After breakfast this morning the final BBC Reith Lecture delivered by recently retired Law Lord, Jonathan Sumption. What an amazing tour de force in evidence based reasoning, from a historian who headed the British Supreme Court! He spoke about the nature of Britain's unwritten constitution, about its uniqueness as a dynamic instrument of governance, which maintains Parliament and its power to make laws for lawyers to interpret and enforcers to implement, which has functioned for a thousand years, and proved flexible enough to permit legislation to continue evolving and adapting to emerging circumstances.
Every other country has a written constitution, as nation states have come into being through wars or revolutions, making it possible to write one from scratch, or borrow. The only near revolution Britain experienced was during the 17th century, when Monarchy was abolished and Parliament for a while exercised sovereign rule. It didn't last, but the compromised was reached that Britain should have a royal head of state, uniting all citizens, governed by Parliament in a unique way. It may look antique but it exists to serve the unity of all people, 'rightly and justly governed', as the Prayer Book says. It fits the bill uniquely for us, Sumption asserts, and may be both better than other systems and worse in detail. Nothing is perfect. What we have is a fair compromise.
He cited the difference between UK and Spain in handling regional conflicts of interest. Spain has a written constitution which defines the relationship between the state and regions like Catalunya, Galicia, Andalucia. There have been serious continuing problems regarding devolution, and the local desires for independence. In contrast, because the nature of the Union in U.K. is historic and not well defined in law, it was possible to legislate for devolution of powers to regional parliaments in Wales Scotland and Ulster, once it was clear there was sufficient demand for this to happen. There's been no chronic conflict about this, just political campaigns and debate for the most part. Perhaps such decent compromise was possible due to the painful experience of the Irish independence struggle. Britain is on the best of terms with its nearest neighbour, which has a written constitution. We are learning how to live together with our differences, though not in every sphere, sadly.
Apart from this outstanding start to the day, another domestic routine Tuesday, with Clare at her study group, me cooking lunch, doing the main weekly grocery shop afterwards, before going for a late afternoon walk around Pontcanna Fields. I spotted a family of seven ducks swimming in close formation on the river Taff. The photos I took at the extreme limit of the HX90's zoom range weren't good. The light was poor because of thick cloud cover. The auto-focus seemed a bit fooled by this, and my hand wasn't steady enough for a good result, but the photos revealed this was a family of Mergansers, the parents with five almost fully grown chicks. I saw an adult pair without chicks only last week in this vicinity. The most commonly seen ducks hereabouts are Mallards, and while I may have seen a few Mergansers over the years, I haven;t noticed them breeding before. Fascinating.
Every other country has a written constitution, as nation states have come into being through wars or revolutions, making it possible to write one from scratch, or borrow. The only near revolution Britain experienced was during the 17th century, when Monarchy was abolished and Parliament for a while exercised sovereign rule. It didn't last, but the compromised was reached that Britain should have a royal head of state, uniting all citizens, governed by Parliament in a unique way. It may look antique but it exists to serve the unity of all people, 'rightly and justly governed', as the Prayer Book says. It fits the bill uniquely for us, Sumption asserts, and may be both better than other systems and worse in detail. Nothing is perfect. What we have is a fair compromise.
He cited the difference between UK and Spain in handling regional conflicts of interest. Spain has a written constitution which defines the relationship between the state and regions like Catalunya, Galicia, Andalucia. There have been serious continuing problems regarding devolution, and the local desires for independence. In contrast, because the nature of the Union in U.K. is historic and not well defined in law, it was possible to legislate for devolution of powers to regional parliaments in Wales Scotland and Ulster, once it was clear there was sufficient demand for this to happen. There's been no chronic conflict about this, just political campaigns and debate for the most part. Perhaps such decent compromise was possible due to the painful experience of the Irish independence struggle. Britain is on the best of terms with its nearest neighbour, which has a written constitution. We are learning how to live together with our differences, though not in every sphere, sadly.
Apart from this outstanding start to the day, another domestic routine Tuesday, with Clare at her study group, me cooking lunch, doing the main weekly grocery shop afterwards, before going for a late afternoon walk around Pontcanna Fields. I spotted a family of seven ducks swimming in close formation on the river Taff. The photos I took at the extreme limit of the HX90's zoom range weren't good. The light was poor because of thick cloud cover. The auto-focus seemed a bit fooled by this, and my hand wasn't steady enough for a good result, but the photos revealed this was a family of Mergansers, the parents with five almost fully grown chicks. I saw an adult pair without chicks only last week in this vicinity. The most commonly seen ducks hereabouts are Mallards, and while I may have seen a few Mergansers over the years, I haven;t noticed them breeding before. Fascinating.
Evenings this week, Cardiff Singer of the World is being broadcast on BBC 2. It's an international music event of the highest quality, featuring great young singers of opera, oratorio and lieder. Clare is glued to the tell for a couple of hours while it's on. I can't sit comfortably for that long at the moment, so retire to bed and read, and enjoy the sound of singing coming from the front room downstairs.
Funny, this reminds me of life as a small child, growing up in a family of keen amateur musicians and singers. On the weekends, the family would gather around Mum at the piano, and Dad on the 'Cello, and my sisters would sing. Sometimes aunts and uncles would come for tea and join in the music making afterwards. If I was poorly, or too tired, I'd go to bed and lie there awake listening to it it all. Sometimes, I'd get up and sit on the stairs outside the front room, listening until I was shivering with cold. This was in the fifties, before record players and radiograms became common household items.
Clare and I made music with out kids when they were young despite having hi-fi, records and tapes. It's no wonder they've all grown up to be performing musicians. Rhiannon does her Grade Five flute exam next week, and Jasmine has been learning saxophone in school and guitar with Rachel. It gives me great pleasure to think that this is what they have inherited down three generations of family.
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