As in Scotland, noxious Trump will be defeated

It really doesn’t get any crazier than that.

It would surely take a ten-year study to understand the failures of the American education system that have resulted in tens of millions of people unable to see that Donald Trump is a dangerous bag of noxious gases.

As with the Brexit vote no amount of theories that the “people left behind in society” are bloodying the nose of the establishment can justify a failure to see a king-sized con when it stands in front of us.

But that is for another day for now dear readers I bring you a tale of hope, of David defeating Goliath, of principle overcoming power.

At its centre is a small holder called Michael Forbes who lives in what might be best described as a ramshackle house in Aberdeenshire surrounded by a plush new golf course.

The golf course is owned by, yes you got there before me, Donald Trump.

I was working at The Scotsman when the businessman flew in to Scotland to announce the building of the course with an entourage that would have wowed an African despot, and saw quite a bit of this close up.

Space doesn’t permit me to tell the full story here save to say that Forbes has withstood a ferocious monstering by The Donald after refusing to sell his land to the developer to give the posh golfers a bit more space and avoid them having

to look at the “eyesore” dwelling.

Forgetting that Forbes had lived in his smallholding all his life and was rather fond of his home Trump went in for merciless bullying saying Forbes and his family lived like “pigs”.

Other nearby landowners who refused to move had had piles of earth and huge evergreens built all around them.

Trump had already built part of the course over sand dunes that were a Site of Special Scientific Interest thanks to the supine attitude adopted by the Scottish Government, local authority and even some local journalists. Many of these

are even now regretting their shameful part in this story.

But here’s the great thing. The angrier Trump got the more phlegmatic Forbes became in

the way typical of Scottish east coasters.

The New Yorker simply could not believe that some would not bend the knee or be taken in by his bluster.

While he claimed Scottish ancestry through his mother he clearly had no understanding of Scotland’s painful history of land grabs like the Highland Clearances which made folk heroes of

evicted crofters.

In 2012 an 18-hole golf course was opened and Trump was awarded Scotsman of the Year which he accepted wearing a kilt.

But the tide had begun to turn. More people saw the vulgarity at the heart of the project and the man behind it.

Opinion swung away from him and Aberdeen was never to see the promised second golf course, luxury conference centre, research centre and few of the 6,000 jobs Trump had boasted of creating.

Later the same year Forbes won the Spirit of Scotland Top Scot award sponsored by whisky Glenfiddich. Trump banned Glenfiddich from his hotels in retaliation. He had irrefutably lost.

I can’t believe Local Hero filmmaker Bill Forsythe hasn’t already contacted Robert De Niro’s agent to sign him up to play Forbes. Judging by the actor’s video rant against the Republican candidate which went viral this week I suspect he’d play him for free.

I think this little story is worth holding on to as the world has one of its lurches into insanity. There are still enough Michael Forbes out there to put the globe back on its axis again.

When looking to take friends from out of town to somewhere quintessentially Brighton I always have a bit of a panic and then remember The Marwood (extra marks for Withnail reference there) coffee shop in Ship Street.

While the tourists always cram out neighbouring joints they often miss this funky little tucked away gem which takes kitsch to a higher plain (space invader machines, bits of mannequins on wall, garishly lit garden etc)  while serving lovely

food and excellent coffee.

I’d be interested to hear of other places readers think sums the city up. Perhaps we can start a poll.