Feeling gloomy

I'm afraid I am reaching a deep level of despair for the future of my grandchildren. We are surely facing the possibility of another Darien Scheme in devolution, with standards of living plummeting as massive debts hit everyone.

We seem incapable, as a society, of thinking rationally! We are obsessed with climate change but want to be free to fly cheaply to the sun in gasguzzling planes. We complain that vaccine passports would be discriminatory but there is proposed choice; vaccine, a recent test or letter of health dispensation. With free testing coming, I can't see what is discriminatory in this proposed list and if you are one for whom the vaccine is a health risk, surely the risk of Covid in another country must rank pretty high in things to be avoided! Everything is outsourced, with personal responsibility and accountability denied. Schools are now “responsible” for much of what was “parental education” in my day. Government (financially, the majority of us) is held responsible for ensuring the quality of life we desire and that we are financially protected if disaster strikes (even if that was partially of our own making). Even God comes in for some blame, if things don't work out the way we would like.

My despair is further compounded by politicians trying to “buy” my vote with promises that don't represent the view of the majority and probably won't be implemented because of “the big bad wolf” in London. The giveaways often paid for out of a pocket of money skimped off budgets previously allocated elsewhere but deliberately underspent are misused to be a sugar-daddy to a gullible electorate.

I am left feeling Scrooge-like, but Happy Easter, perhaps the chill-wind from the North is a sign of things to come!