Nearly 20 years ago, when I was ‘on the drink’, I gradually lost control; with a bottle of wine in me, I wanted another – and so on, till I was ‘wasted’ – physically, emotionally, spiritually. They say you can’t really be with another person’s darkness, till you’ve visited your own: been there. On 4th Sept 2001, I stopped alcohol; fiat lux – let there be light. In later life, Carl Jung spoke of how, as a young man, he was arrogant and ruthless in pursuit of his vision: “There was a daemon in me which overpowered me”. I believe I was possessed by both Jung’s arrogant daemon and the demon drink – many shameful memories; the reflections of my old age are not as comfortable as I would have wished.
One of the pleasures of ageing, is a gradual detachment from worldly affairs – and, here in the countryside, a growing sense of oneness with nature. I feel a strong connection to garden birds – over two dozen varieties visit four feeders. A kind reader sent me two specialist snowdrops, now carefully planted with Latin names. The big pots are flourishing this year – especially the grasses, except a planter of big golden daisies has failed completely. What’s ‘trivial’ or ‘important’ is less distinct – matters less. The absorption of these mundane tasks can bring me back to when I was a wee boy building Meccano or balsa wood models. Heraclitus of Ephesus (500 BC) wrote: “People are most nearly themselves when they find anew the seriousness they had as a child at play”. This ‘deeper self’ feels good.
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Over the 20 years I’ve written a weekly blog, roughly 10 per cent of readers donated; nothing to do with persuasion – just their natural response. I’ll repeat this reminder till the end of August. From mailing list of 991 – 67 have responded. If you can help it would be greatly appreciated. This is donation page
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Scottish politics is a mess. The SNP and Scottish Labour both claim to be Social Democratic parties yet, in the age of Johnson and Trump, can still frame each other as the principle bitter enemy. Scotsman journalist, Joyce McMillan sees this as a grave betrayal – not only of the history of their own parties – but, more importantly, of the Scottish electorate. After 13 years in govt, a tired SNP has ‘drifted to the right’, and now needs a substantial opposition to challenge it from the left. But Labour in Scotland is dysfunctional; a sad rump of a party traumatised by its own collapse; so that hatred of the SNP and any idea of independence trumps every other consideration. Scottish politics is a mess.
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I’m grateful that George Kerevan keeps a beady eye on the SNP’s dealings with the private sector and, particularly, the lobbying industry; here, we get a glimpse of some of the key movers and shakers – including the Cal-Mac ferry fiasco. Kerevan concludes that: “The SNP-lobbying nexus does not work in the Indy movements favour”. Rather it gives big business the upper hand.
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The Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) only supports growth in areas of the economy which contribute to collective wellbeing; it would shrink areas of the economy that damage it; this position is very different from the Scottish Govt’s reaction to the recent Benny Higgins report. Good article from WEAll’s Rabia Abrar spelling out clear differences – in spite of deliberate SNP obfuscation.
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According to an academic in the Conversation, the Scottish ‘exam results crisis’ has demonstrated that the system of assessment is not neutral – clearly benefitting some groups of pupils over others. Jan McArthur, a lecturer in Education and Social Justice, argues that Covid has drawn attention to long-standing deficiencies; that the assessment approaches we have had faith in for years are neither fair nor credible.
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This is a very angry piece from Kevin McKenna in the National, reacting to the disgraceful treatment of refugees – fleeing from the daily threat of torture and death – in overcrowded rubber boats (“Priti Patel is perhaps the nastiest and most incompetent Home Secretary ever appointed”). McKenna doesn’t spare the BBC either – for playing to the gallery of racists and right-wing British Nationalists who call this an ‘invasion’.
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In 1972 – when he was elected rector of Glasgow Yooni – Jimmy Reid delivered a famous inauguration address on alienation. This is from the opening passage:
“Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of those who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It is the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the process of decision making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies. Many may not have rationalised it; may not even understand, may not be able to articulate it. But they feel it.”
See Full Address
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