Last night I watched the BBC Parliament TV channel for the first time in many moons, as it covered the vote on the Government's brexit deal took place. The scale of the defeat seems to have taken the political pundits by surprise. Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government and this was debated today. This time the political pundits predicted the motion would fail and it did 52/48% a close run thing like the brexit vote. The country is fairly evenly divided, nobody wants to concede. There's not much likelihood of further changes in the negotiated brexit deal being achieved. It's a very worrying situation. A majority of parliamentarians are opposed to a no-deal brexit. If calls for another General Election continue to fall on deaf ears, arguments for a second referendum continue to gain appeal. But will it happen?
On the BBC Radio Four Thought for the Day this morning, Daniel Greenberg, a Parliamentary legal advisor spoke from his perspective as a practicing Jew about the current political crisis. He observed how despite the polarisation of opinion and passionately held conviction, it was clear to him that Members of Parliament equally desired the country's common good, and that courtesy and respect characterised the ways people treated each other, despite profound disagreement. With these things, he trusted and hoped a way forward, a compromise would ultimately be found. I hope he's right. He also pointed out that while Jewish scripture has many passages in which enemies are hated, derided and spoken evil of, there are also prophetic passages in which this attitude is rebuked. God is greater than all our passionately held opinions. We should never lose sight of that.
I celebrated the Eucharist at St Catherine's this morning with a congregation of ten, my first duty of the interregnum. With my condition reasonably stable at the moment, I had enough energy to enjoy resuming a leadership role, and preaching briefly from phrases in the liturgical readings, about the uncertainties attached both to an interregnum and to the brexit process. I enjoyed that. Ann and Paul are off to Geneva for a few days next week and then going by train to Milan for a few more days - the joys of retirement! Ann was picking my brains about places to stay and things to see in Geneva, and when I got back home, I assembled a selection of my masses of Geneva photos, and emailed her a link, to offer an impression of what can easily be seen within a shortish radius of the city centre.
I walked from church to Lidl's in Leckwith to stock up on a few things the store does well, like nuts and cheap soya milk. I mistimed my effort and missed my acupuncture appointment. Fortunately I was able to get another one at five, as Peter had a spare space to fit me in. All that exercise plus an invigorating treatment did me a world of good. I may still be walking wounded but I am decently healthy and fit at the moment. Let's hope it stays like that while I wait the extra month for surgery.
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