Less than we were

Thank you all for a week of wonderful comments and kindness.

I went looking for a fabulous scene to thank you all, I even considered no words, but events took a turn.

Below is a rant for me as better out than in. I won't be at all offended if you skip by, but please don't be offended if you read on.

Driving over the common with a vague plan in mind the phone rang, a familiar face appeared, I pulled off the road, nattering in mind. We made small talk for a while, ankles, adventures, babies - the this & that of good friends - but underneath I could sense a current.

"We've decided to leave"

I've heard these words too often in recent times, I knew the why & the wherefore. That's six friends gone in six months, eleven if you count the children. All of these friends were good, good people. A doctor, a nurse, two teachers and two charity workers. The sort of people you build a good community with. They've been, they'll continue to be, excellent friends. I can only imagine they'd be the warmest of neighbours.
But, in these times always a but,...
Suddenly their overriding characteristic,the one that suddenly seems most important, the thing they now feel defined by - they weren't born here. German, Polish, Czech,Dutch and Canadian. Just not the best of British.
They've all told me they no longer feel welcome, they're waiting for the axe to fall. FFS some of them even don't feel safe here anymore.  And safe means a dozen and two different things. It's not just the imbecile shouting at your accent in the street or the group who make you not want to leave the pub on your own,  it's knowing that your job won't disappear, it's knowing your kids would be able to finish a university course, it's knowing you've the same rights as the person next to you in the hospital queue.
I've heard this too many times. And I can't answer it anymore. I can't put my arms round my friends and tell them this isn't us, I love them and I can't look them in the eye and lie.I can't protect them from "the will of the people" a free will the people lost when they gave power to billionaires playing politician, non-domiciled media barrons and social commentators little better hate preachers.
Each of them has paid far more tax than any benefits they might concievably of claimed. All of them have done jobs that contributed so much to society. Each of them made the UK a richer place in far too many ways to be counted on a balance sheet. 
And now they're leaving, and we are far far far poorer and we don't seem to care.

Philosophy Friday
Historians have a word for those who joined the Nazi Party, not because they hated Jews, not to wage war, but in the hope of a restored patriotism, out of economic worry, a dislike of their opponents, to preserve their religious values, or just pure oppotunism & greed.

That word is Nazi. 
Nobody cares about their motives anymore. When you lend your support to something that is wrong, when you let evil swell your ranks, you bind yourself to the whole, you become a part of it.
Julius Goat