Eightieth birthday

 

Eightieth birthday

I can scarcely believe I have recently celebrated my 80^th birthday. When I was young 80 seemed a very advanced age but I can genuinely say that although I have poor stamina, poor balance and deafness I don’t feel hugely old. Through the circumstance that so many of the youngsters have examinations just after my birthday I had an official birthday in July. This enabled Alex and Rajiv to attend. Unfortunately it clashed with the final cadet meeting for Ronnie so he didn’t attend although he has finished his A level exams. It is with great pride that I can report that step grandson Rajiv got a first class degree at Cambridge in his recent finals.

My official birthday was marked by a family gathering. All except Ronnie as mentioned above met here at Beechcroft. This has been our family home for 35 years but we are about to move out so there was also nostalgia for the place alongside the celebration. There were no major events just an evening BBQ although we remembered gatherings here in the past when we hired  a bouncy castle. With Martin and family in N Yorkshire and Alison and family in Surrey family get togethers have become more difficult. Frances in Birmingham is both relatively nearby and in more contact than the others.

The days when we could by squeezing accommodate everyone are long gone. Fortunately Frances has a largish house and Alison’s family were accommodated there. This enabled them to travel up by car and then not leave us until late to travel just to Birmingham. Rajiv has started work at the Home Office in London ( on an unestablished basis ), is living in London and travelled separately by train.

This very pleasant event was marred for me by deafness. On a one to one basis when nearby I’m OK but in general group conversation I find it difficult to hear everything that is said. Some of the family have naturally soft voices and the young people don’t seem to speak at all clearly.

Such an occasion is naturally also a time for reflection. I am very satisfied and fortunate with my family. Children didn’t arrive until after several years of marriage and medical intervention was required. Once safely delivered they have been a great source of interest and enjoyment. This has extended to their children so that I now have eight including two step grandsons. Generally academic standards have been very high with my two daughters both winning first class degrees.

More generally I was fortunate in Annette, my life partner. We met fairly young and in hundred per cent hindsight I spent too much time pursuing her when I should have been exploiting my opportunities in higher education. When I was young the inequitable 11 plus system enabled me to go to grammar school and then on to higher education. At precisely the time that I was following an undistinguished school career there was a national recognition of technological education. This I was able to follow.

I graduated at a time of full employment and indeed as a science graduate I had multiple opportunities. In choosing to join Unilever I made a lucky decision as it offered me scope to progress into a lifetime career in product development and also the opportunity to obtain secondment to study for a higher degree

Financially I was fortunate to step onto the housing ladder just as the tremendous wave of house price inflation was beginning. Also I had benefited from free higher education so I started without debts. I can honestly say I don’t know how young people today manage. Home ownership was very much an affordable goal when we were starting out. It was a goal almost all my contemporaries aspired and achieved.

My career was to have its ups and downs when I was made redundant twice within a year. Luckily the right job came along with Castrol where I had two stints totalling about 11 years in all.

The major setback I suffered was a mild stroke in my fifties. Thanks to strong support from Annette I was able to make a decent recovery. Although I did return to full time work for a couple of years I was able to take early retirement and then work part time with a local company for a further 10 years until a normal retirement age of 65.

I did become involved with local affairs ( parish council, school governor, investment club ) until deafness required these be given up. I have a strong interest in reading and literature and I will be extremely sorry to leave the two book clubs which have been important to me over past years. I’m rather surprised to find I have just over 10 years with one and just under 10 with the second.

Pre Covid we could afford to travel quite a bit but I now think this will be curtailed although to an extent we must wait and see. Annette suffers from arthritis and deafness but I would say these are not too limiting for her. Like me her stamina is much less and daytime naps and early nights feature in both our lives.

Russian invasion of Ukraine 11

 

Russian invasion of Ukraine 11

After 4 months since the Russian invasion we can start to draw some preliminary conclusions. Early on the attack went badly but latterly Russia has adopted a strategy of focused and strong artillery attack. This is slowly grinding forward and it appears they will soon control the Donbas region.

The early attack on capital Kyiv was repulsed and so successfully that there was some rather silly talk of “winning” the war. This Ukrainian success seems to stem mainly from two sources. Firstly there was an astoundingly high morale among the defenders who showed great determination and ingenuity. It would also appear the Russian tactics were poor and equipment not as good as expected. The second factor was that weapons supplies from the West were very successful. In particular the anti-tank missile, the Javelin, performed very well ably supported by the Anglo-Swedish NLAW missile.

The Ukrainian forces also made a dogged defence to Black Sea coastal cities particularly Mariaupol while retaining control of Odessa. There was a significant victory in the sinking of the Moska, the Russian fleets largest vessel in the Black Sea.

Clearly this necessitated a Russian rethink. Using their vast superiority in artillery they have chosen to focus on a grinding advance westwards through particularly the Donbas region systematically destroying everything they encounter. The Ukrainian cities and towns have been reduced literally to rubble. Major cities are experiencing 90%+ destruction. It appears the majority of civilians have escaped although the toll of civilian life has been high. As people flee for their lives it appears that the vast majority of civilians are refugees  either in western Ukraine or a high proportion in neighbouring countries.

It appears that the Russian advance has been brutal with atrocities found in areas like Bucha near Kyiv which were Russian occupied before their withdrawal. Men shot with their hands tied, women raped and abused. There seems ample evidence that the Russian strategy is to terrorise the population. It also appears this policy is extending beyond the battlefield areas to the recent attack on a shopping centre with many dead or injured. One can only wonder what the previously pro Russian populations of eastern Donbas think.

All the evidence points to what can only be labelled a psychopathic regime. The Russian people are being fed a diet of lies while all the organs of power are corrupt. Indeed one notable feature of the Russian state is the extent of corruption and theft. It is hard to know exactly what power Putin does have. Certainly he has won pseudo elections for over 20 years. Also early on in his leadership he took pains to eliminate oligarchs who dared question his position. We also must remember that the Russian people have been fed statist, anti democratic propaganda for a century with just a short break in the nineties. I remember from visiting St Petersburg at that time that icons of the former regime were still venerated.

In fact looking at Putin’s history it is very clear that he has been a cold war warrior all his life. He has cunningly incorporated nationalist sentiment into his lies. This has been powerful enough to incorporate some Ukrainians in the former breakaway areas.

Insofar as there has been anything positive from the invasion it is that the values of Western freedom have been enhanced after being taken too much for granted. The error of particularly German attempts to coexist with Putin have been exposed. Both Finland and Sweden have been shown the futility of their pseudo neutrality and have applied to join NATO. In practice they are Western nations and have acted as such while pretending to themselves that they are neutral between the West and Putin’s Russia.

The disappointing reaction to the war in the Third World has been very unhelpful. The illusion they can stand aside and dismiss this as a petty European quarrel entirely underestimates the war. There has been the usual claque of dictatorships such as Syria, Venezuela and Cuba who might be expected to applaud. More problematic has been India where they have been quick to buy Russian oil but slow to protest. India’s leader Modi has himself a strong authoritarian streak and doesn’t hesitate to treat his Moslem peoples as enemies of his preferred Hindu section.

While the Ukraine government is far from ideal at least they are making a honest effort to establish a modern democratic nation. It is good to see that the West has rallied round with meaningful support.

The 21^st century is to be one of struggle between free nations and authoritarian ones. At least the dichotomy is being seen rather more clearly now. The West must settle to the long haul, fight where it must, and minimise unnecessary provocation while maintaining a firmness of purpose. The outcome to be hoped for is something similar to the end of the cold war where internal revolution allows freedom  to break through. We must hope that even the psychopathic shy away from a nuclear holocaust.