SHAFTS OF LIGHT

There has not been much to cheer about in recent weeks globally or nationally; yet while we may be on the cusp of disaster, the odds still favour the UK and the West and a positive outcome to the crisis is still the most likely outcome. Now and then a shaft of light breaks through. On Saturday night I watched the Last Night of the Proms and despite earlier woke wetness from retiring Lord Hall, the new BBC Director-General Tim Davie did a U-turn and delivered a perfectly sensible concert with much reduced numbers (and, alas, no audience).  The BBC redeemed itself and did not do its usual act as the broadcasting wing of BLM. A South African soprano Golda Schultz sang beautifully and a modest choir sang Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, and Jerusalem in the time-honoured fashion, words and all. I was even able to blub through You’ll never walk alone in my own time-honoured fashion! I imagine certain arrogant London virtue-signallers and their provincial toadies hated it, but I am equally sure most of the nation cheered loudly. These Proms were a welcome morale-booster.

Pared-down orchestra for the Last Night of the Proms 2020

The news from the Covid battle-front has been gloomy. A sharp rise in infections in the UK, as restrictions are loosened, leading to a tightening-up. The Rule of Six drastically limits social life and will no doubt be much evaded. Our population is somewhat anarchic, with faint deference to government and scant respect for the real perils of Covid. Happily, the death rate remains quite low. The government does its best, but constant changes undermine its credibility. We need a vaccine quickly. Other European countries have similar experiences. We crave a return to normality, to civilized family gatherings, shopping, restaurants, pubs and international travel.

The UK economy is slowly recovering from the crisis. GNP had declined 20% to June 2020 and is forecast to bounce back by 11% to September. Many businesses are operating below par, the return to school is not complete and universities see much confusion. Predictably, teachers and NHS nurses are threatening to strike if they are not paid more in this time of emergency and shaky public finances. The next six months will see an employment shake-out as the furlough scheme unwinds and other subsidy schemes end. Inventive new programmes are required. The UK has signed a new trade agreement with Japan, the first step in re-focusing our overseas commercial arrangements, to our mutual benefit.

Lord Frost and Michel Barnier at loggerheads

There is no sign of a break-through in the Brexit negotiations with the EU. Both sides have notionally immoveable red lines and the most likely result today is no-deal. The UK must plan for that sad outcome and her dramatic proposal to override the Withdrawal Agreement in respect of Northern Ireland is part of that planning. Both sides are fighting dirty in the count-down to final Brexit. EU hypocrisy in respect of ignoring treaties was remarked upon by maverick, but articulate Greek ex-Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis noting that France and Germany ignore EU state aid rules at the drop of a hat. The UK must defend itself against the EU’s “predatory diplomacy” in Ambrose Evans-Prichard’s words. There is still a chance of a last-minute deal, but time is ebbing away. Roll on 1 January 2021!

            

Another shaft of light is the retreat of BLM, to the dismay of the woke super-spreaders in our universities and in academia. The BLM movement had set off generous sympathy and support for minorities oppressed by brutal police action in the US or otherwise disadvantaged. In a pitch for popular support, after its bouts of statue removal, it had talked about the “football family” and how together crowds and players should “take the knee” to demonstrate solidarity. Then newspapers published the actual manifesto of BLM proposing, inter alia, the destruction of capitalism, the abolition of the police and the emptying of all jails – in other words the usual Hard Left claptrap. Suddenly the penny dropped. The BLM movement was not Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela incarnate but rather Karl Marx and Malcolm X disguised. The FA, with the support of many black players, ordered the removal of BLM slogans from players’ shirts and nobody is authorized to “take the knee”. Football is a conservative and apolitical pastime, ill-suited to Marxist discipline, so BLM was always on a loser. Let’s hope it fades away.

There is some cheer in the real world of sport. Arsenal had a good early season win but Leeds gave champions Liverpool an epic game in their 3-4 thriller. England bounced back to beat the Aussies in their ODI cricket series and Lewis Hamilton won yet another Grand Prix. Life isn’t so bad!

SMD

14.09.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

JOY ON THE WING

In this Limbo-Lockdown life we are living, we come to appreciate birds rather more – many come to see you and you do not need to make a huge or perilous effort to see them. So, I celebrate a clutch of British birds, not always the prettiest but easily remembered and much cherished. Of course, birds get a mixed press, they are unpredictable and coolly independent as Hitchcock reminded us in his 1963 The Birds (see clip below) and others will shudder at the memory of the pigeon lady of Central Park, NYC, in 1992’s Home Alone 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplpQt424Ls&ab_channel=Movieclips

A black-billed magpie in flight

I start with the Magpie as there are many here in Folkestone and, unlike many other breeds, its population is growing. I am not sure why, but lack of predators and protective laws must play a part. A member of the crow family, it is said to be a most intelligent bird, which can recognize itself in a mirror and use casual items as a tool. It is attracted to shiny objects and has a reputation as an aggressor and a thief – most delightfully captured in Rossini’s opera The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra), whose overture is a perennial concert “lollipop”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYfaKAIf-SU&ab_channel=MannheimerPhilharmoniker.

Another breed of bird which is plentiful (maybe over-plentiful) here in Folkestone is the Seagull. They roost and nest in every spot they can find, usually high up on roofs and chimneys and they make plenty of noise, an unmelodic squawking. They swoop about and will quickly pinch a neglected sandwich when not dive-bombing you or your car with unpleasant bird-lime. They are not lovable birds with their beady eyes, surprising bulk and insolent manner, but they are an indispensable part of coastal living and we must live-and-let-live in the prescribed generous fashion.

Personally, they opened a door for me. In the early 1960s I read The Herring Gull’s World by Niko Tinbergen, a masterly description of a gull’s habitat and life-style. He was a father of the modern science of ethology and inspired me to build up at least a superficial knowledge of animal organization and its evolution into human traits. This led me to read the splendid books by the American dramatist and scientific populariser Robert Ardrey, notably African Genesis and The Territorial Imperative, both fascinating reads, and to read Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz’s On Aggression even though many of both’s assumptions have since been challenged. So, the seagull flies further than expected.

Seagulls loudly making themselves at home

I move on to the somewhat unloved Starlings, a very common garden bird but drastically declining nationally. I remember starlings in our Scottish garden, chasing blue-tits, thrushes and blackbirds away from the feeder, greedily gorging themselves. At a distance they look black but in fact they have a purply- green sheen.  Starlings are most famous for their spectacular “murmurations”, huge flocking legions near their roosts – often 5,000 birds and occasionally 30,000, a sight to behold.

A UK starling murmuration

The common Starling

 

When I lived in the Cotswolds, a regular visitor to our garden was the colourful Great Spotted Woodpecker, clicking her beak on the bark of trees searching for insects. Further afield, visits to the Hebridean island of Mull would include a short trip to Staffa, home of Fingal’s Cave, inspiration of Mendelssohn. Staffa hosts a colony of Puffins, those jaunty little birds who delight by their tameness.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The sociable Puffin

My final British bird is altogether more formidable. The migratory Osprey or sea-eagle had become extinct in southern Britain in the 19^th century and extinct in Scotland in 1916. It was reintroduced with I pair in 1954, at Loch Garten in Spey-side, but by 1976 there were only 14 pairs, achieving a kind of break-through by 2001 to reach 158 pairs. There are few more thrilling bird-watching sights than an osprey dive-bombing into a lake catching a fish in its talons, (see below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqGKX7Eofy4&ab_channel=BBC.

To conclude, common in the Mediterranean, but rarely seen in Britain, is the Hoopoe. This beautifully crested bird greatly attracted our dear Cotswolds friend Philomena de Hoghton who was our first house-guest when we moved to Athens. She delighted in the hoop-hoop song of this proud little fellow. Happy memories!

Th splendid Hoopoe

        

SMD, 

5.09.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

GETTING ON

I am “getting on” (in years) and now and then I come to a land-mark. This Blog is actually my  500^th one, and since launch in July 2011 I have subjected my readers to an unremitting cascade of my views on politics, great historic figures, styles of architecture, cathedrals and churches, works of art, places to visit, the glories of Scotland, England and Greece and various other highways and byways. I thank my very kind readers for their patience and forbearance leading often to generous praise and only occasionally to raspberries, doubtless well deserved! The only bad news is that I am going to persist with my blog-writing, although you may see a slackening in its regularity!

An evocative view of the Statue of William Wallace in Aberdeen by His Majesty's Theatre

As this is my 500^th I will strike a happy note. I will sheath my poison pen, blunt my back-teeth, hold my tongue and find good in all men, although some will make me dig deep. I really do attach importance to “getting on” (with other people) – it is easy to make enemies but less easy to make friends. We are sociable beings and any obstacle to congeniality must be quietly overcome. Britain is a moderate country, in size, in climate, in political tradition and in common inter-action between its citizens – any display of extremism is best left unsaid. Vociferous expression of controversial opinions is deemed unwise. Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re (gently in manner, resolute in deed) was a Roman, and later a British, watch-word.

I am blessed with a supportive family. My lovely wife does not always agree with me but crucially we “get on” and are able to smooth over our little differences. My 3 sons are proudly independent and a generation ahead of me in attitude, yet they tolerate and even enjoy my peculiarities and age-encrusted enthusiasms, be they fragrant scallops, stirring patriotic songs, Six Nations rugby, wry ceremonial music by Purcell, University Challenge or schoolboy memories of games of conkers. Every man develops his own hinterland and uses it as a kind of reserve dynamo.

Looking outwards, my nation is gingerly making a great transition, leaving the EU, as democratically ordained, and developing new relationships in a fast-changing world. We hope for cordial interaction with our old EU friends and wish them well although their direction of travel is not ours. Inevitably our negotiations with the EU have been abrasive, there is much at stake on both sides. We share most EU values and recognise the fundamental importance of “getting on” in the medium term.

Our strongest ally historically is the USA, although the Trump Presidency has shaken many assumptions. A stranger to diplomacy or polite communication, populist Trump has nevertheless kept the US out of new military entanglements, overseen a strong economy, woken up complacent NATO members and even softened some Arab animus towards Israel. He could easily win a second term although the bien-pensant favour elderly Joe Biden. More than ever, a key aim of the UK is to “get on” with whoever is at the helm in Washington. Our bonds with the Old Commonwealth will strengthen as we develop a CANZUK bloc, hopefully to be joined by India and South Africa and others who share our democratic fundamentals.

Internally, the UK faces many challenges. The elephant in the room has been the Covid pandemic, throwing business, schools and the NHS into confusion. Our Conservative government has not performed well, slow to react initially and changing tack with regular U-turns. But the pandemic was unforeseen and the struggle to control it required talents notable in their absence. Boris’ style as a cabinet chairman rather than a chief executive has marginalized his contribution which must be hands-on. But his government is well entrenched and contains astute ministers, who will surely win through. Although I deplore her ruinous Scottish independence fantasies, I give credit to Nicola Sturgeon for running her devolved SNP government reasonably efficiently and decisively.

Finding common ground?

                                                                  

When the pandemic abates, people of goodwill should unite for a radical programme of reform. Surely a rejuvenated and inspiring role can be found for the moribund House of Lords, maybe a half-nominated and half-elected regional Senate. The raising of educational standards is a priority in our technological age and the elimination of deadening poverty and discrimination would remove an affront to our rich society. Equality of opportunity, high aspiration and material amplitude can be our bedrock as we face the glorious future. If we “get on” with our fellow-citizens, we can bring to fruition the dream of the poet, Robert Burns:

Then let us pray that come it may,

(As come it will for a' that,)

That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,

Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.

For a' that, an' a' that,

It's coming yet for a' that,

That Man to Man, the world o'er,

Shall brothers be for a' that.

SMD

26.08.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

CAST ADRIFT

I and many others in the UK live a relatively privileged life (and long may it continue!) but another world increasingly encroaches, inhabited by the angry and the envious, the violent and the irrational, the moronic and the unscrupulous. Sadly, our leaders are failing to defend us against such elements and many of us must feel almost abandoned, as we bob about on today’s storm-tossed seas.

Expansionist Xi Jinping

KGB Hero Vladimir Putin

                                                               

The most sinister of our international enemies are Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. Putin’s men poisoned an opposition leader a day or two ago, drop barrel bombs on Syrian civilians and encourage the rash adventures of Erdogan’s Turkey:  how is it possible to negotiate with leaders who stoop so low?  Xi wishes to snuff out the precarious freedoms of once-British Hong Kong, ruthlessly persecutes the minority Uighurs, seeks to control the South China Sea, threatens Taiwan, and plans to infiltrate Western economies through its areas of technological expertise. Both China and Russia are vast, important nations with whom a modus vivendi is essential, but seldom has common ground been so elusive. At present, the best policy for the West seems to be to re-erect some cordon sanitaire to contain their influence – shades of the Cold War (1945-65)!

The West itself is in poor fettle. Its unity has been put to the test by the erratic policies of Donald Trump’s America, disparaging NATO and the EU in pursuit of his America First priorities. A Joe Biden presidency might be less abrasive, but American eyes are closely watching the Pacific rather than the Atlantic arena. The EU’s economic performance has been disappointing and the Brexit negotiations have engendered bitter internecine tensions which may not readily be resolved. United Europe is maybe a laudable aim but all European nations have cherished institutions and attitudes which they are not ready to abandon for some supposed common good.

No longer close friends

Europe’s leaders have not shone. Hitherto reliably engaged Angela Merkel has idled on the sidelines while her Germany has become increasingly estranged from America and dependent on Russian energy. Macron’s attempts at domestic reform have failed, making his much-vaunted radicalism irrelevant. The UK correctly, in my view, convinced itself that Brexit was the best course to take but failed to convince a majority of the 10% living in Scotland and have a debilitating internal struggle with the SNP to save the Union on its hands. More worryingly Boris Johnson seems to be losing his political touch in respect of the EU and his notionally strong government is losing the confidence of voters, so necessary for national cohesion.

All politicians globally are trying to cope with the unwelcome appearance of the Covid pandemic. Few have displayed deft handling or fancy footwork. Stop-start, contradictions, panic regulations have been the order of the day – nowhere more so than in the UK whose reactions to the pandemic have been more economically damaging than most and whose presentation has been particularly cack-handed, incompetent and inept. I sympathise, given this wholly unexpected situation, but fine words of sympathy do not butter any parsnips. Boris needs to find his old formidable energy, barn-storm round the country and give us confidence in the present and a vision of much better times coming.

Boris Johnson, where the buck stops

Issues like immigration, improving educational standards, free speech in our universities, crass corporate salaries, bloated bureaucracy, unnecessary tax complexities, the underperformance of white working class boys, discrimination of many kinds, low productivity, parliamentary reform – a multitude of controversial problems will crowd the in-tray of a UK government when, if ever, normality returns and the ship of state sails with a firm pilot at the helm, reassuring to all her citizens.

SMD

21.08.20

Text Copyright Sidney Donald 2020

DRESSING UP

Clothes play a vibrant role in our lives. We spend large amounts on smart trousers, fancy shirts, natty socks and quality shoes and the ladies go overboard on hats, cardigans, jumpers, svelte dresses, enticing nightwear, overpriced court shoes, espadrilles and knee-length boots. All that is routine. What we love above all is “dressing up” for that special occasion, when we can really cut loose and create a sartorial sensation.

Historically there were “sumptuary laws” trying to restrict luxurious imported fabrics and fine materials to the ruling elite. The proles were condemned to home-spun cloth, flat hats and even unglamorous, inferior cuts of meat. Happily, these laws were widely ignored or only fitfully enforced, apart from a Roman imperial monopoly on purple-dyed garments and a long-standing European veto on gold braid for the plebs. Fortunately, nowadays even the least enterprising young whipper-snapper can sport more Carnaby Street gold braid than an 18^th century Spanish field-marshal.

Let us kick off with the stereo-typical English gent. By day he may don a pin-stripe suit, a bowler had and a rolled umbrella, once a City of London uniform until about the 1960s, but still the apparel of Guards officers in mufti.

William and Harry in Guards mufti

Sir Austen Chamberlain in the 1920s

 

Making more of an effort to look like a gent is Sir Austen Chamberlain, son of Joe and half-brother of Neville, who was a rather undynamic foreign secretary, but dig that monocle and winged collar! Sadly, it was said of Austen; He always played the game, and always lost. He was no aristocrat, the family fortune deriving from screw-making in Birmingham, a city his family served proud.

In the UK two great arbiters of fashion were Beau Nash, master of ceremonies in fashionable 18^th century Bath and Beau Brummell, the epitome of elegance for some time in the circle around the Prince Regent (later George IV) in the early 19^thcentury in Brighton and London. Nash was a rather ugly fellow but Brummell tactfully laid down what was polite and beautiful, tactfully, because the Prince Regent, was himself grossly obese and ill-tempered.

Beau Brummell

Beau Nash

As a Scotsman I find full Highland costume majestic and my pulses race when I see the wonderful portrait of a clan chieftain by Raeburn in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Now that is what I call “dressing up”.

Macdonell of Glengarry by Henry Raeburn

In our modern times, we can still remember White Tie and Tails, now only worn on highly formal occasions, but once de rigueur to the theatre or concert-hall. The American Fred Astaire and the British star Jack Buchanan were wonderfully elegant wearers of this uniform. I also cannot resist the sight of Diana’s gorgeous ‘revenge’ dress while splitting up from Charles.

     

Buchanan and Astaire charm

Princess Diana sparkles in black

The high-spot of the summer season is Ascot, the ladies dressed to kill, the gentlemen in classic Ascot grey morning coats with black top hats. I attach a photo of the Royals at Ascot, but below is the YouTube link to the wonderful Ascot Gavotte sequence from the film of My Fair Lady which is stunning.

The Royal party at Ascot

My Fair Lady https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNgsAcSJdAg

Ah well, you peacocks and dandies can primp before the mirror and imagine how you would look in these starchy get-ups. For myself, my days of ecstatic clothes and shimmying through crowded glitterati are over. Maybe I should revert to the mod fashions of the 1960s;

The Who's clothes will please many

Or maybe I throw on a favourite shirt, a venerable pair of corduroy trousers and some comfy slippers and chuckle through that P G Wodehouse tale of Bertie Wooster until the eyelids droop and it’s time for bed.

SMD

23.7.20

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

IT TAKES ALL KINDS

We are encouraged to look on all people as our brothers or sisters (sorry, I forget the trans minority), quite a tall order for someone as encrusted in bias as I am. Much of my bias is unconscious and somehow innate, but I cannot deny its existence. I get on best with my own kind – anyone else is more of an effort. This may not be ideal but it is realistic.

The three great trendy sins of the present time are racism, sexism and ageism – totally overshadowing the revered usual suspects, nationalism, fascism and communism. Dragged before a ‘liberal’ kangaroo court, I would certainly be found guilty of all three sins, if the charges were put baldly, but I would maintain there are useful and mitigating

Charge No 1 – I am a racist, probably expressed by the accusing Twitterati as “a filthy bigoted old racist” for good measure. My response to this heinous charge is to resort to definitions. You cannot mean I dislike all the races in the world - nobody’s mind could encompass such a multitude. I will only answer the charge of being hostile to those UK citizens who are not racially identical to my particular UK group. True, as a White Scotsman, I find modest fault with the foibles of White English, Welsh and Northern Irish, but such petty criticisms fall far short of racism. All these people would be welcome to converse, break bread, take tea or walk down the prom with me, or even marry my daughter, if I had one.

Stop waffling, I hear them say. You know what we mean: why are you hostile to black, brown or Far Eastern Britons? My answer is an indignant rebuttal – I am nothing of the kind. True, I know very few black, brown or Far Eastern Britons but those I do know are perfectly civilised and acceptable. (What do you mean “acceptable”? Who are you to pass judgment, you racist oaf?) Frankly I prefer well educated Britons with basic good manners, kind hearts and a love of their country. (OMG! You are an elitist, nationalist racist – you must be “cancelled” forthwith!!!) I admit to some human bias, but not much more.

An unbiased Scottish look at the World

I quickly skip over the charges of being sexist and ageist. I sympathise with the basic tenets of Women’s Lib, but I wish its advocates were less strident. I never had a woman boss in my business career, and probably would not have enjoyed having one. The talent of many women is extraordinary (viz. Margaret Thatcher) and of course our gracious and noble Queen is an iconic figure. I have had the good fortune to be married to a lovely, remarkable and dynamic Greek lady for 51 years which has proved to me the truth of the observation that our thought processes being only tangentially related, though their interaction is always warmly cherished! The sexes are a breed apart. OK, yes, I am a sexist, but a loving one.

Vive la Difference!

As for ageism, it seems to me self-evident that old people are on the whole wiser than the young. Experience matters and it is usually a dependable guide. Our great leaders were relatively old; Churchill was first Prime Minister at 66, Adenauer was Chancellor at 73 and de Gaulle President at 69, Reagan at 70. Mind you, the exception that proves the rule is probably infantile Donald Trump, currently an erratic 74. In my book anyone over 60 is the cat’s whiskers (ageist idiot!) So, I plead guilty of ageism, but who cares in any event 

For this debate between Freedom and Ideology was fought and won by Freedom 3 centuries ago. The rationalism of Locke, Berkeley and Hume in the English-speaking world, supplemented by the philosophies of Voltaire, Kant, Hegel and J S Mill transformed our way of thinking, blossoming into the vibrant schools of Nietzsche, Bergson, Russell and a hundred others. The intolerance of BLM and its Marxist forebears stands out like a sore thumb and has nothing positive to teach us. We act in freedom, we write in freedom and we speak in freedom. We moderate our language so as not to offend the easily-offended, but the libertarian principle must hold ultimate sway. In Britain, freedom of speech within the law, was enacted and embodied in legal precedent; in the USA, it is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Yet the ideologues who outlaw selected actions and suppress forbidden thoughts are among us in the West in force. The Leftist message has been disseminated like a slow poison to the teaching, acting, media and academic professions and thence to younger generations throughout our nations. This is where BLM, the LibDems and Labour get their traction.

BLM's illegal black power salute Statue in Bristol

               

Yet the forces of Freedom and tolerance are fighting back. The illiberal culture of once-respected newspapers like The New York Times has been denounced by one of its leading journalists in her recent resignation letter, Bari Weiss. An obscure exchange of letters on trans-sexualism escalated when J K Rowling was denounced by a baying mob of the woke only to trigger a furious riposte defending free speech from 150 writers including no less than Salman Rushdie, Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem and Margaret Attwood, supported by the likes of Steven Pinker, Thomas Chatterton Williams and Malcolm Gladwell.  In this area, the battle-ground is often the liberal Liberals versus the illiberal Liberals.

Our freedom to say what we like inside our own society is a vital asset – we must make common cause with sensible parties to defend it.

SMD

20.07.20

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

PAST AND PRESENT

The Past – I acknowledge that I live in it, as do maybe most soon-to-be 78-year-olds. It stimulates me with memories of long-gone parents, their expressions, their advice and their particular ways still giving me grateful delight. My two fine brothers are happily going strong - what profound memories they generate too - and my old friends continue to amuse, surprise, support and charm me. Above all, my lovely wife and three great sons have been the foundation of my happiness on life’s rocky road. Yes, the Past is often a good place to be. Kind Nature ensures that my memories are almost all of the most agreeable kind!

I had the good fortune to have a privileged education and my passion was the study of history. Yet I am dismayed, when I waste my time watching daytime TV quiz shows, that while most contestants’ have an encyclopedic knowledge of pop groups or soap stars, their knowledge of history is precisely nil. They are ignorant of famous dates like the war years – 1914-18 and 1939-45 – and Churchill’s name elicits an embarrassed shuffling and vacant looks. They cannot even name the King before our illustrious present Queen. Then I remembered that until decimalisation in 1971, we carried our history about in our trouser pockets. Every old penny from Victoria, through Edward VII, George V, George VI to Elizabeth II, with a head image and a minting date also helpfully provided. So, we oldies had, I suppose, an unfair advantage.

George V

Edward VII

George VI

        
   

    

                               

More seriously, an appreciation of history gives us so much more insight into who we are, where we are and what we are seeing with our own eyes. I have had enormous pleasure visiting and revisiting the 40 or so City of London churches (St Mary Woolnoth my favourite) and driving around the country to see many of England’s incomparable parish Churches (Burford my ideal) or relishing the stunning sight of England’s ancient cathedrals (especially majestically Romanesque Durham). If you are clutching an informative guide-book, so much the better.

It is not just our historical eyes that lift us, it is also our tongues. What a wonderful language we have, developing from the golden age of Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer (1552) to The Authorised Version of the Bible (1611) to the release of Shakespeare to the world in the First Folio (1623)! The English and American language in inspiring poetry, in sonorous history and in muscular, imaginative prose, just gives and gives over the centuries.

Lovely St John the Baptist, Burford, Oxfordshire

          

                                                     Majestic Durham Cathedral

These buildings and this literature are our birthright and reinforce our sense of identity. Moving on to the Present, we face many challenges. Plague and pestilence have unexpectedly beset us and we are emerging very gingerly from Lockdown after a heavy global death-toll. Our world still tears itself apart, with brutal civil war in Syria, and China’s appalling persecution of her Uighur minority. The purges and Gulag in Russia, Germany’s infamous Final Solution, the genocide of Tutsi by Hutu in Rwanda are remoter memories, but never to be forgotten.

How can we navigate through this maelstrom of horror? The Ancient world tried to help with its Greek axiom carved over the entrance to the sanctuary at oracular Delphi: Gnothi Seauton (Know Thyself) – use your talents and understand your feelings. Shakespeare gives us another angle, from Polonius’ advice to Laertes in Hamlet:

This above all: to thine own self be true

And it must follow as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

All this may seem a bit literary and highfalutin so on a more relaxed level let me suggest that the calmest way to face the Present world is the simple philosophy of Frank Sinatra in the song That’s Life:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=avU2aarQUiU

SMD

6.07.2020

Text Copyright Sidney Donald 2020

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