The Calm Before The Storm

The time is out of joint -- next week promises, in the words of the late John Cameron Swayze,  "to be filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times."  Some examples:

On September 17th, Scotland will decide whether to go it alone, or not. An earlier Westphalian * attempt at becoming an independent nation state failed at Culloden in 1745;  we shall see what transpires in 2014. Certainly there are pros; certainly there are
cons; to explore these in detail would be beyond the scope of this missive. While William Wallace and Robert The Bruce are much in our minds, we shall hold off on such an exercise until the Scots have reached a decision.

Another Westphalian issue has to do with the nation state of Ukraine, whose Eastern borders have been invaded by rebels wishing a closer relationship with Russia. According to press reports, Vladimir Putin wonders who these rebels are, and where they acquired some very sophisticated weapons, including a ground to air missile platform capable of bringing down a Malaysian airliner. What the rebels had against Malaysia escapes me, although I note that the U.N. blames Israel for the whole mess. In any event, a somewhat shaky ceasefire is in force -- we shall await events.

Other pending events include the growing menace of the ebola virus, the growing menace of the Islamic State thugs, and the parlous state of Afghanistan. All are awaiting resolution of one kind or another.

Fed up with all this gloom and indecision, and following Monty Python's dictum in the Life of Brian, I looked for things "on the bright side of life" and conclude with two.

At the Toronto Film Festival, the British actress Keira Knightley was besieged by a vicious wind of gale proportions. This resulted not in having a bad "hair day" but a coif reduced to a total shambles. Ms Knightley handled it brilliantly, frantically pushing her unruly locks away from her face and shouting "Oh, the elements! The elements".

This instantly brought to mind Little Eva bravely crossing the ice floes in Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and triumphing against all odds. Ms Knightley also triumphed, well armed with a finely-honed sense of humour.

The second bright spot was one of the most unusual things I have ever seen. Canada's austere Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, ACTUALLY GOT EXCITED ABOUT SOMETHING. There he was, deep in the Arctic, bubbling and chirping away happily about being present when one of the ships from the ill-fated Franklin expedition was discovered. A side of Stephen I had not seen before, and in my opinion the electorate need to see more of that side of him.

I mean, it's nice now and then to get in touch with your humanity.

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* The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, an outcome of the Thirty Years War, formulated the notion of a "nation state" that had sole jurisdiction of matters that were within the borders of that state. Vladimir Putin needs to brush up on his history. -- Ed.