A flaneurish sort of project and I guess shadow is a good, appropriate word to describe this flaneur’s progress: ogling the poor, the shoppers who can’t be far from dropping and the leaden rust of Anselm Kiefer together with supplemental readers of paperback books (what are the titles, who are the authors, I want to know). It’s all air-conditioned alienation in free fall towards Christmas and beyond. The tantalising glimpses of what may or may not be the mysterious Higgs Boson down in the depths of the LHC at CERN and to top it all a planet glimpsed only a few light years away with seemingly similar qualities to this planet which we are pleased, at times, to call home.
Cameron is so deeply in the pockets of his rich friends who gamble their way through the days with guarantees provided free-of-charge by the government courtesy of this strange conglomeration known as tax-payers. And then we seem to be abandoning the old high streets which in turn are being taken over by betting shops, pawn shops, pound shops and charity shops. Maybe the country is now financed by the Lottery. Meanwhile, if I had any or ever get any, I plan to keep my gold coins in ancient leather bags, smelling of wine and goats, under the floorboards under the bed in a secret place I don’t yet know. Gambling never did exert any pull for me.
But physics might if I could get a bit more of a handle on it. Physics is bursting with linguistic energy – quarks, worm holes, dark matter, the above mentioned Higgs Boson which sounds like a joke but is also known as the God particle – language that has become poetic to keep language in the game at all because as I understand it the work is done with what looks to me like pages of incomprehensible mathematical formulae or experiments buried deep at the coal face of the LHC. The excitement palpable as they push on ‘deeper and deeper into both inner and outer space.
Meanwhile the EU – possible minus ‘national interest’ Cameron – has to sort out a political model that has the clout to oversee the workings of the single currency. And surely this was bound to have to be engaged with sooner or later. No easy matter though – ferociously complex negotiations compared with that, the work at the LHC (in my ignorance) I imagine as a relatively simple matter. A bunch of big beasts with many different interests to fight for with their battle hardened advisers, fighting for strategic advantages and alliances with devious ploys. I can’t say the work appeals to me, yet at the same time I relish the unfolding story as it will continue to appear in daily instalments. And I like the fact that the market goes on its usual hysterical fashion because politics is a quite different activity with its own traditions and rhythms. Are we witnessing a further shift in the balance of powers between the great estates – the political, industrial, financial and the media? And not to forget the rest of us, the so-called public willing on our champions and booing who ever we consider the enemy. It is been an interesting year and next year surely looks to see that interest increase. Interesting times we are living in.