"The world we made"

Jonathon Porritt's new book envisions the world as it will be 37 years hence, in 2050. It's a fictional memoir, looking back to yesterday, today and the intervening years, and postulating that we have responded to all the warnings that he amongst others have issued to date: that unless we alter course sharply, our world then will not be a pleasant place into which to be born.

It is getting on for 37 years ago that I first met Jonathon, in the heady, fairly early days of the Ecology Party: with the eloquence and passion he showed at Party gatherings, he stood out from the pack. I admired, not least, the way he used his experience as a comprehensive school teacher for tackling conference hecklers; but more significantly he was amongst the first to join me and others in recognising that God and his creation were the elephant in the room. As a result, we went on to establish what is now Christian Ecology Link. (I took this photograph of him at our annual conference last year, where he was a keynote speaker.)

Nobody has worked more unrelentingly for the green cause. Not that we have always seen eye to eye. In sending me my copy of The world we made Jonathon expressed the hope that what he has written about population "won't be too infuriating." "Hostile to addressing population issues," the book says, "was a great army of environmentalists and left-wing politicians in Western countries," arguing "that the real issues were poverty, injustice and over-consumption in the West." Mea culpa. The book goes on, "This kind of approach was not just stupid, but cruel." As Jonathon envisages in his inscription, my question remains, does the end then justify the means?

Various turns in Jonathon's career have been marked by his publishing a new book, but none will - I guess - have brought great riches through royalties. The world we made may just be different. "For me," Jonathon says in his postscript, "writing this book has been a big deal." And indeed an immense amount of research and imagination has gone into it. As you expect from a Phaidon publication, it is beautifully produced and presented. Comprehensive, authoritative, easy to read, and aimed at an international non-specialist market, I foresee it selling well. The question here is, will it release the energies in its readers that are needed to produce the change it predicates? And as a supplementary, how much flying will the author have to do to promote those sales?

Jeremy Faull RIP

The name Faull first became familiar to me in the 1960s: a new law firm had sprung up, Faull, Best & Knight. The trio was a breakaway from Theodore Goddard: Jeremy Faull - he was frank enough to admit in later years - was the one who asked for his name to be first, and so it came to pass. A decade or so later, the London solicitor turned himself into a Cornish farmer, immersing himself in local politics, and becoming the first Ecology Party County Councillor: Paul Tyler, now a Lib Dem peer, was the vanquished candidate. Retirement from farming gave Jeremy and his family the opportunity to make a more eco-friendly home for themselves over the road, a clever barn conversion, with the most beautiful view from its garden. And then there was the Wadebridge Bookshop, one of a dying breed, which he owned for many years, a great attraction to literary holidaymakers in North Cornwall: Jeremy presided there with quiet enthusiasm, making available to anyone in need his immense stock of knowledge and wise counsel. He truly loved life. Nobody quite matched his combination of sportsman, raconteur, bon viveur and radical thinker. He took the piss brilliantly too.

12 months ago, on our South Coast walk together, he was struggling for breath: that struggle intensified throughout this year, and today we heard the very sad news of his death. He, the most encouraging and constant friend anyone could hope to have, will be so very widely missed.

Cleaning the stables

This photograph may not at first seem to relate that closely to the title of this blog (and the FT blog to which it's linked). Patience.

That was forwarded to me by Tony Weston, a university friend who lives in Prague: he keeps a close eye on the international scene, including what's going on in the UK. I don't often rush for the FT myself, but the article seemed to me worth sharing more widely. I enjoyed the Responses too, and was struck by Esther Phillips' comment: I am tempted to conclude that people with “common sense” don’t go into politics and hence there can be no “common sense” found amongst politicians. It was this realisation thirty years ago that pushed me towards joining what was then quite a new political party, the Ecology Party. There I met Jonathon Porritt, who - unlike me - is still a member of what is now the Green Party. In spite of his high profile in affairs environmental over the whole of the intervening period, Jonathon has never gone into mainstream party politics - having, as Esther Phillips would say, far too much common sense.

Five years ago yesterday, Caroline planned a major surprise dinner for my 60th birthday at Stanway Tithe Barn, and was cross with Jonathon's wife Sarah for spilling the beans - inadvertently. On that occasion, another university friend, Colin Russell made an embarrassingly elaborate speech in my favour. This year, for my 65th birthday (and to mark my retirement), she planned another, smaller dinner, which was a complete surprise - only revealed at teatime (when this photograph was taken). Though two of the special guests - Edmund and Claire - had to cry off at the last moment, Leo and Mini came, and also the Porritts and the Russells. On a warm, sunny evening, we sat in the garden drinking champagne (provided by Colin and Jessica), before going indoors for a delicious dinner with excellent conversation: exactly how a birthday should conclude!