The Meek will inherit the Earth??

I think the phrase really goes something like "The meek shall inherit the earth until they are conned into selling it for nothing to Goldman Sachs who then repackage it and sell it back to them as "Terra Bonds" at twice its real worth".

The meek inheriting the earth is a fascinating concept - and one that presumably stood in the early days of the spread of Christianity as a call that aggression and self-assertion to the exclusion of others were not the way to live in harmony with our fellow-man. An alternative view has also been expressed that it is a way of keeping the masses downtrodden while others really do the inheriting.

Which ever meaning you take from the aphorism, one thing is patently NOT true in the modern world is that being too meek gets you very far. It is only too easy to fade into the background of modern society and contribute or receive little or nothing. The less meek can try to contribute - even if by a simple act of self-assertion such as voting (which around half of the UK population tend not to do!) or writing to the newspapers, There are even those with little of value to say that write blogs to get their views heard. Er... wait a minute, perhaps I should delete that bit? It seems that to shout loudest is to be valued most.

Where public opinion is concerned, the measure is so often quantity not quality.

As a demonstrator against what I saw as excesses and unwanted policies in the very late 60s and early 70's, I saw a point to getting heard and seen. The cosier nature in those distant days of the establishment's relationship with the Fourth Estate meant that a few hundred chanting students were at least reported. Towards the end of that period one did see a few of the same faces under Socialist Workers Party pre-printed placards and it was always these same few that were the ones wanting to turn an expression of disapproval into something more confrontational. They were a major source of the reasons that many of us left this method of self-expression to the loudest - perhaps a major mistake.

As an avowed fan of the coalition government - perhaps even of the idea of coalition itself rather than specifically this one - I like the idea of the debate and tensions within government. There was something frighteningly Nurenberg-ish about Labour under Mandelson. I was expecting them to promote synchronised believing as an Olympic Event had they clung to power. Clegg and the Lib-Dems provide a leavening of common-sense in a time where the hard decisions are being made and prevent any chance of doctrinaire politics swapping from one extreme to the other. What is his reward for this? - A warning not to cycle as he is being targetted by "student extremists". There is also talk that Lib-Dem headquarters are the next target after Millbank.

Lets not be meek here. The agenda is an old one - Trotsky, Goebbels, even Animal Farm if you want it spoon-fed to you. Using democratic rights to destabilise democratic processes is an old trick for which we fall time after time it seems. The "fascist pigs" do have a wonderful weapon in CCTV - an awful lot of silly gullible kids who were carried away and wrecked Millbank will have had shocks when they were tracked down and arrested. What struck me however, in watching the footage, was the way in which the agents provocateurs were always able to blend into the background before the violence started. They are, of course, neither students nor protesters - just wrong-minded but often cunning troublemakers.

If students (or anyone else for that matter) wish to demonstrate against the Lib-Dems then so be it, but I do hope the CCTV is fired up. One of my bitterest regrets is that I did not take to the streets against the Iraq war  - but I feared (wrongly as it happened) that the agenda would be hijacked by the extremes of the left and right.

So - will the Meek inherit the Earth? No chance! The Earth will continue to be inherited by the intelligent and the dishonest. Our task as temporary custodians of the  social order should be twofold - firstly to ensure that the balance is tilted massively in favour of the intelligent or at least sincere and secondly that the inheritors realise their advantage and support and share with those without the advantages.

By the way, there is no need to panic - I have not suddenly "got religion" - I will not be analysing the Sermon on the Mount line by line. Anyone turning up on the doorstep with loaves and fishes will have the dog set on them.

Dum Spiro Spero