LET"S ENJOY SUMMER

2020 has been a truly surreal year with Lockdown to oppress us and social life strangled since early March. Strenuous efforts are now being made to ease the Lockdown but pub-drinking at a regimented distance or restaurant waiters in visors, rather curb one’s appetite and public confidence in the government’s grip on events and on the Covid-19 pandemic is at a low ebb. Somehow Royal Ascot with horses but no spectators or Liverpool winning the Premier League in front of an empty stadium are deeply unsatisfying and the cricket season is in limbo with the ball itself being castigated as “a natural vector of the disease”. What famous names will be spinning in their graves!

The pent-up frustration and impatience of the great British public are clear to see. A relaxation of the social distancing rules, coupled with some decent weather, brought out hundreds of thousands to the beaches of the South Coast, packed like sardines. Sandy Bournemouth, with hotels closed, was overwhelmed by day-trippers; music parties and private “raves” attracted the attention of the police and were defended by violent bottle throwing; scenic rural villages and green mountain areas battened down the hatches and awaited the dreaded influx of barbaric town-dwellers in camper-vans.

The crowded joys of Bournemouth when the sun shines

Inevitably, Liverpool FC fans, celebrating their League triumph, overstepped the mark and, laden with flares and fireworks, almost set fire to the iconic Liver Building. It is probably wise to turn a blind eye and put the rowdiness down to Merseyside joie de vivre and hope that the return of the usual rain and grim reality will sober up these anarchic perpetrators.

For high and low, rich and poor all want an escape from the dismal routine of Lockdown Britain. The creation of air corridors to 10 or so mainly European countries, exempt from quarantine rules, is a good start and the sleek Frogs and the tattooed Rosbifs can get close again and contemplate each other with their usual mutual incomprehension – but enjoy the wine, the girls and the grub!

We want to escape the last 4 pandemic months of excruciatingly uninformative press conferences, the contradictory edicts and the squabbling scientists with their tendentious projections. We say “enough” to the mendacious media, the self-righteous politicians and the grand-standing critics. We have scant patience with lead-swinging BLM agitators proclaiming, entirely fancifully, the “victimhood” of fine communities they know little about, irrelevantly planning statue-toppling (egged on by no less than the woke Archbishop of Canterbury) to the disgust of millions of Britons of all creeds and colours. As the Hard Left musters its troops and hones its intolerance, infiltrating professions which should know better, we know how much more civilised it would be if as a nation we agreed with “enlightened” Frederick the Great of Prussia who promised, 280 years ago; In my State everyone can find salvation after their own fashion. He broke down religious and class barriers – we can do the same and very much more too.

Lessons to learn from Frederick the Great of Prussia

  

We want to escape the din of politics, say, until the end of September. We do not grudge our politicians a holiday either; we hope against hope that they will return refreshed and reborn! We know there are serious matters to resolve thereafter in our trading arrangements with the EU and in recovering from our unexpected economic slump.

Meanwhile let us have the peace to enjoy our incomparable land. Even in lockdown we have loved the birdsong in our garden from modest blackbirds, finches and sparrows. On Thursday we broke our isolation by inviting an 86-year-old neighbour round for a few glasses of Prosecco. He is a retired schoolmaster, a spry, civilised man, and we conversed very happily. We live near the sea and benefit from its bracing air. Some will ramble over hills and dales, or boat over lakes or up rivers; others will visit stately homes or meander round country churches; above all, everyone to their own taste. Clear away the cob-webs, shake out a leg, be happy!

A lovely British Blue Tit

      

SMD.  

27.06.20               

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

WHAT REALLY MATTERS

When writing about race relations in the UK, one is aware of heightened sensibilities and debilitating touchiness. We walk on egg-shells, not wanting to offend anybody while purveying our version of the truth in a complex situation. Our society has made enormous strides in accepting and cherishing our BAME fellow citizens, though many inequalities persist and opportunities are unevenly distributed.

The UK was deeply involved in Slavery as her merchants ran the 17^th and 18^th century African / American slave trade from Bristol and Liverpool and owned lucrative sugar plantations in many Caribbean islands. Opinion, led by Evangelical Christians, moved against these practices and the Slave Trade was abolished in British dominions in 1807 and Slavery itself was abolished in 1833. Compensation of £20m, a huge sum then, was paid by the government to the British slave owners. Slavery was abolished in India and Ceylon 10 years later.

Leading anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

                                 

In recent days there have been apologies and promises to spend money philanthropically from the distant descendants of those implicated in slavery like Lloyds of London, brewers Greene King, Royal Bank of Scotland, among others. These gestures are well-meant but do not get to the heart of the matter – how can the lives today of the descendants of slaves, or those oppressed racially by the British Empire, be improved?

Just to give a context for this discussion, the UK population (2011 census) totalling 63.1m, in percentage terms is split as follows:

White British                                                                      87.1%

Asian (from Sub-continent and China)                                7.0%

Black                                                                                     3.0%

Mixed race and other ethnic groups                                     2.9%

                                                                                              100%

As you can see, we are talking about the interests of quite small minorities, although White British opinion often supports their cause. Contrast this with the USA which has some 40m blacks (13% of the population) and 52m Hispanics and Latinos (16.7% of the population) – an issue of a different magnitude altogether.

After Reconstruction, the Southern States in the USA institutionalised racial discrimination and denied civil rights to blacks; progress toward equality had to wait a long time for Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society in the 1960s. The situation is improving but poorly-trained and trigger-happy US police are often caught out in brutality. Yet the spirit of America is inclusive and positive.

Eloquent Crusader Martin Luther King (1928-68)

In Britain, the long-established minority communities swelled after 1945 with immigration from the partitioned Sub-continent, the overpopulated West Indies and turbulent Africa, notably Ugandan Asians arriving with an admirable work-ethic. Immigrants congregated with their fellow countrymen in Bradford, parts of Birmingham and above all in London, where the White British population fell to 45%.

The biggest challenge for all these minorities is poverty, material, educational and aspirational poverty. In both the UK and the USA impoverished minorities have arrived and prospered. Think of the Jews, the Irish and the Italians! Hard work, parental encouragement, equality of opportunity and a generous State will be among the important factors propelling our minorities to success. Focus on the relevant matters; nothing worthwhile is gained by “giving the knee” or toppling statues of historic, largely forgotten gentlemen, whatever the cringing dons of Oriel College, Oxford may think.

Let us rejoice in a society which, within a generation, has seen two Asian Chancellors, Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak, a Home Secretary Priti Patel, a Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and important ministers Alok Sharma, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Shadow Justice Secretary David Lammy. Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, is the son of a Jewish refugee from 1938 Czechoslovakia. Quite an admirable and cosmopolitan group!

Even at less exalted levels, the Black and ethnic minorities of the UK and US are bursting with talent. In the world of sport, in the performing arts, as TV journalists and in the wildly popular pop music world, BAME performers have made an immense contribution, cheering us all up.

We have recently been moved and encouraged by the actions of black fitness instructor Patrick Hutchinson and four friends who intervened in a BLM clash with thugs from the racist EDL in Waterloo, South London. They rescued an EDL demonstrator who was being set upon, and was in danger of serious injury. Patrick carried the man, draped around his neck to the safety of police lines.

Inspiring Patrick Hutchinson to the rescue

                                                

Bravo, Patrick! You have proved What Really Matters and inspired the nation.

SMD

19.06.20

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2020

A RIGHT OLD KNEES-UP

A simple, traditional Brit like me enjoys songs about knees, which are faintly comical parts of our anatomy, the most famous being:

Knees up Mother Brown

Knees up Mother Brown

Under the table you must go

Ee-aye, Ee-aye, Ee-aye-oh

If I catch you bending

I'll saw your legs right off

Knees up, knees up

don't get the breeze up

Knees up Mother Brown.

The song dates from about 1918 and is ranked as a Cockney London song, much performed at dances and parties along with The Hokey-Cokey or The Lambeth Walk. It is slightly ribald as the song may be implying that raised knees are a crucial sexual position. Popular at fun gatherings in holiday camps of old were Knobbly Knees contests and even today celebs of the eminence of Angelina Jolie and Kate Moss attract rude comment for their boney knees. My own knees, I can assure readers, are things of beauty, fleshy, sturdy, with ne’er a knobble!

    

                             Knobbly-knees contestants

Suddenly, innocent knees have entered the political arena, a bubbling maelstrom of madness at this particular moment. The pictures below tell the story;

                                        Nancy Pelosi leads US Democrats in obeisance

                                           Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner feebly kneel

 Colston statue dumped by Bristol mob

  Des Moines police kneel pathetically before a mob

Seldom have I seen such an abject sight, American and then British political leaders grandstanding in self-righteous indignation at the behest of black extremists and activists. Criminality ignored or excused to appease a community which has genuine historic grievances, but which is never above the law. Not a word from an ethnic ‘leader” condemning violence by their supporters, or suggesting rational ways of eliminating the scourge of racism.

Oh, I forgot Sadiq Khan, whom Londoners freely elected as their Mayor, has set up a commission to report on statue removals and name changes in the capital. Already Robert Milligan, a slaver, has been removed from West India Docks as will blameless Robert Baden-Powell from Poole. Thomas Guy, patron of Guy’s Hospital is in Sadiq’s sights, and his associated rabble also propose to remove Nelson from his Column, Francis Drake from Plymouth, Cecil Rhodes from Oxford, Gladstone from Liverpool, Henry Dundas from Edinburgh and Captain Cook from Whitby.

All this has more to do with anti-colonialism, than racism but it is slanted to create a new narrative for British history, one I would guess 99% of us would utterly reject. Anyway, the mob is on its way, breathing fire and fury, and armed with 10 tons of humbug. Our police protectors have their guard down and our politicians are terrified of taking any sort of stand. As Baden-Powell always advised us:  BE PREPARED!

                  Baden-Powell benignly sits in Poole

SMD

11.06.20

Text Copyright ©Sidney Donald 2020

THINGS GO WRONG

We expect our world to go off the rails from time to time, but these last few weeks have seemed more than usually turbulent. As if the global Covid-19 pandemic were not enough of a handful, we in the UK have to face an almost insoluble Brexit deadlock with the EU, working up to a new crisis; the US has a sudden major upsurge in racial disharmony, polarising opinion dangerously with perils for all in that heavily armed nation; the Chinese are destabilising Hong Kong and upping the ante in their poker game with the West. Putin’s Russia lurks in the shadows, mischief-making where it can.

In the UK, the Conservative government of Boris Johnson is struggling badly in the fight against Covid-19. Even giving ministers the benefit of most doubts, their performances has been unconvincing and inept. From the very start, there have been shortages of protective equipment (“PPE”), very poor testing capacity and obscurity about those statistics they had. The imposition of a total Lockdown mimicked other countries but made a huge bail-out inevitable and destroyed the public finances.

Test, Track and Trace equipment, software and personnel are not ready, the ability of the NHS to deal with a patient influx was under-estimated and scientific opinions on the way to tackle the pandemic have sharply disagreed. Although some real progress has been made, the infection rate remains high locally, and the death rate is not falling very quickly. The neglected care home sector, tending the most vulnerable, has witnessed some tragic outbreaks, decimating residents and spreading guilt and grief. In March, Sir Chris Whitty, The Chief Medical Officer, said that “20,000 deaths would be a good outcome” – today the toll exceeded 40,000, presumably a highly disappointing outcome, with many more deaths to come.

Solid if uninspiring Matt Hancock

It has not been obvious that our government has been on top of this crisis. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock is in the hot seat and works hard, but he has swallowed NHS insistence on doing all without outside assistance and is in thrall to the “experts”. We get little sense of a competent political group directing the virus fight. We have had the Cummings imbroglio, Pritti Patel imposing draconian travel quarantine regulations, killing off holiday hopes and Jacob Rees-Mogg twittering on about how he will have to ask Nanny to cut his hair! The public has not been impressed.

This government was elected above all to deliver Brexit and this has been achieved legally but we do not have an ongoing agreement with the EU. It is clearly in the interests of both parties to come to an agreement but egos, alleged national interests, precedents and emotions get in the way and weary all citizens. The UK offers tariff free access to the EU if a reciprocal deal is offered, but the EU insists on EU standards and EU court oversight, absurdities unacceptable to an independent sovereign nation. The EU makes it a condition that an agreement on fisheries is signed first, based on the status quo, but that would give the EU undeserved advantages compared to many other such agreements. There may be some wriggle room but a messy no-deal exit is looking likely, damaging to all parties. Angela Merkel promises to engage in the negotiations from September but she is not likely to budge far from the Eurocrats’ visceral desire to “punish” the UK for her temerity in leaving their cosy, corrupt and protectionist club. This problem needs Boris’ undivided attention, charm and ingenuity, but he has been decidedly lack-lustre in recent weeks.

A failure on Brexit coupled with a failure on Covid-19 would leave Boris friendless in Parliament and in the country. Such a horrendous outcome would engender despair in Middle England and exacerbate division, pleasing only to the extremists. The stakes are high.

The US is also fighting Covid-19 and have already clocked up a ghastly 100,000 fatalities. Donald Trump, never short of an opinion but ignorant of the science, advocated taking hydroxychloroquine and suggested bleach injections, to his medical team’s alarm. Trump faces a re-election battle in November and the pandemic has ended his chance to present a glowing picture of national prosperity. The killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police and the subsequent turmoil has given Trump a different card to play – respect for the values of Evangelical and Conservative America. Hence, we were treated to the spectacle of Trump waving about a Bible in front of an Episcopal church and Donald and Melania bending their knees at a statue of Pope John Paul II.

Donald posturing with a Bible

The killing of George Floyd has set off mass protests in America and Europe. This death was disgraceful, a clear example of the discriminatory relationships suffered by blacks, the poor and minorities in the US and in the world bringing into the open long-suppressed grievances surrounding housing, education and employment opportunities.

Alas, George Floyd himself was not a credible role-model. He moved to Minneapolis after being released from prison after a 5-year sentence for armed robbery. He was a big, brawny man, who had worked as a night-club bouncer; the autopsy found evidence of drug use. We might speculate that he was a tough, maybe violent customer, known to the police. With this unpromising hero, large crowds have demonstrated globally against racism, spilling over into vandalism, smashing windows and looting on 5^th Avenue, NYC and elsewhere.

BLM Demonstration in Denver

                                                   

The shrill Black Lives Matter activists are targeting many diverse issues, usually of the Leftie variety. In America, Trump’s opposition to them and his flag-waving defiance will resonate with his constituency. Although most people in Europe cannot understand why anyone would dream of re-electing crass Trump, who is well behind in the polls, but he plays well with a broad strain of smaller-town Americans. His November 2020 Democratic opponent is “Sleepy Joe” Biden (77), who suffers from his charismadectomy, and who could easily lose to media-savvy Trump, a glutton for headlines, sensations and shock revelations.

I would much prefer even feeble Biden to win, but Trump will probably hold on to his Presidential office. Bad luck, America and the world!

A growing problem for the West is the brutal new assertiveness of China. We have watched, in masterly inactivity, as China has:

-          Developed her trade enormously, so that many countries, like Australia and much of Africa, are dependent upon her.

-          Pursued a “forward” policy in the South China Sea, threatening Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Military conflict would be disastrous.

-          Defied calls from many countries for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19, perhaps in a Wuhan lab, and perhaps (we would hope!) released accidentally.

-          Sparked off fears of abusing shared technological information, likely to result in China’s exclusion from Western contracts, like the Huawei/5G one in the UK.

-          Decided to impose comprehensive “security” laws on Hong Kong, designed to snuff out dissent, creating a crisis for liberal elements there.

The future of Hong Kong is a direct British interest as any breach of the 1997 Sino-British Agreement endangers the status of 3m Overseas British passport holders. Already Britain has said she will relax immigration rules for this group and indeed industrious Chinese should be welcome immigrants to the UK. If Hong Kong is simply taken over by China, the entrepot trade via HK could disappear and undermine the prosperity of key banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered. China is the unloved elephant in the room and she cannot be ignored. President Xi Jinping will face isolation unless he takes a more conciliatory line with the outside world, but there is currently little hope of this.

We face testing times, but even at these low points, confidence in the ultimate strength of Western Democracy remains solid. Our politicians need to stay smart, be well briefed and be responsive to their electorates without being swept away by transitory enthusiasms. Develop rational plans and protect our common values. Never Say Die!

SMD

07.06.20

Text © Copyright Sidney Donald 2020