Plus ça change ~ on the political front!
While the summer may bring quieter times who would’ve thought that in the space of a few weeks after the vote to leave the EU there would be such a sea change?
Resignation followed resignation following the lead of the England football manager after losing to “a small frozen island where the goalkeeper is a movie director and the assistant coach is a dentist” [Eric Cantona] swiftly followed by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, The Prime Minister and Nigel Farage exiting stage right while just about the whole of the shadow cabinet exited stage left!
It seemed the political storm that broke following the Referendum would sweep away all in its wake until finally we were left with the last woman standing as Theresa May stepped up to the plate and promised to guide us through the troubled waters to that happy land where life is beautiful all the time and those nice young men in their clean white coats are coming to take us away ha ha.
Sorry about that got carried away with the madness of the moment!
But madness does seem to be the mood of the moment. No one likes uncertainty particularly the sort of political and economic uncertainty that knocks planning and investment sideways. The predictions of so called project fear have turned into a new reality with the pound down 10% and more noise about in out in out than you get in the Hokey Cokey! There’s so much to sort out, not least on the farming side and with country areas like The Borders heavily dependant on the fortunes of the farming industry we are right to ponder what lies ahead. The universities are in a spin and there is talk of U.K. scientists being dropped from E.U. projects due to fears over future funding.
Whatever the future holds for Scotland, the rest of the UK and the EU the sooner we know the way it looks the better we will be able to plan ahead. Thankfully we have been spared a summer of political gesturing with the Government at Westminster taking the lead and with a few notable exceptions making a start at putting Humpty back together again.
Despite all the unfolding drama the property market in the Borders has taken it all in its stride. Sales are well up on the previous year and with continuing low interest rates combined with a reasonable supply of funds from the lenders buyers are queuing up. Activity has been particularly hectic at the middle to lower end of the market where we have also seen the welcome return of the slightly older and lesser spotted first time buyer! Unlike city areas affected by loss of banking jobs and inward investment we aren’t so dependant on job mobility where a change in climate can create great swings with boom and bust.
So it’s steady as she goes and with a world of political leaders virtually all female not only here in Scotland but now also in the U.K, Germany and potentially across the pond in the U.S.A. let’s hope that this brings a change of style and common ground. Perhaps with combined feminine guile and a smattering of good housekeeping our family of Nations can once more show that we have more in common than keeps us apart.
©Ron Hastings 2016