I have seen several people commenting on the nonsense of commending people who 'fight' an illness. As one pointed out, when you are ill you are not a combatant but the battlefield. Dickens, of course, was there first. In the opening chapter of Dombey and Son, Mrs Dombey is dying after giving birth, but all family and medical opinion agrees that she need only 'make an effort' to be saved: Now, really, Fanny my dear,' said the sister-in-law, altering her position, and speaking less confidently, and more earnestly, in spite of herself, 'I shall have to be quite cross with ...
[IMG: 'Something will turn up' isn't a viable approach to an emergency] The Government has been accused of putting 'profit before people' in the way it has handled the response to the pandemic. Firstly, it was slow... The post 'Something will turn up' isn't a viable approach to an emergency appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
For all us busy city dwellers the abrupt curtailment of normal activity nearly three weeks ago was quite a shock to the system. I was used to the luxury of knowing that the West End is only a 20-minute Tube ride away and that the brilliant local Genesis arts cinema is only a few bus [...]
Fri 10th
17:49
"I used to be a police officer - now I worry about them being given more power" - Wendy Chamberlain
Excellent piece from Liberal Democrat MP and former police officer Wendy Chamberlain for the Metro newspaper: As a liberal - even one who spent 12 years as a police officer - I am naturally wary of giving the police more powers to arrest, fine, detain and charge people. When we do need to give the police emergency powers, as we do during this coronavirus emergency, we must all be vigilant to ensure that those powers are used properly and evenhandedly. The biggest concern is that civil liberties mustn't be curtailed more than necessary, and the powers mustn't be used disproportionately ...
Second paragraph of third chapter (brace yourselves, it's a long one): There are some sorts of industry, even of the lowest kind, which can be carried on nowhere but in a great town. A porter, for example, can find employment and subsistence in no other place. A village is by much too narrow a sphere for him; even an ordinary market-town is scarce large enough to afford him constant occupation. In the lone houses and very small villages which are scattered about in so desert a country as the highlands of Scotland, every farmer must be butcher, baker, and brewer, ...
I love sacred choral music – both singing it and listening to it. For me, it's an integral part of Christmas and Holy Week. I realise that is a bit of a niche choice, but if that's not your cup of tea (mine's redbush, by the way) just humour me for a few moments. Handel's Messiah is often performed around this time of year, especially in Wales where I spent some of my childhood. My family used to put the record on during dinner and we'd belt out the main choruses. My grandmother, who lived in Aberdare, told me that ...
It's the weekend, and even this column gets a lie in. Well, that's my excuse, anyway! 2 big stories There's been a lot of controversy over the apparent delays in repatriating British tourists trapped overseas. But it isn't as easy to arrange these things as you might think. Austrian Airlines have been collecting citizens from around the world, and in this interview, one of their pilots explains some of the issues encountered. But how did we get to this at all? The Guardian has gone back to the source of the pandemic, Wuhan. Coronavirus infections began cropping up in Wuhan ...
You may just have heard that Ed Maxfield and I have written a book, now on to its second edition, about how elections are won. If you've not yet read it, here are six reasons to give it a whirl...
[IMG: Falling back on yourself] If the lockdown is teaching me anything, it is that we only have ourselves to fall back on when the chips are truly down. While... The post Falling back on yourself appeared first on Ambitiousmamas.
This global pandemic, and the consequent unprecedented changes to how we live, has laid bare the inequality that exists in our society. Covid-19 has given inequality a human face when previously it was understood by many in the form of stats and figures, news reports, policy documents, while many more were oblivious entirely. Workers who have often been considered to be at the bottom of the hierarchy – perhaps because their job is stigmatised for supposedly being unskilled or low paid or not requiring qualifications - are now completely essential to get us through this crisis. Retail staff, cleaners, public ...
An Emmy award-winning six-part drama series from 1977, Washington Behind Closed Doors tells the tale of fictional US President Richard Monckton. Fictional, but very closely based on the real Richard M. Nixon.
I have written four plays before - they range from a full-length play about the Three Day Week in 1973/4 to an invocation to devolution so that my home town of Steyning declares itself independent of the UK - this one performed in the cricket club during the Steyning Festival two summers ago. I find it hard to write without an element of humour, as my tongue wanders into my cheek. So when the Radix thinktank asked me to write the play The Party Leader, it was obvous it would have a few laughs. We had recently become the first ...
The Trump-supporting co-host of my weekly broadcast for American radio is livid. The Chinese, he said, are selling medical equipment to European countries that was donated to them back in January/February. "I won't forgive them for this if I live another 70 years!" He exclaimed while banging his desk so hard that I feared he would punch a hole in the woodwork. I was confused, as well as concerned about Lockwood Phillips' furniture and blood pressure. I had read reports about China donating supplies to Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Also that China's medical manufacturing industry is now at full ...
Thu, 12:56: Why Bernie Sanders Lost https://t.co/uzIhJ4eqEF More detail from@fivethirtyeight. Thu, 16:05: IN BEELD: Oud-Heverlee was nog nooit zo rustig https://t.co/Wh8KDka4HV Photos from our village. Thu, 18:20: Thursday reading https://t.co/R25uHlfoH9 Thu, 18:48: Red Notice, by Bill Browder https://t.co/4Ao1UK1NX3 Thu, 20:09: My week on Twitter 🎉: 28 Mentions, 16.9K Mention Reach, 12 Replies. See yours with https://t.co/uWOo0nJczR https://t.co/8R5FVmquNF Fri, 10:45: RT @StevenWMoffat: Umpty um, Umpty um ... https://t.co/oUaUeQhY9l Fri, 11:28: My week on Twitter 🎉: 48 Mentions, 133 Mention Reach, 38 Replies. See yours with https://t.co/uWOo0nJczR https://t.co/deD9l4sc4K
It looks like we'll get some nice weather over the Bank Holiday weekend but it's important to keep doing everything we can to stay at home. That way we will slow the spread of the virus to stop the NHS being overwhelmed and save lives. Our thanks to all the keyworkers working to save lives and keep services running this weekend.If you have questions about the restrictions, the Government have provided an FAQ. Avon and Somerset Police will be increasing their patrols this weekend.Reporting symptomsIf you've unfortunately experienced COVID-19 symptoms you can help the NHS to understand the virus better ...
Fri 10th
10:16
Have a happy socially distanced Easter but take care during this locked down holiday #coronavirus
We live in unusual times. We have some of the best Easter weather for years. But we are in lockdown. We can only have one walk a day and must always socially distance. The ritual stampede to beaches and the hills has been cancelled. But we are surrounded by quiet countryside we can explore in relative isolation with easy social distancing. We must take care while getting the exercise we need and enjoying the sunshine we love. No crowds. No family other than those we live with. This emergency will be over soon, though we don't know when. We shouldn't ...
A snowy shot of Maghull Station with an Ormskirk bound train approaching from 2010 – not related to the video Remember the snow of February 1994? Well you can relive it via this You Tube video of Merseyrail's Northern Line to Southport during that bad weather – see link below:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgElam9573Y The video starts of at Chester but soon goes on to Southport after about 1m 30sec's.
As the Guardian reports, it is not just Jacob Rees Mogg's company that are profiting from the current economic uncertainty caused by the lockdown. The paper says that Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC trade union body, has accused Hedge funds of raking in billions from market bets during the coronavirus crisis while care workers in high-risk environments can barely scrape by. Her comments come after it was revealed one London hedge fund had made £2.4bn betting on market moves as investors panicked over a global economic shutdown: News of the multibillion-pound windfall came as Crispin Odey, the Brexit ...
Although we are all mostly staying at home and distancing ourselves, this isn't really a lockdown, we are just asked to be sensible and apply restrictions to ourselves. We all need to go out at sometime, for exercise, for shopping or to go to the Post Office, cash machine etc. Key workers go to work and keep the country going and an excellent job they are doing. But, if you have to go out, obey the distancing rules!! If you don't you risk finding out what a true lockdown really is!
As the economic impact of the Covid-19 lockdown becomes clearer day by day the necessity of ensuring that millions are not left destitute by gaps in support systems becomes ever stronger. The UK was already teetering on the edge of recession, as business confidence dried up in the face of a potentially hard Brexit. Now, with a global recession underway, economists are predicting a slump in GDP of between 7.5% and 24% this quarter and we have already seen over 1m new claimants for registering for Universal Credit. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has published a policy document for a ...
If you are wondering how to go about gardening without being able to get out and about then Kate, who is Community Allotments Officer at the Council, has set up a Lockdown Gardening channel on YouTube. It has lots of great tips on growing your own veg using items from around the house, so do check it out here.
