Storm clouds over Civilisation

Travelled to Charleston the hear historian Niall Ferguson speak about his new book Civilisation.

As we drove there, a remarkable cloudscape gathered around the Downs as the rain fell and the wind swirled.

I took a number of pics through the car window, including this looking south up to the Downs above the farmhouse just as we arrived.

Niall Ferguson's talk was stimulating and enjoyable but bleak - presaging a relative decline in the west, as eastern economies adopt the institutions and mechanisms which allowed the west to thrive for 500 years, and the west lets some of those (such as the work ethic) slide.

As the marquee in which the talk took place flapped and rain fell, he jokingly took on the pathetic fallacy of the weather and wove it entertainingly into his talk. Questions were asked, books were signed and the audience left enlightened and fulfilled.

And as we drove away, the skies had cleared.

Yet the somewhat chilling and brooding message of the talk still remains with me. With the photo a useful metaphoric reminder.