Absent Friends & Missing Persons

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

All I can say is that having lived abroad for almost a quarter of a century, in three different countries, I've become very intolerant of the synecdoche ... that uses the word "you" to describe an entire nation, or, in this case, its ruling class. The concept of nationality is a way of dividing people. We can however refuse to play that game.

Indeed - in this instance it appears to have turned an abstract, or at least general, comment into a "personal" one.

[ahinton]

I wrote to am51 on a number of occasions and last heard back from him towards the back end of 2014; I don't know what might have happened since then...

[Pulcinella]

Back on track.....

I miss Threni (well, I would say that, wouldn't I?).
Any idea what became of him? (Think it was a 'he' not a 'she'!)

[Alain Maréchal]

As if to prove the truth of the accusation, at least in my case, could you help me with the names of the states to which you refer?

Slovenia and Croatia. I was in error about the E.U. status; both countries are within the E.U. (I was thinking of Serbia. I confess that it is difficult even for a citizen of the one of the founder members to keep up to date about the Balkans).

[Beef Oven!]

Alain said his interest in the UK has now become peripheral.
BeefO took that to mean that Alain wrote off 66 million people as peripheral.

No he did not. Read his post. He said he's written us off as hopeless and threw peripheral in as well. Well I for one take issue with him stereotyping Britain and its citizens.

I sympathise with Alain's attitude, but also happen to think that as a nation we have indeed become a peripheral concern to the rest of the world, though that is NOT what Alain said. No doubt I will be thought of as 'talking this country down'

.

There's the rub. Just because you both think alike does not mean that Alain wasn't being insulting.

[Richard Barrett]

Slovenia and Croatia. I was in error about the E.U. status; both countries are within the E.U. (I was thinking of Serbia. I confess that it is difficult even for a citizen of the one of the founder members to keep up to date about the Balkans).

Well, living in Serbia as I do, I do have an eye on what's going on in the Balkans; I had assumed your reference was to Macedonia and Greece. I would be happy to explain Serbia's current complex relationship with the EU and that country's possible accession to it if anyone's interested.

As for 23 June 2016, the decision to plunge the country into all that was indeed taken by a relatively small proportion of the ruling class, mainly as an ill-fated attempt to pacify another relatively small proportion of the ruling class. (Which is why I refused to take part in the whole sorry exercise.) Most people in the country have more important things to think about almost all of the time, just as (presumably) when Belgium had no government at all for almost two years most people there got on with their lives as per normal. When it comes to self-inflicted political chaos, let the citizen of the country without sin cast the first stone!

[Richard Tarleton]

Slovenia and Croatia. I was in error about the E.U. status; both countries are within the E.U. (I was thinking of Serbia. I confess that it is difficult even for a citizen of the one of the founder members to keep up to date about the Balkans).

I guessed wrong - I thought you might mean Greece and Macedonia . Two countries I for one know quite well as it happens (Croatia and Slovenia that is).....for anyone who wants to know a bit more about this issue....

The Eastern Question predates the EU by about 400 years.....just as we near one answer, they change the question.....

Snap - just seen RB's post (and accidentally edited it, now deleted, apologies for that)

[Richard Barrett]

Apropos: I don't have the feeling that Serbia will be joining the EU any time soon, principally because of disputes over the status of Kosovo of course, but I recall that at the end of June 2016 I was congratulated by a violinist friend in Belgrade for "my country" having voted to leave the EU. There is much division of opinion about it in Serbia, although I dare say the EU privatisation steamroller will eventually do its work there too.

[Alain Maréchal]

when Belgium had no government at all for almost two years most people there got on with their lives as per normal. When it comes to self-inflicted political chaos, let the citizen of the country without sin cast the first stone!

A common misconception about how Belgium is governed. We continued to have plenty of (probably too much) government: Flanders and Wallonie each have their own, there are regions within those, the Francophone, Dutch-speaking and German-speaking communities each have their parliament. What was missing was central and foreign-policy government, but we had the foreign and economic direction of the E.U., and as you say, we got on surprisingly well. There was no chaos. Most of us thought it was exasperating but fun.

The Slovenia-Croatia dispute has flared up again this New Year (or Christmas to RB, in Serbia) and the rhetoric is heightening.

[jean]

Where is the sneering, pray?
I, for one, think Alain is absolutely correct in his assessment: we (the British) are a lost cause, doomed to the periphery of existence.

But in that post, Alain was givng a reason why he might no longer want to talk to individual Britons on this forum.

[french frank]

But in that post, Alain was givng a reason why he might no longer want to talk to individual Britons on this forum.

I think that personalises it more than was the case. The prime reason seemed to be the dwindling interest in R3. The secondary comments might have been better left unsaid, given that they could have been predicted to inflame comments and introduce OT arguments which suck others in.

[Serial_Apologist]

But in that post, Alain was givng a reason why he might no longer want to talk to individual Britons on this forum.

Not the impression I had from reading Alain's original post, in which he used "you" as a generic term for the UK, as people in many countries including the UK often do, and not in any personal sense. One or two on here have used that to deliberately pick up the wrong end of the stick, I feel.

Ah - my typing is slow - ff has put it much better than I.

[Lat-Literal]

It remains the case that midnight on NYE 2017 is the only time in this century when all of the people born before it were adults and all of the people born in it were children.

[Richard Barrett]

Most of us thought it was exasperating but fun

Let's hope British people eventually feel that way about B****t!

I really didn't want to make this into an argument by the way. There may be only one thing you read about in the news concerning the UK but that doesn't necessarily reflect what most people are thinking about most of the time, just as with the Belgian situation in 2010-11.

[doversoul1]

Flosshilde. Anybody heard from him? And Pegleg who popped into the Early Music board about this time last year but then disappeared again. I hope all is well with you if you are reading this.