Danskcolin: Thursday April 9th 2026 "Is YOUR doctor always frank with you, i.e. absolutely no 'sugar-coating' of the sometimes unpalatable?"

Yes, Friends, is YOUR doctor always frank with you, no matter the gravity of the diagnosis? And most important of all, does he never 'sugar-coat' sometimes unpalatable health-facts, and really face up to the sometimes horrible truth?

Local physician Dr Peter Grimes has an impeccable record on this front, according to this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire! Just turn to page 94, if you want 'chapter and verse' (!).

Poor Grimes!!!! But at the same time, "Kudos!" for facing up to the truth on this issue, which was nice!

And, here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, Grimes's heart-warming story brings a bit of a knowing smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois , as we embark on our near-daily walk, which today takes us over nearby Old Man's Lowsley's Farm, where we're also regaled by numerous birdsongs, not to mention the quiet "yeeeeearmm!!!" of a passing TUI Airways flight from London's Gatwick Airport to Montego Bay, Jamaica, filling our thoughts with dreams of faraway tropical beaches, which is exciting!

And please note mine and Lois's delightfully light-to-lightish attire in our pictures this morning, as we take advantage of the slightly raised temperatures: Lois even dispenses with her coat, while I am wearing my so-called 'summer jacket', with only one pullover underneath instead of the usual three - call us crazy 'madcaps' if you want to !!!!

Doctors and medical services are very much on mine and Lois's minds this morning, as we've just witnessed one of the traditional signs of spring - our annual spring 'Covid jab' invite, which is nice!

(left) our COVID-jab invite, and (right) flashback to April 2023, as Lois and I queue up

behind a bunch of other 'old codgers' to get our own personal springtime 'shot in the arm' (!)

Nevertheless, it's certainly good news that we haven't "dropped off" the NHS lists of older patients, and they're not abandoning us just because I myself have turned 80, and Lois's own 80th birthday is just a couple of months away!

And there's more potential good news reaching us later today, with an email from Tunde, our Hungarian penfriend, reminding us about Hungary's forthcoming General Election this coming Sunday. Liberals are hoping that the country's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his far-right Fidesz party will finally, after 26 years, be unceremoniously "turfed out" at the polls. Hungary is a country Lois and I visited a number of times in the 1990's and 2000's, and it's a country of which we both have fond memories.

flashback to 2002: (left) Lois (56) with Tunde, our Hungarian penfriend, when we visited

her Budapest flat, and (right) the lovely Union Jack cake she baked in our honour

US Vice-President JD Vance flew into Budapest this week to bolster support for the current Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

At one point, while standing at a podium addressing an audience there yesterday, Vance took his phone out of his pocket to ring President Trump in person, so that his Hungarian audience could hear Donald's voice, encouraging them to vote for Orban. Apparently there was an amusing moment when the White House appeared to reject Vance's call, although Donald finally 'picked up', when Vance persisted, so happy ending there!

(left) US Vice-President JD Vance, at the podium in Budapest, Hungary, attempting

to call his boss Donald Trump, a call initially rejected by the White House,

and (right) opinion polls still predicting a win for the opposition Tisza Party,

in the Hungarina elections set for Sunday April 12th

Opinion polls are still predicting a victory for the opposition Tisza party, so we'll have to see what happens on Sunday - watch this space!

Viktor Orban, the current Hungarian Prime Minister, has used his 26 years in office, not just to enrich himself and his family, and all his 'cronies', but also to establish more and more control over the public media there, and to bend electoral rules in favour of his own party.

Hungary's Prime Minister for the last 26 years, Viktor Orban, and his

so-called "modest" family estate, once owned by Europe's royal Hapsburg family

Orban still has a bit of a way to go, however, to catch up with the Chinese in this regard, as Lois and I are reminded tonight, watching the third and final part of TV adventurer Ben Fogel's new series on the country, to put it mildly!!!!

the western sky as seen from our living-room this evening, as Lois and I

settle down on the couch to watch Ben Fogel's final programme about China today

During this final programme in the series Ben visits Hong Kong and talks to a brave local journalist Lam Yin-Pong. Lam reminds Ben that when the UK handed over the former British colony to Beijing back in 1997, the Chinese agreed to keep the colony's UK-style freedoms - freedom of speech, independent courts, free elections, political comment and satire etc - for the following 50 years, although most of that came to an end within about 5 years or so of the handover.

So much for Beijing's promises!!!!

flashback to July 1997: the UK hands Hong Kong back

to China after 156 years of colonial rule

But Beijing's real crackdown on Hong Kong began in 2019 after mass demonstrations, when 10,000 protesters were jailed, including many of Lam's colleagues in the newspaper business, accused of distributing "inappropriate" articles.

And Hong Kong is now just a police state, like the rest of China.