Seasonal transitions

The summer, not bad as English summers go, has ended. The Indian summer, about which there is been some disagreement (Is it really apt to apply to a burst of warm autumn weather in the UK? etc., etc.) has come and gone.  Autumn colours are tinting the landscape. And shortly we put the clocks back.

Given the state of affairs nationally and internationally, it's difficult to feel a glowing sense of optimism at this seasonal transition.  The Scots Referendum has come and gone, and, like the Arab Spring, raised all sorts of hopes for constitutional reform, which have been promptly scotched (forgive the pun) by the Westminster politicians who simply don't seem to 'get' the low esteem in which they and the system they support are held. So, no cause for optimism there, then.

On top of this, there is the way that the political agenda (to coin phrase!) seems to have been set by UKIP, who have strengthened the swine like rush to shut the gates to immigration as well as the move towards Brexit.  As an immigrant, I feel distinctly uncomfortable about the anti immigration rhetoric which now seems to have achieved the status of respectability, while, given the shift of the balance of economic power to Asia, the notion that little Britain could cut loose from the EU (flawed tho it is) and still cut a figure in the world is to lose touch with reality.

Meanwhile, we have the increasing inequality of income and opportunity that is so blatantly apparent in London and the Home Counties.  One doesn't have to be a Picketty to view this is unhealthy and unwholesome.  The UK seems to be regressing to a society of a few haves (the 1%) and a lot of have nots, with the Squeezed Middle, so beloved of some politicians, struggling somewhere in the middle.

As to the Middle East, what a source of despair.  Israel seems to represent colonialism at its worst, while the confusing and confused set of enmities and alliances and proxy wars is threatening, and is serves as a terrible reminder of the follies of Western nations meddling in a region so little understood, but so important as a source of energy to fuel the industrialised economies of North America and Europe.

And then there is Africa -- or rather West Africa, and Ebola.  Everything about this exemplifies the way in which Africa is perceived and projected as the Dark Continent by the media.  The failure to take seriously warnings from such agencies as MSF is now having terrible consequences, while the longer term consequences for already fragile states and economies is tragic.

So, seasonal transition is not a happy time, while today's grey and gloomy weather ends the weak on a depressing note.  Well, exercise is supposed to be a way of fending off depression, so it's time to tog up and get on my bike!