Hope - Not a Bad Thing...

-

 


I wish America and its people well and hope with all sincerity that the incoming Biden administration will be allowed to be a force for good in the coming years. Listening to his inaugural address, the poetic contribution of Amanda Gorman and the benediction delivered by the Rev. Sylvester Beaman, I was struck by the hope and frankly, relief expressed; as if  the country was waking from a nightmare that had threatened to become a Groundhog Day of abnormality, inexorably sucking sense and fairness out of the lives, not just of Americans but countless people throughout the world: administrations across the globe founded on blatant untruths and the self-interest of the powerful.

I’m not so naive that I view this handover as an augury of the Promised Land; but I do feel that not all politicians are so abjectly corrupt that politics and democracy are de facto redundant concepts: that way lies the kind of open warfare that Trump, not always tacitly and more often than not explicitly, espoused and promoted. That President Biden is set to sign seventeen executive orders this afternoon, reversing many of Trump’s divisive and destructive policies: on climate change, the pandemic and social support for affected businesses, and a raft of others; is timely and to be honest, fundamental to healing the wounds created during the last four years of administrative mayhem.

Let’s celebrate the inauguration of Biden, Harris, et al. and join them in that hope and that other nations similarly afflicted by populist insanity will follow suit and opt for more measured government in the near future. I would also hope, in Biden’s case, that the House and the Senate will at least give the man an even break during, at least, his first term: let him prove his mettle and just leave party differences behind in the service of the people; not just of the United States, but the peoples of all nations. Our idiot government here in the UK really does need a good and shining example to follow at this very odd, febrile and distinctly fragile time in our collective history. It's time for rebuttal. It's time for reset. It's time for reckoning.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [
Read more