Sheep No More

The weekend just gone, witnessed the first outing of SNM at the Garlic Festival on the Isle of Wight. A handful of copies of the paper and ink book went home with new owners and an encouraging amount of interest in the eBook version was generated. It was very rewarding to meet new people and have some pretty intense conversations, some of which were quite challenging. All-in-all, a very good experience and one to build on.

Two widely shared opinions came across forcefully. The first is that Brits are sickened at the trashing of their country and have no faith whatsoever in any of our politicians, an opinion I share and that is common to people like me who are not defeatist by nature. The other opinion 'that it's all too late and nothing can be done' comes from people who've all but given up, and who I cannot agree with despite understanding the pessimism.

Summer 2012 has been quite a time for me and lots of lessons have been learnt. The Queens Diamond Jubilee and accompanying appearance of the Union Flag, almost to saturation point, tells me that the British have a powerful desire to be united and be able to feel pride in their nation once more. Then followed the success of Team GB at the Olympics and we witnessed what hard work and a positive mindset can achieve. At the Garlic Festival this weekend and as a result of all those conversations partaken of, it struck me that the 'Team GB' concept needs to be expanded and the much talked of matter of 'legacy' be tackled from an 'every walk of life' perspective, so taking in politics, the law, commerce, the whole kit and caboodle. Doing so will be the subject of my next posting.