I have started a little slowly for me this morning as I had what was, for me, a late night yesterday. That was because I went out owling.
I do mean ‘owling'. I was not howling. I was look for the barn owls that hunt the marshes next to the river north of Ely, where I live.
They did not appear. People I met reliably informed me that they were there the night before. Rumour is already reaching me that they have put in an appearance this morning. But, last night there was no sign of them, although as the light finally disappeared there were a couple of screeches that could have been them.
There were compensations though. One was watching herons go to roost in their regular tree. They always seem to me to me to be one of the closest links we have to dinosaurs. Watching them disappear into the trees for the night is a strange sight: it's just not what you expect from a bird usually seen with its feet firmly in the river.
Another compensation was a red kite, also going to roost not far from the herons. They are still uncommon here. Not rare, but not common. Coming in to roost in the fading light, this one's white head and white wing markings really stood out. It was a good bird to see.
There were also hints of linnet being around, although not seen. I will never complain about that.
Why mention all this? It is because of the randomness of it all. Birdwatching is an exercise in hope. For me, it is also an exercise in learning to live with whatever is given to me. I went to see owls. I didn't see them. I came home happy anyway. That's my approach to the subject.
That said, I am aware of the luxury of being happy because my other needs for the day had been met. Randomness has its place. But meeting essential need should not be random, in my opinion. That is something government should guarantee.
This government is not doing that. Whether it be healthcare (the issue for the day with doctors, rightly, on strike largely because the government is preventing them from meeting that need), to basic income, to education, transport, care and much else, need is not being met.
There is a place for randomness. But to pretend that it is the essence of political economy is wrong. Political economy is all about defeating the randomness of markets and the poewr structures that they create to ensure that the basic needs of all are met.
The Tories have failed that test.
Labour does not look as if it even wants to take that task on, making it unfit for government.
I never forget this, even when owling.
Nor do I forget that neither of these political parties is taking the threat to nature seriously enough.
There remains so much to do.
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The big problem in “randomness” is Western Capitalism eating itself. A great deal of manufacturing has transferred to China because they currency rig (only allow foreign exchange through state owned banks). The money they extract is used to buy the treasury bonds of their export target countries which artificially props up the value of those countries’ currencies. It’s as though we never left the gold standard with treasury bonds replacing gold. Of course some treasury bonds are worth more than others depending on military strength with the US dollar at the top of the “gold standard” ranking. But how long will it last if Western capitalism is eating itself by hollowing its manufacturing capacity? Will imperialism reassert itself? Doubtful because of the threat of nuclear retaliation. So how will Western countries respond? Is responding to climate change going to be a temporary sticking plaster? Lots of thinking to be done of an economic and monetary nature to reduce the “randomness” of the market!
Always an inspiration to read your blog Richard, thank you.
Yes, it’s time to move on from the unpleasant messiness of scarcity and want.
I am no birder but it was amazing when I was on the Vale of Rheidol Railway in the spring watching a Red Kite flying next to the train – because the Rheidol Valley has very steep sides although it was close it had a decent altitude if that makes sense.
Quite an amazing experience
What you said reminded me of this Churchill quote
There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.
Sums up everything the Conservatives and Labour DONT want to do
This post encapsulates what I love about your writing. Your connectedness and sense of proportion in the face of such disfunction in the world around us – especially the political world. Thank you.
Have you read “One Midsummer’s Day” by Mark Cocker? I think you would enjoy it, as would your readers who appreciate the interconnectedness of everything around us.
Thanks
That looks like the sort of thing I would enjoy. I might call into the bookshop here this afternoon
I couldn’t agree more.
Being prepared and proactive creates its own random events that can be capitalised upon. But that is the problem. Capital – the rich – wealth – hate to see people ‘unworthy’ of anyone getting the benefit of anything, such is the twisted, self engorged view of their own self worth.
And what do we get instead?
So we get chaos, which only creates more opportunity for wealth to cream more off a failing NHS, transport system etc. Wealth is literally eating us to death by soaking up all the money for itself.
Yesterday was weird. Whilst watching parts of Hawai go up in smoke I had to watch a polluting rocket launch take a bunch of rich people up into space for what – 5 minutes?
I thought that the passengers were just a bunch of dicks really. The fact that they shared the same characteristics as those who died near the wreck of the Titanic was uncomfortable viewing. It was as if their ‘status’ made them untouchable. And maybe that this is what is going on here.
Our rulers – who are invariably wealthy think that the armour of their wealth protects them from anything. But that creates more risk for those of us less well-off to twist and turn as the planet burns.
I ‘ve got news for the rich. You’re wrong!
As well as the pollution I saw creating smoke the other day all I saw was uncollected taxes going up in smoke. Is that what we undertax for – to enable foolish escapades like that for an elite few?
That’s not trickle down. That’s trickle-gone.
Bollocks to that!
Well said
Headline in today’s Guardian
The Sunak government will go down in history as failing the UK on climate says Greenpeace.
It certainly will.
I was listening to the Cief Secretary to the Treasury this morning, his favourite word seems to be “afford”. He applies the word to events that he is reacting to, never addressing the causal chain. When he does refer to causes it’s always in one word/ simple descriptions – Covid, the cost of living crisis, Ukraine – as though he expects the words themselves to absolve the government of any responsibiliy for the underlying causes.
It’s as though the concept of a contingent liability is alien to Government thought, risk registers are anathema, what ‘s the point of identifying a risk that you don’t have the money to deal with.
Options, calls, puts, bed and breakfast placements, short selling, repo 105s,
regulatory arbitrage, Libor fixings – the creation of a vocabulary that only a priesthood is familiar with.
So you have the ever increasing complexity and verbal obfuscation of the market running alongside the patronising simplicity of government ministers.
And, worst of all, a Labour Party accepting that the ex cathedra statments of the BoE/market are beyond discussion.
“And, worst of all, a Labour Party accepting that the ex cathedra statments of the BoE/market are beyond discussion.”
Absolutely right the Labour Party has turned into a ghost ship, the Marie Celeste. Nobody with any brains has ever seen it manifest itself as a sea worthy vessel you’d want to board!
“A seaworthy vessel you’d want to board.”
Those onboard the Bibby Stockholm did not want to board but were threatened worse by this government than their own. Now they might have Legionella. This government is just sick.
My son sent me a photo of a butterfly that he had seen yesterday morning, and I could not identify it. Most upset, I was. He thought it might be a meadow brown because of the pattern, and I said the way you recognise a meadow brown is because of the flash of orange as it flies past. This one was brown and white.
It took me an hour to find out that there is a whole website dedicated to britishbutterflyabberations.com
During that hour I could concentrate on something other than the horrors in the world. Back to reality now.
My granddaughter did a lovely painting of a heron for her dad a couple of years ago.
I use the irecord butterflies app….it’s not perfect but very useful and changes likely sightings by season and location. It has taught me a lot
Yes, I’m on that, a member of Butterfly Conservation, but I would not have thought of it as a meadow brown until I’d found the abberation site.
I should look at their site
Their dinosaur lineage is very obvious in herons. Most especially, the youngsters.
Definitely – they’re plain ugly
I’ve seen plenty herons going into the trees to roost and it strikes me that they crash-land rather than simply disappearing from view. It’s usually a fairly noisy and random process involving much screeching as well as crashing noises as hefty bird meets foliage and slender branch head-on. The analogy with dinosaurs is spot-on. One particularly memorable heron-sighting sticks in my memory. We live on the banks of a sizeable river which has made a remarkable recovery from the pollution of major upstream steel works (now long gone, thanks to Thatcher). One morning I spotted a heron which appeared to be in distress on the opposite bank. With the help of binoculars I could see it locked in a struggle with an eel of about 2 feet in length. The heron was trying to eat the eel head-first and the eel had wrapped its lower body around the heron’s neck and was trying to throttle the heron boa-constrictor style. The tussle went on for about 5 to 10 minutes before the heron triumphed, but it was clearly in some distress – staggering about on the bank for a minute or two. I can only guess that the eel didn’t give up until asphyxiation and the heron’s stomach acid finally did for it. Nature in full “red in tooth and claw” mode wasn’t the ideal preparation for my own breakfast, but it gave me plenty to talk about at work.
Good one
And they can shriek
I found this:
“Efficiency is sometimes seen as a conservative goal, but it simply means avoiding the waste of resources, including people’s time and effort. It need not imply the pursuit of maximum output; efficiency is just as important in maximizing leisure and minimizing environmental impacts for a given output.”
I go birding too. It’s a source of great comfort to me. It refreshes and reinvigorates my soul.
I’m very troubled by the thought that a quarter of UK citizens are in such need that they cannot spend time in the vital pursuit of refreshing their souls (for want of a better word)
How have we allowed this to happen? What is it about our country that has permitted the rise of people so utterly contemptuous of others’ lives?
I have had enough now. I’m ashamed of my country.
But.
What do we DO? We can all speculate and bemoan where we are. Enough never seems to be actually enough, does it?
I’m more than prepared to start – or Co ordinate – a genuine party/movement to halt further shifts to the right. There are hundreds of thousands of us out there who have been evicted from Labour so Starmer has a platform and a banner under which he can gain power.
So?
Any offers of help? Suggestions?
I admit I can do no more
I have finally realised that I am finite
Others?
You do a huge amount, Richard. I’m pretty finite too. But something in me won’t let me stop. It’s extremely tiring!
To add some context to my previous comment:
I’m an ex-RAF Squadron Leader, with 16 years’ service. My last job was briefing the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff. I’m competent; articulate and knowledgeable. I am not content merely to continue analysing what is happening to the UK and why. We know that.
I did a BSc in psychology and computing after I left the RAF. I have worked in mental health and IT. I have been an advocate. I have regularly spoken to large audiences.
Up to you, people.
Hannah, if you want to see where people are trying to set up a new party, go to nottheandrewmarrshow.co.uk
10.30 every Sunday morning they meet up. Richard has been on there a few times, as has Prem Sikka, and Dr Bob Gill, etc.
At the moment a group called OCISA is trying to organise someone to stand against Starmer at the next election.
I’m always concerned when I hear of new political parties being set up. FPTP makes it so difficult for them to thrive and (imho) Conservatives laugh because it’s yet another way to spread the opposition vote and leave them in power. To combat the ‘going to hell in a handcart’ awfulness, I work within the Green Party. We’re not perfect but there is a real democracy within the party and a wonderful lack of cynicism.
Interested by your mention of Barn Owls I used to live in an area of the country with little light pollution and many old barns.
Very occasionally driving down a misty minor country road in the dark my headlights would pick out a barn owl rising from its dinner in the middle of the road, A once seen never to be forgotten sight. Partly because they were much bigger than I had expected but mostly because their light reflective underside caught in the headlights gave them a ghostly and totally unexpected quality.
Sadly I have not seen one for years. Neither for years have I heard the the likes of the Screech Owl, a Little Owl I think, that used to sit on top of the telegraph pole outside where I used to live.
It does take some effort to see owls but we get them around here
That said I have not seen a little owl for a couple of years, maybe more
They are lovely little things
We have a number of Barn Owls around here. Often to be seen hunting along the tops of the hedges just before dusk. Quite unmistakable. I’ve heard Little Owls, but I haven’t seen one – they always look to me like grumpy old men in waistcoats. We’re fortunate to have a wide variety of birds in my locality. The swallows arrive in late Spring and I hear them before I see them; as soon as they’ve retired to bed, the Pipistrelle bats emerge. And the butterflies this year are wonderful.
🙂