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Wonders will never cease

November 6, 2021 in Life in England | 2 comments

I made passing reference in my last post to an action taken very recently by the UK government that seemed to me – as it did to many others – to be fundamentally corrupt… and one which by its very nature would lead to a significant denigration of the UK’s much vaunted and centuries old democratic accountability.

As it turned out – however – the old saw about twenty four hours (other time measures available!) being a long time in politics proved most apt in this case.

It occurs to me that those outwith the UK might not be aware of this particular story. To that end I thought I might offer a quick catch up. Here we go:

  • Tory MP and ex-Northern Ireland secretary – Owen Paterson – was investigated by the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards after being accused of breaking the lobbying rules for MPs.
  • Paterson had been doing extremely well-remunerated consultancy work for several companies but had been accused of going further and actually lobbying government ministers on their behalf.
  • Following the investigation the commissioner found that Paterson had indeed been involved in a number of serious breaches of the code and recommended that parliament suspend the MP for 30 days – the which could have led to his being dropped by his constituency party, thus causing a by-election for his seat.
  • On the day that the case was to have been debated in the Commons the government did two highly contentious things: first – in an attack on the Commission for Parliamentary Standards – they proposed ditching that venerable body completely and replacing it with a new one that would actually be considerably less independent and would be chaired by a tory. Secondly – on the grounds that it would be unfair to judge Paterson before the new body had been instigated – the charges against him were to be set aside.
  • Prime Minister Johnson backed both motions heavily and spoke warmly in Paterson’s defence. A three-line whip was imposed on the vote which resulted in both measures being passed.
  • The opposition parties refused to have anything to do with the new body and even a good number of tories were horrified by this blatant attempt to change the rules retrospectively. One junior minister was sacked for abstaining rather than voting for the measures (though later re-instated).
  • That was the point at which I wrote my last post. What followed was much more encouraging – at least for those who are not supporters of the current regime in the UK.
  • The following morning there was a huge outcry and even the tory supporting press decided that things had gone too far. In the face of this wave of criticism it was announced in the house that the vote in favour of replacing the standards commission would be set aside after all.
  • Since there would now be no reason not to revert to the originally planned debate on Owen Paterson’s future Johnson did what he does best – betrayed his colleague and effectively threw Paterson under a bus – without even communicating the news of this abrupt U-turn to him. Paterson learned of the development through being asked a question by a reporter.
  • Having by this stage had enough Paterson finally did the decent thing and resigned

The entire episode spoke to sleaze and shoddy self-interest (Johnson himself is the subject of several inquiries by the commission) and I suspect this one will run for some time.

I cannot think of a more appropriate party to which this could happen.

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Déjà vu – again!

November 3, 2021 in Life as we know it | Permalink

I had an odd experience this evening…

I had just returned – on a dismal and dank November Wednesday evening – from  three hours teaching on the trot at the College. It was almost dark when I reached home and I was the first one back.

I made myself a cup of coffee – as is my habit upon returning home – and settled down with my iDevice to scan the headlines, to bring myself up to date with the goings on in the world.

Now – I was pretty tired… which may explain some of this – and I am getting on a bit… which may explain more.

I was scrolling down through the BBC website and happened upon a list of the ‘Most Read‘ news stories of the day. One of the items was the announcement of the death of Sir Sean Connery. As I studied the tributes I was overcome by emotion and my eyes filled with tears. This was clearly the end of an era.

At this point The Girl arrived home and immediately recognised that something was troubling me. Worried that I had had some bad news she quizzed me gently. I hastened to explain and to reassure her.

It took me yet a while more before the – “Hold on a minute!” – moment struck. Sean Connery died last year. I wrote an entry to this journal at the time. What was I thinking?

I hastened back to the BBC. Sure enough – at number seven in the list of ‘Most Read‘ news stories today was the item from last year announcing Connery’s death.

At a time when the nations of the world are gathered at COP26 in Glasgow in a (perhaps hopeless) attempt to save the world from climate change… in a period when the global COVID-19 pandemic threatens to burst forth anew across the globe… on a day when the US electorate have apparently forgiven and forgotten the GOP’s appalling behaviour over the past five years – on a day when the tory party in the UK has brazenly declared open season for corruption and sleaze in UK politics…

…the seventh most read story of the day was about the death of a film icon a year ago!

Most interesting!

Mind you – given how the story managed to affect me all over again a year on, perhaps that should not come as such a surprise.

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Home thoughts

October 19, 2021 in Life as we know it | Permalink

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.

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Reflector

February 27, 2021 in Life as we know it | Permalink

A very dear friend here in Victoria gave me for Christmas a copy of Bob Woodward’s 2020 book on Donald Trump – ‘Rage‘. This friend is building an excellent reputation for giving me thoughtful and imaginative gifts – particularly in the form of books that should be read – and this is no exception.

Now – some readers might well demur.

“Trump is gone – thank heavens!” – they may say. “Why would you not just consign all thoughts thereof to the dustbin of history?“.

The reason for not so doing, of course, is that one must always be on guard and must without fail be able to recognise the enemy. That Trump was elected in the first place is scary enough. That he might be so again – or that someone in his image could so do – is an ongoing, clear and present threat.

At one point in the book Woodward recalls an English professor at his college who advised him that – to be an effective biographer – the writer must find true ‘reflectors‘ of his subject – ie: those who know the subject intimately and can provide perceptive character assessments. Woodward toys with the notion of casting Jared Kushner (Trump’s son in law) in the role, but decides that he is too much in thrall to the man himself.

What changes his mind is advice that Kushner gives to unspecified others on how to understand Trump. He points them in the direction of four texts:

  • A piece on Trump by Pulizter Prize-winning columnist from the Wall Street Journal – Peggy Noonan. Noonan writes:

“We are not talking about being colorfully, craftily unpredictable, as political masters like FDR and Reagan sometimes were, but something more unfortunate – an unhinged or not fully-hinged quality that feels like a screwball tragedy.”

Noonan continues: “Crazy doesn’t last. Crazy doesn’t go the distance. Crazy is an unstable element that, when let loose in a stable environment, explodes.”

  • Kushner’s second text is ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ – and specifically the Cheshire Cat! Kushner paraphrased the cat:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there.”

  • The third text is Chris Whipple’s book – ‘The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency‘. In a section on Trump added in 2018 Whipple wrote that:

“Trump ‘clearly had no idea how to govern’ in his first year in office, yet was reluctant to follow the advice of his first two chiefs of staff – Reince Priebus and John Kelly“.

  • The final text is Scott Adam’s (the creator of the Dilbert comic strips) book – ‘Win bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter’. Adams argues that:

“Trump’s misstatements of fact are not regrettable errors or ethical lapses, but part of a technique called ‘intentional wrongness persuasion’… Trump ‘can invent any reality’ for most voters on most issues and ‘all you will remember is that he provided his reasons, he didn’t apologise and his opponents called him a liar like they always do’.”

Kushner adds:

“Controversy elevates message… A controversy over the economy – and how good it is – only helps Trump because it reminds voters that the economy is good. A hair-splitting fact-checking debate in the media about whether the numbers were technically better decades ago or in the 1950s is irrelevant“.

Remember that these are texts that Kushner – a fervent acolyte of the then-president – volunteered by way of trying to help others to understand Trump. Woodward concludes:

“When combined, Kushner’s four texts painted President Trump as crazy, aimless, stubborn and manipulative. I could hardly believe that anyone would recommend these as ways to understand their father-in-law, much less the president they believed in and served“.

We would be wise – to quote Thomas Cranmer – to: “Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest…“

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Dis-united

November 11, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

I most heartily wish not to be writing this post!

There are many other positive and interesting topics that I have scribbled on imaginary Post-It notes stuck to my fictional whiteboard… but I can’t concentrate on any of them at the moment because my head is full of anxiety and nervous tension concerning the happenings south of the border. When I look out of my window across the Haro Strait I can see the US of A – and right now that is making me cranky.

I am angry that enough US citizens voted for Trump that there is even the slightest scintilla of doubt that he has lost the election. That is their right and – however misguided I (and many, many others around the world) might believe them to be – I actually have no argument with them and what they have done.

That is not the case when it comes to the other guilty parties.

Let’s not beat about the bush. Trump is a bad person. He is also a particularly dangerous person and certainly not – in a million years – fit to govern what was only recently one of the world’s great super-powers. (Oh – the bitter irony of MAGA – when Trump and his wrecking crew are so ruthlessly dedicated to destroying everything that ever made it great – starting with democracy!). Trump is mendacious – he is a narcissist – he is a fantasist – he is immoral, amoral, totally unscrupulous and no-where near as bright as he thinks he is. Yes – he is also probably ill – at least mentally.

But it is not even he who makes me so angry – since I presume that he does not even have the mental faculty to properly grasp the inevitable outcomes of his actions.

No – the ones that have me worked up into such a righteous fury are the un-speakables in the Republican Party. Many of these people are educated and – notionally at least – intelligent. They know what they are doing. They also know that the election is lost and that we are entering uncharted waters. They should be acting in a responsible manner and doing their damnedest to protect American democracy.

They are not. They are taking a wild risk on the inevitable destruction opening up certain financial and political opportunities for those who are in the right place at the right time – much in the way that the loathsome tories are doing with Brexit in the UK. (Johnson watches anxiously across the pond at his role model, scared that events in the US will reveal – like the writing on the wall – his own eventual and gruesome fate).

Enough! I imagine that much of the rest of the world would join me in wishing most heartily that this were all over and that those responsible were banished – Napoleon-like – to some god-forsaken rock in the south Atlantic.

 

Next time – Rugby!

 

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Finally…

November 7, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

…and breathe!

 

 

 

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Good grief!

June 19, 2020 in Life in England | Permalink

I have refrained from making public comments regarding the world-wide handling of the COVID-19 pandemic because – with certain blatantly dishonourable exceptions (not to mention a small number of highly honourable ones) most nations and their governments have been muddling through in a reasonable fashion, given the severity and unprecedented nature of the crisis with which we are all are faced.

For Canada Justin Trudeau is considered to have had a reasonably good pandemic thus far, but here in British Columbia the real star is our Provincial Health Officer – Bonnie Henry – whose handling of the crisis has been beyond reproach… transparent, clear and rational.

One reason for maintaining an embarrassed silence with regard to other nations is that my mother country and its bizarre government – whilst having no trouble talking the talk (way too much in most cases) has proved almost uniquely incapable of walking the walk – tripping over its own clown shoes and falling flat on its face at every opportunity.

I have bitten my tongue at most of it, but hot on the heels of yesterday’s schooling of our mendacious Prime Minister and his entire cabinet by a Premiership footballer (yes – you read that correctly!) on the subject of free school lunches for disadvantaged children, comes the latest in the sorry saga of the UK’s Tracking and Testing program. Today’s announcement concerned the much touted tracing App that has been in development since March – the which was intended to alert individuals if they have been in close proximity to someone who is later discovered to have tested positive for the virus. This is about technology (which is, after all, my field) and I feel driven to comment!

When the Tracing and Tracking program was announced back in mists of time with the usual exaggerated fanfare it was described as “world beating”. We would, naturally, have settled for something that just worked – but you take what you can get!

One of the important elements of the program – or so it was claimed at the time – was to have been the App. Now, similar Apps have been – or are currently being – developed across the world. There are two basic models for this tool. One works purely locally to the device on which it has been installed which, if it comes into close proximity to another device belonging to a virus sufferer, alerts the user and advises the best course of action. The second version has a similar functionality, but is also tied into a centralised database, so that all sorts of information may be collected (for what purpose?).

The giant tech corporations, Apple and Google, have collaborated to produce a tool that follows the first, distributed model. Unsurprisingly the great majority of nations have plumped for this solution, since the backing and technical expertise of such behemoths is not to be sniffed at. Of those nations that did not do so immediately many have subsequently changed course and gone that route.

Concerns regarding data privacy were raised about the UK’s choice and computer scientists and other commentators warned back in April that the chosen solution would almost certainly prove impossible to engineer successfully on the platforms for which it would be required (iPhones and Android devices). The UK government – determined to to have its centralised database solution – announced (and subsequently abandoned) a succession of launch dates throughout May and early June. Rumour spread over the past few days that the App would not be ready until winter, further adding to the delay in the full implementation of the Track and Trace program, the which is vital if the UK economy is to re-open successfully.

Today’s (entirely predictable) announcement told of the final total abandonment of the UK government App (which the Health Minister tried to blame on Apple!) and the adoption instead of the Apple/Google offering with which most nations have already been working for the last three months.

I’m sorry – but you simply couldn’t make this stuff up. These people are supposed to have kept the UK and its citizens safe from the pandemic – rather than allowing it to become one of the worst hit countries in the world. They will shortly also have the responsibility of ensuring that the disaster that is Brexit does not deal the economy a terminal blow.

Good luck with that one!

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VE Day

May 10, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

This weekend has seen the seventy fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, the which was celebrated on May 8th 1945 on what was given the soubriquet – ‘VE Day’ – or ‘V-E Day’ – or ‘V Day’ – or ‘Victory Day’ – depending whereabouts on the continent one was.

That this auspicious anniversary should occur in the midst of a global pandemic has, naturally, caused some controversy, since the public celebrations that might have been thought to be the order of the day could not reasonably take place. In the UK at least I can’t help feeling that – even had the situation not been as it is – there would have been some disputes as to the nature and relevance of any celebrations.

David Lloyd George said of the end of the Great War in Europe:

“At eleven o’clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible War that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.”

There are those among us who believe that such a hope should still be the basis of any and all remembrance. In his notable Zurich speech of 1946, Churchill said:

“We must build a kind of United States of Europe. The structure of the United States of Europe, if well and truly built, will be such as to make the material strength of a single state less important.”

There are – sadly – those in the UK who happily forget that VE Day was a celebration of the coming together of a continent of nations to defeat a small group of aggressors amongst its number and that the day itself is celebrated by more than just the plucky Brits. These zealots cleave to the image of Britain standing alone (regardless of the fact that she was backed by a huge world-wide empire and openly looked to the New World for salvation) and would love to see VE Day as a celebration of a victory over Europe rather than for it.

The exceptionalism that the UK currently shares with the US has served both nations poorly in their responses to the current pandemic and one of the rich ironies in the UK is that what remains of the generation that fought and won the war is currently dying miserable deaths in the nation’s ravaged care homes. The inevitable eventual inquiry into this tragedy will doubtless record that there had been a number of warnings in recent years as to just such vulnerabilities, the which were – sadly – ignored by successive careless or mendacious governments.

As is so often the case The Guardian cartoonist – Martin Rowson – manages to express in a single image that which I struggle to express in many words.

This moves me – at least – to tears.

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Tone

February 2, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

I find myself taken aback by just how upset I am at the point of the UK leaving the EU.

I am not going to say anything more (just now) as to the rights/wrongs/inadvisability/sheer stupidity of this particular turn of events – feeling it appropriate to let things take their course for now and to try to keep just the tiniest bit of an open mind as to the likelihood of the current administration actually managing to make a decent fist of things… or at least to not cock things up so badly as to render them un-fixable. I must admit, however, that on their track record thus far the portents are not propitious.

I am quite capable of keeping my sadness and gloom to myself and not burdening others with them and I reluctantly accept that a certain amount of triumphalism by those who are never going to know better is inevitable. There are some things that are, however, simply unacceptable – and this is one of them:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/02/norwich-anti-racism-protest-brexit-day-poster

I cannot begin to get my mind around the sort of thinking that would persuade a fellow member of my nation that it was in any way at all acceptable to even entertain such thoughts, let alone to try to advertise them to or to force them upon other human beings. The sort of crude exceptionalism that this represents can sadly be once again found in other parts of the western world and all such examples carry most regrettable resonances of a regime from darker and more dangerous times.

So – in the interests of keeping the tone appropriately light – I leave the gentle reader with an extract from J. M. Barrie’s ‘Peter and Wendy‘. The current UK Prime Minister in particular should have good reason for bearing its relevance in mind.

“But above all he retained the passion for good form.

Good form! However much he may have degenerated, he still knew that this is all that really matters.

From far within him he heard a creaking as of rusty portals, and through them came a stern tap-tap-tap, like hammering in the night when one cannot sleep. ‘Have you been good form to-day?’ was their eternal question.

‘Fame, fame, that glittering bauble, it is mine,’ he cried.

‘Is it quite good form to be distinguished at anything?’ the tap-tap from his school replied.

‘I am the only man whom Barbecue feared,’ he urged; ‘and Flint himself feared Barbecue.’

‘Barbecue, Flint—what house?’ came the cutting retort.

Most disquieting reflection of all, was it not bad form to think about good form?”

.

.

.

“If Smee was lovable, what was it that made him so? A terrible answer suddenly presented itself: ‘Good form?’

Had the bo’sun good form without knowing it, which is the best form of all?

He remembered that you have to prove you don’t know you have it before you are eligible for Pop.”

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It’s not too late!

December 11, 2019 in Life as we know it | Permalink

I have tried very hard (Oh – how I have tried…!) not to write anything about the UK general election, voting for which will be underway before many get to read this post.

This, however, must be said:

I am shocked at the numbers of people who are apparently intending to vote for the Tory party as led by Boris Johnson.

Their reasons for so doing can have little to do with policy. Aside from Brexit the Tories have done their best to be as vague as possible when it comes to any detail that they may wish later to disown. Further, even the most rabid of Brexiteers must be aware that promises that all will be rapidly over and done are also not worth the paper they are printed on. The process will inevitably drag on for years whatever course it takes.

No – the real worry is that potential Tory voters are doing so for one of two reasons… they either like the idea of a full term of Johnson’s ‘leadership’, or they simply can’t abide the notion of a Jeremy Corbyn administration.

I must entreat any such folk to consider most carefully… before it is too late!

Can you really elect as leader of such a distinguished sovereign country a man who is an habitual liar – fired at least twice for being so – a serial philanderer – a blaggard, cad and bounder of the first order – a man of no apparent principle who appears not even to be interested in the responsibilities of the office, rather just desirous of holding it… or even just of having held it. A man who will do and say anything to get what he wants. A man whose vaunted Brexit deal is not only worse that the one that was previously voted down repeatedly, but also contains elements that he himself previously opined that no prime minister could possibly accept. A man who illegally prorogued parliament to try to stifle debate, who lied to Her Majesty the Queen… and on, and on, and on…

This is the man who would be trusted to ‘get things done’?

Those inclined to take a chance on such insincere and mischievous populism should take a long hard look across the Atlantic at the reputational damage that is being done to the USA (which is at least yet a superpower) by the Orange One – and wonder how Britain (which is not) might survive five years of such fifth-rate reality-show shenanigans.

To those who complain that a Corbyn alternative would be worse I say simply this: Corbyn is not going to win a majority whatever happens. Under certain circumstances he could just find himself at the head of a minority government. In such a case he would not be able to carry out those policies that some might fear and could in any case be removed in a subsequent vote – probably sooner rather than later.

This option has to be better than the Johnson alternative. It has to be!

It is not too late! If you are in the UK get out and vote. This is one occasion on which it is ok to vote against rather than for something…

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