ZELLA COMPTON: Trump rewinding time is just like a dystopian novel

Otherwise you’ll sink into despair with all the stories of allegedly Photoshopped hands, the numbers of people marching for and against inaugurations and rights and of course, willy-nilly travel bans on Muslim countries.

Of course I’m talking about Donald Trump and his unbelievable assault on the world as we know it.

I can’t quite fathom the speed with which he is rewinding time and how he is getting away with it. It’s reminding me of a dystopian novel – one where a mad despot takes charge and proclaims that the world is something that it entirely isn’t and puts into place measures which then create his twisted reality.

We all know that at the start of any project there are teething problems. Room bookings that go amiss, someone not being in the right place at the right time, someone else muddling their e-mail address so not everyone gets the same agenda.

But never have I witnessed as catastrophic start to something as what’s going on at the White House.

How is it possible that the so-called leader of the free world can cause such utter and complete confusion?

Where are the checks and balances which say hang on, we’re not ruled by the wild spewing of executive orders, we’re governed by process.

And process says that we need to do A and B before we can contemplate Z. But Trump has jumped to Z , so sure of making good his promises to those people who voted for him that he hasn’t considered how to make them happen.

It reminds me a little of our own unelected prime minister, who is busy strutting around the world announcing this, that and the other about our country without bothering to tell us, the people who live here, first.

The ones whose lives are very much affected by Brexit and Trump and everything else that is crashing down around us. In a choice between Trump and Europe, how many now would choose to remain with the latter? Reflect on that with your media-free hour.

I CAN’T BEGIN TO IMAGINE THE PAIN OF THESE POOR PARENTS

Awful news emerged from Germany earlier this week when six teenagers were found dead in a garden shed.

They’d been partying and early reports suggest that the cause of death is suspected to be carbon monoxide poisoning from a wood stove.

My heart goes out to the families involved.

I cannot begin to imagine the pain of the parents, losing their children in such a seemingly innocuous way.

We have two garden sheds, one built specifically for our children’s use (designed to get them out of the house while partying) and had been planning to add heating eventually.

Learning from others’ mistakes is crucial in life, it’s just that this mistake is such a terrible one to have to learn from.

WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY ARE WE IF THIS PRODUCT IS NECESSARY?

I was horrified to see a video demonstrating anti-rape pants.

I spent a while considering if these were a joke and had to conclude that no, in 2017, there is actually a company that thinks women should be wearing self-imposed chastity belts.

I’m sure that, if this is real, the intentions are good.

But, seriously, what kind of society are we if this is the sort of thing that a company thinks we need?

Where are the campaigns teaching boys not to rape? Teaching men to keep their hands and their genitalia to themselves?

I am sick of reading about women taking care.

It’s time that lad culture was taken in hand by the real men, the ones who would never dream of committing a crime such as rape.