What has Britain done?

I only stayed down on the beach for half an hour, last night, long enough for the firework display and lighting of the grand midsummer bonfire on the beach and for taking photos. There were many hundreds of people again this year, with their own family fires, barbecues and booze. Dozens went into the sea at midnight for luck. I saw some young lads jumping over the fire, another ancient custom. I thought I heard Irish accents, but also lots of young Scandinavian voices as well. This night is a big favourite in Scandinavia as well, whether or not it's as dry and warm as it is here.

I was back at the house again by quarter to one, feeling well exercised by the late night three mile brisk walk. It left me feeling far to tired to keep vigil by the telly, and after the first few results and ensuing chatter, I crawled into bed.

I was up by seven and switched on the telly, even before making coffee. News of the brexit victory came as a shock. I knew it would be a close call, around 52% to 48%, but to be the opposite way around to what I'd hoped and prayed for was hard to take in, like a sudden death in the family. Like Jo Cox's death. As predicted, the pound had already slumped in world exchange markets by the time I got up. The politicians put on their brave reputation saving faces, and talked lamely about making an effort to unite the country to implement the will of the people's referendum. The damage is done, however, and could be irrevocable.

I believe Britain will pay with even more social division, and who knows? Maybe unrest too, given the anger and disappointment, on one side for losing and on the other for the rising tide of ill will generated by winning with opponents struggling to accept graciously. For the first time in my life, I feel deeply ashamed of being Welsh, given the scale of the Principality's brexit vote. Cardiff alone voted to remain. The outcome is being interpreted as the nation's way of punishing its politicians for years of austerity and being so London-centric that regions, both industrial and post-industrial, feel neglected, their most urgent priorities by-passed or delayed.

Cameron was rightly quick to fall on his sword, having pandered to the brexit pressure groups with too much naive trust and optimism that Remain support would prevail. He campaigned more honourably than his opponents, but his failure was strategic, in that he didn't kick the idea of this referendum into touch in the first place, leave to the next government to cool out, rather than make it a lethal manifesto promise. Corbyn now faces challenges to his leadership for his lack-lustre performance in support of Remain. He looks old and tired. Labour needs, but didn't seem to have any inspirational leaders to unite left-wing support into effective opposition, able to expose disinformation and media manipulation relied on by brexiters to give them victory.

The alternatives to Cameron are grim and more right wing than he is. All over Europe the right wing parties will heed this result and motivate them to lobby for their own exit referendum where they are. Today, I am very pessimistic about the future. Even if European governance is in some respects not that fit for purpose, it is far superior to the way European nations behaved before the World Wars of the 20th century. The only way to get anything more fit for purpose is to maintain a reasoned critique, and sustain dialogue with the aim of reform. For Britain to have no say in affairs which are bound to have continued impact on it, simply because we're a major EU trading partner, is a colossal act of national self-harm.

A few days ago worry was expressed on the news about prisoners indefinitely detained self-harming in despair at their situation. The potentially damaging nature of the brexit vote is a cry of despair from those who feel dispossessed, disempowered by the current economic and political status quo. It reaches back decades, through all those years when London's development as a hub of economic globalisation has been like a black hole, sucking the life out of the rest of the country. 

I had a late morning meeting with a couple wanting to celebrate 32 years of marriage with a renewal of wedding vows, surrounded by family and friends this Sunday afternoon. They too had voted Remain by post before leaving for Spain, and were just as shocked and distressed as me. I arrived late, somewhat in a daze, and thankfully missed an interview session with a local report for a Costa del Sol English newspaper. I couldn't have coped with that. But now, I've said what I need to, and can carry on wondering. Where do we go from here?

Normally on this day, I remember with affection and prayer the two parish churches I served that were dedicated to St John the Baptist. Today, I find it hard to pray at all.

  

  

Parador pleasure and euro concern

There were seven of us for the midweek Eucharist in the church shop this morning. On the walk back, I visited the car hire office and paid the balance outstanding on the month's rental, then we went to the Parador and booked a table for this evening's last super before Clare returns to Wales.

Nerja's Parador is an interesting modern building dating from 1968, perched on the clifftop above Playa Burriana with a balcony enclosing a grassy terraced garden and swimming pool overlooking the sea, and a lift down to sea level. The building has a spacious sheltered patio for open air dining overlooking the sea. In contrast to the imaginative re-purposing of ancient castellos and palacios, this has an air of cool spacious sixties modernity - what was trendy in our youth, has by now passed the test of time. It's been renovated, no doubt, but not demolished and rebuilt. As a building, it's already a historic landmark statement about the development of the Costa del Sol as a global tourism destination.

A video slide show on display in the lobby shows photos of the hotel and of Nerja down the years. The hillsides around the hotel and Playa Burriana in the seventies were bare and empty of housing. The location was possibly chosen because it was just outside of town in a landscape that at least gave an illusion of remoteness. Now it's surrounded on all sides, apart from the sea, by the hotels and housing areas which have sprung up since those days. Holidaymakers must now go much further afield if they hunger for remoteness.

After a post-lunch siesta, I spent a fruitful hour writing a response to an enquiry about a possible RadioNet development while Clare had a swim. Then it was time to walk down to the Parador for our meal. The menu proved to be an interesting one. Clare had something called 'Butterfish' which we'd not come across before. I had stewed kid goat in a sauce of almond and saffron with sardinas for a starter, and a glass of sweet muscat instead of pudding, and just one glass of a very fragrant DOC Toro red wine with the meal. Eating while the sun was setting was pure delight, even if it did begin to get a little chilly towards the end, with the light wind off the sea. As we walked home, the residual heat from walls soon warmed us up, and the house when we arrived was that much warmer again. A lovely conclusion to Clare's sixteen days of holiday.

What's mostly on my mind tonight is tomorrow's EU referendum outcome. This last few days I've been revisiting my Facebook account, and am surprised and not a little impressed to discover that almost all those 'friended' over the years are pro-Remain. Probably the majority are Christian, and that may explain a lot. I was touched by the way public buildings in many EU major cities are being floodlit with images of the British Flag, as an act of support for the #Remain campaign. It's another expression of the sense of inter-dependence that many Brits now feel about the EU, warts and all. To want to reject the relationship built up over the past half century, just because of the difficulties it presents on all sides is an expression of contempt, not only for the colossal achievement of peace through partnership over the past seven decades, but also for those relationships we will continue to rely upon whatever the outcome of tomorrow's vote.

I will feel so ashamed to be British is the brexiters succeed, and genuinely concerned for the kind of future such a selfish vote will engender.
  

My reasons for voting Remain

Bank holiday Monday passed uneventfully, as neither of us felt inclined to travel far and face the prospect of busy roads and crowded beaches. There'll be enough of that when we go to Nerja next week. We just walked up the Taff to Llandaff in the afternoon for tea, and back again. Now, leaves on the trees are fully out and the grasslands alongside the river carpeted with buttercups and daisies. Already the aconite and bluebells have gone, though here and there the aroma of wild garlic is still pervasive in the warm air. The tree canopy is alive with birdsong - thrushes, blackbirds, robins, tits, wrens, starlings. This is British Spring at its best, even though it seems late arriving after a spell of colder than expected weather.

Tuesday morning my referendum postal vote arrived, and was quickly filled in and dropped in the post box on by way to a bereavement visit in the afternoon. This was for me a moment of sacred duty. I voted to remain in the EU. Despite annoyances with the European Commission, its vast unelected bureaucracy and the seeming ridiculousness and irrelevance of some of its legislation, I still think the experimental process of governing such a complex entity as Europe should be trusted.

Getting it right may take a century, but constant multi-layered thought and discussion about what best serves to ensure the peace, security, welfare of millions is utterly preferable to armed conflict and insurrection. Born in the spring when the Nazi Third Reich was defeated, I was nurtured on the idea of a new european peace and unity from my youth. Britain's isolation, any further curtailment of our country's accountability to its neighbours in the community of nations, cannot, I believe, in the long term be beneficial. Why abandon a work of democracy in progress, without precedent in history?

Remaining may have consequences we aren't comfortable with and need to take issue with, but the objective of continent wide peace and security is worth striving for. The only thing that really worries me is the underlying presumption by both Brexiters and Remainers that economic growth and increased prosperity are to be somehow eternally guaranteed by one strategy or another. We don't know what the future holds whether prosperity or adversity, but facing whatever lies ahead together, not separately, is to my mind the greatest asset we can have.

I had a message from Hamid to say that he's not been successful in finding anyone to give him legal support. Nobody down in Portsmouth seems interested in taking up his case, and tomorrow he gets evicted and loses support payment. What's going to happen to him then, neither he nor I have any idea. It seems he's been in touch with the Red Cross refugee and asylum seeker organisation there, but this hasn't yet promised any outcome. With such poor English, he is going to be vulnerable out there on the streets. He's received no notification of collection for deportation and I wonder how well that is going to be coordinated after a Bank Holiday weekend. It's a worrying time for all who have his interests at heart.