A WEEK IS A LONG TIME

‘A week is a long time in politics.’ If it was a long time for former UK politician Harold Wilson in the mid-1960s, then it’s probably also true for today’s political leaders, as each week brings fresh challenges and changes from one day to the next, let alone in a week.

This last week has been a long week weather-wise for many British people. It started with summer and ended with autumn. Last Monday sunbathers were out in shirt sleeves; by Friday they were muffled in gloves, hats, scarves, and thermals. Trees, buffeted by a northerly gale, shivered so much they rained down conkers, acorns and beech nuts onto wary passers-by who picked their way along debris-strewn pathways. The temperature in my garage this morning was just 4 degrees Celsius. On Monday in the garden it had been more like 24 degrees. Garden flowers on Monday stood upright and proud, basked in the sun’s warm rays and looked blooming wonderful. Today they lean at a rakish angle, some of them bashed completely flat and needing to be propped up.

For everything there is a season, said the preacher of Ecclesiastes. But we didn’t perhaps expect the seasons and other changes and challenges to be compressed into a week.

Harold Wilson believed that sleep and a sense of history were essential in political leadership. And maybe those two things are useful for any of us in baffling times – irrespective of our role. Let’s look on the bright side – with another quote from Mr Wilson: ‘I’m an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat.’