Comparing Britain to Florida

Alister Heath in The Telegraph: 

It will guarantee a shock to your system, and jolt you out of any residual complacency. It will simultaneously energise you and plunge you into depression. You will be blown away by the growth, the clatter of construction, the siege of cranes across the skyline, the massive cars, the energy, drive and ambition, the wealth, abundance and cheap energy, the entrepreneurial go-getting, the ostentatious celebration of success.

Read the rest of the story.

[Photo by Juan Pablo Mascnfroni at Unsplash]

Autumn

 

Bureaucracy Lives

 "Can an appointment be made with the doctor prior to having the medical records?"

"No, you must have your medical records from the hospital before setting the appointment."

"Can't the specialist directly obtain the medical records from the hospital?"

"No, the patient will have to do so, and then an appointment can be set."

"Will it make a difference if the specialist and the hospital are in the same medical group?"

"Sometimes, but not in these types of medical cases."

"Aargh."

Europe's Suicide

To be on the side of the incomers was to be on the side of the angels. To speak for the people of Europe was to be on the side of the devil. And all the time there existed that strange assumption that Europe was simply letting one more person into the room. Whether that person was genuinely about to be killed in the corridor became immaterial. If he was cold, poor, or just worse off than the people inside the room, he too had the right to come in. Europe could no longer be bothered to turn anyone away. And so the door remained open to anyone who wanted to walk through it.

- Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe

Martin Mull

 

Robots, Planets, and Neat Stuff

 A new future?

Ever Present Dangers

 

Patience and Thought

We live in an action-oriented society, one stressing motion and quick decisions, and often it is not until later in life that one begins to appreciate the importance of patience.

While pondering a related essay, I have been noticing how many times in my youth involved checking multiple boxes and meeting an array of deadlines. 

In retrospect, I would have benefited from a frequent routine of long walks and slow cups of coffee combined with heavy doses of introspection.

Those practices once were wrongly regarded as goofing off.

That's no longer the case for me.

[Photo by Daiga Ellaby at Unsplash]

Saving Britain

Spiked: Peter Hitchens on the state of Britain.

The Best Sherlock