View from Joan's window

Today has been full of stimulation- in fact my ears are still buzzing. Not only did we attend several very interesting lectures, we also chatted to others about the talks. Joan herself is a great talker, so between the official talks, she was carrying on talking to me with the excitement of her ideas.

We started with Anthony Barnett "After Trump and Brexit, where do we go?" He got people to put their hands up if they voted for or against Brexit. A few brave souls admitted they had voted for it. His premise was that the English who lacked identity about what being English was, rather than being British, were the ones who voted to leave. So if Scotland, Ireland and Wales became independent within EU, the little Englanders would no longer have GB, so would need Europe. that's simplistic of course as he spoke for 3/4 an hour. Then it was Duncan Green, "Change-making". He is Oxfan senior strategic advisor so explained how that organisation effects change. He talked about social activism and how we can make changes in our world. The last talk was Raoul Martinez, "Fight for our Future". We are not as free as we think as we are moulded to suit the interests of those with power. He advocated a radical approach to combat the problems of inequality caused by capitalism.

I'm exhausted! My brain is not big enough!