Why the Bonds are Weak
(with apologies to Sir William Haley)
By JOHN BRUNNER
The economists and demographers have their own learned and to themselves no doubt lucid reasons why the bonds are weak. . . . For one ordinary migrant they can be stated much more simply:
because, fundamentally, of a certain tempera- mental restlessness, common I'm told among those born under Gemini (Australia House please 'confirm); because, possessing reasonably saleable skills and sufficient means, I suppose I can afford to indulge my wanderlust with relative impunity; because I have reached an age when, as BBC 3 would say, it all seems to have been said, seen and done before. Some find this comforting; to me it has a certain monotony (as new-style planning follows old-style planning into disrepute and incomes policy goes the way of wages -policy we can look forward to 'setting the people free' again any time now. And if the seamen's strike goes on long enough, who knows, 'red meat' may yet win another election); because another result of approaching forty is that one finds one's friends and contemporaries in positions of power and influence, an experi- ence which makes it all the harder for the naturally irreverent to take the country seriously; because I am none the less still young enough to be more interested in creating than preserving, something of a growth-man in fact where growth is fulfilling an urgent political and social need and not just contributing to the greater glorifica- tion of those claiming to be able to measure it; because my children are also of an age not too old to have to pull up roots, not too young to make the move an ordeal, but just ripe for migration: because my wife is prepared to give it a try and no man can ask more than this; because I have probably seen more of the country's public life than is good for me and have become fairly disenchanted in the process. There seem to me to be too many pundits who have been proved consistently wrong and never had the grace to admit it, too many journalists content to be fed and watered by authority, too many academics who are but dedicated followers of intellectual fashion. For this reason alone I am not too bothered by patronising references to the low level of public debate and /or con- versation in the colonies;
because never mind one's personal and perhaps rather jaundiced viewpoint, it is rather dispirit- ing to live in a country whose future can never match its past and where nothing seems to matter much any more. The British are shrewd enough to sense that they can probably get along without a real defence policy now that they are hardly worth bothering about. Likewise economic policy can consist of exploiting what nuisance value remains to them, while continuing to shrug off their remaining overseas commitments. All quite rational but not exactly inspirational: because. believing in the inevitability of Britain's decline, I am not greatly moved by moralistic appeals either to the nation (pace Sir William) or to myself—why don't you stay and do something about it?
because, being a bit of a philistine, I don't set adequate store by the things that Britain John Brunner is at present assistant man- ager of the `Observer'; formerly he was an economic adviser at the Treasury, a BBC talks producer, and with PEP.
If the seamen's strike permits, he will sail to Perth, Western Australia, next month.
does still have to offer—the arts and the man- made antiquities in particular. A decadent society is obviously not without its appeal to many, in- cluding a few Australians. It's a matter of taste; because ten times a week in those subterranean cattle-trucks they use to transport us, I brood on the absurdity of continuing to work in London. This will become more rather than less apparent when Britain returns to the womb of the no longer very holy Roman empire;
because a spell of good weather merely whets the appetite and shows how very much more relaxed and amiable a people can become under the influence of a more benign climate;
because there are tides in the affairs of men and I know this is one that must be caught now or never; because for these and other reasons I am immensely attracted by Australia where I believe one of the great dramas of history will be played out in the rest of this centurY, which is after all the period that particularly concerns me; because much the greatest and most lasting achievement of the British people to date has been the United States of America. Populating Australia could be a comparable contribution to posterity for nation and individuals alike; because I am fascinated by the unpredictable and Australia has an open-endedness, the feel- ing of a place where almost anything could happen and probably will. Here we shun the unpredictable and our jaded imaginations are incapable of responding even when we do achieve a staggering and unexpected breakthrough, as in the North Sea; because there is something rather inviting about a country which palpably wants you and, if not you, at any rate your children, compared with one where people are just getting in each other's way; because all my life I seem to have been fated to meet Australians and Australophiles and they have always intrigued me about Australia in contrast to, say, the picture Canadians convey of Canada; because I like Australians and their easy-going egalitarian manners, less stuffy than the British, less tense than the Americans. They may have their quota of corrupt businessmen and poli- ticians and a sprinkling of rather silly intellec- tuals, but at least they are not pretentiously so; because in so far as the direction of things in Australia is clear they tend to be going the right way. Some may say they could hardly go the other way, but it is impossible to be equally optimistic about this country; because this is a good time to move to Australia as it goes critical in one field after another and grows correspondingly more self- confident;
because I am particularly attracted by a come:- of Australia the size of Western Europe, which is currently enjoying a classic phase of industrial take-off and yet remains remarkably unspoilt and unsophisticated. Getting in on the ground floor always has its attractions, not least in Perth, Western Australia; because I have a considerable respect for the man, by name Charles Court, who has been the prime mover in this development, an enthusiast in a cause for which I, too, can enthuse. In this country too often the choice seems to lie between the suckers and the knockers; because though some may prefer fairies. I am prepared to opt for water-skiers at the bottom of my garden, so long as I can remain in a city of about the right size; because 1 am mean-minded enough to like the idea of having two lives for the price of one;
because rather than follow Sir William into the abyss for my twenty-seventh and final reason, I am more inclined to hark back to a remark made famous by his political correspondent— enough is enough.
Or shall we just say 'for kicks'?
For keeps? That remains to be seen.
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