Those few who have seen these blogs may have been put off by their length alone, never mind the content. Yesterday one professional journalist gave voice on radio to her opinion that she was depressed by twitter and the blogosphere with the vast amount of banality it encourages. Sorry, I must have missed something in the popular press and have failed to discover the high minded content hidden behind the yob headlines of the red tops. I try to avoid banality, inevitably fail, but at least I have used more words in achieving it when it occurs. I have purposely built some banality in for the journalist concerned, although I have not dignified her by managing to remember her name. She is probably a very good journalist for all I know, but I also think that journalists do not have a monopoly of valid viewpoints and, even in my case, I am entitled to think that there is just a chance that something worthwhile might trickle down from my viewpoint on these beautiful hills.
This is all prompted by the fact that everything I want to write about seems to demand about 600 words. Sadly the blog posted just before this one could have taken even more words, but I think it was well worth a few more words than usual.
It was inspired by the blog I now provide a link to and I am very grateful to its author for having made me get round to writing something I have been meaning to do ever since I started inflicting my blog on unsuspecting surfers. If you ever thought civil libertarians protest too much then take a look at:-
http://monaxle.com/2009/07/08/section-44-in-chatham-high-street/
If you think this is an isolated incident try to rent out Taking Liberties directed by Chris Atkins. It is also widely available to purchase on DVD. See where all the new authoritarianism has come from and where it is all going. We have been through oppressive times before, but never with so much technology in the hands of those who also have all the power. Not voting, keeping quiet and watching your fellow citizens put into vans will lead in turn to your trip in the van, by which time there won’t be anyone left to write a blog about you. All rather far fetched? Yes it might be, and lets hope so, but do you really want to take the risk? Perhaps the power of the people’s internet technology must now be applied in favour of civil liberties so as to counter the State technology and rules which steal them. It is working with consumer campaigns that have already been successful against M&S, HSBC and now a mobile phone directory inquiry service. Mark Thomas has already started. Why should politicians with so much power need to worry about your liberties when they have been so busy of late taking so many liberties of their own? No more than the general citizenry who never go out late and never experience the use of police powers exercised against them. From my experience, down too many years I care to remember, they will not have found the encounter a model of customer service. As great libertarians of the past have said, the best citizens are those who are critical of their government and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Being critical should not lead to your loyalty being questioned. The dream is still worth keeping alive. Banal? I do hope so, but I still believe such things nonetheless.
Dacier
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Who are the Subversives Now?
According to the OED a subversive can be someone who seeks to demolish or turn upside down or overturn and so if your views or actions are seen as having this effect expect to be on the awkward squad list kept by your local Special Branch Officer. I would now like to add the names of various politicians and police officers to that list since they are now the new subversives. The power of the people has been turned upside down, if it were ever the other way round, and this stolen power is now increasingly used against them.
According to our own publicity the United Kingdom is described as a ‘liberal democracy’ .This means different things to different people. What it means to me is a system based on that old fashioned phrase, rarely used now by politicians of the Blair years, and even more rarely, understood, ‘The Rule of Law’. I do not know who taught Tony Blair British Constitutional Law or indeed if he ever studied it to become a barrister, before that is, he became a failed Prime Minister, but if he did, he seems to have been unconvinced by its core teachings.
This is surprising because the Rule of Law is fairly simple to grasp, even by those who merely gargle at the fountain of knowledge. Basically, government is to be by law, rather than the whims of rulers or their officials, all are equal before the law and have access to it, and it is the courts, not government officials, who rule on the interpretation of law. There are one or two fuzzy edges about where administrative tribunals and the like fit in, but these are no longer seen as a threat to good government. The threat to the Rule of Law today seems to come from our elected governments which seem ever eager to create more and more discretions for more and more ‘officials’. The keenness for privatisation and the ‘war on terrorism’ has combined to blind our politicians to what they are doing.
The point which the Blair generation and many of its apparatchiks either never learnt, or chose to forget, is that in seeking to protect our Liberal Democracy from the enemy within or without, you risk destroying the thing you cherish. It is rather like getting the balance right in the countryside. Once a beauty spot is discovered all sorts will rush to see the beauty and unwittingly destroy it with their traffic jams, car par, gift shops and theme parks. Stop everything happening and you deny others the chance to experiencing what only an elite few could enjoy. In the context of civil liberties if you get the balance wrong and make things too easy for the police we all pay the price through facing more and more difficulties, especially if you want to be a participating and critical citizen in the political process.
The product of the Blair years is a path to the destruction of liberal democracy. I never understood the phrase, ‘Town Air is free air’ but the meaning fell into my lap in a small museum a few years ago. When people were more or less enslaved by feudalism the big change would be that of somehow becoming a ‘freeman’. One route would be to acquire a small strip of land in a town, since that brought the status of freeman. How that was achieved I have no idea, but when I go into our big towns today and see the tooled up police walking the streets, followed by their reserves in the form of Community Support Officers, followed by the private security guards, thug wheel clampers and the like, and see it is all being observed by the CCT cameras on every street corner, in every shop and at every car park, station and shopping mall, ‘town air’ is now suffocating. The dust which spread out from the Twin Towers is no longer grit but has been atomised by our politicians and has blinded them. Those politicians who have wielded power both before and after 9/11 in an attempt to impose Law and Order, have subverted the Rule of Law. They, not their critics, are the subversives now.
Dacier
According to our own publicity the United Kingdom is described as a ‘liberal democracy’ .This means different things to different people. What it means to me is a system based on that old fashioned phrase, rarely used now by politicians of the Blair years, and even more rarely, understood, ‘The Rule of Law’. I do not know who taught Tony Blair British Constitutional Law or indeed if he ever studied it to become a barrister, before that is, he became a failed Prime Minister, but if he did, he seems to have been unconvinced by its core teachings.
This is surprising because the Rule of Law is fairly simple to grasp, even by those who merely gargle at the fountain of knowledge. Basically, government is to be by law, rather than the whims of rulers or their officials, all are equal before the law and have access to it, and it is the courts, not government officials, who rule on the interpretation of law. There are one or two fuzzy edges about where administrative tribunals and the like fit in, but these are no longer seen as a threat to good government. The threat to the Rule of Law today seems to come from our elected governments which seem ever eager to create more and more discretions for more and more ‘officials’. The keenness for privatisation and the ‘war on terrorism’ has combined to blind our politicians to what they are doing.
The point which the Blair generation and many of its apparatchiks either never learnt, or chose to forget, is that in seeking to protect our Liberal Democracy from the enemy within or without, you risk destroying the thing you cherish. It is rather like getting the balance right in the countryside. Once a beauty spot is discovered all sorts will rush to see the beauty and unwittingly destroy it with their traffic jams, car par, gift shops and theme parks. Stop everything happening and you deny others the chance to experiencing what only an elite few could enjoy. In the context of civil liberties if you get the balance wrong and make things too easy for the police we all pay the price through facing more and more difficulties, especially if you want to be a participating and critical citizen in the political process.
The product of the Blair years is a path to the destruction of liberal democracy. I never understood the phrase, ‘Town Air is free air’ but the meaning fell into my lap in a small museum a few years ago. When people were more or less enslaved by feudalism the big change would be that of somehow becoming a ‘freeman’. One route would be to acquire a small strip of land in a town, since that brought the status of freeman. How that was achieved I have no idea, but when I go into our big towns today and see the tooled up police walking the streets, followed by their reserves in the form of Community Support Officers, followed by the private security guards, thug wheel clampers and the like, and see it is all being observed by the CCT cameras on every street corner, in every shop and at every car park, station and shopping mall, ‘town air’ is now suffocating. The dust which spread out from the Twin Towers is no longer grit but has been atomised by our politicians and has blinded them. Those politicians who have wielded power both before and after 9/11 in an attempt to impose Law and Order, have subverted the Rule of Law. They, not their critics, are the subversives now.
Dacier
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Country Driving: (Pt.III)
Consideration, really is key. This is tested to the limit when trying to get by oncoming vehicles. Delivery vans don’t seem to have reverse! Other drivers can’t or won’t reverse. I was always told to note passing places as you went by them. Many drivers have no idea what to do and will sometimes drive past a passing space even though they have already seen you. This is particularly annoying when they do it coming down a hill towards you. On our recent travels in Somerset one four by four on the school run, seeing us coming up hill with a string of parked cars to our right, decided that it would pull out round the parked cars to its left and engage in a war of wills. I had nowhere to go except reverse 30 yards downhill to where the parked vehicles ceased. Needless to say I kept my revs up until the four by four decided to reverse three car lengths back up hill and observe two rules of the Highway Code at once. Well done, engaging the brain and leaving a bit earlier for your appointment at the school gates is so much better more civilised. I of course gave the usual polite countryside acknowledgements by means of a raised finger without taking my hand off the wheel
The fact is we need and welcome road users in the countryside. Without them we would not be a viable community that has valued schools, village halls, sports clubs, churches and chapels, and sometimes a few remaining and imperilled pubs. The countryside’s diversity and variety serves many functions of which leisure and agriculture are interdependent parts of a fascinating whole. We have met some holiday makers that have even complained at the narrowness of our lanes and the amount of agricultural traffic. Sadly this rarely now includes the movement of livestock along the roads because agriculture of the old style is in decline and rules and regulations of one kind or another can makes it a risky and for hill farmers an unrewarding business. Although I must report that lamb prices are currently improved.
After the awful plague of foot and mouth had passed it was a joy to look out of the window and see the lane filled with a flock of sheep being taken to new grazing. There were so many that the lane became a flowing stream of wool. No doubt some holiday makers would find all of this a terrible inconvenience but they forget that one of their reasons for a holiday should be relearning the art of slowing down.
For viable communities to remain, the countryside and what makes it work, has to be understood and appreciated by the majority who do not live here. That inevitably includes an understanding of the utility, variety and impact of traffic and that private cars are now an essential presence due to the demise of the country bus and a wide range of local facilities.
Dacier
The fact is we need and welcome road users in the countryside. Without them we would not be a viable community that has valued schools, village halls, sports clubs, churches and chapels, and sometimes a few remaining and imperilled pubs. The countryside’s diversity and variety serves many functions of which leisure and agriculture are interdependent parts of a fascinating whole. We have met some holiday makers that have even complained at the narrowness of our lanes and the amount of agricultural traffic. Sadly this rarely now includes the movement of livestock along the roads because agriculture of the old style is in decline and rules and regulations of one kind or another can makes it a risky and for hill farmers an unrewarding business. Although I must report that lamb prices are currently improved.
After the awful plague of foot and mouth had passed it was a joy to look out of the window and see the lane filled with a flock of sheep being taken to new grazing. There were so many that the lane became a flowing stream of wool. No doubt some holiday makers would find all of this a terrible inconvenience but they forget that one of their reasons for a holiday should be relearning the art of slowing down.
For viable communities to remain, the countryside and what makes it work, has to be understood and appreciated by the majority who do not live here. That inevitably includes an understanding of the utility, variety and impact of traffic and that private cars are now an essential presence due to the demise of the country bus and a wide range of local facilities.
Dacier
Monday, 13 July 2009
Citizen Professionals
Ever since I read and reviewed Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together by Clay Sharky ( see book review in old blogs) I have been looking at events from a new viewpoint. Things usually change because the Government wants the change to go that way but it is not always clear who is prompting the moves for change. Interested parties, expediency, ignorance and intolerance can all underlie a move for change and government by the people becomes government by some of the people for all. Naturally the mechanics of doing it otherwise can become very complicated , but the power and creativity of the inter-net contains the seeds of alternative ways of doing things.
At one end of the spectrum are the events in China and Iran which show that the techno generations can be a bewildering force for the geriatric leaderships to grasp. Blaming foreign governments will not be an excuse which will protect them from a growing anger which sadly can end up with the oppression of a Burma of North Korea, but might just lead to disintegration. It might take fifty years or more but it will come, perhaps sooner as the internet expands and causes a more creative global politics than I can imagine. Like all forces it can go for the good or bad options, but with global survival an increasing issue, lets hope that self-preservation of the species will become a unifying force.
This leads to two small conclusions. With increasing youth unemployment, what does the internet offer. Although some may have reservations as to the standards of Blairite higher education, we are likely to have one of the best qualified unemployed group of young people we have ever seen. My advice is to take your chosen specialism further by going on-line. For writers finding that their are no jobs in journalism, put thought to key board and get started, possibly with others, to make your voice known. For lawyers with no training contract, or job, do the same. Being a participating citizen today needs some kind of legal qualification just to get some sense out of a dilatory local authority or an oppressive wheel clamping gang. Don’t get me started on garages and other so called services industries. More and more advice could be provided though self help groups who not only help but develop their expertise. I have no clear ideas how these could be developed for medics, scientists of various types, let alone accountants, but with so many young people being denied the chance to apply their chosen discipline, its up to them to get together and take up the challenge the internet provides.
The second conclusion thought is that the older generation of politicians in this country don’t seem to appreciate the power of the internet which is waiting to cause their fall. When Gerry Springer appeared on UK TV recently he pointed out that the older generation are disconnected from the techno-generation and that the new politics is gathering speed while the old politicians don’t get it. I would add that they are too busy out shopping for new feathers to line their nests with, rather than log on to these new ‘internet highway thingys’, as some might try to put it. So Happy 20th Anniversary World Wide Web thingy, they aint’t seen nothing yet!
Dacier
At one end of the spectrum are the events in China and Iran which show that the techno generations can be a bewildering force for the geriatric leaderships to grasp. Blaming foreign governments will not be an excuse which will protect them from a growing anger which sadly can end up with the oppression of a Burma of North Korea, but might just lead to disintegration. It might take fifty years or more but it will come, perhaps sooner as the internet expands and causes a more creative global politics than I can imagine. Like all forces it can go for the good or bad options, but with global survival an increasing issue, lets hope that self-preservation of the species will become a unifying force.
This leads to two small conclusions. With increasing youth unemployment, what does the internet offer. Although some may have reservations as to the standards of Blairite higher education, we are likely to have one of the best qualified unemployed group of young people we have ever seen. My advice is to take your chosen specialism further by going on-line. For writers finding that their are no jobs in journalism, put thought to key board and get started, possibly with others, to make your voice known. For lawyers with no training contract, or job, do the same. Being a participating citizen today needs some kind of legal qualification just to get some sense out of a dilatory local authority or an oppressive wheel clamping gang. Don’t get me started on garages and other so called services industries. More and more advice could be provided though self help groups who not only help but develop their expertise. I have no clear ideas how these could be developed for medics, scientists of various types, let alone accountants, but with so many young people being denied the chance to apply their chosen discipline, its up to them to get together and take up the challenge the internet provides.
The second conclusion thought is that the older generation of politicians in this country don’t seem to appreciate the power of the internet which is waiting to cause their fall. When Gerry Springer appeared on UK TV recently he pointed out that the older generation are disconnected from the techno-generation and that the new politics is gathering speed while the old politicians don’t get it. I would add that they are too busy out shopping for new feathers to line their nests with, rather than log on to these new ‘internet highway thingys’, as some might try to put it. So Happy 20th Anniversary World Wide Web thingy, they aint’t seen nothing yet!
Dacier
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Short Breaks and British Caterers
At the moment we don’t take long holidays, although we should. It can get a bit exhausting surrounded by 100 or more jobs waiting to be started, or in my case, to be finished. The absence of new blogs for a while is explained by the fact we took a short break to Somerset and North Devon.
Experiencing British vacation catering can be very amusing. Among our gems of messed up orders so far this season are, ‘No onions please’, we got onions, ‘Soup of the Day and Roll please’ no bread at all, ‘a salad sandwich please’, ditto. The last two in spite nearby bakers’ window bulging with perfectly good bread. Is all this just code for, ‘We can’t be bothered really’, or, ‘we are bored and will generally mess you about.’.
The trouble is that if you want a quiet time of rest and refreshment you are out of luck.. Take for example our wish for a late breakfast. Firstly, the promoted breakfast ‘special’ on the notice outside, which included fried bread was not on the menu at the table. The waitress insisted that we had to pay an extra 60p if we wanted fried bread even though all the other components were exactly the same. Reluctantly we ordered the extra, although in my case I substituted toast, also 60p. However, it still rankled and puzzled me so I asked for the menu to be explained by the proprietor who had just finished her fag break at one of the two outside tables. We eventually moved there as the restaurant itself was already above 25 c, possibly due to the fact that the old conservatory frontage had no roof lights and even if the rotary fan near its peak was working, it would only have delivered more hot air downwards.
. Apparently it was because it was a new menu and we would not be charged the extra 60p for the fried bread. I held my peace re the toast and looked forward to the bill. I was not disappointed. The meal as stated on the menu was charged the same as the special offer plus the cost of the toast, which had now become an extra £1 not the 60p! Again, the proprietor was approached and it was a mistake. I cut a lengthy explanation short by saying that with the two special breakfasts plus the coffees I was prepared to pay £13.80 and no more and proffered a £20 note. This was accepted and the waitress got my change from the till. It was a pound short! Needless to say my protests led to a correction. I wished the proprietor a good summer and left. These errors could not be put down to the level of custom. There were only two other customers when we turned up so the mistakes were not due to them being busy. We should have seen what was coming because a mistake over their bill was being sorted as we walked in.
Our final experience of British hospitality was to visit a rather posh hotel on Exmoor. Two elderly ladies who had booked a table, after deliberating over the blackboard specials, were warned as they went to place their order, that a table of fifteen had arrived un-announced and had now ordered. Consequently whatever they ordered would take some time. Since they were worried about eating late, they left. When I asked for a dish of olives and some bread this was also impossible. The place looked pretty quiet for 7.45 pm on a Sunday when food was only served until 8.30 pm. What was the point of booking? Come to that, what is the point of some of these so called ‘hospitality’ preofessionals? Our best meals were at a seafront chippy and a tapas bar, so it was not all bad news.
Dacier
Experiencing British vacation catering can be very amusing. Among our gems of messed up orders so far this season are, ‘No onions please’, we got onions, ‘Soup of the Day and Roll please’ no bread at all, ‘a salad sandwich please’, ditto. The last two in spite nearby bakers’ window bulging with perfectly good bread. Is all this just code for, ‘We can’t be bothered really’, or, ‘we are bored and will generally mess you about.’.
The trouble is that if you want a quiet time of rest and refreshment you are out of luck.. Take for example our wish for a late breakfast. Firstly, the promoted breakfast ‘special’ on the notice outside, which included fried bread was not on the menu at the table. The waitress insisted that we had to pay an extra 60p if we wanted fried bread even though all the other components were exactly the same. Reluctantly we ordered the extra, although in my case I substituted toast, also 60p. However, it still rankled and puzzled me so I asked for the menu to be explained by the proprietor who had just finished her fag break at one of the two outside tables. We eventually moved there as the restaurant itself was already above 25 c, possibly due to the fact that the old conservatory frontage had no roof lights and even if the rotary fan near its peak was working, it would only have delivered more hot air downwards.
. Apparently it was because it was a new menu and we would not be charged the extra 60p for the fried bread. I held my peace re the toast and looked forward to the bill. I was not disappointed. The meal as stated on the menu was charged the same as the special offer plus the cost of the toast, which had now become an extra £1 not the 60p! Again, the proprietor was approached and it was a mistake. I cut a lengthy explanation short by saying that with the two special breakfasts plus the coffees I was prepared to pay £13.80 and no more and proffered a £20 note. This was accepted and the waitress got my change from the till. It was a pound short! Needless to say my protests led to a correction. I wished the proprietor a good summer and left. These errors could not be put down to the level of custom. There were only two other customers when we turned up so the mistakes were not due to them being busy. We should have seen what was coming because a mistake over their bill was being sorted as we walked in.
Our final experience of British hospitality was to visit a rather posh hotel on Exmoor. Two elderly ladies who had booked a table, after deliberating over the blackboard specials, were warned as they went to place their order, that a table of fifteen had arrived un-announced and had now ordered. Consequently whatever they ordered would take some time. Since they were worried about eating late, they left. When I asked for a dish of olives and some bread this was also impossible. The place looked pretty quiet for 7.45 pm on a Sunday when food was only served until 8.30 pm. What was the point of booking? Come to that, what is the point of some of these so called ‘hospitality’ preofessionals? Our best meals were at a seafront chippy and a tapas bar, so it was not all bad news.
Dacier
Friday, 3 July 2009
Country Driving: (Pt.II)
Having recently endured the thrills of Devonshire sunken lanes and the rock faces of the descent into Lynmouth I am even more puzzled why people drive as though they are the only people likely to be using the so called country road they are on. The hazards round the corner are many and dangerous. Take your pick from a straw trailer, horse box, stock lorry, heating fuel tanker, feed lorry, pre-mix cement tanker, and sludge emptier.
The white van driver trying to hit all his delivery targets also awaits. Those who send these poor souls out into the unknown think that the timings can be the same as in town. As we have few streets there are no street names, house and farm signs are not guaranteed, and in any case, the houses and farms may lie hidden down even narrower lanes and tracks. We can now spot a lost driver of this type. The most frustrated could have been driving round in circles for an hour or more with little help from Sat Nav which has no qualms in sending articulated lorries by routes where wing mirrors become hedge trimmers. Other road users include riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Often these are unsuspecting holiday makers who are unprepared for the petrol head holiday maker or youngster who has no fear.
On the other hand pedestrians are no better. Of course this is an oversimplification because most pedestrians are in fact drivers but their mental partitioning is impressive. As we approached the Lynmouth cark park under the cliff at a stately 10 miles an hour the worst hazards were drivers making their way into the town by walking in the middle of the road, sometimes backwards whilst beckoning other members of their party, or spread right across the road while trying to read the parking charges. Tempting though it was to sound the horn this was thought inappropriate as some of the obstructions seemed more than capable of staging a heart attack.
There is still some good driving to be had but it has to be done in the more rugged terrains such as on the moors or higher parts of Wales. With the school holidays and the inexplicable demise of the reverse gear we shall soon be grounded until September when school goes back and only the grey market holiday makers have to be guarded against, until autumn really kicks in with a few westerly gales.
Dacier
The white van driver trying to hit all his delivery targets also awaits. Those who send these poor souls out into the unknown think that the timings can be the same as in town. As we have few streets there are no street names, house and farm signs are not guaranteed, and in any case, the houses and farms may lie hidden down even narrower lanes and tracks. We can now spot a lost driver of this type. The most frustrated could have been driving round in circles for an hour or more with little help from Sat Nav which has no qualms in sending articulated lorries by routes where wing mirrors become hedge trimmers. Other road users include riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Often these are unsuspecting holiday makers who are unprepared for the petrol head holiday maker or youngster who has no fear.
On the other hand pedestrians are no better. Of course this is an oversimplification because most pedestrians are in fact drivers but their mental partitioning is impressive. As we approached the Lynmouth cark park under the cliff at a stately 10 miles an hour the worst hazards were drivers making their way into the town by walking in the middle of the road, sometimes backwards whilst beckoning other members of their party, or spread right across the road while trying to read the parking charges. Tempting though it was to sound the horn this was thought inappropriate as some of the obstructions seemed more than capable of staging a heart attack.
There is still some good driving to be had but it has to be done in the more rugged terrains such as on the moors or higher parts of Wales. With the school holidays and the inexplicable demise of the reverse gear we shall soon be grounded until September when school goes back and only the grey market holiday makers have to be guarded against, until autumn really kicks in with a few westerly gales.
Dacier
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Big is Generally Ugly
Having analysed the political flyers for the EU elections and seeing we now have two BNP representatives I have reached a conclusion as to how I feel about the EU. In theory it looked quite a good idea back in the sixties when Gen DeGaulle didn’t want us in. When the UK went in without a vote it seemed worth a punt. When we voted to stay in without really knowing what we were voting for, some thought, well were in, it looks a bit early to get out. Some 25 years later we are still in, but we are now part of an unsustainable structure which like the universe is constantly expanding from the big bang that set it in motion, World War II. I now fear we are the human debris settling to the ground in the dust of ignorance. Judging by the EU election leaflets, and the results, I think that is the condition which many politicians and bureaucrats prefer. Or, it could be, that being a bit stupid themselves, they have no idea how to reverse that state of ignorance. Since rulers prefer ignorance I doubt this latter point.
I have always suspected big organisations. They usually seem to concentrate rather too many unpleasant people at the point of the pyramid. This might be sour grapes on my part, having never been invited to rise to such lofty heights. On the other hand I am sufficiently arrogant to think that I could hardly do a worse job, and I could do with the money. Many years ago I was at a meeting when one of the lightweights who was busily floating skyward to the summit of the pyramid, pointed out with all the gravitas he could muster, which wasn’t a lot at the best of times, ‘Ya know, some of you had better realise that small is no longer beautiful’. At the time I suspected he was getting at some of us greener types, thinking we were green behind the ears rather than in our life style expectations. Alternatively he could have been reading ‘Readers Digest’.
Coming from such a person this shallow prose has been enduring proof for the last thirty years that I was right to suspect big cars, building projects and super constitutional arrangements, and even big ideas, as something which for the most part can have ugly, not beautiful outcomes. I am glad to say that Mr Gravitas minor rose to the top of a rather small pyramid in a rather small pond, so perhaps he now realises that small is rather beautiful after all.
And that is how I think about the EU as presently constructed and operated. Since the political parties can’t present specific arguments for or against I shall take refuge in the following small but not beautiful thought. In the short term the EU might be able to better regulate the environmental disaster we have created for ourselves, it might be able to improve the welfare of the masses, but in the long term I fear it’s massive superstructure will drift away from them, taking democratic principles with it before crashing down in a pile of expensive political masonry. This is not to say the European idea should be abandoned. It is more a case of recognising the dangers of high rise living and seeking a return to more humane, co-operative living. Now that would be beautiful.
Dacier
I have always suspected big organisations. They usually seem to concentrate rather too many unpleasant people at the point of the pyramid. This might be sour grapes on my part, having never been invited to rise to such lofty heights. On the other hand I am sufficiently arrogant to think that I could hardly do a worse job, and I could do with the money. Many years ago I was at a meeting when one of the lightweights who was busily floating skyward to the summit of the pyramid, pointed out with all the gravitas he could muster, which wasn’t a lot at the best of times, ‘Ya know, some of you had better realise that small is no longer beautiful’. At the time I suspected he was getting at some of us greener types, thinking we were green behind the ears rather than in our life style expectations. Alternatively he could have been reading ‘Readers Digest’.
Coming from such a person this shallow prose has been enduring proof for the last thirty years that I was right to suspect big cars, building projects and super constitutional arrangements, and even big ideas, as something which for the most part can have ugly, not beautiful outcomes. I am glad to say that Mr Gravitas minor rose to the top of a rather small pyramid in a rather small pond, so perhaps he now realises that small is rather beautiful after all.
And that is how I think about the EU as presently constructed and operated. Since the political parties can’t present specific arguments for or against I shall take refuge in the following small but not beautiful thought. In the short term the EU might be able to better regulate the environmental disaster we have created for ourselves, it might be able to improve the welfare of the masses, but in the long term I fear it’s massive superstructure will drift away from them, taking democratic principles with it before crashing down in a pile of expensive political masonry. This is not to say the European idea should be abandoned. It is more a case of recognising the dangers of high rise living and seeking a return to more humane, co-operative living. Now that would be beautiful.
Dacier
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