This was the year in which we marked the quincentenary of Martin Luther (who triggered the Reformation in 1517) and it was also the year in which we discoursed rather a lot about Brexit – the British exit from the European Union.
According to Peter Marshall, a professor of history at Warwick University, the two are connected. The English Reformation, writes Prof Marshall, was a kind of Tudor Brexit. “A large international institution, straddling Western and Central Europe, and promoting the idea of a pan-European identity,” is how he describes the papacy of Tudor times. Even to its adherents “it appears overly hierarchical and top heavy, and riddled with endemic corruption”.
A political crisis arises and as it escalates “the arcane rules and complex doctrines of the institution prove no match for the punchy vernacular slogans and eye-catching propaganda of its critics”.
Henry VIII’s break with Rome was but a Brexit before its time. And he couldn’t have done it without Martin Luther’s initial challenge to Rome.
Prof Marshall, writing in the winter issue of the Irish Jesuit academic journal Studies, admits that the parallel is a little strained, but that there is some similarity is inescapable. Henry VIII was a kind of Nigel Farage of his time.
There is also a parallel as between Britain and Ireland. While Tudor Brexit subsequently proceeded apace towards a Protestant state, Ireland remained aligned with Catholic Europe, notably France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Ireland’s adherence to that European tradition remains pretty solid.
History is a cycle, and the same patterns often repeat themselves. Consolingly, time also brings healing and reconciliation: Martin Luther’s quincentenary was in many ways marked as respectfully by Catholics as by Lutherans.
A hopeful outlook for Brexiteers and Remainers 500 years hence.
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The phrase of the year was, surely, “constructive ambiguity” – it covered the slightly patched-up Brexit agreement between Britain, Ireland, the EU and the vexed question of the border. Some people called it a “fudge”, but sometimes a fudge – sorry, “constructive ambiguity” – is a helpful negotiating tactic which allows all parties to move on.
The currency of the year was surely Bitcoin, which seems to be largely imaginary money. But then the Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis writes in his book Talking to My Daughter About the Economy that banks conjure money out of thin air anyway, so maybe Bitcoin is no more imaginary than other forms of lucre.
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This was the year when I got really active – perhaps too active – on Twitter. I have alluded to the fact that Twitter contributors can be rude and verbally abusive, and reading their disparaging remarks can make you flinch.
Yet Twitter can also be informative, and you can learn all kinds of fascinating stuff from it.
It’s well established that older people experience more loneliness. But, if used sensibly, social media like Facebook and Twitter can be a form of stimulating human interaction and contact.
Many of us need someone who is tech-savvy to set up Twitter and Facebook accounts for us. Sometimes the local library can be very helpful for this.
I’ve complained about the Twitter nasties, yet I’m sorry to say that I’ve sometimes posted a bad-tempered remark myself, which I’ve later regretted. It can be done so quickly – that’s the temptation. But I hope to do better in 2018: cast not the first (or any) stone.
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You sometimes find sweet things in unexpected places. Earlier this month, the Guardian published a letter from Pamela Major of London making a counterpoint to the utilitarian view that having a baby is demanding, expensive, and excludes many other activities.
She wrote: “But when considering motherhood, the kinds of questions I’d ask are: do I want to bear personal witness to the greatest miracle on the planet, childbirth? Do I want to watch day by day the growth of an infant’s personality on the constant feedback loop of life? Do I want in middle age to be closely involved with young people finding their place in the world? … Compared with that, the question of perhaps not having enough time for my favourite leisure activities for six or seven years seems small beer.”
A fitting contemplation for the season of the Nativity.
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