Where, when, who... and the Holiday Psalms!

Holidays frazzle my brain. And this is before I book a ight or pack a bag. e frazzling starts with three words: Where? When? Who?

First o where will we go?

Somewhere hot? Yes. But not too hot. And where’s that? Do we go somewhere we’ve been before? Where we can drop the bags and make a beeline for the bar. Or pool. Or beach. Or do we go somewhere new where you waste a whole half day familiarising yourself with the place?

hen there is: When? When do we go? Certainly not high season when prices are sky-high and everywhere is packed with pesky tourists, lashing into lager and lolling noisily about in the pool. Autumn maybe but the mercury might be dropping; springtime and the mercury mightn’t be rising. Winter?

Nah. Winter’s for hot whiskeys and nights by the re –in the pub.

Finally there is Who?

Who do we travel with:

Aer Lingus? Ryan Air? And who should we book with?

Booking.com? Or should we let the local tourist o ce do it all for us? Or do we go the DIY route where you spend all day, and the next, scouring ights and hotels, till your brain is frazzled and Tramore seems appealing. Oh, and when we’ve resolved the where, when and who, there’s the following to contend with: e Holiday Psalms

Spare us, O Lord

From security checks at leave us half-naked And nervous wrecks Spare us from baggage at goes astray

To Bonn or Berlin

But not where we stay.

Spare us, O Lord

From ‘Flight Delayed’ And hanging about Till we’re frazzled and frayed Spare us from ights at NEVER take o And leave us stranded In La Paz or Lowestoft!

Spare us, O Lord From in- ight food at’s totally tasteless Chewy and crude Spare us from ights at run out of booze at run into turbulence Or worse still – blow a fuse!

Spare us, O Lord

From babes on our plane, Not some buxom blonde Or dishy dame, But tiny things at holler so loud You’d parachute out If one was allowed.

Spare us, O Lord

From mosquito bites ( e little feckers) And other mites at feast on our Celtic, snow-white esh Marinated in booze And juicy and fresh.

Spare us, O Lord From the ‘neighbours from hell’ Who grunt and groan And scream and yell

Spare us from these Dear God above

‘Cause they’re not ghting ey’re making love!

Spare us, O Lord

From the taxi fare at rips us o And drives us spare

Spare us from waiters

Who smirk and grin

Who hate our guts And water our gin.

Lord spare us from wine at’s cheerful and cheap And leaves us hung over For one full week

Save us from grub

Not quite cordon-bleu at has us sprinting To the leu!

Spare us, O Lord

From torrential rain

In golden, blue-sky Sun-kissed Spain!

Spare us, I beg From TOO MUCH sun at leaves us bright pink

On our back and bum.

Lord spare us from Swine Flu Bird Flu and Sars And rickety, run-down Rented cars

Spare us from petty-crooks Swindlers and scams

From lager-louts. oafs And loud hoolig-ans!

Spare us, O Lord

From cultural stu : Trips to museums And guides full of gu . Spare us from castles And ‘ruins’ roundabout To be honest, Lord ey wear me out. And help us, Lord e Prigozhin-led revolt was unprecedented new ground for the Russian leader, who had until then been able to quickly put down the previous unarmed protests.

To nd a good pub at shows the Big Match And serves decent grub Where there’s bonhomie, craic And banter toujours Do that for us, Lord And all the rest we’ll endure!

Despite a last-minute apparent ‘change of heart’ by mercenary leader Yevgeby Prigozhin, the armed rebellion by Prigozhin, a former Putin ally who founded the Wagner private militia group, was widely seen as the biggest threat to the Russian president’s 23-year grip on power.

“Putin has imprisoned and assassinated people for far less than what Prigozhin has done to him,” said Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group, the political risk thinktank.

“It’s inconceivable to me that Putin will allow him to live any longer than is absolutely necessary.” is Prigozhin-led revolt was unprecedented new ground for Putin, who had until then been able to swiftly put out the occasional unarmed protest. e Wagner mutineers – estimated to number 25,000 – got within 200 kilometres from the capital of Moscow before their leader made the abrupt announcement to abort the mission.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the episode exposed “cracks” in the Kremlin that was not previously seen.

Prigozhin is “kind of dead man walking at this point,” Bremmer said on Squawk Box Asia. “I would be very surprised that he’s still with us in a few months’ time,” he said.

“Putin has imprisoned and assassinated people for far less than what Prigozhin has done to him,” Ian Bremmer e account o ers clues into why Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin may have abruptly called o his mutinous march just hours before reaching the Russian capital late Saturday. e Telegraph did not name the speci c Wagner leaders whose families were allegedly threatened and it was not possible to independently verify the report’s claims.

According to report in London’s Daily Telegraph, Russian intelligence agencies made threats to harm the families of Wagner mercenary group leaders as the group marched on Moscow. In its report the paper cited anonymous UK security sources for its reporting..

“It has also been assessed that the mercenary force had only 8,000 ghters rather than the 25,000 claimed and faced likely defeat in any attempt to take the Russian capital,” the newspaper wrote.

Chechen leader and loyal Kremlin ally Ramzan Kadyrov had suggested that family business disputes may have in part in uenced Prigozhin to launch his high-stakes stando with the Russian military.

“A chain of failed business deals created a lingering resentment in the businessman, which reached its peak when