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