A Letter from England February–March 2019

Put any two Englishmen together in a room, they say, and their first topic of conversation will be the weather. With good reason: English weather is so variable. A cynical remark, often repeated, refers to four seasons in one day.

It has to be said that February's weather is worthy of mention. Extreme it was; variable it was not. Town, villages and farmland the length of the country were inundated with once-in-a-century rainfall and flooding for the second or third time in a decade. Television news bulletins showed images of rivers that had lately been streets, lakes where crops were now drowning in their fields, islands where there once had been rolling countryside. In some places emergency flood defences succeeded in holding back the floodwater—flimsy metal frames festooned with blue plastic sheeting along river banks, sandbags stacked in doorways or dedicated permanent barriers installed after recent flood events. In other places they failed. They River Severn spilled over its banks in Shrewsbury, rendering the town a virtual island. 

In south Yorkshire the River Aire encroached upon untold acres of farmland and the unfortunate villages of Snaith, East Cowick and others. Chillingly, television images from these villages told a longer story. On the far horizon the grey cooling towers of Yorkshire’s Drax coal-fired power station loomed, ominously reminding us of the cause of it all.

February gave way to March. In like a lion, in keeping with the old adage, but now there was a new worry. The corona virus was finding its way across the world from China and had reached our shores. On March 5 it took its first English life, and it was clear that it would take many more. In common with other lands around the world, special measures were put in place. Pubs, restaurants and, eventually, schools closed. The old and vulnerable were advised to stay home for safety. The advice soon became an instruction, and extended to others. I need not elaborate. It will be a familiar scenario to all. The roads and streets are now empty of floodwater: and of people too.  

A Letter from England: January 2020

So the decision is made. On January 31 Brexit happens. After year of indecision and division the country seems to have found a consensus. 

Before December’s General Election we all seemed to be evenly divided on the matter. The result of the 1916 referendum—was it really so long ago—was almost an equal split 52% for and 48% against. What kind of Brexit did that imply? ‘Hard’ Brexit or ‘Soft’ Brexit? There was no consensus, and our politicians spent three years dithering. 

The population had become impatient. We needed a decision: one way or the other. Eventually we had a general election, and Boris Johnson was the only leader with a clear plan for Brexit. Others wanted another referendum, or to remain, or to continue dithering.

Of course Boris Johnson won—massively—and it will be his ideas that go forward. Everybody is glad that the uncertainty is over—even those who wanted to remain—and accept that we must all now work together to make the best of it.  The decision is made, so we must proceed.

There is still worry about a few matters. The difficulties with the Irish border will not be solved easily, and there is increasing pressure in Scotland for secession: in Scotland there was a majority for ‘remain’.

I hope now that Britain will stay friends with Europe, and that all our leaders will work towards a sensible deal. We don’t want to see previous mistakes repeated. The common fisheries policy has been very bad for Britain. Our fishing fleet has declined whilst Spanish and French ships have plundered our waters. That must change. There is a feeling that it was also a very bad idea to allow so many people from Eastern Europe to come here. They are nice people, but they have overwhelmed our schools, living accommodation and social services, and they accept lower wages so they take jobs from the indigenous population.

There is growing confidence that these important matters will be sensibly dealt with, and there is a growing determination to make a success of our new place in the world. There are certainly challenges ahead—hardships, possibly—but the country now seems to be ready to move forward.