21-08-14 - Saturday I - Lemons and Lemonade

Life has been pretty easy for me so far. I'm nearly fifty, and I've not experience the loss of a close loved one, nor have I had to care for anyone who's been seriously ill, even for a short time. TW has had bouts of high fever and delirium due to tonsilitis, but that's been about it, until now. 

Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few months ago, and Dad has been her primary carer. She has on occasion rocked up at our house needing to "have a conversation", she said. Dad has recently been diagnosed with macular degeneration, as well as cataracts, and I think being forced into looking after Mum as well hasn't been good for his mental health - in fact, he did make an appointment to see the doctor about being diagnosed with depression. 

But events conspired against him and on the morning of 24th July, Dad was taken into hospital. Mum raised the alarm with the neighbours and they called an ambulance. Dad was taken to A&E and then admitted as an in-patient, where he has been for the last three weeks. Today is the three-week anniversary, which is probably worth marking but not celebrating - I'm not some sort of weirdo.

The doctors have known what the next steps are for over a week now, but treatment is being help up by the lack of a bed (and possibly appropriate levels of staff/care) in Haywards Heath hospital. Currently it is just a case of checking daily that he is still in Worthing hospital, and then booking to see him.

My sister and I have kept Mum company since Dad went into hospital. I don't think I've ever spent so much time with her, at least, not that I can remember. She's okay physically, but mentally she's losing words, so it is difficult for her to form a full sentence. She needs a lot of prompting and suggestion for those missing words. Also, if people are not in front of her, she begins to forget them, so for instance today she bumped into one of her neighbours who asked how Dad was, and she suggested to him that he come and talk to me to get an update. But when she told me someone was coming, she couldn't say that he was a neighbour, he was "a man", and as she had just come back from church, I thought it was someone from church. 

So the upshot of that is that Mum probably needs live-in care. She has trouble using the door keys, and she is beginning to get muddled when she makes tea, and she has never (as far as I am aware) used the oven - that was new, a few months ago, more or less at the same time that she was diagnosed with dementia. 

She doesn't want care, but she doesn't want to be on her own in the house either, so I think that might help persuade her that actually it is for her own good. 

It does seem to me sometimes that Mum and Dad were just marking time, and there are times when I have talked to them both over the last three weeks and they are shadows of their former selves. And it does get me down. But then we have a lovely sunny warm day like today and actually things don't look too bad. And I am encouraged to make the most of what I've got, and to enjoy life as long as I can. I must remember that I don't always need to say "no" to things, and maybe sometimes the best option is not to sit on my behind reading opinion pieces on social media. Sometimes it might be nice to look back and be able to say "I'm glad I did that". 

21-07-03 Saturday I - Writing

I was on a training call this week when the presenter recounted a story. It was probably one she's told a thousand times before, but it really stayed with me. It went something like this... 

I went to visit an old lady in a home and asked her carers about her, hoping that they would give me something I could use as small talk, an ice-breaker. "Well", they said, "although she's 92 she goes swimming  every day". That was a great bit of info, I thought, and I decided to use it when I met her. 

"So, I hear you go swimming every day", I said, "I hope I go swimming every day when I'm your age". 

She looked at me sternly and asked "do you go swimming every day now?" 

I was slightly taken aback, and said "no". 

"What makes you think you'll go swimming every day when you're 92 then?" she asked. 

The rest of the presentation was okay, I suppose; it was a bit corporate-y, but that scene-setting encounter stuck with me. 

I do want to keep my blog up to date with thoughts on current events and family happenings, and the tale above jolted me somewhat: how am I going to do it in future if I don't start doing it now? And I know that yes, I often write at the start of the year or at various points that I am going to update this blog more often but I think this is a real "paradigm shift" to borrow a phrase. How long it lasts is anyone's guess; this will probably be my last blogpost until September :D. 

But this might be the start of an outpouring of daily gibberish, so I'd watch out if I were you...

TTFN.

21-06-20 Sunday - Chesham and Amersham By-Election

I thought it was probably worth noting that in the by-election this week in Chesham and Amersham (that is one combined constituency), the Lib Dems won unexpectedly. Or, they won *massively*, unexpectedly. The Lib Dems took over 50% of the turnout, which admittedly was low, I think it was 52%, but that is standard for a by-election.

A couple of things: 

1. I won £20 off of Paddy Power by backing the Lib Dems at 8/1. I only bet £2.50, I'm a bit disappointed I didn't put more on now. But I could afford to lose £2.50. I only put that bet on on Tuesday, it seems even the bookies weren't expecting the Lib Dems to do so well. 

2. This is only one data point, but it is interesting. There is another by-election in Batley and Spen in a couple of weeks, and the Conservatives are expected to win there as well; it'll be interesting to see if they can accomplish that. It will be interesting to see whether the Chesham and Amersham result has any impact on the Batley vote. 

3. The acceptance tweet by the Conservative candidate was particularly ungracious: he tweeted that he was "disappointed" that the voters didn't vote for him, and he also remarked that the election had been held under "extraordinary circumstances". This links to something else I want to cover, but I'll mention that later. If the Conservatives want to dismiss this as a one-off that won't be repeated, without any reflection or analysis, they may be doomed to suffer similar results?

4. Part of the Hartlepool result was explained by commentators as voters thinking that by voting Conservative they may get the ear of the government. I think the vote in Chesham disproves that theory. It's been said that a lot of Labour voters voted for the Lib Dem candidate, and I guess the Conservative voters must've largely stayed at home. But by showing that other parties can win, it gives hope, I think, to other campaigners in other constituencies. Will this, for example, encourage Labour to redouble their efforts in Batley and Spen?

5. Please no more political "jokes" like Ed Davey knocking down an actual blue wall with an orange hammer. That is cringeworthy and on a par with the "Ed Stone" and Johnson knocking through a wall on a JCB. 

Overall it's nice to see that the Conservative vice-like grip on the UK electorate doesn't seem as vice-like as maybe it did at first glance. Hopefully this is the first of several progressive successful results. 

The other thing I wanted to mention, which goes back to point 3, is the defection of John Bercow to Labour. If the Conservative party were truly an inclusive "one nation" party, that wouldn't have been necessary. But I fear that the Conservative party and government are becoming increasingly one-eyed and narrow in outlook. The reaction to Bercow's defection from an official party spokesperson was that Labour were "welcome to him".

If you don't want to engage with others who have different viewpoints, even if those viewpoints are close to yours, I don't see how you can expect to persuade people around to your point of view. And that feeds into a wider point, I think, which is that Johnson and his government are not subtle. They currently rely on overwhelming other perspectives, or ignoring them altogether. Since Bercow hasn't signed up to "the project" (I'm not quite sure what "the project" is at this stage), his support isn't required. He was a Conservative MP for a number of years, he had been out there beating the drum for the Conservatives, and yet all that hard work is dismissed in one phrase; Labour are "welcome to him". 

I don't think that kind of reaction is going to garner loyalty to the party. But we'll see. And maybe the Batley and Spen by-election will provide some more information about what is going on in the country. Let's see. 

TTFN. 

21-05-31 Monday I - Married in Secret?

It came as a surprise to me, if to no-one else that Johnson got married in secret. There was talk, I think, that he was intending to get married later this year, and I suppose that since Carrie Symonds did bear his child and has had to put up with him throwing wine over her sofa, it's the least he could do. 

I guess we're not yet progressive enough as a society to tolerate someone with an "alternative lifestyle" (i.e., not married) as our Prime Minister. Let's not even mention the LGBTQIA+ community! Baby steps and all that...

Still, it is a bit of a shame that the Prime Minister of the UK had to get married in secret. If there was ever an excuse for a party, I would think getting married would be it. I mean, I'm not a great one for a party, but even I enjoyed our wedding and being surrounded with friends and family, all wishing us well for the future. As the most powerful person in the country, he could have had the "knees up to end all knees(s) up", even with social distancing. Maybe there were one or two individuals he didn't want to invite? I guess we'll never know...

It may be due to the fact that this is his third attempt at marriage. Maybe he'll get it right this time. He obviously succeeded at the wedding bit on the last two goes around; perhaps he just thought that he needed to get that bit out of the way, then he could concentrate on the "being a husband and father" bit, since that is the part at which he failed last time(s).

Either way, and whatever the rationale for the secrecy surrounding the wedding, I almost feel sorry for the man not being able to celebrate this life milestone in the usual way. But then he's in the position he is because of the decisions he has made over time. And at that point, empathy fades. 

TTFN. 

21-05-18 Tuesday I - All Jabbed Up

I'm dropping the Covid day count from my posts, for several reasons. Covid isn't over by any stretch of the imagination; ask the Indian population. But we are relaxing lockdown rules here, pubs and restaurants are now open so that people can eat and drink inside, and with the elderly and vulnerable population in the UK vaccinated, I don't think we'll see another lockdown. Maybe famous last words...?

I received my second jab the other day, on Saturday. This time around there were no side effects which was a bit disappointing tbh. I'd been looking forward to a day of feeling a bit fluey, sitting on the sofa and being brought treats. Instead I ferried TE to and fro from rugby and baby sitting as per usual.

From my perspective this is just something that we're going to have to live with from now on. We'll all get annual Covid jabs alongside our flu jabs, and we'll carry on our lives as normal. Come June when we give up social distancing and stop wearing masks, it'll seem, in the UK at least, like some weird dream. People will reminisce about the year we spent locked in our homes, away from friends and loved ones. Those memories will fuel chats in sunny pub gardens on summer afternoons as people start to get back to normal. But you might find people walking their hands slightly more often, or sitting further back from their friends (just slightly) than they would have done two summers ago...

TTFN.

21-04-02 Friday Covid-19 Day 384 I - Projection

Gosh, it's been a while. A lot has happened, but then not a lot has happened. Touch typing is not going as well as I'd hoped, although we're getting there slowly. 

I wanted to note that in the culture wars there is a lot of projection going on. Others have noted the same, that sometimes people do things specifically "to own the libs". For example, I was surprised last year (but on the other hand I wasn't surprised) to read that Priti Patel was boasting about how the "left were going to have a meltdown" over proposed changes to asylum legislation. This kind of attitude leads to divisive politics, at a time when the need for unity and coming together is stronger than ever. We need an inclusive approach to the way forward. The Conservatives have been in power for over ten years now, and before that Labour implemented policies which the Conservatives agreed with.

(By the way, an ironic note: having binned off Sure Start when they came to power, the Conservatives are now proposing to reintroduce it, although in a much less helpful way) 

Much more common are the tweets and references which demonstrate that the "left" are living rent-free in the heads of those on the right, tweets like this: 

I suppose those on the left do this as well, but I don't see it to the same extent. Maybe I am a victim of unconscious bias, I don't know, but the right are in positions of power. They run the government, they run the newspapers, and they tend to dismiss concerns, when they are raised, which don't fit their narrative. So why these people are even bothered about what their political opponents think or feel is beyond me. And I think they think people are more "wound up" about things than they actually are. 

I'm getting a little tired of the culture wars, tbh. And I think that the longer they go on, those making such a fuss about these things can only lose. 

TTFN. 

21-02-20 Saturday Covid-19 Day 343 I - Touch Typing

This week I have mostly been re-learning how to touch type. It is a chore, but the first time around, for some reason I learned the layout of the keyboard with my index fingers resting on G and H rather than on F and J. All I can think is that I am some kind of doughnut.

It has taken some time, and I am still typing very slowly, but I am beginning to make fewer mistakes and type more fluently. It means my fingers are less cramped on the keyboard, which is a good thing, but it is weird having to retrain my hands to reach for different keys.

Sometimes I do have to give up and go back to a “hunt and peck” approach, especially if I am on IM with a colleague, but a slower pace is good sometimes as it gives me time to think through and review what I am writing.

I am hoping that time taken now will lead to fluid writing at some point but we’re not there yet... Hopefully only another week or so might be needed before I’m back to feeling useful. There are a number of letters which I am getting used to, so hopefully that level of comfort will spread across the keyboard as the days pass.

It is quite amazing once a level of touch typing is achieved, as you can see words and thoughts appear almost without effort on the screen, once the hands and fingers have built up the muscle memory to find keys without effort. I have to remember that now, while I’m typing in a halting, staccato fashion, that some day this will all be worth it.

TTFN. 

21-01-25 Monday Covid-19 Day 317 I - New Chromebook

So, I bought myself a new chromebook this morning. I'd been agonising over it for days, wondering whether it was necessary, or whether I should be spending that much on a new pc (in the broadest sense of the term) when my existing chromebook was absolutely fine. 

I had decided that an Asus C434 was a suitable replacement for my perfectly serviceable Asus C302. The C434 is about the same size as the C302, but has a bigger display, due to smaller bezels. And it seems to be better-regarded than the newer C436 as well, which was a surprise. I did notice that one particular configuration had an eighth generation M3 chip where the C302 has a sixth generation version, but the C434 has 8gb of RAM. For a chromebook, that is pretty much future-proof, I reckon. 

I was looking at a couple of deals on eBay, and I was considering spending just over £500 on the model I wanted, but I was finding it hard to justify the expense. I do like my C302, and I've had it for over two years. I did see one deal listed at £525 or best offer, and I was considering putting in an offer below £500, i.e., £499. "Don't be silly", said TW, "buy it new and then you'll have a guarantee and a warranty and all that palaver".

Then I woke up this morning and the seller was offering £50 off, i.e., I could get it for £475. That was a fair saving over the £537 which was the nearest offer I was interested in, and it brought it under the £500 mark, which made me more relaxed. But it added another consideration to the decision whether to buy it or not, because I had to consider how I would feel if I missed out on this deal. Like, if I continued to want this particular model, would I be kicking myself in three or four months' time, thinking back to that time I could have got a new chromebook with those specs for under £500? 

And so, I bought it. It's coming on Wednesday. Looking at new laptops and weighing up the pros and cons of buying them, and deciding which one to buy, is almost more fun than actually making the purchase. Paying that much gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach, even though I'm expecting this new device to last at least three years and I reckon if I break that down into a monthly cost, it'd be easily justifiable. Now I just need to make sure that I get as much use out of it as I can, so that I can rest easy over this purchase. Maybe I'll provide an update in a week or two as to whether it was worth it. 

TTFN.

21-01-23 Saturday Covid-19 Day 315 I - "Paradigm Shift"

Well, that resolution (to blog more frequently) didn't even last a week. Maybe I should hang my head in shame. Maybe anyone who reads this is breathing a sigh of relief. Who knows? 

I thought it might be worth commemorating the fact that we have a new president in the U.S. Now we can refer to "President Biden" rather than "President-Elect Biden". I listened to a bit of his inauguration speech on the day; it sounded pretty good. The sort of stuff you would expect a normal, standard politician to say. I think he's got a pretty big job on his hands (hurr hurr, not *that* kind of job) to reunite the U.S., considering that over 70 million people voted for Trump. He is going to have to show that he is listening to their concerns as well, and working for the benefit of the U.S. as a whole. 

There were two interesting things coming out of the transfer of power in the U.S., or at least they are interesting to me. One is the QAnon conspiracy cult; apparently they mostly believed that the Biden inauguration would be the trigger for a mass national rebellion. According to message boards and other sources people were stockpiling water, ensuring their generators were in working order, etc., because they thought this was going to be "the big one". It seems that a lot of people are now disappointed, and I would hope disillusioned as well. Maybe "disillusioned" is the wrong word; maybe I mean disabused of their fantasies. Hopefully the country can come together on a common set of facts which they agree on, and go forward from there. There will always be disagreement about the best way to progress, but if you can at least agree *where you are*, that is a start for dialogue. And maybe we can get to the same situation here in the UK regarding Brexit, at some stage in the future. 

The other interesting thing is the Winston Churchill bust rebuttal video. A number of right wing commentators in the UK have been up in arms about the fact that Biden has moved the bust of Churchill out of the Oval Office and replaced it with a bust of Cesar Chavez. So the White House admin have released a video stating that it is "just a bust" and it doesn't affect the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the UK. This is quite a good move, I think. Firstly, it is an acknowledgement that some people have concerns (whether those are legitimate or not). Secondly, it addresses those concerns in a lighthearted (I think) way. Thirdly, it shows that they are listening. Fourthly, it cuts off thoses who are agitating against the new administration. Maybe "agitating" is the wrong word, again. But clearly there are some people who preferred Trump in charge, and they are focusing on this change of bust as a signifier of the regime change. If Biden can move this bust out of the Oval Office, and disrespect the UK like this, what else is he going to change? This video minimises the bust issue. It focuses instead on the past relationships between the leaders of the U.S. and the UK, as well as the security and economic interests shared by the two countries. The bust? It's just a bust. 

I think a lot of people are hoping for four years of boring, pragmatic politics coming out of the U.S. If they can include a video like this every once in a while, so much the better. 

TTFN.

21-01-03 Sunday Covid-19 Day 295 I - A Dry 2020

Looking back at 2020, maybe it wasn't the best year to not drink any alcohol. There were certainly some days when I could have done with sinking four beers or a bottle of wine, or relaxing into a nice whisky, and forgetting what was going out in the real world.

But on the whole I managed to abstain. I certainly drank enough Heineken Zero and other non-alcoholic beers to sink a battleship or two, and I found one or two I actually liked. Moretti non-alcoholic lager, for one, and Brooklyn "Special Effects" for another. I would add Leffe as a new one, but I'm still undecided on it. And one I'm looking forward to trying is the non-alcoholic Guinness.

I did have an alcoholic drink on three occasions in the year. Once was in March, in Amsterdam - I had a "radler", which I later realised was a shandy. It was a can or bottle, 330ml, the same quantity as you'd get in a can of coke, and it was about 2.5% alcohol by volume. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I did try some non-alcoholic beers I've not seen in the UK and a few of them were quite tasty.

Then in August, on a Sunday, I had two glasses of prosecco. I did enjoy them. We had visitors, and they brought some bottles, and it was nice weather, etc. The surprising thing was that I didn't have a drink the preceding day, when we had walked ten miles from Littlehampton into Worthing, and then sat in a few pubs in Worthing for the rest of the day. To be honest, I was thinking about having a beer for most of that walk, but then once I smelt the lagers which my walking companions had ordered, I wasn't that keen. Up until that day I had kind of dismissed Nanny State by Brewdog as too stouty / malty, but on that Saturday I really enjoyed it. I did have to leave and get home when everyone else got more drunk than was comfortable, but come the Sunday I was happy with that decision. The last time I had an alcoholic drink, it was a glass of prosecco to celebrate a friend qualifying as an electrician. I would have liked a second, but TW got there first and there wasn't any left for me. No biggie though.

We did discuss me having a drink on New Year's Eve, but we didn't stay up until midnight and by the time we did go to bed, the prosecco had all gone anyway, so there wasn't the opportunity.

I have found it difficult from time to time to stay sober; it's quite an enticing idea, to sink a couple and let go. It's something that comes in waves; I can be quite fine for weeks on end, but then I have a few days where I really fancy a pint. But that feeling normally fades away, and then things are fine again. My trouble is that I enjoy it too much for it to be "a pint" or "just a couple of drinks", and I end up out of control and then massively hungover the next day. Towards the end, in the summer of 2019, being drunk wasn't as much fun as it used to be.

That's the bit I miss though; the chance to let go and be "off duty". If I can find a way to replicate that without getting drunk, I'll have properly nailed it I reckon. Then I won't even want a unit or two of alcohol every hundred days or so. It might be worth looking into that more deeply in 2021. Currently I'm on a 59 day dry streak on the Try Dry app, and I'm looking forward to getting that up to 90 by early Feb. 

TTFN.

21-01-01 Friday Covid-19 Day 293 I - Happy New Year

Happy New Year all. That was a year, wasn't it? I did want to title this entry "Happy New Year Motherfunsters", but I held back. By letting you know, I kind of did it anyway. That is the definition of having your cake and eating it. 

New Year's Eve was a calm affair at Thorley Towers. We had party food for dinner; little mouthfuls of shop-bought breaded chicken and halloumi. We baked a camembert and dipped bread in it. Then I ate mini Stollen bites for dessert, while we played Risk. This was all at the kids' request, BTW.

Then once the game had ended we watched The Last Leg and when that finished at 11pm, we went to bed. TW fell asleep in front of the TV so I had to wake her up, and as we headed upstairs she got a call from a friend, seeing what we were up to and wishing us Happy New Year. TW felt we should stay up with the children to see in the new year, now that she was awake, but I declined, since I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. 

I heard a few unimpressive fireworks being let off at 11 o'clock, probably by Worthing's Brexit contingent. When I looked out to see what was going on, it was quiet and misty and there was nothing to see. I'm sure there is some metaphor or simile there, but I can't be bothered to make it. 

TW told me that there were much more impressive and loud fireworks at midnight, but I was asleep by then and didn't hear them. 

The new year always brings resolutions, and so I have three, I think. The first, as always, is to update this blog more often. This resolution tends to fall by the wayside early, so if I were in your shoes I'd tend not to worry about this one. 

The second is to run more often; it'd be good if I could get out three times a week. So I'll probably go for a little trundle later this morning - I'll have to start as I mean to go on. 

The third is to read more. I've got a load of comics (a whole bookcase full, to be honest) that I haven't read. I've also got Private Eye delivered every fortnight, and the Byline Times every month. More reading material is coming in than is going out, so it is time to do something about that. During lockdown we spent most evenings watching Netflix or Disney+, so in order to make time for reading, I think that TV watching on the scale we were doing it is going to have to go - at least for me. 

I think my ability to concentrate for long periods of time is slowly fading, and I'd like to build that back up. I've got a few books I'm intending to read as well, so I need to focus on those. 2021 might be "The Year of Study". 

We'll have to see how it goes. 

That's it for now, I think. I hope 2021 is good for all of us, but I have a creeping concern that it won't be. 

TTFN. 

#nowreading: Why We Get The Wrong Politicians, by Isabel Hardman

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