+If war analogies are considered apt in the battle against Coronavirus, who might we expect to see on trial, Nuremburg style, after it’s all over? Naturally, Keir Starmer will be the lead prosecutor, he should be in his element. And any prison warder familiar with the Herman Goering suicide story needs to make fellow warders aware that they should not hand Johnson his gold-tipped walking stick. On the other hand . .
+I really cannot see how there isn’t going to be another spike in infections after the relaxation of the stay at home rule. The government is clearly out of its depth in finding a remedy apart from reverting to its ‘herd’ immunity approach. We are already witnessing a rise in cases in other countries which have slightly relaxed restrictions. Given how contagious Covid-19 is, this is hardly surprising. I feel we are all part of an experiment now, where the scientists can only guess at the outcome. That’s not their fault. They’ve been looking for a unified theory of everything for ages and are still searching (Einstein failed). I suspect that every time some hapless minister tells us that they are ‘just following the science’ scientists up and down the country run for cover, screaming. And when did ministers ever follow the evidence? That’s not really politics as we know it (although there are a few exceptions). And absence any evidence, just make it up.
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+When it is necessary, it is good to shout at the radio, as I found myself doing last night during the ‘Downing Street party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative (and no longer Unionist) Party.’ The idiot bearing the surname ‘TwoOrMoreHouses-Jenrick,’ sounded to me like a true apostle of the dawning age of automatism, trotting out words like ‘clear,’ ‘coherent’ and ‘comprehensive’ in a spout (‘at pace,’ another favourite phrase) of verbal diarrhoea that bore no resemblance to reality. Having government ministers trying to master the art of sounding semi-rational when their brains have been shuttered in lock-down for the past god knows how long—isn’t that a neat trick? Jenrick, following the rules programmed into him read out a long list of statistics, all attesting to the success of the government’s clear, coherent and comprehensive approach to the pandemic, but missed out the figure that shouted out ‘Thank god for Trump!’ - we’re being kept in second place as the country with the most deaths! Given how our great leader is completely f*****g things up, I shall be watching the opinion polls more closely, if only to determine how deluded the public may remain under the auspices of the most incompetent government since . . . since . . I don’t know . . the time of Fred Flintstone? I think I’ll watch Downfall again, to see how the delusional Fuhrer demands to know why his armies aren’t on the offensive—when the looks on his generals faces all tell him that his armies no longer exist. I suspect there’ll be a few Johnson/Hitler Downfall memes out there.
+Another cause of rage in self-isolation is the occasional re-appearance of Jeremy Hunt, with his ever so eager look of glee that he’s got to the front of the tuck shop queue. How can we accept as Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee a man so responsible for the wilful neglect of those sectors? When, as it should, the Committee comes to inquire into the causes of the unpreparedness of the NHS and care sectors, are we to be asked to tolerate this poacher turned gamekeeper being in charge of it? In my view, no ex-ministers should be allowed to chair select committees, least of all departmental select committees for the departments where they were Secretary of State. That this is allowed to happen merely shows how far Parliament has yet to go in reforming itself. But there will not be any more of that talk whilst the current status-quo ante Speaker is in charge, or the Tories have a majority. Melting glaciers will be a big problem, if indeed they aren’t already. An agreement between Switzerland and Italy used a glacier to define their border and it has retreated so much that part of Italy has now moved into Switzerland, taking a restaurant with it into the new jurisdiction. I read also of the shrinking Haig glacier between British Columbia and Alberta, retreating rapidly. This has led to a river changing course, away from B.C. and towards Calgary—a city very happy to get more water in late summer droughts. I was amused to read of a local expert Shawn Marshall, an ice ages and climate dynamics expert and geography professor at the University of Calgary. Given that ash from local forest fires blackens the surface of the glacier and enables it to warm faster it amused me when Shawn told CBC News "There's a lot to cry about," he said, adding the glacier's like an old friend. "It's where they'll scatter my ashes someday."
+I’m so pleased we’re getting the clarity we need on how to proceed. A household of two or more people will be allowed to meet with a single member of another household (observing social distancing). But a household of one person can only meet a single member of another household (observing social distancing). So who gets to talk to the police? Whose meeting was it? The same three people will be meeting legally in one instance and illegally in the other. I’m happy that’s been clarified. My advice to single people is to stay schtum if the plods feel inclined to start asking questions.
UPDATE! CLARIFICATION! I wrote the above yesterday evening, and have since learnt that only one person from one household can meet only one person from another household. I’m still not quite sure how this will work—should it be the same person from each household every time, or can they swap places? It’s good news for Prof. Ferguson though, and anybody else who has a lover who lives somewhere else. But might this lead to suspicions for the one left at home? Given the increased levels of domestic strife brought on by the lockdown, I can see a nice little line of business here for private detectives. So if you see two people out in the park, socially distancing, keep an eye out for a third person furtively taking pictures from behind a tree. +One feature of this lockdown which will surely provide material for a PhD thesis is how the world’s art galleries have been reduced to uniform, digital appeals to their audiences. Sat here in Scarborough I can now have exactly the same access to Tate Modern in London as I have to MOMA in New York as anyone else anywhere on the globe. Being hooked into receiving emails from quite a few galleries—and other art sources—I’m beginning to find it a bit overwhelming. Like most cultural institutions, they’re doing their online thing when their income has been decimated. I hope that our British institutions will fare comparatively well given their generally free admission funding model, but without mega blockbuster exhibitions and shop sales and over-priced cups of coffee, all will struggle. I hope, as an afterthought, that this virus thingy puts an end to ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions. Even before the pandemic started I vowed I would never go to another one, since it seems anything with e.g. Van Gogh in the title means that people pack 20 to the dozen in front of a picture pushing and shoving so they may get a fleeting chance of taking a selfie of themselves with it. But if they’ve paid £18 or £20 for the privilege, who can blame them? Gallery directors take note. +My Guardian didn’t arrive this morning since none were sent to the newsagent. Instead, I was sent a copy of The Times. It had landed upside down on the doormat so the first I knew about it was when I picked it up and discovered it was twice as thick as the Guardian. Since my trust in the Guardian has been somewhat diminished by its skewered reporting of Corbyn, who might I be to take issue with the bold claim The Times carries above its masthead ’Britain’s most trusted national newspaper?’ Anyway, there was more content, and perhaps unlike the Guardian, which carries three columnists I’ll never read again, today in The Times there was only one who merits the toilet paper treatment, one Melanie Phillips. Despite it all, I shall continue to read the Guardian since I can’t bear the thought of contributing to Murdoch’s coffers. I did buy The Times once—but that was back in the early 1960s when it still carried advertisements on its front page. +Globally, so far this year 1.8 million people have died as a result of smoking. 284,000 have died from Coronavirus. If only we could make Coronavirus part of the economy we could learn to live (and die) with it! Global deaths from all causes this year so far have been around 21 million. Births were around 29 million. The human race isn’t done for yet. Many more useless but intriguing comparisons can be drawn from the Worldometer website, which is full of fascinating statistics, not least the one which shows how the UK is vying to have the world’s worst government when it comes to tackling the virus. As they say, we get the government we deserve, just like smokers get the fate they deserve. In the words of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen:
Tell St Peter at the golden gate You just hate to make him wait But you’ve just gotta have another cigarette +Another statistic (of sorts) is reported by the FiveThirtyEight website, which suggests that Joe Biden has a slight polling lead over Trump. So did Hillary Clinton of course. And of course we’d all like to see the back of the odious creature in the White House, but many will be asking ‘what difference would it make?’ In terms of policies delivered, in what ways would a Biden administration greatly differ from Trump’s? Such questions await an answer from the semi-invisible Biden. Lots of people on the left seem to be assuming that the Coronavirus issue will be the deciding factor in Trump’s defeat, but as yet that is an assumption of the usual, casual rational thinking found on the left. The Republicans will be using every means fair and foul to win the election, and more so than last time will be more united behind their presidential candidate. I will await with interest to see how the cheerleaders for centrism and triangulation, not to mention Third Way neo-liberalism and all the rest of it get behind Biden, in a way they never could for Sanders or Corbyn. And if he loses? +We could do with some boy scouts—and girl guides—in the government. ‘Be prepared’ has a ring about it. It is time we had a cabinet minister with a permanent remit simply for preparedness. This person might perhaps be the deputy prime minister, or at least somebody with some clout. They should be backed up by a department with the skills and knowledge to question what other departments are doing, and make binding recommendations about improvement. At the present time, much of the knowledge that is generated about how government is performing, e.g. through the National Audit Office, the Office for Budget Responsibility or the Committee on Climate Change for that matter can be quietly disregarded if it suits the government. Such bodies supposedly hold the government to account, and regularly publish meaningful reports, but of course none are represented in the Cabinet. Every government department should be asked what are the top 10 shit bombs (how coarse!) they think could occur in the field of their responsibilities and what their level of preparedness is to meet them. There should be (at least) a quarterly Cabinet meeting devoted to the Secretary of State for Preparedness’s report on which departments are falling short (could be a long meeting). All the reports should be made available immediately to the public—let’s have no more of this SAGE ‘keep it under the counter’ routine. If there’s one lesson we should learn from this pandemic, it is that the current nudge nudge wink wink Whitehall routine is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was. I am sure my suggestion would have the full support of Lord Beaverbrook if he were alive today. Perhaps even the other Chamberlain could help shed some light on getting things done. Not to mention dear old Clem and Nye too.
+Johnson’s well-rehearsed address to the nation this evening—for the first time he seems to have used a comb—didn’t add a great deal to ending our state of uncertainty. The broadcast came from a well appointed suite of rooms at No.10 (with a chandelier accentuating the idea that for some the lock down isn’t such a sacrifice). Now it seems we are moving to the ‘next phase,’ as if the whole thing is well understood and under control. There is, I think only one message to take from it, which is that relying on the public’s evident impatience with isolation and social distancing, the ‘herd immunity’ approach will find greater favour. Apparently in Sweden this is known as ‘flock immunity.’ A few well-chosen words could change everything. Johnson made no mention of giving people decent masks. That might have been one positive step to give substance to the ‘stay alert’ message. Following on from Bad News For Labour: Antisemitism, the party and public belief (Greg Philo et al, Pluto, 2019) ) comes It’s the Media Stupid! The media, the 2019 Election and the Aftermath (ed. Granville Williams, CPBF/North, 2020). Media bias is an old but very contemporary story, and it would be wishful thinking to entertain the notion that serious media reform is ever going to happen in the U.K. The pro-establishment bias of the media exists because most of the media are part of the establishment. Even when some rightwing newspapers supported New Labour, the party’s leadership had to travel half way round the world seeking a probationary period of establishment approval. So whilst these analyses of the anti-Corbyn/Labour media campaigns will always be insightful, one is still forced into a state of weary resignation when the phrase ‘media reform’ is mentioned, no matter that it is a worthy goal. The CPBF stands for Campaign for Press and Broadcast Freedom, originally launched back in the eighties as a national body, but now continuing, thanks to the enthusiasm of Granville and Sue Williams and others in a regional guise.
Your Rothermeres and Murdochs would of course argue that we do have press and broadcasting freedom, indeed they would no doubt argue that if we want more of it then the time has arrived to privatise the BBC. They, post-Levenson will be vigilant and forceful in protecting their mouthpieces from anything which smacks of regulation for the public benefit. If the public don’t like our products, they can stop buying them (and indeed they are with newspaper sales in rapid decline). The internet promised much—a ’democracy of thought’ - but the advent of social media has provided amplification for the trolls and biases with their factoids and prejudices lifted from the toxic waste dump which is much of the British press. The survey of the BBC’s election coverage in this latest book doesn’t give Auntie much credit for balance. The Beeb’s attitude is ‘we’re criticised from both sides’ so we must be doing alright. Such a simplistic response fails to address the variety of complaints, many of which are substantial. But I am sure that BBC executives will be proud that their Panorama programme attacking Labour for ‘being anti-Semitic’ caused as much grief on the left as did the recent Panorama programme about the government’s failure to deliver PPE to the NHS frontline outraged Tories. The question at the heart of this superficial balance is whether the programmes were true or not, not whether they equally offend both sides. In its pursuit of further breaking up the BBC, the government will listen to its backwoodsmen, some of whom no doubt will want to stick their greasy little fingers in the pie. It will be interesting to learn how the public regards the BBC after the plague has lifted. The letters BBC apparently follow closely behind NHS in public esteem. At a time when the nation is struggling to cope with the ineptitude and sheer incompetence of its government, what better time to celebrate a great victory? The victory against Hitler in Europe was indeed a great victory, but judging by the flag flying on this 75th anniversary it was one achieved solely by mighty Britain herself (by which of course we understand England). Never mind the Soviet Union, the United States, our colonies and ‘commonwealth’ and free forces from elsewhere. In the current context, when the British spirit is personified in the body of a buffoon and a charlatan, all we need to do to restore our confidence in our exceptional capacity to overcome adversity is to fly the flag. So, I have joined the flag-flying brigade, and from my top window now hangs the Canadian Maple Leaf. This is both a subtle protest against what I call ‘Union Jackism’ but also a respectful reminder of my father’s wartime contribution. I don’t think anybody would consider 58 missions with Bomber Command anything less than heroic—and very lucky of course.
He was a Canadian and was signed up from 1939 all the way through to 1945, first with the RAF then the RCAF, much of the time as a ‘tail end Charlie’ (a rear gunner on bombers, Wellingtons in his case) and later qualified as a pilot. I have to say I think he signed up as fast as he could for the excitement and the adventure as much as anything else, he wasn’t particularly political. A documentary on the remarkable spy Eddie Chapman the other night on BBC4 may have captured the motivations of quite a number of young men at the time, although Chapman did have making money in mind. He was a professional criminal after all. But so far as I can tell seeking to escape the Great Depression (which lasted a long time in Canada) was one of the motivations for my Dad signing up with the RAF as soon as he possibly could. He worked his crossing to the UK in a cattle boat, and also, so far as I can tell never regretted his choice. I write this on the eve of the celebratory day, and as my Maple Leaf flutters outside, I wonder in what way we will be told it was just us Brits standing alone against Fascism who won the war. Just as we are doing everything just at the right time today and have the best possible record fighting the ‘invisible mugger’ who it seems caught us by surprise. When will people realise that Johnson’s model is Chamberlain, not Churchill? I wish I had more flag poles. I could use one or two of them to stick up his arse. Spirit of 1940! It’s sad that we do not have Mass Observation on hand to record the views of the population during the present historic period. Listening to others in the Tesco queue this morning (morning queues I have discovered seem to have an older demographic which suits me fine) one could discern the phlegmatic character of the British spirit in all its glory. The middle aged NHS worker who refused an offer to move up the queue, even though she’d just finished her shift and merely said ‘I fancy standing in the sunshine for a while’ to some other person, wondering how people were responding to TV adverts which seemed to suggest that kids could get out to play (or at least do it indoors) when there was nowhere to go out and play (brings to mind the mayor of Middlesbrough’s decision to close down the parks) but then saying the Queen has plenty of space at Balmoral. And Her Majesty doesn’t even have to pay council tax! Then there was a brief commentary on Prof. Neil Ferguson’s ‘lover’ crossing London to visit him, despite his ‘issuing the guidance for no visitors’ whilst she was with him. And, according to this source, she is married with two children! I was somewhat disappointed that the queue moved as quickly as it did. Rarely when out shopping is one forced to pause and listen to the conversations of others. I will have to go to Tesco’s more often. It could be 1905 all over again. The makings of a revolution. What a disappointment I didn't hear anybody talk about what a wonderful job Keir Starmer was doing putting the government on the spot. I suppose that will come later.
+I have to register a complaint about this Coronavirus thing. Speaking as one who has a severe allergy to all things ‘sport’ I am dumbfounded how news bulletins and newspaper ‘sports’ sections still have anything to say. They don’t really have anything to say of course, because there is no sport. The only talk is of when there might be sport. Or what might have been had there been some sport. Thank God at least that the air waves have not been filled with endless interminable droning from Andy Murray about his plans for self-improvement. Listening yesterday to Greg Dyke talking about the possible resumption of football most of his answers seemed to be prefaced with variations of ’I don’t know.’ One wonders how true sports fans are coping without hearing their daily dose of clichés. +A tale in the Guardian this morning encapsulates England today, and is bad on many levels. It tells of Middlesbrough’s directly elected mayor, hedge fund millionaire Andy Peston closing the city’s parks because of Coronavirus. He said “When I feel that people are distancing correctly, when I feel people who behave well won’t be put at risk by people who behave badly, that’s when I will re-open them." Peston lives in Otteringham Hall (pictured). Lots of people in Middlesbrough live in small terraced houses with only a back yard. It is one of the poorest, most deprived cities in the country. It does however have some very large parks, like Albert Park, adjacent to the city centre where some of the housing density is greatest. But Peston knows all that of course, since he is quoted as saying “I spend a lot of time with people who live in back-to-back houses.” Clearly he thinks a small terraced house with a small back yard is a back-to-back. Has he actually seen a real back-to-back? Where are they in Middlesbrough (I am willing to be corrected on this point*)? But, on another level, what motivated voters in Middlesbrough to vote for a hedge fund millionaire as their mayor last May? Did they think he was the kind of person to regenerate their town? Did they question what hedge fund millionaires do? Peston won with an astonishing 59.2% of the vote. Nobody else came close. Maybe this is because he is a Philanthropist, and to be fair to him he was involved with setting up a local charity. But the parks belong to the people. They aren’t a gift from him. Definition of a hedge fund (the first definition that appears on Bing,com): “an offshore investment fund, typically formed as a private limited partnership, that engages in speculation using credit or borrowed capital.” That is of course just one definition amongst many, some of which are not repeatable in a family blog. Full disclosure: when I’m attending Teesside University for my course, I enjoy walking through Albert Park, so yes, I have an interest. Even though the campus is closed at the moment. * I looked on Google maps for evidence of back-to-backs In Middlesbrough. I couldn't find any but maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Are they in the suburbs? |
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