Time to Call Out British Imperial Nostalgia...and Unite Ireland.

Back in Ireland, a glorious summer is in full bloom. When summer actually ends is of course one of quite a few points of disagreement between the Irish and the English, the former teaching their children that August 1st is when autumn begins, while the latter insist on September 1st. The truth is no doubt somewhere in between, but already here on Sherkin there are occasional hints of the forthcoming decline. 

     Why must the blissful days, bedecked with a riot of colour, pass so swiftly? How are we to cope with such apparent disillusion, such reminders of mortality? Some would rather push the knowledge that such is our condition from their minds, pretending that the idyll will go on forever. Anyone who refers to the facts of the matter is liable to be dismissed as a gloomy pessimist and thrust aside. Yet the same 'pessimists' may be storing their minds with happy memories, as a squirrel stores nuts against the onset of winter. Their realisation of the transient and fragile nature of the blooms will turn to treasuring their fruits. How I shall enjoy recalling my delicious swims of the last few days, when once again I look on a stormy, foam-flecked Horseshoe Bay! Meanwhile 'optimists' merely gambol on to their demise.

      What can one say to these gung-ho types who berate the wise ones for their 'pessimism'? They go around saying 'don't listen to them - summer will last forever! In fact it will get better and better. All you have to do is believe in it -  believe in me in fact, I will show you the way! I will show you how to get every goodie you might desire, and with minimal effort too! Ignore that lot with their nit-picking little brains, they're wasting time worrying about the details while they could be enjoying themselves, the miseries! What are facts anyway? Down with anyone who will not follow us - all we have to do is to stay united in the true belief!

     By now you will have worked out where this is going. The peculiar kind of spurious optimism pedalled by the new prime minister of the United Kingdom is pure poison. The best thing we can do for our friends in England is to help puncture the balloon of illusion as soon as possible. But it won't be easy. This particular balloon has been around long enough to have developed a pretty thick skin. 

      Meanwhile we in Ireland may as well turn to our own project of reuniting this little island as best we can, and work with Scotland to keep the aim of a united, peaceful and genuinely prosperous Europe on track in these islands. After all it's not as if a majority in their famous United Kingdom support either Brexit or Mr Johnson. We must help them maintain belief in real progress, based on hard work and the continuous effort to achieve consensus through dialogue, rather than the establishment of a spurious semblance of unity through the age-old methods of the bully demanding credence for his false promises. It is an unfortunate fact that with their 'winner takes all' version of politics, having tended to be so pleased with themselves, they failed to move on to a more mature form of democracy in the 20th century.  

     Mr Johnson has a real talent for standing things on their head. Unused to the continental style of politics, which on account of proportional representation calls for the establishment of consensus through dialogue and communication, he charges in with his rejection of the work of the last three years, not to mention the last fifty years in Europe, and instead insists on the acceptance of his totally unreasonable demands. What's more, he sadly bids fare to caricature and indeed endorse so much of the world's distrust of England. Even his friend the Ducky, though less erudite, is also less duplicitous; we know where he stands, as he doesn't even try to, for instance, paint himself green. But to say the least, the two chums bid fare to present Ireland with some very difficult choices. It would be so much better if we could face them with our integrity restored and our country united.

      It's going to be difficult, but maybe there is a bright side - it might finally force people to recognise that the border is a gerrymander, and the whole huge effort of the plantation was British imperialism at its worst, aimed at the heart of the Irish nation, of which the Gaelic population of Ulster under the ONeills was the very backbone. It is most important that such facts be not abandoned to men of violence. At this stage, especially since we are fortunate enough not to have found ourselves in their line of fire lately, I find it possible to be quite fond of those DUP types with their brittle edginess and their 'we won't staand furrit'; in fact I also think that we would all be happier if we finally let bygones be bygones and settled down to making a success of Ireland. 

     However, this would require the sins of the past to be finally called out; and yet there can't be much joy in being ruled by those Englishmen who, for all their talk of 'the precious union', in fact know very little about Ireland north or south and frankly care less. It will require us in the South to be rather less lazy about the North, and do all we can to make the protestant population feel welcome and wanted here. If they really don't want to come aboard, well there should be a resettlement scheme for them to go to Blighty. But an independent Scotland might help too. 

     It is quite odd how it all chimes with my own little effort to promote a reorientation of our culture to the Gannetsway, from Scotland to the south of Spain, and what's more, how in some rather mysterious way this reorientation chimes with that other one, one might almost call it a migration, from the fossil fuel age to a sustainabile one. When western culture ceased to see God in beauty and in all the marvels of the universe, to almost effortlessly perceive the amazing intelligence and love that fashions and sustains it, and to see the physical not in the sacramental way as an outward sign of inner grace but rather merely there for us to exploit, the parameters of our present predicament were laid down. A return to its catholic past will be necessary for us to get back on track for the 'new heaven and new earth' where true hope lies. 

On the Gannetsway in Co.Clare.