We took the buggy down to the beach today:-

It was surprisingly empty and very beautiful:-

I keep reading about the problems independent cheesemakers have been having as a result of Covid-19 – small independent producers who are dependent on restaurants taking their wares. All I can say is that I have enjoyed cheese and eaten more of it with more pleasure than at any time: the fridge is packed with parcels from Neal’s Yard who can pack up a box and deliver, as they have been throughout the epidemic. So, I want to thank them for, as far as possible, stocking the wares of small independent producers and supporting their work as far as they can.

I walked out to the beach:-

And back again:-

There were horses in the field again this morning:-

We went down to the river to enjoy the evening air:-

It’s strange being back after nearly four months in lockdown in London: the roads once again overcrowded; but the egrets still on the river and a stoat on the garden wall:-

Although we had been to the Titian exhibition, it was the first time we had been back to the galleries. I found it unexpectedly moving: partly the experience of it being so intensively organised, with strict routes through the collection, compelling one to pay attention to galleries one might not otherwise linger in; partly the large number of visitors, perhaps less than normal, but it felt like large numbers because the streets are so empty; and partly the intensity of the experience, with people spending more time looking because of the requirement for sequentiality of visitor movement. I am sure there are lessons from it: the obvious lesson is the benefit of time and focus when looking at art.

We visited the Maes exhibition at the National Gallery, which does just what an exhibition should do – getting one to look and better understand the evolution of an artist’s career from his early Rembrandtesque history paintings to his invention of domestic genre through to prolific portraiture. The genre paintings are best.

Young Girl Threading a Needle (Private Collection):-

Young Girl Sewing (Mansion House):-

Self-Portrait (Dordrecht):-

While I am on the subject of politics, I am not sure how many people will actually have read Michael Gove’s Ditchley Lecture which was published at the beginning of the month. I found it very impressive: long, deeply historically informed (although it is hostile to the idea of humanists like him dominating the civil service) and helping one to understand some of the reformist zeal which animates the current government; regarding the times as being equivalent to the 1930s, when economic depression justified invasive government action both in the United States under Roosevelt, as well as, although this is not mentioned, in Germany. It demonstrates the possible justification for carving up the civil service, appointing those who believe in radical disruption, but it does not feel very attentive to some of the risks and dangers as well.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-privilege-of-public-service-given-as-the-ditchley-annual-lecture

I am always a bit hesitant about commenting on politics because I don’t in any way pretend to be an expert, only an occasionally interested observer; but I have been reading Anne Applebaum’s very tough, well informed and well observed analysis of the rise of authoritarian regimes in eastern Europe, Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends, and I can’t help but note obvious characteristics which are observable here as well: the first is that radical disruption is regarded as good for a country because it allows the state to seize powers which would normally be regarded as unacceptable; the second is that the seizure of power begins with the dismissal of prominent civil servants who are regarded as ideologically non-aligned, as is happening here; the third is that the regimes put the newspapers on their payroll, so that they cease to be impartial, as I understand has happened at the Daily Telegraph. The next thing in the playbook is an attack on the judiciary. I recommend the book which is so clear and written by someone who was inside the tent, knows all the players, but has now left it.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/news-and-opinion/items/prorogation-struck-at-the-very-heart-of-parliamentary-democracy-but-it-was-not-an-isolated-incident-dr-robert-saunders.html