One of my ‘nonnos’ (Lorenzo Demarco) drowned in 1940 – but my other grandparents lived into their 90s; family genes suggest I could live a few more years. All my ancestors, for many generations, came from the same remote valley in the foothills of the Italian Abruzzo mountains; their stories told me they lived from the land – continuous with a million years of hunter gatherers. In the garden, turning soil, our unconscious stirs memories much older than our own wee life.
Spring’s stutterings got me out this week – dozens of sprouting bulbs – ‘I wish the lawn would grow, what a mess’. But the biggest shock was my lack of physical fitness – old age; even allowing that fitness will improve into summer, my expectations are way too high. In my favour, I’m comfortable with solitude (independent) and I remain spontaneously curious about life (engaged) but my body lags behind. Currently, I am aware of three ‘intentions’: to do everything slower; to get fitter; to consent to my mortality.
Some say they don’t want to die alone – but, of course, we all die alone; some want to depart ‘gracefully’ – I expect to collapse face down in a flower bed. Ursula Le Guin wrote: “You will die, nothing is immortal – but only to us is given to know that we must die. This gift of selfhood, which is our humanity, does not endure – it changes and is gone – a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still, and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself.”
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During 20 years of blogging, more than any other issue, I’ve returned to Scotland’s missing tier of local democracy; Lesley Riddoch, in the Herald, revisits some of the stats comparing us to Europe. Over the years, observing successive campaigns for Scottish local democracy, I always put their failure down to muddle – but I now believe that our ‘missing tier’ is the deliberate policy of an administration which is top-down, secretive and unaccountable; they don’t want bottom-up. I’ll vote for independence in May, because I want Westminster to understand that a majority of Scots will no longer tolerate being governed by right wing policies they didn’t vote for. But regardless of that outcome, we need a Scottish Govt which is comfortable engaging with a new tier of local democracy at community level – and that’s not this administration.
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Over two decades, the remarkable advance of China in the world economy dwarfs calls to ‘make Britain great again’; the UK should be part of a European world presence. The PM’s brother (Joe) has led a study, warning that our universities are over-reliant on tuition income from China – which, he says, should be regarded as a ‘potentially hostile state’.
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Since the publication in 2017 of Thomas Piketty’s tome, ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ – it is commonly accepted that wealth tax can be the only effective mitigation of Capitalism’s core inequality. A group of progressive Democrats, in the US Senate (including Elizabeth Warren) has now introduced a bill for a 3% annual tax on wealth exceeding one billion dollars. In this six-minute video, Anand Giridharadas supports wealth tax. We’ll watch how this progresses.
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The generosity of our overseas aid budget gave the UK a real humanitarian standing in the world – but that is not a priority of this Govt. Figures leaked to openDemocracy, this week, reveal the extent of the cuts – which will increase mortality in some of the most troubled regions of the world.
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The spending watchdog has concluded that England’s £22billion test and trace programme is ineffective; and has criticised daily rates of up to £6624 to private consultants while NHS staff face a 1% pay rise. Labour has demanded to see 100 Covid-related contracts awarded in secret. This level of corruption must be fully exposed.
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A reader forwards this notice from the Schumacher Center, of a virtual Community Land Trust Roundtable on 18th March; on merit, Scotland features prominently.
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Norman McCaig (1910-1996) divided his life – and the attention of his poetry – between Assynt in the west Highlands and the city of Edinburgh. He valued “clarity, compassion and a certain humane elegance of the mind”. I feel very fortunate, that this poem describes the exact area of Edinburgh – Tollcross and the Meadows – where I grew up – and ‘scored the best goals ever’. So simple – so full of memories.
Edinburgh Stroll: I leave Tollcross traffic and walk by the Meadows between two rows of trees, all looking as grave as Elders of the Kirk – but wait till the wind blows. Dogs are hunting for smells. A few men are practising approach shots on the dwarfish golf course. Some children are incomprehensibly playing. And between two heaps of jackets a boy scores a goal – the best one ever. Past the Infirmary I go back to the traffic, cross it, and there’s Sandy Bell’s Bar. Tollcross to Sandy Bell’s Bar – a short walk with a long conclusion.
