Larry's Lunchette

Another advantage of old age is that it comes with a certain perspective on modern ‘crisis’. Yes, we live with the very real threat of climate disaster – of social collapse – but we must avoid deep pessimism; because we’ve seen ‘catastrophes’ come and go, the aged bring more balance, composure. It’s perfectly understandable that each generation considers itself unique – I imagine they always have – but the ancient sages would counsel that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’; generations come and go, but the issues remain essentially the same. There is nothing original about Trump/Johnson arrogance – they follow an age-old stereotype; as the ancient Greek playwright, Aeschylus, wrote BC: “The challenge for each generation is to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world”.

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In spite of the General Election setback for the UK left – few would contest that there is a growing worldwide appetite for alternatives to Capitalism; not for a revolutionary uprising, but for the patient creation of institutions for the next economy. The social economy, where our network sits, represents society’s attempts to devise systems which protect people and planet from market forces – a kind of experimental laboratory. Our movement has a new book called ‘The Making of a Democratic Economy’ by Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard. In this TV interview, we get their USA slant on how things could play out.

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India has more than 560 million internet users, all generating data; they are soon to get an unprecedented amount of control over their digital financial footprint. India is pointing the way for the rest of the world – challenging the monopolists who control and sell our data – returning control to citizens.

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Social Investment is intended to plug the gap between scarce grants and commercial lenders; helpful research from Sarah Forster and Niamh Goggin finds that it doesn’t work – is more interested in selling its predefined debt products than creating the kind of financial investment our sector really requires.

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The most heartening public events of recent times have been the bold demonstrations of Extinction Rebellion (XR); they make me proud of our civil society. The extent to which they are feared by London’s political establishment was clear this week – called everything from extremists to terrorists.

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In a surprise to no-one, Boris Johnson refused Nicola Sturgeon’s claim for a Section 30 order; this is, of course, an affront to democracy, but was also inevitable. Mike Small, in Bella Caledonia, touches on some of the more fantasy options now before us – but then comes down to earth: “The political task remains to convince people and build a majority in favour of independence. Do this and we win, fail to do this and we lose.”

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Wendy Cope’s poem – Names.

“She was Eliza for a few weeks when she was a baby – Eliza Lily.  Soon it changed to Lil.  Later she was Miss Steward in the baker’s shop and then ‘my love’, ‘my darling’, Mother.  Widowed at thirty, she went back to work as Mrs Hand.  Her daughter grew up, married and gave birth.  Now she was Nanna. ‘Everyone calls me Nanna,’ she would say to visitors.  And so they did – friends, tradesmen, the doctor.  In the geriatric ward they used the patients’ Christian names.  ‘Lil,’ we said, ‘or Nanna,’ but it wasn’t in her file and for those last bewildered weeks she was Eliza once again.”