I can’t stop myself

that’s a cormorant on our golf course

It is difficult to pen a blog just now without wanting to write something about the Harry and Meghan ‘thing’. Ordinarily I would leave well alone because I’m just not that interested – there are many many more important things going on (like sorting the mould out in our bedrooms, and the £23bn test and trace system which has shown ‘little discernible benefit’ according to a committee of MPs). And, like nearly all of us, I know very little about it – not really – and, as a result, I should keep my opinions to myself. But …

This is not just Palace versus Sussex – a second division football match. We are in this as well. Us, led by the press. It’s a triumvirate. And I accept my portion of responsibility.

I am not a royalist. But neither am I a republican. I sense that our country gets something from the monarchy. It adds something, more than just a touristy allure. And now that, as I understand it, the Civil List/Sovereign Grant has been paired back (enough?) and we no longer pay for the minor royals not to work – with some of them holding down decent jobs and/or competing in sports at a high level – we might well be getting value for money. And if we want something, and the Royal Family are it, then we should pay for it.

Are they anachronism? Should we really have to defer so deeply in their presence? Could they try and be a little but more human? Possibly ‘yes’ to all those questions. Are they institutionally racist? Do they disregard their own when they have mental health issues? Well, do we actually know the answer to those questions? We can’t be sure. However, and here’s the big thing I’ve learned in the last decade or so: as a middle-aged white man I absolutely cannot comment on whether or not something is or is not racist. I can’t. I cannot know. I have no idea, because I am a privileged middle-aged white man. And, as someone who has never suffered from mental health issues and certainly never thought to take his own life, I am not in a position to judge as to whether someone else is or has. So if Meghan said she was suicidal, and we sense that she’s been treated in a racist way, we probably should leave it at that.

And, let’s be clear about Harry for anyone who’s thinking of judging. Leaving aside following on behind his mother’s coffin in front of a huge global audience, he spent 10 years in the military, with two tours of Afghanistan at the height of the conflict. For one of those he flew an Apache helicopter, arguably the most difficult man-directed mechanical thing ever invented. I’d take him at his word every time.

Should they have done the interview? Leaving aside the very sound argument of ‘what you’re prepared to share’ versus ‘what is stolen from you and then shared against your will’, my jury is out. Sure they’ll get paid a lot and that’s an attraction. And maybe they thought it was the only way to get the House of Windsor to wake up (the present tense of ‘woke’, by the way) and get these things right. Maybe the Sussex’s thought they were doing them a favour? I dunno. I’m not sure I would have gone on Oprah in the way they did. But I’m not judging them.

Finally, the press … and us. I have a thing here. I have personally (professionally) been on the wrong side of the press twice. And I wasn’t happy. They are sensationalists and they have an agenda. Every time. They would argue they have to be that way in order to sell their stories – and bad stories sell better than good ones. It’s human nature. And I could go on about the right-wing press barons, but you’ll have to wait for book 7 in the Sam Green thriller series to read more. But they clearly have a thing against Meghan Markle and, therefore, Harry. And they force opinions. We live in a divided country – more now than I ever remember. Right versus left. Brexit versus remain. Independence versus unionism. We are encouraged to take sides by the press – their side, whatever their editor thinks we should feel – when most of us are somewhere in the middle. They, and they always have, focused opinion. In this particular argument, nearly exclusively against Meghan Markle.

When they do, we must remember who owns them. Remember who pays the editors and how those editors were selected in the first place. And we should remember that people like Piers Morgan become people like Piers Morgan because they are narcissists. They crave attention. Our attention. They are outspoken not because they necessarily have those views … but because having those views keeps them in employment. The press are in it for the sales. No more, no less. And that drive continues to put pressure on those in the public eye whilst encouraging us, mere mortals, to take more and more partisan views.

And I have no idea what we do about that.

Finally, I think it’s worth bearing in mind that whilst the The Daily Mail had a Meghan and Harry special yesterday (13 pages – and we know which side they’re batting for), Prince Andrew continues to fail to be interviewed by the FBI in relation to the Epstein paedophile racket. I don’t remember seeing a Price Andrew special, or the realms and realms of print and other media interest (other than the quite excellent Emily Maitlis interview) on Andrew’s relationship with Epstein and those girls. Do we know why? Is it simply because Markle is black? Divorced? American? Or is it more contrived than that? More nefarious?

Who knows.

if it doesn’t move …

Anyhow. Enough.

I’ve finished resealing Doris’s 7 roof lights. And we’ve started some minor painting and decorating. Other than that, it’s been business as usual for us oldies.

Doris’s very clean roof

Keep safe everyone.