What nationality am I?

I've been thinking a lot about my nationality, and how I identify myself to others. I'm in a strange situation where I was born in Ireland to Irish parents, have an Irish passport, but have lived in England for the vast majority of my life. I speak with an English accent, although I can slide into a slight Celtic brogue when visiting the homeland. I'm educated in the English system, yet have taught myself about my country's recent history and formation.

The importance of identity

We all like to belong to something. It makes us feel protected. What we belong to depends on your view. I spoke to someone once who was half English and half Indian. He was born in Malaysia, went to school in Manila, Hong Kong, and Singapore, worked in Australia and London, and was married to his French Algerian wife. When I asked him what he identified with, he looked at me a bit confused. After a few moments thought he said, "Well, I live in south London and support Chelsea FC."

That's a pretty extreme case, but it perfectly highlights why some people don't identify with one thing. We all like to place people into neat categories, but sometimes that just isn't possible.

Why it important to be...?

In short, it isn't, but that's a shame. In England most people would struggle to say when St.George's Day was, but would have no trouble telling you about St.Andrew's, St.David's, or St.Patrick's Day was. They may identify as English, but could equally identify as a Yorkshireman or Londoner.

What's more, if you asked them what it means to be English, they'd think for a bit and say something like roast beef and yorkshire pudding lunches. Food references could even include such non-English delicacies as pizza, curry, and hamburgers.

How you identify as English depends on your background and experiences. As a former super power whose empire in the late 19th century held sway over 23% of the world's population, it's only natural that many British cities have a large ethic minorities. In London you can find one of the most eclectic and diverse food scenes in the world.

So who am I?

It is easy to say I'm more English than Irish. Speak to me for the first time, and you'd not think of me as anything else but a typical English man. I enjoy a life mixed with both English and Irish traditions, and feel all the better for it. 

Life is all about experiences, and if that includes learning from other cultures the world will be a better place for it. Ask me where I come from though, and you'll only get one answer. I remember where I've come from, my country's history, and what it had to do to identify as Irish. We forget that at our peril.

The role of traditional music in Irish life

Traditional Irish music is known and loved around the world. Tourists flock to Ireland to experience the magic of music sung and played in bars around the country. Traditional Irish music is a major export too, with musicians playing at music festivals around the globe. The Irish diaspora obviously plays a big part in that, but the popularity of traditional Irish music goes way beyond that. You'd expect it to be popular in the USA and Australia, but Germany and India?

Irish culture

Traditional music in Ireland is about our identity, experiences, and culture. It is who we are. It's been around since the dawn of man, with small groups of musicians signing to their family and friends at home. It underwent a resurgence in the late 19th century, with the rise in popularity of the Irish language and independence movement from Britain.

Today it's easy to find an Irish bar in just about any town or city around the world, many of which play Irish music of some type or other. Traditional music is intrinsically married to a pint and a group of friends enjoying the craic. Places like Dingle in Co. Clare are meccas for traditional music fans, and there are music festivals frequented by Irish musicians around the world.

Is our culture under threat?

Pubs and bars around the country play a big part in the life of a musician. It's easy to stumble across a bar in the evening just about anywhere in Ireland with music playing. If you're lucky it will be a small group in the corner just singing and playing songs in the same way they have been for hundreds of years. Locals and tourists alike sit and salivate in its foot tapping loveliness.

If the music is tied to pubs and bars, what happens if the number of bars available to play in are diminishing. Like other countries around the world, the hospitality sector has taken a massive hit since the Covid pandemic. Many are closing because they just can't make the numbers add up. Others are adapting the experience they offer by appealing to the lowest common denominator. You can't blame them for doing what is necessary for their business, but if it continues the opportunities to display who we are diminishes too. With that will we become less Irish?

Tradfest

This is why events like Tradfest is important. Now in its 20th year, Tradfest brings together the best Irish musicians from around the globe together for a week of magic. What is wonderful about it is that you're unlikely to hear names like Enya and Christie Moore. Great musicians they most certainly are, but Tradfest is about the less commercial folk. Yes the artists sell records and make a professional living from their craft, but they genuinely do it because they love it. It just so happens they're good enough to make money from it. Enya and Christie can do their own thing, and thank the almighty they do, but just like a small pub corner in Tuosist, Co. Kerry there's room for everyone.

An unnecessary shopping surprise

I'm not someone who particularly enjoys shopping, but it is a necessity. When I go, I generally know what I need. So when I enter a shop I go to the department housing the item I want, buy the item and leave. I very rarely just aimlessly browse.

When it comes to food shopping, I'm no different. I'm a creature of habit, going to the same supermarket where I know where things are. I don't go down aisles where I know I don't need anything.

Today I had to go down one of the supermarket isles I rarely go down. The winter weather we've experienced lately had seen my stock of car deicer diminish. So imagine my surprise when I saw this panel at the end of the aisle trying to get me to buy fragranced deicer.

Why the heck would you need to smell gingerbread or winter berries as you spray deicer on your car windscreen? What's wrong with a good whiff of ethylene glycol?

Is branch banking dying?

Yesterday I visited my bank. Whilst waiting my turn to be seen I was behind a lady drawing out a large amount of cash. The transaction took about ten minutes, because the cashier had to ask her a lot of questions. Why did she need it? Could she not send an electronic payment? Was someone asking her to make the payment? Gone are the days when the only question she'd have been asked would be, "How would you like it?"  

It get the questions. Fraud and scams are everywhere these days, and the banks have a duty of care. They need to ensure they're not responsible for a customer losing their money. Helping to educate customers of the risks of a transaction is no bad thing. It just gives the impression that cash is no longer seen as a major force in banking.

It seems strange for me to say that, but cash is something that is becoming increasingly irrelevant to most people. I rarely carry it around. Pretty much everything I pay for is done via a card tap. In fact the number of venues around that only accept electronic payment is increasing. I rarely need to go to a bank these days, maybe only once or twice a year. Even getting foreign money isn't needed as most countries are the same.

Is this a good thing? On the personal security and convenience fronts, maybe. You could argue that having a bank card stolen is worse than dropping £20 from your pocket as you take your car keys out. Online banking definitely makes paying bills easier and quicker for both parties. For a start you can do so at any time of day. I'm sure the tax authorities like it too, as there's a trail they can follow.

On the personal front, I understand some find the lack of human contact difficult. Local bank branches can be like a local pub. I'm reminded of a lyric from the Cheers TV show theme song:

"You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name."

The lack of a friendly face is something people miss, particularly those who don't have a lot of social contact. It's a chance for some interaction, to talk about the weather or the latest football match, whilst doing business.

Will bank branches be here when my nieces and nephews are my age? I'll stick my neck out and say probably not. At least not in their current form. Just like when I first went to a bank, the role of banking has changed and continues to change. At the end of the day bank branches have to pay for themselves. They're expensive to run. The number of UK bank branches has been declining for some years, and will continue to do so. The way we live our lives financially has changed, and the banks must react to this.

WDSA December 2024 - Dons Trust Restricted Actions

Who’d want to be on the Dons Trust Board? Thankfully there are plenty of candidates in the forthcoming elections, but whoever gets your vote will inherit a to do list most of us would baulk at. Throw in a dysfunctional club governance structure, and the challenges faced are huge. Recently the focus has been on the Board’s attempt to get a mandate to implement restricted actions and reduce its equity holding. Hardly trivial matters, yet they’ve come in for a fair degree of flack in the run up to the votes.

A major criticism was not providing a vision of what the future looks like, and what it would mean for the club before the vote opened. There was a slick strategy document, but it left as many answers and questions. Talking to individual board members it becomes clear, to me at least, that the debt is the issue. We’ve indebted ourselves up to the eyeballs to call Plough Lane our home. Now we’ve got to repay it, and it becomes much harder to do so as a non-league team. Maintaining our league position must be a priority, but doing so with the debt on our backs makes that more difficult.

The club’s financial position is interesting. The recent 2024 PLC accounts show a loss of £0.7m, although that was caused by the auditors asking for a massive depreciation cost on the stadium facilities. We raised £3.3m from player sales, and there are other profitable areas. If only we could get rid of the £8.5m debt. Imagine what we could do with that money.

The first SGM in late September failed to adequately communicate the seriousness of the club’s predicament. Part of this was due to a previous motion that called on the Board not to make a recommendation on how members should vote on motions. That’s a bizarre policy. If you can’t have those in closer to the issue advising you, why the hell are they there. You may not agree with their stance, but you’ve the opportunity to hold them to account.

There was also confusion about the two motions and how they are connected. The restricted actions vote was to put protection in place to protect the club’s assets, namely the ground, name, and FA status. This seems like a no-brainer, until you realise that if we ever had to reduce our equity to less than 50%, they’d be meaningless. They’re really only a short term solution. It is widely expected, including by members of the Dons Trust Board, that the day will come where we can no longer fund the fan ownership model.

As for the equity reduction, if the motion passed it would give the Board a mandate to look for a benefactor willing to give us a sizeable amount without with little say on how the club is run. However, to my knowledge there was no benefactor lined up. Plus if we do end up having to go below 50% equity in the future, it doesn’t make us less of a viable option.

I didn’t vote on either issue, something I regret doing. If I had, I’d have voted in favour of the restricted actions and abstained on the equity reduction. I’m not against a reduction in equity, so why did I not vote in favour? Put simply, I was unclear what the club’s strategy was. It is only in recent conversations with board members that I’ve started to understand the challenges faced.

I feel for the Dons Trust Board. We must acknowledge they’re volunteers spending their spare time wrestling with big issues that affect the club’s future. Could they have communicated things better? Yes. I’m surprised so many Dons Trust members voted on the motions. Much has been made of the vote’s democratic success. 58.56% of members voted on the restricted actions motion and 58.45% on the equity reduction motion. Reasonable numbers, although hardly a ringing endorsement on such a pivotal vote. If a clear position had been communicated, I suspect more members would have voted in favour of both motions.

So what now? I fully expect the restricted action vote to pass at the next SGM. I’ll certainly be voting in favour. As for reduced equity, we’ve kicked the can down the road, only to go through this all again at some point in the future. The only saving grace is that when that happens, the membership will be better informed. It’s a shame we weren’t this time.

A glimpse into retirement

This morning I woke up a little depressed. I return to work tomorrow after the Christmas and New Year break. I don’t really want to go back, and the inertia is compounded by wife not returning until next Monday. I’ve only got two days to get through until the weekend, but I should have taken them off too. It should be quiet at work as some won’t be back, but I still can’t avoid a feeling of desolation. It will soon change as things pick up and I get busy, but I can’t deny that I feel like throwing in the professional towel.

I’ve enjoyed being off for the last 10 days even if, or maybe because, we’ve been busy. We moved house last year into a home that needed a lot of renovation, so there’s no shortage of decisions to make. We met friends and family and had time to ourselves to chill. It’s been a glimpse into what retirement will be like, and I like it.

Retirement has been on my radar for a few years. I haven’t taken the plunge, mainly because I didn’t feel ready for it. I still mostly enjoyed my job and hadn’t found a suitable replacement for it. I don’t want to just sit on a sofa and vegetate. I want the option to vegetate of course, but it would be the exception rather than the rule. That is what my vision of retirement is. It’s about flexibility to do what I want when I want to do it. It’s about the focus being on what’s good for us, not my employer.

The last 18 months at work have been more difficult. Not because I can’t do the job, because there’s a lot more office politics at play. There’s been redundancies and more than a few reorganisations. This uncertainty plays into my feelings of disloyalty. No matter how many times I’m reminded of the firm’s values and principles, I can’t help feeling like being told to such eggs.
The last ten days off work have seen me do pretty much what I wanted to do. I’ve read, written the odd blog post, tidied the garden, tidy up my office, do some housework, and a myriad of other things. Most of those tasks, like in my professional life, needed doing, but they didn’t feel like a chore. It felt great having the freedom to do what I wanted. If that is what retirement is like, I can’t wait for the day when I can wave goodbye to the corporate world.