Allowing change in a changing world…

I was expecting lots of local readers last week. Most of my readers were in Germany. The world is getting smaller. We have to remember that. It seems Russia is trying to be a bully again and is up to it’s old tricks. They never learn do they? They are not the only ones doing the sabre rattling.

Putin

It seems Putin doesn’t like the fact that the new regime in Ukraine is right wing. He sees them as some sort of terrorists that have taken over. It’s the old problem, left politics scared of right politics and vice versa. All this sabre rattling means the real problems of climate change and poverty go on the back burner.

Faith

It’s St Patrick’s Day tomorrow, that’s another  excuse for some religiously inspired nationalism. I hate all this blind faith, whether its to a religious, political  and economic doctrine. It matter snot whether it’s Catholicism,  Communism or Capitalism; they are all divisive and dangerous in the extreme.

Anyway, I have bigger problems to worry about. I have to put my second lot of washing on the line soon. For my overseas, international readers, of whatever faith; I’ll tell you a bit about myself and where I live. I live in the Black Country north of Birmingham, Britain’s second city. There was a suggestion that the Black Country could become Greater Birmingham and become richer with the status that would bring. Yeah, Yeah, just like the Crimea will be so much better off ruled by Putin as part of Russia. We have heard that old song, but we ain’t dancing to it… We have a lot of immigrants in the Black Country from all over the world and so the place is changing and evolving. Smith and Jones have moved  over for Singh and Joshi in the Black Country, but it’s evolving. We shouldn’t  force change, we should allow change.

Privilege

That’s the problem with the government we have now, they are forcing change with little thought to the consequences. Sometimes change needs a push, a little motivation. Motivation can come as the carrot or the stick. This government uses too many threats; they prefer the stick for the lower classes and the carrot for their friends. Their friends are the Old Etonians they are familiar with, who share their values and prejudices. Even the Education secretary Michael Gove thinks the government inner circle is too elitist and he usually believes in elitism. I suspect this elite inner circle is one he is excluded from though. Although he is an Oxbridge graduate like all the rest, at least his private education was as a result of a scholarship, rather than privilege. That will surely be a black mark against him in such privileged circles as the government.

Meanwhile, back in the real world. I have to dry my washing… It’s sunny but windy today. I’m quite lucky, I can recognise what divides us and try not to fall into the usual traps. This morning I’m trying to write this post and chat to a student in China, thousands of miles away. It’s not only distance that separates us, but there is an age difference, a difference in culture and maybe political differences. She is however a young writer and that gives us just one thing in common and that is perhaps enough. The important thing is a mutual respect and desire to understand each other. Politicians often don’t respect others and don’t want to even try to understand people from outside their inner circles…

That’s the lot for today. I have to cook Sunday lunch now and check on my washing. I shall be out and about this afternoon taking photos of the Black Country; it will never be Greater Birmingham…

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The sun’s shining in England. Have a great day…

 

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