Quoting Lucretius

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In the words of Lucretius:

…we are all born from the same celestial seed;
all of us have the same father,
from which the earth, the mother who feeds us,
receives clear drops of rain,
producing from them bright wheat
and lush trees,
and the human race,
and the species of beasts,
offering up the foods with which all bodies
are nourished,
to lead a sweet life
and generate offspring…

(de rerum natura, bk.II, lines 991- 97)

and he might have added (less poetically):

There is only one Earth
That nurtures us and is bountiful.
To foul the seas, pollute the air,
Then deny all responsibility;
To spread soullessness about,
To concrete the land for short-term gain,
To tolerate starvation amid plenty;
To allow the purchase of
The political process
To import the desperate only for cheap labour
To disrupt public lives for private gain –
All this is foolishness ………….
Or maybe mass suicide.
Rich sirs, we have your names;
They will be carved
On memorials for all to see
In the halls of infamy

Nobody wants Northern Ireland

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To The Times
The elephant in the room is that no one really wants Northern Ireland. Ireland can’t afford its engorged public sector costs, while British taxpayers have no option but to feed that expensive fly in the political ointment, and keep a stiff upper lip about it. Ironically, the EU has understood the Good Friday Agreement better than Theresa May and most of the Tory party, not to mention the hard Brexiteers.

The reality is that the EU also doesn’t want Northern Ireland (unless it comes with Ireland), an Ireland to which the EU remains wedded and loyal since 1973. Thus the backstop. Sorry Theresa, it won’t go away. (Alison Hackett, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin)

Years ago I worked as a consultant in Northern Ireland and had the opportunity of talking to several well-informed locals. I remember one person commenting, ”The Republic doesn’t want to inherit the violent people of both faiths, and the British don’t want them either. They have had to effectively buy peace here and are having to subsidise us at considerable taxpayer expense. This place used to be prosperous and contributed a lot to the economy. But shipbuilding has gone, and this economy hasn’t much going for it”. Now, it is only important because the right-wing, Protestant DUP is propping up Prime Minister May in Parliament. What can be done about it? Nothing much. The people of Northern Ireland will be living off the subsidies from Westminster, possibly indefinitely. Blame Cromwell, who started it all by importing Scots radical, Protestant “settlers” into Northern Ireland in the first place.

What has this to do with Epicureanism? The answer is that it illustrates the knots the human race can get into over religion and cultural identity. Epicureanism focuses on getting on together as individual human beings, without priests and confessions and priests telling you what to believe (and then abusing their authority).

Josip Broz Tito and Josef Stalin, 1948

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The letter that terrified the most terrifying leader of modern times.

When a schism grew between the Communist allies, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Soviet leader Stalin expected the smaller country to bow before his power. Instead, the Yugoslavian President Marshal Tito defied Stalin. The latter was incensed, and despatched successive assassins to murder Tito. Finally, the Yugoslavian sent the following message to Stalin:

“Stop sending people to kill me! We’ve already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send a very fast-working one to Moscow and I certainly won’t have to send another.”

Tito’s message worked.

Moral: stand up to bullies. They are usually (secretly) weak men who lie and cheat their way to power, but are insecure, and desperate for approval and adoration. In the course of their supremacy they undermine the very system they espouse (The Soviet Union did not for very long exist after the death of Stalin). There is, regrettably, a lesson for us today.

Surprising poll results

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More than half of Republicans in a new American Barometer poll say they support “Medicare for all,” also known as a single-payer health-care system. The survey, conducted by Hill TV and the Harris polling company*, found that 52 percent of Republicans polled said they supported the option, while 48 percent said they opposed it. Twenty-five percent said they “strongly” supported “Medicare for all,” while 27 percent said they “somewhat” supported it. 
Twenty-two percent said they “somewhat” opposed the idea, while 26 percent said they “strongly” opposed it. 

Democrats are currently trying to make health care, along with “Medicare for all,” a central campaign issue. Republican leaders, including President Trump, have slammed the idea, saying it would ultimately fail if it were put into action. “In practice, the Democratic Party’s so-called Medicare for All would really be Medicare for None,” Trump wrote in a USA Today op-ed. “Under the Democrats’ plan, today’s Medicare would be forced to die.”

However, other polling has shown that the increased attention on “Medicare for all” could be peeling away senior citizens’ support of Republicans in the midterms. A Morning Consult survey released last week found that 52 percent of voters whose top issues are Medicare and Social Security said they would vote for a Democrat in the midterms.

Highly embarrassed Republicans, who assumed that so-called “socialised medicine” was anathema to their voters, are only beginning to think about how to “message” this about- turn. It is likely to be the start of a long debate.

My comment: Actually the barrier to introducing a modern and workable health system is not necesarily the Republican party – it is the for-profit healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, who will spend lavishly among impressionable congressmen to kill any idea of going the way of Europe when it comes to healthcare. The corruption – because that’s what it is – is massive and, at this moment, insurmountable. Everything you see and touch and experience has to be monetised to the nth degree for the benefit of political donors and the super-rich. If Epicureanism stands for peace of mind and a pleasant life, then no Epicurean can in good conscience support the present system.
* The American Barometer was conducted on October 19-20 among 1,000 registered voters. The sampling margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. (Julia Manchester, The Hill, 23 Oct 2018)

School readiness.

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All over Britain reception class teachers are faced with children who have not been taught the bssic social skills before they reach first school. Typically, about a third of all kids begin school without being able to speak in full sentences, use the toilet alone, hold, let alone read, a book. In fact, two in every five have not reached an adequate level of development to benefit from school at all. These kids start at a disadvantage and struggle later academically. Their health is worse and they stand a good chance of falling into crime.

It is a truism that every pound spent on a child in the earliest years will be repaid sevenfold. These children will not have another first-ever schoolday, and are being failed through no fault of their own. The ridiculous thing is that the teachers know precisely how to help, but are hindered by incompetent parents.

One vital thing is for parents to talk and to read to their children. They seem to think that it is solely the job of the school to bring up their children – no! Studies suggest that children from low income families have, by the age of three, heard an average of 30 million fewer words than those from higher income families. Talking and reading to children are both activities that are strongly associated with language development and are a vital part of bringing up a child. If there are no books in the house and the parents have their own problems reading to their children, then it is both the kids and the parents who need help. Parenting has a bigger influence on a child’s life chances in the early years. than education, wealth or class. Teachers are taught to teach, and shouldn’t have to show a child how to handle a pen, hang up a coat or observe the conventions of simple conversation.

Britain has a comprehensive pre-school programme, but all too often it’s a case of “warehousing” the kids with inexperienced babysitters. The answer seems to be to train these people better, pay them better, and ensure that all kids start on an even playing field. The trouble is the local authorities are starved of funds and the Tory government either doesn’t care (they’re alright, Jack) or won’t raise the taxes for such an important cause. (inspired by an article by Philp Collins, The Times, August 24,2018)