Now that I'm firmly in my 8th decade of existence on this old Earth, it seems a good time to take stock...of the past, the present and the future.

I was so lucky to arrive just as WW2 was drawing to a close and although the years that followed were marked by real austerity with ration books still in use into the 1950s and the country bankrupted by

the cost of its efforts to save the civilised world from unspeakable tyranny (not knowing of the horrors

of Stalin's Russia then), I was lucky to spend my childhood and teen years as the youngest of six

children in the rural environments of the West Country before setting off, aged sixteen, for a new

life and a career in London a hundred miles from my home.  The next four decades saw me increasingly busy in public service during which time huge changes came about - social, sexual

and political...with all the upheavals and aggression they incurred, especially the IRA terror years

in the 1970s and 1980s.  At the same time, the move towards the Common Market and its

promises of trade advantages was being embellished by successive political moves towards

tighter integration and control and away from the original ethos of trade agreed by the UK electorate.

Parliament seemed unwilling/unable to prevent successive government actions in snapping tight the

handcuffs now being applied by what was to become the EU...all a long way from our island history

of sovereignty and self-determination for which so much had been sacrificed, not least in my own

family, with a maternal uncle and first cousin losing their lives in the armed services. 

I've witnessed major changes, many for the best, including quality of life in general, with much now

that was unavailable to my parent's generation but at the same time there seems to be an unattractive

sense of entitlement existing today that presumes payment by others.  I remember poverty and its

modern usage is far removed from the old reality of the word.  I hear the word disability also used with

frequency to obtain support although this too has been modified considerably over what it used to be.

I know first hand about the latter, having sustained spinal injury that requires the use of sticks.  But

I bought my own from local business, thereby supporting them without reducing aids supplied by the

NHS.  Similarly, I rent a small flat from a private landlord - again contributing to the circle of tax-paying

earnings - all from my pension on which I am STILL taxed even after a lifetime paying tax on work

earnings.  I fully endorse the concept of encouraging work whatever one's disability as the latter need

not necessarily be a bar to employment in this age of working from home via computer and associated outlets. 

I also incline towards government that will risk unpopularity for good reasons rather than one that

buys its popularity and puts the country in hock in the process.  No names...no packdrill!

The prospect of Brexit does not dismay me.  I've known a braver country, with a courage and

self-belief that took its people from wartime impoverishment to the "Swinging Sixties" and beyond.

The view that the old and ill-informed voted for Brexit whilst the young and well informed did not,

is both insulting and inaccurate and I reject it.  Our history as a nation is worth more than the nod

from twenty seven other countries whose very existence is due to the sacrifices for freedom that

were made by my parents and their forebears, and the idea that somehow we are so impotent and

lacking in spirit that we cannot run our own affairs in the wider world - where we made our name -

in a sorry reflection on what we think of ourselves now.  Like the EU itself...tell a lie often enough

and it will be believed.  It is that alone that we should guard against - or, to recall the wise words

of President Roosevelt in braver days: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

So - onwards and upwards to better things and a brave new world.

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