At the age of 57 I have seen mindblowing , ridiculous changes in this world of ours. For young people today this is a truly exciting and dangerous time to be alive. When I was young my grandparents in Ireland got about by means of a horse & trap. Laughingly, my Grandfather was also regarded as the local fire-brigade. In the rare event of a fire in the village of Ballyporeen, he was summoned from whichever pub he was holed up in, cycled back to his farm, and attached the cart to the horse, loaded it with the hoses and pump, and then “raced” to the fire. Needless to say, if anyone was unfortunate enough to have a fire (and most of the farms had thatched roofs) they usually lost everything. However, the community rallied around to help the poor family to rebuild their lives. The village had few phones – only the Garda (Police), the doctor and the local priest as far as I remember. We were regarded as wealthy by comparison – we had a Morris 1000 car!

Ireland has changed, it is now a sophisticated and wealthy country, and the population is returning in great numbers. There still remains a deep sense of “caring”within the Irish psyche, but inevitably in a modern, fast moving environment, fewer people have time to stop and talk any more.

I was brought up in Wales, but very much in an Irish Catholic tradition. As a child and a young teenager politics was alien to me. Wales had, and still has, a strong alliance to a Labour movement. It was unquestioned that the Labour party dominated Welsh politics. The standing joke was that if a donkey was nominated it would still be voted for. Quite a few donkeys were in fact voted for. On the other hand, there was a stronghold of principled men and women who took their political views passionately and honestly. Their politics were born from suppression by wealthy businesmen – and generations were kept in ignorance by the establishment (which was composed of the same businessmen). It was the miners in Wales who instigated education for the working class, not the employers or the Westminster dominated rulers.

Russia, and the so-called “Iron Curtain” countries were presented as a dark & dangerous entity, always threatening, waiting for the opportunity to invade the “free” world. Anyone locally who was a known member of the Communist Party was regarded as an eccentric, a fanatic, or a pseudo-intellectual who had gone off the rails. The local Communist Party members, equally, presented news from the Soviet block in a sickeningly biased way, never allowing for criticism of a system which they propagated as a perfect model for mankind.

My first real awakening to politics was around the time of the Cuba crisis. The consequences of this ludicrous nuclear standoff were too large for me to comprehend. I just could not believe that our so-called leaders would get themselves into such an impasse – particularly in the light of lessons that should have been learned from two World Wars. What did they hope to gain by wiping each other out? In fact that is not truthful. What did they hope to gain by wiping each other’s population out while they cowered in their respective bunkers? Has the logic and the wisdom of today’s politicians improved? Needless to say, at this point of awakening for me into the direct consequence of politics – I joined the peace movement. Amusingly, my mother and grand-mother still had pictures set in a single frame of Pope Pius, Pope John Paul & President John Kennedy. If only we had known then what we know now about Kennedy and what a corrupt womaniser he was, my Grandmother would have had a heart attack! We lived at a time when we looked for simple heroes. Knowledge of the reality was suppressed on a massive scale.

In an effort to make sense of life – and to the horror of my parents – I left home at 15 in order to train as a priest. There is a lot to be said for cloistering a person at a young age, filling them with dogma, and letting them loose on the world. Fortunately for the Vatican I began to have serious doubts after I was sent to the English College in Lisboa, Portugal. Learning – as seems to be common practice in most education systems – was about teaching you specific questions and answers by rote. I was something of a thorn in the side of various teachers, as I insisted on asking questions that were not within their framework. Humanae Vitae was a prime example, a papal encyclical regarding birth control. It was proposed that it was “unnatural”. I argued that so were a number of features of modern day life – and suspected that the truth actually lay in the propagation of lots of little new Catholics for the Pope’s army of missionaries! Needless to say, I left the seminary without much aplomb! This was also about the time that Jean Shrimpton brought the mini-skirt to life. What a discovery!!!

What was also interesting at this time was that I was living in Portugal while it was under Salazaar’s dictatorship. I had several brushes with the local police. On one occasion I was happily photographing ships loading and unloading in the beautful Lisboa harbour ( I always had a passion for ships and the sea). What I didn’t realise was that I had also photographed a shipment of British tanks being unloaded for the Portuguese – and then promptly being loaded onto a Portuguese freighter for the wars in Angola, Mozambique. Of course, the British government were ignorant of this breach of Nato rules – like hell! British newspapers would frequently not appear on the stands if the international press was considered too sensitive or critical. I suppose this is the thread that runs through all of this for me – the manipulation of news. To a great extent the internet has largely demolished barriers in the disemmination of propoganda. But I feel that the world , somehow, no longer really cares about the truth of what is going on. Is it because we no longer feel that we have any control? Do people feel that they CAN influence the world about them and at large? During my brief interlude into a hippy culture we certainly believed we could do something to change the world we live in. Admittedly we played a large part in bringing the war in Vietnam to an early closure. But governments were stronger, and more conniving.

This has got something to do with personal responsibility. I suppose that the hippy thing was about the individual – and experiencing life as an individual – even though for most people it was in a drugged haze. People were genuinely looking for an explanation of the crazy, frightening world they lived in, and realised that, accumulatively, they could be an influence for good. We had no idea how manipulative our governments were – maybe some inkling, but we still had some faith in their integrity. Just look at average Americans today – do they question with ANY real depth the agendas and motives of their politicians? Never mind the Americans – do we? In Britain debate seems to be more informed – but probably with more corruption in politics. Politics today leaves me feeling powerless and afraid. Name three honest politicians? Why is this country entrenched in an immoral and illegal war in Iraq? There are plenty of other dictators in the world who need sorting out – but they do not have oil. It makes me laugh to think of Tony Blair coming into power proclaiming open and honest politics. He is a political opportunist, and a traitor to the principles of a Labour movement.

In my youth politics was very parochial. Local matters predominated – unless men were called away to war to “serve King & Country”. Whatever political model is proposed it has one major flaw – the foibles of human beings, and their wish to have control over their own lives. I read an interesting book some years ago about a guy called Krishnamurti. He was set up and educated to be a great religious leader – but rejected this outright. I suggest that everyone should make an opportunity to read at least some of his thinking. He does not promote religion or world saving philosophies or structures. But he makes some interesting comments on how we might view our lives.

At least life has taught me never to trust politicians or political leaders, to question everything they say with a degree of suspicion. Funnily, they are becoming disempowered as multi-national corporations now call the shots. Religion, again, I now view with even more suspicion. I have given up trying to find answers to questions that will never be found. My Christian upbringing has given me some sort of framework when approaching life – but the answers it provides make no sense any longer. If there is a meaning to life, it will always be beyond our comprehension. Why bother wasting time worrying about questions that will never be answered? Religion does teach us something about caring for our fellow man – but more actively is one of the biggest driving forces in instigating wars. Maybe George Harrison summed it up succinctly before his death. He said “Love each other”. Could we ask for more?

As far as Missile Launchers are concerned… Chris was given a toy missile launcher for Christmas which connects to the PC. I’m not sure how this works, but Irina was charged with returning to Kazakhstan with it in her luggage. Now, in these times of mega-airport security, there was much discussion regarding whether this should go in hand or hold luggage. I must admit to finding this proposition highly amusing – because irina is the most unlikely potential terrorist one could find. I presume this arrived safely, and without causing a major incident , and now is installed an amuses the cat!

As far as the AK47 is concerned – that is another story. I have just been invited to the pub, where undoubtedly we will again put the world to right!

p.s. Chris had a foul cold while they were with us over Christmas. This photo of him on Christmas morning is cruel !! This is what I call extreme “wrapping up”