A Message Down St Michael's Way.

Anna M in Villefranche, Nice, 2013.

Anyone who has followed my blogs long enough will know that I was in Nice three years ago with the Anna M. I also have a niece living thereabouts. Presently, I look across the sea to the south-east, across that land that I love, and am appalled. We may be getting hardened to such dreadful events, but this particular atrocity struck like a blow in the solar plexus! How are we all going to settle down to enjoying the good life this summer?

As a matter of fact I felt rather sorry for M. Valls, as he stood on the Promenade des Anglais being booed. What is he supposed to do? We’ve heard all the nous sommes en guerre stuff and President Hollande’s appeals for national unity. Now the Boss looks more bewildered and impotent than ever. The aircraft carrier and bombers have been dispatched to Syria, the State of Emergency in place for months. It is hard to see what’s left, that is any way compatible with Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Yes, there are endless security measures that may be taken, but they tend to heighten the atmosphere of fear, hatred and insecurity in which evil men thrive, and who will find a way to ratchet it up.

If it goes on like this, the dream of Lib, Eg, Frat may not stop a certain future Mme Présidente from rounding up all young men of Arab extraction and putting them in concentration camps, or let's say -'centres for re-education', or alternatively sending them out of the country so that they can go off and fight for Isis. There is a certain horrible logic to things, after all…. Why not go for the Final Solution? Get the Force de Frappe on the job, drop the bomb on the lot of them! Les Anglais might help with those submarines of theirs, and maybe President Trump will be in the White House to offer his support!

After all the Middle East is all desert anyway, pretty uninhabitable and what with the wars and also with climate change, getting rapidly worse especially while everyone these days is apparently too distracted to think seriously any more about stopping it! And we found out long since that it’s not on to let them into Europe, didn’t we?

Is there an alternative to such a scenario? How about a little French logic, for starters; let us define the problem. What are we up against? Just suppose we try calling it simply spiritual evil? We might then go on strangely to admit that no amount of material power, technology, psychology is capable of overcoming it. Horrible, unthinkable admission, to some! We may even be reduced to taking words from Christ; for a start, ‘this kind of evil spirit can only be driven out by prayer and fasting!’

Well, Notre Dame is still there; it’s a small step for a man, though it may be a giant step for a socialist French President. You too can do it, M. le Président: on your knees and beg Our Lady, all the Saints and all the Holy Angels to deliver us from the Evil One; St Michael the Archangel, do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God thrust Satan down to Hell, and with him all the wicked spirits that wander through the world for the ruin of souls! How come it sounds so outlandish and impossible? Largely because the French Revolution set up that secular trinity of Lib, Eg, Frat.

But here is the most outlandish and impossible part - many people, present as well as past, can testify that such prayer works, which is more than can be said for revolutions! One might recall the relationship that St Joan of Arc had with St Michael.* How about some more advice from the Gospel? ‘Before you take the splinter from your brother’s eye, take the beam from your own! Then there is always ‘By their fruits shall ye know them'.

As I’ve said before, one little amusement that I indulge is to ask French people what they think of their Revolution; would they call it successful, in retrospect? This question generally evokes the same kind of bewilderment that is so familiar on the face of M. Hollande these days. One is not used to thinking about it. Well, we got our Republic out of it,  is about all that may be said.

Yes, at the cost of a lot of murder and mayhem, which ruined and permanently weakened France, and ended up in the rule of a tyrant who could look on a field of corpses, young men whom he had led into futile battle, and say “Bah! Une nuit de Paris remplacera tout cela!” (‘One night in Paris will replace that lot!’) And they still call him ‘un grand homme’! Quite some beam in the eye, and the more so because one can see there were some noble aspirations in it all, even though the Lib, Eg, Frat did not quite come off.

At aother time when Europe had fallen into chaos, long before the Ancien Regime and the horrible ensnarement of religion with power politics of those days, humble men set out from remote Irish monasteries to remind the Continent of what already was its ancient heritage. In those so-called Dark Ages, they travelled broadly speaking along the St Michael/Apollo Axis.

It actually runs from Skellig Michael off Kerry, through St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall and Mt St Michel in Brittany, on through various eminent churches and shrines associated with that Archangel messenger of God across France, come to think of it, not far from Nice, on through Italy and to Greece. There the line also strangely passes through some famous places associated with another bright and shining divine messenger, Apollo, notably his birth-place at Delos and his oracle at Delphi. After that it goes on to Mount Carmel, a place long associated with hermits and seers, where the Hebrew prophet Elija discomfited the 250 prophets of Baal, according to 1Kings 18 vs20-36.

Mosaic in Ostia

Delphi was to the Ancient Greeks the navel or centre of the world, where Apollo could be consulted through the Oracle, and many people travelled far to do so. The consonance with dolphin is not fortuitous, for Apollo was said to have come there in the form of a dolphin. He slew the Python, a serpent or dragon that had lived there at the world’s navel, which reminds us of the warrior-archangel Prince of the Heavenly Host who thrust Satan down to Hell, and rescued the Christ-child from the dragon that threatened to devour him at birth, according to the Book of Revelation.

There's much more about St Michael and ley lines, including one up through England from St Michael's Mount; so much rubbish to those children who claim to be of the Enlightenment. One might be tempted to call them endarkened! At least, as every sailor knows, there is no arguing with physical facts, such as rocks! There they are, in a line across Europe, eminent places associated with St Michael from long ago. How on earth did it come about? I’ll leave you to do the googling, if you are interested**. Funnily enough, this little island of Sherkin is also pretty much on that line. I send my small voice along it to say: Fille Ainée de l’Eglise, ressouviens-toi de ton vrai héritage.***  

* <http://angels.about.com/od/Famous_Saints/fl/The-Relationship-of-Archangel-Michael-and-Saint-Joan-of-Arc.htm>

**You might start with <https://lucaamendola.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/the-st-michael-axis/>,

though I do not altogether agree with the comments!

*** 'Eldest daughter of the Church, remember your true heritage.'

'Take That, Fritz!'

What does one do with unpleasant truths that refuse to be simply spun away? Why, have a Government report into them of course, preferably one that takes years, and produces a ton of words under which said truths may be buried.

Learning the Hard Way

 In the case of the Chilcot report on the Iraq war, the one obvious and outstanding lesson may be drawn very briefly: it is not a good idea for the UK to tag along on the coat-tails of the USA. If they really wanted to do something effective about the Middle East for instance, it would be far more likely to do so by positively taking their place with their peers in Europe; or at least they would be less likely to do harm that way.

Flowers in the Sand.

One might think the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme was another chance to remember the lessons to be learnt from war. What was the outstanding lesson of the two World Wars? Why, that competing nationalisms are highly dangerous; and eventually, after much suffering, the politicians actually got around to doing something in order to establish peace and security in Europe….

Yes, the grey voters who swung that Brexit vote have a lot to answer for. But it is amazing how the images of one’s childhood return with a new vividness in old age. How well I remember my Dinky toy tank, and armoured car with its gun turret, and the lorry with its towed gun that shot bits of matchstick and the scout car and the jeep; and the toy soldiers and the comic booklets full of our lads battling nasty Huns - Take that Fritz! - Zap, bang! Actung! Aaagh! Englisher svein!!! O yes, and there was the brave Biggles in the air, and there was the bomb site across the road to prove that it had actually happened. It was all supposed to have been the epic, archetypal struggle between Good and Evil.

The fact was that my father had just spent the first five years of his married life fighting that second war. He was extremely fortunate to have come home at all (and fathered myself), having escaped by luck from being massacred with his fellow officers in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment by the SS in a barn, while in the rearguard of Dunkirk.

It was difficult forgiveness and

peace-making, the stuff of actual Christian faith, which broke down much of the jingoistic nationalism. We have lately been rudely reminded, however, that this remains alive and well in many hearts and minds.  The huge effort that went into the political expression of that peace-making in the EU, in all those contacts, low level and high, means nothing to them. The unsettling realisation that perhaps the wars were not all the fault of the Germans, any more than it is now the fault of immigrants that the NHS is in trouble, has not been admitted by them, nor that ‘foreigners’ are human beings much like us. One doesn’t even know who ‘we’ are any more! Give us the old certainties back!

Mrs May’s "bold new positive role" for Britain in the world, along with Mr Johnson’s "intensifying our relationship with Europe", ring as hollow as her ‘one nation’ stuff.  "The government I lead will be driven, not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives…." One does not know where to start, the rhetoric rings so hollow. Where has she been for the last ten years? How long will these people get away with standing the truth on its head?

I came across an interesting article in El Pais lately by Leonel Fernández, ex President of the Dominican Republic and founder of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo. He quoted figures from the World Bank showing, for instance, that in the period 1980-2014, derivative contracts went from one billion dollars’ worth to 692 billion: ‘a fabulous sum, without precedent, which means that they have come to represent nearly 70% of global financial dealings.’ ‘The excess of liquidity which we find today in the global economy is not used to invest in industrial production, that of food or energy or creating infrastructure. On the contrary, it is mostly used for financial transactions which, instead of creating some kind of material wealth which meets the needs of consumers, generates rather a kind of artificial wealth based on commercial contracts.’

This shows where we really do need to ‘get our countries back from’, and again, who has been making any shape to do something about this situation? But enough of Brexit, that extraordinary act of vandalism, self-harm and misplaced anger. The sun is shining here on Sherkin, Tony Whelan has come to help get this building up. Time to take a break from all that nonsense and look for something more sensible to write about next week!

Grand Crew.

Thanks to Tony and Fiona for the photos.

What's Coming Next?

Aaron keeps his eye on the ball!

One of the draw-backs of referenda, as has often been pointed out, is that they are generally decided by factors other than what they are actually about. Manipulation apart, they all too easily become an opportunity to slash a pie in the establishment’s face, as seems to have been a big factor in the Brexit vote. Well good luck to that! But they are also extremely divisive, especially those of the simple majority kind. Is this a good way to run a country? No, but now we had better try to imagine what may become of it!

They have already got rid of two of the three leaders of the Brexit campaign, who quickly proved to be men of straw, with no substantial plan or vision going forward. The third, Mr Gove, has some intellectual weight and may well eventually get to the top. A quick perusal of his pamphlet* on the Irish Peace Process tells us all we need to know about him. In fairness, it is articulate and lucid. He sets the tone in the Introduction, which concludes ‘Those who warned of the consequences of appeasement in the Thirties were derided as glamour boys, renegades and war-mongers. But if it were not for their opposition then who would there have been to rescue the nation from folly?’

Repeatedly characterising the Peace Process as appeasement, he unfortunately appears not to realise that his whole argument rests on a false premise - ‘The first flawed assumption of the “peace process” is the belief that the 1922 partition of Ireland was an historic injustice.’ No reference of course to the history prior to 1922!

Too civilised to engage in the crude rhetoric of Mr Trump, he nonetheless sings from the same chilling hymn-sheet. ‘Effective intelligence work by the RUC Special Branch and the deployment of lethal force, most notably by the SAS at Loughgall in May 1987, had given the British security forces a decisive advantage over the IRA….’ ‘Resolute security action, the use of existing antiterrorist legislation and the careful application of intelligence could reduce the IRA to operating as it did in the fifties and sixties.’ He decries ‘the slow demilitarisation of the Province’ and laments the ‘humiliation of our Army, Police and Parliament’.

He completely fails to understand that the six counties are not even the whole of Ulster, and that the border constitutes a gerrymander. He blithely states that ‘My analysis is based on the belief that a liberal democracy owes certain duties to its citizens. It has a duty to uphold the right of a majority to live in the jurisdiction they choose – the basic principle of self-determination.’ He of course fails to ask the question at the root of the problem, a majority of what? However, at least one knows pretty much what ground he stands on. It is basically a matter of ‘let’s get back to good old certainties, if not the British Empire, then something pretty like it!’

However right now we have the two ladies up for the leadership of the Conservative Party. They are more touchy-feely, more in tune with the times. Mrs May is the favourite. She will do her best to make a good British fudge-cake of the situation, and to elegantly paper over the cracks in the Party. I doubt if the Germans and French will have much of it, for there is too much at stake and more to be worrying about that ever-lasting argy-bargy with the Brits. She will end up blaming German intransigence for the fact that they will not concede the impossible, while the British economy is going from bad to worse, and the strain between the two halves of England gets worse also.

Perhaps Mrs Leadsom will come up trumps? She seems to represent another strand in the story. One might ask why should someone with a background in high finance be a fan of Brexit? One does not have to look far for clues. She, immediately through her husband and her sister’s Guernsey based husband, is up to her tonsils in off-shore funds.** It seems to me we know little about what has been going on, with the publication of the Panama Papers and so on, but clearly, some people have been seriously annoyed, especially in the Brexit camp, and they blame ‘that socialist EU’. I have referred before to their vote against measures to combat off-shore tax evasion in the European Parliament. The British upper class have evidently become heavily reliant on it! Top fund lawyers earn multiples of the Prime Minister’s salary. There are also plenty of other reasons why some in the corporate world would be delighted to get rid of all those pesky European regulations about workers' rights and the environment, but hopefully the EU will hang tough when it comes to the negociations. Unless the plutocracy in Britain is even more powerful than we suspect, she will come unstuck somewhere along the way. Mr Gove to the rescue of Great Britain?

A few more big atrocities in France, along with economic woes and complete disillusionment with mainstream politics, and Marine Le Pen could become Mme la Presidente. 'Victoire de la liberté ! Comme je le demande depuis des années, il faut maintenant le même référendum en France et dans les pays de l'UE!', she says - she will try to lead France also out of the EU. It is quite possible that, given a few more atrocities in the USA, Mr Trump will have made it to the White House. Says he,‘They took their country back, just like we will take America back.’ This lot do have momentum, it has to be recognised!

Whether Mr Gove would be so keen to ‘to uphold the right of a majority to live in the jurisdiction they choose’ in the case of Scotland is a good question. It is quite possible that he would drive the Scots to a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. No doubt he would be particularly anxious to hang on to the nuclear submarine base at Gare Loch, while renewing Trident. Possibly he might cite ‘vital national interest’ and insist on hanging onto the Clyde area and the south-west, a nice little partner area for Belfast.

Meanwhile our Irish Republic will be most horribly torn apart. While our links with England are too strong to be ignored, by any cultural stretch of the imagination, we will have an obligation to support the Scots, quite apart from our allegiance to the EU, by now a rump that Germany is struggling to hold together. Mr Gove no doubt will be supported by Mr Trump, and they will both be getting on fine with Presidente Le Pen, and come to think of it, with old President Putin too.

O Lord, just when we needed a good strong Opposition! Look, sorry, Mr Corbyn, mate, ‘you were right, dead right as you sailed along, but you’re just as dead as if you were wrong!’ Now the stakes are very high indeed, and we need to get a Labour/Libdem Government elected as soon as possible, on a firm platform to stay in the EU. Someone must be found, quickly, who can soothe the British electorate, and make them see they have been conned. I do not think there is any other way to secure peace and prosperity for our children and grandchildren.

Here I am, never imagining that I would be so deeply affected by British politics, let alone that this blog would find itself getting so involved; but I find it impossible to maintain my former attitude of detached amusement. Perhaps the voice of an old seadog on an island off Ireland may at least boast of some objectivity. I may not have the vote, but at least I shall have my say! But how are we going to stop that lot? It's a good job I have the flowers of Sherkin to help me keep sane -

Thanks to Tony Whelan, who took these photos here on Sherkin yesterday.




* https://www.cps.org.uk/files/reports/original/111220142628-thepriceofpeace2000MichaelGove.pdf

** http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/08/andrea-leadsom-family-links-offshore-bank-donations-tories

O U T Spells Out!

Well that was a jolly jape, wasn’t it Boris! Got everyone rightly worked up! But the sooner you doddle off to your farm in Cornwall, the better, and I should think you will do well to stay there a long time. If I had my way, you would be in court for deceiving the electorate, along with your mate Mr Farage; though I fear you are only front men for the really sinister movers. But it looks like between you you have succeeded in ruining your country and a lot of people in it, so there has to be some kind of pay-off.

As for the mess that not just the UK, but Ireland and the rest of Europe are left with, let’s try getting a handle on some of the basic principles involved. A difficult thing to do, in this age of nearly infinite sound-bites from folk who have precious little idea what a principle might look like. However, here’s one: nobody seems to have troubled to explain to the British electorate that you cannot have a common market without the free movement of labour.

A common market, especially coupled with modern methods of production, will naturally generate losers as well as winners. Some areas will thrive, while others will decline. A first necessity, if one is to address such imbalances, is to ensure that the unemployed from the declining, peripheral areas can get on their bikes and go where employment is available.

It is also necessary for the successful areas to recycle some of their wealth in the direction of the less successful. Besides maintaining a balanced society, this will also improve the demand for their products. Apparently Mr Farage and his likes, and even some of those in high places in Germany for instance, cannot see this!

There is another thing that they refuse to see. In a highly interdependent world, cooperation between states actually improves and underpins the sovereignty of individual nations. As part of Europe, Great Britain, the traditional counterweight, is able to punch way above its weight. It has huge advantages in the lines of language, English being the lingua franca, and financial and global networks. By itself, it is frankly more of a sad joke.

The leavers do not seem to have progressed much beyond playing King of the Castle! Unfortunately it is a game the English are particularly fond of; it suited the imperial narrative very well. One sucked the world’s resources into one’s castle and told the dirty rascals, starving Irish for instance, to get lost. On the other hand, Europe should beware of treating the English as dirty rascals now. Plenty of them voted to Remain, and of those who didn’t, plenty either did not really know what they were doing or did not really mean it. They just wanted to give the establishment a kick up the backside. It is true that this crisis can be a great occasion for growth and heightened awareness.

Meanwhile, if drawbridges are to be pulled up and main roads blocked, it is all the more important to keep the byways open. I believe one should establish whatever little zones of openness, communication and contemplation that one can, but it’s no use trying to do this in total isolation. I am very glad that we have our own little link with the Continent floating in front of our house! And with, please God, a new Celtic axis being established, with Scotland and Ireland keeping a high-road to the Continent open, perhaps the Gannetsway will find it takes on a whole new significance….

Contemplating Blocks.