Looking back - looking forward!

2019 seems to be ending with a set of fine, sunny days. I was going to say it is a bright end to a rather miserable year but that would not really be true.

On the political front, yes it has been miserable. Although not everyone would necessarily agree with me. As promises are broken and cuts continue to bite, maybe they will change their minds.

But on the whole, on the personal front, it has not been a bad year at all. We’ve had some interesting trips to Spain and Portugal. Phil has won prizes at chess congresses. My friend Dee and I had a spectacular trip to Cuba and Phil and I had an equally but differently spectacular trip to Sicily. We’ve acquired a new grandson, now a smiling 3.5 months old, and we’ve seen our offspring and their offspring over this Christmas holiday without any fights or arguments or other trauma. All good!

This article about what the future might be like begins thus:- “In 2004, when the year 2020 sounded futuristic”. Oh boy, the writer must still be quite young. I can remember when 1984 seemed like the far future - an odd dystopia that we thought could never happen. And then we watched 2001, A Space Odyssey and wondered at how far away that year seemed. The article goes on to point out all the predictions we got wrong and thinks about what life might be like in 2050, by which date I will either be phenomenally old or simply not around to see it.

But let’s not get maudlin and depressed about all this. There’s still plenty to enjoy.

On The Archers - surely the longest-running soap opera in the history of the world - I remember listening to it with my mother, for goodness sake! - three young people are running a project to “re-wild” Ambridge. Re-wilding is the buzzword of the moment. Now I read this:-

“Half of the nation’s farmland needs to be transformed into woodlands and natural habitat to fight the climate crisis and restore wildlife, according to a former chief scientific adviser to the UK government. Prof Sir Ian Boyd said such a change could mean the amount of cattle and sheep would fall by 90%, with farmers instead being paid for storing carbon dioxide, helping prevent floods and providing beautiful landscapes where people could boost their health and wellbeing.”

There you go! Paying farmers to do nothing! But a good idea. A universal basic income would make the whole idea fairer though.

Here is more of his thinking.

Meanwhile some people are concerned about what will happen to English in the EU after we leave, always assuming that we manage to do so smoothly.

We shall see! Tomorrow is another year!