tomleslie.ca

The NY Times Magazine on the weekend had a long, rambling essay about American empire, written by Michael Ignatieff. It’s as good a summary of the state of the world today as I’ve read recently. I tend to agree with most of what Ignatieff has to say. In brief, he argues that whether or not it is recognized by the American people, the U.S. has an empire today that is as real and tangible as any in the past. Under attack, it may well be right to attack back, but its success is ultimately going to rest on a lot more than military potency. If it can succeed in delivering democracy and peace not just to Iraq, but also to the rest of the Middle East as well, it may yet end up improving its own safety and its foreign image. Obviously, the fear is that Mr. Cheney and Co. only go halfway and leave a messy autocratic system in place in Iraq (and/or fail to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian mess) which would almost certainly make things worse, from both a security and foreign image perspective. As Ignatieff says,

I got a glimmer of hope on the issue yesterday, from seeing this article suggesting that the U.S. may, indeed, be preparing to do more than remove Saddam Hussein.

I guess my current perspective comes down to this:

• I really don’t like Bush, the way he was brought to power, the people he is friends with, his belief system, his hypocrisy, or his government.
  

• I can tell the difference between a government and a country, and though I don’t like the U.S. government that doesn’t mean I don’t like the U.S. itself.
  

• I kinda like the U.S., for many reasons, not least of which is that it serves as a beacon for the best educated thinkers of our time, has the will to improve itself, and the institutions to execute that will (even if it doesn’t always do it).
  

• Given the choice between a war in Iraq going badly for the U.S., and a war in Iraq going well for the U.S., I think any sane outside observer would have to hope for the latter, even if the war itself is misguided.
  

• Therefore I wish the U.S. well, while hoping and praying that they understand what they’re getting into.
  

• And I’m not sure I could come up with a better alternative to war, given where they are. Though Saddam Hussein may not be the imminent threat the Bushies paint him as, there’s no doubt he’s a very bad man who should not be allowed to have bad weapons.
  

• Of course there’s a lot of bad men who should not be allowed to have bad weapons, and there’s no way military power’s going to stop all of them, so the U.S. better figure out how to start winning friends again. Really helping democracy flourish in the Middle East would be a hugely important start.
  

• I firmly believe that a world with one superpower is a safer world than one without a superpower at all. I know enough history to think that people who are romantic about the past are delusional.

Well, more points could follow, but you get the idea. One last thought: there’s a whole lot of hand-wringing in the world at the moment, but there aren’t a lot of suggestions as to what should be done. The U.S. right wing is, in my humble opinion, not the best source of ideas for how to fix the world. It’s high time the rest of us started offering alternatives. At the moment, the best alternatives seem to keep coming from the same few observers at Harper’s and the NY Times. Maybe we should stop thinking about the U.S. as a single entity and start working to support those alternative voices.

Happy 2003! I’m back at work, though today is very quiet. It’s been a lovely break, but all good things must end.

After a day of recovery, Anne and I went to her parents’ place in Georgetown on Sunday for two nights. We had a really nice time, slightly marred by me coming down with a mild version of the 24-hour flu that’s been going around. Since I was feeling a bit under the weather we stayed in for the most part, except for a trip out to the Solid Wood Bed and Table Company store to look at possible dining room tables for Anne. They had some really beautiful stuff at quite reasonable prices.

On Tuesday we returned to the city and to our homes. I spent the afternoon watching the first few episodes of the first season of 24 from DVD. It’s an excellent show, very tense, and I’m really enjoying it.

New Year’s Eve was at Bruce and Steph’s, and featured Ager’s arrangement of Auld Lang Syne and a flaming haggis. Paul and Kelly showed up just before midnight with wee Jamie, who’s starting to fill in but is still really really small.

Yesterday started really late and we took full opportunity of a final chance to be lazy. I started a campaign game of Europa Universalis as England, and was developing peacefully when the dastardly Scots and French decided to pick a fight. I held my border and grabbed Glasgow and Edinburgh, forcing a peace with Scotland, though it’s still pretty tense as to whether I can keep Calais from French hands despite a couple of significant naval victories in the Channel. Meanwhile Jean Cabot founded a trading post in Chicoutimi, but died at the outset of his second voyage, intended to explore Hudson’s Bay, so I’ve had to put my New World ambitions on hold for a while. Great fun.

We’re back! Anne and I got back to Canada on Friday after a wonderful week in England. The photos are here.

We started out on the 20th by picking up our rental car, a lovely little Peugeot, and driving to my grandmother’s place in Cuckfield. There, we settled into the tower room in the house at the top of the hill, before walking down to Gran’s to meet my parents who had just driven up from Chandler’s Ford. Sadly my father had come down with some sort of stomach flu (Mum had had it a few days before) so he quarantined himself upstairs for practically our whole stay to avoid giving it to Gran, who’s quite frail.

On the 21st, my cousin Olga came down from London for lunch. She’s been working in England for the past few months, but moved back to New York on the 22nd, which worked out well for us. Mum cooked up a Christmas feast, with turkey, potatoes, brussle sprouts, etc., and it was really, really good. My Dad’s cousin John Murray (“Jumrie”) Leslie also joined us, and after lunch, Olga, Jumrie, Anne and I went for a nice amble through the village and stopped in at the local church, where some cherubic children were rehearsing their Nativity play under their parents’ guidance. We nipped into the local pub for a quick pint on the way back.

The 22nd my Grandfather came down with the stomach flu, so my Mum changed her plans and drove back to Chandler’s Ford to help him out. Anne and I had a quiet day with Gran, played some Scrabble, and went for a short hike north through the outskirts of Cuckfield. As with most of southern England there are excellent public right of way hiking paths through many of the nearby fields, but with all the rain that had been falling recently there was an awful lot of mud. We trudged back to the tower and changed into less muddy clothes before dinner.

On the 23rd we drove down to Chandler’s Ford, stopping in Arundel to have lunch. Arundel’s a lovely town with a cathedral and a very impressive castle, sadly closed to visitors for the winter. We pressed on and got to Chandler’s Ford, where we stopped in briefly to drop off our things and pick up my mother to head up to Winchester for the carol service at Winchester Cathedral. We arrived early enough to get great seats, and the service was magical. I’ve been lucky enough to attend every year for the last few years, and it’s become an important part of Christmas for me.

The next day we left Chandler’s Ford to drive up to my Uncle’s in Gloucestershire. The original plan had been for us to take Grandpa, but as he hadn’t fully recovered from the flu he stayed behind with Mum. This saved us from a logistical nightmare of fitting him and his luggage into our little car on top of Anne’s and mine. We drove up past Stonehenge, which was unexpectedly (and rather severely) closed, with three guards to prevent us from using the car park. Undeterred, we parked in a lane a bit further along and walked back to take photos from over the fence. Afterwards we pressed on towards Salisbury, stopping briefly at the much less impressive Woodhenge (which has concrete stubs to mark where the wood used to be).

Just past Salisbury, we stopped at Figheldean to have lunch with Anne Dutton and her children (Owen & Sybilla) — Andrew Sedman, her husband, unfortunately had to work so couldn’t join us for lunch. Anne served us a lovely soup and a great selection of cheeses. Owen was very excited to have us there, and Sybilla, initially very shy, soon opened up and showed off a charming smile.

Onwards we pressed, stopping at Avebury to see our final Henge of the day, a very impressive one that goes almost all the way round the village. Then we completed our drive to Burleigh and arrived at my Uncle and Aunt’s just in time for a light dinner.

Christmas morning we went to church in Michinhampton, then opened presents back at the Howe. I got a number of lovely books, including a great anthology of humour from the New Yorker from Anne. The two of us received a pair of cookbooks from Olga and her family, which we will have to figure out how to share between us. Kate gave me a beautiful little tea set in a wicker basket. As we were opening presents, my Mum and my Grandpa drove up, and were able to stay for lunch and the afternoon before setting off back to Chandler’s Ford. Kate called, and Anne called her parents.

In the evening I went with James and John to the Michinhampton tennis courts (floodlit) for a few games of two on one. James wiped the floor with us.

On Boxing Day, Anne and I drove down to Bath. We’d hoped to see the famous Roman Baths (after which the city is named) but they were closed. Instead, we looked through the magnificent cathedral and did some Boxing Day sales shopping before wandering back through the town’s lovely Georgian streets to the car.

Finally on the 27th we said goodbye to my Uncle’s family and got on the road to Heathrow. We had a pleasant trip home, with no rush, and have now basically got ourselves back onto Canadian time.

This afternoon we’re off to Anne’s parents’ in Georgetown for a couple of days. We’ll be back in Toronto for New Year’s at Bruce and Steph’s.

I hope you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did, and wish you all the best for 2003! And thank you for visiting my web site.

Happy Lord of the Rings Day! Enjoy this brilliant cartoon from yesterday’s PVPOnline.

Monday, and a cold, freezing day it is too. Sunny and clear, as are all the coldest days in Toronto. Anne took her winter coat in for dry cleaning on Saturday, counting on our warm spell continuing for a couple of days, so she was very worried about turning into an icicle on the way to work this morning. Brrr…

Yesterday I cooked dinner for the Suspects: salad, rice, baked asparagus, chardonnay chicken (with leeks & mushrooms), and strawberry/rhubarb pie with candy cane ice cream for dessert. Yum!