{"id":466,"date":"2020-10-21T23:59:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T23:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/2020\/10\/21\/an-autumn-note\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T04:22:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T04:22:58","slug":"an-autumn-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/2020\/10\/21\/an-autumn-note\/","title":{"rendered":"An autumn note"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>ith the usual autumnal retreat into our homes, life takes on a muted and solipsistic quality. Yet, for many, the end of this uneasy year cannot come quickly enough. Not that Covid-19 is likely to adhere to any particular calendar. Boris Johnson\u2019s current three-tiered strategy clearly demonstrates that lockdown, in any guise, may well be as difficult this time around, especially given the scepticism where conflicting science is concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The government is fast losing any modicum of authority and stands to alienate those very voters that helped it to power. In this issue David Swift takes a close look at how the government\u2019s quixotic attempt at stemming the infection rate may have given those first-time Tory voters in the north of the country what can only be termed buyer\u2019s remorse. Johnson\u2019s heroic turn as Alexander in slicing the Gordian Knot of Brexit may yet be undone by his failure to level up the economy and take on the liberal elite.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the clock runs down on the Brexit transition period, Britain\u2019s future relationship with the EU remains unclear. For Stephen Booth \u201cyears of bad-tempered negotiations and political drama have drained the well of trust on both sides\u201d. He assesses whether the hurdles are as insurmountable as they might seem.<\/span><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s diary comes courtesy of Gillian Philip<\/a>, a victim of cancel culture when she was fired for backing J.K. Rowling. \u201cWokeness\u201d, for want of a better noun, is no longer a byword for benign political correctness. Although social justice may have laudable origins, which few can gainsay, it has begun to reveal an insidious and intolerant aspect. The American journalist Bari Weiss, who fell foul of what she termed an \u201cilliberal environment\u201d at the\u00a0New York Times<\/i>, recently offered her Twitter followers advice from a wise source. The concluding paragraphs of Alexander Solzhenitsyn\u2019s essay \u201cLive Not By Lies\u201d are worth repeating here:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 If we are too frightened, then we should stop complaining that we are being suffocated. We are doing this to ourselves. If we bow down even further and wait longer, our brothers the biologists may then help to bring nearer the day when our thoughts can be read and our genes restructured.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0If we are too frightened to do anything, then we are hopeless and worthless people and the lines of Pushkin fit us well:<\/span><\/p>\n

What use to the herds the gifts of freedom?
\n<\/span>The scourge, and a yoke with tinkling bell
\n<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014this is their heritage, bequeathed to every generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The poet Robert Frost sought to define education as \u201cthe ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence\u201d. But has tertiary education outlived its value and usefulness?\u00a0Helen Dale decries ever-expanding higher education<\/a>\u2014\u201cdegrees are an intellectual peacock\u2019s tail and serve to signal a very specific kind of fitness. They also (like the peacock\u2019s tail) habitually get in their owners\u2019 way\u201d\u2014and argues against rewarding people materially on their intelligence alone.\u00a0David Goodhart also persuasively argues<\/a>\u00a0that we must not only serve the cognitive elite\u2014where supply now outstrips demand\u2014but also develop a culture of \u201chearts\u201d and \u201chands\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter (BLM) transcended its status as a social movement and became a watchword.\u00a0Calvin Robinson\u2019s personalised account of his own experience<\/a>\u00a0at the hands of this organisation\u2014and how it attempted to cancel him\u2014reveals how BLM may have missed the point it has been trying to make.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Nigeria turning 60 as an independent nation this month,\u00a0Remi Adekoya asks that we look to Africa rather than the United States for changing negative attitudes to blackness<\/a>. He makes a case for Nigeria\u2014a country of over 200 million\u2014becoming the great black hope of the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the global pandemic has taught us anything\u2014which should include excising irritating phrases, such as \u201cthe new normal\u201d, from common parlance\u2014it is that life, however much we will it otherwise, remains uncertain. Of course, the Stoics knew this early.\u00a0John Sellars makes a strong case for why stoicism still matters<\/a>\u00a0and how its philosophy might provide a guide in the current climate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The distinction between what constitutes poetry and what does not is an argument that is unlikely ever to be resolved.\u00a0The poet Ian Hamilton cuts a stoical and central figure in David Collard\u2019s essay on the \u201cpoetry wars\u201d of the 1970s<\/a>, when traditionalists and radicals battled for the future of verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cinema, Federico Fellini reminds us, \u201cuses the language of dreams\u201d. Lockdown has proved a nightmare for the movie industry.\u00a0Matthew Bond assesses whether this is the end of cinema<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his witty and contrarian\u00a0Overrated<\/a>\/Underrated<\/a>\u00a0column, Stephen Bayley offers us\u00a0lust<\/a>\u00a0over\u00a0love<\/a>. The latter, a recent invention, is prone to unhappiness, a price always having to be paid; whereas the former, well . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

As the country enters another period of uncertainty, with stricter anti-Covid measures likely by the time this magazine hits the newsstands,\u00a0Standpoint<\/i>\u00a0will, more than ever, need the continued support of its many readers and subscribers to survive. Putting out a magazine in these circumstances has not been an easy task\u2014so, dear reader, should the urge come upon you, please do not hesitate to donate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor many, the end of this uneasy year cannot come quickly enough\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[648],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9224,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions\/9224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}