horsemouth and the dance

'pouring rain all day and a stormy wind arising...'

on this day in 1872 kilvert goes to a dance at wye cliff and, despite the weather, he stays out dancing until  2.30am. 

'a fearful storm raged without. sheets of rain lashed the windows and broke in through the ceiling over the piano in the bow window, while the wind roared and thundered in the chimney like great guns.' 

here in the wild it was briefly hailing outdoors (but before that horsemouth got in a walk on the common). 

'which of the following issues has, over the past decade, most changed the way you look at your future?'

so asked a survey of european attitudes from 2 years ago. there was of course a wide range of opinion across the different countries.

what does horsemouth make of it all?

well the options given were;

'climate change, the war in ukraine, covid-19, immigration, global economic turmoil...'

horsemouth supposes covid 19 actually had the most effect upon him (actually no maybe it was the global economic turmoil - but to horsemouth this is not an issue but the defining factor of our lives on planet earth).  

covid 19 removed him from the world of work and then, as a result, it removed him from the wen. he would have stayed but circumstances said otherwise.

the war in ukraine  made it more expensive to heat his house in the wen which indirectly led to him getting involved in efforts to get the house (and the other houses in the co-op he was in) better insulated, this will help (a little) with the climate crisis. or at least it made horsemouth feel better about the climate crisis because there seemed to be stuff that could be done.

on the other hand he does think we are doomed. 

of course the war in ukraine could still lead to war in europe (that's not impossible). 

immigration he is not bothered by, indeed it has benefitted his life and even if it hadn't he would still be in favour of people being able to flee warzones (and indeed flee poverty). further he thinks given the demographic transition in the more developed economies (and in fact worldwide) to older populations it should be welcomed. 

there are people who view control of immigration as the magic button that will fix everything - horsemouth thinks it is the opposite.

the fact that it continues to be a major issue with his fellow citizens horsemouth finds perplexing. all that framing immigration as the major problem does, to horsemouth's way of thinking, is divide the people and prevent them mounting an effective defence against the global economic turmoil that is making them poorer. 

of course the AI boom is in fact an AI bubble - shortly it will collapse and leave another gaping void of losses. the rich will have been paid and the poor will have to pay (again). 

politically it is a charged moment. it looks like the two-party system (the bane of horsemouth's life) will fall. it has fallen (to some extent before) before (the lib-lab pact, the coalition, the vastly disproportionate influence of the DUP) and re-stabilised itself by that gesture. 

the fall of the two-party system does not guarantee that good things will flow from it, in fact given reforms myopic focus on immigration it will just drag the country further into a maelstrom of frustration and resentment.

horsemouth does not fancy this particular dance and has retired to the hills to sit it out.