Peter Rhodes on a Glaswegian washout, a memorable speech and horror tales of inflation
Rain, more rain, local flooding, washed-out bridges, piles of rubbish, rats and all-pervading dankness. I bet the first resolution agreed by the Cop26 delegates will be never, ever to meet again in Glasgow.
Not that England's beauty spots are without problems. A report by the Rivers Trust reveals that some popular summer swimming spots in the Lake District are polluted with raw sewage. And you thought it was a tan?
Do you believe everything you read about online security? According to its website, one major furniture company invites buyers to “Enter your postcode for stock and delivery information,” with the solemn promise that “Your location won't be shared.” Really? I bet they share it with the delivery driver.
If the bean-counters are to be believed, a generation which has never known inflation may soon be walloped by it. Which will, naturally, give us insufferably smug baby boomers a chance to tell horror tales of raging inflation in ye olden days. Allow me to begin. In 1978 we bought a derelict house for conversion. In the 11 months between starting the project and moving in, our mortgage rate went up from eight to 13 per cent. However did we manage? I seem to remember an awful lot of cauliflower cheese.
Yesterday's reference to the possibility of Boris Johnson morphing into a latter-day Harold Macmillan (okay, it's a long shot) reminded me of a great speech. Macmillan was an aristocrat who came to cherish and admire the working classes while serving with them in the First World War. In November 1984, the miners' strike was raging and Macmillan was distinctly off-message with the Thatcher government. Maggie's men may have tried to demonise the miners but Macmillan would have none of it. He was horrified to see his beloved country so divided. In a voice cracking with emotion he told the House of Lords: “It breaks my heart to see what is happening in our country today. A terrible strike... by the best men in the world. They beat the Kaiser’s army and they beat Hitler’s army. They never gave in.”
When today's movers and shakers talk about levelling up or one-nation politics, Macmillan's is the speech I remember. It is a rare politician who can look down from his or her lofty, privileged perch and recognise that down there on the lower levels are the best people in the world.
