Tag Archives: sympathy

A Few Words to Fill a Gap

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We had thunder and lightening yesterday, as i have already noted.  After that we had hours of rain. It rained heavily all night, or at least for the parts I was awake, and it is still raining now, at midday. If you are a plant that needs rain, or a depleted pond, or a duck, this must be great weather. If you live near a river it is, I assume, less good.

It’s an example of how we all live our lives in selfish compartments. I’m lucky enough to live in a fairly hilly country, so we aren’t going to disappear as global sea levels rise, though we may change shape. If I were living in the Maldives, which would probably be a great experience most of the time, I wouldn’t consider myself quite so lucky as my country gradually submerged.

Healthy Salmon. Well, healthy for me. The salmon is looking like it’s beyond the reach of medical aid.

I have varying degrees of sympathy for flood victims. Some, like the people of the Maldives, are blameless victims (or at least as blameless as anyone cn be in these days of consumption and consumerism). People who come on the UK news, complaining that the government should “do something” to stop their house flooding, I have less sympathy for. If you buy a house by a river, this is going to happen. I don’t wish bad things to happen to anyone, but you have to take care of certain things for yourself, and government can’t fix everything. In fact, as we have seen recently, governments can’t fix much. It’s the old bookshelf problem, as the new government squeezes a new policy onto the crowded shelf, something else falls off the end.

It’s like taxing the rich. Good policy – far better than taxing the poor. But as we are already seeing, the rich are a moving target, and if you tax them they will move. And when they move, they take their taxes and their businesses with them and we end up losing out. labour, just like the Tories before them, have the right idea – impose tax on the middle classes. They can’t afford to move, they can’t afford expensive accountants, but they do have money. And, more importantly they can’t afford to give gifts to politicians. I mean, if you scare all the rich people away, who is going to keep Kier Starmer in suits and glasses?

A well known cure for depression and cynicism – you can’t feel bad with fish and chips.

Well, you’ve had Wordless Wednesday and Thankful Thursday, so welcome to cynical Sunday. I am now going away and will try to find a few non-cynical thoughts for a second post.

A Hill Full of Grief

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Those aren’t my words in the title, they are the words of one of the churchmen involved in the Nottingham University vigil. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one. It’s been the big news in Nottingham this week – two students (both 19) stabbed to death, a school caretaker (65), stabbed and his van stolen, with it eventually used to run three people down, one of whom is in critical condition.

It’s a familiar fear for those of us with kids, and one of my main feelings, apart from sympathy for the families, is relief that mine manged to get through their youth without serious violence. The family of the caretaker have asked to be left alone. The deaths of the other two have been marked by vigils and flowers. I’m sure the death of the caretaker will be marked more as the days pass. The problem is that no matter how private you want to keep things, there are other people involved, and they need some sort of way to process their grief.

There is a tendency for too many people to get involved these days. It isn’t for me to say what is useful or acceptable in this case. If the parents and students draw strength from a vigil that is their affair. I’m sure that the school will, eventually, have its own vigil to help the kids work through their grief at the loss of a man who appears to have been a well-loved member of staff.

Unfortunately, as usual, people are trying to take a share of the proceedings. The head of the City Council keeps telling us, amongst other things, that Nottingham is a strong and diverse city. Yes, it is, but this is about the deaths of three innocent people, not about the City, and not about the message the leader of the council is trying to promote. Nor is it a tragedy for the city. It’s a shock, but it’s not a tragedy for most of us. The same goes for the message that it’s a safe city despite the murders.  That’s not really in question. Murder happens. It’s always a tragedy for someone, but we are generally a safe City and a safe country.

That’s about it. I felt it needed to be mentioned, as it’s a local event, but I don’t want to dwell on it. The families have my sympathy and the city is a safe place despite these events. To say much more would be to hijack the story of others, and there is already plenty of that going on.