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In search of optimism on Hampstead Heath
Not everyone is depressed at the state of things, as I found out last weekend
This year’s HowTheLightGetsIn festival gathered thinkers at Kenwood House, at the top of Hampstead Heath in North London. In between the panels and the discussions, we thought it would be a chance to look for some optimism. The news is full of bleakness and anxiety… would anyone make the case for a positive vision of the next year?
It seems that every organisation and the media finds a need to exaggerate every problem or issue. Minor problems become crises. A couple of days ago National Grid said that in a worst case scenario we might have power cuts this winter. A minister came on the radio and said “They do that every year” and yet the BBC and all the newspapers have headlines which screamed “Power cuts this winter”.
They are screaming for attention
My (sort of) motto:
Keep media consumption (including some Unherd articles) down to a minimum. It reminds me of the character with the loudhailer in The Wizard if Oz at times.
That was a fun video and it looked like a fun event (I thought it always rained in the UK but the weather was perfect).
A timely reminder that all is not doom and gloom in the world and we still live in a time of plenty. Let’s figure out how to keep it that way.
Hilarious. As she says right at the end, among “the north London liberal elite”. What have that lot got to be miserable about, the rising price of organic yoghurt? But still, lots of hand-wringing and lecturing about how “we” (ie “you”) need to be prepared to give up the things you take for granted. Of course, when you’re one of the liberal elite, you can give up an awful lot of stuff and still have an awful lot of stuff left.
Going in search of optimism on Hampstead Heath sounds like the sort of thing Rory Stewart would do.
Light cannot penetrate a North London liberal elite bubble. These people are so removed from reality it hurts.
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