Christian Culture

 

 

I happened to be reading a book which in its plot depended on some knowledge of the Bible and general Christian ethics. It wasn’t until I completed it that I thought it was a bit odd that I recognised the background so readily. I’m wondering if my children and grandchildren would find it so easy.

I went to a Church of England primary school. Right from the early age we had bible stories. We had a time where the local vicar would visit sometimes. and take classes. I suppose I enjoyed the Bible stories as stories without making any very strong connection with religion. In fact my connection with religion was really as a teenager in confirmation classes. The vicar was repeatedly challenged about evidence which supported his belief. His answer, which I’m sure has wide application, is that religious belief is a matter of faith and that to look at it rationally seeking evidence is the wrong approach.

I didn’t find this evidence free approach satisfactory. I approached the Unitarian church who seemed to me to have a more plain speaking approach. I recall my shock when I talked to a female Unitarian minister. This was at a time when the C of E clergy was all male so the female minister seemed to me to be a large point in favour of the Unitarians. I was impressed enough to continue but withdrew when I was asked to join their Fellowship of Youth

My parents felt I should go to Sunday School. I went under protest intermittently until I reached secondary school age when I stopped completely. Secondary school religious instruction largely consisted of more Bible stories. I found this boring having heard them before. It wasn’t until sixth form when questions of morals and ethics were discussed that my interest was rekindled.

Later as a student I talked  with the college chaplain  He took a very refreshingly, almost secular approach. I remember he recommended the Economist as balanced reading and said I shouldn’t be misled by the title as it is only partly about economics. I found his recommendation excellent and I’ve been a reader ever since ( sometimes intermittently ) I shared a study with a convinced Catholic who tried to persuade me. I did meet and talk to a Catholic priest but there was no meeting of minds.

As a young or mid aged man I gave little thought to religion. Inasmuch as I ever thought about it was in connection with my children. Our two eldest did go to a holiday school run by the local church. I was quite impressed particularly as they seemed to have some good songs. The children enjoyed going.

Later in life I often talked with my cousin who was a convinced humanist. He had a rather similar background to me and I did find his position persuasive. What I did dislike was his rather contemptuous dismissal of believers. This I thought was rather at odds with the sensitivity and empathy he displayed otherwise in his life. He was a do-gooder quietly and without making any fuss. He was a long term volunteer for organisations such as Oxfam..

My final position is that I’m a convinced unbeliever. The total lack of evidence for an afterlife goes against all my training and belief in science. I rather envy those who have faith but I can’t find it in myself to join them. I note that people with faith are often happier, live longer and enjoy the church community. I suppose I’ve lived my life since I was a student saying “where’s the evidence” and I can’t stop now.

I generally accept the Christian moral and ethical framework but I think the church plays altogether too large a role in society. Particularly in morality I think the church conservatism has hindered our moral evolution. I’m speaking here of the C of E as some positions in some churches such as opposition to abortion I find contemptible  I have only attended one humanist funeral but I found it much better than the Christian alternative.

I am fairly happy that the moral and ethical positions in modern life are broadly Christian in their origin. In this I’m deliberately saying Christian rather than church. My feeling is that churches in general have not shown a lead but have rather been a drag on necessary changes. Examples are far too many to enumerate but too many churches have been overly male dominated and failed to take any account of the vast change of status.in women in society. We haven’t reached equality yet but the direction of travel is clear. I find it irritating that the church position ( by which I’m thinking C of E ) is given undue weight in discussion. I think that people are far more ready to ignore church views and think for themselves. I would be happier if the falling church attendance wasn’t accompanied by an increase in faith groups such as flat earthers which are just plain daft. An example where the church has been ignored has been the remarkable transformation in opinions on homosexuality where the reactionary church view has been swept aside in broader society. I suspect the next change will come with regard to drugs where the comparative safety of low strength cannabis will be recognised while opiate addiction will remain a scourge.

British Culture

  

I am stimulated to write this post by reading “Patriots” by Richard Weight. This covers British Culture from 1945 to 2000. As befits the vast nature of the subject the book is lengthy running to some 740 pages with a massive list of refences. It is an undeniable work of scholarship albeit one which to a degree reflects the authors bias.

One continuing theme is the rise of Scottish , Welsh and to a degree Northern Irish nationalism. Weights very plausible thesis is that this has largely been brought about by English paternalism and condescension. Because England and the English are some 90% of the union there was often an assumption that what was good for the English was good for the Union. Largely unconsciously English people identified British as themselves without realising the resentment this fostered among the other nations.

More recently ( post 2000) this has fostered Scottish nationalism. Although independence was rejected in Scotland in a referendum the National Party has become the dominant party and opinion polls suggest support for independence. It is ironic that the so called unionist party has done much to support this cause most obviously by the divisive EC referendum with the SNP using the disparity between England and Scotland to support their cause.

In Wales the situation is rather different. Highly vocal pressure groups have secured an amazing amount of costly support for the Welsh language. Generations of children are being disadvantaged by compulsory Welsh tuition. This is arguably at the cost of more widely spoken modern language tuition.

Weight points out that Scottish and Welsh inputs to the national consciousness from politics and religion have become somewhat less over the post war period. The era of non conformist Labour Wales has decreased somewhat. In Scotland while severe Protestantism has ebbed ( along with religious influence everywhere ) the SNP is effectively the third party at Westminster. The “West Lothian question” ie. that Scottish members can vote on English legislation but not vice versa has not gone away but become ignored.

British people have been vastly interested in WW11 and the British performance has become a matter of national pride. Unfortunately some wrong lessons have been drawn such  that British character is in some way superior and that the war was won by this superiority. One example is the Battle of Britain. The myth has grown up that the plucky British pilots were better that the Teutonic horde and that British ( often read as English ) men  and machines were just better than the slickly organised Germans. This is just not true. The German pilots were every bit as skilled and their machines just as good. The real difference was the RAF not only had “home advantage” but a tight and systematic organisation put in place and practised while the Germans were exactly the opposite, poorly led and disorganised.

This and other WW11 myths have done damage in promoting an idea of Britishness as disorganised but rising to challenges by brilliant improvisation and good character. Politicians have appealed to this self image never more so than in the EC referendum. It is perhaps true to say this self image is fading among the young.

As Weight makes clear the EC has always been controversial in Britain. Entry was not made on the ideals of the founders but rather on a calculation of economic benefit. There was plenty of nationalistic sentiment against joining, not least some post imperialist nostalgia.

In general the post war era has been kind to Britain in the arts; nowhere more so than popular music. Weight hardly mentions the huge benefit of the English language giving as it has easy entry into the US. This is of course a two way street and TV and particularly cinema have felt the impact of American imports. In many ways the English language is now one multinational market tying together Britain, the white Commonwealth and the US

Weight generally is rather sniffy about the Commonwealth seeing it as firstly a sop to post imperialism and more recently something which pleases the Queen. He sees little interest by the English let alone the British. I wonder whether this isn’t a bit unjust, the Commonwealth seems to be surviving well in a quiet way even attracting members who were not former colonies. Clearly post Brexit Britain will be relying on it to an increasing degree although having cut traditional trade ties 40 years ago ( eg. NZ mutton ) I’m doubt this will be effective. A common language and tradition will help in a very limited way..

Weight cites the way in which sport especially football has become associated with nationalism. Football has always been tribal but this has become extreme. As Weight points many Scots fans actively want the English team to lose.

Weight concludes that there is no such thing as British culture but rather there is English culture, Scottish culture and Welsh culture. There are many points of overlap but nationalism particularly in Scotland is driving the Union apart. While arguably Welsh nationalism has been assuaged by a devolved parliament and the elevation of the Welsh language the situation is very different in Scotland. The Scots have a more recent history of nationhood and a nationalist party which has been adept at manufacturing and exploiting points of contention with England. Scottish independence looks almost inevitable.

The situation in Northern Ireland is different again. It is a region apart in the English view. Demography in the shape of a higher Catholic birth rate seems likely to produce a nationalist majority and eventual merger back into Eire looks a long term inevitability The vociferous support for the Union among protestants is regarded contemptuously by the English. The Brexit trade deal with effectively a trade border between Britain and Northern Ireland seems likely to drive towards nationalism

Oxford

 

 

I lived in Oxford for about 7 years while working for Castrol International Technology Centre at Pangbourne nr. Reading. It wasn’t an easy decision as not long before taking up the position with Castrol we had moved the family home from Wilmslow in Cheshire to near Tamworth in Staffordshire. After this move Annette, after some supply teaching took a permanent teaching job while the children were established on local schools. Pangbourne was too far to commute so we decided that I would establish a second home with Frances our youngest daughter. We would meet at weekends at one the two homes.

As Martin and then Alison left home to go to university Annette took in the French teaching assistants as lodgers and company. These were young ladies part way through their English degree looking to improve their language.

I chose Oxford because it was more readily accessible from the Midlands. When the M40 opened it was about an hour and a half’s journey.

Although Oxford isn’t very large it has facilities of a place much larger by virtue of the large student population. Thus at least 3 commercial theatres were supported along with a number of alternative venues used for concerts, recitals and other theatrical productions. The Sheldonian Theatre is actually a University building and used for University ceremonies but also for various artistic events.

As it happened my time in Oxford overlapped with Alison as a student first as an undergraduate at University College and then post graduate at St Cross College. Frances was at school near the centre and next door to the second University at Oxford, Brookes. This turned out to be very convenient after I was stricken by a stroke  when Frances spent a lot of time living unofficially with her sister in her rooms at University College.

I chose my house at Sandford because it provided an easy exit from the city on the road to Pangbourne. The cut through avoided use of the ring road which was busy at times. Although about 20 miles to Castrol it was a very easy, quiet drive with no traffic lights There was also an easy drive to the Castrol HQ at Swindon.. A further advantage was it was situated a few minutes back streets walk from Sainsbury’s supermarket.

Our family routine was daily phone calls and weekends split about 3:1 between Tamworth and Oxford. When in Oxford we were able to take full advantage of both city shopping and the variety of restaurants, cafes and entertainment venues. Generally our choice of restaurants and cafes was rather conservative. While the variety was very large we tended towards the more “middle of the road”.

One enormous advantage of Oxfords prominence was that it provided an excellent base for entertaining visitors from overseas. The Castrol centre while close to Pangbourne offered only one hotel and a rather pretentious one at that. Surrounding villages offered a choice of pubs and restaurants which were admirable for lunch but Oxford for visitors offered a great many options. Initially I tended to use the most well known central Oxford hotel, the Randolph, alongside the Pangbourne option. Later I found a very nice hotel towards the outskirts. This was convenient for me as I was providing transport to the Technology centre, gave easy access to Oxford city facilities and also boasted a very nice restaurant.

I need to explain that as a worldwide company the Technology centre had many visitors from the overseas branches. The Castrol working language was English and the visitors were all English speaking to at least some degree. I was often impressed and rather shamed by the fluency of our visitors although it made my life very easy. Part of my group was responsible for our overseas contacts for our product areas. This meant I rarely travelled but rather the appropriate specialists came to us. Most usually these were marketing types but in the case of the larger branches there were technical people. These were used to the Castrol lubricants and metal working business but less so in my area of Surface Treatment. Surface Treatment was Castrol speak for production cleaning and temporary corrosion protection.

The large range of entertainment meant that it was often .possible to choose something which I judged particularly suitable. Thus a lady from the US was taken to the touring English ballet. The most memorable theatre visit was with Frances to see “Canterbury Tales “. Perhaps rather foolishly we were on the front row for a theatre group looking for audience involvement. Fortunately nothing more was required of me than to throw something back on stage. A lady who I knew slightly in the audience later remarked I was rather brave in my choice of seat location.

As might be expected Oxford has an excellent choice of bookshops. The doyen of these is Blackwells. Although dispersed to several locations the main bookshop is truly bizarre. The frontage is small and rather unprepossessing  but the interior is vast. The crowning feature is a large underground area built under the quadrangle of the neighbouring college. One of my minor regrets is that I never saw the vast underground storage area of the Bodlian library, one of the UK’s libraries of record. With over 12 million volumes it is the second largest in the UK.

Oxford is well stocked with museums. The Ashmolean is by far the most famous with some unique items including of English history. There is a MOMA although I see it is now described as the Oxford Museum  of Modern Art. It is quite small and totally different to its famous New York cousin. Easily the quirkiest museum is the Pitt- Rivers. Now officially the museum of art and archaeology the strange nature starts on the grass in front. There cast in concrete are dinosaur footprints. The displays are something of a miscellany. There is a large section of dinosaur skeletons plus a wide variety of scientific, ethnographic and archaeological exhibits.. Among the sometimes macabre exhibits is a stretched out human skin with bullet hole where the unfortunate victim was shot. The museum is partly kept under deliberately dim lighting which makes for an odd effect.

Britain, Russia and Democracy

 

 

I can’t say I was more than slightly surprised by the recent publicity around the Commons Security  Committee report. Perhaps the only mildly surprising thing was that so little attention has been paid in the past to Russian interference and propaganda. How Putin must chuckle at the lack of British response when his murder teams attack in the UK. The Litvinenko killing was particularly poignant as the man lay dying knowing, killed by Russian agents, his death was inevitable after poisoning with Polonium. He had ingested the stuff which slowly over days would kill him. Having ingested it there was nothing to be done. The poisoning of dissident Navalny suggests Putin’s murderous course continues.

As regards the lack of investigation into the Brexit referendum there is no mystery. Johnson knows very well, as did Theresa May, that a fraudulent referendum could hardly become much more fraudulent if Russian manipulators were at work. Still it would be embarrassing to see the evidence.  Any investigation would suffice to bring Johnson’s wrath. Since he believes the BBC is biased; he lives in a world of paranoia. It certainly was very much in Russian interests that the Brexiteers won as they figure any damage to the west is worthwhile. Apparently Johnson’s anti BBC propaganda is having an effect in BBC self censorship if nowhere else

Interference in the Scottish referendum is also unsurprising. Clearly Scottish independence is very much in Russian interests but then Johnson is making the case stronger now than ever it was six years ago..

Interference in the US Presidential election was far larger ( or certainly investigated further ). Trump is the Manchurian candidate and he must have Putin chortling with glee. It appears trolling in social media was the main impact. The safety of US election polling machines is at potential risk.  In a sense British elections reliant on pencil and paper are less at risk than online counts. The nonchalance about hacking is frightening but shared by business and individuals.

Anyone who takes the slightest interest in modern computing and internet usage ought to realise by now that the scale of online hacking is immense. I must admit that for myself the realisation has been slow coming. Simple things like changing default passwords I manage although it is too much hassle for many. Awareness has come slowly. At my last job my boss was wonderful at sniffing out scams. After nearly falling for some at that time I’ve learned to be very cautious.

I should have learned from simple frauds long before the internet age. It was probably the early 70’s when I had a visit from two burly ex policemen. They enquired about the small boat I had bought on hire purchase and then neglected payments. The fraudulent buyer had a worrying amount of detail about me although I was rather insulted that he described himself( ie. Me)  as a technician. I managed to persuade them it wasn’t me although not without a bit of difficulty and embarrassment. This was all long before the expression “identity theft” entered the language. This experience did serve me well when another investigator contacted me about a car I had supposedly bought.

As have most computer users I have learned to be careful. I have suffered from a virus attack, and it was very irritating, although apparently a hackers “joke”. Some more serious scams I have spotted. In one recent case not involving computers I’m still puzzled what the motive was. I was approached by a ( supposed ) legal firm in New York looking to buy a small quantity of shares I had inherited from my mother in S&U. They were fraudsters but as they were planning to pay me money,  more than their worth, what was the motive? I guess it didn’t evolve far enough for the real motive to be apparent.

I’m similarly slightly baffled by the Russian attempted hacking of Covid vaccine research. I can only suppose the intent was to copy but since the intention is to make vaccines ( if successful ) widely available what is the point. Prestige seems the only possibility but hardly likely with a copy I would have thought.

Russia as a state seems none too stable. Putin as an ex Cold Warrior ( ex KGB now FSB ) is doing his best to return to Cold War attitudes. He regards the freedom of former Soviet satellites as a tragedy and the faltering democracy in Ukraine as a big threat. He has surrounded himself with cronies whose wealth he makes very sure is reliant on himself. He plays the Russian nationalist card at every opportunity. It interesting that the most power hungry and unscrupulous politicians talk most about patriotism- Trump is the same.

What’s to be done. On the individual level be suspicious and cautious. I’m less than happy at being forced to use “cloud” storage. Beware fake news as in the RT TV channel. As far as Russia is concerned ( and this goes for China also ) trade but don’t be naïve. The German natural gas deal with Russia  with a monopoly pipeline is simply stupid and putting a hostage in Russian hands. Under their present leadership these countries want to enslave us.. Computer security must be taken far more seriously. The monster losses of data suffered by businesses are extremely worrying. The recent stiff rise in penalties for data losses may help to ensure proper security.

I am pleased that online banks have moved to “two factor” security with codes sent to mobile phones. Even with all this I recently wasted half a day altering all my personal information and passwords after an attempted scam. I suppose my attitude that the time was wasted reflects the common attitude that increasing security is a bore and I need to stop thinking like that. Internet convenience and speed should more than compensate.