Annual Blog?
Posted on November 15, 2017 Leave a Comment
I really should try harder at blogging. I have only just noticed that my last blog was added nearly a year ago. How do people do it? How do they add blogs most days or even weekly. Promise to self – must try harder.
In the coming weeks I will begin to update where I am with my book, Landscapes of Trauma (the deadline approaches – September 2019), with research, and so on.
I have spent several weeks away researching and writing the book, and the last trip – to somewhere near Sedan – was particularly productive. I could say this is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end, but it might be the end of the beginning of writing it. I churned out around 20,000 words in a week. That sounds a lot, but there is no real suggestion that they are in the right order, or that they are the right words. Time will tell. I currently plan to have a draft of the whole book ready for early summer, when we will spend a few weeks in the south of France, where I will get up early every day, sit at my desk looking over the landscape of Provence, be very productive for four hours, go and eat outside, perhaps with a glass of rose (no, skip that if I want to get back to writing), and then a short walk followed by a siesta. In the early evening, I will sit under the shade and write for another couple of hours before eating my evening meal and sharing a glass or two of the red.
And then the book will be finished.
It is good to dream of productivity.
Not a good year
Posted on December 26, 2016 Leave a Comment
Many people are probably thinking that 2016 was not a good year. We have Donald Trump, the continuing wars around the world, a refugee crisis, the economic threat of China, the economic disaster in the rest of the world, Theresa May as an unelected Prime Minister – and Brexit. While many people might hope that 2017 will be a better year, there is little evidence that this may be the case. There is no end in sight of the above problems. It is likely that they are going to get worse.
The problem in Britain is that we do not have an effective opposition. I was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, but I realised I made a mistake. While he is a ‘good man’, he is unfortunately stuck in the socialism of the past. The youngsters voted for him in their droves, because they thought he would do something about the muddle we are in; but he hasn’t. I don’t believe he knows where to start.
What we need in the country for the new year is a new opposition, a movement away from traditional left and traditional right. With regard to Brexit, which is the biggest social and economic threat to Britain in my lifetime, those of us – the majority – who did not vote to leave the EU, need to come up with an alternative to Brexit meaning Brexit. Theresa May does not have a mandate to leave the EU; she does not even have a mandate for being the Prime Minister. I am worried at the moment that those who wish to remain in the EU seem to be giving up hope. They need to be reminded that we are still in the EU, that Article 50 hasn’t been detonated, and even if it is, there are still very many steps to got through before we leave – if we leave.
May has been reminded that Parliament is sovereign. We live in a democracy where laws are made and changed by Parliament, not by referenda. Where or not the Brexit referendum is seen as binding or as advisory is irrelevant. At any point Parliament can make or change decisions. Parliament is not bound constitutionally by any previous decisions. This is the advantage of an unwritten constitution. There are a majority of MPs who wish to remain in the EU. They need to stand up and vote according to those beliefs. They need to explain to their constituents why they are doing so.
If Britain was ruled by referenda then we would have capital punishment brought back. That surely is enough to realise that giving people a vote on specific issues (ie a referendum) is perhaps not a very good idea?
2016 was awful. Let’s try and make 2017 a little better.
Dr Nigel Hunt 