A LIGHT SWITCHES ON

 Glory, Glory Hallelujah! A trade agreement with the EU has been negotiated, after months of fraught wrangling and numerous disappointments, resulting in the UK recovering her judicial sovereignty, retrieving control of her borders and (eventually) of all her territorial waters, achieving a free trade, no tariff regime on food and manufactured products with the EU, and ending her slavish subjection to an EU rulebook. This is a great prize and huge credit must be given to Boris Johnson for his dedication to delivering the decision of the people in the 2016 Referendum and to Lord Frost for patiently negotiating acceptable terms. The nation is greatly relieved and we enter a new world on 1 January 2021. A huge task of national renewal lies ahead.

 

                                          Boris whoops with joy when the deal is sealed

 

The deal will no doubt have many imperfections and we can expect a noisy chorus of strident moaning from the London-centric media and from a bevy of lead-swinging professional complainers. But the mood of the country is to sign the deal and that is what will happen on both sides of the Channel. Boris and his government have had a torrid 2020 dealing with the wholly unexpected Covid pandemic and the conflicting scientific advice surrounding it, but the EU deal is a bright, sparkling diamond in his crown.

 

             UK negotiator Lord Frost 

                                                                    

                                                                                   EU negotiator Michel Barnier

Although very abrasive at times round the edges, the official negotiations have been conducted in a civilised manner and for that we must thank Michel Barnier as well as our own Lord Frost.

The “Noises Off” have not been so civilised. Elements within the EU have sought to “punish” the UK for having the temerity to upset the cosy Brussels applecart. Notoriously, German Martin Selmeyr of the EU bureaucracy targeted Northern Ireland for detachment from the UK, egregious Belgian Guy Verhofstadt, railed against Brexit at every opportunity, Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, a self-proclaimed Anglophile, did precisely nothing to help the UK, while President Macron of France indulged his Napoleonic fantasies by disparaging England and trying to damage her routine trade. Dating back to the 2009 financial crisis at least, the EU do not negotiate in good faith and are a by-word for duplicity and ruthlessness.

Opposition in the UK was partly covert, imbuing the actions of many lawyers, civil servants, academics and teachers – the guardians of country-hating Wokery. More often it was highly vocal, the daily propaganda grind in the Times, Guardian, Independent, BBC and ITV. Naturally the opposition parties have opposed; Labour at least dropped Corbyn the Trot, but more sane Keir Starmer has yet to win over his hard-Left factions The sourly pro-Europe LibDems, led by one Ed Davey (who?), actually espouse the cause of re-application to join the EU, a hopelessly lost cause. More troublesome, but happily too few to stop Brexit, are the 47 SNP MPs, obeying First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, independence fanatic, loved by many in Scotland but heartily disliked everywhere else. A bedraggled line of former Premiers,  Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May maintained a chorus of hostile disapproval.

But the great bulk of the Conservative Party stayed loyal to Boris and to the Brexit cause. Gove, Rees-Mogg, Patel and Sunak were eloquent proponents and Boris demonstrated determination and statecraft. The EU still “does not get it” about Brexit but we know it is the right route for the UK and a vital programme of eliminating inequalities and injustice lies before us as does the vital job of rejuvenating our battered economy.

To end on a note of reconciliation rather than triumph, I attach a clip of the typically wistful ode by Purcell to James II, Britain, How great now thou art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaakHChQgFw&ab_channel=HenryPurcell

Let us start the rebuilding of Britain in unity in 2021.

 

SMD

27.12.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

7 SONGS OF INSPIRATION AND JOY

 

7 SONGS OF INSPIRATION AND JOY

 

We have gone through so much in the last 4 years that we can hardly believe we are on the edge of Victory. On 31 December we finally break our onerous chains to the EU, with or without an agreement; obnoxious Donald Trump has been voted out; Dom Cummings, Tory Svengali, is history; life-saving Covid vaccines are at last being administered; Boris can turn to a fresh page with renewed vigour. Let us exercise our tonsils, allow ourselves a broad smile, and sing out in celebration these 7 songs of inspiration and joy!

(1)    Jerusalem

Music by Sir Hubert Parry, words by William Blake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOFHVXE6yWs&pbjreload=101&ab_channel=Mandetriens           

Yes, it is an English patriotic flag-waver but it is none the worse for that - inspirational and heart-warming for all who love their country.

(2)    The Strife is o’er, the Battle done

Music by Giovanni Palestrina, translated from a Latin text by Francis Pott.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy_lW63fYZc&ab_channel=PolkStreetUnitedMethodistChurch

Commonly sung at Easter, it celebrates the miracle of the Resurrection and the promise of eventual Salvation.

(3)    The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Music by William Steffe, Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSiVjlknuSw&ab_channel=TheTabernacleChoiratTempleSquare

With rather convoluted origins, this grand anthem is certainly rousing and celebrates the great spirit and high aspirations of all Americans.

(4)    Finlandia

Music by Jean Sibelius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE0RbPsC9uE&ab_channel=BBCMusic

You do not have to be Finnish to appreciate Sibelius’ great music and Finland is not the only country to emerge liberated from the domination of others.

(5)    Scots wha hae

Music Traditional Scots air “Hey tuttie tatie”. Words by Robert Burns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKT7qxk9-pw

The tune was allegedly played at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) but the lyrics were composed by Burns in 1790 and purport to mirror a speech made to his army by national hero Robert the Bruce. The song personifies our native Scots defiance and pride in our separate identity.

Unsurprisingly the song is particularly dear to Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP but I personally wish to reinforce our links with England – though I cheer any Scots triumphs on the football and rugby fields!

(6)    Men of Harlech

Music Traditional,  Lyrics John Oxenford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbBGWR4VL58&ab_channel=Anthems%26HonorsMusic

This sublime march energises our Welsh friends and the clip is sung by a Welsh Male Voice Choir, that unique institution of this most musical of nations.

(7)    Worthy is the Lamb and the Amen

Music by George Frederick Handel (from Messiah), text by Charles Jennens

https://www._youtube.com/watch?v=vCcGqMHndxo

The final passages of Messiah are among the most inspiring in all music. First performed in Dublin in 1742, Beethoven reckoned Handel to be the best composer before his time. Chorus after chorus and arias of extraordinary power tumble out of this amazing oratorio testifying to the supreme genius of Handel. It is not possible to fail to be moved or inspired by this music.

 

I hope all my readers feel uplifted and reborn and can sing with joy as we emerge from our various crises.

 

SMD

09.12.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

 

A MENU IN OUR DREAMS

 

I have had requests to provide my ideal menu but I tread warily as food indulgence may not be in accordance with the “spirit of the age” at this difficult time. Maybe soon we can celebrate a sensible exit agreement with the EU and the end of the wretched Covid pandemic.

Anyhow, I will give you 2 menus – one I call the “hearty” menu (probably closest to my real desires) and the other is a “refined” menu for entertaining visiting friends of discriminating taste or elderly regal ladies from Windsor Castle!

Hearty Menu

1.       Cullen Skink

A delicious fish soup of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions. Our proud Scots reply to New England’s adequate Clam Chowder or the over-stocked French Bouillabaisse. My maternal grand-mother came from Cullen. This dish is served in select hotels and restaurants in the North East, and Baxter’s tinned version is toothsome.

 

                                Cullen Skink

 

 

                                                           2. Steak and Kidney Pie

I lie awake in bed trying to recapture the aroma of a freshly cooked steak and kidney pie. The purists will insist that the covering should actually be made of suet and be a pudding rather than a pie, but I adore a product made of short-crust pastry, brown and drenched in flavour by the diced meat. I insist on the kidneys, currently much avoided by the health conscious, but uniquely tasty. I would add boiled potatoes, decorated with parsley, and crisp, sweet Brussel sprouts and English mustard.

To drink heartily I suggest a fruity red to swig from the sun-kissed Rhone valley, probably a Chateau-Neuf du Pape, introduced to me in my student days in Paris in 1961, first sampled by me at La Mère Catherine, Place du Tertre in Montmartre.

As an alternative, knowing that lady cooks do not like handling offal, like kidneys, liver and sweetbreads, I propose 2(a) Braised Oxtail Bretonne, a very nourishing stew-like dish with exquisite little sweet forkfuls of meat nestling between the bones of the tail. It was one of my favourites in the 1960s at our Capitol Restaurant, Aberdeen, then under the management of talented caterer Bill Nixon.

3 Vacherin

As an indulgent dessert I propose Vacherin, a delicious confection of cows -milk, ice cream, chocolate sauce, and meringue.

Vacherin is on the menu of the mini-chain Le Relais de Venise, commonly called L’Entrecote, with outposts in London (off Marylebone High Street), Paris and New York, all with identical menus.

The Refined Menu

                Now for the real McCoy! A feast to remember!

1. I dozen native Whitstable Oysters, each

 

 

 Served raw with slices of squeezed lemon and a dash of Tabasco, from the ancient Roman oyster beds of my now-native Kent

2.       Poached whole Scottish Salmon

                                                             Poached whole Scottish Salmon

Lightly poached, melt-in-your mouth-salmon, easily sliced away from the bone, a dish for kings! With a Hollandaise sauce, to soften and enhance this delicious repast.

For the above 2 dishes I serve the bone-dry white Burgundy Montrachet.             

                                   3.Chinese Crispy Peking Duck Pancakes

A complete change, to bring savour to the mouth, and to wallow in the joys of the tastiest duck imaginable with piquant soy sauce.

We must change the wine to Pommard, a glorious red Burgundy, whose vineyard we visited in the early 1990s.

4, A Plate of Stilton and Brie Cheese

Two classic cheeses, one originally from Derbyshire the other from Normandy.

 

These cheeses will of course need some bread and I suggest delicious gluten-free sourdough.

5. Leonidas Belgian Chocolates

To finish off, a selection of Belgian chocolates, often businesses founded by Greek chocolatiers. Leonidas will sweeten up your sagging waist-line!

An accompanying glass of vintage Port will make a grand finale!

 

SMD

26.11.20  

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

                                         CIVILISATION AND DESTRUCTION

Humanity is a complex phenomenon and throughout history opposing currents of thought have done battle - Order and Chaos, Stability and Reform, Status Quo and Movement, Subjection and Liberation. These currents pull us in contradictory ways and we embrace bits but not all of the grand claims made by politicians or religious leaders. He who embraces every jot and tittle of any programme is variously labelled a fanatic, a fool, or a visionary genius. I want particularly to concentrate in this piece about the age-old conflict between Beauty and Iconoclasm, about those who cherish depictions of noble, historic and divine images and the statue-topplers who object to them with grim determination, and the lessons we can learn

 Iconoclast at work, 9th Century Psalter   6th Century icon, St Catherine's Monastery

 

For centuries, the enemies of the Egyptian Pharaohs would deface their monuments (e.g. the Sphinx), the Mosaic laws forbad Jews from the worship of “graven images” and Jews and Christians promised to obey the 1st Commandment outlawing idolatry. The Muslims deprecated any depiction of the Prophet himself but tolerated their icon-loving Orthodox subjects. However, in time the example of the ever-stronger Muslims sowed doubts in the Orthodox and the Byzantine Empire was convulsed in the Iconoclastic Controversy of the 8^th and 9^th centuries AD, pitting the Eastern against the Western citizens, the Church against the Emperor. Eventually the iconodules prevailed, but the Byzantine Empire was weakened and the patriarch of Constantinople lost his status as equal to the Pope in Rome. In 1453 Constantinople itself fell to the Ottoman Turks, less tolerant than their predecessors, and the magnificent St Sophia had its icons desecrated, with many painted over, being replaced by Islamic calligraphy and banners in a display of triumphalism until 1919.

  

Moving on to the reformation in Europe, Luther was not an iconoclast and Henry VIII revered images. It was later, in the reign of Edward VI and then Elizabeth I, that all images associated with Catholics and, in particular, Mariolatry, became targets. Roving bands of Puritan iconoclasts smashed the statues of saints, stained glass or images of Mary – the desecration of the Decorated Gothic Lady Chapel in the 1540s at Ely Cathedral being just one example. In Europe the followers of Zwingli and Jean Calvin in Switzerland and of John Knox in Scotland insisted on the atmosphere of austerity so typical of radical Protestantism. While the old Church was corrupt, the Protestant Reformation destroyed much beauty which is still missed.

      A decapitated statue at Ely            The Lady Chapel, Ely Cathedral

Efforts to re-write history, very evident in the French and Bolshevik Revolutions, are still with us. In the American South, statues honouring Confederate generals are understandably resented by those whose ancestors suffered slavery. Similarly, in Bristol, once a centre of the slave trade, a statue to slaver Edward Colston was toppled and dumped in the harbour in 2020. In Afghanistan, the extremist Taliban gratuitously dynamited the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 in an act of ideological vandalism. After anti-clerical Kemal Ataturk decreed in 1934 that St Sophia should be a museum, Turkish dictator Erdogan decided in 2020 to re-instate Muslim worship there amid the protests of the Greek and Russian Orthodox.

                                                                                                                                                                                               The  Bamiyan Buddhas                         Colston's Statue dumped

There is much political theatre in these episodes but also strong emotions and – that dangerous expression, - “time -honoured”, beliefs on parade. We rely on tactful diplomacy and sweet reason to get over these difficulties, but very often agreement is not possible. ‘Twas ever thus!

 

SMD

17.11.20

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

SOME CLOUDS DISPERSE

 

Well, “Sleepy” Joe Biden won, the unenergetic, slothful, but experienced machine-politician of no great distinction, overcame the hyperactive narcissist and screwball maverick Donald Trump who, true to form, is skulking in his tent crying “Foul!”. Biden’s victory was narrow in the key battleground States and Trump harvested about 71m American votes, so he represents a large constituency of citizens to some degree disaffected by Establishment policies and attitudes. His short Presidency has delivered a nasty shock to global assumptions about America and shown that some of her values to be, at best, skin-deep. Biden’s hopes of rebuilding and reconciling his nation will be a Herculean labour. 

                                                                        A Happy Biden

Trump at bay

As many others say, the US has not rejected Trump’s policies, it has rejected Trump the man. His boorishness, his inarticulate ramblings, his insults to friend and enemy, his monstrous ego, his contempt for the truth, have combined to embarrass the American electorate beyond toleration. He is quite simply unable to represent his country to others in an up-beat and civilised fashion. He will probably remain a force in US politics for some time but I cannot believe he will successfully run again for the Presidency. In short, Trump is permanently leaving the international stage. Hurrah!

There was more good news. The US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have announced preliminary results of their new vaccine to combat Covid-19 and it seems to be 90% effective. Much needs to be done before the vaccine is available to the public, but for the first time, there seems to be real hope that Covid can be suppressed, to global applause. The nightmare that 2020 has been, may evolve into the rare aberration we pray it to be. It seems that the technique Pfizer uses to zap the Covid bug is very similar to that being researched by AstraZeneca and Oxford University among others, so other effective vaccines may well emerge soon. What a relief all that will be!

                                                

Nasty Covid-19 viruses

Good news in the UK is harder to find. Our feeble government has been bounced into a second drastic lock-down by scientific advisers relying on dodgy data and tendentious mathematical projections. Maybe there is no better way but serious debate on the supporting evidence has not happened; I feel sorry for Boris as he read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford and can easily be bamboozled by epidemiologists – he would be much happier with Euripedes, as would we all! The lockdown in England is very damaging economically and seriously undermines public morale. A return to “normality” is devoutly to be wished.

We hope against hope that a trade agreement with the EU can be reached for the mutual benefit of both parties. But both the UK and EU are playing hard-ball and concessions by both sides are required, of which there is little sign. A hard Brexit looks much more likely. Common sense is notably absent, but we await some kind of breakthrough.

 Frost and Barnier still apart

Although the world is grasping at some rays of light, the gods can still be unpredictable. My lovely wife and I have spent most summers for the last 20 years in our house in bustling Karlovasi on the  Aegean island paradise of Samos. On 30 October, out of the blue, an earthquake struck, damaging many houses, including the large 19^th century Cathedral, maybe 100 yards from our front door. Our properties were unscathed but many were not so lucky and some 90 died in nearby Izmir in Turkey. We live in dangerous times.

The collapsed side and roof of the Cathedral at Samos

SMD     

10.11.20               

Text copyright © S M Donald 2020

RABBLE-ROUSERS

 Rabble-rousers are dangerous fellows, whom we sometimes rather guiltily enjoy, but who can mightily upset our societies. History produces many examples of this species, who need to be recognized for what they are before they cause undue damage. A rabble-rouser, or more correctly a “demagogue”, is most effective in democratic societies, where the people, or at least the electorate, appoint the government and can be moved to replace or reorganize that government. Typically, the techniques employed by the rabble-rouser include scapegoating, fearmongering, lying, oversimplifying, distorting and promising the impossible. Mix these often-unseen elements with practiced emotional oratory and strong personal charisma and you have a powerful brew on your hands, sometimes a brew involving violence and mayhem. With some sadness, I have to admit that this demagogic profile fits to a T the present US President Donald J. Trump.

                 Trump inflames the passions of his audience

I am not blind to the merits of President Trump. He has given a new voice to many Americans who felt marginalized and he has put a bomb under an Establishment hitherto tenacious in its possession of privilege. The US has prospered and avoided new military conflicts. He has even helped Israel make peace with her neighbours. Yes, there is a credit side on the Trump balance sheet, but, alas, the liabilities side is much larger. For the Donald presidency has seen outrageous lies disseminated daily, with very few retractions, amid a weird atmosphere of self-congratulation and rampant egotism. Trump has appealed to the prejudices of his supporters, notably fear of Mexicans and immigrants generally. His language is so tactless he has widened the gap between whites and other minorities in the US.

Internationally Trump’s hostile attitude has alienated his natural allies in Europe and the Far East. Over-simplifying tricky issues, Trump has withdrawn from alliances, treaties and partnerships leaving a power vacuum which Russia and China are only too happy to fill. This is a poor legacy for future Western democrats and is the product of Trump’s ignorance of US diplomatic history and espousal of a tub-thumping America First policy (or rather “slogan”). He has substantially debased the dignity of his office.

We hope Trump is a one-off, though US demagogues have a long pedigree from William Jennings Bryan through Huey Long to Senator Joe McCarthy. I dread a close US presidential election on 3 November, only about three weeks away, with Trumpian screams of “Fraud” and possible recourse to a controversial Supreme Court, erratic House Speaker Pelosi and a fanciful bipartisan ticket if normal inauguration is made impossible. It could be very nasty indeed!

Americans may need to be vigilant and agile if things go seriously wrong constitutionally.  There is a chilling historical precedent. Adolf Hitler’s Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag after the elections on 30/01/1933 but had no majority. In February the Reichstag building was set alight by the Communists, said Hitler, but more likely by the Nazis, to cause panic. A temporary state of emergency was declared on 28 February suspending basic rights and there was paramilitary violence. New elections took place on 6/03/33 but the Nazis still failed to get a majority. The Prussian elite and the Nazis came to an understanding at Potsdam on 21/3/33 and passed an Enabling Act which transformed liberal Weimar Germany into a de facto legal dictatorship on 23/3/33 under Adolf Hitler. All this was achieved in just 2 months. If Trump has no scruples about, nor respect for, the traditions of the US, he has this deadly pathway to follow. I hesitate to use Trump’s name in the same breath as that of Hitler, (they are worlds apart) but I cannot say there is absolutely no danger.

   

Wilkes and Liberty

                         

Influential Nigel Farage

The UK is far from perfect. It has not been much plagued by demagogues recently but John Wilkes in the 1770s caused a huge popular anti-monarchist furore and Lord George Gordon led the infamous Gordon Riots of 1780 which ravaged London.  In our times Nigel Farage has been an eloquent advocate of Brexit, a cause I support, using all the rhetorical tricks, swaying the 2016 referendum and pretending to be “just Folks”. Nor can the French gloat: their parade of odd-balls includes Jean-Baptiste Marat, revolutionary terrorist and failed Ami du Peuple, General Boulanger, the “man on the black horse” who excited the French briefly in 1890, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, extreme nationalist who polled surprisingly well in 2002 for President.

All democracies are targeted by plausible rabble-rousing demagogues. We democrats must ignore their blandishments and repeat to ourselves the proven values of reason, tolerance and unity to weather the storms capricious nature will hurl against us.

 

SMD        11.10.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

FOLLOW THAT TASTE-BUD!

 

One of the many pleasures of Lockdown is the tsunami of TV programmes, even channels, devoted to acquiring, preparing, cooking and eating food. Not plain food but mouth-watering, fancy, quasi-exotic food stretching the culinary talents of many viewers. Personally, I am a fan of Rick Stein’s fish and seafood enthusiasms but I do not disparage The Great British Bake-off and the myriad shows explaining the delights of Indian, Thai, Spanish and, I imagine, Belarussian delicacies.

        A Rick Stein bonne-bouche

Influential as they are, these programmes got me thinking. I thought of Covid-stricken Donald Trump, aged 74 and at 110 kg and 6ft 3in, classified as clinically obese. I too am 110kg but am aged 78 and a mere 5ft 10in, so my classification is a, rather alarming, state secret. Our esteemed Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had his own almost lethal brush with Covid-19 in April. Once short and fat, he has now lost 2 stone and his diet regime is simple – eat less and exercise more! Mind you, Petronella Wyatt, an ex-lover of Boris, describes Boris in this week’s Spectator, as one whose “idea of fine dining was Pizza Express!”. She also relates a crisis in their relationship when she cooked him an elaborate seafood risotto. Arriving late as usual, he looked on the dish “as one might gaze upon a dish of beetles,” saying “I can’t eat that. Do you have any crisps?” Petronella writes “This enraged me more than any of his sexual delinquencies. As Colette said, Food has ruined more relationships than infidelity!”

But Boris is now right – we must eat less. One of the 7 Deadly Sins, invented by early Church Fathers, is Gluttony, a vice we hardly recognise these days.

The Emperor Vitellius

Vitellius only survived as Roman Emperor for 8 months in 69AD. His claim to fame was his gluttony and, armed with emetics, he had 3 gastronomic beanos every day!  Unsurprisingly, according to ever-unreliable Suetonius, he had a flabby reputation but his feasts were spectacular. In one he served 2,000 choice fishes and 7,000 birds before reserving for himself a huge platter containing the livers of pike, the brains of pheasant and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes and the milt (semen) of lampreys. This brutal fellow was soon dispatched by the Roman mob, aiding Vespasian’s legions.

Fast forward to the Victorian naturalist Frank Buckland (1826-1880) whose gluttony took a peculiar form. Buckland was the son of amateur paleontologists, his father becoming a clerical Dean. His parents regularly feasted on delicacies like mice in batter, squirrel pie, horse’s tongue and ostrich.

 

                                   

        Frank Buckland pioneer of zoöphagy

There was a notion in the 19^th century that new options could be found for providing new food for humanity. From a boy, Frank decided to eat his way through the animal kingdom, He ate cats and then he befriended zoos, whose dead beasts he consumed. Starting with a panther (yuk), he moved onto black bear (ugh). It became a lifetime obsession and he founded The Acclimatisation Society. In 1862 he invited 100 guests to sit down to a relatively conservative sea-slug, kangaroo, guan and curassow dinner. He later progressed to boiled elephant trunk, rhinoceros pie, porpoise heads and stewed mole. Buckland was a real pioneer in his very odd field.

We associate gluttony with excessive eating but it also embraces the familiar phenomenon of those who are excessively particular about their food. There is a very striking passage in C S Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis imagines a correspondence between a Senior Devil and the Junior Devil he is mentoring:

 “But what do quantities matter, provided we can use a human belly and palate to produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness and self-concern? Glubose,(a Senior Devil) has this old woman well in hand. She is a positive terror to hostesses and servants. She is always turning from what has been offered her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile ‘Oh please, please ... all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest weeniest bit of really crisp toast’. You see? Because what she wants is smaller and less costly than what has been set before her, she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others.”

Finally and inevitably, I call upon the French to get our gastric juices flowing again. The enigmatic Francois Mitterand, President of France (1981-1995) had concealed his prostate cancer while in office. Later, knowing he was dying, he called together 30 friends and family for a final dinner and they consumed Marennes oysters, foie gras, capon and as the coup de grace a plate of ortolans (bunting song birds). It was illegal to kill or trap ortolans even then but the French surround eating ortolans, bones and all, with a ritual of covering the head with a large napkin to retain the distinctive taste of these tiny birds, drowned in Armagnac and roasted in a ramekin.

Truly taste-buds take us on strange journeys – time for the Alka-Seltzer!

                    The innocent Ortolan

 

SMD

5.10.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

A NEW WORLD

We are impatiently awaiting the end of Pandemics and Lockdowns. We are already frayed at the edges and yearn for a return to an ordered, sociable and civilised life and to the prompt return of the freedoms temporarily lost during the emergency. I will not stray into the immediate plans of our present bunch of third-rate politicians but instead raise my eyes to the New World we will soon be stumbling through. I am a retired oldie, with very limited ambitions and horizons, but many of you, my readers, are enjoying the prime of life and have bursting energy to seize the opportunities which will present themselves globally. For our Old World is going to change radically and we all must adapt.

                                                         An Empty City of London

        An Empty Regent Street in London’s West End

The necessities of Lockdown have propelled commerce and industry to embrace, much earlier than forecast, the latest technologies and novel ways of working. Home working is now well established, often with all necessary digital equipment provided by employers. It appears to be every bit as productive as office working. Businesses are learning how to train home workers and integrate them into the culture of their employer. At most, one day a week may be required for group personal interaction – the other 4 days of home working will have the benefit of zero commuting, looser hours and more time for wife and family (or their equivalent). We are social beings and I assume post-Covid we will be free to meet up with all and sundry and travel where we will.

The elephant in the room is the fate of Britain’s forests of metropolitan offices – in the likes of The City, Canary Wharf, West End and in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh – home working could see them empty rapidly. These reliably growing (and highly lucrative) property interests have made entrepreneurs seriously rich and underpin the value of many a fund or share portfolio. Yet they could simply go poof! and spectacularly so.

Severe reductions in commuting will have other effects. Transport will have to recalibrate with far fewer trains and fewer peak periods. City centre businesses will languish or move to other, cheaper catchment areas. Populations will shift: why live in some deadening South London suburb when you could be on the South Coast? Maybe the reduction in offices could mean instead a rejuvenation of central areas if many more flats were built and “entertainment” complexes emerged.

Looking further ahead, is there employment for everybody? So many clerical or unskilled jobs can be done efficiently, using artificial intelligence and robots. Self-driving vehicles and transport systems may make redundant an army of bus, railway and airline staff, joined by warehouse and wholesale people. Every state may be faced with a growing pool of un- or under-employed citizens who will need an ever-increasing financial safety-net and to be appeased with bread and circuses to keep them acquiescent.

                 A State-produced happiness drug

Another problem of our New World may be the polarisation in society between the minority of busy contributors and the majority of relatively idle hands. The divide will be even greater than our existing gaping social chasms. Recent experience suggests that achieving agreement between the various classes will not be possible. Democracy may be a casualty with a search for a Strongman (“Big Brother”), rule by decree and a regimented lifestyle. I do not want to paint a wholly dystopian picture but we may need to brush up on our Huxley, Orwell, Golding and Attwood!

Ever the optimist, let us instead explore a sunnier scenario, to lift our spirits and stimulate our warmest hopes. We will emerge from the Covid crisis healthier and wiser. Commuting will be in decline but the pace of change may be slower. A huge building boom of city centre residences on brown land, of new settlements outside London and of recalibrated infrastructure will save the jobs and swell the ranks of building workers, joiners, plumbers and electricians and their supporting businesses. A quickly recovering UK will generate the taxes substantially to reduce budget deficits and to attract foreign investors.

                    Surveying The Promised Land

Trading arrangements with the EU will be settled amicably on a pragmatic basis without the panic of deadlines and ultimatums. International travel, holidays and business, will resume, in due course with hydrogen powered aircraft. Eating more fruit and veg and less red meat will improve our health and our air quality and we will soon live in a world flowing with milk and honey (calm down, Sidney). A liberal Tory or moderate Labour government will return our beloved UK to being a proud and happy land capable of prospering mightily in the brave New World!

 

SMD

24.9.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020