Welcome back. After a long break it is time for this blog to return. So much has happened since it took early retirement that the alternatives for it were either to doze forever in a bungalow on the south coast or to rise up and take arms against the sea of troubles which beset this country and the world.
Writing a blog may not be much in the great scheme of things but this is no time to stay silent. The seismic events of the last few years will be recorded in history by bemused academics who won't be able to understand how such absurdities could have been inflicted on themselves by the most educated, knowledgeable generations the planet has seen. Cave men would have had more sense.
Now the British people are embarking on a general election which will inevitably lead to a government which will dismantle many of the gains of the past 70 years.
In the coming days and weeks, Follow My Leaders will have an abundance of riches to comment on. For today, let us start with something which goes to the core of why so much is going wrong. The quality of politicians, not just in this country, is so abysmally low that it is hardly surprising that we are governed so badly. Of course there are noble exceptions. Barack Obama, for one. But, without even considering the man who is trying to fill his shoes, look at the ministers and shadow ministers here who are entrusted with guiding us through the most difficult period in peace-time.
Theresa May is out of her depth and almost all her Cabinet are unintelligent, lazy and/or mindlessly dogmatic. Jeremy Corbyn's heart may be in the right place much of the time but his head is on another planet. He is so bad it is embarrassing and a delight to ruthless Tories who want to rule unchallenged forever.
I should here offer an apology to Sam Coates, the deputy political editor of The Times. Much as I respect his judgment, I was dismissive last year when he said there would be a snap general election. It couldn't happen, I insisted. At least, it could only happen under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act if Labour MPs voted to destroy their party. And they couldn't possible be that stupid, could they?
Well, they could, because their leader is a bear of little brain and huge ego. So now, even though I think Theresa May won't achieve the enormous majority she thinks she will, Labour is done for. Which means there will be no opposition as our treasured institutions are undermined and sold off to rapacious, mainly foreign, companies and the UK is driven off the proverbial cliff to slow destruction.
Of course, that is only if World War III doesn't break out first.