” I’m not proposing that social isolation should be enforced forever ” — Well I’m proposing that it should.
Paul Rogers
4 years ago
Superb. I find myself agreeing with all of this. I worked in Pharma (as an IT supplier) for many years and circled the globe many times needlessly. I now delight in not doing the dreaded daily commute into the City. It was bloody awful. Strangely, my kids are completely comfortable with the new world. My eldest even had three months in the city, hated the commute and left. Very wise. There is a new normal coming for many (not all) of us. The transition is accelerated by current events.
I am fortunate that I can work from home and have financial support but it is clear that the lives of millions of people have been blighted by this crazy commuting, particularly in London and the South-East. Most office work can easily be done from home using modern tech.
Many more lives will be “blighted” by the panic and hysteria that has gripped the nation thanks to Chinese Death Flu, would you not agree ‘Rob Roy’?
Fraser Bailey
4 years ago
A great article that excoriates all the right people and groups – not least the press – and thank you for expressing that which so many of us have known for so long:
‘Having a degree in something useless from somewhere rubbish never made your opinion more important than that of the bin man; in cost-benefit terms, each bin man is worth more than a thousand psychology graduates from North London Tech.’
Ironically – given that your partner is an electrician – perhaps the most intellectually curious person I know (apart from myself) is an electrician who is part of my wine tasting group. Although Dutch he reads great English writers in English and is far better read than all the graduates I know, most of whom are preternaturally dim.
John Ellis
4 years ago
Graeme, I could not agree more. I suspect those who have done very well from the status quo will make any change from our old norms as difficult as they can – but it’s definitely a splendid chance to make some much-needed changes to the way we live. I certainly intend to follow many of the suggestions you make here, particularly regarding working from home and valuing local labour and locally-grown produce.
Lee Johnson
4 years ago
Difficult to improve upon Graeme’s superb post.
But I would just like to add two things to the list of ‘These add value to the business.’ 1. Team activity days (bonding by sweating together) 2. Office Christmas parties (bonding by getting rat-faced together) 3. Pre-meeting banter and repartee (setting the hierarchy in order of extrovertuity (?))
David Waring
4 years ago
Has anyone heard of or even read ” Quiet
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain Perhaps the human race would not be in this current pile of poo if leaders considered matters before leaping in and creating chaos.
Patrick Cosgrove
4 years ago
The lessons of the Coronavirus pandemic could create good arguments for shifting away from our present model of globalisation. The inevitable move to greater national self-sufficiency could work alongside redrawn international alliances on more of a north-south basis. To some extent they are already there. North and South America have strong cultural and linguistic connections because of the Hispanic populations. They are also physically connected. China, S.E.Asia and Australasia are already closely linked for trade and, like it or not, China will be wanting Australian coal for a while yet. Europe and Scandinavia are already well connected. They are also dependent on seasonal labour from North Africa for the supply of fruit and vegetables. Russia is firmly entrenched with Iran, and do we really want to keep trying for that impossible peace deal? I’m not suggesting hermetically sealed silos, but north south trade is kinder on the environment than shipping goods from anywhere to anywhere, and time differences are almost irrelevant. Dividing the world into slightly easier chunks might also make it easier to resolve the north south poverty divide as the enlightened self-interest involved is easier to understand being a bit closer to home.
wgeoff.56
4 years ago
A very interesting article nd I share the same sentiments. However, I think it will take a significant amount of sustained pressure to overcome resistance to changes in the business and social models that prevailed before the lockdown.
Yes, the inflection point will need to be bent to our will.
Martin Terrell
4 years ago
Thank you for this – I hope we all remember that some jobs are more equal than others. Agree of course, but one query. Many of us office types can work from home some of the time but probably not all of the time. In which case, how do we use our expensive office space efficiently?
Scheherazade Smith
4 years ago
It’s been a very long time since I have loved anyone’s writing as much as I love Graeme Archer’s. This is yet another witty and insightful treasure from a tremendous mind. Thank you.
motardanglais
4 years ago
Very little to disagree with there. I am now retired, my younger wife has worked from home for years. It’s wonderful not to be bothered by the the inane chatter and unpleasant odour of the television, football, and celebrity loving masses. And we are less likely to catch their diseases.
Victoria victoria.cannon
4 years ago
Loved this article. Agreed with everything I read. My favourite bit was obviously the bin man and the ‘graduate’. So true. A degree in something useless from somewhere rubbish …. there’s a hell of a lot of those around now. And having one certainly does not make your views on Brexit and immigration more valid or important. 10/10 Mr Archer.
Joe Smith
4 years ago
“In any case, historically speaking, it was the relatively un-pandemicked century between Spanish flu and Covid-19 that was the statistical oddity, not living with the risks presented by a fatal infectious disease.”
Only if you ignore the annual flu!
d.tjarlz
4 years ago
“Team player” means whatever the middle management “captains” want it to mean. No thought given to the idea that not every player should play in the “scrum”, or that some might do better on the “wing” or as “full back”.
Jacquie
4 years ago
Bit of a sweeping statement there! It is not so much that the world is/was attuned to the gregarious and the extrovert, as it is the failure of all common sense and the existence of a common fragility. A lot of what you might classify as ‘extroversion’ is in reality just the fragility of our (technologically) constantly on, constantly connected world. Modern generations have not learned to be alone, or just be, so the constant pressure to be connected is just a manifestation of their personal emotional and psychological fragility.
I am a team player for exactly as long as it takes to get a job done, and then I want my own space, company of my own choosing, and activities away from the herd. To my mind, being an ‘extrovert’ – in today’s world – is a skill that can be learned. Don’t let my Blanchard-esque ‘O’ fool you – I do know the definition of the word, and I still think it can be learned. We are all playing at games all of the time. You just have to gain the (social) skill, and ‘get good’. Perhaps that is the ambivert in me speaking, I have the best of both worlds. If I don’t feel it, I can fake it … it gets the job done.
As for your life outside of work – you only have yourself to blame for that one. 😀
Not exactly accurate – genetic to a degree, but flexible and open to change based on environment and nurture.
with roughly 40% having some degree of introversion.
too many outgoing types see their temprament as the norm
As you yourself point out, only 40% have a degree of introversion – the norm is therefore extroversion.
As a child I was so painfully, dysfunctionally introverted that it manfiested in an inability to participate in simple, fun stuff like a four year old’s birthday party. My broken and dysfunctional family life should have exacerbated that, but if you met me today, you would class me as an out and out extrovert. I learned that, and I am completely comfortable as an extrovert. It is a skill, in the same way that you can learn ‘class’ skills like how to behave in ‘polite society’.
I think introversion has more to do with genetic physical attributes. Do you now any good looking people who aren’t extroverts?
The answer to my question is already established in many academic fields – better looking people are by-and-large more sucessfull in life, have an easier time of things, and are, again by-and-large, extroverted. Of course there is an exception to every rule.
I am not offering a remedy for introversion, your’s or anyone’s – but neither am I looking for a cure for my now extroverted character.
You can paint introversion in whatever touchy-feely coulours you like in the name of social equality. But consider this … Research shows a consistent positive association between extroversion and reproductive success, and since extroversion is the norm, one would almost say it is a biological imperative. Humankind would not exist without it. Introversion is a flaw in temperament, at least from a biological perspective. Just own it. We all have flaws. I am rubbish at sport. I own that, and I don’t let it diminish me. Don’t worry, I rubbed my magic ‘I-am-just-stating-the-obvious’ talisman before I typed that last bit.
Thanks to Graeme Archer for taking a well deserved swipe at the chummy, genial and utterly shallow world of the extravert.
You call extroverts “utterly shallow” like you somehow won the medal for deep thinking because you are a social shrinking violet. Seems more like deep navel-gazing from over here. And look, here we are having a deep and meaningful converstion about what is apparently an existential crisis for introverts – how to live in an extroverted world.
I know ‘fringes’ of society want to be treated equally with those who form the bell of the curve, but nature isn’t so forgiving. We may have tried to demolish ‘pecking order’ in our allegedly advanced human societies, but instinctively we all know who the ‘alphas’ in our society are – and they are never introverts.
Victoria Cooper
4 years ago
Excellent piece Mr Archer (don’t you wish also that we could drop the christian name epidemic?). I could have written it myself (only, obviously, I didn’t). Particularly agreed with the re-evaluation of the what I now deem to describe as the helpful society. As a species we will never be drone-equal but we should all be valued equally.
jesse.j.wheeler
4 years ago
I too in pharma (formerly GSK). My entire family lives in Upstate, NY, yet for the last 15 years I’ve lived in Boston, MA as I’ve been OBLIGATED to come in to the office with some regularity. 100% agree that my function in Clinical Development could be done entirely remotely. Looking forward to seeing the impact of some of the changes that will come once this “inadvisable enemy” is destroyed.
Jamila Smith
4 years ago
I heartily agree with your assessment regarding working from home. The concentration of jobs in major cities or coastal areas (US) has depopulated areas. A shift would revitalize some of these areas as well as provide much more affordable housing. And other businesses would spring up to cater to the increased population. This is the type of redistribution I can get behind. My concern is that companies would try to offshore these jobs.
georgeguyfolger
4 years ago
Great article Graeme. The thought of having to commute daily again scares me and I’m one of the fortunate few to be able to walk or cycle in. I think some kind of situation where you go into the office once or twice a week, or even once or twice month, would be more feasible.
I like the fact there is no more ‘facetime’. I don’t have to make any embarrassed excuses when I log off versus when I left the office at 6pm whilst my colleagues made sure they stay an extra 30 minutes to keep the facade up. I don’t need to pretend to be working at 4pm on Friday when I could actually learn something interesting or have some justified downtime when it’s as bit quieter.
The main difference I’ve noticed is that work becomes more ‘output’ based. Can you meet your deadlines and do the work you’ve been given? If yes, then great, you’ve passed the test.
This equals macro management by default. As long as you’re conscientious (and want to keep your job) you should have the motivation to do the work set to you. If not, then maybe you need supervision. The tiring thing about the office is all the corporate BS; showing your hard work, staying late, ‘grafting’. It really does feel like such an antiquated concept.
If anything it should lead to much greater efficiency. The workers that can stay productive (or at least meet or exceed their output) without supervision will do well. Those that can’t will either have to adapt or stay in the office. Physical office space will be reduced. I know I’ll be looking for future opportunities that are part of this dynamic progression towards working from home.
I’m by no means a Marxist but I can’t help but think Marx would be turning in his grave given the potential for a ‘workers revolution’ of epic scale after this unprecedented societal upheaval. Interesting times.
Johanna Louw
4 years ago
Fantastic article until he started attacking the legitimate devolved governments of the Celtic Nations. If Graeme is a Scot then he does not understand the history of his own country. Scotland is, after all, an older country than England as a unified polity. There was massive support for the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. If the devolved assembly of Scotland were abolished now there would be significant political and social unrest in Scotland, and rightly so since Parlamaid na h-Alba is a lawfully constituted assembly whose power is fundamentally democratic, which is more than one can say for either Westminster (both houses) and the unelected Windsor clan. The poor performance of the SNP in health and education is an argument FOR full Scottish independence as it demonstrates that the assembly does not have sufficient authority. In this sense, it cannot be held fully responsible either for its successes or failures since it does not have full budgetary and/or political control of the devolved functions.
What a disappointing anti-Scottish diatribe in an otherwise excellent and insightful article.
You have obviously touched a raw nerve with Thales, or as we should call him, Rob Roy.(RR). Well done! However, all is not lost, for despite his obvious anger with Graeme Archer’s damming essay, he does acknowledge the “poor performance of the SNP in health and education”. The statement “significant political and social unrest in Scotland” is presumably a bombastic threat of no consequence. Finally do you happen know what RR means by ‘Parlamaid an h-Alba? Because I’m dammed if I do.
What a disappointment that you should conclude your response to Mr Archer’s splendid essay with a rant on behalf of the SNP. The malice of your comments make you completely unworthy of the pseudonym Thales of Miletus, might I a suggest a change to Rob Roy? However you will be delighted to know that the enormous cost of this Chinese Death Flu (CDF) epidemic will mean, as Lord Jonathan Sumption so accurately predicted, a massive increase in public debt. It will be a perfect opportunity for ‘England’ to cease subsidising the parasitical ‘fringe’, eg: Scotland, Ulster and perhaps even Wales. Ulster alone with 80% of its jobs in Public Sector costs more annually than the late EU. Scotland, which never seems to have stopped whinging since the Darien fiasco, is still in receipt of the Barnet dole, and much other largesse besides. Additionally the three ‘National Assemblies, that each of these peripheral areas enjoy, represent yet another layer of parasitical bureaucrats that England is expected to pay for. Perhaps CDF will be your salvation, but beware of what you wish for.
We’re in agreement then – Scotland must be an independent nation and take responsibility for itself. Then Wales, Cornwall and Northern Ireland can follow.
There was nothing ‘rant’ about it. I expressed an opinion that you did not like and it made you angry. In any case, I clearly said that I enjoyed the rest of the Mr. Archer’s article and I am in fundamental agreement with him. In a free society we are free to express our opinions as we choose – even if it upsets you.
The monarchy is no love of mine but surely we in England were lumbered with the Stuarts from Scotland and had to cut off the head of one of therm to make them see reason. When we eventually got rid of them in 1688 we were still lumbered with Mary and Anne and even George One was a distant relative of the clan. Then unelected or not the Scotch connection is to an Englishman not one to celebrate. When you get full independence you can keep them .
Well said. As I’m sure ‘Rob Roy’ will confirm, the Stuart’s were originally descended from an Anglo-Norman thug called Walter fitz Alan. When the last proper Scotch, King of Scotland, the drunken sex pest Alexander III fell off his horse, at night, in an inebriated state in 1286, the Scotch crown was fought over by five leading families, all descendants of Anglo-Norman thugs, with Robert the Bruce emerging as the eventual winner. However the Bruce’s were soon to be succeeded by the fitz Alan’s by now renamed Stewart. Later still this would turn into Stuart. England’s greatest mistake was to ‘restore’ this wretched family, thanks to the treachery of General Monk, in 1660. We have had live with the ‘corrupt’ consequences ever since.
Robin Bury
4 years ago
so anyone’s qualification from any EU country had instantly the same jobs market value as his own); the downward pressure on wages “ Well no actually. Immigrant labour from the EU does low paid work UK spoilt welfare state people refuse to do and these immigrants have downward pressure on their wages. You seem at heart a nationalist and this virus has brought out the worst in the increase and spread of the virus of nationalism worldwide.
” I’m not proposing that social isolation should be enforced forever ” — Well I’m proposing that it should.
Superb. I find myself agreeing with all of this.
I worked in Pharma (as an IT supplier) for many years and circled the globe many times needlessly. I now delight in not doing the dreaded daily commute into the City. It was bloody awful.
Strangely, my kids are completely comfortable with the new world. My eldest even had three months in the city, hated the commute and left. Very wise.
There is a new normal coming for many (not all) of us. The transition is accelerated by current events.
I am fortunate that I can work from home and have financial support but it is clear that the lives of millions of people have been blighted by this crazy commuting, particularly in London and the South-East. Most office work can easily be done from home using modern tech.
Many more lives will be “blighted” by the panic and hysteria that has gripped the nation thanks to Chinese Death Flu, would you not agree ‘Rob Roy’?
A great article that excoriates all the right people and groups – not least the press – and thank you for expressing that which so many of us have known for so long:
‘Having a degree in something useless from somewhere rubbish never made your opinion more important than that of the bin man; in cost-benefit terms, each bin man is worth more than a thousand psychology graduates from North London Tech.’
Ironically – given that your partner is an electrician – perhaps the most intellectually curious person I know (apart from myself) is an electrician who is part of my wine tasting group. Although Dutch he reads great English writers in English and is far better read than all the graduates I know, most of whom are preternaturally dim.
Graeme, I could not agree more. I suspect those who have done very well from the status quo will make any change from our old norms as difficult as they can – but it’s definitely a splendid chance to make some much-needed changes to the way we live. I certainly intend to follow many of the suggestions you make here, particularly regarding working from home and valuing local labour and locally-grown produce.
Difficult to improve upon Graeme’s superb post.
But I would just like to add two things to the list of ‘These add value to the business.’
1. Team activity days (bonding by sweating together)
2. Office Christmas parties (bonding by getting rat-faced together)
3. Pre-meeting banter and repartee (setting the hierarchy in order of extrovertuity (?))
Has anyone heard of or even read ” Quiet
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
Perhaps the human race would not be in this current pile of poo if leaders considered matters before leaping in and creating chaos.
The lessons of the Coronavirus pandemic could create good arguments for shifting away from our present model of globalisation. The inevitable move to greater national self-sufficiency could work alongside redrawn international alliances on more of a north-south basis. To some extent they are already there. North and South America have strong cultural and linguistic connections because of the Hispanic populations. They are also physically connected. China, S.E.Asia and Australasia are already closely linked for trade and, like it or not, China will be wanting Australian coal for a while yet. Europe and Scandinavia are already well connected. They are also dependent on seasonal labour from North Africa for the supply of fruit and vegetables. Russia is firmly entrenched with Iran, and do we really want to keep trying for that impossible peace deal? I’m not suggesting hermetically sealed silos, but north south trade is kinder on the environment than shipping goods from anywhere to anywhere, and time differences are almost irrelevant. Dividing the world into slightly easier chunks might also make it easier to resolve the north south poverty divide as the enlightened self-interest involved is easier to understand being a bit closer to home.
A very interesting article nd I share the same sentiments. However, I think it will take a significant amount of sustained pressure to overcome resistance to changes in the business and social models that prevailed before the lockdown.
Yes, the inflection point will need to be bent to our will.
Thank you for this – I hope we all remember that some jobs are more equal than others. Agree of course, but one query. Many of us office types can work from home some of the time but probably not all of the time. In which case, how do we use our expensive office space efficiently?
It’s been a very long time since I have loved anyone’s writing as much as I love Graeme Archer’s. This is yet another witty and insightful treasure from a tremendous mind. Thank you.
Very little to disagree with there. I am now retired, my younger wife has worked from home for years. It’s wonderful not to be bothered by the the inane chatter and unpleasant odour of the television, football, and celebrity loving masses. And we are less likely to catch their diseases.
Loved this article. Agreed with everything I read. My favourite bit was obviously the bin man and the ‘graduate’. So true. A degree in something useless from somewhere rubbish …. there’s a hell of a lot of those around now. And having one certainly does not make your views on Brexit and immigration more valid or important. 10/10 Mr Archer.
“In any case, historically speaking, it was the relatively un-pandemicked century between Spanish flu and Covid-19 that was the statistical oddity, not living with the risks presented by a fatal infectious disease.”
Only if you ignore the annual flu!
“Team player” means whatever the middle management “captains” want it to mean. No thought given to the idea that not every player should play in the “scrum”, or that some might do better on the “wing” or as “full back”.
Bit of a sweeping statement there! It is not so much that the world is/was attuned to the gregarious and the extrovert, as it is the failure of all common sense and the existence of a common fragility. A lot of what you might classify as ‘extroversion’ is in reality just the fragility of our (technologically) constantly on, constantly connected world. Modern generations have not learned to be alone, or just be, so the constant pressure to be connected is just a manifestation of their personal emotional and psychological fragility.
I am a team player for exactly as long as it takes to get a job done, and then I want my own space, company of my own choosing, and activities away from the herd. To my mind, being an ‘extrovert’ – in today’s world – is a skill that can be learned. Don’t let my Blanchard-esque ‘O’ fool you – I do know the definition of the word, and I still think it can be learned. We are all playing at games all of the time. You just have to gain the (social) skill, and ‘get good’. Perhaps that is the ambivert in me speaking, I have the best of both worlds. If I don’t feel it, I can fake it … it gets the job done.
As for your life outside of work – you only have yourself to blame for that one. 😀
Not exactly accurate – genetic to a degree, but flexible and open to change based on environment and nurture.
As you yourself point out, only 40% have a degree of introversion – the norm is therefore extroversion.
As a child I was so painfully, dysfunctionally introverted that it manfiested in an inability to participate in simple, fun stuff like a four year old’s birthday party. My broken and dysfunctional family life should have exacerbated that, but if you met me today, you would class me as an out and out extrovert. I learned that, and I am completely comfortable as an extrovert. It is a skill, in the same way that you can learn ‘class’ skills like how to behave in ‘polite society’.
I think introversion has more to do with genetic physical attributes. Do you now any good looking people who aren’t extroverts?
The answer to my question is already established in many academic fields – better looking people are by-and-large more sucessfull in life, have an easier time of things, and are, again by-and-large, extroverted. Of course there is an exception to every rule.
I am not offering a remedy for introversion, your’s or anyone’s – but neither am I looking for a cure for my now extroverted character.
You can paint introversion in whatever touchy-feely coulours you like in the name of social equality. But consider this … Research shows a consistent positive association between extroversion and reproductive success, and since extroversion is the norm, one would almost say it is a biological imperative. Humankind would not exist without it. Introversion is a flaw in temperament, at least from a biological perspective. Just own it. We all have flaws. I am rubbish at sport. I own that, and I don’t let it diminish me. Don’t worry, I rubbed my magic ‘I-am-just-stating-the-obvious’ talisman before I typed that last bit.
You call extroverts “utterly shallow” like you somehow won the medal for deep thinking because you are a social shrinking violet. Seems more like deep navel-gazing from over here. And look, here we are having a deep and meaningful converstion about what is apparently an existential crisis for introverts – how to live in an extroverted world.
I know ‘fringes’ of society want to be treated equally with those who form the bell of the curve, but nature isn’t so forgiving. We may have tried to demolish ‘pecking order’ in our allegedly advanced human societies, but instinctively we all know who the ‘alphas’ in our society are – and they are never introverts.
Excellent piece Mr Archer (don’t you wish also that we could drop the christian name epidemic?). I could have written it myself (only, obviously, I didn’t). Particularly agreed with the re-evaluation of the what I now deem to describe as the helpful society. As a species we will never be drone-equal but we should all be valued equally.
I too in pharma (formerly GSK). My entire family lives in Upstate, NY, yet for the last 15 years I’ve lived in Boston, MA as I’ve been OBLIGATED to come in to the office with some regularity. 100% agree that my function in Clinical Development could be done entirely remotely. Looking forward to seeing the impact of some of the changes that will come once this “inadvisable enemy” is destroyed.
I heartily agree with your assessment regarding working from home. The concentration of jobs in major cities or coastal areas (US) has depopulated areas. A shift would revitalize some of these areas as well as provide much more affordable housing. And other businesses would spring up to cater to the increased population. This is the type of redistribution I can get behind. My concern is that companies would try to offshore these jobs.
Great article Graeme. The thought of having to commute daily again scares me and I’m one of the fortunate few to be able to walk or cycle in. I think some kind of situation where you go into the office once or twice a week, or even once or twice month, would be more feasible.
I like the fact there is no more ‘facetime’. I don’t have to make any embarrassed excuses when I log off versus when I left the office at 6pm whilst my colleagues made sure they stay an extra 30 minutes to keep the facade up. I don’t need to pretend to be working at 4pm on Friday when I could actually learn something interesting or have some justified downtime when it’s as bit quieter.
The main difference I’ve noticed is that work becomes more ‘output’ based. Can you meet your deadlines and do the work you’ve been given? If yes, then great, you’ve passed the test.
This equals macro management by default. As long as you’re conscientious (and want to keep your job) you should have the motivation to do the work set to you. If not, then maybe you need supervision. The tiring thing about the office is all the corporate BS; showing your hard work, staying late, ‘grafting’. It really does feel like such an antiquated concept.
If anything it should lead to much greater efficiency. The workers that can stay productive (or at least meet or exceed their output) without supervision will do well. Those that can’t will either have to adapt or stay in the office. Physical office space will be reduced. I know I’ll be looking for future opportunities that are part of this dynamic progression towards working from home.
I’m by no means a Marxist but I can’t help but think Marx would be turning in his grave given the potential for a ‘workers revolution’ of epic scale after this unprecedented societal upheaval. Interesting times.
Fantastic article until he started attacking the legitimate devolved governments of the Celtic Nations. If Graeme is a Scot then he does not understand the history of his own country. Scotland is, after all, an older country than England as a unified polity. There was massive support for the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. If the devolved assembly of Scotland were abolished now there would be significant political and social unrest in Scotland, and rightly so since Parlamaid na h-Alba is a lawfully constituted assembly whose power is fundamentally democratic, which is more than one can say for either Westminster (both houses) and the unelected Windsor clan. The poor performance of the SNP in health and education is an argument FOR full Scottish independence as it demonstrates that the assembly does not have sufficient authority. In this sense, it cannot be held fully responsible either for its successes or failures since it does not have full budgetary and/or political control of the devolved functions.
What a disappointing anti-Scottish diatribe in an otherwise excellent and insightful article.
What a disappointing anti-English diatribe!
Not anti-English. Anti-union. There is a difference and you must learn to understand it.
You have obviously touched a raw nerve with Thales, or as we should call him, Rob Roy.(RR). Well done!
However, all is not lost, for despite his obvious anger with Graeme Archer’s damming essay, he does acknowledge the “poor performance of the SNP in health and education”.
The statement “significant political and social unrest in Scotland” is presumably a bombastic threat of no consequence.
Finally do you happen know what RR means by ‘Parlamaid an h-Alba? Because I’m dammed if I do.
What a disappointment that you should conclude your response to Mr Archer’s splendid essay with a rant on behalf of the SNP. The malice of your comments make you completely unworthy of the pseudonym Thales of Miletus, might I a suggest a change to Rob Roy?
However you will be delighted to know that the enormous cost of this Chinese Death Flu (CDF) epidemic will mean, as Lord Jonathan Sumption so accurately predicted, a massive increase in public debt. It will be a perfect opportunity for ‘England’ to cease subsidising the parasitical ‘fringe’, eg: Scotland, Ulster and perhaps even Wales. Ulster alone with 80% of its jobs in Public Sector costs more annually than the late EU. Scotland, which never seems to have stopped whinging since the Darien fiasco, is still in receipt of the Barnet dole, and much other largesse besides. Additionally the three ‘National Assemblies, that each of these peripheral areas enjoy, represent yet another layer of parasitical bureaucrats that England is expected to pay for.
Perhaps CDF will be your salvation, but beware of what you wish for.
We’re in agreement then – Scotland must be an independent nation and take responsibility for itself. Then Wales, Cornwall and Northern Ireland can follow.
There was nothing ‘rant’ about it. I expressed an opinion that you did not like and it made you angry. In any case, I clearly said that I enjoyed the rest of the Mr. Archer’s article and I am in fundamental agreement with him. In a free society we are free to express our opinions as we choose – even if it upsets you.
The monarchy is no love of mine but surely we in England were lumbered with the Stuarts from Scotland and had to cut off the head of one of therm to make them see reason. When we eventually got rid of them in 1688 we were still lumbered with Mary and Anne and even George One was a distant relative of the clan. Then unelected or not the Scotch connection is to an Englishman not one to celebrate.
When you get full independence you can keep them .
Well said. As I’m sure ‘Rob Roy’ will confirm, the Stuart’s were originally descended from an Anglo-Norman thug called Walter fitz Alan.
When the last proper Scotch, King of Scotland, the drunken sex pest Alexander III fell off his horse, at night, in an inebriated state in 1286, the Scotch crown was fought over by five leading families, all descendants of Anglo-Norman thugs, with Robert the Bruce emerging as the eventual winner. However the Bruce’s were soon to be succeeded by the fitz Alan’s by now renamed Stewart.
Later still this would turn into Stuart.
England’s greatest mistake was to ‘restore’ this wretched family, thanks to the treachery of General Monk, in 1660. We have had live with the ‘corrupt’ consequences ever since.
so anyone’s qualification from any EU country had instantly the same jobs market value as his own); the downward pressure on wages “ Well no actually. Immigrant labour from the EU does low paid work UK spoilt welfare state people refuse to do and these immigrants have downward pressure on their wages. You seem at heart a nationalist and this virus has brought out the worst in the increase and spread of the virus of nationalism worldwide.
Nationalism would have slowed the spread of Covid-19. Open borders on the other hand … Just saying …