World’s in a mess, let’s find some joy

If you don’t like people, put up with them as well as you can. Don’t try to love them… try to tolerate them. On the basis of that tolerance a civilised future may be built.

What the..? You turn your back for a couple of weeks’ R&R (rosé and reblochon cheese), and it all goes to you-know-what with the world. There’s yet another heatwave that’s claimed lives and devastated French forests, Spanish and Welsh mountain-scapes and Lancashire moorlands. The USA has forgotten where it put the paperwork for the Iran peace-deal, so it’s starting things up again in the Middle East. The MP for Clacton has resigned to, in the words of our current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, “spend the Summer arguing with a bin”. SkyBet currently has Count Binface at 5:1 to win, that’s got to be worth a punt, surely. And Sam Neill – Dr Alan Grant – has died.

On the plus side, there’s a tournament across the pond that seems to be going quite well, though I don’t want to jinx anything. My sweepstake picks were eliminated long ago anyway.

Then of course there’s the tragic death of the former Maidstone MP Ann Widdicombe. I don’t want to add too many of my thoughts to the very many that are already out there. Social media speculation is unhelpful and could be damagingly prejudicial to any case that gets brought.

I will just say that, for many people, politics is a job that pays the bills, for some it’s a step on their quest to be “World King”, for others, it’s a vocation, a calling. There are those who enter politics because they want to make the world a better place, and I think Widdicombe did just that. What that better place looks like is different for everyone, depending on their political persuasion, but that’s a democracy.  An elderly lady was killed in her own home. That’s not right, whatever you might think of her political opinions.

It feels a little disrespectful to try and go from that to shoehorning in a plug for our BMJ Industry Awards, but it needs stating: we have extended the voting deadline until the end of next week. We want to make sure everyone does get the chance to vote for their favourites, in case they’ve been distracted by the footy and the heatwave. Decisions are made by those who turn-up, as a better writer than I am once put it. In this case, the decisions are made by those who pop over to the website and make their choice.

When the world is turning to crap, we have to grab the chances to enjoy ourselves where we can. Because there is no better way to spend a day than celebrating joyfully with people you love and respect, as I did on Saturday. If you know, you know.