Gina Miller

Gina Miller is simply amazing. She has a clear, rational commitment to an ideal, which is impressive enough for a start - and increasingly rare. She's got courage and consistency, and is prepared to back them with her own money. But what's astonishing is the fortitude with which she faces the tide of abuse which greets her efforts. If you wanted a strong argument against Brexit you might well pick the way in which it's lowered the tone of public debate. She has every reason in the world to give up, get angry, be abusive back, but no. It's not about her, it's about the principle, so that's what she concentrates on, regardless of what's thrown at her. Like I say, I'm amazed. But also grateful. We could do with more like her, and soon. 

Priorities

Interesting little story in today's Observer, not given massive prominence, but to me a sign of the times. A new poll finds that 18-34 year olds believe that reducing immigration is the least important issue Theresa May should focus on as she prepares to take the UK out of the EU.

Well, kids. What do they know? It is actually their future that we're fixing, but canny politicians know that more of the fogeys vote than the kids, so it's their choices which actually have clout. From the mess that was the LEAVE campaign, Theresa May has selected "reducing immigration" as the bit that counts (rather than, say, "spending more on the NHS"), but what she's also doing is favouring the preferences of people who won't be around to pick up the pieces. This is, in the words of the poem

"..the little island in the west
where the old outvote the young."  

Back to Normal?

Here I am writing a blog. Nothing very special about. Except that there's a gap, of nearly two months. On December 2nd I went into hospital to a replacement hip operation, and on January 19th I had the follow-up appointment which confirms that this has been a success. I can walk into Much Wenlock, and drive the car. I can put on my own socks, and - almost - sleep through the night. But I no longer need to get up, god downstairs and make a drink, sometimes two or even three times a night. It's a massive change, and this is why it's taken so long.

It may be that I slip some entries into this gap, catch up from various notes and cuttings the thing I might have entered if I'd been more alert, or even able to sit at the computer without discomfort, but don't bank on it. The world keeps rapidly turning, now more than ever, and it may be as much as I can do to keep up with the present, never mind the past.

From this....to this?

If you wanted a dramatic representation of the transition through which the US is about to pass, you could do worse than read the comments on the death of Castro made by Obama and Trump. Obama is thinking about the Cubans, knowing what it means to them. "We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation." There's subtlety in there, a recognition of good and bad, pro and anti, but also some respect for the achievement - removing Batista, medical aid across the world, freedom in Africa.

And Trump? for Trump it's just simple, all too easy. "The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades." Get used to it. There's four more years of this - at least.

Against the Odds

I've said it before, but it's still true. Eddie Jones is something else. Before this weekend's rugby game between England and Argentina, i don't think many fans were expecting drama. England had looked remorseless and clinical, and Argentina had been unlucky underdogs, playing attractive stuff but losing out at the last minute to pragmatic Six Nations rugby. No contest, then? Very definitely a contest. Elliott Daly, keen new recruit to the England side, gets a bit too keen in the first five minutes, tipping over an Argentinian player in the air so that he falls on his head and shoulders. Red card. England play with fourteen men for almost all the game. Then Dan Cole gets a yellow card for some mysterious scrum infringement, and for ten minutes England have thirteen men. They go from 16-0 up to 16-14, conceding a brilliant end-to-end team try. Is this where the dream unravels?

Actually, no. England carry out twice as many tackles as the Argentinians. For a large part of the game they're on the defensive, tackling furiously, keeping their discipline. everyone says afterwards how they've planned this, talked about this, so that when it happens they know what to do, know what to say to each other. Not since 2003 have we had an England team of whom you could say stuff like that. This really is quite special. 

Black and British

Celebrate the good stuff while it's here. I think "Black and British" is terrific (BBC 2 on Wednesdays this week's was the third of four). David Olusoga is intelligent, engaging, very positive. There's a clever inclusiveness running through the series, whereby local people of all kinds are invited in, to share this common heritage, so that the aging, white members of a bowls club gather round to applaud the erection of a plaque on their clubhouse, recording the career of a former slave of whom none of us have ever heard - until now.  The series is full of interesting stories, stunning characters, which makes you think "Why haven't we heard about this before?" But now we have, and the plaque, and the series, and the book are there, leaving a trail which others will pick up, and from which we'll all end up wiser.

Picking up the Pieces

I've held off writing about the Trump business, while I get my head around it. go through the papers, cut out the articles, work slowly through them. gradually, as I accustom myself to the facts, it's slipping into place. It wasn't the whole of America opting for Trump. He got fewer votes than Romney against Obama, and Hillary won 31 out of 35 cities. (Yes, I know, cities aren't everything, but even so...). The Republicans did a big, thorough job on restricting who was eligible to vote, Trump smashed Clinton on the number and circulation of social media posts, and a ton of people who had come out for Obama didn't come out for anyone. "Yes, we can" sort of slumped to "Maybe we can't."

So, what's next? Zoe Williams, arguing passionately that we shouldn't despair over Brexit, seems to slip into an opposite extreme over Trump - he is as bad as we always thought, we shouldn't be attempting to smooth that over, or do business with him...But what exactly are the options? He's got the White House, the Senate, the House, and will have the Supreme Court. There are still things to fight for, but it's hard to be hopeful about the big stuff. Climate change? All my heroes say find the issues, keep fighting, what they want is for you to give up and throw in the towel...but it's going to be hard.

NW

There's so much drama on TV which doesn't quite make it - works hard, briefly promises, but just fails to convince or goes over the top, that it's a treat to welcome something that just feels totally right. Turning the whole of a novel into one 90-minute chunk feels like a huge risk, but for me the version of Zadie Smith's NW shown on BBC 1 was entirely convincing. Real characters, dialogue and situations. A huge range of background and character, but rooted in an utterly real London - part of whose identity depends on that rich variation within limited space. The friendship of the two main women, tied together but different in so many ways, was sympathetic and detailed, drawing you in. A mix of moods, no dull or stupid moments, just an hour and a half of sensitive intelligence and absorbing viewing. Such a treat. 

Managing England

Back in the day, when I wrote teaching materials, I used to do stuff for Careers, based on football managers. It's a good way into the business of organising people, of what and how you approach the job, and what seems to work. If I were teaching this year, for instance, there's a fascinating contrast in styles between the big beats we've brought in - Gaurdilola, Klopp, Conte and Mourinho. how do you handle your players, and the press? How do you best create morale? How much difference does tactical intelligence make - if you don't change all the players, does it matter how they're organised? 

There's another tasty little assignment provided this weekend, by the contrast between England's managers for football and rugby. Gareth Southgate, utterly straight and decent, clearly a nice guy but not - on the evidence of his management career - likely to work miracles. And then there's Eddie Jones, the wily, ruthless fanatical Aussie who organises every inch of his players' lives and has them eating out of his hand. The team which comfortably beat South Africa was not that different from the personnel assembled by Stuart Lancaster - but after a mere twelve months the difference in performance and attitude is phenomenal.  

Trump Aftermath

Owen Jones and Naomi Klein are on the same page. No, they really are. In today's Guardian, two of my favourite gurus are piecing themselves together after the result of the US election, and - like they do - looking forwards. Last year in my Christmas circular I picked out their books as highlights of my year's reading - The Establishment, and This Changes Everything, both ambitious, patient, incurably optimistic. So I know what they'll say. They'll say don't despair, that's what the enemy wants you to do. Keep thinking, work together, find issues where there are leverage, and make change - like people do, all the time, sometimes an inch at a time. I know they're right, but God, it's hard. 

Tabloid Technique

Now and again, when the headlines are really juicy, I buy a copy to see what the tabloids are doing. Their recent outrage about judges being "enemies of the people" seemed promising, so I parted with 65p in exchange of a copy of the Mail.

You could not make it up. Or, you make it up and nobody minds. At the bottom of page 6 the headline runs JUDGES' SHAMEFUL SLOW-HANDCLAP FOR GOVE. Paragraph one goes on "all three judges who caused chaos yesterday were among a crowd who slow-handclapped Brexit campaigner Michael Gove earlier this year, it can be revealed. Wow. A shocking revelation of judicial bias and misbehaviour.

But it's nothing of the kind. Paragraph six starts: "However, it is understood none of these three was disrespectful to Mr. Gove." In other words, we lied. We gave you a tasty headline and intro on the assumption you wouldn't get this far, but if you want to take us to court we'll have para. six to get us out of trouble.  

Ireland 40 All Blacks 29

For the past couple of months I've been virtually housebound. I've been really grateful for Netflix, and BT sport. when I signed up to them I wasn't at all sure they'd be worth it, but now there's no doubt. BT sport, rather suprisingly, had the Ireland v. All Blacks game, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Utterly rivetting. Three years ago, Ireland built up a 19-0 lead against the all Blacks, only to be caught at the end. Here they were up by 30-8 when the All Blacks started to haul them in. Three ruthless tries in hardly any time at all, and it looked like the same old story, yet again. But amazingly the Irish had the nerve and stamina to keep attacking, to chase every ball, make every tackle, and ended up scoring a wonderful try - intelligent, courageous, absolutely no doubt about it - and ended up winning by 40 - 29. Watching the highlights is pretty good, but there's nothing to beat seeing a story like that unfold in real time. Thank you BT sport. 

Elena Ferrante

While the fuss has all been about the unmasking of the reclusive writer, I've carried on with the real work, and just kept reading. it's been a total pleasure. This sequence of Neapolitan novels are advertised as a portrait of female friendship, and they're certainly that, but so much else as well. snippets of post-war Italian history, the changes in the neighbourhood, politics, business, and the whole drama of Elena's emergence as a writer - not simply a triumph, but an up/down helter-skelter ride. I've just finished the third one, "Those who leave and those who stay", which looks as though it's just about leaving home or not, having the nerve to break away from a poor Naples neighbourhood. But as it goes on it intensifies, and becomes about other kinds of leaving and staying - adultery and marital betrayal. And as Elena goes through shifts of contradictory feelings and behaviour, we're with her all the way, soppy as that sounds. there may well be tough-minded women out there saying that this is nothing like how it really happens, but I was and am totally convinced. If you're looking for something to read, log on to the library website, and all four volumes are sitting there waiting for you.   

The Fall

Wow. Last week a Guardian critic wrote that they were still watching The Fall, even though nothing was happening. I'll bet they didn't feel like that after the last episode, when things kept happening all the time - often unexpected, invariably violent but totally gripping. I didn't watch this from the start, because "serial killer" to me isn't an attraction, but the strength of the recommendations, in print and by word of mouth, changed my mind during the first series, and I've been an avid fan ever since. Yes, it's intense, and maybe not entirely realistic all the time. Gillian Anderson is maybe more of a loose cannon than most police forces would permit, but she is so watchable. Most important of all, the writing's thoughtful and clever, dealing with real if nasty stuff, and there's a lot of minor characters taken seriously - the people in the hospital have been terrific. I've really loved it, and i'm praying that they'll accept the logic of the story and the script, and accept that this is the end of the line. I really do not want to watch The Fall, series 4. 

Clear mandate for what, exactly?

Mrs. May is sure there’s a clear mandate for limiting immigration, but it all depends who you voted for.

Johnson disagreed that the Brexit vote was mainly about immigration; Farage thought we were at breaking point, which Gove strongly disputed; Hannan told Newsnight that LEAVE had never promised numbers would go down; and Cummings offered voters the chance to take back a control they never had.

How come May decides that Farage is the one who matters?

HyoperNormalisation

Not the snappiest title in the world, but it's worth remembering. It's the latest documentary from Adam Curtis, and I'm a fan. some love him, some hate him, because he has a very distinctive style, but he does make you think and he's not dull. HyperNormalisation comes in at a snappy two and three-quarter hours, and is only available on iplayer. and that's right. You don't want to take it in all at once, and this way you can go back to it, check over things that might have seemed preposterous or confusing, and generally do the kind of clear independent thinking which Curtis - and some of the rest of us - favour. 

what's it about? Oh, all sorts. Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran. the US and Russia. the history of suicide bombing. How news is presented to discourage us from thinking, Facebook stuff like that. Nobody else does quite what he does. Some of the links seem outrageous, and I don't agree with everything i hear, but I do feel a lot wiser and more energised for having watched it.

(If you want to catch it, it may be easier to type in 'Adam Curtis' - I got the title right, but still couldn't trace it first time round.)

"Brexit means Brexit" - but which one?

I thought May was the best available choice to lead the Tories, and in the early days I was impressed, but now she seems to be making it up as she goes along. Yes, 52-48 on a huge turnout is a win, but a win for what? As I remember that squalid and confused campaign, the two main planks of LEAVE were (1) control immigration (2) spend more on the NHS. As of this weekend, May is emphatic that we shall control immigration - in the crudest, most destructive way possible, if the Tory Party conference is any guide - and definite that there's no more money for the NHS. So if you voted LEAVE because that was on the bus, forget it. It's not what Theresa has in mind.

Also this weekend, reviews of Craig Oliver's book about the campaign, including Cameron's response to the Brexit result - dry, relaxed, self-deprecating, but apparently oblivious to the extensive damage into which casual confidence has launched us all. that he could have gone so lightly into something with such massive repercussions ought to be unbelievable - but sadly, it rings all too true. 

Constructive Conservative

No, really. Yesterday's Guardian has a terrific article about Brexit, but a Tory MP. Didn't expect to be saying that. Though I'd heard Stephen Phillips on the radio, so I was prepared. Phillips is a LEAVE supporter who had nothing to do with the campaign, because he was disgusted by it. He's sceptical about Brussels, passionate about the UK's Parliamentary sovereignty, and having voted on that basis he's spitting blood that the current plan is to deprive Parliament of any meaningful say about the terms on which we leave the EU. To put it mildly, he has a case.

A fistful of poets

Yes, more poetry. We are so lucky. Thanks to the glory of literary festivals (Birmingham and Wellington, Shropshire), I get to see four poets in four nights - Wendy Cope, Benjamin Zephaniah, Liz Berry and Moniza Alvi. If none of those names make any sense, take it from me that's an enormous range - between rhymed and unrhymed, comic and serious, political and sensual, contemporary and traditional. I'll get to hear each of them read their work and talk about it, and often in the talking there's a little nugget dropped which makes additional sense in understanding poems I already know. Can't wait.  

National Poetry Day

So, of course, I wrote a poem. Well, I knew I was going to, for a couple of days. First there was Jeremy Hunt at the Tory Party conference, confident that in no time at all he'd be able to staff the new approved, no-foreigners NHS. No surprise there. He knows about this stuff. He's been responsible for more British doctors leaving the NHS than anyone in history, so presumably you just turn the switch the other way, and it's all hunky dory.

then I remembered an amazing snippet from four years ago. Hunt was in trouble over the B Sky B negotiations, because he'd been cosying up to the Murdochs. Michael Gove, another Murdoch acolyte, toured the Radio studios in Hunt's support, saying why he should keep his job. Because he was intelligent and far-sighted? Oh, no. Because he was a terrific Latin American dancer, and did "an amazing lambada." You couldn't make it up.

That gave me my central image, the fluent, agile Hunt, dancing out of trouble. So I sat at the breakfast table in my dressing gown, finishing off the coffee and toast as I scribbled a twelve stanza account of Hunt's career - all rhyming, over 20 rhyme-sounds, but none of them with "Hunt." Cut it down to 8, send off a couple of begging e-mails, and that evening I'm performing it at Liz Lefroy's poetry evening in Shrewsbury. That was my part of National Poetry Day, and I had a ball.