As Clear As Mud!

'prepared to accept hard Brexit'

So now it’s official; Mrs May wants to have her cake and eat it! One wonders what she would say if Mr May announced he was leaving her, but wanted to go on living in the family home?

What is one to make of someone saying, on one side of her mouth, “we want to trade with you as freely as possible, and work with one another to make sure we are all safer, more secure and more prosperous through continued friendship,” while on the other, “We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave”?

What does she think the nations of Europe have been doing for the last half century, if not trying to achieve the former? But now everything has to stop, huge amounts of money and effort have to be wasted, so that we can all set about reinventing the wheel, all to suit the likes of Mr Nigel Farage, UKIP, the DUP etc! And on this basis she proposes to unite Her Majesty’s fractured kingdom?

Such two-faced hypocrisy will be called out by events. It is already happening in Northern Ireland, where the tension between those who feel empowered by the nationalistic and imperialistic undertones of Brexit (such as the present DUP leadership), and those who react against them, are inflaming all the pre-existing tensions that have bedeviled the recently collapsed power-sharing executive. It is the context of the EU that made it possible at all, and it is hard to see how it can be put together again  in the present circumstances.

The main hope there must be that a sufficient number of DUP members will take a lead from their Scottish cousins, while these will forge ahead with their project for a Scotland independent of Brexitland. Roll out the Celtic Alliance on the Gannetsway!

Meanwhile the institutions of Europe will have to get a whole more 'subsidiarized' and responsive, but also a lot tougher in some respects. They might start by firing Mr Farage out of the European Parliament; I for one really object to their continuing to pay his salary, while he has the nerve to lecture the likes of me about ‘treachery’!

Of course Mrs May is anticipating that things will get nasty; we all know how divorces tend to start with good intentions for a 'civilized' relationship, before they become really bitter. She is busy painting herself in the colours of sweetness and light now so that she can blame the Europeans when they do so.

Consider the ridiculous narrative that Mr Philip Hammond was trying to spin in Germany lately. According to the Guardian, 'In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Hammond commented that if Britain was left closed off from European markets after leaving the EU, it would consider leaving behind a European-style social model, with “European-style taxation systems, European-style regulation systems” and “become something different”.

Asked to clarify his remark, the chancellor told his German interviewers: “We could be forced to change our economic model and we will have to change our model to regain competitiveness. And you can be sure we will do whatever we have to do. The British people are not going to lie down and say, too bad, we’ve been wounded. We will change our model, and we will come back, and we will be competitively engaged.”'

‘If Britain was left closed off ‘...’forced’...’we’ve been wounded’... what sort of language is this? Who is doing the leaving? Who is it that wants nothing further to do with the European Union? Is this arrogance or mere confusion? But as for the bright future they purport to be lining up for the British people, it just does not stack up. It is already the case that this ‘great trading nation’ needs to do something drastic to ‘regain competitiveness’; in fact the use of the word ‘regain’ is entirely inappropriate in this context. Here is a graph from the British Government of their balance of payments….

Something drastic needs to be done; the status quo is not sustainable. What is to be done? Well, for a start, the currency has to be devalued, but how does one get away with deliberately doing that? Blame the Europeans and invoke the Dunkirk spirit of course! Then one can set about berating a fractious populace with the need for ‘national unity’ and ‘discipline’ as inflation takes hold, prices and interest rates go up, and they get screwed into the ground!

The whole outbreak of right-wing populism is a neurotic response to national decline, like the bombastic mullarkies of the new President in Washington. Mr Hammond's proposed race to the bottom in corporate tax rates is the exact opposite of what needs to happen, and this is just one reason why international solidarity is a condition for making our societies more just....

When I started the blog I never imagined it would become so political. Someone suggested the other day that I should find a new name for it. Well, that’s a nuisance, and anyway my favourite images derive from sea-faring and fishing. Oh yes, I'll be getting back to the Common Fisheries Policy, its iniquitous failings and how they should be addressed. But for now, let's remember that to return to a regime of 'might is right' and 'the survival of the fittest', such as this new wave of nationalists imply, is not going to help!

Still travelling, by Paddington...

and the Galtee mountains in sunny Ireland!

Photos by Fiona.

Wanted - Slaves!

Sark from Herm.

Now I am on the train from Portsmouth to London, having arrived there from Guernsey on the overnight ferry. The weather has been very pleasant, especially so for the day we went to Herm on a RIB. From there we had a grand view across the Great Russell to Sark, France and Jersey, noting the odd fact that the strong tidal current was circulating anti-clockwise right around Herm at the time. (I am finishing this post overlooking the Thames at Battersea.)

With Cristiona in Battersea.

My friend who owned the RIB was very knowledgeable about Sark, so I was able to update myself on the intriguing saga** of how the  Barclay brothers, the so patriotic owners of the Daily Telegraph, have been trying to turn the island into a personal fiefdom cum tax haven, with direct access to London by turbo-charged helicopter (which do 200mph, so could reach London in about one hour). They built their own vast mansion on the even smaller neighbouring island of Brecqhou, then set about buying out or bullying the residents of Sark into submission, complete with involvement from the highly dodgy Abramovitch family. It seems however that their scheme has rather foundered on their inability to establish a viable customs set-up, so they could have direct access to London. It’s not good enough apparently to have to go via Guernsey. Such a yarn has the makings of a good novel, but being true we shall have to wait a while yet to see how it will end!

The off-shore finance industry in Guernsey seems to have been winding down, with some of the prominent banks pulling out altogether. The grossly inflated property market has stagnated, with very little being sold on the open market. I heard of one poor man who had to sell his house for 8million quid, though he had valued it at 14million. I also met a lady whose husband has absconded to Mexico.

There seems to be a backbone of resourceful islanders who are finding ways of taking up the slack, though they face a very serious problem in the shortage of labour. Madeirans and Latvians have particularly big contingents in the service industries, whose jobs the locals tend to disdain even when they themselves are not highly stoked with education and the internet. However ‘the States’, which is the local term for the Guernsey Government, have been making life more and more difficult for immigrant workers, besides which accommodation is indeed very scarce. In theory EU citizens are entitled to go there, but they have to get permission to occupy property on the local (affordable) market, which may well be limited to a period of 9 months.*

It puts one in mind of the state to which Britain is heading and the USA has maybe already arrived, with a huge underclass who have no security and precious few rights; probably to be chucked out pretty quickly before they acquire pension rights or access to the Health Service. No doubt that is the kind of society favoured by Mr Farage and his South African backer Mr Banks, for it is the clear implication of much of the substance of the Brexit movement, pace Mrs May’s ‘mission to make Britain a country that works for everyone’ etc.

I watch the Daily Telegraph’s propaganda on behalf of Brexit day by day with grim amusement. They may well be right that there are short-term economic advantages to Brexit, for all I know; and of course, in such an uncertain world, ‘short-termism’ is the order of the day. But those on both sides of the debate make the mistake of talking simply in economic terms. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto ye’ does not come into it. The question is, what kind of a society do we really want? Something along the lines the Barclay brothers might favour perhaps?

One thing is for sure, unless Britain succeeds in stopping the world and getting off, immigrants will be needed. I consider it a privilege to have people into one’s country to work, willing to come and give the best years of their lives, with all the cost of rearing and educating them expended by their native country - a particular advantage frankly when they are fellow Europeans.

Also, this country will be hugely dependent on all kinds of imports, and if a society is to be in any way holistic and just, trade will simply be the economic dimension of a much broader and deeper cultural interchange. To imagine that it can truly thrive on some mythical ‘global’ relationships, without firstly getting on with the neighbours, makes no sense.

Esme on an old German gun.

By all means, let’s go on for the global cooperation; if only as much effort was being put into addressing the big challenges out there as is being put into Brexit! But trying to steal a march on our neighbours, hoping to take advantage of certain dubious historical advantages, is not the way to do it; a much better approach involves burying the British Empire for good.

How do you react to that statement? I expect that your answer will tell which side of the Brexit debate you are on; there’s no call to go on arguing about dodgy economic projections!

*a friend of mine on Guernsey writes on this: 'the average service worker is not allowed to live in the local market unless they get a license; these are only granted to finance, medical, education and other deemed essential jobs. Retail or service industry jobs do not qualify as a general rule. Most foreign service workers have to find accommodation on the open market, usually a room (rent approx £1200 -£1400 per month) Housing dept has to approve where they live before a 'right to work' document is issued. Decent open market rooms at an affordable price are even more difficult to find since the complexity of the rules has changed, to the extent that some of the staff in Housing misinterpret them. It depends who you see on the day!'

**see http://gannetswaysailing.blogspot.co.uk/2015_12_01_archive.html)

Leaving St Peter Port.

That 'Bold New Role'.

Here I am on St Stephen’s (Boxing) Day in the county of Flintsire, Wales, just over the border from England, having at last detached Mother Claus from her responsibilities. We have spent Christmas at the home of one of her brothers, Anthony, and with two of our daughters.... It is interesting to be (nearly) back in England for Christmas.

Crossing the Irish Sea for Christmas.

I see that the Prime Minister of this United Kingdom issued a Christmas message in which she said ‘As we leave the European Union we must seize an historic opportunity to forge a bold new role for ourselves in the world and to unite our country as we move forward into the future.’ Unfortunately, as is her way, she gave no indication of what the ‘bold new role’ might actually be, or on what basis she proposes to ‘unite our country’.

One knows that ‘divide and conquer’ is the Devil’s maxim; divided loyalties are very painful and cause all sorts of difficulties. I wonder if Mrs May spares a thought for all those, such as myself, who though profoundly affected by the Brexit affair, were not accorded a vote in the famous referendum? Ireland has at last been settling into a modus vivendi that has enabled the reconciliation of both Irish and British identities and interests. The EU is an essential pillar of it.

For one thing, given the facts of history, and not merely remote history at that, it is impossible for Irish people, at least those of the culturally Catholic majority, to finally trust the British Government to put justice and truth ahead of what it perceives as their national interest. Alright, it is impossible to be confident that any state will do so. That there exists an ultimate legal authority above any one nation state is a source of comfort to many people like myself, and to many cultural minorities throughout Europe.

So here I am, while accepting that the referendum showed up severe problems that need to be addressed, in no way impressed with its result when it actually comes to charting the way ahead. Anyway, the notion that it should do so is alien to the British constitution and tradition, which allow for government by a Sovereign whose authority is vested in Parliament. The people exercise their democratic rights by electing representatives to that Parliament, on the basis that these will act on the basis of the principles which they professed when they stood for election, in accordance with their own consciences.

This Mrs May is not doing. Instead she is off on trip that neither she nor anyone else has actually laid out in the six months since the referendum. Will this ‘bold new role’ be a matter, perhaps, of being President Trump’s stooge, in the manner of Mr Nigel Farage? Will it be a matter of playing the court jester, in the manner of the Foreign Secretary who has been described by the Prime Minister as ‘not representing the views of the British Government’! Will it be a field day for racists and nationalists, who wish all those bloody foreigners would go to Hell? Or rather a field day for the billionaires who have financed the said racists, leaving them at liberty to make yet more billions free of all those financial, social and environmental constraints that the beastly Europeans have been frustrating them with?

Besides Mr Trump, this situation is no doubt a source of glee to that other president, Mr Putin. He has realised exceptionally good returns on the few millions which he has invested in far right parties, in terms of confusing, dividing and ultimately impoverishing Western Europe.

The only good that may come of it all, as far as I can see, is that when contemplating the real alternatives, Europe will realise how precious and important are her faltering steps to move beyond nationalism, and develop political institutions capable of addressing the profound and critical challenges of the 21st century. These challenges must be addressed by the nations working together, or they will not be addressed at all, to not just the most serious detriment, but very possibly the extinction also, of most life on Earth.

Clare coast by Luke.

Happy New Year to you all!

Gasping for Truth.

Fiona and I landed back to a beautiful spell of weather on Sherkin; sunshine worthy of Guadianaland, apart from the fact that the sun only achieves about half the height here, and half the heat! It really feels like being on the roof of the world! Unfortunately Fiona promptly came down with a chest infection, and is having to get by on my somewhat inadequate ministrations (they got worse as I went down, but fortunately Fiona was coming round and able to take up the slack).

Meanwhile I see that Pope Francis has been addressing the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, including Stephen Hawking, in some very strong terms, couched though they are in diplomatic language. Decrying the way countries are still “distracted” or delayed in applying international agreements on the environment, he said ‘“It has now become essential to create, with your cooperation, a normative system that includes inviolable limits and ensures the protection of ecosystems, before the new forms of power deriving from the techno-economic model cause irreversible harm not only to the environment, but also to our societies, to democracy, to justice and freedom.”

I wonder who he could have in mind? What could these ‘new forms of power’ possibly be? One might have thought that the Popes have seen it all, but I suppose that the internet and social media have added a whole new twist to populism. But that stuff we’re suddenly hearing again is all too familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of history, concerning ‘Traitors’, ‘Enemies of the People’, ‘The Will of the People’ and the Bright Future that is anything but apparent, but which nonetheless is there for them if only their will, as embodied by the speaker, prevails against the sinister army of liberals, experts, elites, and intellectuals!

I see that old hypocrite Mr Boris Johnson is busy trying to throw people off the scent, accusing the likes of me of “bad motives, with too many people too quick to draw comparisons (of Brexit) with populist movements across the world.” I have a single question for him: would he be where he is today but for Mr Farage and the years of scurrilous campaigning against the EU by the popular press? And who might be your aIly across the Channel? If the cap fits, Boris old boy, you may as well wear it. At least Mr Trump wears his!

Mr Johnson chunters on about how Britain will be a ‘global player and champion of free trade’.   As Will Blake pointed out, the General Good was ever the cry of the hypocrite; there can be no such thing as completely ‘free’ trade; and the only people who might profit by it anyway are the global elite of the super rich, no doubt to be ably championed by Mr Trump.

Meanwhile, do such people not realise that the only way through the world’s desperate and multi-layered, interconnected crises is much deeper and authentic collaboration? One must start with particulars, with one’s neighbours, and respecting what has gone before. The only thing in favour of such horrible distractions as Brexit is that in the end they raise consciousness; but time is not on our side.

I’ll be off to Blighty soon enough, and no doubt will soon find myself rebuked by some for failing to ‘respect the democratic will’.  I’ve been dismissed as both a liberal and a fascist in  my time, and best of all as an ‘idealist’. I like that epithet actually, and it’s quite hard to figure out how it becomes a term of abuse; presumably it is assumed that one is not prepared to be ‘realistic’. But how one sets about being ‘realistic’ when everything said by anyone who might remotely have some claim to know what they are talking about has been ipso facto dismissed as an ‘expert’.

If democracy is to work, it must obviously operate on the basis of informed and rational debate, with reference to those who do know something at least of what they are talking about. This involves listening with respect to them, as well as to all stake-holders, to everyone who will be affected by a decision. It is plain undemocratic to assume that a simple majority in a single vote can overturn decades of patient work by democrats, sitting down together as equals and  struggling away to achieve consensus.

Anyway I for one was not consulted about this Brexit lark, yet with the rest of Irish people I will be severely impacted by it, along with all those folk such as the Poles whom Mrs May likes to refer to as ‘our European partners’. There are any amount of rational reasons why Brexit is a bad idea, but what does one do when rational discourse and the give-and-take of compromise breaks down? One is touching on territory where democracy and indeed civilisation itself break down.

They cannot survive if there is no respect for truth. Sure, people will lie; but if a politician gets caught out telling a whopper, can we allow him to merely shrug it off? What does one do with someone who simply says whatever sounds good at the time, without any sense that he needs to be consistent, or indeed that there is such a thing as truth?

I blame the liberals just as much as the populists. How often have we heard them say that there is no such thing as ‘the truth’, only ‘your truth and my truth’? What do they expect to happen, if for instance they think they can suddenly decide to redefine the most fundamental of human institutions, in defiance of physical fact and the view of umpteen generations past?

It was my privilege to spend many many hours listening to the endless chat of Donegal fishermen, and I can tell you they could chat. Everything was discussed in minute detail, from how much fish Jimmy Padraig caught yesterday and where, and ditto this time last year, and how much he was paid for it, to what was going on between Biddie and Sean, to whether Donegal would be better off in ‘the North’ or whether there was life after death….  Running through it all was the leitmotiv, true or false? That was where the fun was, the drama, and they relished it!

Lies were ok, perhaps an inevitable part of life, but still lies. ‘Tell ‘em plenty of lies’ was my old neighbour’s advice when it came to dealing with officialdom. Testing a person’s credulity with lies was great sport. But what was generally not in doubt was the importance of truth and the necessity of struggling to distinguish it from lies.

The sea is a wonderful school of truth, which unfortunately is more than can be said of modern education. The sense of truth goes out the window when there is no viable principle of cohesion, and education with all knowledge is compartmentalised and over-specialised. ‘The falcon cannot hear the falconer’

This indeed is where ‘experts’ can let us down. One is educated to suck up one’s subject like a sponge, with no attempt to integrate it with one’s conscience, with one’s own personal consciousness, at its extreme of absurdity when one swots up literature in order to write four essays in a three-hour exam. Not alone does this sort of thing not foster the ‘sense of truth’, but it actively subverts it. That’s how an elite education produces the likes of Mr Boris Johnson.                            

It is not surprising that, after seeing so many ideals reduced to dust and ashes in the last century, people gave up on the very notion of ideals. Indeed these inevitably fall far short of ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’, as embodied by Jesus; but after all, he asks us to become ‘perfect’; a high ideal indeed, hardly to be achieved in this life; we are now witnessing however that there is quite simply no future at all for mankind if we give up on the attempt! Yet the notion of being 'a good pagan' has indeed fallen apart.

In the face of what had happened, it was hard for the post-war generation to go preaching the ideals of European Civilisation as they attempted to pick up the pieces. Now a full generation has passed with politicians mainly working on the basis of ‘enlightened self-interest’ and ‘realism’. The end of that road has now been reached.

We will have to revisit the ideals of European Civilisation, or forget it. But after all, the Roman Empire, lurking in the background, crucified Christ; yet it also enabled the spreading of the good news of his resurrection. The blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul, along with that of all the martyrs, soaking into the soil of Rome, made of it the seed-bed of the Church.

So also with the imperial phase of Europe. It became the seed-bed of the modern world, so help us God. For all its faults, this continued that work of Rome; it also developed the technology that all the world has adopted, and in the main produced the very terms with which they address life’s conundrums. Where else, we may ask, will the world find the leadership it so desperately requires?

So sorry Boris, we need team players, not people going off on solo runs. There can be little doubt that a stronger and better European Union is in the interests of the whole world, while a return to competing nationalisms is badly regressive and fraught with danger. Terrible as the cataclysm was that propelled Europe beyond nationalism, it might be even worse if we fall back into it today. Now the rest of Europe needs Great Britain in, apart from any other reason, frankly as a counterweight to Germany. I don’t think that even the Germans themselves relish the prospect of finding themselves in the role of hegemon.

I’m on my way to Blighty next month, I only wish I could tell ‘em! I’m hoping the New Year will see a real heave to put a stop to the madness; mind you, Mr Farage is right in one respect; it will involve a recasting of the political order  there…. If the heave is to succeed, it will call for a great deal of effort, and everyone should see what they can do!

In the noon-tide of our strength, the presence of the Lord is only a heap of cloud. It is important to try to stay with it; otherwise one might miss the flame that shines out at night-fall. A spot of sickness serves to remind one of this fact. Our sanity depends on it….

The Golden Gates and the Ragged Rock; the World's Strange Reversal of Truth.

St Martin’s Day was being celebrated with wine and chestnuts on the landing at Alcoutim. So down we went, and had our share from the flagons of wine and loads of chestnuts being roasted on two barbecues. It was very pleasant, just making me wish I could speak Portuguese properly, as boat-people and travellers mingled with the locals. I asked who to thank, and was answered with a shrug, and a gesture indicating a communal effort.

Chestnuts and wine

No money-making, not even any advertising! This is positively subversive, I said to myself, but the couple of cops present in uniform with their guns were just joining in the fun. Just relaxed human beings trying to reach out to each other in peace! And so the weekend went on, sitting around chatting, eating and drinking with both friends and strangers. Some of them hold views very different to mine, but it did not matter. What mattered was people trying to communicate, and enjoy themselves, relaxed and at peace.

Meanwhile, from another world that really is perhaps in irrevocable opposition to all this, the photo came out of the two boyos, Messrs Trump and Farrage, extremely pleased with themselves, posing in front of a pair of very ostentatious - and closed - golden gates in the Trump Tower. All it lacks is Mme Le Pen, Messrs Putin and Assad, a whole host of other would-be tzars, and Mr Boris Johnson trying (unsuccessfully) to put a civilized face on it all….

My shipmate Anna went off, complete with her (from my point of view) barmy baggage of arty, 'progressive' Ireland, in spite of which we had got on fine together. What does it take? I suppose we know that, in a confrontation with the Keepers of the Golden Gates, we would be on the same side; but we start from the acceptance that there are reasons why people feel and think the way they do; these must be attended to; nobody has got everything right. Respect is the key, with a basic sense that nobody is trying to take the other for a ride!

It is easier however when the sun is shining, the sky a perfect blue by day, with the huge moon smiling down at night; the wine and the food are cheap and plentiful. What a blessed place this bit of Europe is! But must such ‘freedom zones’ always be privileged exceptions, in constant danger of subversion and eradication, or is it possible that they might consolidate and grow?

Such must be the deep aspiration of every sane person, yet what a mess we tend to make of expressing it! It is all very fine chuntering on about seeing the other point of view, but it takes something more to actually establish ‘freedom zones’. The cry of those who favour Brexit etc is that they are reclaiming their freedom, while the European Union also was set up as a freedom zone of peace and prosperity.

Those who established the EU had in the main Christian values, but chose to concentrate on no-brainers like peace and prosperity, without asking hard questions about what they depend on. We know that it would not be much fun to come back from the wine and chestnuts to find the boat had been robbed. Oh yes, thou shalt not steal might seem pretty obvious,  until you get down to issues like tax dodging, and thou shalt not kill turns out to be less straightforward than one might think. As for that Jesus man with his Sermon on the Mount..... The trouble now is that the soft approach, saying as little as possible of substance, like the Irish politicians who sold the idea of Europe on the simple basis that it was going to make everyone rich, has lost credibility now - and anyway we've got our fancy roads out of it, thank you very much!

With the new regimes in the UK and the USA, it has become questionable whether Ireland’s place in the EU will remain viable for long, If Mme Le Pen becomes President of France next year, this EU will be pretty much finished anyway. Can this crisis possibly be turned into a great opportunity?

A most important, though downplayed, card is handed to the likes of Mr Trump and Mme Le Pen when they are left holding the ‘Christian’ constituency. In my own little excursion into politics, back in the 90's when I stood for the Irish Parliament as a Christian Solidarity Party candidate, my worst obstacle was sadly other pro-life people in the National Party, an outfit we shall likely see more of again these days. They put up a candidate competing with me for that constituency, which dished both of us; but there was the further problem that the CSP itself was divided about the EU..

For my part, I consider it a kind of blasphemy to identify Christ or God with any particular nation. God of His nature transcends all earthly set-ups. As for Mr Trump and his friend Mr Farrage, if they believe in anything beyond their ego-trips, it appears to boil down to good old crony capitalism, in which interest they are quite happy to exploit the fears and the baser instincts of humanity. On the other hand it is strange that ‘the Left’ manages to dress up in positive clothes the killing of millions of helpless and innocent human beings, or the trashing of marriage. Does the likes of myself really have to remain in the political desert amidst such contradictions? Such matters must be revisited and rethought if the rush to the Gadarene cliff is to be halted.

Meanwhile so many people are suffering personal and family breakdown that these are fundamental to the current malaise. Since in Christian understanding, the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman is the basic unit of society, it is connected with the idea of subsidiarity. It is not the state’s business to define marriage, only to ensure that this basic unit is respected.

There are plenty of areas where liberal as well as authoritarian governments, and the EU too, have at once usurped power and failed to uphold due structures of responsibility. I return to the case of commercial fishing. In the state of naked capitalism, big trawlers will move into an area, clean it out, and move on, leaving the seabed and the indigenous fishing community devastated. Big business generally finds it possible to at once dress itself up as progress and suborn the powers that be. Anyway it is all about ‘the survival of the fittest’, don’t you know? It's just a pity that the Common Fisheries Policy was a flawed and largely ineffective attempt to do something about this situation. Certain imperialistic instincts do die hard.

If you believe of course that life is indeed a matter of the survival of the fittest, there is not much to be done but to try to make sure that one is in there with them. What indeed is truth? Manipulation is the name of the game; to fan the flames of resentment and discontent is easy, direct them at those faltering and inadequate attempts to find a better way which hinder the rich and powerful, and try to pretend we can go back to the situation before the explosion of technology rendered the buccaneering approach impossibly destructive.

The same explosion of technology might empower another way, which needs to be adopted and promoted by the EU big-time, if it is to survive and prosper. It is known as subsidiarity, and so far has been paid more lip-service than anything else. It is a matter of empowering, for instance, the stakeholders in a given resource, the people who live by it, to themselves take on the responsibility of managing it in a just and sustainable manner.

The best way to destroy democracy is to make nonsense of it; Americans voting for Trumpland, English for their own brave sovereign Brittania, Irish for homosexual marriage are all living in what has been called the 'post-truth' world. It is conditioned by the view on their own little screens, which may be wonderful but are ordered to in-built priorities and preconceptions. Actually even the AIS is an example of this (see A Biscay Waltz). It's just tough for the little boat in your way that is not on your screen!

I think of the Anna M, my leaky little ol' boat, as my antidote to all this, my truth-capsule. She at once shakes me up, opens new perspectives and wondrous horizons, then constantly brings me back sharply to immediate physical reality; and she brings me to both trouble, peace and some downright bliss.

Heigh-ho, it's the Spaniards' turn to throw a party this weekend, when the people of Sanlucar will be tasting the new wine. What fun it is to freely circulate where the old castles on their opposing hills glare at each, with people cooperating in friendship instead of shooting at each other! Is this real progress, indeed what life's about, or is it not? Hereabouts, I say, is the Ragged Rock of human solidarity, waves washing over it, fogs concealing it, but where the bedrock of our lives is to be found. (see On Crossing Biscay.)

Photos by Fiona.

An Addendum to the Universe.

Cape St Vincent

The trip down the Portuguese coast was calm, until we rounded Cape St Vincent into an easterly breeze. We spent some pleasant days in Portimão and around Olhão, where Fiona rejoined us. Now Anna M is swinging to her mooring in the Guadiana again, an addendum to this amazing universe, responding to the pull of the sun and the moon, with the bright stars shining down on her. Mostly in the day-time the sun shines warm and dry, but a chilly blast of air from the north reminds us that winter is closing in; early snow has come there, and we have dodged the North Atlantic just in time!

One of the Wilos below Sanlucar.

The mooring had a bit of a branch tangled in it, but otherwise is fine. Wilo Paul from Galway, who couldn’t be called Irish Paul because there already is one of those on the river, came aboard for dinner yesterday evening. He is back on his mooring nearby, having come down from Ireland in July, straight from Kinvara to Sagres in two weeks; good going, showing that the old wilo, big lump of steel that she is, can shift very nicely with the right breeze!

So we are soon catching up on the comings and goings of this little community, if one can call it that! Interesting times, especially perhaps for we who have more or less moved on from nationalism, and count ourselves to some degree Europeans. How does it feel for the ones from our neighbouring island up there in the northern mists? I shall be trying to find out with interest, but I don’t imagine it is good. Admittedly there are an awful lot of Brits in Spain, and they are hardly going to be chased out of it; but maybe they will be here more on sufferance rather than by right.

You may say that that is only to the good! Indeed as for the ones who look down on the locals, and don’t even try to learn the basics of their languages, you may have a point. But for those of us who enjoy the interplay of cultures and languages, and see the different tribes of humanity as complementary rather than threatening, it cannot be nice to find oneself suddenly in danger of being regarded as a non-person!

I was lucky enough to get to Mass for All Saints day in Portimão; it was a high, sung Mass, and the singing was beautiful, with the packed congregation joining in with an excellent choir. Rarely did the Communion of Saints seem so close to me; one could really feel the possibility of that mysterious and ecstatic fulfillment of humanity ‘from every nation, race, tribe and language’, as St John put it so long ago.

At least the Catholic Church cannot be accused of hypocrisy in this respect, for in her churches, there they are, all caught up in the same simple yet profound emotions and thoughts. As we contemplate the disintegration of the liberal consensus of recent decades, I believe we shall have no choice but to revisit such little matters as Heaven and Hell, and discover what they really mean for us!

Evening at Alcoutim.