Red Essex

I’m back in gloomy old Essex and wish I could be back in Sunny old Arkansas. Yet something has changed in me. My stay in America has had the off-putting effect of making me despise the nation with the very fibre of my being. Not so much because it is the worse place in the world, but simply because it is one the best places in the world and therefore has no excuse for toying with Christian fundamentalism, war crimes and a blind patriotic rage.



I think it is only testimony to how few real worries I have in my life right now that I am letting US domestic policy frustrate me (which is amazing since this is the least of their recent crimes…).

I think my efforts to keep this Blog from becoming anti-American have failed. I have tried. Really I have. I keep searching for good news stories. I even have the embryo of a pro-American article sitting in my mind. Only it is tempting to abort it simply to enrage the American pro-life lobby.

For those of you that are interested see the attached comment for my grand assumptions on one of the great pillars of American freedom. For everyone else, I suggest we watch celebrity big brother and remind ourselves that politics and popular culture simply don’t mix. Isn’t that right George?

Meow.

Betrayed by conscience

This morning I woke up on the left. I’m not sure why. I’m not proud of myself. I’d still happily vote for Cameron over Brown and I’d still happily vote for anyone other than the Lib dems. I still think that state interference in the economy, while essential, needs to be kept to a minimum and when done, it needs to be done effectively. Yet I am certainly on the left today. I haven’t been this far left for several years now. It is a worry.

My conscience is playing up. The UK has poor people. Why? This seems to me to be a crime. We are one of the world’s strongest economies. People, even poor people, can pretty freely participate in the economy however they please and with a bit of hard work and skill should be able to escape the working classes and their ‘chav’ status. But they do not.

I do not think we, the oh so gracious middle classes of Britain are doing our fair share for our less then glamorous working class chums. We have the wealth available to make a real difference. If invested soundly we could really turn some areas of Britain around. We could give people a decent education and security in the form of healthcare and housing. We could pull these people up ‘to our level’ of enlightened living. We could face these people we fear and educate them. Instruct them to take off the fake hats and become our friends. It seems we spend so much of our time serving businesses that only act to extract money from our economy without any hint of reinvestment. This is surely wrong. Reinvestment needs to be made far more attractive. More than that communities themselves need to become willing to both take more control and contribute for their own upkeep and growth.

Yes we have a welfare state. We should be doing more. I see no reason why this should necessarily inhibit the economy; it could boost it if done in the right way. I’m not even saying government is perhaps the right vehicle for doing it. Yet we have a duty and a responsibility to ensure that the middle classes do not leave the working classes behind. We do not want to end up like America; I do not want to see an English underclass that we would happily let drown in its own sorrow. We need to turn things around. It can’t go on for much longer, Paris found that out only recently. We need to do something.

I say I woke up today on the left. I may have actually awoken as a snob.

España

So I’m back from Spain. My whirlwind visit to see Sera and her new hometown of Granada started well, and ended not so. Yet I’m still glad I went. It was great to see Sera again and also to experience a relatively non-touristy part of Spain in a relatively non-touristy time of year. The rest I can only hope to learn from.

Spain is a really nice place to visit and I can see myself spending significant amounts of time there, especially if I have any ambitions of learning the language. It is a mix of a liberal relaxed lifestyle but which also harbours a slightly harder, more extreme edge. It was this second attribute that directly led to many of our problems whilst over there.

Spain is a perfect example of 24 hour drinking working. I felt this unexpected psychological weight lifted from me knowing that the bar wasn’t about to close in a frenzy of panic buying. Instead people drink one or two drinks every hour or so. You can afford to take your time and enjoy yourself. It didn’t turn into the chest beating savagery of your typical night out in the UK, it had an all together more civilised and refined feel, helped in great doses by the classiness of the Spanish girls. Not a looped earring, white mini skirt or an Essex accent in sight. Bliss.

The scenery in Granada is defiantly worth a look. It is home to the ‘Alhambra’, which is a former Islamic Palace that sits atop a mountain and overlooks its impressive domain. Inside it is breathtaking. Engravings span the walls, ceilings and floors of massive chambers and the pillar architecture in the gardens certainly was the inspiration for the Catholic age that was to follow. The Muslim Moors have been gone from these parts for over 500 years now, yet their buildings remain, paying tribute to a far more peaceful age. (The Moors lived side by side with their neighbours, a trick Catholicism has never been able to pick up).

Unfortunately it was not all smooth sailing. We found ourselves at odds with their siesta lifestyle always waking up and heading out in to a ghost town during the middle of the afternoon to find breakfast. We did few favours for Britain’s international reputation when we finally gave in and went to the only place that was open, McDonalds. Once in we found ordering incredibly difficult. Considering I am sure that a monkey could happily order a McDonalds meal this was embarrassing beyond belief. In the end we took what we could and retreated to our hotel room.

The Spanish are also a lot more intolerant of racial differences that we are in Britain, in fact it has made me realise that Britain is in many respects the most liberal place in the world. While we don’t sell Marijuana legally nor do we show hardcore porn on terrestrial television, we get pretty close and still have that unique accepting quality. We have our BNP and UKIP, but these guys are soft and cuddly compared to the European and American equivalent.

Overall. Racist underpinnings and strange opening hours aside, I think me and Spain can be friends. But I'm still not speaking to the seafood.