Que será, será
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que será, será
What will be, will be,
I’m a que será, será sort of chap. I vote and accept the outcome. Exceptionally, I twice took to the streets of London to protest; both times Countryside Alliance marches which were ostensibly to protect the livelihoods of people working in the country but in reality were a protest against banning hunting and coursing. The Labour government that introduced this legislation got it so wrong. They were fighting a class war against toffs on horses wearing pink coats and red faces. There were aspects of fox hunting which were cruel; specifically digging out a fox from its earth and either throwing it to the hounds, or worse, breaking its leg and setting it free for the hounds to kill; but hunting and coursing were the sport of countrymen of every class and foxes are vermin that kill lambs, poultry and wildfowl. The purpose of coursing, when carried out properly, is to test the dog’s speed and agility – not to kill hares. Coursers are protective of hares. I am uneasy about rearing pheasant in captivity, releasing them, shooing them up in the air – not always very high – and getting people to pay to try and kill them.
So where are we now? Don’t be silly, I don’t have dementia yet. Bob Fosse’s 1972 film Cabaret eclipses Christopher Isherwood’s short stories and adaptations as a play and a stage musical. The musical is very powerful but it didn’t have star quality: Liza Minnelli and Michael York. Re-watch the film and reflect. Britain in the 1930s was fractured. There was a substantial franchise – mostly upper class – who thought a Nazi dictatorship a welcome bulwark against Communism; fighting Hitler was like backing a long-priced outsider. Sometimes, cometh the hour, cometh the man (John 4:23). Churchill was the man and he triumphed over greater trials and tribulations than Johnson faces.
Boris Johnson likes to portray himself in Churchill’s mould and I scoff but I may be wrong. I worry that his ambition and vanity may presage the break-up of the United Kingdom and diminish this scepter’d isle, politically, economically and every other way you can think of. I expect that we will know where we are by Christmas, meanwhile we are in for a bumpy ride.
What good is sitting, alone in your room?
come hear the music play!
Life is a cabaret, old chum!
Come to the cabaret!
Are you justifying killing animals for fun or just taking a pot shot at people who might increase your taxes!
May I swerve “killing animals for fun’? So much to write that it may be a future post. Of course I was taking a pot shot at Labour. Blair had to throw a bone, so to speak, to the left wing of his party. Johnson is doing the same to his right wing now. I am certain that the UK’s tax revenue needs to rise. Unlike the Opposition I think this can be achieved by competitive Corporation Tax and the current modest tax rates for high earners.
Christopher,
There was so much packed into todays post I don’t know where to begin……
i. Re Churchill and the war, I agree with many that without him as PM the outcome may have been very different. He was an extraordinary orator and lifted the morale of British people at a most harrowing time, but the British bulldog was not without his flaws. The mistakes of Gallipoli haunted him throughout his career, and although his miscalculations would have given him valuable military experience, the 1945 victory was due to the Normandy campaign, expertly spearheaded by Eisenhower. I do however believe Churchill was the greatest Briton of the 20th century. I very much doubt Johnson will be the greatest of the 21st.
ii. I am so impressed that you (a converted urbanite) deployed yourself to Whitehall in support of CA, jolly well done. The extent of my protest was a letter to The Times. The current plight of the future of the rural economy surely calls for the green wellie brigade to once again mobilise. A no deal outcome will be ruinous for many farms & food producers, as without trade deals there will be a surfeit of produce with no market. In this past week there have been reports of the possible cull of dairy cows in event of no deal. Then there is the codswallop encouraging people to eat less meat in order to save the planet. Livestock accounts for 5% of greenhouse gases. Enviromentalists should focus on reducing the amount of processed foods consumed (processing has negitive environmental effects) and cut out unnecessary food miles incurred by so much of what we eat rather than focusing their campaign wholly on farmers.
I call on the indominitible CJ Bellew to dust down his Barbour jacket, and lead the charge in the preservation of rural life in our green and pleasant land. Bertie will act as mascot.
I am always anxious when I hear processed food denounced. I am pretty sure that turning produce into dishes in factories can achieve much greater carbon efficiencies than doing it in domestic kitchens. Presumably also food waste from factories can be handled much better than that from kitchens (including the waste from the prepping of vegetables).
Also, if you don’t mind, it is a bit amusing that people cite this or that sector (farming, air travel, etc) as contributing a small percentage of greenhouse gases. But these sectors do after all add up. I do rather imagine that our food future will include fabulous menus consisting mostly of bugs and funguses and so on, some desguised as meat and vegetables and others flaunting new flavours and textures which we will find just as enticing. Maybe free-range meat will have a great future, but so too may meat from animals raised in sheds which capture their methane. The welfare issues of either will provide rich debates.