Today’s outing has taken me to Pret, previously known as Pret A Manger. The rebranding has presumably made some difference, although I’m not really sure what it could be. This particular branch is on the east end of Vauxhall Bridge., on the corner opposite the MI5 building. The place is sort of filling up with various people with backpacks and suitcases on rollers. I am dropping crumbs of croissant all over the floor, but the croissant, although nice, is very crumbly. Not quite as buttery as the croissant at Starbucks, hence the crumble. 
As to this Monday morning’s event, I started out for Moonstruck cafe, but on arrival, at 9:55 it was full and not a seat to be had. There is clearly a regular early clientele that frequents the place. I suppose they like the coffee as it is much more expensive than elsewhere, starting at £4.40 So be it. As to the ambiance at Pret, I have yet to form an opinion We will see as the morning progresses.
What was nice though, as I was leaving Moonstruck, I heard a voice behind and it was Duncan who was on his way to Moonstruck to deal with some postcard art on display there, and he spotted me coming out. Tee tee. Brief chat in the street. He akee if I hard heard Start The Week on Radio four which was to do with Inheritance. The précis of the program is as follows:
What do we inherit from the past and what happens when old stories are told in new ways? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Naomi Alderman is joined by three guests exploring the traces the past leaves behind, in memory, mythology and our DNA.
The writer Gillian Slovo discusses her new novel Inheritance, in which her protagonist returns home to South Africa after an unexpected legacy uncovers long-buried family secrets. Moving between London and a country still dealing with the horror of apartheid, the novel explores memory, forgiveness and the burdens passed from one generation to the next.
The classicist Edith Hall talks about her book Medea: A Life, which reimagines one of mythology's most notorious women. By treating Medea as a historical subject rather than simply a villain, Hall offers a fresh perspective on an ancient story that continues to resonate today.
And Pontus Skoglund, geneticist and leader of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, explains how ancient DNA is transforming our understanding of human evolution, migration and disease. His research, and the Institute's exhibition We Go Way Back (until July 2027), reveal how genetic evidence can uncover forgotten lives and rewrite histories we thought we knew.
I will certainly have a listen later on. Gillian Slovo must surely have quite a view on Inheritance given her background and what had happened to her mother. In addition, the follow up in South Africa, of apartheid horrors, with the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) sessions must have been quite a feat of acceptance. Just what this commission, set up in 1996 by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu accomplished is difficult to ascertain. Victims of the regime gave witness, as well as the identified perpetrators of the violence, They did so in the hope of avoiding prosecution before both civil and criminal courts.
Bearing in mind the formal establishment of apartheid began in 1948 and continued until April 1994, it is extraordinary that Mandela would even contemplate such a Commission only a year and a half after his election. Nearly half a century of bigotry and violent oppression, to be absolved through some sort of national groups therapy sessions, is quite an inheritance to deal with. I am reminded of the problem of forgiveness as expressed by Jacques Derida, in which he deals with the problems arising from the TRC.
“As regards forgiving the unforgivable, if you only forgive minor infractions, trivial slights, or what religious traditions call "venial" sins, forgiveness loses its true meaning.
Genuine forgiveness can only address the "mortal sin" or the worst, most radical crimes (such as the Holocaust or crimes against humanity)
Conditional forgiveness is transactional. It depends on the offender repenting, confessing, asking for pardon, or showing change, and it operates within political, legal, and therapeutic systems (like amnesty or apology).
Unconditional forgiveness asks for nothing in return. It does not require repentance, apology, or even a request from the wrongdoer. It is an "impossibility" that must break away from all calculation, exchange, and institutional power.
There is also a distinction from legal and political categories of forgiveness. Unconditional forgiveness must be kept strictly separate from legal prescription, amnesties, pardons, and political reconciliations (such as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission), even though it constantly haunts and inspires those real-world processes.”
In effect it is a matter of who is doing the forgiving and who or what is being forgiven. In any event it seems clear that unconditional forgiveness, depending on the magnitude of the “what”, is quite difficult to achieve. It is in fact the degree of the transgression, more the the individual committing it, which is the point of the forgiving. As to the so called guilty party, much depends on their relationship to the victim. The closer the relationship the more likely the forgiveness, although some feuds within families can be more intense, owing to the possible sense of betrayal that might be felt by a relative. Again it is a question of magnitude or how large the offence appears to be in the mind of the victim. What can appear to be a slight to an outsider, can be a massive hurt to an intimate relation. So much revolves around the perception of both parties to the action complained of.
It is because most actions requiring forgiveness are personal that there must be a different appreciation of events which are political and/or legal? Failed relations between individuals and groups, organisations or companies, can cause great harm, but can usually de dealt with in a court of law, or by arbitration. Bearing in mind that when an organisation has caused great harm to an individual, it is usually settled with a monetary figure and perhaps an apology from a spokesperson for the organisation. The amount of ‘compensation’ is arrived at by some arbitrary decision, translating the action complained of into a cash equivalent. Always very difficult to do and, even though compensation may be arrived at, it does not necessarily mean the the offence has been forgiven. There may have been some sort of acceptance, by the mere fact of settling, but not necessarily forgiveness.
Is this a digression from the topic of Inheritance? It does in a roundabout way. There are a variety of biblical references dealing with inheritance of sins of the father::
Numbers 14:18 “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Exodus 34:7 “Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Ezekiel 18:19-20 “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
So clearly there is a variety of thought in relation to inherited transgressions. Again Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me”
But then we have Romans 12:19 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord’”, and 1 John 1:9:”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have also Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”.
Next we have the current Conservative Party which is heralding the abolition of inheritance tax. Whatever gains, ill-gotten or otherwise, shall pass in full to the beneficiaries. However, if any debts are in the deceased person’s sole name and they have no assets, the debts will not be owed by anybody else when they die. If the debts are joint, then the surviving person will be liable for these debts. If someone has acted as a guarantor, they may be liable for these debts or for any losses incurred by the creditor. If the deceased person has assets in their estate, joint or sole, the debts become a liability on the estate. The executor of the estate is responsible for paying outstanding debts from the estate…
In effect, there is quite a lot we have to take in, in respect of Inheritance, in any country. The legal, psychological and physical traits of an individual are manifold and are inherited in any number of ways. Inheritance is a huge subject with many ramifications. Personally I cannot complain about any inheritance I may have received. They have been beneficial, both spiritual and temporal, and without any tax avoidance being sought or gained in any way. Shrouds have no pockets, is an idiom, according to the web, dating back to the mid 19th century, and is not attribute to any particular individual.
There is also the matter of historical inheritance or rather the politics of national inheritance, or the matter of changing customs and developing societies. That section of a lost heritage in the wake of modernisation, industrial and technological changes, such as so called artificial intelligence and the like. An entire industry such as smithing has been almost made extinct with the advent of the motor car. There have been great changes made through the governance of one party or group of representatives over another. The abolition of slavery is an instance in point. The legacy from William Wilberforce who established a Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, his twenty year persistence leading to the Slave Trade Act 1807 and his continuing campaign over the next 26 years leading to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. He spent nearly half a century campaigning for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain.
As to the united States, the storing of discontent and revolutionary feelings were rumbling as early as 1764 which eventually led to the declaration of independence 12 years later in 1776, leading to the drafting of the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention between the 25th May and 17th September 1787, eleven year later. After another two yers the Constitution became operational in 1789 and has since been amended ofd 27 times, but it is part of the American Heritage. An important legacy inherited by the people of the United States of America. That political inheritance is now so much under threat extinction as a result of the insane and delusional would be dictator and the ignorant and put upon group of electors who have lost their way and failed to acknowledge or understand what had been left to them by their ancestors. They appear to have squandered their best inheritance. The actual formation and coming into force of the United States took 25 years from those first rumblings in 1764 through to 1789. It may well take another 25 years, a quarter of a century to re-establish what has been lost and is being trashed every day that the convicted felon and his acolytes rule in Washington. He has desecrated the Capitol and demolished the White House. The symbols of liberty are drowning in a swamp ridden reflecting pool under the very eyes of Abraham Lincoln, who did so much to preserve the Union and its heritage. That appears to be the inheritance he will leave the American people. They must stop the rot and get rid of this poisonous individual, a male succubus, if you will, who is screwing the entire world.
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