The John Griff Column: A week can be a long time…

In politics – globally it was all about Donald J Trump with his confirmation as the preferred Republican candidate, the announcement of his choice of JD Vance to go on the ticket as potential Vice President, the overturning of charges about the holding of supposedly classified government files at DJT’s private Mar-A-Largo estate – and the astonishing assassination attempt on Trump’s life by 20 year-old nursing home kitchen worker Thomas Crooks while Trump was addressing a campaign rally ahead of the Republican party convention. That Crooks’ shot merely grazed Trump’s ear was miraculous enough – that a person was killed and another two critically injured was a tragic outcome underlining the would-be assassin’s disregard for the lives of those he wasn’t deliberately aiming at. At a range of almost 500 feet, Trump came remarkably close to losing his life. Merely turning his head slightly to read an autocue or addressing his audience might have been all it took to dodge the incoming bullet.

Despite his near-death incident, it seems to have turbo-charged Trump’s campaign via his supporters as much as the man himself. A new wave of pro-Trump positivity has broken in the last week and even as current POTUS Joe Biden was calling for calm and a peaceful presidential runoff, more and more people were becoming vocal in their support of the man who wants to see a second term at The White House. Before the assassination attempt the polls had had the Democrats and Republicans almost level in the ratings – how far the last week goes on to change things remains to be seen, but Trump himself seems to have risen above everything which might have otherwise dragged him down. Crooks’ actions with a rifle might, perversely, prove to be significant catalysts to Trump’s return to the most powerful job in the world, if, indeed, it happens. Trump has proven himself to be a fighter as much as he is a deal maker, even if he has unorthodox tendencies as a politician. Strength and fighting spirit track strongly in the US – strength equates to power and power is good for Uncle Sam.

Of course, the various departments of the FBI, CIA and local law enforcement are all now engaged in a fierce round of ‘it wasn’t me’ as to where the blame should lie for the lack of security which enabled Crooks to get himself into a position to take his shots in the first place. Apparently seen by a number of people who tried to alert others to the danger, but too late to prevent the trigger being pulled, investigations will continue for some time. You can bet your bottom dollar that security surrounding both Trump and Biden will have been reviewed and tightened in light of recent events though. And the election circus rolls on…

Closer to home, the last week saw English footballing hopes raised to stratospheric levels yet again – and dashed yet again on the field of dreams as Spain won the 2024 Euros in Germany. In truth and on the night, Spain looked to be worthy winners with a style of play that exposed England’s deficiencies too many times. Mercifully it was all over within the 90 minutes of normal play, and we were all spared the agony of a tournament decided on penalties. For all that though, I really don’t think anyone should be too hard on either the England squad or Gareth Southgate as the now former Manager. Immediately after the game and also during his commentary, I felt that Alan Shearer in particular was overly critical of both. Shearer himself was briefly a manager – but not at national level. In 2008-2009 he took over at a sinking Newcastle – eight games later the club fell to relegation. True, it’s almost 60 years since England last lifted a major tournament trophy and true, England had been tipped to take this one. But that’s the problem with tips – they’re unreliable and Spain’s past form in being three-time champions made them the strongest of contenders for a quartet of wins. Just as Alcaraz deposed Djokovic on Centre Court in London, Spain prepared to lift another trophy on the same day in Berlin. Southgate’s confirmation of his resignation as the nation’s football manager on Tuesday was as eloquent as it was gracious. In moving to prevent any potential for being sacked by the FA, he was able to live out King Charles’ encouragement that the entire squad should come home holding their heads high, despite returning to England without the title and trophy. The manager is the only one who doesn’t get to kick the ball and instead conducts the players much as a conductor conducts the musicians in an orchestra. The conductor’s instrument – the baton – stays resolutely silent. Only Sir Alf Ramsey went further as Manager with the national men’s side and for me the nation now has a debt to honour to Gareth Southgate – so I will be delighted if he gets a knighthood in due course. Thank you for all that you have done for the game here and for our raising our hopes once again, Gareth. We await your successor in due course – and maybe some new blood in the squad too.

So, what else of the past seven days? In domestic politics there’s been upheaval in Wales with First Minister and Labour Leader Vaughan Gething being ousted after four of his own cabinet ministers resigned from working with him. Other leaders within the union of Great Britain said what needed to be said and the political merry-go-round continued to revolve. Mercifully nobody got shot – it’s something we just don’t do here. There could be a Senedd election to come though. All of this will have been of interest to a former Prince of Wales who is now our monarch. Charles 3rd’s speech on Wednesday set out the legislative agenda for the recently installed new government – it now has its hands full to deliver everything that its manifesto promised, and time waits for nobody. There will be some fascinating debates to come as MPs get to grips with issues surrounding illegal migration, workers’ rights, housing, energy and the re-nationalisation of the railway network. The PM has already been to Washington – what of that ‘special’ relationship in the coming months?

A potentially pivotal week? Definitely – Home AND Away.