Tuesday 10th January

I am flying home tomorrow.  And home is of course our house in France. I have been back in the U.K. for only three days and cannot wait to get back.  It may be colder, but there is far less wind and rain.  But it is more than that.  I feel so, literally “at home” there, whereas I feel more and more a fish out of water in England.  Who are these people who voted so overwhelmingly for Brexit?  Who are these smart striving young professionals striding along the pavement in their business suits?  I don’t really recognize them and I don’t really recognize my own country any more.  And like so many of our friends out here, if push comes to shove we will become French.

England seems as if it is falling apart at the moment, tube and rail strikes, an NHS in perpetual crisis, a Government that appears to have no sensible plan for Brexit, a Prime Minister who makes bland statements about fairness, but whose Government has made it harder and harder for poorer people to see any future for themselves.  Difficult times call for difficult decisions.  We have had over six years of Austerity which has not only not eliminated or even seriously dented the Deficit but has made the gap between rich and poor far wider.  The only solution is to increase taxes, especially on the more wealthy, and to seriously look at some of our Spending (the replacement for Trident is a good place to start).  We also have to build far more houses, allow councils to borrow on the same terms as the banks (it is called Quantative Easing, but only helps the rich at the moment) to build decent homes for people who have been priced out the market.

I don’t see any improvement for a few years however.  It looks like it is only going to get worse.  I always thought I would live partly in France and partly in England, but that is looking less and less likely now.