Repercussions observed

Apart from preparing a sermon for tomorrow, and a brief grocery shopping visit to Mercadona, I spent much of today reading articles and comment in Britain about the repercussions of the referendum decision. Nothing like this has happened in my lifetime, and I get the impression that some who voted to leave the EU are already having second thoughts and regretting their action. The obsession with winning has overruled a proper evaluation of consequences based on the facts. Over the weekend, I imagine some politicians will be looking at whether there's any way back, while EU leaders are saying brisky, "OK, let's get on the process of negotiating UK severance as soon as possible." 

One news commentator remarked that the notion of taking a few months leisure to consider the best way forward for the UK was to forget that there are two parties in this divorce. A slight majority of UK voters has taken a self-centred option. How now should parliamentarians respond in giving a lead? They could legally refuse to endorse the referendum result, and even order another referendum. But how much courage will the have in the face of what has been a damaging divisive process from start to finish?

In the early evening, I finally made myself go out for a walk down to Playa Burriana, scrambling along the rocky foreshore to Playa Caribbayo, then climbing the steps and heading for the Parador to get some photographs I'd not taken when we dined there the other night. Then I took the footpath that goes past the hotel and back down to Burriana, then turning back up another steep street and heading back to the main road through the urbanizacion Andalusia. Walking this route in either direction offers good and varied exercise.

I paused outside a bar showing the Wales v Northern Ireland Euro cup football match on the return leg, just as the final tense minutes of the game were being played, and watched the climax, surrounded by Irish fans. Nobody was cheering by this stage. Nerja has many Irish visitors and has several Irish themes bars, but so far I haven't found a Welsh bar to speak of. I'm not sure exactly what that says about my compatriates when they're away from home.

Having had my fill of news and comment during the day, there wasn't a lot I was interested in watching on telly after supper, except a more recent episode of NCIS, which I think I've seen before. There aren't many episodes I haven't seen now. It's such a pity that apart from radio, free UK streaming services don't work on devices not bought or registered here.

   

   

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.

  

  

Traffic woes

After a morning of preparing a sermon for Sunday, I took the bus into town and walked over to St German's for the wedding blessing. There was a long traffic queue on Cathedral Road. Vehicles were moving so slowly, I began to wonder if I'd left enough time for me trip. I could have walked past the next couple of bus stops in the time it took for the bus to travel. The reason? Not road works, but a scaffolding lorry double parked on a road with vehicles parked either side, creating a choke point for traffic in both directions on a busy afternoon. I don't think it had broken down. There was a side street no more than fifty metres from where the lorry had stopped, where it could have stopped if there was a load to deliver. 

It's not the first time this week it's happened on one of the city's main traffic arteries this week, so it poses the question whether anyone with responsibility for traffic, parking enforcement and planning is consulted beforehand about disruptions of this kind. They're not uncommon, as a great number of urban properties are now the target of investment by renovation. I know only too well how much work goes on to prepare for major events involving traffic disruption as the team works in the same office space as CBS. In our side street 3-4 parking spaces have been occupied by skips or dumps of builder's materials continuously for the past year or so. The parking demand just from residents, let alone workmen and visitors far exceeds supply. Cardiff benefits from all the enterprise but is harmed by anarchy tolerated, or regarded with indifference.

Hundred strong gathering for the wedding was mainly of local people who didn't have to get across town. It was an informal happy family affair, a thanksgiving for a couple that has stuck together for better for worse. A young family member sang an unaccompanied solo while the couple and their entourage gathered at the altar. Unfortunately their recording technology failed to work with the church's public address system, but just because it seemed to fit, I included in my brief address a solo rendering of Frank Sinatra's song 'All the way', and said why its message was relevant to this celebration. It's nice to have the confidence and freedom to do this in my old age, and know that I may be excused for eccentricity rather than deviance from conventional stereotypes.

After the blessing, I walked back to the office in town, and worked on updating Libre Office on three of the desktop machines. Each new version seems to get slightly quicker, and retaining that familiar consistent user interface is a boon. I have the highest regard for this international voluntary work of co-operation in creating excellent digital software. I also arranged Ian's June paycheck, as the details had just come in by email, to leave one less thing for Julie to do when she gets back after her holiday next week. Then I went home to cook supper, and watched the first episode of a new Danish crime series called 'Dicte - crime reporter, about a fearless often unscrupulous investigative reporter with an annoying knack of getting there ahead of the local police. As well as the main plot line there are also sub themes about women's issues, divorce, family estrangement, and it's set in Aarhus, for a change.

Pleased to see that Archbishop Barry and his predecessor Rowan Williams are among the religious leaders speaking up in defence of EU institutions as instruments of peace and social justice ahead of the referendum. But does anyone listen to religious leaders any more?

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.

    

Getting the record straight

At the St German's midweek Eucharist yesterday morning, I told the children about St Mark and how he collected stories from St Peter and others about their time with Jesus and made them into the first of the Gospels to be written. Mark probably grew up speaking Aramaic, and learning to read and write in Hebrew and Greek, I told them, and how fortunate they were to be learning Welsh as well as English in school, and for many of them to be hearing other languages spoken at home - some will learn basic Arabic to read the Qu'ran outside school hours, as well. Whether they find it a chore or not, this is a special thing about good education, that we can learn to communicate and say good things to people in their different languages. I'd so like children to appreciate the diverse environment they are part of, and learn from.

I went into the office in the afternoon and worked on an equipment inventory database format to record our newest acquisition of handsets prior to issue. It's important to get as much as possible of the recording done ahead of time, to keep track of the complex exchange and upgrade process step by step.

Thursday afternoon I started the laborious task of entering data. Just doing the first few entries reveals the limitations in design, and calls for discussion and modifications to the framework. Even before the number of data entries grows, the framework itself has to grow, as we understand more clearly our own need to record different kinds of information to help the project to progress. 

It wouldn't be all that difficult to scan this information from bar-codes on each piece of equipment, and I did some tentative experimenting with this some months ago. It's even possible to scan data into a spreadsheet of sorts, but the challenge is to configure the data received so it can easily be imported into our database. Sure you can buy scanning equipment and software packages that will do this, and deliver an inventory database, but you still have to take time learn how to use the kit, and take the risk that the database is in a proprietary format that isn't all that flexible about exporting data, or else you pay extra to do so. We simply don't have to time to invest on this, nor are we running on the volume or turnover of equipment or have numbers of staff that would make this seem a sensible worthwhile option. So the old fashioned slow steady plod of manual data acquisition will continue, so long as we are not going to be overwhelmed by the task.

Clare and I both completed our postal ballot sheets for the Welsh Assembly and Police Crime Commissioner elections, taking place next week. While we're in Spain in June there's the EU referendum. I hope the postal ballot papers arrive before we leave. For this election they were issued two weeks ahead of the date, and if this happens again they may arrive after we leave. Clare will return in time to vote, but I'll still be in Spain and unable to use mine. Such a shame if this happens, as to my mind it's one of the most important voting issues of my lifetime.

I watched the final episode of 'Line of Duty' tonight, tense and demanding watching to the end, with a fairly satisfactory conclusion in which right and justice prevail, but only after much suffering and struggle. Almost everyone involved seems at some time or another to have compromised their own integrity or told lies to cover their tracks, but in the end the truth comes out, and the courageous prevail.

There was ome impressive acting from the leading characters in the Police anti-corruption squad which gave it all a very convincing and realistic feel. To think that a twenty minute interrogation scene in one room, crammed with references to investigative detail could be so dramatically gripping, is a credit both the writers and actors. For this to be shown in the same week that the inquest into the Hillsborough Stadium tragedy revealed police corruption in the fabrication of a cover-up, blaming fans for non-existent misbehaviour, is perhaps co-incidental, but most remarkable in the way that dramatic art can sometimes reflect authentically the unhappy realities of life.