Steeling ourselves for NATO

Yesterday morning early I took the Megabus coach to London to see my sister June. The journey was only three hours as the coach got in fifteen minutes early. It was somewhat different on the way back. The coach left twenty minutes late, and made up some time getting as far as Newport, but all the M4 section around Newport was closed off, as preparations are in full swing for the forthcoming NATO conference based at the Celtic Manor hotel, and other venues in Cardiff. The coach was then more than half an hour late arriving and the last bus had gone, so I had to walk home. A long day.

A temporary 'ring of steel' is being constructed around the Celtic Manor domain, also around Bute Park in Cardiff. It's a security fence, meant to thwart terrorist guided missile attacks, or something. Such a huge and expensive show of force to impress hundreds of visiting dignitaries from all the partner countries imposes unwelcome restrictions on two of Wales' key cities and the Principality's major economic artery. The disruption to normal life in both cities is causing a great deal of resentment. What are tourists to Cardiff going to make of the barriers down the middle of the road outside the Castle. What unintended message do they convey about the perceived trustworthiness of the general population in the eyes of those in power?

Will this generate more anti-military protest than usual, one wonders? This is a time when NATO's strength and potential for action is vital to resist the ambitions of aggressors whose ways are foreign to liberal capitalist democracy - whether Putinesque or Islamist dictatorships. Alienating the good will of ordinary citizens is not a good idea politically speaking.

Actually it's not a security fence at at all, but an insecurity fence.

I had a funeral at St John's Canton this afternoon. A congregation of over two hundred gathered, many wearing rugby shirts, to say goodbye to a man in his early fifties whose death was unexpected. Afterwards, a brief visit to the office, before a visit to St Luke's Canton to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption with a small prayerful group of half a dozen. Couldn't help thinking this fiesta is the one with which summer holidays end in Europe, and families start making their ways home to get ready for the resumption of school.