Friday, 1 February 2019
The Unkindest Cut
For the first time in the UK, someone has been found guilty of the genital mutilation of their daughter. Is it more shocking that it is mother who has been found guilty?
Doing a little research on the topic of FGM before writing this blog entry (and goodness knows what that's going to do for the ads I get shown now!), there are several reasons put forward for FGM, some of them suggesting that there are health benefits, but most commentators posit it as a means of controlling the girls in question, usually within a patriarchal society. There are different levels of mutilation, the most extreme of which effectively creates an external hymen, so that a potential husband can easily tell whether his bride is a virgin or not. (Putting a young girl through such pain so that a man many years later doesn't have to take her word for something - take it on faith - seems exceptionally cruel, especially when the cultural arguments usually cite religious reasons. Religion is all about taking things on faith without physical proof. But I digress.)
It seems bizarre to me that a mother would, having endured the pain of FGM herself, choose to inflict it on her own children. Perhaps it's hard to break with a cultural tradition, particularly in a tight-knit community, but that is a good argument for greater integration of people with different traditions into our society. Not all cultural practices are worth preserving.
And as for calling it 'female circumcision' as a means of normalising it, instead of using the word 'mutilation', that really just calls into question the whole business of male circumcision instead. But on a snowy day in the shires, that's a debate for another day.
Friday, 25 January 2019
The Art of the Possible
The latest 'top news' story on the BBC news pages is headed "Trump announces deal to lift shutdown".
If only the news were as good as the headline suggests.
It's a temporary measure, getting people back to work for three weeks, and then the US government and all the federal employees face the same predicament.
Trump insists that he's going to get the funding for his wall, either in the budget or via declaring a national emergency, presumably thinking that the threat of the constitutional crisis this would evoke will be enough to bring the Democrats into line and make them write the budget he wants.
It must be hard for him to realise that being President is not the same as being CEO and that sometimes the dreaded C word needs to be used - and no, I don't mean covfefe.
As some students of US history know, and all those who have seen Hamilton know, originally when one of two candidates was elected US President, the loser/runner-up became the Vice-President. The gentle art of compromise (not to mention decent campaigning without resorting to derogatory comments about your opponent) was essential for anything to get done.
There seems to be a view in governments on both sides of the Atlantic that if you compromise with the opposition, you have somehow lost. You haven't, you've governed. And the people you are governing have won.
Fingers crossed that someone with the ear of the President/control of his Twitter account can help him understand this some time in the next three weeks.
If only the news were as good as the headline suggests.
It's a temporary measure, getting people back to work for three weeks, and then the US government and all the federal employees face the same predicament.
Trump insists that he's going to get the funding for his wall, either in the budget or via declaring a national emergency, presumably thinking that the threat of the constitutional crisis this would evoke will be enough to bring the Democrats into line and make them write the budget he wants.
It must be hard for him to realise that being President is not the same as being CEO and that sometimes the dreaded C word needs to be used - and no, I don't mean covfefe.
As some students of US history know, and all those who have seen Hamilton know, originally when one of two candidates was elected US President, the loser/runner-up became the Vice-President. The gentle art of compromise (not to mention decent campaigning without resorting to derogatory comments about your opponent) was essential for anything to get done.
There seems to be a view in governments on both sides of the Atlantic that if you compromise with the opposition, you have somehow lost. You haven't, you've governed. And the people you are governing have won.
Fingers crossed that someone with the ear of the President/control of his Twitter account can help him understand this some time in the next three weeks.
Friday, 18 January 2019
Elderly Driver Involved in Prang
The top story on BBC News at the moment is about Trump accusing someone else of lying when they said he instructed a lawyer to lie on his behalf. Not so much fake news as old news. (And how can he remember anyway?)
So instead, I'm looking at the next story down, about Prince Philip being involved in a car accident. The dent in his car is noticeable, and the story says his car rolled, both of which suggest he was the hittee rather than the hitter. Someone in the other car has a broken wrist, but otherwise all the personal injuries were in the nature of scrapes and cuts. Apparently he has said the sun dazzled him. A common problem in this country, as it's such a rarity that we don't generally wear sunglasses to drive.
Why, therefore, promote the story so heavily? A minor obsession with the Royal Family is the only reason I can think for it, unless there is a campaign about to be launched to restrict the issuing of driving licences to the elderly.
The local council were already debating reducing the speed limit on that road, which may or may not be a good thing. There are plenty of roads round here that have a limit of 40 or 50 which everyone exceeds because the roads are straight and wide with good visibility. I'm all in favour of keeping speed limits down in villages (and not *just* because I live in one), and particularly near schools. In the US, many places double speeding fines near schools at the beginning and end of the school day - not necessary in this village, as the parked cars on the school run provide a complex chicane that can only be negotiated at about 15 mph on a good day.
The issue of elderly drivers is also one that crops up in the news whenever an elderly person is involved in an accident, particularly when driving the wrong way on the motorway. But to suggest that therefore all elderly drivers over, say, 70 should have their licences taken away is ridiculous. For a start, in our village, the bus service is relatively good but is still only hourly and finishes by 7pm. In Spain, once a driver reaches the age of 70, they have to take a virtual-reality test every couple of years, not just an eyesight test, but something on a computer that tests reaction times and hand-eye coordination.
Doing something to prevent accidents for the rising number of drivers over 70 can only be a good thing - and not just because we can't all afford a new car the next day or a chauffeur.
So instead, I'm looking at the next story down, about Prince Philip being involved in a car accident. The dent in his car is noticeable, and the story says his car rolled, both of which suggest he was the hittee rather than the hitter. Someone in the other car has a broken wrist, but otherwise all the personal injuries were in the nature of scrapes and cuts. Apparently he has said the sun dazzled him. A common problem in this country, as it's such a rarity that we don't generally wear sunglasses to drive.
Why, therefore, promote the story so heavily? A minor obsession with the Royal Family is the only reason I can think for it, unless there is a campaign about to be launched to restrict the issuing of driving licences to the elderly.
The local council were already debating reducing the speed limit on that road, which may or may not be a good thing. There are plenty of roads round here that have a limit of 40 or 50 which everyone exceeds because the roads are straight and wide with good visibility. I'm all in favour of keeping speed limits down in villages (and not *just* because I live in one), and particularly near schools. In the US, many places double speeding fines near schools at the beginning and end of the school day - not necessary in this village, as the parked cars on the school run provide a complex chicane that can only be negotiated at about 15 mph on a good day.
The issue of elderly drivers is also one that crops up in the news whenever an elderly person is involved in an accident, particularly when driving the wrong way on the motorway. But to suggest that therefore all elderly drivers over, say, 70 should have their licences taken away is ridiculous. For a start, in our village, the bus service is relatively good but is still only hourly and finishes by 7pm. In Spain, once a driver reaches the age of 70, they have to take a virtual-reality test every couple of years, not just an eyesight test, but something on a computer that tests reaction times and hand-eye coordination.
Doing something to prevent accidents for the rising number of drivers over 70 can only be a good thing - and not just because we can't all afford a new car the next day or a chauffeur.
Sunday, 13 January 2019
Back to the original view/intent
Anyone who reads my blog will know that I’m not a big believer in “New Year’s Resolutions”. I’m happy to set myself challenges for the year, some of which may even be successful, but the whole “it’s a miserable month so I’m going to change my life” approach is something I do not embrace.
So any changes I make now are not so much because it’s the new year, but because a number of changes have taken place in my life recently, and I’ve just been away on holiday with a chance to do a lot of thinking.
One of the things that has bugged me is my complete ineptitude when it comes to writing a regular blog. There are only so many times I can write about coping with depression or apologising for the long gap between entries. Originally, when I set up this blog (after closing down my fictional blog), I had intended to comment on things in the news, with a perspective from a leafy English shire village. Why didn’t I do that? In part, I think I was worried about offending people. The views became inoffensive, bland and, to be honest, boring.
Therefore, without wishing to offend people deliberately, but acknowledging that I probably will anyway, I shall go back to the original plan. Once a week, I intend to pick one of the news stories of the day and present my view, possibly including how it pertains to life in an English village. And any offensive or trolling comments will be deleted.
So any changes I make now are not so much because it’s the new year, but because a number of changes have taken place in my life recently, and I’ve just been away on holiday with a chance to do a lot of thinking.
One of the things that has bugged me is my complete ineptitude when it comes to writing a regular blog. There are only so many times I can write about coping with depression or apologising for the long gap between entries. Originally, when I set up this blog (after closing down my fictional blog), I had intended to comment on things in the news, with a perspective from a leafy English shire village. Why didn’t I do that? In part, I think I was worried about offending people. The views became inoffensive, bland and, to be honest, boring.
Therefore, without wishing to offend people deliberately, but acknowledging that I probably will anyway, I shall go back to the original plan. Once a week, I intend to pick one of the news stories of the day and present my view, possibly including how it pertains to life in an English village. And any offensive or trolling comments will be deleted.
Thursday, 25 October 2018
The Ever-Expanding TBR Pile
It's been a while since I wrote on here; I'm going to claim that it's because I know you all have as large a TBR pile as I, and don't have time to read weekly blatherings from yours truly.
But speaking of the toppling TBR pile, I've just finished a book that is likely to add, indirectly, to the pile.
Lucia Graves is the daughter of Robert Graves, well-known poet and author of such books as I, Claudius, and she grew up largely in Spain, particularly Mallorca and Barcelona. Her memoir, A Woman Unknown, is beautifully constructed, weaving past and present, but also detailing much of life in Spain beyond her own personal experience.
When I was preparing for Carmen - The Musical, I found out considerably more about the Spanish Civil War than I had previously known, but only from the point of view of its beginnings and early encounters. Graves' book describes the effect on the people, particularly the losers, of Franco's regime, and (briefly) their ultimate emotional release on his death. More reading to be done on this topic.
She also mentions a queen of Catalonia, Margarida of Prades, who sounds as though she must have been the Spanish equivalent of Eleanor of Aquitaine, though there is much more detail about her in Graves' book than in the wikipedia entry for her, though to be fair it does acknowledge that the equivalent articles in Spanish or Catalan will extend the entry. An interesting woman, about whom I feel I need to discover more. More books needed.
And a final topic of particular interest to me, given the novel that I've been writing for some years about a survivor of the Jewish massacre in York in 1191, was the detail that 1492 was not only the year Columbus 'discovered' America (and that's a *whole* other blog entry!), but also the year in which Jews had to either leave Spain or convert to Christianity. I knew they had faced the dilemma, but hadn't realised the coincidence of the date. When I get back to my historical novel (the current one is very nearly ready to be released into the big wild world), I will doubtless need to do some reading about the experience of the Spanish Jews.
So that pile that I had diminished by a whole book? It's just grown by at least three....
*TBR = To Be Read
But speaking of the toppling TBR pile, I've just finished a book that is likely to add, indirectly, to the pile.
Lucia Graves is the daughter of Robert Graves, well-known poet and author of such books as I, Claudius, and she grew up largely in Spain, particularly Mallorca and Barcelona. Her memoir, A Woman Unknown, is beautifully constructed, weaving past and present, but also detailing much of life in Spain beyond her own personal experience.
When I was preparing for Carmen - The Musical, I found out considerably more about the Spanish Civil War than I had previously known, but only from the point of view of its beginnings and early encounters. Graves' book describes the effect on the people, particularly the losers, of Franco's regime, and (briefly) their ultimate emotional release on his death. More reading to be done on this topic.
She also mentions a queen of Catalonia, Margarida of Prades, who sounds as though she must have been the Spanish equivalent of Eleanor of Aquitaine, though there is much more detail about her in Graves' book than in the wikipedia entry for her, though to be fair it does acknowledge that the equivalent articles in Spanish or Catalan will extend the entry. An interesting woman, about whom I feel I need to discover more. More books needed.
And a final topic of particular interest to me, given the novel that I've been writing for some years about a survivor of the Jewish massacre in York in 1191, was the detail that 1492 was not only the year Columbus 'discovered' America (and that's a *whole* other blog entry!), but also the year in which Jews had to either leave Spain or convert to Christianity. I knew they had faced the dilemma, but hadn't realised the coincidence of the date. When I get back to my historical novel (the current one is very nearly ready to be released into the big wild world), I will doubtless need to do some reading about the experience of the Spanish Jews.
So that pile that I had diminished by a whole book? It's just grown by at least three....
*TBR = To Be Read
Thursday, 12 July 2018
Knowing how to use the correct terms
On a day when a certain well-known president is dining in the same shire, a consideration of terminology may be in order.
He is often referred to as a narcissist, but I wonder how many people who use the term have the training necessary to use it correctly. (I'm not saying they're wrong, though!)
At the weekend, someone I had just met told me I was clearly autistic, on the grounds that I spoke in short sentences. She did then go on to say that she was autistic, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that she was socially inappropriate. But she made no mention of qualifications or the autistic triad, so I suspect she was basing her judgement on an informal knowledge of the subject. I was trying to concentrate on something else, so I didn't go into the details of my shyness, introversion and general fatigue. And autism is a spectrum, so it's possible I'm on it somewhere, but a swift assessment based on a two minute distracted conversation is not a reliable one.
In general, we bandy about labels with a casual knowledge of their meaning, and it's not always helpful. It can lead to prejudice and hurt, whether intentional or otherwise. We really shouldn't make such swift judgements of people, even though first impressions matter. Unlike Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, we should allow our first impressions to be overruled by a greater knowledge of the other person. In other words, give people a chance. Two minutes is not enough. Two years probably is.
For what it's worth, Psychology Today's definition of narcissism says:
"The hallmarks of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) are grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration. People with this condition are frequently described as arrogant, self-centered, manipulative, and demanding. They may also concentrate on grandiose fantasies (e.g. their own success, beauty, brilliance) and may be convinced that they deserve special treatment. ...
"People with narcissistic personality disorder believe they are superior or special, and often try to associate with other people they believe are unique or gifted in some way. This association enhances their self-esteem, which is typically quite fragile underneath the surface. Individuals with NPD seek excessive admiration and attention in order to know that others think highly of them. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder have difficulty tolerating criticism or defeat..."
(Psychology Today UK https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder)
Remind you of anyone?
He is often referred to as a narcissist, but I wonder how many people who use the term have the training necessary to use it correctly. (I'm not saying they're wrong, though!)
At the weekend, someone I had just met told me I was clearly autistic, on the grounds that I spoke in short sentences. She did then go on to say that she was autistic, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that she was socially inappropriate. But she made no mention of qualifications or the autistic triad, so I suspect she was basing her judgement on an informal knowledge of the subject. I was trying to concentrate on something else, so I didn't go into the details of my shyness, introversion and general fatigue. And autism is a spectrum, so it's possible I'm on it somewhere, but a swift assessment based on a two minute distracted conversation is not a reliable one.
In general, we bandy about labels with a casual knowledge of their meaning, and it's not always helpful. It can lead to prejudice and hurt, whether intentional or otherwise. We really shouldn't make such swift judgements of people, even though first impressions matter. Unlike Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, we should allow our first impressions to be overruled by a greater knowledge of the other person. In other words, give people a chance. Two minutes is not enough. Two years probably is.
For what it's worth, Psychology Today's definition of narcissism says:
"The hallmarks of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) are grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people, and a need for admiration. People with this condition are frequently described as arrogant, self-centered, manipulative, and demanding. They may also concentrate on grandiose fantasies (e.g. their own success, beauty, brilliance) and may be convinced that they deserve special treatment. ...
"People with narcissistic personality disorder believe they are superior or special, and often try to associate with other people they believe are unique or gifted in some way. This association enhances their self-esteem, which is typically quite fragile underneath the surface. Individuals with NPD seek excessive admiration and attention in order to know that others think highly of them. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder have difficulty tolerating criticism or defeat..."
(Psychology Today UK https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder)
Remind you of anyone?
Thursday, 24 May 2018
The R Word
When I finally quit teaching at the school where I had been working, on and off, for about fifteen years, a few people asked if I was retiring. "Retiring?" I replied, shocked. "I'm far too young for that!"
As a child, retirement was something people did when they were tired of work and practically had one foot in the grave. It meant you were seriously old. You had finished with life. Early retirement was for the sick and pools winners.
Now, things have changed. A number of our friends have taken retirement, ready to potter at home and complete all those projects they've been contemplating for years. (Their partners would quite like them to get on and *do* said projects, but that's another matter.) Others have retired in the sense that they have given up paid work but now got on with life, walking the length of the River Thames or trying to visit every gin joint in London. None of them are what I would consider old - and I don't mean that in a biological sense, but more in a psychological sense. They don't have an old attitude.
Back at university, I was looking at the effect of personality on retirement; the conclusion I quickly came to was that if your job was everything in your life, then retiring was a disaster. You lost everything and waited to die. If, on the other hand, you had plenty of other interests in addition to going to work, then retirement would simply allow these other interests to expand to fill the time newly available.
It is all too clear that not everyone has what I would consider to be a good work-life balance, but perhaps now - or perhaps it's simply in this village - there is more opportunity to have other interests, helping people to keep that youthful attitude. Age, more than ever, is a state of mind and retirement is something that appeals once financial commitments have diminished.
I certainly wonder now how on earth I held down a full-time job, I am so busy with other things. Though I still haven't retired. I'm just doing different things, some of which earn me some money.
Speaking of which, have you got your tickets yet for the BCOS production of Chess? Friday is already sold out.... More info here.
As a child, retirement was something people did when they were tired of work and practically had one foot in the grave. It meant you were seriously old. You had finished with life. Early retirement was for the sick and pools winners.
Now, things have changed. A number of our friends have taken retirement, ready to potter at home and complete all those projects they've been contemplating for years. (Their partners would quite like them to get on and *do* said projects, but that's another matter.) Others have retired in the sense that they have given up paid work but now got on with life, walking the length of the River Thames or trying to visit every gin joint in London. None of them are what I would consider old - and I don't mean that in a biological sense, but more in a psychological sense. They don't have an old attitude.
Back at university, I was looking at the effect of personality on retirement; the conclusion I quickly came to was that if your job was everything in your life, then retiring was a disaster. You lost everything and waited to die. If, on the other hand, you had plenty of other interests in addition to going to work, then retirement would simply allow these other interests to expand to fill the time newly available.
It is all too clear that not everyone has what I would consider to be a good work-life balance, but perhaps now - or perhaps it's simply in this village - there is more opportunity to have other interests, helping people to keep that youthful attitude. Age, more than ever, is a state of mind and retirement is something that appeals once financial commitments have diminished.
I certainly wonder now how on earth I held down a full-time job, I am so busy with other things. Though I still haven't retired. I'm just doing different things, some of which earn me some money.
Speaking of which, have you got your tickets yet for the BCOS production of Chess? Friday is already sold out.... More info here.
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