UPDATE:
Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, we will have to postpone today's Q&A
Yes, it's me! Mark Steyn of that ilk - and not dead yet, despite the combined efforts of GB News management, the DC Superior Court and the University of Vermont Medical Center. For the moment, I am just about compos mentis to conduct another midweek edition of our Clubland Q&A, live around the planet at 3pm North American Eastern - which is 8pm British Summer Time/9pm Central European. If you chance to be elsewhere, do check local listings below.
Tomorrow is the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, which seems a rather diminished occasion from the seventieth, and not just because there are far fewer veterans still with us. The "world leaders" jetting in are an unimpressive bunch - and it is odd that the Prince of Wales will be representing the King at the main international ceremony: there is at least the implication in that decision that His Majesty's health issues are more serious than we have been told.
Still, I'm happy to talk about how stand the allies of World War Two eight decades on. But, if that's too depressing, let me know whatever else is on your mind today, and I'll give it my best. As you know, we've eliminated all the music from the show, so we have more time to talk about Mitch McConnell or, alternatively, Larry Hogan. How thrilling is that?
~As many of you know, The Mark Steyn Club turned seven last month. I thank all our First Month Founding Members who graciously decided to sign on for an eighth year, and hope our tardier joiners will wish to do the same in days ahead. But, if you'd like to express your satisfactions or dissatisfactions with our Club seven years on, you're more than welcome.
I'm also up for any questions on my continuing legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic - in the sewer of DC "justice", and against the UK state censor Ofcom in the English High Court in just six days' time. Many listeners have asked how they can support one or other or both of these free-speech lawsuits. There are several ways:
a) signing up a friend for a Steyn Club Gift Membership;
b) buying a near-and-dear one a SteynOnline gift certificate; or
c) ordering a copy of my latest book, The Prisoner of Windsor (you won't regret it, says Kathy Gyngell).
~Whether or not you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club, you can listen to our Clubland Q&A live as it happens wherever you chance to be on this turbulent earth: Club membership is required only to ask a question. At the start of this eighth year, we cherish all the founders of our Club, but we also love to hear from brand new members. Among the additions to our ranks in recent days are newbies from around the globe - from Toronto to Tunbridge Wells; Cave Creek to the Cotswolds; Bigfoot, Montana to Manly, New South Wales. Whether you've joined this week either for a full year or a see-how-it-goes experimental quarter do shoot me a head-scratcher for today's show.
But, if you're not interested in joining, no worries, as they say in Oz: We seek no unwilling members - and as always the show is free to listen to, so we hope you'll want to tune in. So see you back here at 3pm North American Eastern - which is 8pm in London, 9pm in Paris, 10pm in Jerusalem; half-past-ten in Teheran; midnight-forty-five in Kathmandu; 3am in Singapore and Honkers (sorry about that); 5am in Sydney and Melbourne; 7am in Auckland, and a rather more convivial hour for the kippers and kedgeree in His Majesty's Dominions eastward across the Pacific, where you're so far ahead I've probably already lost my appeal by now...
