The Critical Commentator

  People in Wales are generally immensely proud of their roots, be it village, town or valley. Yet while they maintain their sense of home, I have never been left in any doubt that I am welcome. Growing up in England, I have moved around the Midlands. West Bromwich, Leicester, Northampton and Coventry are all places I had considered my home. Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful childhood, but I had never found the place that spoke to my heart. But from the moment I came to Wales, I felt that I had met a friend I never knew I needed. Everything about this country struck a chord with me. The Welsh are independent of mindset and nonconformist, and I love that. Wales is a land of geographical beauty and diverse wildness, but it is not the magnificent landscape of Wales that makes this home. It has always been the people... Arenig James Dickson Innes (1887-1914) Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]   The Welsh are perpetually the underdog. Like my beloved Baggies, [West Bromwich ...

  The tax burden is at its highest sustained level in more than seventy years. An ageing population and consequent need for more spending on health, social care and pensions, means that, whatever the politicians may tell you, there will be more tax rises, if not soon then certainly within the decade. In the UK we are around average in the developed world in terms of the size of our state. We tax and spend rather less than most of our Western European neighbours but rather more than the US, Canada and other non-European members of the OECD... There is nothing in economics which says we can't have a bigger state. France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are all successful economies which raise a lot more in tax than we do, and spend a lot more as well. What we can't have are American levels of tax and European levels of public spending... We have to make choices. If we want better public services we will have to raise more in tax. If we want to cut tax we have to be honest abo...

  What will perhaps confound future historians most is how loudly the alarm bells have been ringing.  The Bells of St Mark's, Venice Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) Photo Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust [Public Domain] France, the UK and Germany - the great pillars of the old European order - are crumbling... but what astounds this commentator observing from inside the edifice, as it were, is how incapable the peoples of old Europe are at even diagnosing the rot, let alone addressing it. France is a chastening case in point... This has nothing to do with left or right, Macron or Le Pen, the Fifth Republic or popular divisions. The problem is the French people; the demos , if you will... It is the settled and immoveable will of the French people to live beyond their means; to enjoy ever rising welfare, social spending and subsidies while balking at the higher taxes, longer working hours and delayed pensions required to pay for them. The sovereign debt now stands at 120 per cen...

  Well, sometimes a shrunken jumper is not just a shrunken jumper. At times, we all find ourselves reaching for a protective outer layer that feels comfortable and comforting because it is impenetrable. We unconsciously believe that this psycho-emotional thermal will shield us from the cold, darkness and rejection that threaten to come from other people and, perhaps more frighteningly, from within us. It feels safe and warm inside this protective force field - but the reality is that, in a fundamental way that has nothing to do with oxygen, we cannot breathe. We might feel relieved to be at a distance from others who could reject us, but we might also find ourselves unable to make contact with others who could offer us love, care and attention. And we might find ourselves unable to love them back... The Yellow Jumper William Mouat Loudan (1868-1925) Photo Credit: Atkinson Art Gallery Collection [CC BY-NC-SA] I often wonder about the psychological and emotional meaning of wearing cl...