I live in the North West of England in the political constituency known as Penrith and the Borders,
The village in which I live straddles the river Eden.
Over the years that I have lived here, since my retirement, the general atmosphere has deteriorated.
Communities brought together by the experience of mutual challenges.Duringthe flooding in 2005 and 2015 the communities pulled together, bearing as it were, one another's burdens.
Penrith and the Borders is a fairly invincible redoubt of Conservatism, the MP, Rory Stewart aka Rory the Tory, appears to be secure in his majority.
But my sense is that something is now more discernible than before. We are no longer a civil society that can be defined as being at ease with itself.
The Government of which our MP is a member, is creating a society that is ill at ease with itself.
Two personal experiences: last week driving through the City a woman in a mobility scooter drove straight off the pavement into the road in front of me.
I braked.
She shot me a look of contempt, whilst the driver of the car behind hooted his horn for stopping, her look of contempt may have been because she thought that it was my horn that she heard and assumed, possibly, that I was hooting at her.
The second experience was also concerned with driving.
I had to take the indoor critics car to have the tires checked. The Tyre Fitting station is set on a fairly busy road so I waited for a gap in the traffic, eventually a space appeared and I accelerated away.
The approaching car, whilst not too close, appeared to speed up towards me and the elderly driver gave my a 'V' sign as he passed in the other direction, even though any inconvenience to his progress was purely in his imagination.
In the bigger picture my daily newspaper, as indeed is yours, is packed with depressing stories which describe a society simply not at ease with itself.
Relationships between young and old, between men and women, between ourselves as members of civil society are under strain.
MP's who wish for us to exit the European Union launching attacks on those they identify as not being on their side.
The Honourable Jacob Rees Mogg's attacks on the Governor of the Bank of England and the BBC exemplify this mindset and as people adjust to the changing nature of social and political debate the the very concept of what it means to be civil is eroded from public life and society ceases to be civil, begging the question what replaces a civil society?
Hi Jacking, Highway men, Impressment, Poverty, Gin Palaces, Food Banks, Homelessness, Footpads, Paupers?
There is no doubt that there are problems with the way the European Union manages its affairs, it does need reforming and renewing, nevertheless its achievements are tremendous, I never fail to be heartened when, in my previous job, I could travel via the Channel Tunnel, through France and on into Belgium without fear or favour or Passport Control or Customs clearance, simply because of Schengen and the open borders.
To make connections with frustrated car drivers going about their business and an MP referring to Mark Carney as an enemy of Brexit may be comparing apples and pears, but as the Chancellor recently observed the European Union is 'the enemy'.
As Michael Bloomberg opined recently, 'Brexit is the stupidest thing any country had done until America Trumped it'.
So my opinion is that the uncertain outcomes are in fact making not just business but individuals anxious and uncertain and uncertainty breeds disaffection.
So men and women are set at odds with each other. Politicians are set at odds with each other. Families are set at odds with each other. Impatience, frustration and intolerance become the defining characteristics of a society ill at ease with itself, anxious about car payments, mortgage payments, wages or simply anxious about the future for self and family, so if anyone challenges, disagrees or gives way for someone on a mobility scooter, or pulling out (safely) as you are approaching the its the horn or the 'V' sign and that's telling them ..........
It is of course a mental health problem, but maybe that is a subject for a future blog?
The village in which I live straddles the river Eden.
Over the years that I have lived here, since my retirement, the general atmosphere has deteriorated.
Communities brought together by the experience of mutual challenges.Duringthe flooding in 2005 and 2015 the communities pulled together, bearing as it were, one another's burdens.
Penrith and the Borders is a fairly invincible redoubt of Conservatism, the MP, Rory Stewart aka Rory the Tory, appears to be secure in his majority.
But my sense is that something is now more discernible than before. We are no longer a civil society that can be defined as being at ease with itself.
The Government of which our MP is a member, is creating a society that is ill at ease with itself.
Two personal experiences: last week driving through the City a woman in a mobility scooter drove straight off the pavement into the road in front of me.
I braked.
She shot me a look of contempt, whilst the driver of the car behind hooted his horn for stopping, her look of contempt may have been because she thought that it was my horn that she heard and assumed, possibly, that I was hooting at her.
The second experience was also concerned with driving.
I had to take the indoor critics car to have the tires checked. The Tyre Fitting station is set on a fairly busy road so I waited for a gap in the traffic, eventually a space appeared and I accelerated away.
The approaching car, whilst not too close, appeared to speed up towards me and the elderly driver gave my a 'V' sign as he passed in the other direction, even though any inconvenience to his progress was purely in his imagination.
In the bigger picture my daily newspaper, as indeed is yours, is packed with depressing stories which describe a society simply not at ease with itself.
Relationships between young and old, between men and women, between ourselves as members of civil society are under strain.
MP's who wish for us to exit the European Union launching attacks on those they identify as not being on their side.
The Honourable Jacob Rees Mogg's attacks on the Governor of the Bank of England and the BBC exemplify this mindset and as people adjust to the changing nature of social and political debate the the very concept of what it means to be civil is eroded from public life and society ceases to be civil, begging the question what replaces a civil society?
Hi Jacking, Highway men, Impressment, Poverty, Gin Palaces, Food Banks, Homelessness, Footpads, Paupers?
There is no doubt that there are problems with the way the European Union manages its affairs, it does need reforming and renewing, nevertheless its achievements are tremendous, I never fail to be heartened when, in my previous job, I could travel via the Channel Tunnel, through France and on into Belgium without fear or favour or Passport Control or Customs clearance, simply because of Schengen and the open borders.
To make connections with frustrated car drivers going about their business and an MP referring to Mark Carney as an enemy of Brexit may be comparing apples and pears, but as the Chancellor recently observed the European Union is 'the enemy'.
As Michael Bloomberg opined recently, 'Brexit is the stupidest thing any country had done until America Trumped it'.
So my opinion is that the uncertain outcomes are in fact making not just business but individuals anxious and uncertain and uncertainty breeds disaffection.
So men and women are set at odds with each other. Politicians are set at odds with each other. Families are set at odds with each other. Impatience, frustration and intolerance become the defining characteristics of a society ill at ease with itself, anxious about car payments, mortgage payments, wages or simply anxious about the future for self and family, so if anyone challenges, disagrees or gives way for someone on a mobility scooter, or pulling out (safely) as you are approaching the its the horn or the 'V' sign and that's telling them ..........
It is of course a mental health problem, but maybe that is a subject for a future blog?
No comments:
Post a Comment