Long and miscellaneous

I haven't written much this week: too busy. So here is a rather more ad hominem blog than I am usually accustomed to. In several parts.

1. I went to hear Jonathan Sacks (chief Rabbi in the UK and Commonwealth) on Thursday, talking about his book, The Home We Build Together. Ah the Oxford literary festival is a fine thing, even if this was my first visit. What a man! Urbane and funny, but very human, and incredibly optimistic. I will definitely buy the book - though I didn't queue to get a signed copy. He was talking about how we are to rebuild "society", which he sees as a third pillar, neither the state nor the market. One of the UK's biggest problems is that society has become fractured, and he says that people of faith are the ones to help rebuild it. I can't summarise the argument here, but it's good.
   
   One point came up in the questions afterwards, though, which brought me up short. Someone asked whether it was possible to have a society of shared values when those who would participate are tending to live parallel, non-intersecting lives - and crucial among the influences which cause that is their choice of media. Immigrants/visitors from another country can, in the 21st century, connect to the media of where they have come from (be it news, comment, blogs, whatever), and know/learn almost nothing about where they have arrived. That's a real challenge for society-building. Sacks made an analogy with the late 18th/19th century, when, he said, quoting someone else I think, that newspapers were among the principal causes of the rise of the nation state. What is to be done about this? Are we bound to end up with a global society, to match our global market, and increasingly global governance? I don't know. But it is a most interesting and challenging issue.
   
   
2. I am writing from the business class lounge at London Heathrow's Terminal Four. Having been up since 6am, I only feel a mild frisson at sitting here drinking beer before elevenses time. Why business class? Well, it was the frequent flyer points, you see: I had enough, and, well, the availability and dates pushed me into it. Think of it as reducing my carbon footprint, by using up all the points in one splurge.
   
   I'm off on a crazy adventure which includes driving from Iowa to Alaska. Ok, maybe "adventure" is too strong. Adventurers go to uncharted territory, not along interstate highways. But it's a big deal to me. If I can find internet access along the way, I'll blog the trip at iowatoalaska.blogspot.com.
   
   
3. The objective of the trip is to help friends move, who are going to participate with Victory Ministries of Alaska. That raises interesting questions right now, for me. I'm committed to supporting them - for now, practically; for the next few years, financially - but gosh, the statement of faith of that outfit is altogether more, well, definitive than I'm likely to want to be right now. No actually, scrub the last bit. It's more definitive than I've ever been, I think. But I believe in the people - and that counts for a lot. There's a lot packed up in that tension. I think it may take me quite a while to unpack it.