Are we all products of our local geology?

Being a Cornish-person in Cornwall in the 21st Century.

I have so far lived through several iterations of incorporative centralism, and I've studied many others -

• from the wily reluctance of both Romans and Saxons to go beyond the Tamar but to actively trade,

• the Tudor's adventurous abolition of Cornwall as an entity (1497), only to find that pragmatic considerations (defence against the Spanish; access to tin and wool;) lead to their quick reversal and reinstatement (1508 Charter of Pardon; 1586 convocation of the Cornish Stannary by the Crown, acting as regent to the Duchy).

• Stuart respect and gratitude (Grenville's martial exploits; escape route to Holland; reversal of Cromwell's abolition and failure to find a constitutional settlement);

• the enigmatic omission of Cornwall from the Acts of Union and the subsequent (Hanoverian) convocation of the Cornish Stannary in 1752

... and so on, to the present day when we experience see-saw waves of boundary reviews, reorganisations, geographically incoherent service delivery structures (e.g. NHS, Police), even AONB 'extensions', as well as regular bouts of pin-striped 'south-west region' building - each time it comes around we dance to the popular tune, languish and have to fight our way out of it before we are subsumed in the consequences of artifice attempting the colonisation of nature. Our last great escape was from the clutches of the Regional Development Authority. The 'south west' is a regular panacea for periods of lost confidence and cyclical downturns which has come dully round and round throughout the extended post-War period. It is the dismantling of such a structure from time to time which accompanies periods of dynamism, creativity and (I hesitate to use this word!) progress.

My reading of where we are tells me that,

• The pandemic has clouded our views of the long-term,

• Brexit has spread a blanket of doubt and division over almost everything,

• The world is struggling to manage the consequences of a far more serious economic crash than we have so far enunciated (which has given rise to populism, the stress of contextual networks and structures, and a degree of social melancholy which increasingly acquiesces in the inevitability of conflict),

• We are slowly implementing the beginnings of a global struggle to try and avert the worst of climate change,

• Humanity is culturally coming to terms with the implications, freedoms and constraints of empowering technologies.

Cornwall needs to be clear and firm in its strategic relationships, especially with Government. it needs to be emphatic in its self-confidence as it navigates the terrain and waters which arrive in its path.

I learned during the Thatcher years that, when the centre becomes tyrannically convinced that it is the only way, the centre quickly becomes a vacuum (remember the poll tax!) - thinking ceases to generate ideas and ideas fuel evolution, so evolution stalls, which leads to tension, stasis and reaction.

During the Major years - a vitally important period in post-war welfare state development - I saw that a responsive, professional government in dialogue with society can be formative, change-making and thoughtful - making for good government but also for a lack of salve to the assertive ego of the self-convinced.

I liked the coalition - it was creative and practical - and Cornwall did well, as it did from the Blair years when Government looked thorugh fresh eyes untrammelled by ancient prejudices and assumptions. I strongly believe that Gordon Brown saved us all from a rapid descent into something akin to a dark age by supporting the banks and quantitative easing. His decisions were immensely courageous and insightful and the networks of managerial interaction formed via the EU, UN, G7 & 15 and so on, as well as a practical dialogue between major power blocs (China, Russia, US, EU) meant that we averted possible disaster.

So far, I’ve learned that geography shapes governments, not vice verce.

Through it all the geology remains unstinting in its shaping of character and destiny. Cornwall's geology continues, as it must, to instil and shape our distinctiveness. We need to be clear of our objectives, skilful in our navigation, and firm in our stand against centralist incorporation and its implicit dilution. Cornwall Council is the triumph of such an approach - we have strengthened and empowered Cornwall, and have taken a key step towards the future; it is a basic part of how we may not only be active in meeting the challenges of the future - climate change, globalism, technologically motivated lifestyle change and so on - but we can also take the lead. It enables Cornwall to have a coherent dialogue with the Centre, a dialogue which the Centre needs as much as we do – it is, by dint of our geography, a dynamic dialogue – deference is our worst course.

In a debate about 'powerhouses' Cornwall is a living example of how size is not the determinant of success - confidence, clarity and creativity are the keys. Geology is the foundation upon which we build the kind of culture we need to not only survive, but to be good enough at it that we can share, inspire and support. One of the key characteristics of the Cornish geology is that it shapes an ambitious and globally focused culture which, in the celebrations of its parochialism (not the ill it is often made out to be), with which Cornwall abounds and does so well, we will always outshine the weak hinges, haphazard joineries and jury-rigs of artificial regionalisms and macro-constructions.

The current drive ('drive' might be overstating the energy level - 'insipid shove' might be better!) for a 'great south-west' evidences a lack of creative thought - by bending to the apparent breeze from the centre we will be denying that same Centre any dynamic challenge or feed of thought and ideas - fostering a new vacuum in which the over-riding mood will be one of regret!