Bill Anderson – The Good Life

I don’t have television at home, and these days I’m happy about that. I do follow what’s going on in the UK, but don’t obsess about it. I don’t have any property in the UK, can’t vote there, so my interest is fleeting, but right now I am glad that I have made Spain my home.

The UK seems to be in a complete shambles: thousands of illegal migrants, of whom I am sure some are genuine asylum seekers, but  the vast majority of whom seem to want to be in the UK for the generous treatment offered to them.

Then there is the whole issue of Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) where people may not be able to use their private transport to get from A to B, unless of course they pay the fee for using it, in which case they don’t damage the environment. I guess that’s fine if you are earning £100,000 a year, but not when you are choosing between eating or heating. I know that Spain has now jumped on this bandwagon where populations of more than 50,000 will have to introduce these measures, but I’m not entirely sure that the Spanish people will take this lying down, especially in this part of Spain where the public transport system is totally unfit for purpose.

Of course, on the back of ULEZ is camera surveillance where you can’t go to the toilet without someone  checking up on how long you take. It doesn’t appear that this level of surveillance  even stops crime or catches offenders because the police are more concerned about people’s Social Media posts offending others than actually solving crimes.

Then comes the threatened censoring of free speech, as if it isn’t already happening. The BBC already has a Disinformation unit, then the Online Safety Bill is awaiting Royal consent. They will soon be reaching the point that saying “Hello, how are you?” will get you into trouble if said in the wrong tone or to the wrong person.

Cancel culture seems to be the order of the day in the UK, too. Comedians cancelled at the Edinburgh festival, TV presenters losing their fellowships of esteemed bodies because their expressed ideas are incompatible, people having their bank accounts closed without notice because their views are not compatible with the Bank’s values.

Now they are talking about police having the right to break into people’s homes and having them convicted for not having the right form of heating. What the hell!

There were times in the past when I thought about going back to the UK, either because work was slow here, or the Spanish bureaucracy was getting me down, but I have no regrets about not acting on my inclinations. Every country has their own cracks in the system and idiosyncrasies which often you don’t see until you have been there a while, but I guess I’ll be seeing my days out in Spain. With all its flaws, we have a good life here.