I believe that the global pandemic, the closeness to death, is changing us in ways we don’t yet understand. We each live with our own individual reactions but there is also the collective reaction of society which, in my opinion, is facing for major positive change. Colossal state funding on furlough etc has reset the scope of what’s possible – there is growing disgust at gross inequality – growing realisation that recent ‘austerity’ against the poorest was unnecessary and disgraceful. New Statesman article on the ending of Neo-Liberalism. Strangely, all this optimism feels more remote from me than it once did. Is this a Covid reaction or simply old age?
Albert Einstein observed that we don’t need to understand the world, we only need to find our way in it – which I recognise as ‘later life’ comment. With old age, much of the nonsense drops away; slowed-down, I’m clearer what matters; one day at a time, I focus on simple, mundane tasks, as contented now as I’ve ever been.
At IKEA today for a garden table (Applaro); assembly was challenging but I’m proudly sitting at it in 5pm sunlight. I’ve chopped a potato and an onion very small – now sweating in the frying pan for half an hour – then I’ll add two whisked eggs; after my frittata I’ve got some fresh cherries. Tonight, I’ll watch Portugal v France – if it’s boring, I’ve got a good book. There are down days, of course, but I’m fortunate that I enjoy solitude – and get regular visits from a peacefulness which whispers – ‘this is enough’.
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Wednesday’s fortnightly Briefing from the Scottish Community Alliance, visits a subject close to my heart: the power dynamics between the state and the citizen; the nature of local democracy and community empowerment. The Briefing links to a speech I gave back in 2007 – which text reminds me how much community development has diminished in the 14 years of SNP rule – I believe by deliberate intent. It’s not as if ‘empowering communities’ is a simple top-down decision – it takes years and skilled help to develop the confidence and capacity. If I was still a warrior, I’d return to the assumption that the state is hostile to devolved power – to the model of open insurgency.
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Sleazy governments will fill key positions, not with the most able candidates, but with camp followers, stooges. The most blatant current example is the manoeuvring to install the incompetent Dido Harding in charge of NHS England; to win favour, she says, she intends to reduce the number of NHS staff from overseas, on whom we all rely, of course.
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I live just across the Forth Bridge from Dunfermline and one of Amazon’s largest depots in the UK. We’re used to stories of its dodgy practices, but are shocked by new revelations about wastage: 124,000 items destroyed weekly in Dunfermline alone. Amazon apart, this is a snapshot of how consumerism now consumes us all.
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I don’t pretend to understand the startling Lib-Dem victory in Amersham, but I’ve revised my understanding of how ‘immovable’ the Johnson regime is. Katy Balls in the Guardian thinks that the Tory South will now resist big spending in the North. Our politics is much less predictable; Covid has made us all much more receptive to change.
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For many years, I’ve recognised that some form of ‘Basic Income’ is the measure that best symbolises our wellbeing economy of the future. I have recently learned that there is a Basic Income World Network called BIEN which will hold its 2021 Digital Congress from Glasgow (18th-21st August). It will include updates on Scotland’s UBI progress.
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This quote is from David Marquand’s ‘Britain since 1918’ (2008)
“Not surprisingly, the number of people who said they were willing to attend a political meeting fell by around half between 1979 and 2000. In contrast, the proportion who said they would, if necessary, sign or collect a petition rose from 44% to 75% and the proportion prepared to go on a demonstration from 20% to 31%. Most commentators seem to think that falling party membership and low turn-out in elections are symptoms of sickness, but they can just as well be seen as evidence of health. They may show that ordinary citizens realise that managed populism is a travesty of democracy in any of its varied senses”.
