30th January 2022

 On Thursday the word ‘proportionality’ came to mind…
 On 27th January 1945, liberators arrived at Auschwitz and saw the evil that man can do to other men. Seventy-seven years later, on Thursday, a powerful BBC2 programme, documented by Prince Charles, showed how royally-commissioned portraits of seven Holocaust survivors perpetuated not just their image but mirrored their souls and memories. One said “We are very fortunate today to live in the best country in the world”. The PM understood this. He has promised to build a National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre so that “future generations can never doubt what happened, because that is the only way we can be certain that it never happens again…we will ensure that Britain never forgets the truth of the Holocaust.”  Elsewhere, war looms between Russia and Ukraine, and the PM will meet Mr Putin next week. Whilst these serious issues are happening, what are our British media focusing on? Are they supporting our PM in his difficult task of leading and representing our great nation?  No!

…..So, to the media and all those so hyped-up by them that they continue to rant about his meeting with work colleagues, I would say: forget what is at worst a fixed-penalty domestic charge, and support our PM in his far more important global fight. Get a sense of proportionality!

23rd January 2022

 Yesterday was 22.1.22 here. Maybe that’s why I went backwards in my dream last night. It was 1952 and I was playing in the street. All my long-gone family were there. My brothers were playing marleys with friend Victor in the dirt, their feet in ballet’s first position, to catch the marbles. I watched for a while. Victor said you don’t have to go to school if you don’t want to. Years later, he was still working as a teacher! I told Mrs S, our neighbour, that I couldn’t wait for September when I would start school. You’ll wish your life away, she said. She’s now long gone. My father would read the racing results and fill in the football pools coupon, State Express ash falling on the lino. I never understood all the different lines. What on earth did 8 from 11 mean? I still don’t! We all had to shush when the radio was on. Nottingham Forest 2…pause…Aston Villa nil. Depression all around, but at least my team won yesterday!  Neither the radio news nor the national papers ever reported on happenings in Downing Street. Headlines blared the important stuff, which country was fighting another. That’s what the news is for. If I wanted the gossipy stuff, like who went to a party, I’d just ask Mrs S next door.

16th January 2022

Yesterday BBC Radio 4’s rowdy Question Time came from my home town. One issue. A domino effect was set in train started by a disgruntled former civil servant, seized upon by the media, and exacerbated by those who have been scarred by the deaths of loved ones and understandably upset. Even the Queen was brought into the mix. No 10 Downing Street, like the White House, comprises a warren of offices plus living accommodation for the leader. During the pandemic, No 10 has worked tirelessly day and night to run the country, introduce furlough schemes to keep the public afloat, develop and distribute world-beating vaccination programmes, provide daily TV data, pump enormous amounts of money into the NHS etc. Unlike workers elsewhere, they can’t go to the pub after work, so go into the garden to relax/discuss work. The PM allegedly joined them briefly to thank them. What do I think? We all need to step back and take a deep breath. Would we honestly prefer this country to be ruled by the current opposition? The Shadow Chancellor, for one, is totally unqualified for office by dint of leaving school with NO qualifications. And, as we speak, they are debating bringing proven antisemite Corbyn back as party whip. The media should not be allowed to manipulate the public as they do, using long range photos of the PM’s garden, whilst ignoring photos of similar events held by the opposition party. Selective obfuscation = political  bias, which can bring governments down. No leader is perfect. Churchill suffered similarly after WWII. Stop vilifying the vulnerable but essentially kind-hearted and highly-educated PM. Let him get on with running the country through these difficult times.

9th January 2022

I need to take my mind off things so I watched the first episode of The Apprentice (UK).  The usual crop of beautiful young things, all saying “I’m the full package” or “I’m a genius”.  My heart sank - along with the cruise ship they were supposed to be marketing! The usual recurring problem between the generations. The older I get, the more I realise how much I don’t know.  But young people are so taken up with themselves and their own egos, they fail to see what they lack. A similar picture when I watch quiz shows like The Chase.  It’s common for university students to get general questions wrong, even in their specialist subjects, and school teachers often show their ignorance of the kind of broad general knowledge drummed into me from the ‘50s.  If teachers have such ‘narrow’ educational routes, what chance their pupils?  And why is it that the Chase experts know so much more over such a broad range of topics? Too much reliance these days on Wikipaedia and video games and not enough on studying a subject in full and comprehensive detail. If only today’s young minds (and their teachers) could be trained to 1950 levels, a little bit of common sense might surface. But, as with the above cruise ship, don’t hold your breath.

2nd January 2022

 At midnight on Friday, I opened the front door and, ignoring the Blackpool-lights in our road plus the accompanying, dog-terrifying fireworks, unceremoniously threw out the old year and welcomed in 2022. Now day 7 of my hopefully-temporary disorder. Taking 10 prednisole tabs pd but they tell me it’ll take weeks to improve. Here’s hoping. At least the face mask covers up the worst of it. Turning to the newspapers. The usual highly-paid recipients of the Queen’s award and the usual grimace from David Beckham for being overlooked again. To my mind, no-one in the world of entertainment or sport should receive such a thing. It should go to those who spend their life giving their all to their fellow man without payment or glory, those who make a difference with no reward for themselves. Good people are hidden amongst us. You just have to look. I liked that story of a man who, when he heard of an old lady from the Isle of Wight, whose boat missed her bus connection, meaning she’d have to go home again, drove her all the way to Scotland at no cost to be with her family over the festive season. Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.

26th December 2021

 Struggling at the moment. For a few days my mouth felt a bit strange, which I put down to the after-effects of recent dental work. Friday morning my right eye felt sore and gritty. But I had a meal to prepare as we had friends coming round for dinner yesterday.  So I swallowed an aspirin and rushed around the kitchen, cooking up a storm. Made a challah, chicken soup with kneidlach and lokshen, turkey roll marinaded with turmeric, garlic and paprika and cooked in white wine and chicken stock - with sprouts and roast potatoes. Everyone said the meal was great. All fine except the right side of my face dropped, the lower eyelid had drooped and my mouth was numb on the right side.  I looked in the mirror and tried to smile but only the left side of my mouth lifted. First thought: panic. Maybe I’d had a stroke. But I can put my tongue out straight and the rest of the right side of my body is fine. Xmas day. You can’t get a doctor on a normal day.  Fast forward. I’m 100 % sure it’s Bell’s palsy, which hopefully will improve in a few weeks. And, what do I read in a recent British Medical Journal? They’ve found a link between the Pfizer jab (which I had 10 days ago) and Bell’s Palsy!! Let’s hope 2022 is better.

19th December 2021

 Today would have been my late mother Thora’s 111th birthday. What would she have made of today’s chaotic world?  So many stupidities. At restaurants, diners wear masks until their meals arrive, then take them off to eat. Clearly, the virus goes away when we eat. The world is being ruled, not by elected leaders, but by scientists. How much longer are we going to continue to hide away from an invisible virus? I foolishly thought that now we’ve all had two jabs and a booster, normal life would return, with our own natural immunity plus the vaccines protecting us from serious illness. How long before it’s mandatory to have booster no. 99? I grow exasperated about how the virus and its ever evolving variants have ruined the whole world, maybe for ever. And yet no-one has held the originating country to account for what, to me, is the likely cause - a lab researcher’s gross incompetence.  Worry free enjoyment of life has gone and no-one can plan happy future events with any confidence any more. Yet, what are we in the UK complaining about? A Xmas party 12m ago, when rumour has it the other political Parties had similar ones but no-one recorded them! Oh well, as 2022 approaches, I must somehow soldier on. Happy birthday Thora.