Life as we know it

I imagine that, as a rule of thumb, all ex-pats respond in their own manner to having removed themselves from the immediate orbit of the mother country. Some may well walk away with nary a backward glance. Others might occasionally have a look to see how the old country is making out. Those who have family and friends yet back home will doubtless get regular updates as to how things are going there…

…or they may be more like me and follow the news from home daily through one or more of the media sources – in my case primarily the BBC and the Guardian newspaper (online version).

I suspect that so doing has never been an entirely comfortable experience, but it seems to have been particularly tough in the six years that have elapsed since we crossed the pond. The Brexit referendum and subsequent long drawn-out shambles of a transition – the COVID-19 pandemic (in response to which the UK has contrived to perform worse than practically any other European country) – the repeated election of a government apparently spectacularly ill-equipped to deal with the tough challenges of this turbulent era…

At certain points I have been moved to post my own thoughts on the goings-on back home within these pages. Of late I have increasingly refrained from so doing, if for no reason other than an attempt to keep my blood pressure down.

The tragic assassination last weekend of Tory MP Sir David Amess, however, cannot go un-noted. For what it is worth we offer our deepest condolences to his family, friends and constituents.

It is only five years since the appalling murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in the run-up to the referendum and it is no surprise that questions were already being asked concerning the safety not only of those in public service but also of democracy itself. Of course, though such events are horrifying and unexpected, there is – in the UK and elsewhere – and long and ignoble history of attacks upon those holding public office. Is this period really worse in this regard than decades passed?

It may well prove to be the case that – in purely statistical terms – things have not really changed so much, but there have been other societal developments that are deeply worrying. The is no denying that the InterWebNet is a wonderful thing which has transformed lives in many ways. That it also has, however, dark sides cannot be disputed. There has been a dramatic rise in online abuse and in virtual attacks on individuals and institutions that may well be proved to be having a knock-on effect in the physical world.

On the BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme last Friday the Tory MP and Father of the House, Sir Peter Bottomley, talked of the increasing levels of online abuse with which he and other MPs of all parties now have to deal. He described how he had subsequently met some of those who posted such offensive missives, but who would not admit that there was anything wrong with having expressed themselves in such a manner.

This saddens me deeply. I find it hard to accept a world in which politeness and consideration do not primarily inform all of our dealings with others. It does not matter how strongly some belief or conviction is held – abuse is not an acceptable way to express one’s point of view. It does not surprise me that the casual disregard for facts, the truth and indeed logic displayed by some of those in the public eye has stoked a febrile climate of rumour, disinformation and suspicions of conspiracy – all of which feeds into this particular cesspit.

These are, as a result, dangerous times… and not just for the UK. The situation in the US is inevitably worse still and even in Canada – whose inhabitants as a whole have a reputation for being even more polite than us (old-fashioned) Brits – there are worrying signs of a decline.

I wish that I knew what might be done about this sad state of affairs. All I can think of immediately is to ensure that my behaviour to others accords with the manner in which I would wish them to behave to me.

R.I.P – Sir David Amess.