going to be what economists call ‘deferred expenditure’ or as it is more commonly known ‘savings’.  Sadly investment rates of return are so low at the moment that when I take my next tilt at the servant turf accountants my four Dreamies will not have accumulated any interest and will still only be ‘four Dreamies’.

As the heat accumulates today Man Servant and I have been reading our favourite Sunday paper, The Observer. 

Going straight to the magazine section we enjoy reading servant Jay Rayner’s food and drink articles.  Yes, they are about places where the servant species go to eat called ‘restaurants’ but what Man Servant enjoys more is the use of the English language.  The words in these articles make phrases that grab our attention.  They have sharp elbows.  Usually in the first sentence as with today’s article which starts with ‘Having a long history is not the same as being good’. 

I would beg to differ on this in respect of my lineage but I do understand the underlying sentiment.

Having salivated over a review of the ‘Ugly Dumpling’ Man Servant and I turned to the news of the weekend.

I understand that servant Trump is coming to this country over the next seven days.  I understand that he is 72 years old in servant terms. That probably makes him an example of ‘having a long history not being the same as being good’. 

It is precisely an economy based on free trade between nations and entrepreneurial ship that has allowed servant Trump to accumulate immense wealth.  Although in the run up to his election as President there were several reports circulating that through his enterprises and abilities to strike deals the family wealth has not performed as well as if it had been left to look after itself.  So, he may really not be that good at seizing the correct opportunities.

Apologies for my digression.

My point is that servant Trump has imposed barriers to free trade for imports to his own country. He is in fact going to cause immense damage to the very industries he was trying to protect and to his fellow servants who are going to have to pay more now in July 2018 than in June 2017 for goods imported into their country.  I wonder if they import Dreamies for their felines?  The trade deficit in 2017 was $810 billion which in my terms of reference is an awful lot of Dreamies.  More than I could ever make with my racing selections.

The harm to his own servants will manifest itself when retaliatory tariffs are imposed by countries that are the destinations for American exports. 

I may only be a feline who does spend most of his day in full repose but I do watch, listen and read and do know that what servant Trump has done with trade could be the start of a very dangerous and avoidable economic cycle.

The ‘Comment and Analysis’ section six pages leads with the story that a team has won a game of ‘football’ in a major competition.  Man Servant and I have watched some matches and really do have difficulty understanding the discipline during the game.  There are things that go on which are recorded on something called ‘VAR’ yet seem to go unpunished at the time the offence took place.  Neither of us can understand why with all of this modern technology such cheating cannot be dealt with retrospectively once evidence has been reviewed post-match? If such behaviour took place on the racecourse and was not seen at the time of the incident evidence would still be reviewed and if necessary, retrospective punishment would be meted out.

Man Servant came first yesterday in a competition and there is no mention of him in these opinion pages. Yet, a team of servants who may have won a match but not the entire competition take precedence over more serious matters such as BREXIT and servant Trump’s forthcoming visit.

Oh well, if members of the servant species have cause to celebrate collectively then I hope they can enjoy these events safely before the looming trade wars start to take effect.