Suddenly
a columnist whom you have basically distrusted or disagreed with down the years says something with which you wholly agree. I used to get communications which began “ I don’t always agree with you but at least I know you’ll tell me the truth” – and none of that “your truth, my truth” thing which is really about perception. You see what you see and it means what it means. Yes, of course, personal taste, experience, upbringing – but they come later. How restful to have a clear statement.
I can’t make the national political situation or international unrest (admitted and/or implied) uplifting. We are in a long dark corridor and I hope to God there is a door to the light at the end of it.
How many times am I going to be told about or read about new homes, “affordable housing”, (affordable to whom ?), building on green belt – when I cannot remember an insight into how much stuff is standing vacant|? Surely we should be able to rule against anything standing empty longer than a year – mandatory to sell after that ? What about what can be fixed ? Yes, I know mending and making do is only on the periphery of fashion as a current concept but until it is public knowledge that we haven’t got enough housing,
I question it.
The dependence created by the NHS cripples it. Going to the doctor or to the hospital ? What about going to bed ? Numbers is not just a book of the Bible. It is the problem – numbers in school, numbers in hospital, numbers besieging every facility to the detriment of function.
What happened to personal responsibility and common sense ? Yes, you can pat my head and say wonderingly “Poor old dear !” but until we begin to think less about who will do what for us and what can do for ourselves, scupperdom comes ever closer.
A BBC producer wrote to invite me to take part in a programme to discuss failure. We arranged to speak and I began to think. I looked up a thesaurus of quotations. No women on failure – only men. And then I sat down and thought. Failure has not been something to which I have given a lot of attention. I was focused on survival, figure the terms out afterwards. And I thought about how this attitude was formed. Home and the 11 Plus exam. Me worrying about it (I had missed a lot of school through illness) and the “pass or fail” thing. I was taught” Pass or fail is for exams, not for life.” And I asked myself – flat question, forget the qualifications and circumstance – at what had I failed ?
by Rochelle Dulay Razon
And answered: marriage and contraception.
So that’s what I said to the producer when he rang. He asked what I meant. I explained – two marriages , both ended in divorce – and abortion. No good being evasive and saying contraceptive failure. And we went on from there.
The system under which we live is as deeply imperfect
as any other though it has its pluses as well as defaults. And it has long been our way nationally to let somebody else make the decision and then complain about it. We have above all else too many people who evade work – it seems they can always get money from somewhere – and people who do work and aren’t paid enough on which to survive.
This isn’t a generational Dunkirk (look it up).
We are avoiding the scale of what is implied and threatening us. The will is there but the machinery is too cumbersome. Sometimes inclusive is too expensive. I don’t want another person of dual nationality who commits a ghastly crime interned int British prisons. Strip of them of our nationality and send them home. There aren’t many and they cost us a fortune in prison. Make it a condition of living here that you speak discernible English (loads of us waiting to help you learn) and have a qualification. And close the gates for say a year while we figure out how to stop the islands sinking, literally or metaphorically.
Annalog 