Trundling through North Somerset on a train from Taunton to Tiverton Parkway the other day, I was asked for my ticket and Senior Railcard by a polite official who turned out to be a GWR Revenue Protection Inspector. The Senior Railcard app is easy to get up on my phone but does not always open - in low or no wifi areas - to display my photo ID. As I couldn’t produce it, the inspector said she had no choice but to carry out a full interrogation. The farcical questioning lasted the whole way to Tiv Pkwy, despite the journey being delayed by red signals - so there was no chance to continue the rather euphoric chat I had been having with my daughter. (We had both been in London celebrating the launch of her first novel then met up by chance at Taunton station). The following Monday an email arrived from GWR demanding that I pay a fine of £259.50 or face legal proceedings. I opened up my Senior Railcard and, as the system won’t allow a screenshot, photographed it with my wife’s phone, then sent off the evidence. An acknowledgment soon arrived from GWR: there would be no fine but GWR insisted that their ‘leniency’ would not tolerate another infringement in the next 12 months. I pointed out in reply that GWR should not use a contractor whose Railcard system does not work on its railway lines, where wi-fi is often non-existent. I don’t blame the polite Black inspector or the person in the office who emailed me. I do blame the well-paid executives who impose such dehumanising procedures on their staff and don’t care about alienating their customers. There are many worse dehumanising procedures in our society - notably the grotesque PIP examination as featured in Dirty Business - but bosses who design these systems should be held to account.
Another bugbear is selective righteous indignation as practiced on BBC programmes such as Today. Presenters will lay into cabinet ministers, thrilled with their dogged and pseudo-forensic questions, so long as the topic is, say, the PM and Mandelson. We don’t get passionate speaking truth to power by BBC presenters when it comes to Israel’s genocide or the climate change denying policies of the US and the UK’s right wing parties. I can see why young friends of mine have given up on Today, The World at One, etc. They are neither relevant enough or rigorous enough.
Of course, the BBC is full of other marvellous programmes. It was fascinating to listen to Start the Week and hear Michael Pollan say that ‘Novelists know more about consciousness than scientists’. My daughter Emily’s novel - referred to above - centres on a non-human animal but it is also also about how the mind understands its changing body. It is essentially about how humans feel and think. I wondered (in jest) if I should nominate the book for the next Northern Devon Flourishing Culture Awards - or might that smack of nepotism? Emily’s response: ‘well, we have quite a common name’. The Guardian has just published a rave review by Sarah Newman.
My wife and I live in the wilds and still have an oil-fired boiler. We are running low on oil and need to order more. This was the message from our supplier earlier this week: ‘Due to the current situation in the middle east, we are unable to provide quotes for fuel. Please be aware that any order placed, will be with a cost of TBC – the supplier will confirm the price on the day of delivery’. How can struggling households and businesses cope in this situation? It’s time we looked again at installing an air source heat pump. Various loonies from the US administration were on BBCR4 during the week. One opined that Greenland could not be Danish sovereign territory because Denmark could not defend it. Perhaps she had not heard of NATO or understood what the T in the name means. But then her President doesn’t seem to know either. It was only a matter of time before the Ship of Fools devastated global trade.
Photo: Dave Sharratt
Israel has resumed its blockade of Gaza and continues its killings in the West Bank. We have normalised Israeli illegality, given cover by the US, since 1948. In the words of Omar El Akkad, which I’m quoting in the picture above, ‘One day, everyone will always have been against this’ (which is also the title of his invaluable book, published last year). In the words of the Israeli paper Haaretz, Israel has a ‘war psychosis’. The US seems to be developing one.
Does early Spring become Spring when the Marsh Marigolds - Kingcups - arrive? They are dotted around the various bits of water in our garden, from pond to stream to the tiny pools we added to our veg garden. Other arrivals include Archangel and Blue Alkanet. It was also thrilling to see the first butterflies - Peacocks. Thank you for reading.