‽istis ponders
cost and value (weekending July 1st 2023)
This week ‽istis has been
wondering about cost and value – and in particular in relation to a number of
topics both nearer and further away…
·
Pledges: the value and cost of setting
out difficult/maybe even impossible-to-deliver pledges[i]
– such as ‘stop the boats’. The disproportionate financial cost of pursuing a
particular scheme/solution to the Courts and back. The electoral cost (if we
are lucky, some might say) of ‘dogma’tically continuing with an approach that
perhaps seems to be more about ideology than practicality (or even
‘humanitarian-ity’) and has been judged to be illegal[ii].
The human cost to those who are at the very, very sharp end of what could be seen
as a blunt policy. Perhaps even the cost to the psychological well-being of
those who have designed the scheme and the ‘people’ in whose names they claim
to deliver it – is this what we are really like? Perhaps, possibly, maybe there
are other solutions[iii]:
o
‘processing’ asylum claims in France
o
speedier processing in the UK
o
even welcoming the resilient, resourceful
people who still wish to come here; allowing employment opportunities whilst
ensuring that there are sufficient affordable homes, school places, health care
for those who have perhaps been led to believe that it is ‘them’ coming over
here taking from ‘us’ that explains their own perceived disadvantage – when maybe
somehow it is the social and financial wealthy and powerful who could be seen
as a shared ‘other’?
· An evening spent with the Welsh National Opera and its limited run production of ‘Candide’[iv]. Extraordinary, ‘bonkers’, cartoon characters in front and behind a fine mesh screen inter-acting literally with cartoon animations – amazing! Many singers with years and years of training to perfect that rarified ‘high’ art (and perhaps divisive) form of the operatic voice. An orchestra on stage – presumably aspiring to a quality of sound production such that we may not have noticed had it indeed been recorded (with the benefit of repeat and better-than-before takes) and then produced through the best of speakers. How much must the production have cost – overall and per performance? How might we value it?
And what of the story? Dreadful, dreadful occurrences – death and rape and smallpox and shipwreck and catastrophic natural disaster... Yet cartoon-ed, trauma-less, sanitised, humour-ised, made palatable, turned into entertainment. All the more a shame perhaps given the potential to deliver a biting, mirror-holding-up, devastating critique of the present.
And what of the tone? Seemingly racial and cultural and gender and sexual stereotypes – perhaps Voltaire’s and of his time; possibly Bernstein’s and the many librettists and of their time; maybe the producers’ and creatives’ - and ours - and of our time?
The whole thing seemed very costly (financially) and at the same time not very costly perhaps in terms of emotional impact or possibly consequence-impact or maybe deep-thought provoking impact; hardly life-changing…‽ So, I have to cultivate my garden in or to grow what may or may not have ever been, is now, or ever will be the best of all possible worlds…?
Yet ‽istis cannot help but
wonder about the value: a few evenings’ ‘entertainment’ for a few thousand
people, a substitute ‘tonight’ for the TV or cinema or a myriad of pass-times;
a short period of employment for some in an industry of relatively high
unemployment; a date filled in the programme of a small number of theatres; a ‘product’ to demonstrate the allocation and
use of grants and benefactions…
·
The potential cost of bailing out (pun
intended) spluttering (pun intended) privatised water companies and
their shareholders[v] –
and the cost of cleaning up the rivers and sea… Who is to pay? Dividends and managers’ bonuses
- subsidised? Polluters - subsidised? The private and corporate owners of the
means of provision – subsidised and hedging their bets (pun intended) that this
will not change? And yet… the precious value of clean water. Worth that cost. And
we are held over a barrel (perhaps not quite literally!)?
· Russia and Ukraine[vi]… the cost… perhaps, possibly maybe no more need be said - as the value of life, the life of children and adults, and livelihoods, and ways of life and living, and organising and governing seems to be held in such contempt. What a pathetic failure of politics, of the contemporary world, of leadership, of governing arrangements, of us as a species… pathetic and pitiful… again and again.
Pathetic failure proven with every bullet made and sold and bought and ‘given’
and loaded and fired and entering flesh… Pathetic failure proven with every bomb and
missile made and sold and bought and ‘given’ and loaded and fired or dropped
and smashing through homes and schools and hospitals and community buildings
and civic buildings and smithereening people almost indiscernible from me and
you and now barely recognisable to their parents or children or friends…
·
The cost of action or inaction (sins of
commission or omission) in relation to safeguarding arrangements[vii]
in the Church of England and the redemptive value of listening to and
learning from those who have experienced abuse and those whom they trust… lives and reputation and trust and faith sacrificed
(religious language intended)?
·
The cost of achieving what was valued as a world
record: the ‘deepest’ completion of a Rubik’s cube puzzle under the
ocean[viii]…
·
The cost of a lack of progress on reducing harmful
emissions in the UK[ix]
– the value of life, the value of the planet…
So,
as the week ends, ‽istis laments the cost - and ponders values and the value we
give… because just perhaps, possibly, maybe things could be different‽
©‽istis
NB: further reflections and
comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog entries to be found on
Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval,
sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. Twitter ‘follows’
and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i] https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/cost-of-living-crisis/2023/06/rishi-sunak-pledge-tracker-five-promises-2023
[ii]
References include: https://ukandeu.ac.uk/rwanda-policy-unlawful-unpacking-the-court-of-appeals-decision/
[iii]
References include: https://cpr.unu.edu/publications/articles/can-stop-the-boats-solve-the-uks-migration-problems.html
& https://www.migrationpolicy.org/country-resource/united-kingdom?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiL3mwLXv_wIVGdvtCh3CiQ8JEAAYASAAEgKVRvD_BwE
& https://msf.org.uk/issues/tell-uk-government-provide-safe-routes-people-seeking-sanctuary?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn4_-07Xv_wIVGoFQBh0BZgBfEAAYAiAAEgJDw_D_BwE
& https://ukandeu.ac.uk/rwanda-policy-unlawful-unpacking-the-court-of-appeals-decision/
[v] https://www.itv.com/watch/news/cost-of-living-crisis-reports-that-water-companies-planning-40percent-bill-hike/58gqz02
[vi] https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/conflict/
And plenty of other conflicts are available, including in the Darfur region,
Syria, the ‘Holy’ land…
[vii]
Many references available, including this perspective: https://medium.com/backyard-theology/the-church-of-england-mired-in-another-safeguarding-crisis-6638be44a0f
