A couple of years ago we walked up the hill towards Dobcross, a walk we often do, and were somewhat overwhelmed by the golden blossom of the laburnum trees in the sunshine. A veritable tunnel of golden blossom. Last year we looked for it again and saw no sign of it. As various laburnum trees around here are now in full bloom, we decided to have another look yesterday. Not a bit of golden blossom anywhere up the hill. A bit of a mystery. I trawled back through the multitudinous photos on my phone and found that the original photos date from mid-June 2021. So maybe we’ve just been looking at the wrong time. I’ll have to look again in the next couple of weeks.
Out in the wider world I read that Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have agreed to a week-long cease-fire so that humanitarian aid can be delivered to the country. I hope the opposing forces can manage to keep to agreement but I find myself wondering if they couldn’t also use that week to have some constructive talks and broker a longer-term agreement, even a permanent one! Mind you, I’m not sure that everyone wants a peaceful solution, as reports say that UK arms sales have reached a record £8.5bn. Hmm!
Reading reports of journalists beaten up in Sudan during raids on their flats by Rapid Support Forces, my first reaction was to feel glad that we don’t live in a country where that can happen. And then I read this article about a group of people whose meeting place was raided by police on the day of the coronation. They were attending a seminar on non-violent protest, at least one of their number doing so as a way of avoiding anything to do with the coronation. The venue, some five miles away from the route of the coronation procession, was raided by the police and the attendees arrested “on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”. It was all a bit farcical in the end and I gather they were eventually released without charge but it is to be hoped that they do not have this arrest on their records. Who knows how it might affect things in the future? More seriously, do we really want our country to be a place where people can’t meet to discuss things freely?
Now, here’s something from letters to the Guardian, on the subject of Brexit, reflecting some of my own feelings:
“Jonathan Freedland’s article reinforced my exasperation, as an increasingly reluctant Labour supporter, about why Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet persistently fail to grasp the implications and develop policies to rejoin the EU. As it becomes so apparent that Brexit has failed to deliver, surely an honest recognition of this, allied to clearly thought out strategies and policies to move back into membership of the EU, would make sense to voters, even in “red wall” areas (which are among those affected worst by recent policies).
Straight talking from leading politicians would contrast with the recent evasions and lies from the current government. Would the EU welcome us back? What would be the costs and benefits? For a start, it would discourage many Scots from pushing for independence if the UK were part of the EU again.
Somebody ought to be asking these questions loudly and clearly. I have squirmed as Keir Starmer has writhed about Brexit in TV interviews, desperate not to be seen as advocating that it should be reversed. But why? It is so obviously an issue worth considering.
Kate Purcell
Coventry
There you go.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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