My theme this month has been triggered by the ongoing tragedy of the desperate migrants attempting to cross waters around the globe to find better lives. The plight of the north Africans being trafficked across the Mediterranean to reach Europe, and the new story of the refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh adrift in the Andaman Sea, struggling to reach Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia have filled the news. Both situations are influenced by conflict and repression at home and there are many asylum-seekers amid these displaced peoples from North Africa, Burma and Bangladesh. This phenomenon also has underlying factors that are both ancient and modern; Populations have moved to seek better environments and livelihoods from the dawn of time, but now in the 21st century, they have the additional stimulus of seeing the world that they are missing out on beamed into their lives every moment on smart devices or waved before their eyes through global marketing.
This month I read a great book called “The Mighty Dead – Why Homer Matters” by Adam Nicholson. This book puts the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey into the historical context of the movements of peoples between the steppes of Asia and the shores of the Mediterranean in the 12th century BC and the resulting struggles for resources between the north and the south. It also attempts to apply the ideas and themes that the poems explore to modern challenges such as nationalism, gang warfare and urbanisation. The book made me think back fondly to my time at university, when I was able to read these great works in the original Greek (sadly no more!). I was also prompted to see a parallel between the idea of Odysseus, adrift in the “wine dark sea” for ten years and his famous efforts to avoid the blandishments of the Sirens calling him onto the rocks, and the dichotomy underlying these modern migrations. The people who are committing themselves to today’s terrible journeys and sea crossings are listening to a kind of siren-call of a better life. The truth is that for many of them the new worlds they seek will be very harsh environments compared to the familiar support systems of their homes. They take these chances because there has been a sustained failure to create environments of peace, stability and economic development where they come from.
The aid world, which I have been investigating for the past four years in my role as a Commissioner for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, has, at one level, failed to make enough of a difference to this picture. It is going to be the challenge of the coming decades to find better ways to raise all boats (maintaining the marine imagery!) more evenly across the global economy. This month has seen the publication of our challenging report on the work that the UK aid department undertakes with the business community to drive economic development. We were critical of the agency for lacking a strategy for engaging with business and the slow pace with which it is building the expertise to leverage these relationships. Economic growth will be much more pervasive if business itself can take more of the lead on this activity, supported by the insights of the development community, rather than the development agencies trying to pull or inject the business world and its approaches into their programmes.
Later this year, the UN will mark the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in lifting many millions out of poverty. We should celebrate this. The reality is that much of this success has come from the economic development of the BRICS, rather than the impact of aid interventions. This month I have been finalising our report on DFID’s work with the “Multilateral system” (the UN, World Bank, EU etc.). How well these organisations engage with the private sector to deliver the new Strategic Development Goals (SDGs), will be a big factor in the degree to which the international system makes any real difference to the lives of the people in Africa and Myanmar amongst others, and creates enough of an alternative to migration.
I gained another historical perspective on migration in a brief trip I took this month to the Sussex and Kent coast to get my trusty VW campervan up and running for the year. This is the part of the country where many invasions have either come ashore or foundered over the centuries. My travels took in Battle Abbey and the site of the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was clear from the excellent exhibitions and a lively audio-walk around of the battlefield, that it was the relative wealth and prosperity of England which drove William of Normandy and his band of mercenaries to invade the country.
Another insight was how close the battle was, and how a few thousand men were able to change the course of the history and overturn a Saxon way of life that had existed for nearly 500 years. My trip took in Scotney Castle, the pretty town of Lydd, the Romney Marshes and I camped by the beach at Camber Sands. In other evidence of the martial history of this part of the world, I visited the martello tower fortifications along the coast and the military canal at Hythe, both of which were built in the early 19th century to fend off the feared invasion by Napoleon.
It is not surprising that this part of the country – which is the closest part of England to the continent – has also been one of the areas where the modern debate about immigration to the UK has been fiercest and where the support for the UK Independence Party was greatest in this month’s General Election. Many houses still had the purple and yellow signs of support in the window as I passed. Although the Conservatives won with a small majority, UKIP gained some 4 million votes across the country, especially in those areas which have seen the greatest numbers of immigrants. The new government has had to respond to this by promising to lower the number of migrants coming into the country and making greater controls in this area a big part of the forthcoming renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU.
In line with this, the UK has refused to take part in the quota system that has recently been thrashed out by EU states to take the burden of migrants from Africa away from beleaguered Greece and Italy. We will limit our support to providing Royal Navy ships to help pick up the migrants and deter the traffickers. Whether the UK’s position is right or wrong is open to debate, but these efforts by the European Union are, anyway, just another short term fix to the problem. Unless we can find ways to truly transform the life opportunities of people in the South (of the world) in the coming years, we will not be dealing in quotas and controls – but invasions of a very different kind (which the hilltop at Senlac (where King Harold died) or the military canal at Hythe will also not hold back!).
Sandy and I voted by post and on election night we were out of the country, opening up our home on Lake Como. We just missed George Clooney who had been out celebrating his wife’s birthday the week before – which at least meant that I could complete my morning run through Laglio without being pestered by paparazzi! Our attempt at a new walk ended up with us getting hopelessly lost in the steep forested hills that surround the lake. While in Italy I met up with former Accenture colleagues Ubaldo Concilio and Paulo Raimondi to discuss the progress of their start-up in 3D manufacturing. They have some great ideas to disrupt the luxury goods marketplace in what is a fast-developing area.
I spent several days in New York at the latest Heidrick Board meeting and took advantage of being in the Big Apple to progress some conversations about other Board roles. I am beginning to refill my portfolio, as the nearly 100 days-a-year of work with the Independent Commission comes to an end in June, and am looking at opportunities to engage further in both the business and not-for-profit sectors.
Another highlight this month was celebrating my father’s 91st Birthday. Given that a recent visit to us over Easter ended up with him passing out on the floor of the local village restaurant, two ambulances and seven hours in Accident and Emergency, we were please to see that the family tea party in the Cotswolds passed off without incident or paramedics! We enjoyed other friends’ birthday parties including one themed around a rose wine and cheese tasting and another involving a series of taste tests to see if we could tell the cheaper supermarket offerings from the more up-market!
I used up some hard-earned credit card points to host some friends at another wine tasting in London, where we compared New World and Old World vintages (and Sandy showed her deep expertise in Italian wines!). We attended the Press Night of the RSC production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, starring the outstanding Sir Antony Sher and enjoyed a nostalgic trip to see the reunited Fleetwood Mac perform their greatest hits at the O2.
Matt has been revising for his upcoming A-Lavel exams and captaining the Cranleigh 3rd IX at cricket – to mixed results (the cricket that is!). Sandy and I used the excuse of bringing Alex’s stuff back from his first year at the University of Bath to spend a lovely night in the city, staying on the wonderful Royal Crescent. We travelled back in time to enjoy the FA Cup Final at Wembley, where Alex and Matt were delighted to see their cherished Arsenal thrash Aston Villa 4-0. They were much less happy about the loss of their “party flat” in London as the Foster property portfolio saw some much-needed rationalisation this month with the sale of our Thames-side apartment.
We have been spending more and more time in Westminster and it was particularly fun to find myself watching the Queen pass down the Mall for the State Opening of Parliament while out for a run in St James Park last week. Time will tell whether the policies that the new government outlined in the Queen’s Speech with regard to immigration controls and the upcoming EU referendum will help or hinder the challenges I have referenced in this month’s blog. Meanwhile with the trees around Winterfold bright with fresh leaves and the garden in full bloom, we are looking forward to the summer.
postmarkfromfoster 