Life Is Good

So declares Fraser Nelson, writing in Thursday's Daily Telegraph.  His positive outlook contrasts with the normal doom and gloom from governments, think tanks and "individual thinkers".  And, he serves up this quote to show that the pessimists have always been with us.

The world is in a rush and is now getting close to its end.

Archbishop Wulfstan of York, 1014

I will grant you that a case can be made that the Archbishop was actually being optimistic in anticipating the end times.

Here is the kernel of Mr Nelson's argument:

Governments may be having a hard time of it, struggling with debt they ought not to have taken on.  Noisy pressure groups who seek government funding may also believe that the sky is falling in.  But a clear-headed analysis of the facts reveals something rather extraordinary.  The crash has not even retarded, let alone halted, human progress.  The world has never been richer, healthier, freer or more equal than it is today.

Mr Nelson finishes it off talking about the Queen.

This was, in a roundabout way, the point the Queen made when she addressed the United Nations two years ago.  She had witnessed incredible change, she said, and much of it for the better.  But weekly audiences with a dozen prime ministers seem to have left her with a clear idea about who makes things better.  “Many of these sweeping advances have come about not because of governments, committee resolutions, or central directives – although all these have played a part,” she said.  The improvements came simply “because millions of people around the world have wanted them”.

The Queen was too polite to spell it out:  don’t listen too hard to the politicians.  It will just depress you.  They do their best, and sometimes even help things, but play a minor role in the development of nations.  A country is not shaped by manifestos or five-year plans, but by the courage and ingenuity of its people.  And the Olympics, a glorious festival of human achievement, is far closer to what’s really happening out there.

And a nice tribute to the Olympics.

I would also like to note that Mr Nelson manages to break each of his paragraphs down into several sentences, as a kindness to his readers.

Regards  —  Cliff