Season's Greetings......and Sayonara

So here we are, in this Christmas Season 2019, after a fairly momentous years of terrorism, political turmoil everywhere (not least in Brexit Britain and Trumpian USA), sporting achievements (well played the England cricket team and Lewis Hamilton), surprise Nobel Laureates (well done Olga, bad luck Greta - but your day will surely come) and much else besides.  Farewell to the wonderful Clive James and Jonathon Miller, who were not only very clever individuals but very funny as well.  And Ginger Baker, horrible man but wonderful drummer.  And Martin Peters, 1966 and all that.

Climate change continues to bite and politicians continue to wring their hands about it and do fuck all, or deny it exists and do fuck all, while huge swathes of Brazil and Australia and Siberia burn out of control, global average temperatures continue to rise, glaciers and polar ice caps continue to melt and sea levels to rise.  The clock is ticking toward irreversible climate change in a little under 11 years and as ever the UN seems powerless to do anything about it.  Schoolkids and their elders and alleged betters take to the streets to protest the situation and are widely praised or roundly condemned depending on which side of the argument you're on.  For my part - long may they continue to make their voices heard, and next time there is a demo here in Warsaw I will be there marching too.

As well as a crook in the White House, we have one in 10 Downing Street now, elected despite lying throughout the election campaign, being an unapologetic known racist bigot and serial philanderer, and mocked by the electorate every time he incompetently participated in serious debate.  But his posturing and sloganeering and love of a photo op with Joe Public went down a storm, and with the help of pitiful Opposition from Labour and LibDem, managed a landslide victory that will deliver a No Deal Brexit this time next year.  Britain deserved better but didn't seem to want it after all.  Such is life.

But enough of this malarkey.  Let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and may your dreams for 2020 all come true, for what will probably the last time - at least on this particular vehicle.  It's time for another re-think.

I started blogging in 2010, under the title Around the World in 80 Expense Claims.  The title reflected the facts that most of the content was, in one way or another, travel related, and was funded out of my working life (both in providing new destinations to write about and the means, via expenses, to enjoy them).  When I retired earlier this year, I re-jigged it a bit to cater for a wider range of content and re-named it The World According to Travellin' Bob.  The results have been to say the least underwhelming.  The stats show that in over 9 years of sometimes irregular productivity, much of that being down to sheer pressure from my day job, I have published in total 164 pieces, that have garnered a grand total of 17,891 page views.  The re-branding has been even less successful than the original project, in that post-change the 19 published essays have collected just 390 page views.  Indeed, the last 4 posts have collected less than 40 views between them.  In terms of Comments (and each blog entry has a Comment facility for feedback, criticism, argument or whatever) there have been only 19, the last in July 2013.  Followers: just 4.

It all seems pretty poor, really, and I can't put my finger on why the reactions have been getting steadily worse, throughout this year, at least.  Maybe the posting irregularity has been the problem, especially last year (2018) when there was frankly a lot going on in my life that I eventually got around to writing about and that stopped me from doing much writing at all.  Perhaps the change in content, adding political stuff to the travel pieces, trying a bit of free-form poetry and a short story as well, hasn't worked well.  Perhaps the format of the blog, essentially unchanged apart from the title throughout that time, has become stale.  Or maybe, no matter what my opinion may be, my writing just isn't very good.  Perhaps a combination of all of that.....but in the complete absence of feedback from anyone I don't have any way of knowing.  Not a clue.

So I think it's time for a rest.  As things stand now, I think this will be the last piece I publish on this platform.  As my mum used to say, a change is as good as a rest, so I expect sometime in the New Year the blog will re-surface, under a new name (I'm toying with "This World, This Life" ) and on a new platform (research is pointing me in the direction of Wix).  I'm still thinking it through.  But I will keep writing - it's something I enjoy doing, even if no-one wants to read it.  My long finished novel The Match is in its final preparation stages and I plan to publish via Amazon - Kindle Direct in January or February next year, and I'm working on a couple of other projects to follow it up.  It all keeps me occupied in this happy retirement.  Perhaps the new, hopefully improved, blog will hit the web to coincide with the book launch - maybe even precede it.  We'll see.

But in the meantime, as well as offering the Season's Greetings, I thank you all for reading these personal thoughts and stories all these years, wish you every success and happiness in your lives, and as Dave Allen used to say, may your god go with you.

Election Day

I can’t vote this Thursday in the most important General Election in my lifetime, because Sevenoaks, in its Tory wisdom, has decided not to give me the postal vote it did three years ago for the Brexit Referendum. I have sent a number of emails appealing this, but all have been ignored. It is no surprise, but extremely disappointing. Who would I have voted for? I’m still not sure, but these are my thoughts at the moment:

Conservative (a.k.a. Tory, a.k.a The Nasty Party): The incumbents, in the bluest-of-blue seats, and I have voted that way before. Now? Absolutely not. The party has been in power for nearly 10 years, in one way or another, and has somehow dragged Britain into its worst state in my 66 year lifetime. From Cameron’s shoddy Coalition, through his cowardly sole Premiership that bequeathed the entire Brexit shitshow and divided still further an already divided country, before walking away and handing May the poisoned chalice, the Party has earned its Nasty Party soubriquet. It now has comfortably the worst leader in my lifetime, one Boris Johnson, thanks to the votes of forty odd thousand Tory faithful out of a population on 60million. A strange kind of Democracy.... The man is a charlatan and a buffoon. This legendary orator is nothing of the kind: his campaign speeches are usually an incoherent mess of crummy campaign slogans - “Get Brexit done!” (what does that really mean exactly?), or “Britain deserves better!” (yes, after 10 years of Tory mismanagement) – or outright lies: “The NHS is not for sale” (so why did you not correct Trump when the Orange One stated it should be on the table for the US trade negotiators?), “No tax rises” (then how will you meet your billions and billions of pounds of campaign promises, Boris?), and “No border checks in the Irish Sea or at the present border” (you might want to check with Barclay, your Brexit Secretary, about that, Boris – and in any case why trumpet a deal you said (when proposed two years ago by the EU27) should never be signed by any PM?). Dead in a ditch? Leave on 31 October? The lies just come pouring out unchecked. He and his party are morally bereft and simply unfit for office.

Labour Party (a.k.a The Red Menace, a.k.a. The Corbynistas): Back in the day, I voted for them, when Tony Blair genuinely offered something different, and I have no regrets about doing so. A lot has changed in the party and the nation since then, but I think some of Jezza’s ideas this time are worth consideration. Taking the railways back into state control could make a huge improvement after 30 years of decreasing standards and spiralling prices as a hotch-potch of franchises. A Bill to safeguard the NHS from any future trade negotiation ever, as long as spending and recruitment and organization are not cut further, very much needed. Another Referendum on Britain’s EU relationship is clearly needed, provided it comes with a proper choice and sensible, reasoned discussion rather than a tissue of lies and misrepresentations from both sides of the argument, and may go some way towards healing some of the divisions. Here Corbyn’s idea of an “honest broker” in the referendum campaign seems to be a good one – the doubt is whether he is the right person for the job. My view is someone from outside the country (indeed outside Europe generally) would be ideal – a Kofi Annan figure perhaps? Corbyn has been a great back-bencher, with a lifelong record of supporting vulnerable minorities who are rarely recognised by senior politicians of either main party (until their vote is needed), but as a leader he has not been particularly good – indecisive and seemingly incapable of striking a clear position on many issues (especially Brexit). He may rise to the importance of a premiership, but I doubt it.

The Liberal Democrats (a.k.a. LibDems, a.k.a. Who?): I have voted for these guys too, long ago, when they and the SDP seemed to offer a very real alternative to Tory or Labour government, and would be very tempted to do so again now. They are the only party (apart from the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cymru) standing on a clear Stop Brexit ticket, but still carry some excess baggage from their recent Coalition adventure with Cameron. Jo Swinson was a brave choice as leader, but lacks experience at the top level (and also carries baggage from that Coalition – God, what a mess it was, with the benefit of hindsight!) but is at least young and enthusiastic. The party is also the only one that has consistently, for many years, been a proponent of the electoral reform that in my view is so desperately needed to fix a broken system that is rigged against the smaller parties and their followers ever having any meaningful say in the governance of this country, and ensures a Tory or Labour government even when neither party is, as now, fit for office.

The Brexit Party (a.k.a. Tory Lite, a.k.a. The Farage Pension Fund): No. Just – NO. Led by a serial loser (7 elections fought, 7 times rejected) with a big mouth, shady mates (Trump and Johnson for instance) and no coherent policies apart from leaving the EU at ANY price (the clue is in the name), and with a much shrunken list of candidates no-one has ever heard of (apart from Farridge’s best mate and fellow foghorn Tice) the party is a One Trick Pony that would be laughable in any other circumstance. It seems their support is withering as its Brexit zealot camp followers realise the Tories have much the same aims under Johnson, and with benefits of scale more likely to deliver if they obtain a working majority. I suspect the Brexit Party will go the same way as Farage’s other project, UKIP (remember them?) - wiped out in the election, never to be heard of again. Which will be good.

The really small parties (basically the Greens and The Independent Group for Change, numbering three MPs between them), plus a handful of independents not affiliated to any party or group, are worthy attempts at doing things differently, and share with the LibDems an appetite for stopping Brexit, electoral reform and environmental issues that are potentially far more important to the planet as a whole than Brexit will ever be, but seem to be hamstrung by a lack of resources (human and otherwise), a lack of candidates or organizational structures. I’m not sure any of them are standing in Sevenoaks, so couldn’t vote for them in any case.

I’ve watched most (but not all) of the televised debates, and very depressing the experience has been. It says a lot for the state of the political landscape in Britain that the stand-out performers (at least to this viewer) have been the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and, to a lesser extent. Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price, neither of whose parties are eligible to stand in English constituencies. Both have spoken passionately and coherently about the issues dominating this election (especially with respect to their own nations), raising concerns that are relevant to all of us. Both have also been able to score points off the other parties - they have been willing and able to call out messrs Johnson and Farage, in particular about their various and many excesses and untruths. I expect both parties to gain seats this time around, which should enable them to hold more sway in the new Parliament.

But by and large, there is an absolute dearth of what I can only describe as statesmanship across the board. Politics today is all driven by sound-bites and slogans, by dissing the opponent rather than by cogent discussion, nnd in my view that is why we are in such a mess. Too many Honourable Members are happy to play to the gallery, and not debate properly the business they are elected to perform – namely, govern this country. No-one seems able or willing to listen to another’s point of view or concern, never mind accept it and adapt policy. Our “first past the post” electoral system guarantees that minority views that in my view deserve due consideration (as they are given in most other democracies) are consigned to the dustbin before their elected representatives in the small parties have even taken their hard won seats. In one of the debates, Farage stated (to paraphrase) that we are living with a 19^th century electoral system that is not fit for our 21^st century world. It’s possibly the most sensible thing the man has said in his entire life, but nobody in either panel or audience seemed to pick up on it.

But he is absolutely right – something has to change, and introducing some form of proportional representation to guarantee a say for the smaller parties would be a start. With that comes coalition government and consensus politics – in other words, our Members would be working together, cross-party, on behalf of all us, not just their particular constituents. People would have to discuss matters properly and in detail, sensibly and without playing to the gallery (so let’s make a start by dumping the television cameras and reducing the Press corps). They would need to accept COMPROMISE – it should never be considered a dirty word, as has too often been the case this past decade or more. It might even get things done in a manner that the entire country can accept and welcome, to everybody’s benefit, and result in a fairer and better and more wealthy society eventually. But that is for the next generation, not mine, or even the one after that, for these changes will take years to achieve.

You lucky voters have an opportunity to start the changes that is denied to me. Use it wisely. Reject the confrontational politics espoused by the major parties – in this day and age there is no place for it, when so much important work needs to be done. Forget Brexit, compared to climate change, widespread industrial pollution, the need to move away from a carbon economy, a properly funded and managed NHS and so many more things are way more important.

A vote for Conservative or Labour seems to me a vote to perpetuate the status quo, when that is the last thing our country needs. A vote for the Brexit party is, very simply, a completely wasted vote, for the party has no viable future. A vote for any other candidate, whether the Liberal Democrats, the Greens or an unaffiliated independent, is a vote for change. I may well be wearing my rose-tinted spectacles again (most football fans and all optimists own several pairs), but in my view change has to come, sooner rather than later.

Start the ball rolling on Thursday.

A struggle.....

So I sit here, staring at a blank screen.
For hours.
Days even.
The words don't come.

They used to - not exactly easily (at least some days).
But they come
Eventually.
And when that happens, they flow, unbidden.  

I wrote a book, years ago.
In a month,
It came pouring out - 
A brain dump - complete:

Characters, locations,
Actions and dialogue.
No idea how or where from.
But they came.

Stories too, sometimes long and sometimes short,
Scribbled in notebooks,
Scraps of paper…..
All lost now.

None published, none in the light of day.
The book in my hard drive, typed clean
And edited many times.
But no mainstream interest - 

So Kindle it is, when I can raise my enthusiasm again -
Upload it, write the tags, the synopsis, the bio
and design (somehow…)  a cover,
Price it…..and release. Voila!

Then what? Follow up somehow, two projects
On the go....but stalled.
The visions are blurred
And I can't see my way forward.

So I sit here, staring at a blank screen.

For hours.

Days even…..

The words don't come.