Tag Archives: government

Things Not to Talk About

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I haven’t got a clue what I’m going to write about. There is so much to discuss but by the time I’ve filtered out the politics and the stories that are not mine to tell there is less to say. When I also remove the subjects I’ve already done to death I’m left with very little to work with.

It’s COVID vaccination day tomorrow. Because I’m working it’s less convenient than normal, though it has to be said that all the COVID vaccination venues are less convenient than they have been. It’s mostly pharmacies now, but unfortunately my local one doesn’t do it.

Greylag Goose Arnot Hill Park Arnold

Julia will be coming to the shop and we are going together. I’m then running her into town as she has a meeting to go to. There may be no rest for the wicked, but there’s not much for people who volunteer either. She is in the process of stepping down as Chair, as we prepare for moving house.

There was something at the back of my mind, but I can’t think what it was. This used to be a sign that it wasn’t important, but now it’s a sign that I have a bad memory.  I just remembered what it was . . .

Red Crested Pochard – Arnot Hill

The Elgin Marbles are back in the news. It’s a story that has run all my life and one that gets new life breathed into it every time the Greek Government needs to divert attention from something. I’m going to mention it so the fictional future PhD student who uses my blog for historical research will have something to write about. I will also mention the Falkland Islands and the new Argentinian Government, because that falls into the same category.

I’m developing a though. Why, instead of keeping all his stuff that people want, don’t we just give it all back, but insist hey take he rest of the country too. That way, all the people who complain about he way our government runs hings, can see how another government would do it better. Apart from sunshine I don’t thing either of them has much to offer, and they don’t actually own the sunshine.

Pochard – Arnot Hill

Incidentally, on the news this morning it announced that in many parts of Europe (Norway, Svalbard etc) the sun has gone down for the winter. Svalbard won’t see the sun again until February.

Admitting Defeat

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I am going to admit defeat. I have been struggling for things to say for a week or more and am now going to admit that I am defeated. There is no point in dressing it up – I have lost my ability to be light, frothy and cheerful.

I have no confidence in the government, who are lurching from one knee-jerk reaction to the next.

I have no confidence in my fellow citizens, who appear to be in the grip of panic-buying hysteria.

I have no confidence in many of the professionals who appear on TV. There have been a few who were worth listening to, but by definition, if they know what they are doing they are generally too busy for TV.

Does this sound bitter and negative? Sorry if that is the case. However, I assure you that it is upbeat and mild compared to the earlier versions that I wrote and discarded in the last few days.

I also think we are in the middle of a grandmother’s railings scenario – they want us to concentrate on washing hands rather than examine their policies.

I have been looking at various information on hand hygiene and flu transmission with a view to making sure I am doing the right things. It seems that hand-washing reduces respiratory infections by 16%. Yes, one sixth. It’s worth doing, but it’s clearly not the entire answer and it’s been diverting attention from other matters.

Now that I’m in the groove I can feel a rant coming on. I’m amazed by some of the things I’ve been reading, and very interested in the way that things are phrased to avoid giving information to casual readers like me.

I did find some concrete information – as a result of a hand hygiene campaign in the NHS a few years ago the use of soap and sanitiser went up and the incidence of infections went down. From that I infer that people weren’t washing their hands properly and patients were becoming ill as a result.

Try this, for more information. It’s illuminating, and frightening. The basic information is that the WHO calculates handwashing rates at 40% and in an American hospital study only 22% washed their hands after seeing a patient (rising to 57% when they knew they were being watched).

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

I used the owl as the header picture because we all need wisdom. And because I don’t have a picture of a Boris Johnson doll with pins in it.