20-12-23 Wednesday Covid-19 Day 284 I - Pivot

God knows I've tried to write more frequently, but recently every time I've sat down and looked at the blank white screen of an unwritten blog entry I've experienced a moment of deep Angst. I've looked at the space to fill, and my mind has reacted with "AAARRGH", like some kind of inner primal scream.

For good or ill I'm very interested in national politics, and have been for some time. Currently I think the country is in a mess; the wrong people are in charge, and the wrong decisions are being taken. Every time I consider writing down my frustration with the whole situation, it gets away from me and I end up not writing anything. And of course there are those who express themselves much better than I ever could; Marina Hyde in the Guardian is unmissable, for one.

I'm going to have to change my approach, I think. I ought to take just one detail or moment and focus on that, expanding outward if necessary; maybe that is the way forward. Start with the personal and see if it applies to the general. There are so many moments which have gone uncaptured, and it would be nice to remedy that. Steer away from getting worked up about current affairs and focus more on personal observation or surreal silliness. It won't stop me from doomscrolling through Twitter or watching the news, but it might help me find ways to express myself in a more individual manner. 

It's a possibility. 

TTFN.

20-12-06 Monday Covid-19 Day 267 - Laid Low by Cold

Unfortunately I have caught a cold. My nose is streaming, my head is aching, I'm burning through toilet roll and swigging lemsip like it's going out of style. What I'm trying to say is that there is no work for me today. 

The girls are all home, as they are ill as well. I might enlist their help to put up the Christmas decorations, since we haven't put them up yet. What with my birthday being at the start of December, we have to wait for that to be over before we can move on to Christmas. So we're looking a bit pedestrian still; it'd be good to get a bit festive. 

TTFN. 

#nowreading: Why We Get The Wrong Politicians

20-11-29 Sunday Covid-19 Day 260 - Sex Education (TV Series)

I thought it worth noting that, now that we've finished watching the second series of Sex Education (available on Netflix), it is a brilliant series. We really enjoyed it. When it first started, I couldn't quite work out where it was supposed to be set, as although the actors were English there were weird Americanisms, e.g. the kids at school were wearing varsity jackets and one of the characters was shipped off to military school - I don't think that's something that we really have here in the UK. That was a bit jarring, but we got over that. There were also some echoes of 70s (or possibly 50s?) Britain which jarred with the ultra-modern storylines.  

Once we got into it though, each character was really interesting. Each had their individual foibles, but the underlying message was quite sweet, we thought. Yes there were some pretty frank bits and pieces, and I wouldn't want to sit and watch it with my kids or my parents, but the message was that talking about things was the best solution. 

The individual actors were great; Gillian Anderson as Otis's mother was brillian and a great draw into the show. I was really impressed by Jim Howick as the science teacher though; every scene from him drew a smile - especially in the Romeo and Juliet finale at the end of series two. And while the Headteacher and his wife weren't initially a likeable couple, they managed to engage us with their story. 

The teens themselves were brilliant, and carried the show. Asa Butterfield as Otis and Emma Mackey as Maeve really carried the show. And the more we learned of them, the more we liked them. And the other teens all brought something to the party. It was a great ensemble show.

We were sorry to have finished the second series, and we can't wait for more when the third series comes around. For me, that's fairly high praise. 

TTFN.

20-11-21 Saturday Covid-19 Day 252 - Priti Patel and Bullying

Well, well, well. The first news wasn't good, was it? Patel was found to have breached the ministerial code, possibly unintentionally. It would be strange if she didn't know the ministerial code, since she's already been sacked for breaching it. But there you go, strange things do happen, that'll be why the word "strange"exists. 

Then her claim, or someone's claim, that she was "unaware of her behaviour" was contradicted by Sir Philip Rutnam. He came forward to state that she had been told previously that she shouldn't shout and swear at staff. 

Then she apologised in a way that seemed non-apologetic. She claimed she was doing a challenging job, and she didn't set out to upset anyone. The claim is that she shouted and swore at staff; I'm not sure that (in general) one does that, if one doesn't want to upset the people one is addressing. But then, I'm not Priti Patel. 

At the same time, our PM and No. 10 continued to claim that Patel *hadn't* breached the ministerial code. 

The independent advisor to the PM on ministerial standards, Sir Alex Allan, resigned. I can understand that; if your primary function is to report on ministerial standards, and your report on ministerial standards is ignored, then what would be the point in reporting on ministerial standards?

Then it became apparent that Johnson tried to water down the report, adding further levels of intrigue and complexity to the whole farrago. 

It is clear that if you support Johnson, he is loyal to you; Cummings managed his whole Barnard Castle episode without getting the sack. Now Patel has broken the ministerial code and hasn't got the sack. She broke the code on the issue of bullying, which the PM has said he won't tolerate - yet Patel remains in post. 

It's almost like Johnson's words and actions don't agree. And maybe that is why watching this government gives me a headache; because the contradiction between what they say they are going to do and what they actually do is so obvious, but it gets called out so rarely. 

This also marks a fall in standards in public office; if Patel was sacked three years ago for breaking the ministerial code, but she isn't sacked in 2020 for the same offence, then things have materially changed. Is the ministerial code worth anything at all these days, if the PM can judge that it doesn't apply? 

It's a tiring affair, that's for sure.

TTFN. 

20-11-15 Monday Covid-19 Day 247 - ex-President Trump and ex-SpAd Cummings

Has it been that long? I was intending to add an entry sooner, but life gets in the way sometimes; I'm sure you know how it is. 

So, Biden won the Presidential election. That's some good news I guess. There are a couple of things which I think are interesting which have come out of that.

The first is that suddenly the media are picking up on Trump's inability to accept objective reality, i.e., defeat. On a couple of occasions TV networks cut away from live Trump speeches on the basis that they weren't factual. It might be a worthwhile exercise to revisit some of his previous speeches that they *didn't* cut away from, and check that they were more truthful than his current speeches; my expectation is that they will be riddled with as many factual inaccuracies as his current batch of waffle. Then it might be worth looking at what they can do to ensure that if in future other presidents try to get away with lying, they call that out immediately / while the speaker is speaking. I do think there needs to be more truth in politics, and it is unacceptable that politicians can't be held to account in law for claims they make during election campaigns.

The other thing to note is that although Biden has won the election, over 70 million U.S. citizens voted for Trump. A lot of that might be due to the "rosette effect", i.e., some people will always vote Republican no matter who the candidate is, but when you consider Trump's character and the things he's been accused of, that is a worry.

On this side of the Atlantic, it seems as though our PM Boris Johnson has sacked his Special Advisor, Dominic Cummings. I think the media are making more of this than they need to, but Cummings has been a bogeyman for some time, not just for those on the left or anti-govt. groups, but even backbench Tories who aren't part of the inner circle of government. Cummings was seen as the brains behind Vote Leave, and -more recently- managed to break the lockdown restrictions and get away with it, by offering some elaborately concocted excuse which sounded to many like a lie. There is footage of him leaving by the front door on Friday evening (13th Nov) with a box full of his belongings, which has unfortunate echoes of the time he was filmed running from No. 10, an event which later became part of his lockdown excuse narrative. 

If anything, it means that he won't be held responsible for any adverse events which occur after 1st Jan 2021, when the Brexit transition period ends. This is the man, remember, who was held in contempt of Parliament because he refused to attend an enquiry. I can't see him changing his attitude any time soon. 

Anyway, I don't see that a change in personnel advising the PM at this stage helps. Certain MPs and media heads have talked about the possibility of a "reset" and a change in approach to government, but I think they are being overly-optimistic about the ability of those currently in government. You've got to remember that all current ministers were appointed on the basis that they are rabidly pro-Brexit, and they might not be very capable or aware of other issues. 

We've got less than a month and a half until the transition period ends, and still we don't know if there is going to be a deal or not. My expectation is that there won't be a deal, although several people more knowledgeable in these things think there will be. If I could bet on "No Deal", I certainly would, but I can't see any bookies offering odds on it. 

I'm not sure that these developments are going to make anything better in the long run. And I'm pretty pessimistic about 2021. You thought 2020 was bad? Next year could be worse. Hopefully, though, we'll have a vaccine for this coronavirus. That'll be something. 

TTFN.

20-10-26 Monday Covid-19 Day 227 - Free School Meals

I suppose this has been the biggest issue last week, and it's still rumbling on, so it's worth writing a couple of words on. The government have again made themselves look to be the bad guys, by voting down an Opposition motion to extend free school meals during the half-terms and holidays until Easter 2021. 

I guess the motion may have been politically motivated, but malnourished kids have been a concern for a while now, even before this cursed pandemic. It's all well and good to give kids a hot meal at school, but what happens at the weekends, and during school holidays? The fact that kids need a free meal scheme *at all* kind of highlights the fact that people don't have enough money to live on, in my mind. 

So, Labour used their Opposition Day debate to discuss the possibility of extending the free school meal program during this half-term and over Christmas. As I understand it, the government told the Conservative party MPs to vote against the motion. This is standard; after all, who wants to see the Opposition come up with a good idea? The trouble was, though, that on this occasion the motion was supported by Marcus Rashford, which meant that a lot more people than usual were interested in the stuffy, dry proceedings of the House of Commons. And when the Conservatives voted down the motion with their 80 seat majority, there was quite widespread public reaction. 

Normally there might be a bit of argy-bargy on Twitter, with a few people sounding off, but this reached out further than that to Facebook and even the political journalists like Beth Rigby for instance picked up on it. Lots of businesses started offering free meals to local kids in need, and Marcus Rashford started retweeting all the offers he was made aware of. It was quite awe-inspiring to read his Twitter timeline on Friday morning. 

MPs and Tory backers tried to support the government position, unsuccessfully. Ben Bradshaw and Marcus Fysh in particular were pilloried for holding unpopular (and possibly incorrect) opinions. 

The one fly in the ointment which maybe soured the moment was Angela Rayner allegedly calling one of her Tory MP colleagues "scum". If it hadn't been for that, it would have been a brilliantly-executed and flawless PR move. As it is, people have dismissed the complaints from the Tory MPs, comparing a bit of name-calling to child poverty and hunger. I can empathise though with Rayner's frustration. With a majority of eighty, the government can vote through any legislation it likes, and being in opposition must feel like being an ineffective bystander sometimes. 

Anyway, add this to the exams fiasco earlier in the year, and the ongoing scandal over PPE contracts, and I get the sense that this government isn't as good at handling issues as it likes to think it is. The general election was less than a year ago; has any government in recent history made as many missteps as this current government? And remember, this is likely to continue until 2024, thanks to the Fixed Term Parliament Act. I can't see Johnson going for an early election. But that will mean more time in power, and more opportunities to err further. 

At least we've got something to look forward to, eh?
TTFN.  

20-10-18 Sunday Covid-19 Day 219 - Shouting Into The Void

Friday was an interesting day, news-wise.

Not only was our government giving a masterclass in failure on the international stage, they were showing how to fail domestically as well.

Internationally, Brexit still rumbles on. And the UK government advised that there was “no point” in Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, travelling to London on Monday to resume negotiations unless Europe fundamentally changed its position. The government have only had four years to resolve this. It seems to me that the EU have had a consistent negotiating line during that time, and the UK govt. should have had enough time to probe that stance and come up with a solution which would be acceptable to both sides.

I think the issue is that for forty years we have seen the EU as "dictating" to us; or at least, some have seen that. Rules and frameworks have been agreed at the European Union level, and then imposed on the members. However, we are part of the group deciding those laws and regulations. So those rules and regulations can be said to be self-imposed. 

Another part of those laws and regulations are a result of international trade talks and WTO decrees, filtered through the EU. Our nation's leaders think that by leaving the EU we will not have those rules imposed on us. But we will find out, I think, that those rules and laws will be imposed on us anyway. We will simply have removed the EU from the process. What will be missing are the benefits of being in the EU, e.g., Erasmus, tariff-free trade, and E111s. 

Anyway, it seems that our PM Johnson has had enough and won't be pursuing talks unless the EU changes their position. And the EU, from their perspective, advise that actually the UK are trying to agree more than a Canada-style FTA and aren't prepared to sign up to the framework within which a Canada+ deal is available. 

I think the only thing we can do now, apart from shake our heads in despair, is to buy a fifth can of soup or baked beans every time we buy four, and put that fifth can aside in case of shortages come 1st January. With the Road Hauliers' Association suggesting that a No Deal could be disastrous, I think a few precautions are sensible; I really fear that shortages may occur. 

The other issue the government are currently facing is a domestic one, in that Northern councils (e.g. in Liverpool and Manchester) are refusing to agree to the guidelines and regulations which the govt. are trying to impose. It's a serious matter, deciding whether an area goes into Tier 1 or Tier 2, but seeing the levels of disagreement (and I think we're not seeing the full extent of that disagreement) is quite salacious and distracting. 

It's strange to think that the last general election was less than a year ago. Despite the fact that this current government has tried to dissociate itself from the previous regime, it's impossible to deny that the Conservatives have been in power (initially in coalition, and then solo since 2015) since 2010. And maybe that's part of it; despite the fact that Johnson and his cabinet present themselves as something new, the faces have been around for quite some time. I think we're getting tired of the lot of them as a nation, but that might be just me. Certainly the polls suggest that the Conservatives still command a large degree of support throughout the country, which is a puzzle to me.  I can't remember a time previously where so many issues have been mishandled in the first year of a government. The "honeymoon period" is well and truly over, that's for sure. 

Anyway, that's enough for today. 
TTFN. 

20-10-10 Saturday Covid-19 Day 211 - Spam Calls

 We've been receiving a larger than normal number of spam telephone calls recently. Sometimes I try telling them we've signed up with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) - which we have, and sometimes I yell at them that they are jerks preying on the vulnerable. 

I did that the other day; I got a call from "Amazon", so I pressed 1 and spoke to a "customer service representative". I suggested that we should both drop the pretence that she was actually an Amazon employee, and she took umbrage at that, asking why, if I knew that it was a spoof call, I would click through to talk to someone?

So today when "Amazon" phoned and told me that there was  a large charge on my account, I played along. I expressed shock that someone might have accessed my account; no, I hadn't shared my password for my Amazon account or my wifi. I listened in faux horror as the "representative" explained that they had my best interests at heart and that's why they were calling me - to validate the charge and to stop fraudsters accessing my account.

They wanted me to sign in to my Amazon account on my laptop, although I didn't get that far this time. As we reached the five minute mark, I thanked the representative for spending time looking after me, and I asked if she had spent all her time on the call looking after me. Then I rang off. 

I shall keep doing this when I get these spam calls. I'll aim to get up to ten minutes next time. It stops them from bothering other people, and I'm interested to see how long I can string one of these calls out for. I think their aim is to get their victims to download some software so that they can capture sign-on details and passwords. From my side, I'm just pissed off that they keep doing this. I'm sure they must get some hits, otherwise they wouldn't do it, but if I can waste some of their time, I'll feel good about myself and hopefully reduce their hit rate somewhat. If I just shout at them as soon as I pick up the phone, they can hang up and move on. If I can make them think they've found a victim, then good. Wish me luck...

TTFN.

#nowreading: How To Be A Liberal - Ian Dunt

20-10-09 Friday Covid-19 Day 211 - Six Month Anniversary

We've been doing this for over six months now. Doesn't the time fly when you're having fun?

I've been staying at home much more than I ever did before this whole thing started; I could probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times I leave the house on a weekly basis. However, my three kids are going to school each day and mixing with more than 700 other children, who also have brothers and sisters at other schools. 

Numbers started going up at about the same time that schools restarted, and I think there is a link. I *know* that children aren't affected as much by the virus, and they're not as symptomatic, but I think that school is a massive vector through which the virus can spread, even if the carriers are not affected themselves.

The number of infections in those areas in the North in lockdown have increased tenfold despite the lockdown measures, so the lockdowns are clearly ineffective. But what isn't included in those lockdown measures? School closures. 

The number of new covid cases was in excess of 17,000 yesterday. Reports say that hospital admissions are reaching the same kind of levels that we saw prior to the first national lockdown in March. How long will it be before calls for a second national lockdown start to get louder?

I see Allegra Stratton has been selected to lead the govt.'s daily press briefings. She is well-placed to communicate their policies and progress, being Rishi Sunak's spin doctor and also married to James Forsyth, the editor of the Spectator. She's obviously very well-connected within Conservative circles. But I hope she has bags of stamina as she will have to be explaining the govt.'s incompetence and ineptitude on a daily basis. She'll be well-paid, fair enough, but I don't envy what she'll have to be doing.

TTFN.

#nowreading: How To Be A Liberal - Ian Dunt

20-09-21 Monday - Covid-19 Day 193 - It's Interminable, Isn't It?

I did consider dropping the Covid day numbering on these posts, but events this week have discouraged me from doing so. Now that the rules have changed - again - and we are going to be restricted to meetings of no more than six, it seems that this is still relevant.

Because of the ongoing loosening of restrictions, however cautious or well-intentioned they might have been, we have all become a bit lax in our approach to Covid-19. But unfortunately, the virus hasn't changed. It is still out there, waiting to infect us. It's my suspicion that the precautions we have been advised to take probably aren't enough; if we're confronted with someone with Covid-19, a cloth mask might not be enough to prevent spread and infection. But, those are the rules we've been advised to follow, and so those are the rules I am going to follow. 

I do feel, though, that we are almost back at the start again. We slowly loosened the lockdown restrictions, we had "eat out to help out" and "get back to your offices" (we didn't obey that one). The kids are now back at school, and students will be back at university shortly, but the numbers of new cases are now higher than they were before we locked down first time around, and they don't show any signs of slowing.

From my family's perspective, we were in quarantine last week because the kids showed individual symptoms, and so we were advised to get tested. The kids were, eventually, but we couldn't get a drive-through test for love nor money. My assumption is that a lot of the tests are repeat tests for care workers and key workers, so although there are a lot of tests being processed, it is difficult to get one now if you are a member of the public with symptoms. On Saturday we received the tests and they were negative, so we were released from our self-isolation, and we celebrated with a long walk on Saturday afternoon in the West Sussex countryside. 

I think we are heading back into a national lockdown of a sort, due to the increase in cases and the increased level of warnings we are receiving from the scientists. It will look slightly different to the first lockdown, so that those in charge can demonstrate that we're "making progress", but the effect will be the same. So it was interesting to get a taste of lockdown, albeit a short one. 

In my view, if the "circuit breaker" is aimed at hospitality, i.e., restaurants and pubs, it will be aimed at the wrong target. Pubs and restaurants have been open since early July without case numbers going up. What has happened recently is the start of the autumn term in schools. It's all very well to tell us to socially distance from other members of the public, but if our kids are all congregating in schools and then coming home with whatever bugs and viruses, including Covid, that they've exchanged with their classmates during the day, then that is a massive open channel through which the virus can travel. I know that they don't want to close schools, but I don't see how they can't. Anyway, time will tell, I suppose. 

TTFN.

20-08-08 Saturday - Covid-19 Day #150 - Masks and Shops

I was in Tesco last weekend, doing a shop. It's still much less busy than it ever used to be, so I quite enjoy it - it's quite relaxing. Don't tell TW though.

I noticed two men, separately and not together, wearing their masks wrongly. They had their mouths covered but not their noses. 

I don't understand the point of that. Either it's reasonable to wear a mask, in which case wear it properly, covering both nose and mouth. Or it's not reasonable to wear a mask, in which case don't wear one. It's not like anyone is going to stop you. There were big articles on the news about how it was going to be impossible to enforce the wearing of masks. 

It's not like they were wearing glasses, either. So they didn't have that excuse - that their glasses might steam up. I wear glasses for reading, and actually this has been a good thing for me because it means I have to only wear them when I'm reading a label or looking for a specific item in a shop. Normally (is there a "normally", any more?) I might leave my glasses on, and after a minute or two I would realise that I was still wearing them. Now, if I don't take them off, I can't see what I'm doing or where I'm going, because my specs are all fogged up. 

Of course I didn't say anything; I didn't accost them or harangue them for not following the rules. I'm British; I don't do that sort of thing.

I guess I can't figure out why somebody might go at this half-arsed. There is still a killer virus out there, and although it probably won't kill me, there are steps I am following to reduce the risk. Why others aren't doing the same is, and will probably remain, a mystery. 

TTFN.

20-07-16 Tuesday - Covid-19 Day #127 - Russia Report Day and ISC Shenanigans

So it seems we just don't really care? The government have been briefing for a couple of days now that there was attempted Russian interference in UK politics, and I think that has blunted the release of today's report somewhat. It might be worth reading back issues of Private Eye though; they have thoroughly documented how successive UK governments have sold UK citizenship to the highest bidders, and accepted large donations from Russian oligarchs. 

Why worry about espionage and surreptitious attempts to influence when actually it's being done out in the open? Ah well. Maybe we'll learn from this, maybe we'll have another inquiry. My betting is that nothing will happen, and the "executive" will charge on regardless. 

The report wouldn't have come out so soon, I expect, if Julian Lewis hadn't been elected as chair of the ISC. That was a fun event from last week, and may end up having a longer-lasting impact than the release of the Russia Report. Imagine scheming with the opposition so that Chris Grayling didn't get the shoo-in post he was promised? The fact that Lewis lost the Tory whip obviously gives the lie to the pretence that the appointment of the chair is an independent process. But once I realised who Lewis was, I also realised that there are pretty much none more Tory than him.

I can't really imagine anything guaranteed to be more annoying than a Parliamentary committee conspiring to elect someone else to be the committee chair and that someone else also be a loyal Tory - just not the one that No. 10 had selected. Ah well. Such are the fun events that go on in the House of Commons and its environs. Now that Parliament is about to rise for their summer break, how will we keep ourselves entertained? 
TTFN. 

20-07-01 - Wednesday - Covid-19 Day 107 - New Hardware

It's been a busy few weeks. I should have posted more here, but I haven't. Probably a blessing. 

Now, however, I've bought myself a mini-keyboard for my tablet, so I can type away to my heart's content - and inflict the results on the wider world. I've had my eye on a Samsung book cover keyboard for this S5E tablet I've got, but I couldn't bring myself to spend upwards of £80 on one, which is what they go for on eBay. Someone was auctioning one off with a Buy It Now price of £60 so I submitted a Best Offer of £50 and had it accepted. So here we are, with a new keyboard.

To be brutally honest, I'm not overly impressed. It's nice and all, but for the amount of time that I use a keyboard with my tablet (and I'd like to do it more), I think probably connecting a keyboard over bluetooth might be the way to go. The standard book cover (without the keyboard) is quite handy, and I've been using it happily to hold the tablet. The new cover, with the keyboard, is a bit bulky and not so ergonomic. But then, I guess it is intended to fulfil a different purpose. I'm not sure I can be bothered to try and sell it though - I might keep it and use it "on occasion". 

The other addition to the household has been a new laptop, a Lenovo S540, which I'm quite happy with. The screen is nice, the keyboard is backlit, and the processor is pretty fast (and therefore future-proof, at least for a couple of years). I've not really used it much because I use my chromebook more often. But it's good to have a Windows machine as an option in the house. 

Anyway, that's enough for me for today. 

TTFN. 

20-06-10 Wednesday - Covid-19 Day #86 - I - Watching Films

Last weekend we mostly watched "Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle" and "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back".

I'd been wanting to watch the new Jumanji films for a while, and then I got it free from Sky, which was a nice coincidence. I knew that it was a blockbuster from a few years ago, and I wasn't expecting subtlety, but I did like the conceit that the nerdy guy in real life became The Rock in the game, where he was very physically capable. But he also understood how to play the game, so had the physical prowess but also the nerdy game knowledge. There were a couple of nice touches; I thought Jack Black's performance was pretty good and Karen Gillan was great as well. In addition, she was a familiar face from Dr Who. I'm not familiar with Kevin Hart, the fourth big star in the film, but apparently the kids love him. I really enjoyed the film; it was entertaining in a non-challenging kind of way, but there was the occasional flourish which kept things interesting. I am debating whether to rent the next one in the series. 

The other film, Jack Reacher, was another sequel. I'd seen the first in the series, so I knew what to expect, and on that score I wasn't disappointed. I think I'd actually seen it before, but I must've been drunk because I couldn't remember the plot in advance - it was only as things happened that I began to think that I'd seen it before. And it wasn't until about halfway through the film that I became more certain. I still enjoyed it as if I hadn't seen it before, so that was good. It was reassuringly violent in the right sort of way. Tom Cruise (or his team) knows how to make a film, and I'm tempted now to watch all the Mission:Impossible films in order. I've seen a couple of them, and I'd quite like to watch them all consecutively - like we did with the Marvel films.

Anyway, that's it from me film-wise. 

TTFN. 

20-05-30 - Covid-19 Day #75 - I - Easing of Lockdown Restrictions

I’m losing track now. One thing that has been a big help is routine. I have been working through most of the lockdown so far, and it keeps things straight; I know what day of the week it is, and what meetings I have scheduled, and what work I’ve got to do. On the long weekends and over the Easter holiday, I managed to lose complete track of the days, and where I should be. Even now, once I go into weekend mode, it is much easier to relax than it was before the lockdown. I rarely think about work on Saturdays and Sundays. Is this how other people lived normally?
It looks like the lockdown as we know it is coming to an end. Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still out there, I don’t think the death rate and the new infection rate is as low as those in charge were hoping it would be. I for one am not looking forward to being released from these restrictions, and potentially facing a higher chance of catching the virus. No matter the change in guidance, it was important enough to lock down the economy and restrict us all to our homes (except Dominic Cummings, of course); that virus hasn’t gone away – people are still catching it and dying from it. So I don’t want to take advantage of any loosening of the lockdown restrictions, I will be more than happy to stay at home and not go out. I hope that cases don’t increase, and I will be keeping an eye on the daily briefing figures optimistically.
I’ve got a Pop Will Eat Itself gig to go to in October, and that will probably be the first time I properly leave the house – if I go. But live music concerts are not the sort of environment that supports social distancing – if anything, social distancing is positively frowned upon. I’m not sure it will go ahead.


TTFN.

20-05-24 - Covid-19 Day #69 - I - Bank Holiday Weekend

I’ve started watching “How To Get Away With Murder”, which was a big hit a few years ago. Everyone seems very unlikeable though, so I’m not sure I’ll watch another series. Having said that, I’m only two thirds of the way through, and it may improve. I suppose it’ll end in a court case. I’d rather watch something like “The Good Wife” though, I think.
I watched “Jackie Brown” as well, finally. TW & I tried to watch it a number of years ago, when we had a weekend away in Tunbridge Wells, but unfortunately the DVD player in the room couldn’t play the DVD so we never saw it. TW was on the phone to friends, and I didn’t want to watch something else that we were watching together, so I started JB and quite enjoyed it. I didn’t realise how long the film was – 2 hours and 40 minutes! That’s a proper blockbuster…
Apart from that, I went to Tesco yesterday for the first time since the lockdown started, in order to do a big shop. With so few people in the store, it was quite a mellow experience. I spent quite a lot, but didn’t actually come home with much – except some houmous and Haribo. And some very nice non-alcoholic beers for me :-)
One thing I have noticed about this lockdown and working from home is that it is much easier to slip into relaxed “what day is it?” mode at the weekends and especially on long weekends. And this morning TY came down to breakfast thinking it was Monday, so it’s not just me – which is reassuring. With tomorrow being a bank holiday in the UK, I am looking forward to a completely structure-free day.
TTFN.

20-05-16 - Covid-19 Day #61 - I - Government Twitter

I noticed a thing yesterday – that the government, or the civil service, have descended into the fray on Twitter to dispute claims about the way the Covid-19 debacle has been handled.

I think the fact that the govt. have decided to issue rebuttals and publish them on Twitter is a bad thing for a couple of reasons:

• By publishing a rebuttal to a news article in which the DHSC had a right of response, the govt. are starting a precedent. In the future, if they don’t publish a rebuttal, can we take it that the article is correct?
• Twitter is an egalitarian platform – meaning that if someone puts across a point of view, anyone can dispute that. Occasionally people quote their sources, but not always, and Twitter can be a very argumentative place where it is difficult to establish veracity
• The rebuttals that the DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care, under the Twitter handle @DHSC) have not really rebutted the articles; in fact, they have confirmed that the main claims are indeed true.

The first “rebuttal” I saw from @DHSC linked to this press release. Unfortunately, the release confirms most of the claims that the article in the Guardian made, i.e., that the army did help distribute stocks of PPE; that Movianto did store PPE temporarily in a smoke-damaged warehouse containing asbestos dust; that stock was stored in the aisles (albeit temporarily).
To my mind, publishing a link to this rebuttal on Twitter is almost inviting jeering and questioning, especially when the rebuttal is of such a questionable quality.

The second “rebuttal” was in response to an article in The Mirror which claimed that the NHS app collected care workers’ data for marketing and ads.
The DHSC, from the same Twitter account (@DHSC) responded that this claim was “factually wrong”, but of course this gave the right of reply to the Mirror journalists who responded: “The story is not factually wrong. The firm changed their privacy policy today, after we approached them for comment. Also, users of the app have been sent marketing materials over email. I enclose a screenshot.”

There is a third story involving Jen Williams and the Manchester Evening News here, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (tweeting from the account @mhclg), where it seems that someone in an official capacity has yet again taken umbrage at what journalists are reporting.

Because of the way Twitter is set up, this looks like a discussion among equals, and each participant in the conversation can be given the same levels of respect and credibility. But it does seem that the rebuttals issued by the government either don’t rebut the claims they are intended to, or they can be quickly disproven.

From my perspective, it seems as though the government have indulged in a pointless attempt to steer the narrative around to their benefit, and it seems as though they have failed utterly. There is a phenomenon known as the Streisand Effect, where attempting to censor something can ensure it is discussed more widely. The govt. could have kept quiet in all three of these areas and attempted to appear above it all, but they chose instead to get down and dirty, and have thereby contaminated themselves.

Currently it seems the score is 3-0 to the journalists. Still, tomorrow’s another day, eh?

TTFN.

20-05-15 - Covid-19 Day #60 - I - A Week of Watching Telly

This week I have mostly been watching telly. Well, that’s a fib; I’ve been working too, but I’ll remember it as a week of good telly.
Most recently we raced through Save Me Too, a brilliant drama on Sky Atlantic. We watched the first series a few years ago now and were really looking forward to another helping, and it didn’t disappoint. As gritty and bleak as the first series, the only thing that was missing for me were the strange goings-on in the background of some shots. I definitely recommend it, but you’ve got to have a strong stomach, and you’ve got to watch the first series first.
Before that, it was Breeders; again, on Sky. For me, the series started off slowly and actually I’m not sure the main characters (played by Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard) were likeable. But as the episodes progressed I got more into it, and the ten episodes passed in a flash. There was a particularly touching moment in one of the episodes which I tweeted about and got some likes from Daisy Haggard herself and one of the writers, which I was quite pleased with.
On BBC2 there was Normal People, of course, which has taken the nation by storm. I loved it, as it seems, did everyone else; for me, it was the space and the quiet of the filming. As a friend mentioned, it was understated. Looking back on it, I think there was a going on which was implicit rather than explicit, which made a nice change.
And lastly, but not least, there was Feel Good, a TV show on C4 or All 4 starring Mae Martin. That was a show with a different feel, it was a bit offbeat and focused on addiction of all sorts. I enjoyed it and it also starred Charlotte Ritchie, who I recognised from Fresh Meat and Ghosts (which helped), as well as Phoebe from Friends – which was nice!
TTFN.

20-05-02 - Covid-19 Day #47 - Where Did The Week Go?

It seems only yesterday that I was sitting in the living room enjoying Teen Wolf, the 1985 comedy
starring Michael J. Fox. Actually, though, that was last Sunday. Last weekend was a time for going back to my youth, as on Saturday afternoon I watched Brewster’s Millions starring Richard Pryor, also from 1985.

I did enjoy hiding away in the gloom of the living room with the curtains drawn while the sun blazed down outside. TW spent the weekend luxuriating in the garden, which was fine, as she is always so busy during the week. If she gets an idea into her head, she’s normally busy at the weekend as well.

On Thursday night I think it was, I nearly caused an electrical fire. I knocked the glass of water which normally sits on my bedside table over, and of course there are a few chargers also sitting on that table. I dried them off and plugged them back in, but after a few minutes I noticed my phone wasn’t charging. When I felt the charging pad it was really hot, as was the USB lead plugged into it. I quickly unplugged it, and I had the feeling that if I hadn’t done so, we could have ended up with a fire, which wouldn’t have been fun. I was a bit fretful after the event and ended up not getting to sleep until 12:30, but all’s well that ends well, as they say. And it means I can indulge my habit of buying consumer electronics, as I need to replace the charger now. The USB connector looked rusty, and the female connection on the charger looks a bit melty, so I’m not planning to use it again.

TTFN.

20-04-13 - Monday I - Covid-19 Day #28 - A Walk Along The Beach

Today we were up early(-ish) and took the dog down to the beach for a longer stretch of exercise. She’s been to the park, which is closer, a few times, but it’s a bit dull there, to be fair, and the tide was out, so it was ideal.

The weather had completely changed from yesterday; where it was sunny and warm yesterday – to the extent that we were out in the garden playing Yahtzee – today it was cold and grey and windy. I was wrapped up in a hoodie, a gilet and a woolly hat, and that still wasn’t really enough.

Anyway, the dog enjoyed it, and it was good to get some fresh air - literally. She was all wet and sandy by the time we were done, and she had performed her role as Chief Ball Retriever with aplomb. We stopped at the Co-Op on the way home for some essential supplies (sugar, milk, no hot cross buns!) and then had a cup of tea when we got home.

Since then, I’ve not done much. I’ve read a few pages of The Secret Barrister’s book: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, which I’ve been meaning to continue with for a few days / weeks now. I really am enjoying it, but it’s so easy to get distracted with other crap. I’ve got three issues of Private Eye to plough through, as well as a bookcase full of comics which I’ve accumulated over a period of years, and over 100 hours of podcasts to listen to. And that’s before I get to my Netflix playlist and whatever I’ve got recorded on the Sky box (Madam Secretary, mostly, if I’m honest).

I’m trying out a new bluetooth keyboard I bought off of eBay, and to be fair, I’m not that impressed. It certainly looks nice but I think maybe I prefer my previous no-brand keyboard. This is my current set-up:



I do like to miniaturise things where it makes sense, and a keyboard / tablet combo is a good example of that. The keyboard is USB rechargeable, so it doesn’t use AA batteries for example. The keys on this Sandstrom keyboard are a bit soft and sticky, but it might just be the case that I need to get used to it. Let’s see.

Anyway, here are some pics of Worthing beach from earlier this morning – enjoy.

TTFN.

20-04-12 Sunday - Covid-19 Day #27 - Happy Easter

So, Happy Easter. I’ve celebrated by not doing very much. SimCity Buildit on my tablet is keeping me occupied – to the extent that I’m not reading books or comics. But a challenge that I’m involved in draws to a conclusion tomorrow, and so I am hoping to get more concentration time then. We’ve played Scrabble today, and of course TW won again, mostly by getting a seven-letter word on her first go. Never mind.

I’ve been thinking about how we get out of this scenario, and currently I’m not sure there is a way. Of course, we will have to wait for the number of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths to decrease, but once that happens, do we go back to our previous ways of life? Surely if we did that with no protection, the number of cases of Covid-19 would start ramping up again. I wouldn’t want to jump on a busy train into Brighton if there weren’t a vaccine or some protection from this virus. Even if the current restrictions are relaxed somewhat, I may continue to work from home, or maybe look to get a lift with someone and shadow their work pattern, i.e., if they work from home, I would work from home...? That might work, I would be able to reduce my exposure to potential risk.

Of course, that is all stuff to be worked out in the future. Who knows what things might look like when restrictions are lifted. I guess decisions will have to be made then. We’ll see.

TTFN.

20-04-07 Tuesday - Covid-19 Day #22 - Johnson in Hospital

Well, this is weird. Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital and in Intensive Care, “just in case”. We heard the news on Sunday evening, halfway through the film we were watching (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2). I didn’t sleep well at all on Sunday night, I think the news affected me more than I expected. I’m no fan of Boris Johnson, but no-one should be in hospital suffering from this awful disease.

The prior event which drove home what a big event this is was the news that U.S. comics weren’t going to be imported into the UK for a while. That impressed on me the scale of the issue at the time. Now this is another instance which has thrown me off-balance.

It can sometimes be difficult to separate the man from the politics, but if you asked me if I wanted anyone to be in hospital suffering from Covid-19 and finding it hard to breathe, I would say no immediately. No-one deserves that. Hopefully he’ll recover, but it may take some time – possibly weeks.

Time to pivot to another leader, Donald Trump. I did see he averred that he wouldn’t wear a mask, despite the fact that this was now recommended. Trump is well-known to be a germophobe and I reckon he would be the first to wear a mask, given the chance. It’s not like he’s going to be meeting other heads of state either; surely they’re all in lockdown as well?

Anyway, that’s enough for now.

TTFN.

20-04-05 Sunday - Covid-19 Day #20 - Days Blur

We really are living through unprecedented times. It’s worth reminding ourselves of that every once in a while. We have never been restricted to our homes before in such a way, and never have people’s livelihoods been so disrupted as they have been over the last few weeks.

I’ve worked from home for three weeks now. The week before that I worked two days from home and was ill for a day and a half. Monday to Friday are okay, because they have a semblance of order. I attempt to work between 9am – 5pm; my laptop is on and I’m monitoring emails. But to be honest, email traffic is dwindling to a non-existent trickle. So work is much quieter than it would have been if we’d been in the office under normal conditions.

The weekends are a bit more difficult. Luckily there are five of us, so we have to get dressed and eat at normal times, and converse with each other. If I were self-employed and living on my own, I’d have fallen into a completely different rhythm by now, I’m sure.

One thing that is becoming a mainstay is a Marvel film in the evening. We’ve elected to watch the films in chronological order and last night we watched Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2. They really are quite well done, all of them. We’ve watched 12 of the 23 which have been released so far. Black Widow was supposed to be released in May but that has been pushed back to November, which is probably a sensible move.

I spent today reordering my CD shelves, with the help of TMO. It’s been a job that needed to be done since TW moved them into the living room without paying attention to the order they were in – that was a while ago. And TMO’s help was much appreciated.



Tonight we’re looking forward to Avengers: Age of Ultron.

TTFN.

20-03-27 Friday - Covid-19 Day #11 - Marvel Films Will Save Us

Things have settled into a routine now. I am working downstairs in the dining room, along with TW. Occasionally we are joined by TE, but TMO works up in her bedroom. She’s on Facetime with a group of girls as they do their work, so that’s okay. TY doesn’t really have much to do; she’s in Year 6 and would normally be doing SATS now, which means revising what they’ve already learned and practising for the exams, so they don’t really learn much new stuff. She’s got a few bits to do, but not as much as the older two.

In effect, the girls are busy for the morning, but less so in the afternoon. That can be a bit distracting, but I think I’ve got a bit of rhythm going. It’s a shame it’s the weekend; now I’ll have to start again on Monday. At least the weather has been good – we made the right decision (or TW did) when she mowed the lawn last weekend.

It occurs to me occasionally that these really are unprecedented times that we’re living through. I’ve never before been told to stay at home as much as possible, and never before has the government had to pay the workforce in the way they have decided to now. TW & I are both in good positions, as we are employed by larger companies and we can both perform our roles at home. I don’t know how I’d cope if I’d been furloughed, and all I had to keep me busy was watching the news. I’m anxious enough as it is, and I’ve got work stuff to focus on. Not that the news doesn’t get in the way.

Luckily though, Disney+ has launched this week, and so we have agreed as a family that we are going to watch all the Marvel films in chronological order. We started with Captain America on Tuesday night, then Captain Marvel, then Iron Man I & II. We saw Avengers Assemble last weekend, but TE didn’t, so I’m not quite sure how we’ll navigate that, but we’ll find a way…

TW did say the other night that she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather be in lockdown with, which I thought was rather sweet, and I feel the same way about her. Not bad for 16 years of marriage. We make a pretty good team. Probably not as awesome as The Avengers, but up there somewhere.

TTFN.

20-03-23 Monday I - Covid-19 Day #7 - All At Home

Today was the first day of the new regime, with the children at home as well. We all set up in the dining room, and were quite busy for the morning. TW had a conference call at 10am, so she booked the living room and closed the door.

Email traffic for my job was much reduced compared to normal, and my expectation is that it will slow even further. I personally think that things will slowly grind to a halt. The next thing I expect to see is more stringent conditions on leaving the house, and we will virtually -if not actually- be on lockdown. On occasion in the past I have suggested that Nature is self-correcting, and possibly we could be hit with an epidemic that would affect us so quickly that we wouldn’t be able to react to it. When the news programmes first started discussing the novel coronavirus, they advised a vaccine wouldn’t be available for 12 to 18 months, and that fits with a doomsday scenario like the one I’ve outlined. With the fast infection rates and exponential growth in the number of those affected, I don’t think we can wait that long, but if we were to go on virtually total lockdown, we could break the chain of transmission. And then maybe, just maybe, it could die out.

I’ve read a few descriptions of how the severely affected have suffered or could suffer, and I’m more than happy to stay at home. The issue is supplies. We need to get food. I went out twice today; both times to the Post Office to post some comics I’d sold and one of those times I visited the Co-Op. I was able to get humus and butter, but not able to get pasta, tomatoes or ketchup. TW will have to brave the supermarket tomorrow to get a bigger haul of food. Hopefully the shelves may be back to some semblance of normal. I don’t think that most people are stockpiling; as others have pointed out, now that most of us are housebound, we’re eating at home rather than snacking out. In addition, if we are going to have to quarantine, we need food in the house. It seems that we’ve all changed our shopping patterns at the same time, and it’s just screwed the supermarkets; although they might be the only winners out of this whole sorry episode – especially if they get their supply issues resolved.

TTFN.

Our home office, previously known as the dining room.

20-03-22 Sunday I - Covid-19 Day #6 The Weekend

Another day under lockdown. We’re not under lockdown as such, but that has to be the approach we take. We’ve only left the house when necessary. Having said that, we did go into town first thing because TY needed to pick up her new glasses, and we wanted to buy some hair dye from Superdrug. Now that the girls aren’t going to school for the foreseeable, we thought it would be fun to dye their hair.

The weirdest thing I saw was a queue outside Savers; TY’s appointment at Specsavers was at 10:10, and Savers wasn’t due to open until 11am, but there was already a queue outside Savers. God knows what they were queuing for.

We visited our local butchers yesterday morning; we don’t normally except at Christmas, to get ham and a turkey, but it seems that local shops are the ones which currently have stock. We got sausages and eggs, and then went to another local shop where they had bread and veg. So we had what we needed.

Last night we watched Avengers Assemble together, except TMO fell asleep at the climax. It was a nice evening.

Things are very weird at the moment. I think we’re all waiting for things to get worse; currently the virus is something that is happening to other people and we’ve not been affected by it personally yet – other than working from home and staying away from others, of course. We’ve battened down the hatches, but the storm hasn’t arrived yet. Let’s see how things pan out over the next few days and weeks, and if there are more announcements making life more restrictive.

TTFN.

20-03-21 Saturday - Covid-19 Day #4 Working From Home

So, I’ve made it to the end of the first week of working from home. PM Johnson announced on Monday evening that those who could work from home should, and from that point we were advised that we were on a Working From Home footing. To be honest, it’s a bit strange knowing that I might be working from home for a number of months. I’ve done the odd day here and there, but nothing on this scale. I may come out of this slightly changed.

It’s been a difficult first week, I won’t lie. There have been a number of distractions, and it’s been challenging to adapt to my new working environment, which is a fancy way of saying my laptop is set up on the kitchen table. On Friday afternoon TW worked from home as well, and we have moved the table into the dining room because I expect the wi-fi signal there is better. In addition, from Monday, TE and TMO will be working from home as well, doing their schoolwork at the table alongside us. So actually, it will be like working in an office.

TW and I had a little contretemps on Friday afternoon; not serious enough to be called an argument. Our personal laptop, which she was using for work, has a bit of a loose connection in the power department, so she suggested I should send it back, which I’m not going to do. Then, somehow, she managed to disable the touchpad, so that the onscreen cursor disappeared; it took me about twenty minutes to identify and correct the issue, but at least I know now that Shift+F6 disables the touchpad. Not that I can think of a reason why one would want to do that.

Anyway, TTFN.

20-02-09 Sunday - The Brexit Lie

It is a lie that Brexit is now “done”, but we have of course left the EU. It looks like Johnson doesn’t want alignment with the EU in any trade agreement, but what gains will we get from diverging? If he is hoping that, by diverging from EU standards, we can increase our international non-EU trade, who will we trade with? Won’t they have standards we will have to adhere to? We will be swapping one set of standards for another, while at the same time creating friction with our biggest trading partner (45% of our trade is with the EU) and making that trade less economical. Companies who currently export to the EU will continue to do so, and they won’t diverge from EU standards. But they will have to complete extra paperwork and may be subject to extra checks during the export process.

Since we’ve left the EU, what has changed? Nothing. We are still subject to its laws, we are still paying in to the EU budget. Yet those people demanding Brexit are happy. We were disturbed by fireworks at 11pm on 31st Jan as people around us celebrated the fact that we had left. I don’t know what will change come the end of the year, but if Johnson is going for a very basic trade agreement, as he seems to be, things like EHIC won’t be available – so travel insurance will be more expensive. UK driving licences won’t be valid in mainland Europe, so we’ll have to get international driving licences. Not all insuperable per se, but added up, it will just be that bit more of a faff to go abroad. Maybe that won’t bother the bare-chested rent-a-mob braying around Westminster, but I daresay even they like a Spanish holiday occasionally. It might come as a surprise when they are in the slow lane for passport checking next year.

I’m disappointed by the way Brexit is now being discussed; I’m worried that there isn’t a real dialogue happening, and I’m concerned that we are all now becoming entrenched in our views and less willing to listen to other points of view.

People do bandy about the concept of loser’s consent and suggest that those who voted for Remain should now fall in line and support Brexit. But I find that difficult, since no-one has offered any reason to now support Brexit. No-one is pointing to any specific subject and saying “see this? This will improve, thanks to Brexit.” In order to get loser’s consent, I think the victor must demonstrate that their path of action is the best option – or, at least, not the worst option. By addressing concerns, one could obtain loser’s consent. But I don’t see anyone addressing the concerns of those who voted for Remain. I hear that we are getting back control of our money, our borders and our laws, but what does that actually mean? What do those in charge want to do with our money, our borders and our laws now that we’ve regained control of them?

If “remainers” are referred to at all, they should get over it, they should back the country, they should listen to the will of the people. We’re currently talking past each other and no-one is listening. Those who voted Remain are being shut out of the national discourse. And that is exemplified by lots of voices on Twitter now, saying that Johnson fully owns Brexit and he will need to own the consequences of Brexit. That’s right, but we’re all going to feel the consequences, and which of us will be able to link those consequences back to Brexit?

I don’t have a solution for any of it, but it seems that nor does anyone else. And the more I think about it, the more glum it makes me.

TTFN.

20-01-03 Friday I - Crockery

We went shopping yesterday and took TY and TE with us. It was a local out-of-town complex (is that a contradiction?) with a Tesco superstore and a Marks & Spencer, and a Next tacked on. The girls had all been given Christmas money, and TE found a nice teddy bear coat in Next that she was able to buy with her own money.

I wasn’t particularly in the mood for sales hunting, but it was good to get out of the house and do something over the winterval period. The days do really run into each other and I have found myself having to consciously tell myself which day it is.

Anyway, then we went to Tesco and TY went off and came back with a plate, a side plate, and a bowl. Apparently one of her 2020 goals was to have her own personal crockery, and she was able to buy them with her Christmas money. Goal achieved by 2nd Jan; sometimes life can be straightforward for ten-year-olds.

My New Year’s resolutions are (1) to buy less comics, and (2) to write more here. I’ve got some things I think about, and it’d be good to get them out of my head and down on paper. Also, I think my life is quite mundane, so writing about specific events might help prove that theory one way or the other. Sometimes it’s hard to recall specific events and what happened as days and happenings merge into each other, so if I make an effort to record that stuff here, that might cement it into my memory as well as create a record for me and others (?) to look at.

Good luck with your resolutions, and Happy New Year!

TTFN.