Reflections 10 March

Image: Richard Merrick.

On my Mind

Clarity

It seems that we have an epidemic, if not a pandemic, of bewilderment. I wrote a few weeks ago about the downsides of specialisation in pursuit of efficiency, and I'm beginning to think that it is compounded by a real lack of clarity in those places where we most need it. We have a war in Ukraine where our chosen response is sanctions, except where they'e inconvenient to us. We have a flashing red light on climate change that barely made day two of the headlines, whilst lobbyists for fracking did. We have challenges in the NHS and respond with technocratic money based answers rather than with concern we are treating citizens as consumables.

Instead, we get into a lather over an Indian National with perfectly legal non-dom (if politically toxic) tax status. It's rather like the drunk looking for his car keys under the lamp post because that's where the light is better. It's true of course that legality, morality, politics and money have never made…