History lesson

DISMAL DAY, rain and more rain.

A delivery this morning brings me a package from Amazon - a book I ordered, a history book that I read when I was doing my A-levels.

The Strange Death of Liberal England was first published in 1935, not long after the events it describes transpired. I remember George Dangerfield's account of the collapse of a major British political movement as both informative and hugely entertaining - more like reading a engaging novel than a dry textbook.

I suppose I've always been aware that we are all passing through our bit of history - and all the more so when I look over some of the events I've witnessed in my own life, social and political.

And the lesson history teaches us? I suppose it teaches that change, inevitable and unstoppable, is not cyclical in shape, but more of a spiral - sometimes it appears to be going back on itself, but it never really does.

It's like the old Zen saying has it: "The water changes always, the river remains the same".

Anyhow, I look forward to reading my book.