Today is my birthday, a traditional time for reflection. Here are a number of maxims on how we conduct our lives (and politics) which I find of interest.
1. 1. This is from a talk by a humanist which I I heard on the radio some years ago. I can’t remember the speaker’s name or the title of the broadcast. It can’t have been “Thought for the Day” as humanists weren’t allowed on that and maybe still aren’t.
Beyond our physical needs for safety, warmth, shelter, drink and food everyone has three psychological needs:
- that someone cares what happens to them (usually a partner, parent, offspring, relation or friend);
- that someone or something benefits from their having lived;
- that they pay their way.
I believe all three, and especially the third, to be true. I think no-one actually enjoys being a “sponger” or passenger.” Some, forced into that position (benefits scroungers?) may try to save face by pretending to boast about it, but would really like a job with a decent income and the ability to “pay their whack.”
2. 2. The Religion of Usefulness.
- Happiness is the only good;
- The time to be happy is now;
- The place to be happy is here;
- The way to be happy is to make others happy.
Robert G Ingersoll, 1833-1899.
I believe this was once displayed on London busses under the heading “There is no God” (Ingersoll was a well-known American agnostic) but I feel that agnosticism or atheism are not a necessary conditions for the statements to have value. Though essentially selfish they are rather more positive than the worst interpretation of religions: put up meekly with the inconveniences of this life in the hope of a better one in the next (or oblivion.)
3. 3. The Church (-es, and Synagogues, Temples, Mosques, Chapels and whatever. . .)
- My attachment to Catholicism ows much more to a sense that it is a good guide to this life rather than to any conviction that it is a passport to the next. Edward Stourton, BBC presenter, 1957- 2026, quoted in a recent obituary in the Guardian.
I feel very much the same about my attachment to the C of E, and especially to its ceremonies, liturgy and music. I suspect it applies to most if not all the major religions. At best, religions exist to promote “the good life.” At worst they are used as tool by governments and bigots to control the lives of others. We must strive for the former and fight against the latter. Maybe that’s the search of the “via media.”
4. 4. Taxation
The poor and middle pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the very rich pay lawyers and the billionaires pay politicians/political parties.
George Monbiot, The Guardian, St George’s Day, 2026.
I’ve long believed we should adopt a different terminology about taxation, drop the description “burden of taxation ” and adopt “the privilege of paying taxes.” That’s not as daft as it sounds. Many working men, my father included, where very proud when their pay packet (as they were then) reached the level when they "qualified” (another term deliberate chosen) for income tax. If that’s a step too far, let’s talk about taxation as our “subscription “ for membership of an ordered educated and secure and cultured society. Accountants who advertise their services for “tax efficiency” (ie maximum avoidance) should be scorned, tax evaders boycotted and their directors sentenced to lengthy community service
5. 5. Political Canvassing
- Understand that “feelings” don’t care about your facts. Matthew D’Ancona, Prospect Magazine, September, 2023.
A tough one, this. We need to reverse the concept that “Media Studies” are some sort of Micky Mouse degree, and teach them from the infant class upwards. From the very earliest ages children should be taught to distinguish between fact, opinion, blatant distortions and propaganda, as I believe is already done in Finland.
