Hi. I’m Charlie Cheeselog. I’m 57 years old, married, no kids but 3 adorable cats. Currently living in Cyprus but intend ultimately to return to the UK. Centre-left, pro-European politics. Liverpool FC, horse racing, eating, real ale, walks in the country, indie, old-school rave and house, Southern soul, slightly left field electronic & experimental pop. Hates intimidation, oppression & neglect of less fortunate members of society.
We are entering a time where a new decade coincides with a crucial turning point in our country’s, and indeed our world’s, history. What motivated me to do this was a recent BBC programme about citizens in Germany who had recorded events during the Third Reich on their own home cine cameras. Their footage showed a country’s descent from order into barbarity, and then the utter chaos and destruction of defeat. At this juncture in our history I thought it would be an idea if I did the same with a written journal, with the idea of being able to look back on the decade at its end (always assuming I would still be around to do so). But , much like those Germans who recorded the events for posterity, I thought I’d do the same so others might read my ramblings and thereby get a flavour of life at the time that potentially momentous events were unfolding.
Not for a moment that I am suggesting that the United Kingdom is entering an era of totalitarian rule, with people being imprisoned for trying to exercise free speech and certain minorities being persecuted by the State just for being who they are. But there’s no doubt in my mind that the new incumbent at No. 10, aided and assisted by his ‘special adviser’, is intent upon taking the country down a risky road and changing its character altogether, and not for the better.
Indeed, the country as we know it may very well have ceased to exist by the end of the decade. Boris Johnson’s desire for a hard Brexit is very likely to persuade the Scots to go their own way, gain independence and rejoin the EU by the end of the decade. In which case the country will be damned to be ruled by the Tories in perpetuity.
It’s bad enough that our exit from the EU has been enabled by a sizeable part of the population who seem to be so desperate to have their precious little Brexit that they’ve voted for a government which in all likelihood will continue the policies which have inflicted such harm on their own wellbeing, and that of their families and local communities.
All this at a time when the world is at the mercy of an impetuous, unstable, petulant man-child who’s currently resident in the White House, with populists around the world seemingly becoming an increasingly dominant force; and when the planet’s viability for habitation is only too obviously becoming increasingly vulnerable in the light of current events in Australia.
I’ll freely admit that I’m doing this purely for my own self-gratification; I make no claim to be the Samuel Pepys or Anne Frank of my era. You won’t find any extraordinarily lucid, enlightening passages or jaw-dropping thoughts or revelations in here. And, let’s face it, there’s nothing in my profile which is going to suck people into reading this. If I’m honest, I’ll be amazed if I gain a single follower; I just thought it would be interesting to record my thoughts on the events of the day (both personal and in the world in general) over the course of a new decade. If you do decide to follow me, or at least dip in every now and again, then thank you very much for choosing to do so.
Wednesday 1st January 2020
We went to Mrs Cheeselog’s friends for New Year’s Eve. My hopes for a good night soared when I saw the Cards Against Humanity box on the table; we’d played that riotously non-PC game at my brother’s place and had an absolute riot of an evening. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Instead, we started playing a supposed ‘quiz’ game which included tests such as making paper aeroplanes and humming tunes on a kazoo. At this point the male half of our hosts lost heart, I lost interest, and after people decided they didn’t want to play any more board games after that, the evening petered out into a total anti-climax. The mood hung over me for most of New Year’s Day, and a walk in the weak winter sunshine didn’t do anything to dispel it. I rather fear that this will set the tone not just for this year, but for the whole of the decade.
Thursday 2nd January
Shocking scenes from Australia. Millions of acres of bushland are ablaze in catastrophic fires which come after an extended drought. The images are reminiscent of a Hollywood movie about an environmental catastrophe, except that this is real and not entertainment. All too real for thousands of people. The Aussie PM Scott Morrison, commonly known as ScoMo, is an established climate change denier who rather tactlessly chose not to return home promptly from his holiday in Hawaii to deal with the crisis, and has deservedly copped a lot of flak. No doubt he’ll now be referred to as SlowMo in some quarters. Anyone in Oz who now dares suggest that this disaster isn’t related to climate change will most likely have their reproductive parts quickly rendered not fit for purpose.
Friday 3rd January
The year just gets better and better. The narcissistic man-child currently resident in the White House has decided to take out a senior Iranian general to reduce the risk of an attack on America. Well, if the risk of an attack on the US was present before, it’s been increased manifold now. Having Trump in the Oval Office is akin to giving an arsonist a lighter and daring him to do his worst in a fireworks factory.
Saturday 4th January
BoJo’s puppeteer Dominic Cummings has stated in a long, rambling entry on his blog that he’s looking for ‘weirdos and misfits’ to work with him to revamp the Civil Service. His nominal boss appears to have given him free rein to do anything he likes, and consequently he appears to be completely out of control. Cummings is one of those contemptible individuals who believe they are so talented and special that the normal rules of treating others with respect, of political discourse and convention, and – yes, of course, dress sense – do not apply to them. He has always made clear his complete contempt for civil servants and MP’s – who, remember, are elected to serve us – and expresses this contempt not just in the way he talks to and refers to them, but in the way he is attired for his job. He’s obviously an extremely intelligent guy, but unfortunately he puts his intelligence to bad uses. He’s a nasty, arrogant piece of work and hopefully one day he’ll get what’s coming to him, for the way he treats people, and also for the massive responsibility he bears for having shafted the country. I sincerely hope that when his sins catch up with him, he will have to endure all the victimisation and humiliation he’s inflicted upon other people, for every single day of the rest of his life. I don’t think I’ve ever despised anyone in public life quite so much – not even Donald Trump, not even Gary Neville.
Sunday 5th January
On a more positive note, it’s great to see Liverpool FC regain their place at the head of the English game, after so long in the relative wilderness. Owners Fenway can claim a fair amount of credit, but the person primarily responsible for the Reds’ re-emergence as England’s best team is of course their hugely talented, charismatic and affable German manager Jurgen Klopp. Although LFC have had some fine managers since the days of Shankly and Paisley, none has carried off the trick of creating a successful team whilst psychologically meshing so successfully with the fanbase in the way that Shankly did. Rafa Benitez won the Champions League and was idolised by supporters for doing so, but, for no fault of his own, he just didn’t possess the huge air of bonhomie that Klopp does. You get the impression that Klopp doesn’t just give individual players a big hug after every win, but also that he wraps them all in a big, warm, metaphorical group hug every day of the week. There just seems to be a tremendous sense of togetherness, unity and focus amongst the whole squad, not just the regular first-teamers but also the established squad members and youngsters coming through as well.
At the time of writing, they’re a ridiculous 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand. Liverpool fans have had their hopes raised that the title might return to its rightful home on several occasions; Roy Evans’ team choking in 96/97, Houllier’s ’10 games from greatness’ in 01/02, Rafa’s side falling short in 08/09 due to points unnecessarily dropped at home, and no-one needs reminding about 13/14. But this season, with City already having unexpectedly lost games and the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd & Spurs in transition (and Arsenal having sunk into mediocrity), it really does feel that the stars are aligning to ensure that Liverpool will be champions this season; they’ll probably never have a better chance to end all those years of hurt.
The great thing is that there’s no sense of momentum being lost. Okay, I wish they’d win games in the way that City do, by absolutely slaughtering the opposition by 4-5 goals on a regular basis, rather than having to grind out results. But whereas City have seemingly found a way to lose games unnecessarily, Liverpool have found a way to keep going right to the end by displaying not just physical but mental strength and stamina, until they get the result they desire. Sometimes champions have to do more than just cruise to victory; they have to display a willingness to scrap where necessary, and Liverpool have done so on several occasions this season.
This never-say-die attitude has seemingly permeated all levels of the club, as witnessed in part today. A weakened side defeated a full-strength Everton in their FA Cup 3rd round tie, thanks to a wonder goal by local lad Curtis Jones. The Blues had the better of the first half, but were inferior in the second and never looked liked equalising. The result and the performance reflects enormous credit on the youngsters and the squad members who largely consisted the team today. It’s definitely one of those occasions where Shankly’s saying about the two best teams on Merseyside being Liverpool and Liverpool reserves has been proved to be very apt.
Monday 6th January
The weather here in Cyprus has been absolutely awful today. It’s been a day of torrential rain, thunder, and worst of all, howling gales. People might be amazed when they’re told that the weather can be this bad in this part of the world, but it certainly is. In the UK, gales and storms usually blow through within the course of a few hours. Here, major winter storms can go on for 2-3 days with scarcely an interlude. Today I was supposed to collect our cats from the cattery which is in an isolated area, accessible only via minor roads. These roads are quite often affected by flooding and blown down trees during periods of bad weather. I really didn’t fancy going out in the wind, rain and gathering darkness, so I cleared it with the cattery owner that I’d go tomorrow instead.
Tuesday 7th January
Second successive night where our sleep was disturbed by thunder. At least the weather had improved enough by the afternoon to permit me to collect the cats.
Today a 19yo English woman was found guilty of ‘public mischief’ in Cyprus of lying in court about having been gang-raped by a group of Israelis. On the basis of having signed a fabricated confession under duress, after already having spent a month in prison. Turns out that some of the acquitted Israeli youths, who were apparently singing ‘the Brit is a whore’ and drinking champagne upon their return home, had friends in high places. I might add that Cyprus and Israel have growing and deepening economic and strategic interests. Not that there’s any connection between the two, no, not at all.
Apparently the mayor of Ayia Napa at the time of the incident – who’s now a minister in the Cyprus government – is threatening to sue the woman for defamation, and says she owes the town an apology. Local businessmen are saying that the court had been lenient with her.
Seems like Cyprus is close to the Middle East not just in terms of geography, but also of attitudes towards women. It stinks.
Wednesday 8th January
Night’s sleep disturbed by thunder again. Woke up to discover that Iran has fired missiles at US bases in Iraq, and also that a passenger plane bound for Ukraine had crashed soon after take-off from Baghdad, killing all on board. You just hope and pray that it’s nothing worse than an accident, bad enough as that sounds.
Today, MP’s voted 348-252 to reject an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill which would have permitted child refugees oversees to be reunited with family members in the UK. This is in addition to other defeated amendments which would have permitted EU citizens resident before 31st January to have permanent UK residence; which would have established a right to appeal against settled status decisions; which would have ensured MP’s would have the chance to vote on the future UK/EU relationship.
The opponents of these amendments were overwhelmingly Conservative MP’s who – if they aren’t so callous, xenophobic and dogmatic to actually believe that the reasons for why they opposed them are ethically sound – are either prepared to ignore any moral conscience they might have and are putting their career prospects and their party before their country, or have absolutely no backbone and are too cowardly to speak out.
Shame on the lot of them.
Thursday 9th January
The tabloids are in a predictable frenzy over Harry & Meghan’s decision to step back as senior members of the Royal Family, and spend their time between the UK and North America. Although Meghan was previously in the public eye as an actress, she’s obviously struggled with the huge level of media interest – and intrusion – as a consequence of being a non-British, mixed race person who’s married into the Firm. Harry, of course, has his own reasons for being wary of the media, having seen his mother endure intense media scrutiny and harassment by packs of paparazzi. With this in mind, maybe it’s no surprise that they’re deciding to take a lower profile, although perhaps it might have been an idea for Harry to let his dad & granny know beforehand. Maybe it’s just a desperate measure to get away from the influence of that dodgy uncle. Either way, it’s a pound to a penny that the tabs are going to blame Meghan for causing this rift within the family by unduly influencing Harry. Of course, Meghan will be a victim of this situation twice over, firstly by virtue of the initial press intrusion, then by her being held culpable for the decision to withdraw from frontline duties.
TBH I’m not really bothered with the Royals; on one hand I don’t believe there’s a practical reason for the monarchy to exist, but I’m not a rabidly anti-monarchist republican either. The Queen continues to act as a binding agent for just about all elements of the UK community, and has a hugely admirable ethos of performing her duty for our country. She will probably be the last thread which keeps us together as a nation; when she goes, the future of both the UK and the monarchy will both be very much open to question.
Despite all of its obvious faults, the Labour Party still represents the strongest, soundest form of opposition to the hard-right government recently elected, given that our electoral system is loaded against all smaller parties. I’ve been toying with the idea of joining Labour on the grounds that my vote as a member will help to choose a leader who’s more in touch with real life as experienced by people up and down the land, as opposed to someone who plays at revolutionary socialism, and who’s supported by people who fancy themselves as toytown Che Guevaras. After all, it was the enrolment of all those Momentum entryists who paid the reduced rate of £3 a head, who swept Corbyn to the leadership in 2015. Alas, the conditions for joining have changed and prospective members now have to stump up £25 to join, so I think I’ll knock that on the head. Just hope that the membership have the good sense to acknowledge that there’s a real need to engage with reality and break from the current regime, no matter what Corbynista cultists like Owen Jones and Aaron Bastani might think, and elect qsomeone whose name isn’t Rebecca Long Bailey.
PS. The sun’s out and it’s stopped raining!
Friday 10th January
Turns out that the Ukranian plane which crashed soon after takeoff from Baghdad was shot down accidentally by the Iranian military. That’s reassuring to know, isn’t it?
Otherwise – it’s been a nice sunny day. It’s Friday. That’s it.
Saturday 11th January
Liverpool won again, this time at Tottenham. It had the air of a potentially difficult assignment beforehand, given Mourinho has been the past master of parking the bus, but tonight Spurs appeared to be happy to stand off and give the Reds plenty of room. Liverpool should have been out of sight by half time, but a more positive attitude from the hosts in the 2nd half, and a degree of complacency from the Reds, meant it was a lot more tense than it should have been. Especially when sub Lo Celso put a chance wide with about 5 minutes left when it seemed easier to score. But we were comfortably the better side, and it was a case of job done in the end.
Sunday 12th January
City won 6-1 away to Villa yesterday. For all the fact Liverpool are winning so many games, they haven’t yet mastered the art of absolutely crushing vastly inferior sides on a regular basis like all truly great sides do. City still seem capable of taking their game to greater heights than Liverpool do. It’s as well that Liverpool have been far more reliable and defensively resolute than City this season.
Monday 13th January
The Queen called a summit meeting of all senior royals at Sandringham to discuss Harry & Meghan’s future; Meghan herself neither attended nor listened in on the phone from Canada. Seems like Her Majesty as reluctantly agreed to the parting of the waves. Elsewhere, the Northern Ireland parliament has agreed to reconvene after three years of suspension, largely over squabbles relating to a failed green energy scheme and the legal status of the Gaelic language.
Tuesday 14th January
Today I received an email from a lady who works at a local animal sanctuary, about a cat who we’d taken there to be looked after, in the hope that he would find a new owner. We’d previously been feeding little Ginge and three others (in addition to the three cats we already own), but to cut a long story short, circumstances forced our hand, and we were forced to find him a new home. Despite appeals on Facebook to local animal welfare sites, putting ads in local pet shops, etc., there were absolutely no takers. (Cyprus has a huge feral cat population, and consequently if you want to adopt a cat, all you need to do is to wait for one to turn up in your garden). We took Ginge to this particular sanctuary and informed them that we would be willing to sponsor him until such time as he found his forever home, seemingly safe in the knowledge that this would ensure he’d be fed and watered, and that he would eventually be happy.
It appears that poor Ginge has struggled to adapt to his new environment in the sanctuary (he’s been there for nearly 2 months now). Before, he had free range on our estate; he was the most beautiful, placid, affectionate cat and we’d both become very attached to him. Sadly, he appears to have been traumatised by his time in the sanctuary, and it’s possible that this trauma may permanently have broken his character. I’m pondering as to whether we should take him back from the sanctuary, and let him take his chance in the open and let him run free somewhere else (obviously, bringing him back to our estate would be out of the question). The dilemma we’ll have is keeping him in an environment where he’ll be well looked after and fed, but where he’s desperately unhappy; or whether he can be released into the open, where (initially at least) he’s likely to be happier, but will have to fend for himself when it comes to looking for food.
The lady at the sanctuary has requested that we pay him a visit to see if we can somehow reassure and pacify him. We intend to go down on Saturday, and will ask for advice on what is the best course of action for him.
The whole episode has taken an emotional toll on us both; I don’t mind that we’ve both shed tears over it. In retrospect, it was unwise to become involved with feeding feral cats; inevitably you get to know them as individuals, you become very attached to them, and inevitably, for one reason or another, you’ll end up with a broken heart like we have done.
Wednesday 15th January
Here’s a fact for all those who voted Leave on the grounds that we paid too much into the EU, to consider.
The Brexit process will soon have cost more than the total sum of the UK’s net contributions since we joined back in 1973. Business uncertainty has already caused growth to fall such that the economy is 3% smaller than it would have been, had the referendum not been won by Leave. (I shall not say ‘had we not voted to leave’, since a substantial proportion of ‘us’ didn’t vote to leave.)
Elsewhere, the Government has offered to step in to rescue the ailing regional airline Flybe, by deferring its air passenger duty bill and by offering a possible loan. More contentiously, as a consequence, it’s now considering a reduction in APD for all domestic flights. At a time when the effects of global warming are becoming all too obvious, and when our railways seem to be in a perpetual state of crisis owing at least in part to the unwillingness of government to invest in the system, it’s not the most tactful of moves. Seems like BoJo is only too willing to throw money at certain interest groups to keep them quiet.
Thursday 16th January
Brexiteers losing their shit over whether Big Ben should sound at midnight on Jan 31st to signify our departure from the EU, and who should pay for it. It was made clear promptly that public funds wouldn’t be made available, so some of the more rabid leavers set up crowdfunding sites to try and raise the necessary £500k. To date the best performing of these has raised the princely sum of £485.
Meghan is threatening to take the Daily Mail to court after it published a letter she sent to her estranged father. In response the Mail indicated that it’s likely to call her father to testify against her. It’s all getting rather messy.
Friday 17th January
I returned to the scene of my crime today. I’d hoped to see them appear, to see them running up to me like they used to. But of course it’s more than two months since we had to relocate Elsie and Luna (they’re two of the four cats mentioned in my 14th January entry). We chose to leave them in a village about 4 miles from our house, where there’s an expat British population of reasonable size (and hence in theory a chance that an animal-loving Brit might take at least one of them on). The reality is, of course, that they will have both run off into the surrounding countryside, never to be seen alive again. We did our best for them when we were looking after them, and we considered every possible, realistic option for them, before deciding to follow our eventual course of action. I’ve already beaten myself up several times over it. But I still feel shit about it.
Saturday 18th January
We went to see Ginge today. He’s still on the top shelf in the pen (a separate enclosure within the shelter building), with another ginger cat keeping him company up there, who he seems grudgingly tolerant of. He’s not quite so obviously unhappy as he was, he’s not shaking as much as he was during our first visit six weeks ago, but it’s likely that he remembers us as being the ones responsible for his current plight, and it’s obvious from his body language that he’s still pretty pissed off with us. The lady in the shelter told us that he’s only in the pen by virtue of him being a relatively recent arrival, and also because he’s a sponsored cat (the theory being that if a sponsored cat escaped from the shelter and was never seen alive again, the shelter would be held liable by its sponsors).
We were both of the opinion that it’s worth taking the risk of letting Ginge out of the pen and ending his period of miserable confinement. Once he’d acclimatised to his new life in the shelter, he’d hopefully be a lot happier; he’d be free to go outside the actual shelter building and roam the surrounding grounds at leisure, and come back for food whenever he was hungry. Accordingly we let the lady know that, as sponsors, we’d be more than willing for her to let Ginge out of the pen. She promised she’d discuss the matter with her colleagues and get back to us. Here’s hoping Ginge will soon be able to run free again.
Sunday 19th January
One of the themes of the Tories’ election campaign was to increase allocation of resources to those traditionally blue-collar Labour constituencies who switched to the Conservatives in December. It’s now been proposed that as part of this, the House of Lords should be relocated to York. All very romantic, but what the North needs is proper, long-term investment in its infrastructure and economy, rather than paying lip service with a token gesture like this one.
Apparently BoJo is now threatening ministers that unless they ‘come up to scratch’ in meeting Government targets, then they’ll be shown the door. That’ll be ‘binned’ in His Master’s parlance, then.
Terms of Harry & Meghan’s split from the Palace have been published. They can’t use their royal titles, will cease to receive state funding, and will have to repay taxpayers’ money used to refurbish their Windsor home. It’s all very unfortunate; I think Meghan totally underestimated the degree of media scrutiny she’d be subject to, some of it undoubtedly with a racist slant. Put aside the fact that the Royals are an extremely rich, privileged family; on a human level, it’s sad that a man feels unable to remain part of the family and stay in the land of his birth, not least because his wife, the love of his life, has been harassed by MSM, and the amount of bile being aimed in Meghan’s direction is completely disproportionate and inappropriate.
Monday 20th January
Writing this in the glow of Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Man Utd yesterday. The movement, the passing, the interchanges were dazzingly fast at times, and the only thing missing was the ruthlessness which would mark them out as a truly great side. Sitters were missed, two ‘goals’ were disallowed, De Gea turned a Henderson shot onto the post, and a late United rally caused palpitations until Mo Salah latched onto an Alisson assist and buried it in added time. It could have – should have – been an absolute rout of them, and yet again there was needless anxiety at the end.
But the euphoria upon the final whistle, after having outclassed our greatest, bitterest rivals, was entirely justified and a joy to witness. Commentators mentioned that it ‘felt like a moment’. There was that air of the tectonic plates shifting at last. Perhaps the most striking point was when the home fans started singing ‘we’re gonna win the League’ at a hugely amplified volume. For the first time in many, many years, that song can be sung with absolute confidence, and without the feeling that fate is being unnecessarily tempted.
LFC supporters have had so many false dawns since we last dominated thirty years ago, but the stars are truly aligning now. After City could only draw at home to Palace on Saturday, we’re now 16 points clear. With a game in hand.
The rendition of the song evoked memories of the era when the championship trophy was in semi-permanent residence at Anfield. It’s looking like it will usher in the start of a new golden age for the Reds.
Tuesday 21st January
Good news – Ginge has been released from his pen. Here’s hoping he’ll be a lot happier now he can run free again.
Bad news – the Commons again rejected the amendment to the EU Withdrawal Amendment Bill which would have guaranteed child refugees to be reunited with family members in the UK (see January 8th), and which had subsequently been approved by the Lords.
Wednesday 22nd January
Labour chairman Ian Lavery suggested to current leading contender Keir Starmer that he stand aside so that a woman can lead the party, specifically Rebecca Long-Bailey. How convenient that he calls for a centrist man to withdraw and give a free run to a woman, especially when that woman happens to be the main post-Corbyn, Corbynite standard bearer. It would be nice to think that merit, rather than gender, will be the main criterion when it comes to selecting the future Labour leader.
He then went on to say that:
‘I’m a bit bruised, battered, disappointed. But you know what, the only way is up. The only way is to continue with the socialist revolution. The only way is to continue to build on what we promised the British people. Comrades, there’s no going back.’
Mr Lavery has previously taken a payment of £165,000 from a branch of the National Union of Mineworkers that only had 10 members. He’s obviously a true egalitarian, a pure socialist, a man who obviously believes in Orwell’s maxim that ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.
Man Utd continued their satisfying descent into mediocrity with a 2-0 home defeat by Burnley. There’s debate as to whether Solskjaer should be given more time in the job. The way things are going, I think he should be given the opportunity to stay for as long as he likes.
Friday 24th January
Last night Liverpool gained a hard-fought 2-1 win at Wolves, an assignment which was always going to be tough given how close the Xmas encounter at Anfield was.
Crazy wind this morning. A fine and sunny morning, but a cold one which was accentuated by the howling gale which blew this morning and then suddenly ceased.
Saturday 25th January
A pretty quiet day, apart from the coronavirus outbreak in China. Went to see JoJo Rabbit tonight; it’s advertised in some quarters as an anti-Nazi satire and starts off in a humorous, fantasy-type vein, but becomes progressively darker and more harrowing as it goes on. By the end you can’t help but be deeply affected by the two central characters as their relationship evolves and matures. Not sure if it really deserved some of the sneering, patronising reviews it received from certain quarters.
Sunday 26th January
Today should have been Tranmere’s big day, but they were three down within 16 minutes at home to Man Utd and proceeded to double that score against them. United may not be in the best of states at the moment, but at least they dispatched their lowly opponents with ease, unlike Liverpool. Klopp chose to put out a team which consisted of young reserves, together with a couple of first-teamers returning from injury; it was a similar approach to that for the cup tie against Everton. But whereas there were leaders out on the pitch against the Bluenoses, when Liverpool started to become complacent and lose their concentration against Shrewsbury after cruising into a 2-0 lead, none of the experienced players stepped up to take the responsibility. Complacency became panic when the hosts pulled one back with a penalty, and the equaliser was the very least they deserved. The only good thing that could come of this, is that this is something of a reality check, coming in the light of ridiculous claims from some quarters that the current Reds side is ‘the best Liverpool team ever’.
Monday 27th January
Probably the first ‘OMG’, seismic event of the decade. Basketball legend Kobe Bryant has been killed in a helicopter crash, with his daughter and seven others. Now I don’t care for basketball, but even I can acknowledge Bryant was a giant, an iconic figure not just for his sport and his country, but also across the world.
Tuesday 28th January
The day after the moving commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet army, the Trumptard and Bibi ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu got together at the White House to announce the latest ‘peace plan’ for the Middle East, which Trump modestly described as ‘the deal of the century’. Without going into details, it’s predictably expecting the Palestinians to swallow a whole host of unacceptable conditions and be grateful for any small crumbs that they’re being left. Our esteemed Foreign Secretary said it was a ‘serious proposal’ and encouraged the Palestinians to give it ‘genuine and fair considerations’. Yeah, they should just suck up the fact that the Israelis have, amongst other things, misappropriated Palestinian land to build illegal settlements. The UK’s, and most other countries’ complicity, in effectively acquiescing with Israel in illegal acts against the Palestinian people is shameful. And given the current occupants in Downing Street and the White House, it’s not going to change any time soon.
Elsewhere, the Government’s decided that it’s willing to let Chinese tech giant Huawei to have a limited role in the development of the UK’s 5G infrastructure. Apparently the National Security Council were relatively comfortable with the prospect, and BoJo decided that despite the obvious concerns of the Americans, he would give the green light. The prospect of a favourable post-Brexit UK-US trade deal has seemingly not been jeopardised by this course of action; this would not have been the case, understandably, if Huawei had been given far less restricted access.
Wednesday 29th January
A poignant day in the European parliament as it finally approved the Brexit withdrawal agreement. MEPs broke into a rendition of Auld Lang Syne, and EU leaders made sombre, mournful speeches whilst trying to maintain hope that the UK would rejoin in future. Typically, Farage and his gang lowered the tone with the petty, nationalistic gesture of brandishing Union Jacks in the chamber, not permitted under Parliament rules, and then cracking open bottles of champers on the way out.
Thursday 30th January
It does seem that after all the turmoil, trauma, bitterness and rancour of the last 4 years or so, that the country is staggering, punch-drunk, towards the Jan 31st finish line. I don’t get any sense from television news or MSM websites that there’s anything momentous happening tomorrow night. People are just tired, exhausted, sick of hearing about and discussing the whole thing. There certainly seems to be no sense of celebration or euphoria, just an overwhelming sense of weariness. Of course our new reality won’t kick in overnight, but with every passing day from February 1st onwards, it will become increasingly evident that we will have inflicted an enormous wound upon ourselves, and that our loss of freedoms, our reduced national status, our exclusion from co-operative enterprises, the harm to our economy, etc. will become all too apparent. Those who promoted, supported and voted for Brexit will come to realise that their new world isn’t so brave after all.
Saturday 1st February
Here we are then, in our brave new world. I ‘celebrated’ last night by cooking a Spanish-Italian hybrid seafood and pasta dish, then quaffed German and Belgian beer for the rest of the night. But don’t worry, I didn’t bother staying up for the actual moment itself.
There was a celebration of sorts in Parliament Square, probably a good few thousand present, including a few comedy cases in ‘patriotic’ fancy dress outfits, as well as the inevitable odd beer-swilling xenophobic football hooligan type. To be fair, it was mostly good-natured and apparently there were only five arrests. You got the feeling, however, that the scale of the celebrations there and nationwide were more akin to a routine New Year’s Eve, rather than an indication of huge patriotic joy.
Liverpool continued their inexorable march towards the title with a 4-0 win at home to Southampton. It sounds convincing, but actually it was very flattering. Saints carved out several chances in the first half, and if they had been awarded a penalty early in the second half, as they perhaps should have been, the outcome could have been very different. Instead, the Reds went into ruthless, turbo-charged mode and by the end the match had ceased to resemble a contest.
Sunday 2nd February
Today is that rare thing, an 8-digit Palindrome Day which reads the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Think I’m right in saying that the last one was on 11 November 1111 (11/11/1111), and that the next one will be on 3 March 3030 (03/03/3030), so we are truly living through history today in more ways than one. Even in UK format, it’s the first one since 21 February 2012 (21/02/2012)
City lost 2-0 at Spurs, a result which means, ridiculously, that Liverpool only need six more wins to clinch the title. And it’s early February. And of course that assumes City will remain all of their remaining games. Their next 3 away games are at Leicester, Man Utd & Chelsea. Say no more.
The Liverpool haters are saying that they’re only so far clear because it’s a weak league. And it’s true that ‘traditional’ challengers, such as United and Arsenal, and to a lesser extent Chelsea and Spurs, are in transitional phases. And yes, City have dropped a lot of points which they wouldn’t have done last season. But the fact that City failed to adequately replace Vincent Kompany, and that the Gooners and the Mancs have slumped into temporary stasis, is not the concern of Liverpool. You can only beat what’s put in front of you, and the Reds have done that with ruthless efficiency this season, finding a way on numerous occasions to convert draws into wins. I for one can’t wait to gloat when the title is clinched in mid-March.
Monday 3rd February
A radicalised 20 year old man was shot dead by police in Streatham high street yesterday, after running amok and stabbing three people (none fatally), seemingly at random. He’d only been released from prison a week ago after serving half of his sentence (which was for terror offences) and was still under police surveillance.
Basically there’s very little that can be done to prevent or predict attacks of this nature. But surely, individuals convicted of terror offences need to be mentally examined before their actual release, to ensure they’re actually psychologically sound and ready for reassimilation into the community beforehand?
BoJo is banging the tribal drum ahead of Brexit negotiations, insisting he’ll never sign up to anything that leaves us aligned to EU rules and regulations on state aid and competition. (It’s a bit ironic that a Tory government is intending to subsidise vulnerable industries, given their history of laying waste to the UK manufacturing economy, but we live in strange times.) Michel Barnier’s insisting that unless the UK does so, there’s no chance of a deal. Johnson wants to believe that a ‘Canada style’ tariff-free deal – which would not affect the services sector of the economy upon which the UK is hugely dependent – could be struck. I’m sure that British companies exporting goods will be delighted with the prospect of overseas competitors undercutting them once import tariffs have been removed.
Later on, senior political journalists walked out of a Downing Street briefing after Johnson’s senior communications advisor, a pipsqueak Dominic Cummings mini-me wannabe called Lee Cain, tried to exclude reporters from publications not seen as being suitably sycophantic to No. 10. Apparently Cain turned nasty and lost his temper when he was asked to justify his reasons for doing so. Cummings himself has apparently established a network of snitches to report back if any SPADS have been fraternising with the media.
The paranoia originating from Johnson and Cummings is seemingly cascading down the levels of the administration. Not only are they refusing to engage with the media as is customary, but they’re banning ministers and MP’s from appearing in certain media outlets. That was an example of negative discrimination, whereas Cain’s move smacks of preferential treatment for certain outlets. Either way, it’s just another way in which this morally bankrupt government is slaloming down the slope to reduce any kind of scrutiny which puts it in a negative light. Apparently it’s a course of action straight out of the Trump playbook.
Tuesday 4th February
Speaking of the Trumptard, he showed his true colours when snubbing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offer of a handshake before his State of the Union address, which basically consisted of a litany of lies and self-congratulation. Pelosi then proceeded to rip up her copy once he was done.
Liverpool reserves beat Shrewsbury 1-0 in their Cup replay. The side’s average age was 19. Jurgen’s in dispute with the authorities regarding his desire for a winter break, given the team’s congested schedule, and decided to absent himself from proceedings, delegating the manager’s responsibility to the club’s u-23 coach. Regular first teamers have been given permission for a short break. His gamble paid off, although it’s debatable whether deciding not to attend a nominal first-team match, and thus unnecessarily devaluing the FA Cup even further was a wise course of action. Probably won’t be an issue after the next round, as they’ll be away to Chelsea; although he’ll probably put out a stronger team, it’s unlikely he’ll prioritise the tournament over the other objectives.
Thursday 6th February
Trump’s got off in his impeachment trial. All but one of the Republican senators (the honourable exception being Mitt Romney) voted against impeachment on the charge of abuse of power, and the Republican majority was otherwise sufficient to guarantee acquittal (in any case a two-thirds majority for impeachment was required). This after Republican senators had previously defeated an effort to call witnesses whose evidence could have implicated Trump. So much for the supposed checks and balances on executive power that the US political system is supposed to possess. Of course it was a fait accompli given the two-thirds condition, but it’s a major disappointment that only one Republican had the balls to do the right thing and put his principles before his party and his president. Under Trump’s leadership the GOP is now seemingly in a parallel universe, devoid of any sense of morals and all too willing to trade in lies, slander and intimidation, and blagant disregard of Presidential crimes and misdemeanours.
Elsewhere, the coronavirus outbreak is causing increasing concern; cases within China appear to be increasing exponentially. And Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas has died at the age of 103.
Friday 7th February
Some of the headings on the Guardian’s website this morning:
More than 1 in 5 people in the UK live in poverty, say charity
2 in 5 prisons in poor condition, says watchdog
Windrush – only 3% of claimants have so far received compensation
‘Crimes not reported’ as people lose confidence in police
Oh, and Philip Schofield came out as gay.
Saturday 8th February
Last night we went out for a meal with some friends of ours. There were 6 people in total, 3 men & 3 women. Myself and my fellow males were engaged in a conversation about sport, but I couldn’t help but overhear that the ladies had moved on to discussing Brexit. At this point I should explain that the 2 other couples are slightly older than ourselves; this may explain why our two lady friends started expressing opinions such as ‘the younger generation voted for Brexit’, ‘we hold all the cards’, and some other nonsensical thoughts which were divorced from reality. I had to muster every bit of willpower I could to refrain from interjecting into their conversation and tell them that they were talking utter shite.
Our friends are all intelligent, articulate people. But even cutting them some slack for some perhaps understandable patriotic bias, I find it hard to comprehend that they, together with less well-informed swathes of the population, are refusing to consider the lowest level of engaging with the facts. On just about any other political issue of the day you’d care to mention, people would form opinions based on facts and personal experiences rather than prejudices and misperceptions. But with Brexit, for some people it’s as if they’ve stuck their heads in the sand, it’s as if all facts, sensible reasoning and discussion have been removed by a filter comprised of misplaced national superiority and right-wing tabloid bias.
Sunday 9th February
Turns out that the Chinese doctor who brought the coronavirus to the attention of the authorities was forced to sign a statement to the effect that his fears were misplaced. He has now died of the virus. Chinese social media was swamped with comments expressing anger at the authorities and praising the doctor as a hero. Unsurprisingly, most such comments have now been wiped. China has a track record of trying to suppress publicity of any events which the authorities judge may reflect badly upon the regime. Any hopes that they might consider having a moral obligation to inform the world community of a major health risk such as this one appear to be sadly mistaken.
Head of the civil servants’ union Mark Serwotka said that failing to elect Rebecca Long-Bailey as Labour leader would risk turning the clock back to 2015. You know, that year when Labour fought the election on a manifesto of relatively sensible, moderate policies, and when they could last be seriously considered as a party of government without Middle England recoiling in horror and disgust. Labour’s tonking in December was all to do with their ambiguous stance on Brexit and nothing to do with Jezza, not at all.
Still with Labour, Keir Starmer’s team has been accused of hacking into party membership data by certain ‘senior Labour Party’ officials. And this soon after ‘Team RLB’ had been accused of pretty much the same thing a couple of weeks ago. It’s purely a coincidence, I’m sure, that this is happening in the immediate aftermath of numerous constituency Labour parties coming out 2-1 in favour of Starmer for the leadership – including Corbyn’s own Islington constituency.
Back home, Storm Ciara’s done her worst, with strong winds across the whole country, and flooding in areas affected in previous years which should in theory have been protected by new flood defence schemes. Here in Cyprus, we’ve just seen off a spell of very windy and wet weather, only to be replaced by a very chilly spell caused by a blast of cold air from the Turkish interior. Temperatures fell to 2C last night, and only rose to 9C. We went up to Pachna for lunch today, and the car thermometer was registering only 6C for most of the journey; at least the Troodos looked stunning, with their cap of fresh snow.
Tuesday 11th February
Boris is likely to give HS2 the go ahead. He’s also on about building a 20-mile bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland. All civil engineering experts have poured scorn on the scheme, and it’s also come to light that if built, the bridge will pass directly over an underwater WW1 munitions dump. Of course the irony is that if ever it is built, it could conceivably be a link between two regions which are no longer part of the UK, but which will have been paid for by current UK taxpayers. Hopefully it will meet the same fate as most of BoJo’s other vanity projects.
Deportation flights of convicted criminals to Jamaica have resumed today, despite the fact that the deportees were born in the UK or have spent most of their lives there; many have children born in the UK (indeed, there were four children under the age of 13 on the flight); many have already served their sentences; many were guilty of non-violent offences and are not ‘rapists, drug dealers and murderers’; and that five previous deportees have been murdered since being sent to Jamaica. Moreover, shockingly, this morning’s flight took off in defiance of a last-minute court order to the Home Office not to repatriate them – on the grounds that they could not gain access to the legal advice they were entitled to as a result of problems with a particular mobile phone network in the detention centres at Heathrow where they were being held.
Priti Patel, the pathetic excuse of a Home Secretary, walked out of the Commons to cries of ‘shame’ when the brilliant MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, made a speech criticising the move. Her deputy was left to field the flak, claiming that ‘there were no British nationals on the flight’. I wonder how many of the ‘foreign national offenders’ on board were actually born in Britain but didn’t possess a UK passport. Regardless of whether they have committed any crime, denying them citizenship of a country where they’ve spent all, or most, of their lives, is morally reprehensible.
Windrush. Grenfell. And now this. The message this country sends out to our citizens of Afro-Caribbean descent is still shockingly condescending and racist.
Wednesday 12th February
After all the pledges and promises of frictionless trade after Brexit, Michael Gove came clean and admitted that goods coming into Britain from the EU would be subject to customs checks, also stating that the only way to avoid such checks would be to remain aligned to EU law – which of course would defeat the whole object of Brexit. So despite the appeals to reasons from the country’s exporters, to try and maintain ‘just-in-time’ supply chains and minimise bureaucracy, this administration is cocking a deaf’un to what is still a vital sector of the country’s economy. The fact that exporters to the EU may now be subject to similar, retaliatory measures from Brussels also appears to have been completely disregarded.
Friday 14th February
Blimey. In what was expected to be a low-key cabinet reshuffle, BoJo has effectively forced out Sajid Javid as Chancellor. Javid was given the ultimatum of sacking all of his advisers, a condition he refused to accept, and accordingly he felt obliged to leave his post. It’s got Dominic Cummings’ grubby hands all over it; he and Johnson want a more compliant Chancellor to ease the way for greater government expenditure for their grandiose infrastructure projects, and Javid was seen as being a too traditionally conservative (with a small ‘c’) chancellor with an overly frugal attitude to releasing the purse-strings.
Seems that not even basic competency is enough to retain a cabinet job in this administration. Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith, who by common consent did a fine job in restoring the Stormont assembly, was fired for not being seen to toe the pro-Brexit line. Several positions have been given to Brexiteer lickspittle nonentities, such as Suella Braverman. At least there’s a silver lining to even this cloud; Esther McVey’s been given the boot.
Took Mrs C to the airport tonight; she’s gone home to look after her mum during half term, and celebrate her nephew’s 12th birthday. Home alone with the cats for a week. What could possibly go wrong?
Saturday 15th February
News broke late last night that Manchester City have been given a two year ban from the Champions League, effective from next season, for contravention of UEFA Fair Play rules. Their main offence appears to be that they overstated revenues from their sponsors to conceal the fact that they were not generating enough in the way of revenue from all other sources, and that the resulting deficit was effectively being covered by direct donations from the owners.It was compounded by the fact that City were judged to have not cooperated fully with the investigation.
Unsurprisingly, there appears to be a certain amount of schadenfreude amongst fans of other clubs, not least those of Liverpool, when the news broke. Trying to take an objective viewpoint, it would appear that City the club don’t have a leg to stand on, and now have to face the likely consequences of not only losing two years’ worth of Champions League revenue, but also Pep Guardiola to another club, some of their current best players, and missing out on signing future new talent. As ever, the people who are likely to lose out most are their fans.
Demonic Cummings’ drive to employ ‘weirdos and misfits’ in the No. 10 setup has gained its first recruit. Andrew Sabisky has in the past, called for children to be given mind-altering drugs, even though it may result in ‘a dead kid once a year’; legally enforce the uptake of long-term contraception upon a certain ‘class’ of people to prevent teenage pregnancies; and has stated that women’s sport is more comparable to the Paralympics than men’s sport.
According to The Times:
“He dresses just like Dom in a scruffy jumper and jeans. He’s incredibly cocky and isn’t afraid of telling everyone what he thinks, however senior they are.”
Another source added: “Nobody know if he has clearance but he has been bossing the prime minister around already.”
It’s bad enough having Dominic Cummings on his own within government. Having a team of his appointees who share not only his contempt for this country’s elected representatives and the machinery of government, but also some decidedly sinister opinions, is a different kettle of fish altogether. Taking the issue to its logical endpoint, it could be within the realms of possibility that Cummings’ aim is to recruit so many likeminded people who will feel empowered to treat not just MP’s in general, but the Government of the day, with complete disdain. And that’s it’s they, and not the elected Government, who will control the legislative agenda whilst treating the PM like a puppet over whom they have complete control, whilst knowing that the parliamentary Conservative party will wave through all sorts of repressive legislation through, just for the sake of keeping their jobs – unless, of course, they genuinely support such measures.
Boris Johnson seriously needs to get a grip on Cummings who is on the way to being totally out of control. Otherwise, our democratic system of government, or what’s currently left of it, will be under serious threat.
Went into Limassol old town today. I know it’s low season, but the area was strangely quiet and there were several newly vacant shop fronts since my last visit, and there was the air of general neglect. Quite sad really.
Liverpool got a hard-fought 1-0 win at bottom club Norwich. Just 5 more wins needed for the title.
Sunday 16th February
I’d not heard of Caroline Flack until recently, but yesterday the presenter of ITV’s Love Island took her own life at the age of 40. Apparently she had issues, not least a forthcoming court case relating to her alleged abusive behaviour towards her partner (which the CPS insisted should proceed, although he did not want to press charges). Lurid articles in the tabs about her life led to the predictable social media pile-on from the toxic trolls who infest every corner of the net, and this was seemingly enough to tip her over the edge. The tabs are quite rightly bearing the brunt of the criticism, as they’re the ones who mobilised the poisonous morons and provoked them into expressing any opinion they saw fit to do so. It has to be said, however, that there seems to be something sinister about the Love Island set up, as two previous contestants have also committed suicide.
Storm Dennis has wreaked havoc across many parts of the country, but especially in South Wales and the Severn and Wye rivers. Some of the affected areas have also been hit by severe floods in previous recent years, so you might have thought it would be reasonable to expect investment in flood defences in these areas. I’m sure that Boris and Dom will consider this and divert resources away from vanity projects such as HS2 and the proposed bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland……
Went to Lofou for Sunday lunch. The loukoniki (local sausages), halloumi & bulgouri were all very nice. Didn’t really need the chicken as well. At least I walked some of it off afterwards down the nature trail.
Monday 17th February
Sabisky’s done the decent thing and resigned. Begs the question as to how such an unsuitable individual such as him somehow survived the Parliamentary vetting process – or has Cummings circumvented established recruitment procedures, seemingly with Boris’s tacit consent? Questions need to be asked.
Elsewhere, floods and coronavirus continue to dominate the headlines. Whereas Canada, Australia, South Korea, Italy and the US are making plans to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama dock, our ashtray-on-a-motorbike Foreign Office have done naff all for UK nationals. It was revealed today that a UK couple on board who have been making regular video broadcasts from the confines of their cabin, have been diagnosed with the virus.
Today we said farewell to former Man Utd keeper Harry Gregg, who saved lives at the Munich disaster, and legendary DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall.
Wednesday 19th February
Liverpool went down to a 1-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid last night. They conceded in the 4th minute and thereafter Atletico parked the bus, but remained dangerous on the break. Our defence of the Champions League title is on a knife-edge.
Went back to the scene of my crime today. Followed the same route as I had last month. I thought I saw an Elsie lookalike hanging around by one of the communal bins (as feral cats tend to do in Cyprus, sadly) but I was mistaken. I was nearing the end of my circuit, and I’d passed three women in the road where I’d left the car (the same road where I’d let the cats out originally).
I had to do a double-take. I saw a seemingly familiar figure on the wall on the opposite side of the road from where I’d parked. With every step I took it became more obvious that it was indeed our sweet little Elsie; not just her calico colour scheme, but her distinctive round head. As I approached her, I found myself unavoidably welling up and choking back my tears. No doubt they were a combination of relief, guilt and joy, but I was so happy to see her again. The great thing was that she looked very well, so seemingly she’s getting a source of food from somewhere. I fed her, whilst trying to fend off the attention of three fellow felines, one of whom was a poor little limping ginger tom with a manky tail. The guy in the bungalow nearly opposite came out, and for a moment I thought he was going to admonish me, but luckily he didn’t seem to be too concerned. I will come down here again irregularly to see Elsie, although I’ll obviously have to be a bit more circumspect when I feed her (it will have to be biscuits, rather than wet food). Nevertheless, a very good and heartwarming day.
Thursday 20th February
Went on a walk around the twin villages of Akourdelia today, up a scenic gorge and past a small chapel to Pano Akourdelia, where I felt compelled to stop in the tea shop attached to the herb garden and have a huge portion of a sponge cake with fruit jam and icing. I could justify it by saying I earned it on the steep walk up. Popped into Aphrodite’s Rock brewery on the way home to replenish my supply of their excellent beers.
Yesterday, nine people were shot dead by a terrorist in the German town of Hanau. The UK Government announced its plans for a post-Brexit points-based immigration system, which puts heavy emphasis on having an existing offer for a job at a ‘required skill level’ paying at least £25k pa; applicants being able to speak English; a further education qualification deemed to be ‘relevant to the job’. Areas of the economy such as agriculture and social care, where many jobs currently held by immigrants are deemed to be ‘low-skilled’, will not be covered. The Government has basically told concerned employers to suck it up, saying that they’ve had four years to prepare to Brexit, and that they need to ‘adapt and adjust’. There’s also no provision for the self-employed and freelancers; the cliched image of the ‘Polish plumber’ could soon be a thing of the past.
Friday 21st February
Chucked it down here all day today. Went into Limassol to try and find a new pair of shoes, in vain. Consoled myself by buying a couple of quiches from M&S (they’re virtually impossible to buy anywhere else in Cyprus).
For months now, Question Time on the Beeb has been criticised – mostly justly – for giving prominence to right-wing, pro-Brexit panel members, and for seemingly favouring audience members with similar viewpoints. Its days as a genuinely useful forum for debating the issues of the day in a serious, relatively dispassionate and non-partisan manner appear to be long gone.
Last night it sunk to a new low, when an audience member who was subsequently shown to have links to Britain First and the National Front, went on an anti-immigrant diatribe, quoting many inaccurate statements, and stated that it’s time to ‘completely close the borders’. Turns out that the QT audience is selected, at least in part, by one Alison Fuller-Pedley, who also has links to Britain First and has been a member of racist groups on Facebook. She’s also been accused of inviting EDL sympathisers to the audience, and has enabled certain individuals with far-right viewpoints onto the show on multiple occasions. No doubt she’s been one of the prime movers between the totally disproportionate number of Nigel Farage’s appearances. The Beeb was widely criticised, not only for transmitting the outburst (the show doesn’t go out live, so it could have been edited out beforehand), but also for reproducing it without suitable context on its social media feeds.
Saturday 22nd February
Boris is being criticised for not showing his face in areas which are suffering from flooding, or delegating someone to do so. It would be nice for someone in a senior government position to show that they empathise with people whose homes are flooded on a regular basis, and who won’t be able to either obtain insurance or sell up. You would like to think that in a civilised, supposedly prosperous and advanced society, that the public sector would step in and assist those who are victims of such an obvious failure of the market.
To add insult to injury, in what appears to be a petty nationalistic snub, the Government has apparently failed to take up an offer of EU funding to prevent future flooding.
Sunday 23rd February
Blimey. Fury beat Wilder in the 7th round this morning. Now surely the fight that every British fight fan wants to see, Fury v Joshua, must be on. Fair play to Fury, even though he’s made some pretty reprehensible statements about women and gays in the past. He’s had mental health issues and ballooned to 30st in weight, so for him to conquer his demons and make a comeback on this scale has to be commended. Still would want AJ to win, though.
Priti Patel’s in the wars at the moment, poor lamb. Not only is she getting it in the neck for the Government’s proposed immigration scheme, but it’s come out in the wash that she’s allegedly been bullying staff at the Home Office and Department for International Development, supposedly referring to them as ‘f***ing useless’. Sounds like she’s trying to model herself on Cummings, or she’s panicking because she’s supposedly hopelessly out of her depth (a view which seemingly has common consensus), or maybe a combination of both.
Monday 24th February
Weinstein went down for rape. Liverpool winged a 3-2 win at home to West Ham, thanks to Fabianski letting a soft Salah shot through his legs. Our defence suddenly looks vulnerable to set-pieces.
Wednesday 26th February
Sajid Javid spoke in the Commons from the backbenches for the first time since he was forced to resign as Chancellor. Not surprisingly he was critical of the Government’s overall conduct, particularly towards the Treasury.
Went down to see Elsie today. Parked in the road leading up from the main road through the village, outside the big house which is currently vacant and available for rent. A man was walking his dog towards the road into the estate, so I started walking the other way and turned right to go up the path which leads to ‘Elsie’s road’. Just my luck, the man with his dog was there. Luckily he didn’t see me, so I walked back for the car, stayed there for five minutes, and did a lap of the estate. Would you believe I passed him coming the other way, but he didn’t seem to suspect anything; we just said our hellos and moved on.
I reached Elsie’s ‘spot’, and of course she was there, but happily she was on her own this time. I tried to feed her as surreptitiously as I could, only to hear movement from one of the adjacent properties. Damn, I’m going to be caught in the act.
Luckily, the resident was a friendly Cypriot who, as it happened, was on the way to taking one of his cats to the vets. We got chatting, and it transpired that he used to be an educational psychiatrist who’d visited our school on a few occasions in the past before retiring, and knew a few of the staff who were, or had been, resident on the estate. He was very well disposed towards cats, and explained that he was in the habit of feeding ferals who appeared in the area of his property.
Unfortunately, Nicos’s sympathetic feline disposition was not shared by his neighbour (whose property we’d erroneously assumed to be empty for the winter), who appeared almost as soon as he’d driven off. He was a well-built Scotsman who made it quite clear that he didn’t take kindly to me feeding Elsie as he had been besieged by cats who fought at all hours of the night, and asked that I ‘please take that cat away as you’re obviously quite attached to it’.
Of course I was bang to rights and didn’t have a leg to stand on. I don’t want to incur his wrath anytime in the future, so sadly I won’t be seeing Elsie for a little while now, not at least for a few weeks. Mrs C, however, told me that she will continue to come down to see her; she’ll probably get away with it, as she’s a bit more cunning than me, although I’m not sure as to whether her undoubted charm will be enough to placate an irate Scotsman if she’s caught in the act of feeding Elsie.
Thursday 27th February
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Government’s plans for a third runway at Heathrow are illegal, as they failed to take its commitments under the Paris climate change agreement of 2016. This is also likely to impact upon future infrastructure projects with adverse effects on the environment, such as road building schemes. At last, there appears to be an international accord which has some teeth to it, although of course it may still be of limited impact if the major polluters such as the US and China don’t adhere to it.
Friday 28th February
The coronavirus panic has manifested itself in worldwide stock market collapses, with falls of more than 10% since the virus appeared at the end of last year. Probably the worst affected company is the one which manufactures the eponymous Mexican lager; profits have slumped since many consumers in America have stopped quaffing it, for fear they might come down with the illness. No doubt the vast majority who now avoid Corona lager are Trumptards. You really couldn’t make it up. It seems as if they’re determined to help the US regain the title of Most Stupid Nation back from the UK.
The government made it clear that if they judged that the forthcoming withdrawal negotiations had not made sufficient progress, then they would simply walk away from them in June. Seemingly not content with just giving an end of year ultimatum to the EU, they’re now deliberately compressing the timetable to make a no-deal outcome so much more likely. They’re prepared to let the economy to take a sizeable hit, for thousands of people to lose their jobs, to get as pure a Brexit as they can.
Also, they’ve shown that they’re prepared to renege on commitments made to the EU in the political declaration (admittedly non-binding, and distinct from the legally-binding Withdrawal Agreement), to a ‘level playing field’, and more specifically to conditions limiting state aid to private companies, workers’ rights and environmental standards. This may be very much within the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit. Another example of Boris and his gang willing to trash the country’s reputation for fair play.
We’re seemingly washing our hands of anything vaguely associated with the EU. In addition to Erasmus, Europol, and numerous other co-operative projects, the UK’s withdrawing from the European Arrest Warrant, which enables member countries to arrest and extradite individuals. Seeing as the constitutions of Germany, Austria and Slovenia prevent these countries from extraditing individuals to non-EU member states, it will be interesting to see how many UK villains take up residence there in future. Maybe the Alps will become the new ‘Costa del Crime’.
In addition, farmers have been informed that proposed subsidies intended to replace those provided by the EU, will be substantially lower – in some cases by as much as 25%. The issue is that there’s seemingly a gap between the time when the EU subsidy regime is withdrawn and the introduction of the new proposed UK one, and consequently many farmers whose existence is already marginal and precarious will go out of business during this time.
Saturday 28th February
Chucked it down here this afternoon, although obviously not on the scale it has done back in the UK. A couple of hail showers with thunder and lightning.
Went to a local taverna with a gang of people from work tonight. Mrs C insisted on inviting 7 other people, which personally I felt was a bit too many, but to be fair the numbers didn’t detract from the enjoyment. I went for the stifado, which was nice but not the best one I’ve ever had, and I didn’t really need the apple pie I had afterwards. What put a dampener on the evening was news of Liverpool’s abject display in a 3-0 loss at Watford. The whole team was off their game, even Van Dijk (who, to be fair, was handicapped by having to cover for Lovren’s numerous shortcomings). Surely the Croatian’s career at Anfield is coming to an end; he’s shown on numerous occasions that he just can’t cope with physically dominant and stronger opponents. It was alarming to see how easy it was to get behind Liverpool’s back four; simply by playing a ball into the space they’d left behind as a consequence of playing such a high line. Surely we’ll get rumbled on a more regular basis now.
If they’re not careful, the whole season could end in an overpowering whiff of anti-climax. They surely won’t lose the league now, and I doubt if Klopp’s too bothered about Tuesday night’s 5th round FA Cup tie at Chelsea. But if they don’t get a morale-boosting result against Bournemouth next weekend, they’ll go into the following Wednesday’s massive Champions League 2nd leg tie against Atletico with a sense of momentum having been lost, of their seeming invincibility having been shattered. And if they are indeed knocked out, the rest of the season will have the feeling of a tired, wrinkled balloon being slowly deflated after the party came to a premature end.
Sunday 1st March
Turkey has reneged on a deal with the EU to prevent refugees from crossing its borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Consequently, thousands have moved to try and cross into the EU, but inevitably there have been scenes of disorder as Greece increased the security levels at its Turkish border, and Greek police fired tear gas to prevent any would-be arrivals crossing its frontier. Turkey’s move is seen as Erdogan trying to apply leverage on the EU and NATO to provide assistance in its support for Syrian rebels fighting against Assad’s Russian backed government, following a Syrian air strike which caused the death of 33 Turkish solders fighting with the rebels.
The Home Office’s most senior civil servant has resigned, stating that Priti Patel has been orchestrating a campaign to bully and undermine him. It’s unusual to say the least that he’ll be suing the Government for constructive dismissal, going public with the reasons, and implying that the Home Secretary has been lying.
The proposal to appoint national treasure Mary Beard as a trustee of the British Museum has apparently been vetoed by No. 10 on account of her anti-Brexit views. An act in keeping with the petty-minded, mean-spirited, spiteful, xenophobic mindset of the current administration. Luckily, the BM can nominate five of the 25 trustees itself, so Ms Beard will get to go to the ball.
Coronavirus is causing worldwide panic, half the country’s under water, and rumours about bullying and intimidation within the country’s dysfunctional government are rife. But hey, the PM’s partner, who’s 24 years his junior, will be popping one out in the summer, so we’re all supposed to be joyously happy. That will make it at least six known spawns of the Devil. The once-illustrious Telegraph has even gone so far to make the story its overwhelming front page splash:
Cynics might say that the announcement was made at this time to try and distract people’s focus from the overwhelming torrent of negative media coverage. Just as well that I’m not cynical, then.
Monday 2nd March
Mrs C’s mum has been in hospital since Friday night with a water infection. Apparently she has not been administered any antibiotics to treat the condition, as medical staff have deemed that the severity of her condition doesn’t exceed a certain threshold. Consequently she’s just sitting in a chair by her bed, unable to move without assistance. What are staff doing, are they expecting her to recover as if by magic? She may just as well be at home not being treated, as in a hospital not being treated. And presumably, the purpose of her being taken into hospital in the first place was for her to be treated. Not surprisingly, Mrs C is extremely worried and stressed. She was due to fly back anyway on Thursday for her mum’s 85th, but in the light of her current situation, we’ve rebooked the flight for tomorrow night instead.
The expected boost to the UK economy as a result of a ‘successful’ trade deal with the US, according to a paper released by the Department for International Trade, could be between 0.02% and 0.36% of GDP.
According to the same paper, a ‘Canada-style’ deal, which would remove most tariffs from physical goods, but do nothing for the UK’s vitally important services sector, would reduce GDP by between 3.4-6.4%. No-deal would reduce GDP by between 6.3% to 9%.
I’ll just leave it there.
Tuesday 3rd March
Took Mrs C to the airport tonight. The drive back home, on a busy motorway in darkness and having to face blinding headlights on the other carriageway, was not particularly pleasant.
Even though the UK’s a member of the EU until the end of this year, the Government does not appear to want to participate in its Early Warning & Response system for pandemics, such as the current coronavirus. So not only does our precious sovereignty trump our economy and prosperity, but also the health of the British people. There’s talk of trying to persuade retired doctors to return to the NHS to help fight the virus; unsurprisingly, not too many seem keen on that idea.
Liverpool fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Chelsea in their FA Cup 5th round tie. The first was a gift from sub keeper Adrian; seconds after making an excellent save, he let a shot from Willian out of his hands after Fabinho had lost possession on the edge of his area. I know that Hendo’s currently out, but the fact that Fab’s still well off the pace, combined with a (hopefully temporary) inability to create any shots on target, are suddenly major concerns ahead of the 2nd leg against Atletico next week.
Wednesday 4th March
Tabs are full of coronavirus, with stories of chemists selling out of hand sanitiser, and runs on dried food and toilet paper in supermarkets. The Government’s chief medical officer stated today that an epidemic’s now ‘highly likely’. There’s talk of major public gatherings such as sports events having to be cancelled.
The classic infectious herd mentality has again taken root in the British populace, at the first sign of a major health scare. Of course the sense of panic becomes self-reinforcing and snowballs into something bigger. Would be interesting to see how we responded if the crisis reached the scale that it has in Italy, where the toll stands at more than 100 dead and 3,000 infected. The corresponding figures for the UK are 0 and 85. All together now: ‘Panic on the streets of London………’
Looks like Joe Biden has now assumed pole position from Bernie Sanders, the nearest the US will ever have to Jeremy Corbyn, as the front-runner for the Democrat nomination after making sweeping gains on Super Tuesday. So it looks like we’ll have a 77 year old white man beating a 78 year old white man, for the right to contest the presidency with a 73 year old white man.
Thursday 5th March
Flybe went into administration today. It had been on the brink a few months ago, but the coronavirus outbreak has seemingly pushed it over the edge. A transport minister blithely said that alternatives such as the train are available; obviously the train is more environmentally friendly, but it’s not a realistic option if you’re having to travel from, say, Bristol or Southampton to Scotland. That, and the prohibitive cost when compared with flying. Don’t think Boris’s much-touted ‘levelling-up’ between the regions will happen any time soon on this evidence.
Saturday 7th March
A UK court has made a judgement that Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Dubai, friend of the Queen, prominent racehorse owner and extremely generous benefactor to the UK racing history, orchestrated the abduction of two of his children and subjected his youngest wife (I’m not sure how many he has at the moment) to a campaign of intimidation. Moreover, there is an allegation that the Foreign Office blocked an investigation into the disappearance of one of the daughters who disappeared mysteriously from the streets of Cambridge in 2000, on ‘freedom of information’ grounds. This is seemingly code for it not wanting to jeopardise diplomatic relations with the UAE, which this judgement seemingly risks doing. But apparently even Her Majesty is washing her hands of the Sheikh.
The full story makes fantastic, shocking reading. If the judgement risks harmonious relations with one of our important allies in the Gulf, then so be it. Some things are more important than defence co-operation and multi-million pound arms export deals…..aren’t they?
Liverpool made heavy weather of beating Bournemouth 2-1. Adrian did not inspire confidence in goal; it’s going to be a very tense night on Wednesday.
Sunday 8th March
At least they’ll now only need two wins to clinch the title! United inadvertently did us a favour by beating City 2-0.
Panic buying of toilet paper, sanitary wipes, tinned food and pasta in the UK. To date there have been about 160 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country, with 2 deaths. That works out at about one case for every 400,000 people.
How the hell would we cope if things were as bad as they are in Italy? There, there have been 360 deaths, and more than 7,000 confirmed cases easily the worst in Europe. (Spain’s next, with 25 deaths). A plan to quarantine 16 million people within their native provinces was leaked to the press, which naturally led to a panic-inspired mass exodus of northerners to the Mezzogiorno. Historically, population movement has usually been the other way round, due to economic reasons. I wonder if some southerners were privately amused at the current situation.
Tuesday 10th March
Yesterday saw the biggest one-day fall in worldwide stock markets since the financial crisis in 2008, and the price of oil plummeted by 30%, as a consequence of the Saudis increasing supply onto the market in response to Russia’s refusal to agree to an OPEC plan to cut supplies.
It’s recently come to light that Commonwealth citizens who have volunteered to serve with British armed forces, many of whom have front-line combat experience, have unwittingly fallen foul of Home Office regulations regarding UK citizenship, and are now having to undergo the hugely unwieldy, time-consuming and expensive process of having to apply for visas to remain. Current rules are that Commonwealth-born personnel are entitled to indefinite leave to remain in the UK upon discharge, provided they made an immediate application to the Home Office to do so. It appears that the Army failed to explain this condition to them, as they were required to do so. Consequently the Home Office, continuing the ‘hostile environment’ culture ushered in by Theresa May during her time there, now deems them as not being entitled to citizenship. Consequently some have lost their jobs, or are leading clandestine lives; many are afraid to access the NHS for fear that they are referred onwards to immigration authorities. Those who are belatedly applying are having to pay thousands for the right to stay.
These guys have volunteered to put their lives on the line for a country which is not their own. The very least that country could do in return, is to offer them the unconditional right to settle there. The Home Office’s attitude smacks of shameless colonial racism. It’s shameful and a disgrace.
Spurs slumped out of the Champions League with a 3-0 defeat in Leipzig (aggregate 4-0). Peak Mourinho is well past now.
Wednesday 11th March
Coronabrexit Britain.
Health minister (and hardcore Brexiteer) Nadine Dorries has stated she’s been diagnosed with the disease, this after having attended a reception at No. 10 last week.
The Health Minister. Irony doesn’t describe it.
Walking disaster area Chris Grayling has been appointed chairman of the Intelligence & Security Committee, one of whose immediate responsibilities will be the publication (or continued non-publication, I suspect) of the parliamentary enquiry into alleged Russian interference in UK elections. The same Chris Grayling who botched the privatisation of the probation service, who oversaw the chaotic introduction of train timetables, and who most hilariously handed contracts for a post-Brexit ferry freight services to companies with no ships. There are any number of more suitable candidates, but Grayling’s a sycophantic lickspittle of Boris & Cummings, so that makes it alright, then.
Thursday 12th March
Rishi Sunak’s first Budget; headline announcements include major funding to help the fight against coronavirus, the suspension of business rates for small enterprises, extra funding for the NHS, extending sick pay, investing £600 billion in major infrastructure projects, and doubling expenditure on flood protection projects over the next five years. This will be paid for by a major increase in government borrowing, rather than increasing taxes. It’s been widely commented that this marks a major shift in Conservative attitudes towards public finances; it contrasts vividly with the previous orthodoxy of cutting taxes and government expenditure, and balancing budgets. Conveniently, the Bank of England announced a temporary reduction in the lending rate to an all-time low of 0.25%. It begs the question as to why, during a period of historically low interest rates, did the Government not borrow to invest on a much greater scale during the last decade, rather than cutting public services to the bone?
The Italian government has ordered that all shops except chemists and supermarkets be closed. There’s talk of major sporting events – not only in Italy, but worldwide – not just being held behind closed doors, but postponed or even abandoned altogether. With this in mind, Liverpool need to have the League done and dusted asap to avoid the possibility of it being declared null and void. Just imagine the smirks on the faces of Mancs, Bluenoses and Cockneys if that does come to pass.
Unfortunately they now have nothing else to focus on. As feared, Adrian was not up to the job. After having battered Atletico during regular time (during which they levelled the tie and saw a Robertson header come off the crossbar), Liverpool then took the lead through Firmino, only then for Adrian to direct a poor clearance straight to the opposition who duly scored. Two more goals were therefore required; they duly arrived, but were unfortunately both scored by Atletico, who thus claimed victory on the night as well as over the two legs. It’s their first home defeat in all competitions for 42 games, and their first home defeat in European competition since Real Madrid beat Brendan Rodgers’ reserves 6 years ago. Adrian now joins Lorus Karius in the Anfield Hall of Shame; a loan move to a Turkish club could be on the cards for him next season.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in jail today. Next one up is Alex Salmond, who’s currently on trial for a series of alleged sexual assaults during his time as First Minister of Scotland.
Thursday 12th March
As it’s my birthday during May half-term, I had been thinking of treating myself to a mini-break in Munich sometime that week (subject to Head Office approval, of course). It’s one of my favourite cities; very clean, cultured and liveable, with beer not being the least of its attractions, of course. It also has associations with a bad time in my life, and in a perversely nostalgic way I’d quite like to go to some of the places I visited during that time, so I can have more positive memories of them in future. It looks as if the coronavirus panic might put the mockers on it for now; it might be more realistic for me to do it in October half-term instead.
Trump has temporarily suspended all travel from the EU – excluding US citizens and visitors from the UK and (seemingly) Ireland, for 30 days in an attempt to stop the coronavirus outbreak intensifying. It does seem astonishing that we are somehow exempt from what appears, on the face of it, to be a political favour. As has been repeatedly pointed out, viruses don’t respect borders. What’s to stop EU residents travelling to the US doing so through the UK or Ireland? (apart from the nationality of their passports….)
Friday 13th March
Al Boum Photo won the Cheltenham Gold Cup today. It’s probably the last major sporting event which the public will be permitted to attend for a while.
The gravity of the outbreak is really starting to become apparent now. The number of deaths in the UK has suddenly increased to 12. Last night, BoJo made an address to the nation (well, to those who were stitched to the Beeb), in which he stated that ‘I must level with you….many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.’ Now you would have thought that at a time of national crisis, our elected leader would have chosen a turn of phrase that, whilst emphasising the gravity of the situation, would not be likely to cause alarm and misunderstanding amongst the population. If I were someone aged 70 or more, or had an underlying health issue, these are words which I probably wouldn’t have wanted to hear.
Today, the UK’s chief scientific adviser stated that about 60% of the UK population would need to catch the coronavirus to establish ‘herd immunity’ (presumably the level which will ensure the disease will spread no further beyond those infected). By doing this, it’s claimed, the peak of the disease won’t reach the intensity of that witnessed in other countries, and therefore the NHS won’t be stretched beyond its limited capability.
The UK has a population of about 66million. 60% of that is about 40 million. The current coronavirus fatality rate (deaths as % of those infected) is about 3.5%.
3.5% of 40m is 1.4 million. Even using a conservative death rate of 1%, that still equates to 400k.
Are they really, truly willing to let this happen?
Other countries are using stricter measures to try and contain the disease, such as banning large gatherings, encouraging social distancing, closing down schools and colleges and all but essential businesses, enforcing internal travel restrictions, and widespread testing for the disease. HM Government have decided, in their ultimate wisdom, that these measures aren’t necessary (for the time being, anyway) and that for the time being, people showing symptoms only need to self-isolate for a week. Britain’s approach is out of step with just about every other government, and conflicts with WHO policy, which is to track and isolate all known cases.
Saturday 14th March
Jet2 has cancelled all flights to Spain. Italians are singing to each other from their apartment balconies, to try and keep communal spirits up.
Here, the Premier League & EFL seasons have been suspended until at least 4th April, and the London Marathon’s been postponed until October. The UK death toll doubles to 23. According to a briefing from No 10, all over-70’s will need to self-isolate for four months; during this time, the Government will arrange for Uber and Deliveroo to take food to those affected. No, really……
It’s still the case that anyone with mild symptoms not already hospitalised won’t require testing; and that anyone showing symptoms aren’t required to inform their GP or register it on an appropriate website. The implication of this is that the authorities won’t have a full record of where cases are geographically, and thus possible hotspots won’t be able to be isolated.
Sunday 15th March
Death toll in UK now 35. EU now banning the entry of all non-EU citizens for 30 days. You know it’s serious when, in the run-up to St Patrick’s day, Ireland has ordered all pubs to close.
Monday 16th March
By the end of the day, the UK death toll stood at 55. With the exception of Italy, the UK now has the highest fatality rate for the disease for any European country.
Tonight, Boris addressed the nation on the Beeb again, to announce an about-turn in the Government’s approach. In the light of new research, which indicates that intensive social distancing is amongst the most effective methods to counter the outbreak, the advice now is to avoid all unnecessary social contact and travel, and staying away from social meeting points such as pubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres. If any family member shows any symptoms, then the whole family should self-isolate, and not just that one person. These restrictions will be expected to last for about six months.
But still no school & college closures. And still no widespread testing, other than those already diagnosed with the disease and in hospital.
And in addition, the advice to stay away from pubs, theatres, etc. is potentially ruinous for those employed in the industry. Had Johnson instructed them to be closed, then they could have made insurance claims for loss of business. But because it was not a legally binding instruction, they won’t be able to do so. Cynics are saying he has friends, and/or financial interests, in some insurance companies.
It just feels surreal. Like something out of some dystopian science fiction novel. Real life as we know it will be suspended for many months to come. Who knows, we may not even make it off Cyprus for the summer, let alone Easter.
Tuesday 17th March
71 now dead in the UK.
You know it’s serious when all pubs in Ireland are closed on St Patrick’s Day.
Euro 2020’s been postponed until next year. The Grand National meeting next month has been cancelled.
The Chancellor today announced a series of measures costing an eye-watering total of £330 billion to help businesses through the crisis; that’s 15% of GDP. It comprises of mortgage and business rates holidays, loans to small business, grants to pubs and retailers – but nothing, not yet anyway, for those who have to rent.
Wednesday 18th March
104 now dead in the UK.
Eurovision and Glastonbury have been cancelled. The FTSE100’s down a quarter in the last fortnight.
At last the Government have been shamed into action and have announced that all schools will be closed after Friday, until further notice. The summer examinations will be cancelled.
NHS staff are complaining about a lack of surgical face masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment.
Some pictures on social media of packed Tube stations in London, and some accounts of pubs still being busy. Either these people have truly not grasped how serious this situation is, or they may genuinely may not be aware of it (many people seem to live in a news-free cocoon these days), or they are suffering from ‘Brexit denial syndrome’, refusing to accept that things are going to become a lot more grave, and that they are not immune from its effects. Huge swathes of the population just don’t seem to be able to comprehend the gravity of the new reality.
At least there’s a little bit of good news. In Hubei province in China, the origin of the pandemic, only one new case has been reported for each of the last two days. And the notoriously polluted water of Venice’s canals is now flowing miraculously clearly, with swans even having returned. It’s a straw to clutch at.
Thursday 19th March
138 now dead in the UK. Sterling slumped to $1.16, the lowest rate against the US dollar since 1985.
Tonight Boris stated that ‘we can turn the tide in the next 12 weeks’ and ‘send coronavirus packing’ if ‘we take all the steps we have outlined’. No new compulsory measures about closing venues and instructing people to engage in social distancing.
This is a national emergency. The country needs a leader with gravitas, who commands the respect of the population regardless of political allegiance, who is capable of impressing upon the population just how grave this situation is, and who is prepared to take the necessary compulsory measures to stop the disease from spreading. Someone who can tell people as it is – not give them totally false assurance that we’ll ‘send coronavirus packing’ only if you please don’t go down the pub.
Surprise, surprise, the Government chose this period as a good time to try and bury bad news, by releasing the highly critical report into the Windrush scandal, which saw people lose their jobs, their homes, and access to services because they didn’t have the documentation proving they had a legal right to be resident in the UK. The report stopped short of accusing the Home Office of institutionalised racism, instead stating that it demonstrated “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”. The scandal was undoubtedly initiated to some small degree at least, by a considerable degree of subconscious racism and went on to destroy lives and families. Of the many things which have made me ashamed to be British in the last few years, this is very near the top of the pile.
Friday 20th March
UK score on the door: 177
Predictably the right-wing tabs have jumped on Boris’s ‘we can turn the tide in the next 12 weeks’ assertion and splashed it all over their front pages. At a time when the people need to be told how it is, this is grossly irresponsible and sets the worst possible tone.
Tonight, Rishi Sunak announced that the Government would guarantee 80% of wages for those in employment up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. Boris went on to order that all pubs, clubs, restaurants, gyms, leisure centres and other places where people gather socially close immediately, but did not go on to order how this order would be enforced.
Saturday 21st March
UK death toll now 233.
Media is full of photos of supermarkets with shelves stripped absolutely bare. A nurse has posted a video of her just having come off a 48-hour shift, to find she was unable to buy any food from her local supermarket whatsoever; exhausted and emotional, she pleaded with people to stop panic buying. Another nurse posted a selfie after she’d completed a 9 hour shift, looking red-faced and physically and emotionally exhausted. Heartbreaking footage on Sky from a hospital in northern Italy (Bergamo), in which medical staff are working against overwhelming odds, patients are shown gasping desperately for breath, and army trucks taking coffins away for cremation because all morgues are already full.
Kenny Rogers died today, aged 81.
Sunday 22nd March
A Mothers’ Day like no other.
UK death toll now 281. Apparently we are now where Italy was about 2-3 weeks ago. The current Italian death toll is approaching 5,000.
And it won’t be helped if large swathes of the UK population are behaving as if nothing is untoward. Social media is full of shocking, scarcely believable images of people walking in parks and on beaches – not observing social distancing guidelines, needless to say – as if it’s just another sunny Sunday. There were actually huge stationary queues of traffic on the way to Snowdonia. Supermarkets were crammed, with reports of crushes in Tesco in Dudley; apparently hundreds of selfish twats arrived before 9am, which was supposed to be a time reserved for NHS employees.
I’ll just say it as it is. Some people are just ignorant, or in denial, or selfish, or just plain thick, or quite possibly all four. They make me absolutely embarrassed and ashamed to be British.
Some people, it seems, just don’t want to accept reality, or are completely unaware that the pure stupidity and selfishness of their behaviour may have fatal consequences for others. Without becoming too political, it sounds like the Brexiteer mindset of refusing to engage with reality and hoping ‘it won’t be as bad as the ‘experts’ say, and that everything will be alright’.
The gravity of the situation is just not being communicated effectively by those in power. If people disregard the advice given to them by experts, through our politicians, then perhaps the only way is to force them to listen and force them not to do things. If huge numbers are not doing as they’re told, if they can’t behave as responsible adults, then they need to be treated as children.
Public health videos, showing graphic details of the epidemic and the consequences of flouting regulations, need to be transmitted regularly on TV, to shock people into changing their ways. Johnson needs to make a presidential-style address to the nation during the 6pm prime-time early evening news slot on all TV and radio channels – not just the BBC – and actually say that his orders for places to close and people observe social distancing – will be enforced. This means legal sanctions against people and businesses not following them. Apparently he is very reluctant to introduce draconian measures restricting personal freedom because of his libertarian instincts, but many ministers are trying to persuade him to do so. At this moment in time his principles (for what they are) can go hang. What’s more important is the health and safety of the population.
Arrest owners of establishments who choose to defy orders to close. Ban any public meetings other than those of very small groups (meetings with more than 2 are now banned in Germany). Make all non-essential travel illegal and require those in transit to provide proof of reasons why they need to do so, as is happening in France and Italy. Close down the motorway network – especially at weekends – except to aforementioned individuals who are legally entitled to travel. Maintain a skeleton public transport service for essential workers only. Permit only a very small number of people to enter supermarkets at any one time. If armed police and the services of the Army are required – then so be it.
A shocking day. I actually had trouble getting to sleep.
Monday 23rd March
(Some of this is being written retrospectively as I’ve let things slip a bit, but as the news is being dominated by one thing at the moment, my powers of recollection are slightly better than they would be otherwise).
Score on the door – 335.
The PM ordered that all non-essential shops be shut, all gatherings over 2 people are to be banned, and people will only be allowed out once a day for exercise. Video footage appears of police telling people to leave a park in Shepherds Bush, and officers closing a barbecue in a Coventry house.
Alex Salmond got off on all charges of sexual assault.
Mitt Romney, the sole Republican who voted in favour of impeachment charges against Trump, has been diagnosed with Covid19. When made aware of this at a White House press conference, Trump replied: “Romney’s in isolation? Gee, that’s too bad”. If any more evidence was required that the 45th President of the USA is a vain, narcissistic, spiteful, petty-minded, vindictive piece of shit, then here it is.
Tuesday 24th March
422.
A call goes out for people to volunteer to help the NHS. There’s growing concern over a lack of ventilators, and also personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS frontline staff. The Olympics are postponed until next summer.
Widespread pictures of overcrowded Tube trains in London. A high percentage of passengers is accounted for by (1) key workers who have no alternative means of getting to work, (2) (apparently) construction site workers. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock took a pop at Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, stating that Transport for London should be capable of putting on a more extensive service. The Mayor’s office replied by stating that this wasn’t possible, as a third of TfL staff were absent either through sickness or self-isolation.
The Scottish government has ordered that all construction sites – except those deemed as essential, such as hospitals – be closed. Why this hasn’t yet been imposed on the rest of the UK is somewhat curious.
The reputation of Sports Direct boss and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has never been particularly high, but in a new display of lowering the bar, he attempted to imply that his stores should remain open owing to them being classified as an ‘essential’ service by virtue of providing fitness equipment and clothing.
Now no-one needs a multipack of white socks or a giant coffee mug as an ‘essential’. Following a wholly justified critical backlash and mass outrage on social media, Ashley was forced to backtrack. Just goes to show, though, that he’s an unscrupulous robber baron who will exploit any situation to make a quick buck.
Wednesday 25th March
463.
Prince Charles has been diagnosed with mild Covid 19 symptoms. There’s considerable quiet that he had ready access to a test, whereas thousands of frontline NHS staff don’t. The Chancellor revealed his plan to help the self-employed; a similar level of 80% as for employees, but payments won’t be available until June, during which time the’re expected to claim benefits.
Today saw the last PMQs for a while, since the decision has been taken to suspend Parliament for a month. Fair enough, given the cramped spaces of Westminster don’t really lend themselves to social distancing. Corbyn’s last PMQs ever; a lot of Corbynistas crying into their soy lattes and bleating about him being the ‘best PM the UK never had’, etc. etc. ad nauseam.
Here in Cyprus, restrictions on movement similar to those in the UK were introduced today. In addition, movement is not permitted after 6pm. I went down to the village to see if Elsie was there, but no sign. Sadly, she and the other cats are on their own now, for the foreseeable future.
In addition, the school closed to pupils for the foreseeable future.
Thursday 26th March
578.
The Spanish death toll of 3,400 now exceeds that of China.
The first nationwide ‘clap for carers/NHS staff’ occurred at 8pm UK time.
The Government is said to have ordered some 10,000 ventilators from Dyson (the company created by the eponymous Brexiteer), whilst not responding to offers from smaller manufacturers to make more. No. 10 claimed, however, that they’d yet to sign a contract with Dyson.
No.10’s ‘official spokesman’ stated initially that it declined to participate in an EU scheme to source ventilators, as ‘we are no longer members of the EU’, and that the UK was ‘making our own efforts’ in that area. But he later went on to make the laughable (or it would be if the circumstances weren’t so serious) claim, that owing to an ‘initial communication problem’, the UK missed the deadline for participating in the scheme. So either they’re not participating because of either (a) ingrained Europhobia, or (b) ingrained incompetence. Neither’s a good look.
Friday 27th March
759.
Boris has been diagnosed with mild symptoms. A few weeks ago, he was apparently shaking hands with patients in a hospital, and has been working normally since then. Is it any surprise that Parliament’s suspected of being a virus hotspot? (Matt Hancock’s also been diagnosed with it).
Saturday 28th March
1,019.
So much is going on that it’s hard to keep pace. A hashtag #clapforboris was started on Twitter, suggesting that the nation should applaud the PM and sympathise with his current health situation, at 8pm UK time on Sunday. Predictably, some responded that he should at least be given the chance to recover from coronavirus first, before being struck down with a sexually transmitted disease.
Sunday 29th March
1,228.
The country’s deputy Chief Medical Officer has warned that it could be as long as 6 months before restrictions on civil liberties are relaxed. The Mail on Sunday have tried to blame EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier (who’s been diagnosed) as the source of the outbreak within Westminster, and claimed it’s ‘revenge for Brexit’. Bit difficult, as he’s hasn’t been to London or met Bojo since the outbreak started in the UK.
Monday 30th March
1,408.
Restaurant chain Carluccio’s went under today. It had been on the cards for some time. Even as long ago as April 2018, when we went to the Liverpool branch, it was obvious it was struggling as the place was mostly empty (during Grand National week), and the decor had a kind of dated late 80’s/early 90’s, faux-shiny feel to it (even the food was OK).
Still don’t understand why testing in the UK isn’t more widespread; we’ve only tested one-tenth of the number that Germany has, for example. Apparently passengers disembarking from the few flights that are landing in the UK are not being tested or monitored for the disease.
Elsewhere, the Hungarian parliament passed legislation that allows extreme right-wing PM Viktor Orban to rule by decree under a state of emergency wthout a definitive time limit – implying he could act as a dictator with no constraints on his powers indefinitely. Under the cloak of coronavirus, a right-wing dictatorship has been established virtually under the EU’s radar.
Tuesday 31st March
1, 789. That’s 381 higher than yesterday.
The other day, Cummings was filmed running away from No. 10 like a sewer rat caught in a torchlight beam. It was revealed yesterday that he’s been diagnosed with minor symptoms. I’m not normally the kind of person to indulge in schadenfreude, but in his case I’m more than prepared to make an exception.
It’s come to light that some football clubs have temporarily laid off some of their non-playing staff, thus getting the taxpayer to foot the bill for the wages not being paid, whilst still paying actual footballers. You might have thought that clubs would have enforced salary reductions on their players if the wanted to make any economies to cover the inevitable shortcome in income. It’s understood that some players are actually willing to do so, rather than expect people who are far less well-off than they are to take the hit.
Wednesday 1st April
2,352. 563 higher than yesterday. The biggest one-day increase to date. There were 4,324 new cases in the UK; the previous high was yesterday’s figure of 3,009.
2 weeks ago, Govt. promised there’d be 25k tests a day. We’re still less than 10k a day. Germany’s doing 70k a day. Apparently a UK company which makes testing kits is selling the vast majority of its output overseas because the country doesn’t have enough laboratories to use them.
The BBC’s Norman Smith has stated that if mass testing isn’t the Government’s strategy, then that only leaves (a) waiting for a vaccine, or (b) herd immunity. That’s pretty damning.
The NHS has 1.3m staff. Today, the Govt. admitted that so far only 2,000 have been tested. Unbelievably, until now tests on NHS staff could not exceed 15% of the national total. There’s growing anger over why widespread testing of the population has not been introduced; why frontline NHS staff still don’t have the necessary PPE equipment; why the promised ventilators haven’t yet materialised.
Last week a company in Nantwich which offered 5k ventilators & 50m testing kits to the Dept of Health, stated it had yet to receive an offer to its email. Another company in Worcester was told by the Govt. to refrain from producing ventilators, despite answering a request to help 30k of them.
The UK currently has 8k ventilators. We need 30k. Today, the BBC News Channel announced we’d be taking delivery of a further 30.
A retired doctor who rejoined the NHS after 40 years’ service, has died of the virus.
Still no temperature testing for arrivals at UK airports. If our local supermarket can do it, why can’t they?
Johnson & Hancock still in self-isolation, so they’ve been sending out the night watchmen to bat for them in the evening press conference from No. 10. Tonight’s mug was business secretary Alok Sharma. You had to feel some sympathy for him, having to field questions which he just didn’t have the answers to. But I think his chances of the top job have probably been sunk permanently after his performance.
The blackest day yet.
Thursday 2nd April
2,921. Worldwide now more than 1m cases, with 53k deaths. Italy nearly 14k deaths, Spain 10k. Among the British victims is Eddie Large.
Government absolutely slaughtered in the papers, even by normally loyal lickspittles like the Telegraph and Mail. Matt Hancock was back from self-isolation to do the evening press conference & promised there’d be more than 100k tests by the end of the month.
Just to recap; the Government was offered the chance to participate in a EU scheme to procure ventilators but declined to do so, presumably on the grounds that ‘we’re not in the EU anymore’ – then it claimed it had missed the deadline due to a ‘communications error’, i.e. it claimed not to have received the relevant email. It transpired that the UK government had been consulting about the issue with the EU for weeks beforehand.
Then it declined offers from UK companies to supply ventilators.
In 2016, Operation Cygnus, an exercise was carried out to test the readiness of the NHS for a medical crisis, such as the one we’re experiencing at the moment. It appeared to confirm that the NHS was in a poor position should such an event occur. It’s not known for certain, as the findings appear to have been buried.
NHS staff have been threatened with disciplinary action should they approach the media with accounts of PPE shortages.
Friday 3rd April
Had a dream last night about an ex-girlfriend; I’d met her by chance, and she smiled at me, and said we’d meet again sometime. Which is most certainly not how we parted in reality.
A Virtual Grand National’s being held tomorrow, as a substitute for the real one. The bookies are donating all profits to charity. Virtual racing in the bookies’ offices is properly Mickey Mouse, on a par with slot machines in my view. I might make an exception for this event; I’ll drop a line to a few people to see if they’re taking a financial interest. There’s no point studying the form for an imaginary race, so I might choose one by name alone; Death Duty seems a suitably bad taste name given the current background.
Today’s score: 3,605, up 684. The new Nightingale Hospital, housed in the Excel Centre in east London, which provides 4,000 beds and which was built in nine days, opened today. Similar facilities will open in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow.
Saturday 4th April
4,313, up 708.
There were actually two Virtual Grand Nationals today. The first one featured 40 past winners of the race. Mrs C was up out of her armchair cheering and shouting as Red Rum ‘won’ the past winners’ race. In the past, she has mocked me on a regular basis for taking the teatime quiz shows Pointless and The Chase too seriously. Next time she does this, I shall remind her how animated she was over an imaginary horse race.
Keir Starmer was elected as labour of the Labour Party, with 56% of the vote. Angela Rayner was confirmed as his deputy. At last we have a credible opposition, and a credible opposition leader.
Unbelievable conspiracy theory. 5G masts in the UK are being set alight, because the more gullible sections of the population had been led to believe they’re responsible for the spread of coronavirus. This ‘theory’ has been given added ‘credence’ because the company who will be mostly responsible for establishing the UK’s 5G network is Huawei, who of course are Chinese. It’s not helped by the fact that no-mark ‘celebrities’ such as Amanda Holden are supporting this theory.
Sunday 5th April
4,934. Up 621.
The Man City & England player Kyle Walker is not the sharpest tool in the box. On the same day that one of the downmarket tabs revealed that he’s doing nothing to support his pregnant girlfriend, it’s come out that he’s broken lockdown regulations to host a party at his house with a mate and two escorts.
Still on the football theme, Liverpool have become the latest club to announce they’re taking advantage of the Government’s scheme to pay 80% of the wages of employees earning less than £2.5k monthly. It’s not a great look when a club that made £42m pre-tax profits, takes advantage of a scheme intended to help businesses that are genuinely struggling as a result of the coronavirus crisis. At a time when skipper Jordan Henderson is at the forefront of a plan for Premier League players to take a 30% reduction in wages, it’s a shame that his efforts are being undermined by his employers. Predictably, this has not gone down well with supporters, with the likes of Tony Evans and Jamie Carragher leading the chorus of condemnation.
Unfortunately the PFA have undermined the aforementioned plan by stating its imposition would cause a loss in tax revenues which are badly needed at his time in crisis. Now I’m no financial expert, but would it have beyond the wit of clubs to redirect the wages they would have paid, directly to HM Exchequer, rather than keeping that money for themselves?
The Queen addressed the nation tonight; with the exception of her annual Xmas message, it’s only the 5th time she’s done so. The inclusion of the line ‘we will meet again’ inevitably led some to draw parallels with the last war. I’ll wager that within a fortnight, a version of the eponymous song will have been rush-released for fund-raising purposes and be at the top of the charts.
Boris’s condition is now so serious that he was taken to hospital tonight; it has to be said that he looked a bit peaky when he made his last video posting.
Monday 6th April
5,373. Up 439, which is somewhat lower than yesterday’s increase, but there was a similar deceleration last weekend before the figures picked up again, so it’s not really a straw to clutch at. What’s more encouraging s that in both Italy and Spain, the epicentres of the virus in Europe, not only the number of new deaths, but also the number of new diagnoses have both fallen for the last few days.
The Government is warning that outdoor exercise could be banned if people continue to flout the rules regarding social distancing in public spaces (they later rowed back on this slightly). This follows images of Richmond Park and other areas busy with people taking advantage of the fine weather. A fine balance to strike; on the one hand, not strictly enforcing the regulations and applying them to everyone would encourage many to disregard them entirely. On the other, it’s really harsh if you’re stuck in an inner city tower block with a couple of kids going stir crazy, and it will get even worse at the first sign of hot weather. Enforcement will only work with the consent of the people; you can foresee that this consent will be withdrawn by the less fortunate members of society if these restrictions become intolerable for them.
Social media tonight was full of reaction to two things, notably. The Queen’s speech was generally regarded favourably, although you had the usual anti-monarchists out stating that it’s alright for someone self-isolating in one of her many residences to thank those who chose to stay at home. The usual sanctimonious piffle, criticising someone who, whilst immensely wealthy, is still more of a unifying force than Boris Johnson, or come to that any other politician, will ever be.
Then it came to light that BoJo has not spoken directly to his nominal deputy, the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, for two days now, and some commentators were remarking that this was a remarkable state of affirs which should not be allowed to continue.
Then, later tonight, came the dramatic news that the PM’s condition had worsened, that he was having difficulty breathing, and that he had been transferred to intensive care in St Thomas’s in London. Jesus. This is the moment when it’s really hit home with a lot of people, I think. No matter what you think of him as a politician, or indeed as a human being, he is for better or worse our leader at the moment, and anyone with more than a single brain cell will hope that he pulls through.
Liverpool FC reversed their decision to take advantage of the Government’s furloughing scheme, after massive pressure from the fan base. Unfortunately, the damage to FSG’s image, and the bond of trust they previously had with the supporters, has now been done.
Tuesday 7th April
6,159, up by 786. The biggest daily rise to date.
Actually not too much to comment on today. Pretty much deja vu.
Wednesday 8th April
7,097, up by 938. The new biggest daily rise to date.
Thursday 9th April
7,978, up by 881. But Boris is now out of intensive care, so everything’s OK in the eyes of the right-wing tabs.
Premier League footballers, following the admirable lead of Liverpool’s own Jordan Henderson, launched a charitable fund to raise funds for the NHS. Credit to them; they’ve put their union to shame.
Northants Police have justifiably been subject to a storm of criticism after their chief constable suggested that they would check the contents of supermarket trolleys if people continued to flout the lockdown conditions. Cambridgeshire bizzies have been ridiculed for a now-deleted tweet stating that ‘….the non-essential isles were empty’. In another instance of heavy-handedness by the boys (and girls, in this case) in blue, a man in Rotherham is reprimanded by a female officer for letting his children play in their front garden.
Two scumbags in Morecambe were arrested after licking their hands in a supermarket and wiping them over meat, vegetables and fridge handles.
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester police have reported that they’ve had to break up 494 house parties and 166 street parties in the course of the last few days; some gatherings even featured bouncy castles, DJs and fireworks, according to the force.
This does not augur well for the forthcoming long Easter weekend – especially as it’s forecast to be very warm and sunny over much of the country. At the very time when the authorities need it to be pissing down and cold, Mother Nature looks like displaying a warped sense of humour.
Friday 10th April
8,958. Up 980. The new daily high.
Hammered it down here in Cyprus today. A downpour of biblical proportions, with thunder and lightning. We really could do with this kind of weather in the UK right now.
Saturday 11th April
9,875. Up 917.
King Kenny Dalglish is in hospital with the virus; apparently he contracted it whilst he was being for an infection. Luckily, his symptoms only appear to be very mild, so hopefully he’ll be out soon. Leeds legend Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter has also been diagnosed.
Matt Hancock put his foot in it when he suggested that as PPE is a ‘precious resource’, NHS staff should be wary about not over-using it. Staff in hospitals have been pleading for weeks about the urgent need for supplies. Nearly a month into ‘lockdown’, there are still far too many accounts of hospitals running short of essential protective gear.
The virus appears to be ravaging the UK’s care homes. This is another strand of the emerging scandal, namely that the published death toll from Covid19 in the UK only includes those certified dead in hospitals.
As if by magic, our absentee Home Secretary Priti Patel reappeared at tonight’s virtual Downing Street press briefing. She apologised if people felt there had been a failure to supply PPE as necessary – but pointedly, she didn’t apologise for there being a shortage. She also went on to say that to date ‘there have been 300,034 974,000 tests carried out….’. Quite apart from the fact that by many accounts she’s a deeply unpleasant individual, her inability to quite basic statistics or read from a prepared script should render her unfit for any Cabinet job. But she voted for Brexit, so that makes it OK.
Sunday 12th April
10,612. Up 737.
A grim milestone, announce on the same day that Sir Jeremy Farrar, one of the government’s most senior scientific advisors, stated on the Andrew Marr show this morning that the UK is likely to be one of the European countries worst affected – if not the worst affected – by the pandemic. Today could truly mark a tipping point, not just because the death toll is in five figures, but also because the promises of PPE, ventilators and testing made repeatedly by ministers are still nowhere near materialising. This warning from an eminent advisor will surely put the UK’s efforts to counteract the virus to be woefully insufficient and belated. Hancock promised 100,000 tests a day by the end of April; the current daily figure is 18,000. Unbelievably, there are hints in some quarters that the current UK lockdown conditions could be eased when the appropriate decision is taken on Thursday.
Sadly, three British icons passed away today; Tim Brooke-Taylor, Peter Bonetti, and Stirling Moss, the first two seemingly from the virus. The good news is that King Kenny’s out of hospital, as is the PM.
In Rome, the Pope conducted Easter mass in an empty St Peter’s. The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the equivalent function from his kitchen in Lambeth Palace.
Apparently a suppressed internal Labour Party report – completed before the result of the recent leadership election was made public – details a plot to discredit Jeremy Corbyn, and also internal communications expressing hopes that the party would lose badly in the 2017 election in the hope that Corbyn would be deposed. It details abusive texts and messages from anti-Corbyn members, amongst other things. One might ask why it’s not been released until Keir Starmer assumed the party leadership. Predictably, the Corbynistas, many of whom take offence at the slightest little thing, are crying foul. It’s best to see the whole truth before passing judgement, I think.
Monday 13th April
11,329. Up 717.
There are growing calls for Parliament to be recalled to permit the Government to be held to account over its actions in dealing with the pandemic. Parliament has been suspended since March 25th.
When all this is over, it will be nice to think that society has a total revaluation of roles that certain groups of people play in everyday life. Not just NHS staff, but care workers, shop workers, transport employees, street cleaning staff, and so on and so on. Surely no Government will even consider cutting funding to the NHS – let alone ensure it receives just the necessary resources to enable it to perform its role properly – for generations to come now.
Tuesday 14th April
12,107. Up 778.
The EU apparently has a surplus of PPE.
The U.K. Government has apparently had three chances to join an EU scheme for the bulk procurement of PPE, but has either missed or passed them up, as a consequence of ‘communication errors’, its current Europhobic approach, incompetence, or quite possibly all three.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics released today, indicate that the true death toll from coronavirus is 10% higher than the numbers reported to date. Half of this excess number is accounted for by deaths in care homes.
Only now is the grave situation in the care home sector getting the appropriate attention. The virus has ravaged some individual homes, with many recording at least 10 deaths. But the sector is struggling to obtain sufficient PPE; care home staff are going into work every day, knowing they’re putting their lives on the line every day, just because their employers, through no thought of their own, can’t get sufficient equipment. Whereas the NHS now seemingly has an established system for procurement, care homes are having to compete for these scarce items on the open market by themselves.
Even the Daily Mail, normally one of the most loyal supporters of the Conservatives, splashed on its front page with the scandal. Nicky Campbell’s phone-in show on BBC 5 Live, was full of harrowing, distressing, heartbreaking accounts from care home employees and relatives of care home residents. You get the sense that the media has run out of patience, and is finally starting to draw attention to this impending disaster.
The independent Office for Budgetary Responsibility has forecast that if lockdown conditions remain in force for 3 months, GDP could fall by 35% in the spring quarter alone, and would still be 13% lower at the end of the year.
It’s an acquaintance’s birthday today. Whilst speaking to Mrs C on Whatsapp, he expressed his anger with the alleged treachery of anti-Corbyn Labour Party officials who have allegedly plotted against the leadership in the run-up to the election. He also criticised ‘dickheads such as Kier Starmer’, who in his opinion is not holding the government sufficiently to account. He, like many of his political persuasion, is bitter not just because the supposed fifth columnists cost Labour the election in 2017 ( a fanciful theory as it is?), but because Jezza is no longer leader. You get the impression that the Corbynistas hate Blairites and ‘centrists’ like Starmer more than they do the Tories. There’s no point trying to reason with people like them, as they just tend to get lairy and go into full denial mode. I’ve never really got on well with him; he’s not hostile towards me, but makes no attempt to engage with me, so I don’t bother doing so with him.
Had a bbq today. Took a bloody age to get the coals hot enough. The steak I did was OK, but I’ve concluded that I’ll be better off with burgers, sausages and marinated meat in future. Steak is rather overrated IMHO.
Wednesday 15th April
12,868. Up 761.
The 31st anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. RIP the 96. Never forget. Still no-one held legally to account.
Also, the 1st anniversary of the Notre Dame fire.
Yesterday, Trump threw his toys out of the pram in the face of probing questions at the White House press conference. Today, he’s putting plans in motion to stop US funding of the World Health Organisation.
Thursday 16th April
13,729. Up 861.
A 28yo pregnant nurse is one of the latest victims of the virus. Very fortunately, her baby was saved.
Captain Tom Moore, a 99yo WW2 veteran, today completed 100 laps of his back garden. He and his family stated initially by doing so that they’d hoped to raise a modest £1,000 to donate to NHS charities. At the time of writing, he’s raised a phenomenal £18 million.
Matt Hancock announce that the efforts of care home employees would be recognised by giving them a little green pin padge. Which their employers will have to pay for.
More accounts of UK companies offering to supply tests, but Public Health England failing to take them up.
Brexit was all about control of immigration for a lot of people, and the Government gave great prominence to controlling the numbers of ‘low’skilled’ immigrants arriving in the UK. Today, it was announced that UK farmers are having to pay to fly in hundreds of Romanians to pick produce that otherwise would have been left to rot in the fields.
Our pig-headed Government announced that it would refuse an extension to the Brexit deadline of 31st December, despite the inevitable delays as a consequence of the virus. The PM’s ‘official spokesman’ stated that an extension to the 31 December deadline would hamper the UK’s longterm response to the coronavirus crisis.
Not a good day.
Friday 17th April
14,576. Up 847.
Norman Hunter passed away today.
Another bad day. Just want it out of the way. All the days are starting to merge into one.
Saturday 18th April
15,464. Up 888.
Stories of NHS staff being asked to consider reusing single-use PPE, as most trusts are on the verge of running out of gowns.
China’s GDP decreased by 6.8% in the first quarter of this year.
In some US states, protestors have been out on the streets protesting against the lockdown measures, claiming amongst other reasons, inevitably, that they infringe their ‘civil rights’. Trump tweeted that three states in particular, who all have Democratic governors, should be ‘liberated’. Trump seems to be claiming that these states are being unnecessarily stringent in the enforcement of the federal lockdown conditions. Others claim that with these typically provocative tweets, he’s trying to fire up the more militant, more gullible, more thick elements of his supporter base and initiate a kind of insurrection against the sitting governor.
Sunday 19th April
16,060. Up 596.
The Sunday Times today published an explosive report detailing the complacent, incompetent nature of the Government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. It can be summarised thus:
24/1 – Matt Hancock announced that the risk to the UK from an outbreak was ‘low’.
The PM missed 5 COBRA meetings on coronavirus. He went to Chevening for 12 days in February.
A senior No. 10 advisor stated that the PM ‘didn’t chair any meetings. He liked his country breaks. He didn’t work weekends’.
Emergency PPE supplies had been run down after years of austerity; PPE was actually being sent to China in the build-up to the UK outbreak. Training to prepare key workers for a pandemic has been put on hold as resources were diverted to deal with a possible no-deal Brexit. The recommendations from Operation Cygnus were not implemented for the same reason.
Even in early February when it became clear that the virus would hit, there was very little urgency in terms of preparation. The Government treated the virus in the same way as a flu epidemic and adopted its ‘herd immunity’ strategy, and thus abandoned any testing or contact tracing. Experts were calling for a lockdown four weeks before it happened.
The considerable capacity of the country’s private laboratories was not called upon.
The PM personally called manufacturers of PPE & ventilators in a desperate bid to boost supplies, but it was too late.
A senior Department of Health advisor stated that ‘….we could have been Germany but instead we were doomed by our incompetence, our hubris and our austerity’.
Monday 20th April
16,509. An increase of only 449, but Monday figures have tended to be lower.
A consignment of PPE from Turkey, which the Govt. said would arrive today, has been delayed for unknown reasons.
It emerged that some care workers are having to travel hundreds of miles from their homes to be tested for the virus.
The world oil price collapsed today. Producers had to pay customers to take excess production off their hands owing to lack of storage facilities – implying that for a short time at least, the price of crude oil was actually negative.
Tuesday 21st April
17,337, up 828.
It’s become patently obvious that there’s very little chance of the Government reaching its 100k tests a day target. Drive through testing sites for essential workers are very little used. Apparently No. 10 is casting doubt on Hancock’s assertion that it can be met; there’s talk that he’s being set up to be the fall guy for this catastrophe.
Virgin boss, the multi-millionaire Richard Branson, has claimed that the airline is in financial difficulties and has asked for £500m aid from the state. Trump has applied to the UK Government’s furlough scheme for his golf courses in Scotland.
The Foreign Secretary’s permanent secretary told the Foreign Affairs select committee today, that it was a ‘political decision’ not to join the aforementioned EU ventilator procurement scheme, contradicting No. 10’s earlier excuse about it being due to a ‘communications problem’. Under pressure from No. 10, he later retracted and clarified his earlier statement, in line with the Government position. Typically, Matt Hancock then went and put his foot in it, to muddy the waters further. He claimed that the Department of Health did receive an invitation, which he personally accepted, and thus the UK was now a member of the scheme. This was swiftly rejected by an EU spokesman who claimed the UK was in no way presently involved in the procurement scheme.
Wednesday 22nd April
18,100. Up 763.
The aforementioned PPE consignment from Turkey arrived today, but only after RAF planes flew out to collect it. Apparently, the Government failed to complete the necessary documentation.
UK manufacturers of PPE are exporting their products as the Government has not responded to their offers. In the meantime, we are importing PPE from Burma.
People with cancer and other potentially fatal illnesses are not attending hospitals for fear of contracting the virus.
Parliament sat for the first time since the Easter recess, with most MP’s watching and participating visa video conferencing technology.
Apparently 400 people a day are dying in care homes.
Thursday 23rd April
18,738. Up 638.
According to the Guardian, Downing Street ignored a firm warning from the Department of Health that ministers should not publicise the expected shipment of protective kit for NHS staff from Turkey in case it backfired. In a sign of deepening tensions between the Department of Health and Downing Street, the source said that Hancock’s Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick was “strongly advised” not to mention the consignment at the government’s coronavirus media briefing last Saturday. But Jenrick, with No. 10’s approval, went ahead and promised that it would arrive the next day.
Now either Hancock knew there was the possibility of the consignment not being delivered when he promised, and he was being disingenuous about when it would arrive, or that he knew there were problems with the delivery time and tried to make No. 10 aware of them, but they disregarded him entirely with the aim of making him the fall guy when it didn’t arrive at the promised time.
Dominic Raab has refused to make a firm commitment to a public enquiry once this crisis is over. I cannot imagine that the pressure for one to be held will be so overwhelming that for the Government to refuse to hold one would be a political scandal in itself.
Friday 24th April
24/4 – 19,506. Up 768.
If this appeared in a satire or comedy about American politics, it would be scarcely believable. In his White House press briefing, The President of the United States of America expressed a serious interest in the possibility of injecting disinfectant intravenously into the body, to counteract coronavirus. Disinfectant manufacturers in the US very quickly released statements stating in no uncertain terms that it was not a very wise idea to do this. The problem is that a sizeable proportion of Trump’s core supporter base hang on his every word, and would be stupid enough to follow this course of action. Still, every cloud has a silver lining; if a few GOP voters are bumped off in this accidental contest for the annual Darwin awards, then hopefully that will enhance the possibility that Trump will be moving out of Washington next January.
Mrs C had some bad news today; her uncle has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been told that he only has six months to live.
Saturday 25th April
20,319. Up 813.
The Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) has been giving advice to the Government on how to deal with the pandemic. The Government does not disclose the membership of the group for ‘the security of its members’, but normally it’s comprised only of people who are eminent in their scientific field. It has come to light that our chum Dominic Cummings, together with Ben Warner, a data scientist mate who worked with him on the Vote Leave campaign, have not only been attending SAGE meetings since February, but participating in them. This calls into question the independence of SAGE’s advice, as it’s hard to imagine for one thing that some members will no doubt have felt inhibited by Cummings’ presence. Also, and more disturbingly, whilst the chief scientific advisers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been allowed to listen in on meetings, they’ve not been permitted to ask questions unless submitted in writing. The same restrictions don’t apply to Cummings and Warner. It’s believed that this is the first instance of non-specialists – and certainly political advisors – attending SAGE meetings.
Not before time, air passengers into the UK will be told to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the country. No health checks, as in other countries. Just the hope that travellers will do as they’re asked to. It’s a bit like putting mortice deadlocks on all doors and windows except the back one, which you’ve accidentally left open.
Sunday 26th April
20,732. Up 413.
Some right wing Tory MP’s are getting uppity about the effects of the lockdown on the economy, and probably more specifically their own investment portfolios. Yes, businesses are suffering; some will undoubtedly close for good, and people will lost their livelihoods. There’s always the possibility, however, that if you lose your livelihood, your job, you can get it back later. The same does not apply to your life. When it comes to a choice between lives and jobs, the former wins every time. There can be no trade-off.
Italy and Spain announce measures for releasing their lockdowns.
Monday 27th April
21,092. Up only 360, although this is a result of the weekend ‘lag’, and we’re likely to get a more accurate representation tomorrow.
Boris returned to work today. Apparently the Sunday Times has been barred from asking questions at the daily No. 10 press conference following its recently highly critical disclosures. Now the PM has returned, his boss evidently regards this as the green light to resume normal service.
Apparently, furloughed workers will be encouraged to work on the fruit and vegetable harvest in the summer. A move only necessitated, of course, by the Government’s tightening of restrictions on ‘unskilled’ immigrant labour as a consequence of the Brexit process.
Tuesday 28th April
21,678. Up 586.
Up at 7am for the first of four days of online training for the school’s new MIS training.
Former Liverpool, Brighton & Man City player Michael Robinson has died, aged only 61.
The ONS today released stats for deaths in England and Wales up to April 17th. More than 21,000 had died of coronavirus, compared with the figure published at the time of just under 14,000. Extrapolating the excess death percentage of 52% to the whole of the UK up to yesterday, that implies that the true death toll to date is in the region of 32,000.
The same report stated that 4,343 people had died in care homes for the fortnight up to 24th April. This compares with the figure of 1,043 for all care homes since the start of the outbreak.
Last night the BBC showed an edition of Panorama which focused on the failings of Government policy during the crisis. The main findings could be summarised as follows:
Government failed to stockpile PPE in readiness for a pandemic, despite the recommendation from Nervtag that it should buy gowns, visors, swabs & body bags, before the coronavirus broke out in the UK in February. There were 33 million respirator masks in the stockpile in 2009, but only 12 million have been handed out to date; the other 21 million cannot be accounted for.
The Government did not follow the WHO guidelines for the minimum required standards for PPE, and downgraded the status of coronavirus from a “high consequence infectious disease” on 13th March, the same day on which it advised NHS staff that it was safe for them to wear PPE of a less high standard as a result. Insiders have claimed that the decision to downgrade Covid19 was a decision taken with the knowledge that supplies of PPE were running short. This, combined with the failure to stockpile sufficient quality PPE, undoubtedly were factors in NHS and care home staff failing to obtain PPE of a standard in line with WHO recommendations, and in many cases having to improvise to make some PPE themselves.
Included 547m individual gloves in PPE total – rather than 273.5m pairs. Also included cleaning products, waste bags & paper towels in total figure of PPE quoted.
Wednesday 29th April
The Government has changed the measure of counting coronavirus deaths to include all fatalities, not just those in hospitals. Today’s total under the revised basis is 26,097; up 795 on yesterdy’s revised figure.
Minutes’ silence for key workers who have died from Covid19 today. It was revealed that about a third of patients admitted to hospital with the virus end up dying.
British Airways has stated that it may have to make 12,000 redundancies, which has sparked outrage amongst trade unions.
Oh yeah, Carrie Symonds, Boris’s partner, gave birth today. Conveniently it was on the same day as PMQs, so Boris has gained a week’s stay of execution from being interrogated by Keir Starmer for another week.
Thursday 30th April
26,771. Up 674.
Captain Tom Moore’s 100th birthday. The Government will almost certainly miss its target of 100k tests a day. Boris claims we’re past the peak of the virus; that may be the case, but the number of daily deaths is decreasing painfully slowly. He also went on to make the very dubious claim that Britain had avoided ”the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world”.
At the time of writing, the UK has the 3rd highest actual death toll in the world – only 700 less than that of Italy, where the virus first took a firm hold – and the 4th highest per capita death rate for countries with more than 1 million people.
Friday 1st May
27,510. Up 739.
Matt Hancock claimed that the target of 100k tests per day was met by the end of yesterday, as promised. Apparently about 122,000 were done yesterday. It transpired that about a third of this total was comprised of home testing kits which were sent to home addresses. It’s an exercise in false accounting which Goebbels would have approved of.
The Premier League put out a statement stating that they would like to find a way to complete the season, and they have agreed that using neutral grounds as venues to complete the fixtures will be necessary. The clubs, however, are not necessarily united behind this stance, and the PFA has naturally expressed concerns about players’ welfare, bearing in mind it’s a contact sport and opponents won’t be able to observe social distancing rules…..
Liverpool fans have taken umbrage at the comments of mayor Joe Anderson – an Everton fan – that the Premier League season should be abandoned with Liverpool as champions, on the grounds that were it were to resume, fans would congregate at Anfield to celebrate when the Reds actually clinched the title. It seems that the upset is not so much about his comments, but more about the fact that he broke ranks from LFC club officials, supporters’ groups, his city council colleagues, and Merseyside police, who were holding behind closed doors discussions regarding how to manage the inevitable event when it came to pass.
Saturday 2nd May
28,131. Up 621.
Wasted nearly 3 hours on the phone to Cyta this morning. Rather annoyingly, I couldn’t gain access to the internet on either the PC or my IPad, whereas rather annoyingly Mrs C was alright Jack with both her laptop and tablet. It wasn’t until 1pm that I managed to get away for my shower and shave.
A very strange day. It certainly didn’t feel like a Saturday, I pondered to myself during my evening walk in the sun. The only sport on telly at the moment appears to be endless reruns of Ashes series or Champions League finals.
Sunday 3rd May
28,446. Up 315.
The Nightingale hospital in London, built within 9 days in anticipation of a surge of Covid patients, has been placed ‘on standby’, which is double-speak for ‘being mothballed’ due to lack of demand. Yes, it was good that this and other temporary hospitals were available in readiness for an expected surge in the demand for hospital beds, but it makes you wonder that the need for these facilities was overestimated, whereas that for PPE, tests and ventilators was underestimated. A case of mis-allocation of resources if ever there was one.
The much-heralded coronavirus tracing app is due to be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week. It has been developed by a company called Faculty, which was hired to work on the Vote Leave campaign itself, and which has been awarded 7 government contracts in the last 18 months. Furthermore, the brother of Faculty’s founder worked with Cummings on the Vote Leave campaign, and was ired by Cummings to work at No. 10. Also, whereas other countries have developed decentralised tracing apps (i.e. the data remains on users’ devices and isn’t shared), this app is centralised and could in theory allow administrators (or others) to access users’ personal data, for whaever ends they care to put it to.
Spoke to my mate today; hopefully we can sort out participating in an online quiz soon.
Tuesday 5th May
Up to 29,427.
Today, the UK’s death toll surpassed that of Italy to become the highest in Europe. And Health Secretary Matt Hancock, when asked by Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, a practising GP no less, about the Government’s approach to the crisis, responded by saying that she should mind her ‘tone’. Now you can sympathise with Hancock to some extent; he’s only relatively young (41), and it’s not his fault he’s been promoted to a level way beyond his experience and ability. But he’s shown signs of tetchiness in a previous interview during the crisis. Adopting such a patronising, condescending, sexist attitude to a woman, who also happens to be a respected professional (which he evidently won’t be for much longer) won’t do any favours for his already tarnished reputation, methinks.
But no, the right wing tabs chose not to lead with the shocking death toll news. They used the diversionary tactic by leading with the story that Neil Ferguson, who’s been advising the Government on the crisis, has resigned from his post following the revelation that his partner had visited him at his home, and thus had contravened lockdown restrictions.
Wednesday 6th May
30,076. Up 649.
The PM announced a partial easing of lockdown rules, effective from next Monday. Today marked his first PMQs clash with Kier Starmer, who exposed his inability to grasp detail and provide suitable justification for the Government’s actions, with a degree of cool, understated ruthlessness.
Rishi Sunak announced that the furloughing scheme may be ended in July due to its huge expense.
There was some rare honesty and candidness on display at tonight’s No. 10 press conference, when Home Office minister James Brokenshire admitted ‘there will have been mistakes’ in the way the Government has dealt with the crisis.
Florian Schneider, the co-founder of Kraftwerk, died, aged 73.
My good deed for the day; during my evening walk round the estate, I came across a really cute little ginger cat who appeared to be lost and distressed. After some persuasion, I managed to coax him back from the back bush to the main estate, then made an appropriate post on Facebook. Happily, his owner managed to find him and take him back home.
Thursday 7th May
30,615. Up 539.
The irresponsible right-wing tabs, as well as the once-serious Daily Telegraph, have led with the story that the partial easing of the lockdown next week will enable people to ‘meet their mates for picnics in the park and go for rambles in the countryside’. No doubt some of their less well-informed readers will take this to mean that they can all meet up and take a few tinnies with them for an afternoon sesh on the grass.
It transpires that the whole of the shipment of 400,000 pieces of PPE from Turkey – which the RAF had to go out and collect at considerable expense to the public purse – did not meet the required standards. This story is emblematic of the Government’s shambolic, inept handling of the whole crisis. Did no-one even think to ask the manufacturers for a sample beforehand, before placing the order?
Friday 8th May
31,241. Up 626.
The 75th anniversary of VE Day. All too predictably, what should be a day of commemoration has not only been used by certain sections for another excuse to wallow in war-related nostalgia, but has been hijacked by certain elements to promote their nationalistic, jingoistic ends. The repeated playing of We’ll Meet Again, the shots of street parties with Union Jack bunting, the nationwide toasting to your neighbours and – most embarrassing, the 9pm nationwide singalong to We’ll Meet Along – just makes me cringe. This kind of attitude goes a long way to explaining the state we find ourselves in as a country now. We are a nation clinging pathetically onto mawkish sentimentality, like a drowning man grasping desperately onto a flimsy liferaft. It makes me embarrassed to be English.
There’s friction between the four UK nations as to how the lockdown could be eased; England’s line appears to be noticeably more relaxed than the other home nations, who have pre-empted Westminster by stating there will be no dramatic easing of restrictions in the foreseeable future.
Sunday 10th May
31,855; up 614 over the last two days.
Little Richard died, aged 87.
To start off with, it was a fairly quiet weekend on the coronavirus front, for a change. The Mail on Sunday carried a report stating that Matt Hancock seems to have antagonised some of his cabinet colleagues, including BoJo, and claims that he’s effectively a dead man walking.
In a pre-recorded speech shown on all TV channels tonight, the PM announced that the ‘stay at home’ message was being ditched and being replaced by ‘stay alert’. I’m not sure how one is supposed to ‘stay alert’ against a virus which just happens to be invisible. The devolved Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments made it clear that they were retaining the ‘stay at home message’.
He went on to say that by following the course of action they have, the Government has ‘prevented this country from being engulfed by what could have been a catastrophe in which the reasonable worst case scenario was half a million fatalities’. Which is cobblers, because they were only belatedly shamed into dropping the ‘herd immunity’ policy which would have led to that scale of death.
The main points were that people should be encouraged to go into work if they could not work from home, and moreover do so without using public transport, preferably walking or cycling; people can take ‘unlimited’ public exercise and even drive to other destinations to do so; if certain conditions are met, phased reopening of shops and of primary schools could begin from the start of June, and from the start of July, certain sectors of the hospitality industry and some public places could be reopened. And finally, new arrivals into the UK (except, bizarrely, for arrivals from France) arriving to the UK by air will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days (why now? Other countries enforced similar measures from the start; this smacks of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted).
First reaction – (1) many people who can’t work from home don’t have their own transport and thus are compelled to rely on buses and trains; (2) giving people permission to drive to other destinations sounds like carte blanche to the population to hit the road and head en masse to the beach and other beauty spots on fine days; (3) what’s the odds that the tabs will trumpet the headline ‘pubs may open in July’; (4) what’s to stop would-be travellers to the UK going to France first, and then flying from there?
Monday 11th May
The PM’s speech was widely criticised as being too confusing and ambiguous, as well as divisive, given that the other home nations are retaining the ‘stay at home message’. The desperation to get people back to work was condemned by trade unions concerned about the safety of their members. Dominic Raab ‘clarified’ this point by stating that people needn’t rush back to work today, but that these workplace related measures would apply from Wednesday.
The overriding impression is that, far from having clarified the position, the PM’s statement last night was so full of ambiguities that the scope for confusion and misunderstanding had been dramatically increased. In addition, there are some people who would be only too happy to take a mile if you gave them an inch, and would use this vagueness to deliberately misinterpret the new guidance.
There’s also the problem of divergence in the strictness of lockdown conditions between England and the other three countries; it’s too easy to visualise the A55 into North Wales being choc-a-bloc full of people going out for the day, fuelling resentment amongst the local populace who are observing regulations laid down by the Welsh government.
No-mark ministers were trying desperately in vain this morning to explain the Government’s new ‘stay alert’ message. But the highlight of today was provided by an unlikely source in the arch-Brexiteer Piers Morgan. Now until recently I had a strong dislike of him for obvious reasons, but he’s put most of the media to shame by the way he’s held the Government to account over its inept handling of coronavirus. He absolutely roasted the obnoxious right-wing Tory MP Andrew Bridgen on Good Morning Britain this morning over the Government’s inept, incompetent handling of the crisis, immediately after Spud-U-Hate had treated questions from Morgan’s co-presenter Susanna Reid in a patronising, condescending and frankly sexist manner.
Tuesday 12th May
The Government extends furlough scheme to end of October & includes part-time workers.
It’s patently clear that Boris announced the new policies for England on the hoof; it’s obviously apparent that not only were the devolved governments not consulted beforehand, but also unions, employers’ bodies, and more starkly, the Government’s own scientific advisers, it seems. Administration of this country appears to be in a state of total chaos and dysfunctionality, caused by a disorganised, disinterested PM who has delegated too much power to special advisers with their own advisers.
The foreign press is widely critical of the UK government’s handling of the crisis:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/12/uk-takes-a-pasting-from-worlds-press-over-coronavirus
Disgusting case where a public transport employee in London who was spat at in the line of duty, subsequently contracted the virus and died.
Under the new lockdown rules you can visit your loved ones, but only in an outside space, one at a time, and with social distancing rules to be enforced. But it’s OK for cleaners to come in and clean houses and flats, and for prospective purchasers to visit properties.
So in theory, you could employ your child as a cleaner for your home, or persuade your parents or grandparents to put your house up for sale and visit them in the guise of house buyers, to quote just two of the ridiculous number of prospective loopholes.
Even that notorious arch-Brexiteer Peter Bone is laying into the Government; he stated that they should have announced new policy in the Commons prior to Boris making his nationwide address; that “too many of the Prime Minister’s special advisers and aides think they are running a presidential Government”; and also that the Government disobeying the Speaker’s wishes was “not how our Parliamentary democracy works”. Which is of course a bit rich coming from him, who was prominent in criticising John Bercow when he defended the sovereignty of Parliament against an overbearing executive during the time of the Brexit debates last autumn.
Thursday 14th May
It’s turned hot here in Cyprus. Today the temperature reached 29C.
There’s going to be an inevitable black hole in Government finances after the necessary expenses of the coronavirus. In a leaked Treasury paper, one of the options apparently being considered is a pay freeze for all public sector workers. Including, of course, all frontline staff in the NHS directly exposed to the risks of the virus.
Teachers’ unions are seemingly becoming the new whipping boys of the right-wing media. Understandably they are very reluctant for their members to return to work in the absence of proper safeguarding conditions. Some quarters, seemingly blinded by their obsession with reopening the economy, are scapegoating the unions for their perceived obstructive stance. It’s just like the 70’s & 80’s all over again. The Daily Mail, for example, are trying to drive a wedge between teachers and their unions, claiming that teachers are desperate to return to work, but are being prevented from doing so by ‘militant unions’.
Some positive news; a new antibody virus has been found to be 100% effective by Government scientist at Porton Down; specifically, it indicates if a person’s had the virus and has built up some kind of immunity to it.
Friday 15th May
Bloody roasting here. 35C. Too hot for my intended BBQ, I think.
Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson states that the city’s schools won’t reopen until it is proven that it’s safe for them to do so. The BMA has supported the teaching unions’ stance, stating that at the moment it’s too dangerous to contemplate it.
Away from coronavirus, Brexit negotiations appear to have stalled. The UK lead negotiator David Frost criticised the EU for its ‘ideological approach’, which of course smacks of the pot calling the kettle black. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the Government is conveniently using the coronavirus crisis as cover to deflect attention from the fact it’s happy to see the negotiations fail, and for the UK to leave with no deal.
Speaking of which, the Government has been forced to admit that after originally denying the need for border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic post-Brexit, they’ve now acknowledged that they will be necessary. And, shamefully, the Government’s drawing up trade plans to reduce tariffs on agricultural produce imported from the US, to enhance the chances of a post-Brexit UK-US trade teal.
Even more shamefully, Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced that the ‘immigration health surcharge’ fees, which are paid by non-UK citizens for both themselves and their families to enable them to use the NHS, are to be retained. So effectively foreign citizens who are now paying UK tax and National Insurance contributions, will still have to pay for the privilege of providing healthcare to UK citizens. Utterly shameful. Almost on a par with recruiting Gurkhas and Fijians to fight for Britain, and then upon discharge being told to sod off back home.
There are so many accounts of this shitshow of a Government’s incompetence, ineptitude, callousness and disjointed approach to this crisis, that it’s becoming a chore to keep tabs on them all.
League 2 clubs have voted to end the season, with the exact means of deciding places to be decided by current average points per game, and with the playoff matches taking place behind closed doors.
Sunday 17th May
A hot wind blew constantly through the night. Bloody roasting here today. The temperature must have been in the region of 37C.
The heat has brought the ants out of hiding; we had to take out cereals, sweet stuff such as honey, maple syrup and sugar out of the larder, and clean accordingly. Initially it was a small morsel of cat food left on the floor which tempted them out. And then, to cap it all, the fire alarms went off at 9pm; we had to call the fire service out to stop it (as they’re all connected to mains electricity, we didn’t have the option of taking the battery out as a temporary measure).
Monday 18th May
Sure it’s even hotter today, even though the wind has mercifully died down.
The fire alarm went off again at 11.15 last night, just as we were ready to go to bed; at 2.25 am; and at 10am. Luckily an engineer came round promptly after the last instance with a new one, so hopefully it won’t be an issue for quite a while now. Unfortunately the ants are being a bit more persistent, although Mrs C appears to have found their point of entry; she put down some powder by two small holes in one of the kitchen cupboards, and that appears to have killed a fair few of them off.
A bit of hope; a vaccine being trialled by Oxford University will go into production in September – if the trials are successful. AstraZeneca will make 30m doses for the UK, and 70m doses for the rest of the world.
Tuesday 19th May
Went into school this morning. The aircon was eventually turned on. Bliss. Returned to find Mrs C having completely emptied the larder in her attempts (mostly successful, fortunately) to control and eradicate an ant infestation.
The UK Government’s belatedly added loss of smell & taste to its designated list of coronavirus symptoms; if this had been done at the outset, the public would have been more aware, would have self-isolated more, and therefore the number of cases/deaths would have been considerably lower. It’s also decreed that everyone aged 5 or more is now eligible for testing.
Trump says he is taking unproven drug hydroxychloroquine against coronavirus; it’s a remedy against malaria but has numerous side effects, including the increased risk of death and heart ailments.
The UK’s plans for contact tracing appear to be in disarray. The phone app which had originally been intended to be used, and which is being tested in the Isle of Wight, has encountered problems. A scheme which involves the recruitment of about 21,000 people who would be trained up as contract tracers – having to physically phone every single person who’s possibly been in contact with an infected person has also encountered problems; recruits have encountered problems with the online training course, and once recruited they’ve literally been unable to do any work because the necessary resources have not been place; they’ve been twiddling their thumbs a t their desks through no fault of their own, and getting paid taxpayers’ money to do so.
Wednesday 20th May
Still bloody hot. At least most of the ants have gone.
Therese Coffey, another Cabinet nonentity, Coffey blames scientists for providing the ‘wrong’ information/advice to ministers who then made the decision to act on it; she stated that the Government could only make decisions based on the advice and information provided by scientists, and if that advice and information was wrong, it shouldn’t be surprising if people thought the wrong decisions had been made. The pre-inquiry buck passing has already started.
Beaches at Woolacombe, Southend, Southport, Edinburgh and elsewhere are crowded as the British public show their ‘common sense’ by heading en masse down to the seaside.
Environment secretary George Eustice has asked for workers who’ve been furloughed as a result of the coronavirus, to help pick fruit and veg which is normally harvested by workers from the EU who can’t travel during the outbreak (of course this will be an annual occurrence ‘once Brexit’s done’). The Pick for Britain website, intended to recruit applicants, has been malfunctioning on a regular basis.
Poor old Matty Hancock’s not been having a good war. Today he was rebuked by the Speaker for hacking Keir Starmer, anfd was invited to leave the chamber. Some Remainer types (not myself) have criticised Lindsay Hoyle since the start of his tenure, but he bared his teeth in no uncertain fashion today.
Thursday 21st May
Hopefully today’s the last really hot day; still about 34C.
There’s something about the 21st which makes me feel sad about cats. Last October on this date, I shed tears over poor Ginge; today, our cat Lou has not been seen for two days. And poor Scampi, the last of the seven remaining original ‘Kitty Corner’ moggies, followed me for much of my evening constitutional. She looked thin and was crying all the while she followed me as she was obviously starving hungry. We tried to get some food to her later in the evening, but she was chased off by Roxy, our other female cat. If it wasn’t for lockdown, I’d be seriously considering catching her and taking her to the local sanctuary.
Some good news; the NHS surcharge levied on all non-EU workers and their families – including actual NHS employees themselves – is now to be scrapped for NHS and care workers, after the PM intervened personally. (The charge, plus the proposed increase from £400 to £624 pa, will of course still be retained for non-NHS & non-care workers). Earlier, Boris had defended the surcharge, saying that the £900m it raised (itself a grossly inflated figure) was needed to fund the NHS. But after pressure from several quarters – including several Tory MP’s – he was shamed into making a screaming U-turn. At least overseas NHS workers will now only have to pay tax and NICs like the rest of us, and not pay extra for the privilege of working for their employer.
A Fijian-born soldier in the British Army, who served on the frontline in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been told he must pay the NHS £27k for emergency surgery to remove a brain tumour. And this despite the fact he joined the Army in 2001 and has been paying tax and NICs ever since then.
Friday 22nd May
Woke up this morning to find the weather mercifully much fresher and cooler. It must have been about 35C yesterday; today it was probably about 24C. Pure bliss.
And Lou turned up after three days being AWOL. So quite a good day in the end.
Sunday 24th May
Today has surely been one of the most sensational, defining and shameful days in British political history.
Following investigations by the Guardian and the Mirror, it came to light on Friday evening that on 31st March, Dominic Cummings drove 260 miles from his London home to his in-laws’ house in Durham on the grounds that he wanted to isolate his wife (who was already showing Covid symptoms) and young son, on the grounds that his wife’s parents could provide child care in the event of him becoming ill. This was in breach of Government lockdown restrictions which clearly state that if one person shows symptoms, the whole household should self-isolate for 14 days.
That evening, Durham police were made aware that Cummings was at his parents’ house, and went round to remind them all of their responsibilities under the lockdown rules.
Yesterday, various members of the Cabinet peddled the line on Twitter that ‘caring for your wife and child is not a crime’ (Gove); and that ‘trying to score political points over it isn’t’ (Sunak, disappointingly); and that who are doing so ‘should take a long hard look in the mirror’ (Raab). And this after a statement from No. 10 which not only gave a convoluted justification for Cummings’ trip, but also denied that Cummings’ in-laws had been spoken to by Durham police and claimed that Cummings had acted ‘responsibly and legally’. Durham police made a subsequent statement confirming that they were aware that Cummings was present at an address in the city.
Those ministers who slavishly followed the line from No. 10 were made to look pretty stupid when a claim emerged later in the day that Cummings also made a second trip to Durham after returning from London No. 10 also made a subsequent address disputing claims from ‘campaigning’ newspapers, i.e. the Guardian and the Mirror, that he’d returned to Durham on 19th April after returning to work in London on 14th April.
If that wasn’t jaw-dropping enough, what the PM said today absolutely was. In the evening briefing, which for once he deigned to take, Boris Johnson made it clear that he would be retaining the services of his chief advisor, stating that Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity”; that he ”followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and I do not mark him down for that”; and that Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity”.
Amongst the implications of Johnson’s words were that it was acceptable for his senior advisor not to comply with lockdown regulations that the population as a whole had largely adhered to; that the Prime Minister effectively endorsed Cummings’ defiance of these regulations; that if it was seen as acceptable for a senior member of the Government to defy these regulations, then it would be OK for the population as a whole to do so, and thus the whole thrust of the Government’s messaging in the campaign against the virus would be totally undermined; that any reason for the electorate to trust this Government had disappeared in a puff of smoke, and that the tenuous bond of trust between the Government and the people had been damaged, perhaps irreparably; that the PM was prepared to put his support beyond his chief advisor at the expense of the health of the public, and had effectively undermined the opinions and the evidence provided to the Government by scientific experts.
The bottom line is that he was prepared to support a member of the Government, when he was fully aware that that person had not followed instructions laid down by the Government in which he was involved in writing; and in doing so, he had undermined the office of Prime Minister, British parliamentary democracy, and the country itself.
Unsurprisingly, there was an explosion of outrage across the whole political spectrum (including a number of Tory MP’s) and on social media. Much of it was on behalf of members of the public who by choosing to follow the Government’s guidelines – and not their instincts – had decided not to visit frail parents, sick relatives in hospital, new arivals, or most heartbreakingly, were unable to be by the bedside of loved ones when they died. Even hard right-wing traditional loyalists such as Tim Montgomerie, Steve Baker and Peter Bone, were outraged enough to state that Cummings should resign or be fired.
As Cummings has no semblance of shame or conscience, it’s as likely that he’ll go of his own free will as the possibility of a flock of pigs sprouting collective wings. Johnson will surely now have to perform a screeching U-turn and dispense with the services of Cummings in the face of such huge criticism and outrage.
Otherwise, in normal circumstances his own position will become untenable. But with a majority of 80, and the vast majority of Tory MP’s lacking any kind of backbone or conscience, that is unfortunately unlikely to happen.
In the meantime, Cummings was deservedly heckled by his neighbours when he returned home tonight. He’s brought this all upon himself.
Monday 25th May
Another extraordinary day. Cummings was given the opportunity to make a statement on nationwide TV, from No. 10’s Rose Garden, which is only used to host foreign dignitaries as a rule, to explain his conduct. He set the tone for the proceedings by turning up 30 minutes late, then proceeded to give an extremely detailed account of his movements, and the rationale behind them. Alas, his account contained numerous inconsistencies which any trainee barrister would have picked up on, most comical of which was that in order to see if his eyesight was good enough to withstand a 260 mile drive back to London the next day, he made a 60-mile round trip to Barnard Castle. He refused to express any regret, or offer any apology, for what he did.
To cut a long story short, the internet exploded again with outrage, contempt and mirth in equal parts, with many predictably witty and derogatory comments and images on social media. Instead of closing the issue down, as the Government obviously hoped, Cummings’ briefing only served to fan the flames again. His account had minimal credibility, and he’s given himself more than enough rope to hang himself with, in theory.
All too predictably, Boris confirmed later that he would be standing by his man.
The United Kingdom is now a country where, unfortunately, there is going to be a complete moral vacuum at the heart of government for quite some while, likely until the end of 2024. Unless (a) enough Tory MP’s rediscover their moral compass and team up with opposition MP’s to force a motion of no confidence, or (b) there’s a revolution.
Wednesday 27th May
Yesterday a junior minister resigned from the Government in reaction to Boris Johnson’s refusal to sack Cummings. Tory MP’s have stated that constituents have contacted them in droves, furious that Cummings is still in his post, and at least 30 of them have called for him to go.
The PM has appointed Bernard Jenkin as chair of the Liaison Committee, in defiance of convention that select Committee chairs are appointed by MP’s votes; the Liaison Committee is the only one which has the power to question the PM in person. It just so happens that the PM’s appearing before the Committee today; controversially, Jenkin has seen fit to exclude two Tory MP’s who have been amongst Johnson’s biggest critics, Tobias Ellwood and Tom Tugendhat, from today’s session.
As it happened, Jenkin, to his credit, did not go easy on the PM. Boris’s appearance was an absolute car crash; in the face of relentlessly focused questioning, he ‘ummm’ed, ‘ahh’d, waffled and blustered his way through the whole excruciating session, succeeded in giving very few coherent answers, and gave the impression several times that he was not on top of his brief. If previous recent events haven’t already done so, this session exposed the fact that, as Prime Minister, he is totally and completely out of his depth.
Last night, Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis made some forthright, hard-hitting remarks about the Government regarding its conduct over the Cummings affair:
‘Dominic Cummings broke the rules, the country can see that, and it’s shocked the government cannot. The longer ministers and prime minister tell us he worked within them, the more angry the response to this scandal is likely to be. He was the man, remember, who always got the public mood, he tagged the lazy label of “elite” on those who disagreed.
‘He should understand that public mood now. One of fury, contempt, and anguish. He made those who struggled to keep to the rules feel like fools, and has allowed many more to assume they can now flout them. The prime minister knows all this, but despite the resignation of one minister, growing unease from his backbenchers, a dramatic early warning from the polls, and a deep national disquiet, Boris Johnson has chosen to ignore it. Tonight, we consider what this blind loyalty tells us about the workings of Number 10. We do not expect to be joined by a government minister, but that won’t stop us asking the question.’
For this passionate – but not untruthful – monologue, the BBC chose to reprimand her on the grounds that her words contravened its need to remain impartial. It is not hard to envisage the BBC being warned of the consequences by ‘No. 10’s official spokesman’ if it was seen not to take any action. As it is, someone who could potentially be regarded as being Britain’s equivalent of Walter Cronkite has been effectively silenced.
Recently a black man in Minneapolis, George Floyd, died in police custody after being arrested; footage shows one of the arresting officers pinning him down to the ground by placing his knee on Floyd’s neck, and maintained this pressure despite Floyd repeatedly saying that he couldn’t breathe. Totally unsurprisingly and predictably, riots have broken out in the city.
Obviously it’s not reasonable to tar all US law enforcement officers with the same brush. But why are deaths like this allowed to occur on such a regular basis?
Thursday 28th May
My birthday! The weather, or more accurately the temperature, has completely turned here in Cyprus. From 35C+ last week, today it barely reached 21C, although it was brilliantly sunny, and a keen breeze blew just about all day. When we went out for tea tonight, it was so chilly that we both had to wear long trousers and jumpers.
A new ‘test, track and trace’ system was introduced today in the UK (as referred to on the 19th). Predictably, there reports of the system crashing, of some recruited contact tracers not even having been given login details, etc. etc.
Durham police have stated Dominic Cummings may have breached lockdown rules, but they did not intend to take any further action.
Premier League football will be returning next month. Hooray! All remaining 92 matches will be shown live on terrestrial TV. However, police want six matches which they deem to be ‘high risk’ – four of which involve Liverpool – to be held at neutral venues, to obviously prevent what they perceive to be the risk of Liverpool fans congregating outside the stadium to celebrate winning the title.
During tonight’s briefing, Johnson refused to answer any further questions on the Cummings affair, not even mentioning him by name. More alarmingly, he interjected to prevent journalists asking the Government’s chief scientific advisors, Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty, if they believed Cummings had stuck to the rules. The two claimed they didn’t want to get involved in politics, but the suspicion is that they were prevented from speaking because they do not support the PM’s line. You might think that if they believe their independence is being compromised, that they would be principled enough to resign from their positions and not appear at any more of these ridiculous daily charades.
Friday 29th May
The 35th anniversary of the Heysel disaster. RIP the 39.
The Government today announced further relaxation of the lockdown rules, effective in England from Monday. And this despite the tallies for each of the last two days being higher than any of the previous five. And the R number is apparently creeping upwards towards 1 again.
In the light of Cummings sticking two fingers up at the rules, and the inevitable reaction from some parts of the public who will think that ‘he’s doing it, so we will as well’ – accentuated by a fine Bank Holiday weekend – let’s stand by for what appears to be an inevitable second spike in coronavirus deaths.
Well done Boris and Dom. You’ve both played blinders. As they’re both completely devoid of any conscience or shame, Boris won’t sack Dom, so we could be stuck with the both of them for the next four years. The no doubt hope to brazen it out until the next election, by which time their misdemeanours, and the Government’s catastrophic mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, will (they hope) have slipped from prominence in the public consciousness.
Meanwhile, in America, the Trumptard tweets: ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’.
Saturday 30th May
The scientific community is showing increasing signs of disquiet about the proposed easing of lockdown rules which are to take effect on Monday (which some of the more irresponsible tabs have tagged as ‘Happy Monday’). After two Sage members expressed reservations, England’s Debuty CMO Jonathan Van-Tam stated that “In my opinion the rules are clear and they have always been clear,” he said. “In my opinion they are for the benefit of all. In my opinion they apply to all.” Take that, Boris and Dom.
Meanwhile, on a fine sunny Saturday in England, crowds of morons congegrated on beaches at Durdle Door, Bournemouth and elsewhere; car park attendants were abused when they tried to turn people away; piles of rubbish were left on Formby beach; dickheads started heath fires in Lancashire and elsewhere after having barbies in tinder-dry countryside; people queuing for 3 hours in Ikea (admittedly socially distanced, unlike most of the morons on the beaches).
Sunday 31st May
America. Peaceful protestors and journalists attacked or arrested by police. Police in Minneapolis shoot paintballs at residents for doing nothing more than standing in their driveways. The President stated that his administration will declare the loose confederation of militant, radical left-wing, anti-fascist demonstrators known as Antifa, to be an illegal organisation. As riots spread to within 400 yards of the White House, the building’s exterior lighting is switched off and Trump is escorted to an underground bunker. The sinister parallels with another notorious right-wing dictator are becoming starker day by day.
‘Black Lives Matter’ protests take place in London, Manchester and Cardiff, in solidarity with US protests. This would be perfectly acceptable in normal times, but at a time when social distancing is required, the justification for holding them is perhaps tenuous.
Monday 1st June
Primary schools across England reopened today. Attendance rate estimated to be about 50%.
Tuesday 2nd June
The House of Commons today voted to abolish the virtual voting system, at the behest of the Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg. MPs had to form a 1km queue to satisfy the whims of one reactionary old relic. Some MPs voted for the very thing they were moaning about. As only 50 MPs are currently allowed in the House at any one time, this effectively disenfranchises >90% of the electorate. The sight of MPs queuing to endorse disenfranchisement and endorsing an outmoded way of voting heaps more embarrassment on the UK. Why on earth can’t Parliament have electronic voting, as they do, for example, in the EU? Oh, wait a minute, can’t be seen endorsing anything European….
Wednesday 3rd June
The Government’s plan for a 14-day quarantine period for all new arrivals into the UK, has been criticised across the political spectrum, and understandably so by the travel industry. Anyone from the UK who wants to go on a foreign holiday, must self-quarantine for a fortnight upon return. But they’ll still be able to go shopping for food. Yet another case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
PMQ’s today – Kier Starmer unsettled Boris so much that poor old Bojo was getting visibly rattled and irritated. Business secretary Alok Sharma looked a little peaky…..At tonight’s briefing, BoJo made an appeal for migrant workers to return to the UK. This, of course, despite him campaigning for Britain to ‘take back control’, and more specifically of immigration. He went on to say that he was ‘very proud’ of the Government’s record in fighting coronavirus. This despite the UK having the highest death toll, and the second highest per capita death rate, in Europe. If he’s proud of this, is there anything that causes him shame?
It emerged that 25,000 people were moved from hospitals to care homes without any form of testing.
Thursday 4th June
How convenient for Boris and Dom that the current Trump-instigated turmoil in the US has swept his misdeameanours from the front pages for the last few days. Trump actually sent in riot police to clear protesters from a space in front of a church, just so he could pose outside with a bible.
It was revealed that Alok Sharma is actually suffering from coronavirus symptoms, and is having to self-isolate for 14 days. How many others will have been infected within the House of Commons? There are calls for Rees-Mogg to be fired as Leader of the House.
German police are questioning a man on suspicion of the murder of Madeleine McCann. Predictably, the British tabs have exploded in a frenzy.
Only 113 deaths today, the lowest for a long time.
Saturday 6th June
The Trumptard trumpeted new US unemployment figures by stating that ‘Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country,” Mr. Trump said. “This is a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody.’ Crass doesn’t begin to describe it…..
Black Lives Matter protests in many UK cities today, and indeed worldwide. Normally you’d say they have a perfectly legitimate right to protest, but given the current situation with coronavirus, it was perhaps unwise that they were allowed to proceed. In London, they were unfortunately hijacked by a small, violent majority who amongst other things threw a bike at a horse and defaced Churchill’s statue.
Meanwhile, in Covid news, there are fears that the R rate is back to 1 or above in both the north-west and south-west of England.
Sunday 7th June
Astonishing scenes in Bristol today, as a crowd of Black Lives Matter protestors pull a statue of philanthropist and slave trader George Colston from its plinth and push it into the river. I feel uneasy about this, as you tend to associate acts like this with societies in massive turmoil where the normal legal and political structures have broken down. On the other hand, it’s easy to understand how such monuments can be seen as offensive to many people, not just those of BAME origin. Perhaps they could be dismantled or relocated to museums where they can be given proper context, but the process of removal should be a legal one, rather than initiated by an angry group of people using force (I won’t use the word ‘mob’, as a lot of the right-wing media are doing, as that implies that they were mindlessly violent, which they weren’t).
Monday 8th June
The Government is apparently bringing forward the date on which outdoor pub and cafe gardens can reopen by a fortnight to June 22nd. This is apparently a measure to assist the hospitality sector, which is facing catastrophe thanks to the virus. Never mind the fact that the infection rate in the UK is still much higher than that of other countries when they emerged from lockdown.
US authorities are claiming that Prince Andrew and his legal team are refusing to co-operate with enquiries, a claim denied by the Duke of Pork. Police in Germany are stating they have evidence that Madeleine McCann is dead.
The death of George Floyd has truly sparked a reaction across the whole world which exceeds that in the wake of similar incidents in the past. Not just in its scale, but also because of the participants; more and more white people are taking a stand as well. There’s a real sense that something fundamental has changed. That is hopefully a sign that racism is increasingly being seen as totally unacceptable as time moves on and society evolves.
Thursday 11th June
The Government has admitted that schools may not fully reopen until September. And it’s possible that NHS waiting lists may increase to 10 million by the end of the year. But we can all go shopping from Monday, as all non-essential retail units will be allowed to reopen.
Also, adults living alone, and single parents with children, can form ‘support bubbles’ with one other designated household, so they’ll effectively be treated as a single household whilst lockdown is in place. They can visit each other’s homes and stay overnight. Sounds fine in theory, but the system is based entirely on trust, and the scope for anomalies and abuse is obvious.
A former Sage member today told Parliament’s Science Committee that the number of coronavirus deaths could have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier than it was.
It also came to light that 25,000 patients were discharged from hospitals directly into care homes, without being tested beforehand; obviously this is the likely cause of the subsequent ravaging of care homes.
In addition, it’s been revealed that housing secretary Robert Jenrick gave planning approval to a major residential development in east London, of which the developing company was owned by former Express newspapers proprietor Richard Desmond. Jenrick’s approval not only overruled the original decision of the local council, but it also enabled Desmond’s company to avoid a new levy imposed by the council, with 24 hours to spare, thus saving him £40m. As a token of gratitude, Desmond made a donation of £12,000 to the Conservatives a fortnight after his scheme had been approved by Jenrick.
Friday 12th June
Mixed results for the Government’s new ‘test and trace’ system. A relatively small number of 8,117 people had been tested positive for the virus, but only two-thirds of this number were able or willing to divulge the contact details of the people they’d met in the previous two days. The 5,407 who did so, gave details for 31,794 people they’d come into contact with; the tracers were able to contact 26,985 of these people and advise them to self-isolate. So for the 2,710 people who did not divulge their details, using the same proportions, it’s possible that about there are more than 13,000 people out there who should have been urged to self-isolate.
Despite repeated pleadings from prominent commercial and financial figures – and despite the economic chaos caused by coronavirus – our pig-headed Government confirmed that it will not be looking for an extension to the Brexit transition period, which expires at the end of this year.
A Black Lives Matter protest, scheduled for central London tomorrow, has been cancelled due to fears that right-wing extremists, there on the pretext of ‘protecting monuments’, would seek confrontation. The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was covered in protective hoarding as a precaution.
UK GDP plummeted by 20% in April as a consequence of the pandemic.
Saturday 13th June
Thick, beered-up, racist, right-wing extremist scum attacked police in Parliament Square. One particularly unpleasant specimen chose to relieve himself next to the memorial plaque of PC Keith Palmer, who was killed in the 2017 Westminster Bridge attack. He was later outed by his dad, turned himself in, and received a 14-day jail sentence for
Sunday 14th June
Police shoot an unarmed black man dead outside a Wendy’s in Atlanta. An angry crowd burns the place down. The officer who fired the shot is fired, and the local police chief resigns.
Monday 15th June
Predictably, there are huge queues outside shops across England, although to be fair most of them are socially distanced. But why this desperation to go shopping today? Couldn’t they really have waited until the weekend? What’s wrong with some people?
There are increasing calls from some Tory MP’s to do away with the 2-metre social distancing rule, to aid the reopening of the economy (and to be fair, the WHO suggests a 1 metre distance is acceptable), but this is only one condition of what appears to be a seemingly indecent haste to return to normal, at the risk of letting our guard down and risking a second spike.
About 6,000 people attended two illegal raves in Greater Manchester over the weekend. One man died of an overdose, three people were stabbed, a woman was raped, and police were met with hostility and violence.
Tuesday 16th June
Since the start of lockdown, a scheme to provide meals to schoolchildren from poorer families with vouchers to obtain meals during holidays has been in place. In response to the Government’s announcement that this scheme would not be continued over the forthcoming summer holidays, the Man Utd footballer Marcus Rashford wrote to all MPs to try and persuade them to persuade the Government to have a rethink, and used the hashtag #maketheuturn.
Despite the campaign gaining huge momentum on social media, Boris Johnson initially stood firm and reiterated that the scheme would not be in force during the summer holidays. In response to a Rashford tweet which implored the Government to think about parents whose water supply had been turned off during lockdown, the work & pensions secretary Therese Coffey made a flippant reply, stating that ‘water cannot be disconnected’.
She probably thought that because she was engaging with a ‘mere’ footballer, who happens ‘just’ to be a young black man, that she could use a dismissive, condescending tone. She didn’t seem to twig that Rashford not only plays for the biggest club in the land and his country, but has a huge social media presence, and his words carried extra weight as he had to rely upon free school meals as a child himself.
Such was the backlash over her comments, and the Government’s initial refusal to reconsider, that Johnson was shamed into a humiliating U-turn and confirm that the scheme would now be retained over the summer holidays. This was most likely after 30 Tory MP’s were expected to vote against its retention, when its proposed suspension was to go before the Commons today.
There was more embarrassment when Johnson claimed he’d only been aware of Rashford’s campaign today, when No. 10’s ‘spokesman’ had originally confirmed the scheme would not be retained on Monday afternoon.
Quite rightly, Rashford came in for huge praise across both the political and football spectrum for his ultimately successful. It’s quite timely and appropriate that a young man of his origins and background has proven to be so articulate and persuasive, that he has used his influence in a massively beneficial way.
Elsewhere, a breakthrough appears to have been made on the coronavirus front; a steroid which been used as a treatment since the 1960’s, has been found in trials to reduce the number of deaths of severely ill patients, by up to a third.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news today; the Government has decided to subsume the Department for International Development (DFID) within the Foreign Office, with the likely effect (amongst others) that cash originally intended for aid would be redirected to Foreign Office political ends. DFID was seen as being hugely successful and commanded international respect, but BoJo referred to it as a ‘cashpoint in the sky’ which failed to deliver on British interests. So it looks like ‘trade not aid’, and attempt to increase what’s left of the UK’s ‘hard’ political power at the expense of its ‘soft’ power. I’d wondered what the evil Gollum Dominic Cummings had been doing in hiding since his little day trip to Barnard Castle; now we know.
And also, the Government caused dismay in the tourism and hospitality sector when it announced it wouldn’t be participating in an EU-led app and website showing the position regarding coronavirus restrictions and infections in all European countries.
Wednesday 17th June
There have recently been border skirmishes between India and China, with a number of fatalities; needless to say, this is a worrying development.
BoJo has decided that the prime ministerial plane should be repainted red, white and blue, at a cost to the taxpayer of £900k. Wonder how many meals for disadvantaged kids that amount could have bought during the summer holidays.
Former US national security adviser and right-wing hawk John Bolton, him with the comical handlebar moustache, has made some stunning revelations about the Trumptard in his new book. The juicier ones are that he pleaded with the Chinese premier to help him win the forthcoming election; that Xi should go ahead with building internment camps for the oppressed Uighur Muslims; that it would be ‘cool’ to invade Venezuela because it was really American anyway; that Finland was part of Russia; that the UK wasn’t a nuclear power; and that he treated the North Korea summit as a publicity exercise, with Bolton stating that Trump ‘was prepared to sign a substance-free communique, have his press conference to declare victory and then get out of town’.
This all makes for fascinating reading into the workings of the current dysfunctional White House administration, and it’s only a pity that he passed up an earlier chance to make these damning disclosures when he refused to testify at Trump’s impeachment proceedings, rather than wait a few months before publishing them in a book which he knew would be likely to rake in a few bucks for himself.
The Premier League returned today after three months’ absence. City beat Arsenal 3-0, so Liverpool won’t be able to clinch the title on Sunday, even if they beat Everton. Villa drew 0-0 with Sheffield United, the most notable event of the match being the failure of the hated VAR to indicate the obvious fact that the Villa keeper had carried the ball over his own goal line.
Bob the Streetcat has died, aged 14.
Thursday 18th June
I’ve given up a little while ago on the evening Government coronavirus briefings. They just consist of a succession of ministers desperately trying to polish the turd that is their own Government’s handling of the crisis. And they’ve dispensed with the services of scientific experts who have dared not to toe the line. Jonathan Van-Tam hasn’t been seen since May 30th, and England’s chief nurse Ruth May has been dropped since 1st June, after she refused to back Dominic Cummings after Gollum’s childcare-motivated jolly to County Durham.
At tonight’s briefing, little Matty Hancock stated that the Government’s own track and trace app, which had been trialled on the Isle of Wight, was to be abandoned after numerous technical difficulties came to light, and after millions had been invested in its development, and had decided to switch instead to an app being supported by Apple and Google, which is still months away from being ready. A major issue was that the NHS app was not supported by Apple or Google; during the IoW trials, it recognised only 4% of Apple phones and 75% of Google Android devices. Hancock blamed Apple for ‘not changing their system’ to ensure the app was compatible; I’m sure there’s a ‘cart before the horse’ analogy here, but I can’t think of one just now. Although the Apple/Google app has flaws, it will be compatible with apps in other countries such as Italy and Germany, whose Apple-based apps had been launched earlier this week.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab put his foot in it today. For someone whose role demands discretion and diplomacy, he managed to offend an awful lot of people when he said that he thought that the act of taking the knee originated from the TV show Game of Thrones, and that he saw it as “a symbol of subjugation and subordination”, and flippantly remarked that he’d only do it for the Queen or his wife.
Vera Lynn died today, aged 103. Now she was undoubtedly a national icon at a time of crisis, but I fear her death will be used by some as yet another opportunity to wallow in faux nostalgia about WW2.
Saturday 20th June
The Government announced yesterday that the coronavirus threat level has been reduced from 4 to 3, in line with recommendations from the UK’s chief medical officers, and amidst increasing speculation that the social distancing limit will be reduced from 2 metres to 1 metre. This despite the ‘alternative SAGE’ committee, set up as an alternative to the Government’s actual SAGE committee, stating that the infection rate is still too high to contemplate any relaxation in restrictions. And this despite there still being about 1,200 new cases each day. Even the actual SAGE committee has expressed concern that the public’s adherence to lockdown restrictions may crumble with the reduction to 1 metre, signalling effectively to the public that lockdown is over and things are back to normal.
Sunday 21st June
We were out late last night, for the second day running. I woke up to some shocking news.
My home town of Reading gets some bad press, but only largely because it’s not the most aesthetically or culturally pleasing of places. It’s not known as being a hotbed of crime, although there are the usual issues of anti-social behaviour in the town centre on Friday and Saturday nights, and certain parts have a reputation for drug dealing. On the whole, it’s a relatively harmonious, tolerant place with a good record for community cohesion and race relations. It certainly doesn’t have a reputation for being a centre of radical Islam.
Yesterday evening, an individual ran amok in Forbury Gardens with a knife, stabbing three people fatally and causing serious injury to three others. Police subsequently arrested him at his home in Basingstoke Road. He was subsequently revealed to be a 25 year old Libyan national who had come to the UK as a refugee.
Initially, certain individuals of a right-wing persuasion tried to associate the stabbings with a Black Lives Matter rally which had been held earlier in the gardens, but this had gone off peacefully, and concluded two hours before the stabbings.
Nothing of this gravity has happened in Reading since the end of the war. I’m shocked.
Trump had originally declared that his ‘comeback’ presidential campaign rally would be held on June 19th in Tulsa. That date has a particular resonance for black Americans as it’s the anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Tulsa was the scene of the worst cases of anti-black violence in US history, back in 1921. You can draw your own conclusions from that.
Anyway, the rally was held in an indoor arena with a capacity of 19,000, but which was barely one-third full, much to the obvious (and amusing) fury of Trump and his tiny inner circle afterwards.
Liverpool drew 0-0 in an uninspiring derby at Goodison tonight, and almost lost it in the closing minutes. They still need five points to clinch the title. I’d hoped to be able to crack open the champers on Wednesday night after the Palace game, but now the earliest they can win the title (assuming Man City beat Burnley tonight) is if they beat City at the Etihad a week on Thursday night.
Monday 22nd June
City beat Burnley 5-0 tonight. In the course of the evening, a plane flew over the Etihad trailing the message ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’.
Tuesday 23rd June
The fourth anniversary of the day when the country shot itself in the foot.
The Government announced a raft of measures easing the coronavirus lockdown from Saturday 4th July, the most noteworthy of which was the relaxation of the 2 metre social distancing rule, to 1 metre; pubs, restaurants, hotels, hairdressers and barbers being allowed to reopen; allowing museums and galleries to reopen; and people will be allowed to stay overnight in hotels, bed and breakfasts and campsites. In a typical flush of hyperbole, BoJo said “our long, national hibernation is coming to an end” and “life is returning to our streets”.
But as a parting shot, during what was the final Government coronavirus briefing, Chris Whitty warned that it would be a long time before life returned to normal, stating that he expected the virus to be circulating through the winter and into next spring.
Liam Treadwell, who won the Grand National in 2009 on the 100-1 outsider Mon Mome, was found dead at his home. He was only 34.
Wednesday 24th June
Predictably the right-wing tabs are creaming themselves over the announcement that pubs can reopen from 4th July. Police have expressed concerns that that particular Saturday evening, which is being referred to in certain quarters as ‘independence day’ in deference to the current US administration, could be a ‘perfect storm’ of drunkenness and violence, and would be similar to ‘weeks of New Years Eves’, as months of pent-up demand and frustrations are consolidated into one single weekend evening. Surely it would have made more sense for pubs to reopen on a Monday?
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic thought it would be a good idea to host a tennis tournament in his native Serbia, ostensibly for charity, despite the incumbent risks of participating players possibly importing coronavirus. There were seemingly no social distancing rules enforced on spectators, and players were photographed partying in a Belgrade club until the early hours.
It’s inevitably come back to bite him on the bum. After two players and two coaches had tested positive, the tournament was abandoned. And now Djokovic himself has tested positive. There are calls for him to resign from his position as the president of the ATP, the players’ federation.
Liverpool tonked Palace 4-0 at Anfield tonight; if City lose to Chelsea tomorrow, the title will return to its rightful home for the first time since 1990. But I’d rather they actually won it by virtue of getting the right result themselves, rather than by another team’s failings. It won’t be the same if I were to wake on Friday morning to find we were champions almost be default, as it were.
Thursday 25th June
Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far in the UK, with the temperature reaching 32.6C at Heathrow, and 29-30C across much of England. Even though it was a weekday, yet again Bournemouth beach, to name but one, was packed, with people seemingly paying minimal regard to social distancing. This was entirely foreseeable once the two-metre rule was dispensed with; some people took a mile when they were offered an inch, and decided there was no point waiting another 10 days. Yet again, BoJo acts before he thinks about the consequences.
There was a major disturbance in Brixton last night, after police tried to break up an unauthorised block party. Youths went on the rampage, smashed police car windscreens,and attacked officers, 22 of whom needed medical attention afterwards.
On a personal note – at the moment, my life seems to be devoid of fun or purpose. It’s not helped by the fact I’m now waking at bloody 5am just about every morning due to the earlier sunrises. Normally we’d have a nice summer holiday to look forward to, but due to obvious reasons that’s not happening now. And when (if?) we go back home in August, I’ll be living in the house of my mother-in-law who is extremely frail and vulnerable owing to suffering from onset dementia, and hence (understandably, I guess) my wife will be focusing on her mum’s needs and leaving me to my own devices. If I can’t get off this hot, dry island in the summer, I think I’ll go stir crazy. I appear to be losing touch with people who I consider to be friends. My job has become utterly boring; I’m dependent on one person at the moment to do a particular task before I can progress further with my work, but he’s up to his eyeballs with other tasks.
I’ll try and cheer myself up. I’ll call my best mate Joe tonight to discuss Liverpool’s impending title success, then my brother over the weekend. Then, at least once before school breaks up for summer, hopefully I’ll break the sheer drudgery of the week and see if anyone wants to join me at the quiz in the pub down the road. Anything to get out of this rut.
Friday 26th June
Let’s get all of the heavy news stuff out of the way first.
An estimated 500k people went to Bournemouth today. Car parks were full by 9am, so people were double parking, parking on double yellows, double parking, parking in the middle of roundabouts. Car park attendants and staff emptying bins being abused and spat at. 12 tonnes of rubbish left on the beach. People shitting in burger boxes, then leaving them on the beach. It was so bad that the local council felt compelled to declare it as a ‘major incident’, so stretched were their resources. I resent having to share air, let alone the same island and nationality, with these selfish, inconsiderate, thick, obnoxious morons.
Keir Starmer sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey today, after she’d retweeted an interview given by Maxine Peake to the Independent. The most contentious part of the interview was Peake’s statement that Israeli secret services taught American police the restraining technique of kneeling on a suspect’s neck, the means by which George Floyd died. Starmer described this statement as an ‘anti-semitic conspiracy theory’, and decided to dispense with her services after RLB refused to delete the tweet despite repeatedly being asked to do so by Starmer’s office.
Predictably, Labour moderates and the Jewish community praised Starmer for taking such a hard line against any form of suspected anti-semitism, and equally predictably, all the Corbynistas exploded into manufactured rage on social media.
The problem is, of course, that Starmer has to walk a fine line between appealing to the moderate middle and being seen to take a tough line on anti-semitism by the right-wing MSM, and keeping Labour’s left-wingers onside. On the face of it, his sacking of RLB appears to be disproportionate to the scale of the offence; surely he could have a quiet word with her, then both sides could have moved on. Maybe he was using this transgression as an excuse to dispense with her services – but as she’s only been in situ for less than 3 months, you might ask why he appointed her in the first place. Initially he refused to meet with left-wing MPs to discuss the issue, but reconsidered later and will meet them Friday. Either way, it would appear that the fragile truce between Labour’s moderates and lefties could be destroyed, by what appears to be a potential misjudgement by the party’s new leader, who had hitherto been rock solid.
Elsewhere, the stench from the Jenrick/Desmond affair is becoming increasingly pungent and is now making the evening news bulletins. But needless to say, he hasn’t resigned yet. And 331 Conservative MPs, including Jeremy Hunt who had called for weekly testing himself, voted down a motion calling for weekly COVID-19 tests for care workers.
Now for the good stuff.
Thirty years of hurt, including a couple of painful near misses, have come to an end. The title has returned to its rightful home at last. Liverpool are the Champions of England! The title was clinched not in the way I’d hoped – City’s 2-1 loss at Chelsea meant they could no longer catch us – but now the millstone has finally been removed from the club’s neck. Allez, allez, allez!
Saturday 27th June
Unfortunately, a minority of Liverpool fans took ‘celebrations’ to excess at the Pier Head; one moron fired a nautical flare at the Liver Building, presumably because he took exception to it being illuminated in blue. It kicked off again in London last night, this time at a gathering in Maida Vale.
An asylum seeker was shot dead by police in Glasgow after stabbing six people in a hotel where they were being housed.
BoJo warned that people should ‘stop taking too many liberties with the guidance’ relating to the virus. A bit rich coming from him, seeing as it was he who stated it was OK for people to drive hundreds of miles to the beach for ‘exercise’, surely knowing that if certain sectors of society were given an inch (in the form of ambiguous messaging from the government), they would take a mile.
Sunday 28th June
The UK government had blocked the declaration for the UN’s 75th anniversary, on the grounds that the wording of the declaration bears too many similarities to that used by the Chinese Communist party under Mao. It therefore jeopardised its ratification in time for the UN’s anniversary on Friday. The deadline was met, but by seemingly assuming a Trumpian line on this matter, our so-called diplomats have belittled us even further in the eyes of the world.
A local lockdown now seems possible in Leicester after a spike in coronavirus cases over the weekend.
The UK’s most senior civil servant, Mark Sedwill, has resigned as cabinet secretary & civil service head, after regular off-the-record anonymous, hostile briefings against him had occurred for months. It’s a tactic which, since Gollum has got his grubby feet inside No. 10, has been deployed regularly. His role as national security adviser will be taken by Johnson’s chief Brexit adviser, David Frost, who has no experience of national security matters. Frost will also receive a peerage. (On a different note, Frost loathes the EU, which to a large extent explains the confrontational tone struck by the EU in Brexit negotiations since BoJo took over last year).
By virtue of Brexit, the UK’s lost access to the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system. As an intended substitute, the Government bought a 20% stake in a (nominally) UK company which manufactures satellites of a totally different size and orbit required for a high-grade GPS system. A UK space policy expert stated that ‘the fundamental starting point is, yes, we’ve bought the wrong satellites’. A research analyst stated that ‘this situation looks like nationalism trumping solid industrial policy.’
From January 2021, as a result of a UK government proposal under consideration in the current Brexit negotiations, the UK will no longer reimburse healthcare for pensioners who move to EU countries. It’s a petty, mean-spirited move, and gives the strong impression that the Government is determined to prevent anyone escaping from Fortress Brexit and enjoying a peaceful retirement in a European idyll.
UK ditches healthcare coverage for pensioners moving to EU after Brexit transition
Tuesday 30th June
Today is the last day on which the UK is entitled to apply for an extension to the end of the Brexit transition period beyond New Years’ Eve. Unsurprisingly, none was requested. Johnson, Gove & Cummings always intended to drive the country off the cliff, as was made even clearer when they appointed arch Europhobe David Frost as the chief negotiator.
Speaking of whom, criticism of Frost’s appointment as the UK’s new national security advisor came from an unlikely source today. Former PM Theresa May, now only the country’s second worst leader ever, criticised Michael Gove for promoting someone with no proven expertise in security matters to the post. Frost is not an existing civil servant, unlike all prior holders of the position.
Johnson today announced a £5billion spending programme on infrastructure, which he promptly likened to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ of the 1930’s. Which is slightly disingenuous, as the latter’s huge investment in the US economy at that time amounted to £800billion at current prices.
Wednesday 1st July
The Leicester outbreak has brought into open the fact that the Government does not fully report – until now, anyway – the full extent of positive tests results. Currently it only publishes the results of so-called ‘Pillar 1’ tests, which are from tests carried out in hospitals. However, it does not publish results from so-called ‘Pillar 2’ tests, which are carried out at drive-in centres and home tests analysed at private laboratories. The authorities in Leicester are claiming that if they had been provided with the results of local Pillar 2 testing – which would have indicated there was a spike of cases in the city – they would have been able to take the necessary precautions. Johnson has claimed that all testing data, including Pillar 2, has been shared not just with the authorities in Leicester, but all other local authorities. Leicester city council, and many authorities, have complained in forthright fashion that this is emphatically not true.
Since the last week of May, the government has not been reporting the number of people tested (as opposed to the number of tests performed) on its daily update.
Today, new legislation suppressing freedom of expression came into force in Hong Kong, and the Chinese authorities immediately put it into practice, arresting scores of protestors. Johnson has promised to honour a pledge to grant 2.9 million Hong Kong residents with British National (Overseas) status, the right to settle in the UK, although of course China will try and prevent the vast majority of would-be migrants leaving.
Now, of course, the mass emigration of nearly 3m people from Hong Kong is extremely unlikely to occur. But it’s just a bit ironic that in the week when legislation was passed in Parliament preventing free movement between the UK and the EU, that the Government’s seemingly throwing the doors open to scores of foreigners. I wonder how all those Brexiteers who voted to leave the EU on the grounds that immigration would be reduced, are going to perform moral contortions to justify Johnson’s stance on this issue.
Saturday 4th July
So-called Super Saturday. when England is supposed to head out to get its collective head cut, then go on the piss in the evening.
Serpentine won one of the strangest Derbies ever today, and not because of the circumstances owing to coronavirus. He and rival Khalifa Sat were given 10-15 lengths’ start by the rest of the field, and then just as he rounded Tattenham Corner, his jockey went for home. Two furlongs out, he was still 12 lengths clear, and it became obvious he wouldn’t be caught; he won by five and a half in the end. In truth, with the (possible) exception of the winner, none of the market principals stood out on form, and I thought it likely beforehand that an unexposed type could win (that was only his 4th race, and his first at Group level, only having won a maiden seven days beforehand).
On the other hand, Love was sensational in the Oaks, winning by 9 lengths, and even more emphatically than she did in the 1,000 Guineas. She is a genuine contender for top-class honours against her elders. There’s talk of her going for the St Leger and thus attempting the Triple Crown; I hope the owners don’t feel compelled to appease the traditionalists, as IMHO the Triple Crown is a much-overrated phenomenon; the St Leger is a bit second-division these days, and any middle-distance horse with true pretentions to greatness should be aimed at the Arc de Triomphe.
Sunday 5th July
The morning after the night before. Soho was rammed with hordes of twentysomethings, and there were reports of disturbances in some pubs in Nottinghamshire. Luckily, most people appeared to want to stay at home, and emergency services stated the evening was quieter than they had anticipated.
Ghislaine Maxwell, long-time associate of the disgraced, deceased former financial adviser Jeffrey Epstein, and daughter of the pension-fund raiding former Mirror Group owner, has been arrested and charged with the trafficking of minors for sexual purposes. Wonder how Prince Andrew is sleeping at nights……
The Government announced a package worth £1.5m to assist the country’s beleaguered museums, theatres, cinemas and art galleries.
Monday 6th July
Not a good day. I inadvertently spilt the beans about our travel plans. Mrs C is not too happy. To put it mildly.
Tuesday 7th July
I think Mrs C. has sorted it with the powers that be now. I just need to keep my trap shut. A bit more harmonious tonight.
Some good news, if you enjoy indulging in schadenfreude. After months of playing down the severity of the virus (referring to it as ‘a little flu’), and refusing to observe basic precautions as social distancing, wearing a mask and washing his hands – even as thousands of Brazilians were dying – the country’s president Jair Bolsonaro has admitted to testing positive for Covid19. Who else is hoping that Trump is next?
The Government greatly exacerbated coronavirus in the UK when an estimated 25,000 patients were discharged from hospitals directly into care homes without being tested beforehand. Now Bojo has accused care homes of failing to follow proper procedures, in what appears to be attempt to deflect blame for the situation away from the Government. So they’re implying that the care home sector was responsible for the inability to secure adequate testing and PPE for staff and residents, and for short-funding itself. It’s a real slap in the face for care home employees who have worked their fingers to the bone, who’ve gone way beyond the call of duty, and who’ve been traumatised by what they’ve had to witness.
Wednesday 8th July
Ostensibly on the grounds that he wishes to investigate shortcomings in the UK military’s procurement processes (which, it has to be said, are manifold), Gollum has somehow obtained security clearance to visit some of Britain’s most secure military and scientific installations. This on the day when, during a meeting of the defence select committee, the fat, obnoxious, gobshite Essex boy Brexiteer Mark Francois told Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff: “Can we just make a plea to you. You are the professional head of the armed forces. Please nip back to the department and ask them to sort their bloody selves out, because if not, Cummings is going to come down there and sort you out his own way, and you won’t like it.”
It’s bad enough when an unelected advisor seemingly is able to demand access to such facilities. But when said unelected advisor is having information withheld from him due to having spent time in Russia beforehand – when he’s alleged to have cultivated relationships with prominent backers of Russian President Vladmir Putin – it seems reckless in the extreme to grant him seemingly unfettered access to sites which are crucial to the security of the nation.
(continue from:https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/johnson-s-adviser-s-russia-links-should-concern-australia-british-mp-20191108-p538k2.html)
The Government confirmed that car parking charges would be reintroduced for staff at hospitals in England, on the grounds that the emergency measures can’t continue indefinitely. So once again, NHS staff, many of whom have literally put their lives on the line during the crisis, will have to pay for the privilege of working there. Any ministers, MP’s or Tory voters who took part at any time in the ‘clap for carers’, but who support this move, are weapons-grade hypocrites.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a major package of support in his summer statement, which included a stamp duty holiday until January on properties below £500k; a temporary cut in VAT from 20% to 5% for hospitality, tourism, and accommodation; support to companies to retain existing staff and take on new, younger ones. Inevitably, most newspaper attention focused on his scheme for people to have a 50% discount on eating out during the month of August, on Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays, with a maximum discount of £10 per head.
On the face of it, it all sounds fine, but if you’re already struggling to make ends meet, and/or live in rented accommodation, you won’t really be in the habit of going to eat out, which, let’s face it, is a very middle-class activity. As is buying houses between £125-500k.
Thursday 9th July
The Government has nominated Liam Fox for chair of the WTO, the same Liam Fox who stated that the UK’s trade deal with the EU after Brexit would be ‘the easiest in human history’. That hasn’t dated well, has it?
The BBC announced that it would stop providing free TV licences for all over-75’s, stating that it would continue to do so only for those in receipt of pension credits. Predictably, Tory MP’s have criticised the corporation, which responded that they’re only having to introduce the measure due to the Government ceasing funding for the arrangement. Some supporters of the Beeb are claiming it’s part of No. 10’s ‘culture war’ with the corporation, with the ultimate aim of ceasing all state funding altogether.
Friday 10th July
The Government announced that gyms, pools, leisure centres & beauty salons can reopen in England from the 25th.
In yet another example of the Government’s blinkered, europhobic, inward-looking outlook, the UK has decided to shun the EU’s Covid19 vaccine procurement scheme, on the grounds that the UK would have no say in formulating the procurement process, and that it would prefer to negotiate unilaterally with individual pharmaceutical companies. Never mind the possibility of obtaining economies of scale; we could now be in the position of having to compete with the EU to obtain scarce treatments.
Saturday 11th July
Jackie Charlton, a true giant of English football, has died, aged 85.
Liz Truss, the Secretary for International Trade, wrote a confidential letter to the Chancellor and Michael Gove, expressing concerns about the apparent lack of preparedness of the UK’s borders after the Brexit transition period ends. The letter ended up getting leaked to the press. Truss was allegedly ‘bollocked’ by Dominic Cummings when this came to light.
No matter what you think of her personally, Liz Truss is a member of a cabinet which is comprised of elected representatives who are accountable to the public. Cummings is merely an unelected, unaccountable special adviser. Who the bloody hell does he think he is?
Turkish President Erdogan has decreed that Istanbul’s Byzantine Hagia Sofia cathedral be converted back into a mosque.
Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his longtime friend Roger Stone, who was convicted of crimes that included lying to Congress during the Mueller investigation into alleged Russian interference.
Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Burnley and thus failed in going through the whole season with a 100% win record.
Sunday 12th July
The Intelligence and Security Committee, which before the election had been due to publish a long-awaited report into alleged Russian interference in UK politics, has not been convened by the Government since then; ostensibly because of protracted wrangling between the Government and opposition parties over the composition of its membership, but quite possibly because of reluctance on the part of the Government to publish the said report. Its publication was originally set for last October, but was apparently delayed due to the election. Only the ISC can publish the report.
The Government is now going to reconvene the committee, and has nominated Chris ‘Failing’ Grayling as its preferred candidate for the chair (see 11th March). It’s almost as if they want the committee not to succeed in its appointed purpose.
Monday 13th July
26k job losses in the last fortnight in the UK.
A study by medical researchers found that antibodies which provide immunity against Covid19 peaked three weeks after the onset of symptoms, then declined. This is the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s once-preferred ‘herd immunity’ policy.
Dynamic Maps, a private company owned and controlled by Dominic Cummings paid more than a quarter of a million pounds to the artificial intelligence firm that worked on the Vote Leave campaign.
The government has secretly purchased 27 acres of land in Ashford, 20 miles from Dover, to site a vast new Brexit customs clearance centre for the 10,000 lorries that come through the Kent port from Calais every day. Kent voted solidly for Brexit; it’s fair to say the local people didn’t foresee this as a possible side-effect. Some cruel souls are already referring to the planned facility as the ‘Farage garage’.
Manchester City’s Champions League ban has been overturned on appeal by CAS (see 15th February).
Tuesday 14th July
Face masks will become mandatory in shops across England from 24th July, following mixed messages, a cabinet split and mounting pressure on Boris Johnson to change public advice. This after Gove saying on Sunday that masks shouldn’t be mandatory, and after Rishi Sunak did a publicity shoot as a waiter in Wagamama without any facial protection.
It was confirmed today that the new post-Brexit fast-track visa system excludes care workers, on account of them being defined as ‘unskilled’. The Government stated that they hoped UK workers would apply for the vacancies that would arise. But this will only occur if wages are increased accordingly to make them attractive, thus jeopardising the viability of many care homes. The resultant staff shortages that would occur in the likely event of the vacancies not being filled, would be catastrophic for the sector, at a time when it has been ravaged by coronavirus and will need as much assistance as possible in the future, not least because of the likelihood of a ‘second wave’.
Wednesday 15th July
The Government announced today that Huawei is to be stripped out of Britain’s 5G phone networks by 2027, just six months after the Chinese tech giant had been informed that it would still be permitted to supply 35% of the country’s 5G equipment. This is another major strain on UK-China relations, after China basically ripped up the 1984 Hong Kong agreement (see 1st July). It’s suspected that this about turn occurred not primarily because of considerable pressure from Tory backbenchers, but primarily as a consequence of some persuasion from the White House.
It looks like the so-called new ‘golden era’ of UK-China relations ushered in by David Cameron in 2015 is well and truly over. Morals didn’t really seem to matter when it came to doing deals with a country which was prepared to oppress Tibetan and Uighur minorities, never mind indulging in state-sponsored hacking of supposed rival nations. There’s a price to paid in trying to appease powerful, oppressive regimes, as Neville Chamberlain found out; it would seem that the UK’s cyber networks are in for a major assault in the foreseeable future.
Experts have warned that the UK urgently needs to prepare for the ‘second wave’ of coronavirus that, in a reasonable ‘worst case’ scenario, could kill as as many as 120,000 people this winter.
BoJo made a seemingly major concession by committing to an independent enquiry into coronavirus in the future, but now was not the right time as the Government was having to focus its attention on fighting the virus. During PMQ’s, in a typically tasteless, flippant tone, he returned to a familiar tactic of accusing Keir Starmer of changing his position on particular issues on a regular basis, stating that the Labour leader had ‘got more briefs than Calvin Klein’.
Thursday 16th July
The veteran Tory MP – and staunch Brexiteer – Julian Lewis, who has considerable experience in matters relating to defence and international affairs, put himself up as a candidate for chair of the ISC, and won the vote. In a spectacular act of petty-minded, spiteful vindictiveness, BoJo – as probably advised to by Gollum – then stripped him of the Conservative whip.
Friday 17th July
The government claimed today that it is 95% certain that Russia has attempted to hack the sites of medical researchers in the UK, US and Canada who are developing a coronavirus vaccine.
The so-called ’Jihadi bride’ Shamina Begum won her appeal to return to the UK to appeal against her being stripped of citizenship. No matter what her crimes were, to leave someone effectively stateless is a morally (and probably legally) dubious move. As she was born in the UK, it would seem reasonable for her to stand trial and serve any sentence passed on her there.
BoJo announced a series of measures enabling local authorities to take independent measures as necessary to control any local spikes. He also hoped that there would be some kind of return to normality by Xmas, and encouraged employers to persuade people to return to work. This seemed slightly at odds with the view of the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who stated that he saw “absolutely no reason” for people to stop working from home.
Leeds returned to the Premiership after a 16 year absence, by virtue of their nearest rivals West Brom losing at Huddersfield.
Saturday 18th July
BoJo has taken it upon himself to dish out some honours to honour the first anniversary of his becoming PM. Some of the proposed recipients are Brexit supporters, one of whom is a certain Ian Botham, who in the past has made several Eurosceptic comments and stated in 2016 that ‘England is an island’. Apart from probably being a surprise to inhabitants of Scotland and Wales, it demonstrates not just a blinkered Anglocentric viewpoint, but a lack of basic geographical knowledge. Beefy hit his own wicket when he came out with that one.
One genuinely worthy honours recipient received his today; Captain Tom Moore was knighted by the Queen in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
The first FA Cup semi-final provided a surprise when Arsenal, who have had a mediocre season, beat strong favourites Man City 2-0, thus ending the possibility of the first all-Manchester final.
Sunday 19th July
The Chinese Ambassador to the UK rejected accusations of widespread human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims, after he appeared on the Andrew Marr show today and was confronted with the footage which has gone viral on social media, which appears to show Uighurs being blindfolded and put onto trains to an unknown destination. (There have been reports of ‘re-education’ camps, forced labour, and enforced sterilisation of Uighur women).
Chelsea beat Man Utd 3-1 in the second FA Cup semi-final, thanks in no small part to errors from David De Gea, whose illustrious career appears to be nosediving.
Worrying scenes from the States. Masked federal agents have not only tear-gassed and beaten people who have been protesting peacefully for the last two months against the killing of George Floyd, but have also been snatching individuals from the crowd and detaining them without charge.
Tuesday 21st July
England pulled off an against-the-odds success in the second Test against the West Indies to level the series. After losing a whole day to rain, England declared at 129-3 in their second innings and set the Windies a target of 311 on the final day. In the final session of the match, they bowled them out for 198.
Hopes for a vaccine to address the global spread of coronavirus have been raised after Oxford University’s experimental version was revealed to be safe and to generate a strong immune response in the people who volunteered to help trial it.
Wednesday 22nd July
At long last, the Russia Report was published yesterday, and it is utterly damning. It stated that the UK government and intelligence agencies failed to conduct any proper assessment of Kremlin attempts to interfere with the 2016 Brexit referendum; that the government did not know for certain whether there had been any Russian interference in UK democratic processes because they had not attempted to find any, and indeed that that they had actively avoided looking for any; that the government has launched any post-referendum investigation into any alleged interference. The Government not only rejected these conclusions, but also rejected calls for a full investigation. Both the Johnson and May governments were effectively accused of turning a blind eye to alleged Russian interference. The report also noted that numerous – mostly Tory – members of the House of Lords either have business interests in Russia, or are employed by Russian companies with close ties to the Kremlin. In brief, Russian influence in the UK is ‘the new normal’.
I wonder what moral contortions supposedly patriotic Tory voters will perform to justify the fact that Boris Johnson has turned a blind eye to intervention by a hostile foreign power; they’d have been foaming at the mouth if this had happened under Labour.
Speaking of whom, the Labour Party today paid damages to seven former employees who criticised the party’s handling of anti-semitism allegations in a Panorama programme last year. The whistleblowers were subject to intimidation, and were accused of trying to undermine then-leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn responded to the judgement by implying that the party had admitted to guilt for something which it wasn’t necessarily responsible
Liverpool beat Chelsea 5-3 and were presented with the Premiership trophy after the game.
Friday 24th July
The gypsy scum who killed PC Andrew Harper in Sulhamstead last August were found not guilty of his murder. They smirked for the benefit of TV and press photographers.
Wiley, the ‘Godfather of Grime’, is facing a police investigation after making a series of anti-semitic tweets. I can’t comprehend why a very small minority of black people, who undoubtedly have experienced racism at some stage during their lives, have some kind of beef with Jewish people, rather than empathising with them.
Sunday 26th July
The UK imposed restrictions on holidaymakers returning from Spain on Saturday night in a bid to curb the surge in coronavirus infections.
The decision means those coming back from Spain will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return. Rather comically, one of those affected was the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who was heavily involved in drawing up the new regulations relating to ‘air bridges’, who was understood to be holidaying there. Unsurprisingly the move has thrown holidaymakers’ plans into chaos, with thousands of Brits rushing to Spanish airports to try and return home before the quarantine regulations came into force. Also, the regulations apply across the whole of Spain, even the Balearics and the Canaries where incidence of the disease is far lower than the mainland. And even on the Spanish mainland, outbreaks are largely confined to Catalonia and the north-east of the country. This kind of knee-jerk reaction, policy-making on the hoof, typifies this Government’s handling of the crisis. It’s a bit ironic to say the least, given that Spain’s infection rate is still far lower than that of the UK.
The final day of the Premier League season. Unfortunately, Man Utd beat Leicester 2-0, to clinch a Champions’ League spot at the expense of Brendan Rogers’ team. Liverpool cruised to a 3-1 win at Newcastle. At the other end, Bournemouth and Watford ultimately paid the price for shoddy defending and were relegated. Although Bournemouth fans are entitled to feel a bit hard done by; if the hated VAR’s Hawkeye technology had done its job properly and picked up that a goal attempt by Sheffield United against Aston Villa in their encounter last month had actually crossed the line, then Villa would have lost, rather than drawn, that particular match, and it would have been they, rather than the Cherries, who ended up going through the trap door.
Tuesday 28th July
England gained a convincing 269 run against the Windies in the deciding test, despite losing a whole day’s play to rain yesterday.
The Public Accounts Committee strongly criticised the Government’s decision to release 25,000 hospital patients to be discharged back into care homes, referring to it as an ‘appalling error’.
Meanwhile, fears of a second wave of coronavirus are growing across Europe.
Wednesday 29th July
German police are searching the garden of a house in Hanover owned by the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation.
Went to the sanctuary, in the hope that little Ginge will have returned, would recognise me and come running up. Alas, it was so hot that just about all of the cats were asleep.
Friday 31st July
The third hottest day on history in the UK; the temperature reached a ridiculous 38C at Heathrow. On the continent, 40C was reached as far north as Abbeville in northern France. It’s the second year running in which 38C has been recorded in the UK, and seems to emphasise an alarming trend towards increasing days of extreme heat in summers to come.
The Government announced that people from different households in Greater Manchester and other large swathes of northern England would not be permitted to meet each other indoors. At midnight. On Twitter. And it was no accident that it was announced on the eve of Eid. The affected areas have large populations of Asian origin, so while some will inevitably claim the measure is tantamount to racial discrimination, it’s also a fact that Asian families tend to live in multi-generation households, have larger families, and visit each other more often.
It still doesn’t explain the myriad inconsistencies in regulations regarding coronavirus. People in Manchester, for example, can’t visit each other in their houses, but can do so in the pub.
Data was released today, which showed that England had the highest levels of excess deaths due to coronavirus of any European country, up to the end of May.
Former Tory MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke was today found guilty of sexual assault today. He lost the party whip when the original allegations were referred to police in 2017, but it was restored to him the following year. Elphicke’s wife declared their marriage over after the verdict.
My last night before flying back tomorrow. Managed to get some food to little Scampi tonight; she’ll have to fend for herself for the next month now. Good luck, little girl.
Spent the rest of the evening lying on a lounger, listening to my Spotify chill out mix, having a couple of beers and looking up at the stars.
Saturday 1st August
Bojo announced a list of 36 nominations for peerages. The nominees include Evgeny Lebedev, a Russian-born but now naturalised UK citizen who owns the Independent and Evening Standard, who’s the son of a KGB agent; Theresa May’s husband Philip; Brexiteer former cricketer Ian Botham; former Labour MPs who backed Brexit, including Kate Hoey & Gisela Stuart; former Telegraph editor and Johnson’s boss Charles Moore; and his own brother Jo. But no peerage for former Speaker John Bercow.
Most controversially, the former Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox has been nominated. Her past form includes refusing to apologise for comments she made in the aftermath of the Warrington bombing in 1993; and for stating that people should be free to watch child porn and jihadi videos on the Internet.
I’m not familiar with the procedure for creating peerages, but I believe the Queen appoints them on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. On the one hand, she’d be criticised for involving herself in politics if she did intervene; on the other, she’s criticised for allowing herself to be tarnished by being compelled to accept the PM’s nomination of such dubious characters. And then of course, there’s the whole point of the House of Lords itself. Not just because in theory, unelected representatives – some of whom have no expertise in any given field – can override the wish of the members of the elected chamber. But also of course because it seems that the Government of the day can choose to nominate as many of its supporters and cronies as it chooses. No wonder that calls for its abolition are becoming increasingly strident.
Following the announcement of new lockdown conditions in the North, the PM today announced a delay in the relaxation of some conditions for a further fortnight, specifically the delay in the reopening of casinos and bowling alleys; and also new rules regarding the compulsory wearing of face masks in some more indoor situations.
Sunday 2nd August
A Tory MP and former minister has been arrested on suspicion of the rape of a former parliamentary staffer. Apparently the Tory chief whip Mark Spencer was made aware of the MP’s behaviour by the victim four months ago, but has chosen not to withdraw the whip and has deservedly copped a lot of flak for not doing so.
The Trumptard is considering delaying the forthcoming presidential election on the grounds that ‘it would be the most rigged election in history’ because of the numbers of postal voters, and because of the ongoing coronavirus situation. The fact he’s lagging behind Biden in the polls has nothing whatsoever to do with it. It just so happens, fortunately, that it’s not within his gift to delay it; only Congress can do so.
Monday 3rd August
The Trumptard had an absolute car-crash of an interview with Aussie journalist Jonathan Swan, in which he was incapable of being even vaguely coherent when presented with evidence which displayed that the US was at the wrong end of most Covid19 stats tables.
The Government’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, whereby people receive a discount of up to £10 per head for eating at venues which have chosen to sign up to the scheme on Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays during August, started today. It seems vaguely obscene that a scheme has been devised to subsidise a largely middle-class activity, at a time when thousands of families up and down the land are really struggling to find enough money to feed them and their children. The eventual amount which will be paid out during the duration of the scheme, could have been devoted toward any number of far more worthy, needy causes.
Tuesday 4th August
A massive explosion in Beirut today, caused by the ignition of a huge consignment of ammonium nitrate carelessly stored in the docks area. At least 100 are dead and 4,000 injured.
Wednesday 5th August
The Government today announced an overhaul in the planning system, with the intention of supposedly reducing red tape and delays. To cut a long story short, land in England will be designated into 3 categories; ‘growth’, in which new homes, schools, hospitals, shops & offices would be allowed automatically; ‘renewal’, in which developments would be allowed subject to principle and some minor checks; and protected land. Seemingly there’s little mention of required minimum standards, and the scope for local residents to make objections to any proposals are severely restricted.
Friday 7th August
Local lockdown measures are announced in Aberdeen after a recent spike originating in a city centre bar. The same bar visited by the Aberdeen first team squad on a night out, and as a consequence some of whom subsequently tested positive. Smart move, guys. This has led to the resumption of the Scottish Premier League being delayed.
Belgium, the Bahamas and Andorra have been added to the UK’s list of coronavirus quarantine countries.
Home Secretary Pratty Patel has suggested that the Royal Navy become involved in turning back vessels attempting to bring migrants to Britain, after 235 people, a record for a single day, succeeded in making the crossing. An MOD source described the idea of asking the Royal Navy to patrol the Channel against migrant boats as ‘completely potty’.
Predictably the right-wing tabs are giving prominence to the story, as, most regrettably, is the BBC; Nigel Farage is foaming at the mouth.
Poorer Mediterranean countries have had to cope with literally hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing desperate situations in their homelands. We are working ourselves up into a foment when literally a few thousand a year try to gain entry here. Shaming and depressing. So much for our reputation as being a ‘safe haven’ status.
It came to light that the Government has paid £250 million for 50 million face masks, to a company which has links to an advisor to the UK Board of Trade. Because the masks have ear loops rather than head loops, they have deemed to be not suitable for use by NHS frontline staff.
Unfortunately not a good day for my MIL. She was originally diagnosed with onset Parkinson’s three years ago, after a nasty fall down the stairs. Regrettably the dementia phase is becoming increasingly apparent; she’s deteriorated a lot since I last saw her at Xmas. She was late in getting her medication today, and as a consequence her delusions and ramblings were particularly bad, even more incoherent than they’ve been on most days since I returned.
36C recorded at Heathrow today, the hottest August day since 1990.
Saturday 8th August
The U.K. has asked France to take a tougher line against ships attempting to traffic migrants across the Channel. In return, France has demanded that the UK coughs up £30 million. Immigration minister Chris Philp has demanded that migrants attempting to cross the Channel face ‘real consequences’ if caught. He’s just all heart.
Sunday 9th August
BoJo insists that it’s a ‘moral duty’ for schools to open. The Government also has a legal duty to ensure the wellbeing of its employees. Including teachers.
Monday 10th August
Properly hot and sunny today, although in reality it’s ‘only’ about 27C. How people down South have been coping with temperatures of around 32-35C on a regular basis, I don’t know. There was actually a short thunderstorm here at about 6pm, and some further rain through the night.
The latest scandal to engulf this walking disaster area of a Government is the saga of the downgrading of A level results. In the absence of actual exams, the DfE has used a statistical model to estimate grades, which partially incorporates an algorithm based on an individual school’s past performance. The problem with this is that it contains an inherent bias against bright students from schools deemed to have poor recent performance. The model was also skewed in favour of students taking subjects with a low take-up rate, or smaller schools – which tend to be in the private sector.
Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris, a black woman, as his running mate in the forthcoming presidential election. As Biden’s only likely to serve one term if he wins by virtue of his age, there’s every chance Ms Harris will become America’s first female president in 2024.
Temperatures have exceeded 34C somewhere in the UK for each of the last 6 days for the first time since records began in 1961; this gives an accurate indication of the true intensity of the heatwave.
Tuesday 11th August
Three dead after a train derailment near Aberdeen, thought to be caused by a landslide after heavy rain.
GDP for the second quarter in the UK fell by 20% in the second quarter, compared with about 10-12% for the euro zone and the US.
Wednesday 12th August
The A level results downgrading scandal has now exploded into widespread dismay and outrage; not just amongst students, parents and teachers, but also politicians and the media. Gavin ‘Private Pike’ Williamson made a mealy-mouthed apology for the crisis, but then seemingly attempted to justify the model by saying that “Increasing the A Level grades will mean a whole generation could end up promoted beyond their abilities”. The irony of what he said appeared to be totally lost on him. For an unintentionally hilarious statement, this one must be right up there near the top of the charts. BoJo further stirred the hornets’ nest by saying that the results produced by the model were ‘robust’.
Mrs C was out tonight. The MIL chose tonight to have her worst episode; walkabouts, telling me not to tell her what to do, telling me to keep out of her way, etc. Etc. It took the arrival of her career to calm her down and put her to bed to end the ordeal. Couldn’t relax and properly enjoy my Just Eat curry as a result.
Thursday 13th August
The Government announced that 14-day quarantine conditions would now be in force from France, the Netherlands and Malta, amongst others. Cue chaos at cross-channel ports and airports full of Brits trying desperately to return home before the conditions came into force. In other news, beauty parlours, bowling alleys, ice rinks, and weddings with less than 30 guests were given the go-ahead to reopen or go ahead……..
They didn’t quite succeed in distracting the media’s attention from the A level results fiasco, although the Telegraph (predictably) stated that Qfqual blamed teachers in many cases for setting unrealistically high estimated results.
Friday 14th August
Too much going on at the moment to record it all properly. Heatwave. Covid and quarantine restrictions. A level results fiasco. The country getting itself into a moral panic over a few hundred migrants. The Liz Truss cheese fiasco, whereby she jeopardised the finalising of a post-Brexit trade deal with Japan for the sake of tariffs on Stilton, of which the UK exports £100k (yes, that’s thousands not millions) to Japan annually. Anti-government protests in Belarus. The MIL’s episodes.
Wednesday 19th August
The Government has made a screeching handbrake U-turn, and decided that teacher assessed grades can now be used as actual A level results, where higher than the algorithm-generated ones (as most of them inevitably are). There are calls for Pike to be sacked, but some Tories conceded that he was that good a Chief Whip, that he’s accumulated a huge hill of dirt he can dump on them if Bojo dares to fire him.
The truncated final stages of the European club competitions have inevitably attracted less attention than they otherwise would have. After beating Real Madrid, City then slumped to defeat against Lyon, who tonight take on Bayern for the right to play PSG in the final. Man Ure were beaten by Sevilla in the Europa League semi final; the Spanish team will now play Inter Milan in the final.
Staying at Mum & Dad’s in Barnstaple now. Was a bit anxious about it as I hadn’t seen them for a year and was worried about how much more infirm they would be, but they’re both fine and Dad can still drive, although he’s noticeably more hunched and a bit shakier than last year.
Sunday 23rd August
Man Utd captain Harry Maguire has been arrested after a fracas whilst he was on holiday on the Greek island of Mykonos. One of his group was also charged with trying to bribe a police officer.
The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in hospital in Berlin, after having a dodgy cup of tea whilst waiting for a flight to Siberia. He was originally taken to the hospital nearest to his arrival airport, and authorities there denied his condition was critical enough for him to be transferred to a larger facility more able to treat him. Not that Putin wanted him to die, obviously, given Russia’s recent firm in this department…..
Bojo, partner and sprog have been on a ‘camping’ holiday in Scotland, obviously with the option of taking refuge in the house in whose grounds their tent was pitched, should the weather turn a bit nasty. His absence during the exams fiasco has unsurprisingly drawn much comment from certain quarters of the media.
Fears of a new spike of coronavirus cases in the UK in certain areas, as the R number threatens to rise above 1.
The Trumptard’s Machiavellian sidekick Steve Bannon has been arrested on grounds of fraud; this relates to donations to an organisation raising funds for his beloved Mexican wall.
Joe Biden accepted the nomination for the Democratic candidacy for the forthcoming presidential election.
Otherwise, it’s pretty much same shit, different day.
Tuesday 25th August
This afternoon, Gareth Southgate included Harry Maguire in his squad for the forthcoming internationals with Denmark and Iceland. Hours later, Maguire was found guilty on three charges, including assaulting a police officer and trying to bribe an officer. Apparently Maguire is alleged to have said, ‘don’t you know who I am? I’m the captain of Manchester United, I’m very rich, I can give you lots of money’. Sounds like a combination of drunkenness and arrogance; looks like he hasn’t taken that long to be infused with the culture of his new employers. Calls into Southgate’s judgement in not naming the squad until after the verdicts had been announced.
Miserable, wet day. We tried to book a Covid test online today. To cut a long story short, after spending an inordinate amount of time on the Internet, we went down to our local mobile testing centre, which was deserted apart from one young car park steward, who told us that there was no need to try and book an appointment online; as long as we turned up before 10.30. We found out later that the local ‘satellite’ testing station is rationed to 10 tests a day, yet there appears to be no restrictions on the numbers turning up at the mobile centre. The Government website gave no indication that it was possible to turn up on spec at the local mobile centre. There’s seemingly no co-ordination between the satellite and mobile testing sites. And if, as Bojo insists, the country’s testing capacity is huge, then why is one site restricted to 10 a day?
Wednesday 26th August
Police in Wisconsin shot an unarmed black man seven times. Entirely understandably and predictably, rioting ensued. When will the police ever learn?
Yet another Government U-turn, this time over the wearing of face masks in schools. Private Pike had originally decided that English schools would not be following the examples of those in Scotland, where students and staff are compelled to wear masks. Now they’ve backtracked and decided that masks will be required.
Went to Liverpool today in the hope of sitting outside and enjoying a couple of beers. Sadly, quite a few iconic places are closed, hopefully only temporarily, including Ye Cracke, the Pilgrim and the Fly in the Loaf. I opted again for the garden in St Luke’s, aka the Bombed Out Church; very pleasant, although visiting there involves faffing around with QR codes.
Saturday 29th August
Flew back to Cyprus today. The Cypriot authorities require all arrivals on the island to have obtained a ‘Flight Pass’ which is to have been completed online within 24 hours of the intended departure time, and which in turn is dependent on the applicant being able to obtain a negative Covid test result within 72 hours of the intended time of arrival.
So we first had to try and get a test. Easier said than done, given that (1) the wifi chez MIL is slower than an arthritic snail, (2) the Department of Health website did not supply any available test locations, (3) the Wirral website gave the locations of its satellite & temporary test sites, but any attempt to book an appointment only redirected the user to the aforementioned Dept of Health site. So Mrs C showed some initiative and drove down to the temporary testing site, where she was told we didn’t need to book online, but could just turn up on the day.
This we did on Thursday, and hoped (1) we’d actually done the tests correctly, (2) that the results weren’t either inconclusive or positive. Luckily, we received negative results on Friday morning, and thus I was able to complete the Cyprus Flight Pass that afternoon.
At least one family didn’t acquaint themselves with the necessary procedure; they were turned away at the check-in upon being requested to provide the pass. Not only were there two disappointed two teenage girls, but the parents no doubt will have a lively little discussion about whose responsibility it was upon returning home.
Not really much else. Trump ‘profoundly’ accepting the Republican nomination for the election, during a speech which served little purpose other than to be a diatribe of falsehoods against Joe Biden. He was later to praise the 17yo who was walking through police lines in Kenosha toting a machine gun, whilst criticising demonstrators protesting against the shooting as ‘terrorists’, ‘looters’, etc. etc. Typically unprofound of him.
Liverpool lost on penalties to Arsenal in the Community Shield.
Wednesday 2nd September
Our internet’s been down since we returned. Apparently it’s not the responsibility of Cyta to fix that particular stretch of wire which needs replacing, but the householder. So we’re now awaiting on a local electrician to call us back (the Visionhire shop on camp had his contact details).
Still not much else, for once. Was getting tiresome trying to keep tabs with all of the examples of this Government’s corruption and incompetence.
Thursday 3rd September
The Government is desperately trying to persuade people to return to their places of work (as opposed to working from home), as city & town centres are ‘dying’ owing to lack of the normal trade. Bojo is craving the return of the normal ‘bustle’. There is concern in some quarters that business dependent on passing trade such as coffee shops will go under, unless normality is restored soon.
Of course the issue is that if employers find it’s more productive for their workers to work from home at least part of the time, they’ll be in no rush to get them back to the office. Also, employees will be spared the stress and loss of time which are consequences of the daily commute. Working from home will be the ‘new normal’ for many people from now on; if coffee shops can’t adapt to this, then that’s just unfortunate. Businesses will have to adapt, or go under. People shouldn’t have to be forced back to work just to ensure the likes of Starbucks and Costa can remain viable; the tail shouldn’t be wagging the dog.
Cynics are saying that the real issue is nothing to do with coffee shops, but everything to do with the fact that many large commercial landlords who own office blocks that are currently empty due to Covid, just happen to be large donors to the Conservative party.
Elsewhere, lockdown conditions have been reimposed in parts of Greater Manchester, and German doctors treating the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny confirmed he has been poisoned with Novichok.
400 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday, a record for a single day; predictably Nigel Farage and plenty of other Brexiteers went into apoplexy. It wasn’t all bad news for them, though; the BBC reversed an earlier decision to have only instrumental versions of Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory played at the forthcoming (crowd-free) Last Night of the Proms.
Friday 4th September
The Government has decided in its ultimate wisdom to appoint the well-known mysogynist, homophobe, climate change denier and former Australian PM Tony Abbott as an advisor to the Board of Trade. Obviously not content with having scraped the bottom of the UK’s talent to form his own Cabinet, Bojo is now seemingly intent on picking up the dregs from other countries. He’s also appointed the moronic MP for Yeovil, Marcus Fysh, and former Vote Leave bad boy and Covid denier Daniel Hannan, as advisers. No doubt Farage will be expecting his knighthood in the next Honours List for services to Brexit.
There’s been a worrying increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in the UK; the 7-day moving average, which had fallen below 600 in July, is now above 1500.
Wales has introduced 14-day quarantine measures for arrivals from Portugal and some Greek islands (Scotland had reintroduced them for arrivals from Greece, and has now introduced them for arrivals from Portugal as well). Neither of these countries is subject to conditions imposed by the Westminster government. So now there is the ridiculous situation that passengers who live in Wales or Scotland but who return from the Algarve into an airport in England, will have to self-quarantine, whereas English residents flying into, say, Cardiff or Edinburgh won’t. Devolution has gone too far in areas where a common approach between the four nations might be seen as desirable (in my own opinion), and this is just another example.
Saturday 5th September
Thousands of tourists returning to the UK are thought to be flouting coronavirus quarantine rules.
Extinction Rebellion climate change activists today blockaded printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch’s group. Tories predictably reprimanded them for attacking the free press, which isn’t really so free when most of it’s in the hands of foreign oligarchs. They were noticeably silent about an anti-migrant demonstration held by far-right thugs in Dover today.
A knifeman ran amok in Birmingham city centre, killing one and injuring several others.
It came to light that Trump has previously referred to fallen soldiers in overseas American military cemetaries as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’, and that seemingly he can’t comprehend the concept of military service, being based as it is on risking and sacrificing your own good for that of the people you serve. Surely this will condemn him to losing the election….won’t it? Surely there are those former Republican-voting military personnel, who are proudly patriotic, who will recoil in repulsion at the prospect of voting for Trump now?
Sunday 6th September
A bit of light relief from the other side of the pond. Trump supporters took their boats out onto a lake in Texas for the Labor Day weekend. Those with the bigger boats careered around the water recklessly and at high speed, such that the wake they created was strong enough to sink several of the smaller vessels. Some were saying it was a metaphor for the US under Trump, whereby the rich and powerful could do whatever they like, with no regard for the weaker members of society, and without having to bear any consequences for their actions. No lives were lost, as it happens.
Bojo is sabre-rattling ahead of this week’s Brexit negotiations with the EU; he’s apparently claiming that the UK will end negotiations and leave without a deal if there’s no successful conclusion by October 15th.
Monday 7th September
An alarming increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in the UK; up from 1,813 on the 5th to 2,988 yesterday.
The Government today unveiled proposals which would override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement that secured the UK’s exit from the EU in January, you know, the same WA that it signed up to. The reason for doing so is ostensibly to prevent the EU imposing excessive tariffs on goods going from the UK to Northern Ireland, if no trade deal with the EU could be secured. But the fact that the Government is seen to be attempting to worm its way out of the obligations under international law that it signed up to, has understandably caused great controversy.
Tuesday 8th September
An alarming increase in the number of new coronavirus deaths in the UK; 32 today, the highest since 14th July. Leighton Buzzard was hit by an earthquake which registered 3.5 on the Richter scale.
A jaw-dropping moment in the Commons today. The Northern Ireland secretary, Essex boy Brandon Lewis, admitted that the proposed Internal Market Bill would break international law in a “very specific and limited way”. Some senior Tories reacted with outrage, stating that the UK’s reputation for honesty and trustworthiness would be irreparably damaged. One wonders just why the Government are pursuing this course of action now, rather than being more thorough and alert to this supposed ‘threat’ when the WA was actually being negotiated…….
It’s still bloody hot here in Cyprus; 34C at our local station today (https://www.accuweather.com/en/cy/paramali/124072/september-weather/124072).
Wednesday 9th September
The Government introduced its so-called ‘rule of six’, whereby people in England would be banned from meeting in numbers of greater than six in either indoor or outdoor settings. These measures will take effect from Monday. Seemingly concurrently, Bojo announced that the Government would spend £100 billion on a mass testing programme (so-called ‘Operation Moonshot’), which would ensure (he claims) that ‘millions’ of people could be tested every day. OK everyone, let’s jump up as high as we can, and see what massive figures we can grab out of plain air…..
Hat Mancock tried to put the current shortage of tests on the public, stating that too many people were taking ‘inappropriate’ tests.
Thursday 10th September
Diana Rigg died, aged 82.
Brexit negotiations are seemingly on the point of collapse after the UK government rejected an EU ultimatum to withdraw its proposed Internal Market Bill and threatened to impose sanctions if it refused to do so. Apparently Michael Gove, supposedly one of the most polite people in politics, is alleged to have used profanities towards the European commission’s vice-president Maroš Šefčovič. European negotiators were very pessimistic about the chances of a deal being agreed.
Friday 11th September
Bojo made the laughable, risible statement that the EU poses a threat to the integrity of the UK, by trying to impose a ‘food blockade’ in the Irish Sea. He conveniently disregards the fact that the conduct of his government is more likely to ‘threaten the integrity of the UK’ by making Scottish (and eventually Welsh) voters more likely to vote for independence.
The number of new coronavirus cases is starting to surge; the 7-day average is up from about 1,000 three weeks ago, to nearly 3,000 now.
Saturday 12th September
The Bar Council slam Attorney General Suella Braverman for relying on pro-Brexit lawyers, rather than the Government’s own senior legal advisers, for advice on the IMB. It asked how the UK could retain any international credibility when expecting other countries to follow international law, when it had shown it was willing not to do so.
Bojo is threatening to pull UK out of the European Court of Human Rights, on the grounds that it makes it harder to deport refugees and asylum seekers, and that it facilitates the prosecution of British soldiers for alleged crimes abroad. The ECHR is nothing to do with the EU;it’s part of the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states, including Russia.
Perhaps it’s got something to do with the fact that EU negotiators want the UK to commit to the ECHR as part of the terms of a trade deal. With every passing day, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the UK government doesn’t want one.
Liverpool beat Leeds 4-3 in the opening game of the new season, thanks largely to two suspect penalties. Defensively we looked very suspect; VVD wasn’t on it, and I’m still not sure about Gomez. Other teams will take heart from this, of course. It’s been mentioned that the Reds have now conceded 21 goals in their last 13 games, which is just a bit concerning.
Deadly forest fires are raging in Oregon. Trump blames it on ‘forest management’.
Monday 14th September
(1st – IMB voted through by HOC) – Miliband rips into BoJo afterwards
Today was a shameful day in the history of our country.
340 MP’s voted for a bill which, they knew, was in breach of international law. 30 Tories abstained and two voted against it. That’s 340 MPs who were willing to put their party – and their careers – before the reputation of the country they profess to love. That number included some Tories who I’d had down as being moderate and sensible, such as James Brokenshire, Jeremy Hunt and Huw Merriman.
At a time when we are supposedly meant to be seeking out new partners in a post-Brexit world, at a time when we need to show that we can be trusted as a trading partner, these MP’s have sold their souls and ensured that the UK’s reputation for integrity, trustworthiness and honour has been perhaps irredeemably tarnished.
The UK government has spoken out – rightly – against abuses of power and human rights in other countries. How it could continue to do so, when it seems so willing to waive international law for its own nationalistic ends, seems strange to say the least, and risks sacrificing any moral authority and integrity it might have.
The Government was claiming that the Bill had to be passed to provide safeguards for the people of Northern Ireland, and Bojo implied that the EU might impose a ‘food blockade’ on the province in the Irish Sea. They seemed to disregard totally the fact that the IMB would effectively breach the Good Friday Agreement (by virtue of imposing a ‘hard border’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic). And they seem willing to risk this, despite the fact that it would jeopardise the chances of the UK securing a ‘lucrative’ trade deal with the US – one of the main drivers of Brexit, and the Holy Grail for many hardcore Brexiteers. Many prominent US politicians – including Joe Biden himself, who’s of Irish Catholic heritage – stated that there would be no chance of a trade deal if they believed that the GFA had been undermined. It led to some predictably petty-minded pushback from the likes of Iain Duncan Smith, who retorted that Biden would be better off concentrating on law and order issues in his home country.
It beggared belief that Johnson and his hardcore supporters were accusing the EU of negotiating ‘in bad faith’, when their stance on this issue opens them up to exactly this accusation.
Some more thoughts. The Withdrawal Agreement was passed by Parliament last autumn, and Tory MP’s who did not vote for it were threatened with withdrawal of the whip. Seemingly, now that he’s had the best part of a year to think about it, Bojo has come to the conclusion that his ‘oven-ready deal’, which he was praising to the skies last year, is after all a bit of a turkey, and now he wants to wangle out of it. And those same MP’s who were only too willing to vote for it then, are now seemingly desperate to go back on it.
A very regrettable day.
The number of high-risk drinkers in England, and the incidence of anxiety, has doubled since the start of the Covid outbreak back in March.
Tuesday 15th September
The hapless, nasty Home Secretary Priti Patel stated that if she saw her neighbours breaking the new ‘rule of six’, then she would dob them in and call the police. Obviously not satisfied with Cummings and co getting their hands on our personal data, Pratty wants to make sure all loopholes are closed by expecting the Great British Public to snitch on their mates.
Wednesday 16th September
The UK’s test and trace system is in chaos; people in areas with high infection rates who are desperate to be tested, have been turning up in local A&E wards, or calling the 111 emergency line. It appears that test results are taking so long to come back because the private laboratories used by the Government to process them, do not have sufficient capacity to cope with the current demand.
BoJo agrees compromise with IMB rebels; he’s given MP’s the opportunity to vote on whether or not to use the powers provided for in the new legislation, should it be decided that the need arose to use them. It doesn’t change the fact that the legislation would still be illegal under international law.
Not a good day for the philandering buffoon; he’s roasted by Angela Rayner (deputising for the self-isolating Keir Starmer) during PMQ’s today, and then in turn by the Liaison Committee, putting in a typically bumbling, blustering, waffling appearance and failing to give a complete, coherent response to any of the questions.
US warns against any Brexit deal that endangers the NI Good Friday agreement. During a visit to Washington by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, US Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there was “no chance” of a UK-US trade deal getting through the US Congress if the UK violated international agreements, undermining the Good Friday Agreement.
Thursday 17th September
Apparently nearly 25,000 teachers are now self-isolating due to fears they’re displaying symptoms and cannot get a test.
Saturday 19th September
Increasing alarm at the growing number of coronavirus cases in the UK; today’s figure was 4,422, with 27 deaths.
Sunday 20th September
The Government announced that it will introduce fines of up to £10,000 for those who breach virus restrictions.
Just about all of Lancashire is under coronavirus restrictions, with the exception of Blackpool which is under a separate unitary authority. So on a file late summer’s evening, perhaps it wasn’t the greatest of surprises that the place was rammed full of intellectually challenged Covid spreaders last night, very few of whom were practicing social distancing or who were wearing masks.
The veteran US Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal, died at the age of 87. There’s talk of Trump trying to nominate her replacement, and have that person in place, before the election; this would go against the established convention.
Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, a task admittedly made easier after Christensen had been sent off just before half time, but even up to then the Reds had been well on top against strangely passive opposition. A much improved performance on the defensive shambles against Leeds in the opening game.
Monday 21st September
The UK’s chief scientists are warning that the country is at a ‘critical’ point in the fight against the virus. The former UK Supreme Court president Lady Hale, who last year ruled that the Government’s prorogration of parliament was unlawful, stated that the lower house had ‘surrendered’ its role as regards the scrutiny of emergency coronavirus legislation.
Tuesday 22nd September
The Government ‘got serious’ about the virus again; it confirmed that a 10pm curfew on pubs, bars and restaurants would be imposed in England from Thursday, and that the Covid alert level, which had been at 3 since 19th June, would be increased again to 4. In another screeching U-turn, Bojo recommended that people should work from home again, ‘if they can’, and warns that restrictions could last for another six months.
Meanwhile, students in some universities have been quarantined after attending freshers’ week parties which are illegal under current restrictions.
Thursday 24th September
| Chancellor Rishi Sunak cancels the forthcoming budget & announces a wage subsidy plan to replace furlough scheme, which will expire at the end of October. Roughly, the Government will chip in 22% of employees’ pay, as long as they’re working at least a third of their contracted hours. |
Meanwhile, in Brexit related news, Michael Gove has admitted that the Government plans to introduce a scheme whereby hauliers wishing to gain access to the Kent channel ports, will need an ‘access permit’ to be able to enter the county. He warned that this measure could cause queues of up to 7,000 trucks at the access points; this equates to about 120km, or about 75 miles.
Saturday 26th September
A police officer was shot dead in a custody suite in Croydon in the early hours of this morning, by someone who was apparently in handcuffs at the time. The obvious question is how the gun came to be smuggled in, in the first place.
Reading topped the Championship after winning 2-1 at Cardiff, the first time they’d won their opening three matches since their third division Championship season in 1985/86.
Sunday 27th September
As daily new cases have soared to above 6,000, the Government appears to be going into meltdown. Their poll ratings have slumped (they’re now level-pegging with Labour), and many MP’s from the ‘libertarian’ wing of the party are threatening a revolt over the imposition of what they regard as overly draconian lockdown rules.
Elsewhere, the Government’s pristine record on cronyism looks likely to be enhanced by the news that apparently Bojo has offered the positions of Ofcom head and BBC chairman to Paul Dacre and Charles Moore – both outspoken critics of the BBC – respectively.
Monday 28th September
The New York Post publishes Trump’s tax returns; he only paid $750 income tax in each of 2016 & 2017. Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that his campaign team targeted 3.5 million black Americans to dissuade them for voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Students at some universities are quarantined within their halls of residence; it’s reported that some colleges are hiring private security firms to ensure the residents cannot leave.
Liverpool 3 Arsenal 1.
Tuesday 29th September
The first US presidential debate descends into farce, as the Trumptard plumbs new depths of obnoxiousness; continually interrupting Joe Biden, making a cheap jibe about his son who’d recovered from addiction, and seemingly inciting a far-right group called the Proud Boys to take action against the ‘antifa’.
Bojo apologised after making a statement which revealed the fact that he didn’t know his own government’s policy regarding coronavirus restrictions. Tories are growing increasingly restless about the possibility of lack of Parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s own plans for further restrictions.
Wednesday 30th September
Outrage after it was revealed that – seemingly in a ‘brainstorming’ session (a bit of a misnomer, seeing that this lot isn’t exactly over-endowed with intelligence) – the Government had discussed the possibility of processing migrants seeking asylum on Ascension, an equatorial island in the Atlantic, 5k miles from the UK. Neither the moral reasons nor the logistics can be explained away. Apparently they also discussed the idea of processing them in Moldova, Morocco & Papua New Guinea; I’m sure they would have consulted the governments of these countries first……
Friday 2nd October
A SNP MP, Margaret Ferrier, has apparently not only breached coronavirus law by attending the House of Commons whilst knowingly being infected with the virus, but then also travelling back to Scotland by train.
Oh yeah….TRUMP HAS COVID!!!!!!
Sunday 4th October
In a bizarre incident, Trump took himself out of the hospital and ordered that he be driven in the Presidential motorcade past a gathering of supporters ouside the White House. Never mind the safety of his fellow passengers and security guards.
In what turned out to be her farewell appearance, Enable could only finish 6th in the Prix de l’Arc de Triumph behind Sottsass.
Monday 5th October
Trump was officially discharged from hospital today. His spokesman refused to confirm the results of a Covid test that he took, reassuring the media that the President was on the road to recovery.
Meanwhile, in the latest Government cock-up, some 16,000 positive test results were not uploaded to the centralised system as a consequence of the data returns within which these cases were incorporated, being too numerous to fit within the 65,536 rows of a Microsoft Excel worksheet. (the point being that Excel is intended for domestic, personal/small scale use, rather than the uploading and transfer of huge amounts of personal and commercial data). As a result of this fiasco, it’s possible that some 50,000 people who should have been contacted by track and trace staff and who should now be self-isolating, could unwittingly be transferring the virus.
Friday 9th October
There’s growing nationwide disquiet over the non-uniformity and imposition of local lockdown measures. Tory MPs are unhappy with the 10pm closing time for pubs and bars; there have been widespread reports of people leaving pubs then going straight to off-licences and having impromptu street parties. Many medical experts are claiming that the Government’s proposed new measures do not go fat enough, and that a ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown should have been imposed weeks ago. It’s claimed that some hospitals in the north of England will run out of free ICU beds within the next week, as the second wave takes hold.
Saturday 10th October
Northern council leaders are involved in a backlash against the PM over plans to introduce watered-down support measures, as part of the new lockdown measures to be introduced. The main bone of contention appears to be that the Government is offering to pay two-thirds of wages of those employees affected by the lockdown, compared with 80% under the original furlough scheme which is due to cease at the end of this month. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham accused the Government of betraying its ex-Labour ‘red wall’ voters, saying that rather than carrying out the promise to level up, the Tories had actually chosen to level down.
There’s outrage amongst football fans as Sky Sports & BT Sport announce £15 per match charge for live Premier League matches which have not been selected by them for live transmission; this also applies to existing Sky Sports & BT Sport subscribers.
The Queen’s delayed Birthday Honours List was announced; its usefulness is debatable in what is supposed to be an egalitarian, non-meritocratic society, but nevertheless the vast majority of the population are delighted that Marcus Rashford has deservedly been recognised for his efforts to combat child hunger; he’s been awarded an MBE.
Tuesday 13th October
The Government announced its new three-tier Covid restrictions for England. The Liverpool city region goes straight into the top tier, whereas Nottingham, which has a higher proportionate rate of infection, didn’t. It emerged that SAGE wanted tougher lockdown measures but were overruled by the PM. More people are now in hospital with Covid than at the start of the lockdown in March.
Liverpool and Manchester United were forced into an embarrassing climbdown after the Premier League’s other clubs rejected their ‘Big Picture’ plan for restructuring English league football. Under it, the EFL would have received a £250m Covid-related bailout, together with a more equitable share of the game’s broadcasting revenues, in return for a concentration of voting rights amongst the so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs, plus three other long-standing Premier League clubs, believed to be Everton, Southampton and West Ham. What many found objectionable was that the scheme ran counter to the Football League’s ‘one club, one vote’ principle. Some claimed it was a blatant power-grab on the part of Liverpool & United; it would be interesting to hear Tony Evans’ thoughts.
Thursday 15th October
Northern leaders spoke out against the new local lockdown schemes & asked for more financial support from the Government. Mayors and MPs from the north-west of the country emphatically rejected being moved into the highest lockdown level and accused ministers of treating the region with contempt. They are resentful that the imposition of tier restrictions with minimal, if any, prior consultation, is tantamount to treating the region with contempt and runs the risk of deepening the North-South divide. Andy Burnham said he wouldn’t accept Manchester being treated as a ‘canary in a coalmine’. Both local Tory & Labour MP’s criticised the Government’s approach to the negotiations, with a Tory MP saying that ‘you might as well talk to a wall’, and one Labour MP describing them as a ‘shitshow’.
Elsewhere, it’s emerged that private sector consultants are being paid more than £6,250 a day for working on the Government’s abysmally failing track and trace system.
Friday 16th October
Johnson is now threatening to enforce Tier 3 restrictions on Greater Manchester without any additional support for local businesses. He once again dismissed the idea of a temporary ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown, despite his chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance pressing for a short nationwide shutdown. Teachers’ unions are urging for a two-week half term break as part of a circuit-break lockdown.
London is one of the regions being put into Tier 2 from midnight tonight.
Saturday 17th October
Johnson is threatening the EU that the UK will pull out of ongoing trade and security talks unless there is a marked change of approach from the European side. He advised UK businesses to start preparing for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. This is what BoJo, Gove, Cummings and all of the other hardline Brexiteer bastards in the Government have wanted all along, of course. Never mind the costs to the economy, to people’s livelihoods, and Britain’s standing in the world.
Liverpool were robbed of victory by VAR in the derby match at Goodison, having a legitimate extra-time winner chalked off for ‘offside’. To add insult to injury, Virgil Van Dijk will miss the season after being assaulted by Blues keeper Jordan Pickford. The clowns in the VAR room ignored Pickford’s offence (he got off scot-free) but ruled that VVD was offside when he received the ball in the vicinity of the area, and consequently should not have been awarded a penalty. VAR continues to make a mockery of the sport.
Monday 19th October
Wales is to go into a full circuit-break lockdown for two weeks from this Friday.
My wife’s birthday today. She didn’t want me to take any cakes or biscuits into the staffroom for her, as she wasn’t in the mood for celebrating. Her mum’s in hospital, she’s been implicated in a case where one child – whose father works for the school – is refusing to accept our assessed grades for her and is appealing against them at every stage; and (by virtue of being Head of Key Stage 3) is involved in another incident relating to bad behaviour, where the culprit’s parents are being aggressive and accusatory in their communications with the school. It would have helped if the deputy head had taken the courtesy of informing her of these allegations against her at the time they had been made, rather than sitting on them for a fortnight. At least the Head apologised to her for the stress she’d had to endure and reassured her that she wouldn’t be so directly involved in the ongoing procedures from hereon in, so she came home in a more relaxed frame of mind tonight.
Tuesday 20th October
The Government’s coronavirus support package negotiations with Greater Manchester broke down spectacularly today. The Government had originally laid down an ultimatum demanding that Manchester agree to Tier 3 restrictions by noon, or otherwise they would be imposed upon them. Manchester originally wanted £90m as support in their opening gambit; they reduced it to £75m, whereas the government were offering £60m. Manchester then reduced their demand to £65m, only to be informed that the government would not move above £60 million, had ceased negotiations, and were going to impose Tier 3 conditions on the city.
Afterwards, an enraged Andy Burnham appeared outside Bridgewater Hall and made an impassioned statement, during which he warned that local people faced “a winter of real hardship”, said that walking away from the talks amounted to a “deliberate act of levelling down”, and exclaimed: “Are they playing poker with people’s lives? Is that what this is about?” (It was subsequently revealed that £60m would be made available, but would be distributed via individual councils in the Greater Manchester area, rather than the mayoral office).
Afterwards, civic leaders from other parts of the North rallied round Burnham, who was quickly christened ‘King of the North’. His impassioned words acted as a rallying call for Northerners who felt that for too long that they’d been ignored by the Tories and Westminster in general, and have done no harm whatsoever to his standing. He gained kudos with Scousers after championing the cause of the Hillsborough justice campaigners, and now he’s doing the same for Mancunians and others throughout the North who have long thought they’ve been getting a bum deal.
Wednesday 21st October
Another spectacular PR own-goal gaffe by the Tories. A Labour motion to extend free school meals into the holidays, a campaign which has been given prominence by support from Marcus Rashford, was defeated by 322 to 261, with all but 5 Tory MP’s voting against it.
Let that sink in. During a pandemic, a time of national emergency, when the weakest members of society are having to struggle even more so than during ‘normality’, 322 Tory MP’s actively voted for children from vulnerable backgrounds to go hungry during the holidays.
Afterwards, many of them made remarks along the lines that feeding children should not become the responsibility of the state, and some made critical comments about Rashford.
They immediately put themselves at odds with celebrities and sports stars who came out en masse to show their support for Rashford’s stance on social media. Justifiably so, praise has been heaped upon him. He possesses more humility, compassion, understanding and sympathy in one of his little fingernails, than all of those Tory MP’s who voted against the motion possess collectively between them. He is a superb role model who has put this Government to shame.
Afterwards, in the Commons, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner didn’t do herself any favours by referring to a Tory MP as ‘scum’, and she later apologised. Her words were inappropriate but the sentiment behind them isn’t, when you consider the following:
The Government has squandered £12 billion of taxpayers’ money on a test and trace system which has proven to be totally unfit for puropse (a sizeable percentage of which went towards Serco and other private companies, with whom several Tories have connections, directly or otherwise);
The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme cost at least £500m;
One week of food vouchers for 1.4 million children would cost the same as half a day as EOTHO.
In other words, the cost of ensuring that 1.4 million children don’t go hungry, is one-twentieth the cost of subsiding the middle class to go out to a restaurant and feed their faces. Priorities, eh?
Friday 23rd October
Thankfully, the final US presidential debate passed off relatively uneventfully, with little of the rancour or plain rudeness on display during the first one. Most polls have Biden about 8-10 points ahead.
Saturday 24th October
Bizarre anomalies have come to light in Wales’ lockdown restrictions. Shops selling what are deemed to be ‘non-essential’ items have been ordered to close, but supermarkets which sell these items can continue trading. To ensure there’s no element of ‘unfair competition’ the Welsh government has ordered that areas within supermarkets which display ‘non-essential’ items be cordoned off, or otherwise made inaccessible to shoppers. Wouldn’t it just have been easier to allow all shops to remain open, whilst enforcing existing existing regulations regarding social distancing and the wearing of masks? Ridiculous.
The Government has decided not to extend the VAT holiday for PPE.
Marcus Rashford’s Twitter feed has been swamped with offers of help from councils, cafes, shops and so on, offering to provide free school meals. The sheer warmth, humanity, compassion and intelligence of the man is dazzlingly apparent in his own posts.
Sunday 25th October
There are calls for Dido Harding, the Tory peer who leads the government’s much-criticised test-and-trace programme, to be removed from her position. Serco and Sitel, the outsourcing companies used to administer track and trace, are currently reaching only 62% of contacts of positive cases; for the scheme to be considered effective, the percentage needs to be 80%.
Tuesday 27th October
The numbers of new coronavirus cases and deaths, admittedly in common with much of Europe, have been increasing alarmingly in recent weeks. At the end of September, new daily cases were in the region of 6,000; yesterday’s figure was nearly 23,000. And deaths, which were in two figures as recently as the second week of October, reached 367 yesterday, the highest figure since May 27th.
Four would-be migrants died when the boat that was transporting them from northern France to England sunk just off Calais. It’s sickening that people are celebrating this on social media.
Thursday 29th October
In a bombshell announcement, Labour suspended Jeremy Corbyn and withdrew the whip, on the day that the Equality & Human Rights Commission published its long-awaited report on antisemitism within the party. The report found Labour guilty of unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination, but it wasn’t that in itself which prompted Keir Starmer to make the move to suspend Corbyn. After the report had been issued, Corbyn claimed that the issue of antisemitism within the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by opponents and the media. This was the action which initiated moves by the current Labour leadership to suspend him.
There are reasons for believing Starmer took a brave stand and did the morally correct thing. On the other hand, predictably all of the Corbynistas are foaming at the mouth about the move. Some might say he made the move to cement his power base and eradicate the left from all sources of influence at the top of the party. Starmer may need to keep the left onside, so on one hand this was a risky move. But on the other, it’s very likely to play well with the electorate in general.
Comedian Bobby Ball died of coronavirus calculations, aged 76.
Academic research indicated that not only did the Eat Out to Help Out scheme have a negligible effect on economic recovery, but it was very likely to have contributed to an acceleration of the second wave currently being witnessed.
Friday 30th October
Nobby Stiles dies. It seems as if the PM is now finally going to accept the advice of scientific experts, who have already warned that the death toll is likely to exceed their projected worst case scenario, and announce a new national lockdown next week, to remain in force until 2nd December. But schools, universities and colleges will remain open, a measure which, disappointingly, is supported by Keir Starmer.
An earthquake off the east coast of Turkey kills 116 people.
Saturday 31st October
Sir Sean Connery died, aged 90.
Sunday 1st November
Right-wing Tories are in uproar about the plans for full lockdown, arguing that it will cause significant damage to the economy. Apparently details of the lockdown were leaked from within the Cabinet; Bojo is apparently apoplectic with rage and has launched an enquiry to try and identify the culprit. Some Cabinet members were apparently angry about not being consulted about the lockdown plans beforehand. Michael Gove has apparently been reprimanded for suggesting that the lockdown could be extended beyond December 2nd.
Radical journalist Robert Fisk, long an outspoken critic of Western policy in the Middle East, died, aged 74. I sometimes found his self-righteous cynicism, especially over the Bosnian war, hard to stomach sometimes.
The Brexit Party has apparently applied to change its name to something called ‘Reform UK’, whose new main policy would be to campaign against Covid lockdown. Great. If it can siphon off some of the loony conspiracy theorists and anti-maskers/vaxxers from the Tory vote, that can only be a good thing.
Monday 2nd November
Johnny Depp’s reputation now lies in the gutter after his libel action against the Sun, which alleged he had physically assaulted his wife Amber Heard, was dismissed in the High Court. It’s hard to see a way back for him now, and deservedly so. In a similar vein, Ryan Giggs was arrested over the weekend after allegedly assaulting his partner. The same Ryan Giggs who shagged his brother’s wife. What a lovely person he is, to be sure.
The Government is to introduce a mass testing programme in Liverpool starting from Friday; the intention is to ascertain how practical mass testing is in reality.
America is anxious and nervous on the eve of the election. Shops are being boarded up, in readiness of potential unrest stoked up in no small part by the President, who is implying that some of his more unhinged supporters will take to the streets if the result goes against him.
Tuesday 3rd November
The big day’s here at last. Here’s hoping America makes the right decision.
Liverpool won 5-0 away to Atlanta in their Champions League tie, with new signing from Wolves Diogo Jota scoring a hat-trick.
Today was officially the end of summer in Cyprus. It was much cooler today; I was wearing jeans in the evening and put a duvet on the bed. There was quite a bit of lightning – but not much rain – in the evening.
Wednesday 4th November
A sense of foreboding after the news this morning. It appears pollsters have substantially underestimated Trump’s vote. He was on the verge of taking Florida by a substantial margin. However, there were no real surprises by the middle of the day.
Things improved as the day went on. One of the stations called Arizona for Biden (a little prematurely, as it turned out); nevertheless, as counting proceeded, it became apparent that Biden was gaining ground in several of the battleground states, namely Michigan, Wisconsin, and even in Georgia. Trump had a substantial lead in Pennsylvania, but the consensus was that the postal votes which were in the process of being counted, would tip the state back to Biden.
Thursday 5th November
Trump and his hangers-on are making predictable noises about voter fraud, threatening to bring multiple lawsuits, and claiming that counts should be stopped on the grounds that votes counted after midnight on poling day are invalid. It’s bollocks, of course, as they would have been posted off before then. The situation is complicated by the fact that some states do not permit counting until the actual polling day itself, so in stages with large and/or dispersed populations like, er, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the count will inevitably be a protracted affair. So far, fortunately, the predictions of social unrest haven’t come to pass. (Rather amusingly, Trumptards in Arizona, where he’s trailing Biden, want the count to continue; he’s currently ahead in the other states where counting is in progress, although the postal votes are likely to tilt things in Biden’s favour). Michigan and Wisconsin were called in is favour today.
Friday 6th November
The world’s in a strange state of suspended animation waiting for the result of the US election. It seems like the count’s been 253-214 in Biden’s favour for a whole day now. The reality is that, almost unbelieveably, at the time of writing (3.40 pm here), Biden has now gained a wafer-thin lead in Georgia, and is homing in on Trump’s narrow advantage in Pennsylvania.
Saturday 7th November
The news came through at about 6.15 pm our time (Cyprus). Sky News announced that all of the US TV stations had called Pennsylvania for Biden, and that consequently he had definitely won the presidential election.
Cue amazing scenes in (admittedly liberal) East Coast cities. People out celebrating in the streets of New York, Washington and Atlanta. The most memorable imho was from a tower block in New York, and all that was audible was the deafening din of thousands of car horns in the streets below. Matt Frei, reporting for Channel 4, described the scenes as resembling ‘the end of a regime’. It certainly has the feeling that America has been liberated.
Geoffrey Palmer, veteran actor and stalwart cast member of many classic series, died aged 93.
Sunday 8th November
Trump is still refusing to concede defeat. Rudy Giuliani and other prominent Republicans are also refusing to engage with reality; they’re still crying foul over the result. Seems as if denial is endemic within the GOP at the moment although to be fair a few prominent, senior figures are calling upon Trump to muster some dignity and accept the result.
Bojo sent Biden a begrudging message of congratulation. He knows that unless the clauses within the contentious Internal Market Bill which breach international law are removed, Biden will not agree to a trade deal with the UK, supposedly the Holy Grail for Brexiteers.
In a comical sideline, the Trump team called a press conference intended to be held at the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia. There was obviously an understanding somewhere along the line, as rather than hosting it in a top-end hotel, Rudy and co. instead held court outside Four Seasons Landscaping, located in a low-end trading park and situated between a sex shop and a crematorium. Our own Government would have been proud of this display of comical ineptitude.
Liverpool drew 1-1 against Manchester City at the Etihad. The second half was as dull as the first was enthralling, but at least we only conceded once and Joel Matip looked quite secure on his return.
Monday 9th November
Two days after the American people voted for a candidate who epitomises dignity and respect, our disgrace of a Home Secretary celebrates ending the right of British people to live and work abroad; a peer refers to Kamala Harris as ‘the Indian’; a no-mark Tory right-winger fires of a ‘letter of warning’ to the President-elect; our excuse of a PM sends a message of grudging congratulations to Joe Biden. And Trump’s still not conceding defeat.
But the big news today is that the US pharma giant Pfizer, in co-operation with a small German tech company, have developed a vaccine against coronavirus which has proven to be 90% successful in Phase 3 clinical trials. There’s a possibility that it may rolled out in the UK before Xmas.
Tuesday 10th November
A big fuss being made over the fact that apparently Bojo was the first leader of another prominent country to make a congratulatory phone call to the President-Elect.
Meanwhile, Covid deaths in the UK continue to escalate; 532 today, the highest for 6 months.
FA chairman Greg Clarke offered his resignation after using the word ‘coloured’ in an interview.
Thursday 12th November
BoJo’s ‘director of communications’, Dom’s mini-me Lee Cain, resigned from the Government. Apparently there have been tensions between Cain and Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton, who once was a regular on Robert Peston’s ITV show. The story was that Cain and Scummings had been briefing against Stratton on the grounds that she wasn’t their first choice for the job, and they deemed her not up to scratch. Stratton only agreed to take the job on condition that she reported directly to the PM and not Cain. Apparently the PM offered Cain the role of chief of staff, but the pushback from MP’s – and not least his own partner Carrie Symonds – was so strong that Johnson withdrew the offer. Scummings is reportedly furious over the way his mate has been treated.
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, died of coronavirus in prison, aged 74.
Head of the FA Greg Clarke resigned after referring to ‘coloured footballers’ whilst making an online appearance before a Commons select committee. Still on football, Scotland qualified for the finals of a major tournament for the first time since 1998, when they beat Serbia in an extra-time penalty shootout to make it through to next summer’s delayed Euro 2020 tournament.
Friday 13th November
Scummings has left the Government. In a scene off the scale for staged theatrical hamminess, he walked out of the front door of No. 10 carrying a cardboard box. Apparently Johnson confronted both Cummings and Cain with text messages they’d been sending against Carrie; people in their circle allegedly referred to her as ‘Princess Nut Nuts’. It also came out that Cummings never returned phone calls from the PM, thinking it was beneath him to do so. If that’s true, that just goes to show just how weak Johnson was that he didn’t reprimand Cummings for this, and how beholden the former was to the latter for the government’s policies and direction. He showed rare decisiveness in the meeting with the pair, apparently telling them to ‘get out and never return’. How much BoJo regrets not having sacked Cummings after his little jaunt to Barnard Castle in May, one can only speculate.
There’s seemingly now a potential power vacuum at the top, now that Boris has no-one to hold his hand. Michael Gove was close to Cummings, and it’s conceivable that Dom will be in contact with Gove at some stage. But Gove will never win a leadership election as he won’t command enough support amongst Tory MP’s, and the membership would much rather have Sunak rather than him as PM. In other words, any chance of Cummings toxifying the atmosphere at the heart of Government ever again has gone forever. Never again will the most poisonous, divisive figure ever known to be close to the centre of power in the UK be able to instigate an atmosphere of contempt and fear.
It’s been a good week or so. Trump getting twatted in the election, a potential virus being found for Covid, and Cummings at last getting booted out of Government. Happy Friday the 13th.
Saturday 14th November
Tabs working themselves into a fury over Diana’s depiction in the new series of The Crown. The pro-Trump ‘Million MAGA March’ in Washington is attended by a few thousand, and inevitably ends in disorder and violence.
Sunday 15th November
Des O’Connor, light entertainment legend and Morecambe & Wise’s whipping boy of choice, dies, aged 88.
Farewell also to Ray Clemence, a true Anfield legend, who died aged 72, after a long battle against cancer.
Monday 16th November
BoJo in self-isolation for 14 days in No. 10 after having attended a meeting with a Notts MP who later tested positive for Covid.
The US biotech firm Moderna announced it had developed a vaccine against Covid which they claimed was 95% effective. UK officials scrambled to place an initial order of 5 million doses; if we’d still been members of the EU, we could have had access to much larger supplies when they made a deal with Moderna in the summer.
Tuesday 17th November
Boris can always be relied upon to put his foot in it; he was referred hearing to Scottish devolution as a ‘disaster’, which has predictably not gone down too well north of the border.
Wednesday 18th November
As part of a so-called ‘green revolution’, the Government announces plans to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
Jeremy Corbyn has been readmitted to the Labour Party after the NEC accepted his appeal, which the Jewish lobby is understandably not too happy about. But Starmer still won’t restore the whip to him, and consequently that old dinosaur Len McCluskey and all of the Momentum gang are throwing a collective hissy fit.
Arguably the main news today was the publication by the National Audit Office of a report which revealed of a ‘fast-track’ channel for the the granting of PPE contracts for companies with connections to either the Government or the Conservative party. More than half of the contracts totalling £18 billion were awarded without competitive tender; in some cases, contracts had been signed retrospectively; there were numerous other transgressions. It’s long been known that some major contracts relating to the provision of PPE have been granted on the grounds of preferential treatment for ministers and their family members or acquaintances, cf. Randox Healthcare, Serco & Ayanda Capital (it’s all included in this excellent visualisation https://sophieehill.shinyapps.io/my-little-crony/). In one case, an intermediary was given £21m of taxpayers’ money to secure PPE from a US company who previously specialised in the production of fashion clothing. There are so many examples of cronyism that it’s pointless trying to document them all.
Thursday 19th November
Bojo announces a £16.5 billion increase in defence spending, stating amongst other things that this would restore Britain as ‘the foremost naval power in Europe’. More ships will be built for wars that we are never going to fight. Of course, whilst defence gets a nice little present at the height of the pandemic (except for Russia, the UK already spends more per capita on defence other government departments will have to take a hit. Apparently the overseas aid budget is likely to be cut from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%. Rishi Sunak is apparently also mulling over a pay free for public sector workers for the next three years, as a mark of gratitude for all the hard work, sacrifices, and risks they have exposed themselves to, during the coronavirus outbreak.
The outgoing US secretary of state Mike Pompeo made a provocative visit to illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. No sign yet of his boss putting on his big boy pants and conceding defeat.
There was an impressive electrical storm tonight; I recorded a video of it for posterity.
Friday 20th November
Has there ever been such a nasty, spiteful, vindictive person in UK politics as our current Home Secretary Priti Patel? Her charge sheet already includes: recently gleefully boasting about ending freedom of movement for UK citizens after Brexit; deporting people who had the right to live in the UK; making only conditional apologies for PPE shortages; imposing health surcharge fees on overseas nationals who are working in the NHS; proposing that Royal Navy ships could turn back boats carrying asylum seekers; saying she’d dob in neighbours who broke the ‘rule of six.
Today, a Cabinet Office inquiry into allegations of bullying by Patel – whose report has been in Johnson’s in tray for at leas 6 months – stated that by bullying and harassing members of staff, she was deemed to have breached the ministerial code of behaviour. In the past, such findings would have led to the very prompt resignation, or removal from post, of the offending minister. However, as we know by now, BoJo does not play by the established rules and protocols and has vowed to stand by his woman. There are suggestions that he tried to intervene in the workings of the enquiry.
Afterwards, social media was full of obsequious, toadying Tory MP’s givng their support to Patel. Boris is said to have sent a Whatsapp message to all MP’s to ‘form a square round the Prittster’.
Sunday 22nd November
According to the Observer, BoJo and Matt Hancock are alleged to have acted illegally when appointing three key figures, namely Dido Harding (former head of Talk Talk, former jockey who has connections with the MP for Newmarket, who happens to be one Matthew Hancock, married to a Tory MP, no previous expertise) as head of the shambolic NHS test and trace operation; ; Kate Bingham as head of the UK’s vaccine task force (married to a Tory MP, went to school with the PM’s sister, married to a Tory MP who knew Boris at Eton, no previous expertise), and who’s also alleged to have disclosed government documents classified as ‘official sensitive’ relating to a list of vaccines being monitored, to a webinar in the US ; and one Mike Coupe (a former colleague of Harding’s at Sainsbury’s of whom he was CEO) as director of testing at NHS Test & Trace.
Liverpool gain an impressive 3-0 win at home to Leicester; they’re now second in the table behind Tottenham, who beat Manchester City 2-0.
Tuesday 24th November
More encouraging news as Astra Zeneca and Oxford University announce that trials of their vaccine have been successful.
Bojo announced that the tiers system, with tighter conditions than before, would be re-introduced after what passes for the current ‘lockdown’ ends on 2nd December. It was also announced that, after consultation (for once) with the devolved UK governments, that restrictions would be relaxed for a five-day period over Xmas. Predictably, the tabloids have trumpeted this loudly, with headlines to the effect that ‘Boris saves Xmas’. They won’t be crowing so loudly once there’s a post-seasonal spike in new cases, you’d bet.
Trump has hinted he’s thinking about getting his big boy pants on; he’s instructed his transitional team to commence the process for the handover of power.
Wednesday 25th November
Rishi Sunak made a pessimistic autumn statement, stating that the Covid economic emergency has only just begun; record amounts of borrowing, and the well-trailed public sector pay freeze and cut to overseas aid, are the main points.
Diego Maradona, the flawed genius of a footballer, dies aged only 60. Peter Shilton chose the moment to whinge that Maradona never apologised to him for the infamous Hand of God goal.
Thursday 26th November
Anger and disappointment across wide swathes of the country, and ‘fury’ amongst libertarian, right-wing Tory MPs, as the Government announces almost all of England will be placed into the new, tougher Tier 2 or Tier 3 levels of covid restrictions. Sparsely populated areas of the country will be subject to more severe conditions than densely populated urban areas. There’s the usual ridiculous slew of anomalies, and there’s tipped to be a rebellion when the measures go before Parliament next week.
Friday 27th November
The retail empire of modern day robber-baron ‘Sir’ Philip Green, who sold BHS for a quid whilst leaving a massive hole in its pension fund, is on the brink of collapse. Arcadia, which includes such famous brands as Top Shop, Topman, Burton, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Miss Selfridge, and which employs 13,000 people, is on the verge of calling in administrators.
Apparently No. 10 wanted doses of the proposed new Astra Zeneca/Oxford virus to be labelled with the Union flag. Not even Trump has demanded that Pfizer or Moderna do the same with the Stars and Stripes for their vaccines.
Iran’s top nuclear scientist has been assassinated; the money’s on Israeli agents, backed by Trump, with the aim of undermining the Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
Saturday 28th November
Came down this morning to four separate piles of cat sick. Probably Roxy had eaten too much, and/or something that didn’t agree with her. Then we did our stint at the cat sanctuary this afternoon, and the residents had produced a disproportionately large amount of liquefied, aromatic brown matter which yours truly had the pleasure of removing.
The row over the tiers go on. Michael Gove points out that the NHS could be ‘overwhelmed’ if new rules were not introduced; this drew a furious response from some MPs who stated that claims of hospitals being at full capacity were exaggerated. Bojo is apparently offering them a vote in January regarding the possibility of extending them, or otherwise.
Liverpool were involved in more VAR controversy at Brighton. After conceding a penalty which was saved, Mo Salah (borderline offside) and Sadio Mane (slightly more obviously offside) had goals disallowed, and then, in injury time, Andy Robertson accidentally made contact with Danny Welbeck’s leg when trying to clear from within the penalty area, and the VAR review decreed it was worthy of a spot-kick which was converted. Jota’s earlier goal ensured the game finished all square, which on the balance of play was about right, but you can see why Klopp wasn’t too happy afterwards.
Monday 30th November
Woken by an enormous clap of thunder this morning. To compound matters, Roxy had been sick for the third day running. The morning was very wet, although it brightened up a bit later.
Arcadia finally went into administration, with 13,000 employees now at risk of losing their jobs, and a sizeable deficit in the pension fund. Vulture capitalist Mike Ashley, who was at one time thought to be hovering over the remnants of the retail empire, has decided not to pursue his interest. ‘Sir’ Philip Green, meanwhile, has moored his £100m superyacht in Monaco for some relaxed downtime.
It astonishes me to write this, but the Government today launched a policy initiative which rights a wrong caused by the EU. Under the Common Agricultural Policy, which is generally acknowledged to have been detrimental to the environment, farmers were paid subsidies according to the amount of land they own. With the proposed new scheme, the wealthiest landowners will see subsidies cut, and farmers will instead be given subsidies for environmental improvements such as restoring wild habitats, create new woodlands, boost soils, improve animal welfare and cut pesticide use.
But the Government is still seemingly prepared to risk a no-deal Brexit and crash the economy for an industry which provides just 0.7% of GDP.
Keith Prowse, who originally played the Green Cross Man but who achieved worldwide fame as Darth Vader, has died, aged 85.
Tuesday 1st December
Woken up by thunder again. At least Roxy hadn’t chundered in the night; judging from the fact she’s back to chasing and terrorising poor Lou, she’s back to her full rude health.
A hammer blow to the British retail industry, and a very sad day. Debenhams has gone into administration.
The Government suffered its biggest Boris-era rebellion, when 55 of its MPs voted against the new tougher three tier regulations. They still passed comfortably through the Commons, though, by 291 to 78.
Wednesday 2nd December
The UK’s medicines authority has approved the Pfizer/Biontech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, and in doing so enabled the UK to become the first western country to license a covid vaccine. It’s been developed by a US company and a German company and manufactured in Belgium.
Somehow, Tory MP’s are trumpeting it as a triumph for Britain, claiming that the vaccine would not have been approved for use so soon if we had still been part of the EU. Laughably, and embarrassingly, Alok Sharma, the UK business secretary, claimed the authorisation was a British success story. “In years to come, we will remember this moment as the day the UK led humanity’s charge against this disease,” he said. The truth is that the UK only approved the vaccine ahead of the EU regulatory body, because it had analysed a far smaller data set than that of its European counterpart.
Thursday 3rd December
That cross-breed between Frank Spencer and Private Pike, aka the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, added another incident to his already long list of embarrassments. He claimed that the UK was the first to roll out the immunisation as:
“I just reckon we’ve got the very best people in this country and we’ve obviously got the best medical regulators. Much better than the French have, much better than the Belgians have, much better than the Americans have. That doesn’t surprise me at all because we’re a much better country than every single one of them, aren’t we.”
The Guardian were being charitable when it stated that “it is unclear whether Williamson made his remarks in jest…..” It’s seemingly crediting him with a sense of humour not previously on display in public.
Brexit negotiations are on a knife-edge, with the stumbling blocks being the ‘level playing field’, future regulation, and the fishing industry, which contributes 0.12% of the UK’s GDP (i.e. one pound in every 833). The fishing industry and its supporters claim that as so many communities are so dependent on it, that it is worthy of special status despite its miniscule contribution to the economy. Obviously when the miners tried to deploy the same argument during the strike in 1984-85, they didn’t make that point forcefully enough, although of course as they were overwhelmingly Labour voters, that was never going to get much of a hearing with the government of the day. Of course it’s not as simplistic as that, as ‘sovereignty’ and territorial fishing rights are other components of the argument. But it’s a bit galling that the present government is willing to crash any prospect of some kind of a deal for the sake of an industry which accounts for such a tiny proportion of our total wealth.
Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, was arrested with four other men in connection with the fraudulent awarding of construction contracts in the city. One of the others is rumoured to be a certain Derek Hatton.
Saturday 5th December
Apparently one of the stumbling blocks for a Brexit deal is the French insistence for 10 years’ access for their trawlers to UK waters after the end of the transition period. Bojo and the European commission president Ursula von der Leyen held an urgent late night phone call in a desperate attempt to find some common ground. Johnson has agreed to go to Brussels next week in an attempt to find a solution.
Fans are being welcomed back to English football matches, albeit in limited numbers. Following the events in the US some six months ago, it has been an accepted routine for all players to ‘take the knee’ out of recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s OK that people may not necessarily agree with BLM, but to react the way a sizeable number of Millwall fans did today prior to their team’s encounter with Derby, was quite shocking.
It seems that some Millwall ‘fans’ have put their club out on a limb. They obviously had no regard whatsoever for the feelings of their own black players. There were no such problems today at Chelsea and West Ham, for example, where there had been historical issues with racism amongst fans.
Sunday 6th December
And it doesn’t help when one of Bojo’s inept front benchers puts his foot in it with a tactless intervention. Environment secretary George ‘Useless’ Eustace failed to condemn the Millwall booers. He actually stated that “my personal view is that Black Lives Matter, capital B, L and M, is actually a political movement that is different to what most of us believe in, which is standing up for racial equality.” And then he compounded this by saying that “… if people choose to express their view in a particular way that should always be respected.”
It is dismaying when a member of the public expressly states a Trumpian-style belief that it’s OK to say whatever the hell you like, no matter that it might offend or hurt someone. It’s appalling and astonishing that a member of the UK government endorses this philosophy. It just goes to show that there are those in senior positions in public life, who are not only failing to recognise that racism is still an issue in the UK, but are seemingly seeking to belittle it.
Spurs beat Arsenal 2-0 in the derby at White Hart Lane to go top again. But only on goal difference from the Mighty Reds, who swept Wolves aside by 4-0. At both matches, the ‘knee’ was respectfully and silently observed.
Monday 7th December
It’s all about Brexit. Specifically, the three obstacles to a deal are fishing rights (predictably and regretfully); the ‘level playing field’ whereby the UK government would have to follow EU environmental, social and labour standards as they develop over time or face tariffs on British exports; and a system for dispute resolution. The EU wants everything done and dusted by Wednesday at the latest, to give any settlement the chance for ratification by the European Parliament. In what is being expressed as a concession, or an ‘olive branch’, the UK side has offered to drop the offending clauses from the Internal Markets Bill (which comes back to Parliament this week, having been defeated in the Lords) which potentially are in breach of international law.
I still don’t think the British people as a whole have grasped just how important these negotiations are. Now that a vaccine for Covid has been found (and will be rolled out this week), there appears to be a combined feeling of relief, hope but also battle fatigue. Especially given the time of year, it seems people don’t feel able to engage with any more weighty issues for the rest of the year. If it comes to No Deal – and seemingly that is becoming increasingly likely – then the force of it will hit them like the proverbial ten ton truck. We are on the cliff edge, the edge of the abyss, for real right now.
Tuesday 8th December
Bojo will head off to Brussels later this week in a desperate last-minute bid to secure a trade deal with the EU.
Wednesday 9th December
First day of the coronavirus vaccination programme in the UK.
Thursday 10th December
Boris’s dinner with Ursula von der Leyen failed to make any progress in resolving the differences between the UK and the EU. Now the UK stands on the verge of a no-deal crash out if nothing is agreed by the revised deadline of Sunday.
British visitors will be banned from entering EU countries from 1st January under new coronavirus regulations, which (except for a small number of countries with very low infection rates) apply to all non-EU member states. Meanwhile, there are fears of higher prices and shortages of certain items in the UK, as the cost of shipping goods has soared, and also there are massive backlogs at UK ports, owing partly to delays in distributing imported PPE, and also due to companies stockpiling and bulk-buying to try and pre-empt any Brexit-related delays.
Friday 11th December
Johnson is warning the country to prepare for no-deal. School pupils in London, Kent and Essex are likely to be subject to mass Covid testing in the near future.
Barbara Windsor, East Enders & Carry On actress, died after a long battle against Alzheimer’s. She was 83.
Saturday 12th December
The Government hit new heights of Brexit absurdity when it announced it would deploy four vessels in the Channel to ‘protect’ UK waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Predictably, the Mail and the Express have splashed the story on their front pages.
Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel refused to take calls from Bojo regarding the ongoing negotiations. The protocol is that the UK and the EU negotiate through their appointed leaders and representatives. Johnson is going behind the EU’s back and trying to undermine their unity by asking for discussions with individual leaders. Right-wing Brexiteers are predictably in a foment, saying that Macron & Merkel are ‘disrespecting’ the UK. But it’s also an indication of the complete lack of trust that they have in Johnson and the UK government collectively. Bojo claimed that no deal would be ‘wonderful’ and acknowleged that it was now the most likely outcome.
Anthony Joshua successfully defended his heavyweight world title, knocking out Bulgarian opponent Kubrat Pulev in the 9th round.
Sunday 13th December
At the eleventh hour, UK and EU representatives agreed to extend Brexit negotiations indeterminately, realistically up until Xmas Eve.
John Le Carre, spy author of repute, died aged 89.
A below-par, sluggish Liverpool only managed a 1-1 draw away to struggling Fulham. They only got a point due to the ridiculous interpretation of the handball rule, which implies that any ball-to-hand contact, intentional or otherwise, is an offence and will be punished accordingly. A Liverpool free-kick hit a Fulham defender, who was in the wall inside the penalty area, on the upper arm; Mo Salah dispatched the resultant penalty none too convincingly. If I was a Fulham fan, I’d be feeling very sore right now.
Monday 14th December
Gerard Houllier died aged 73, following complications after heart surgery. He dragged Liverpool FC kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and gave Reds fans some fantastic memories. Unfortunately his judgement was not as sharp after his heart attack, but his contribution to the club cannot be underestimated. It’s a shame he and Robbie Fowler did not get on, but Robbie was gracious enough to leave a kind tribute on Twitter.
Concern is being expressed over a new Covid strain, which is seemingly more transmissible than the original one, as the Government puts millions of people in London and the South East into Tier 3 following a surge of cases believed to be related to the new strain.
Tuesday 15th December
Despite all evidence to the contrary, and despite stern advice from his scientific advisers, and a joint editorial from the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal, Bojo is adamant that the previously announced 5-day relaxation of the Covid rules for Xmas will not be watered down.
Thursday 17th December
The day before schools are due to break up for Xmas, the DfE announces that most schools in England will not now reopen until 11th January, partly on the grounds that the extra week would allow schools to set up the intended testing for all pupils. And all this after Private Pike had threatened schools in London with legal action unless they stayed open for the last week of term. The whole episode is symptomatic of the Government’s failure to consult and engage with school leaders and teachers.
In the meantime, increasing numbers of hospitals are reporting that they’re running out of beds.
Friday 18th December
We flew back to the Wirral for Xmas today. We had the dubious pleasure of being surrounded by a number of Her Majesty’s finest from West Yorkshire. Squaddies to the front of us, squaddies to the back, squaddies all around. I can only guess that once away from their regimented lives, they feel as if they’re off the leash and have no comprehension of the notion of consideration for others. To be fair, the expletive quotient was relatively low, but unfortunately the volume of their conversation wasn’t. Also, a few of them decided to dispense with their masks for a part of the flight. Just as well that it wasn’t the really late flight that we’re normally compelled to take.
After UNICEF announced it would be making a contribution of about £25,000 to provide breakfasts for children in Southwark, Jacob Rees-Mogg accused it of a ‘political stunt’ and said it should be ‘ashamed of itself’. It’s more a source of shame that one of the richest countries of the world has neglected some of its most vulnerable members to the extent that an outside charitable agency feels compelled to intervene.
Saturday 19th December
Liverpool whipped Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park, thus more than reversing the deficit from the Villa Park horror show.
The country was thrown into shock, when Johnson announced this afternoon that the five day period for the relaxation of coronavirus regulations would be reduced to just one. In addition, mixing of more than one household ‘bubble’ will not be permitted within newly designated Tier 4 areas, and travel to or from Tier 4 areas would be banned from midnight Sunday. This prompted an understandable rush of people rushing to mainline stations in London, bringing forward their plans to travel home for the festive period.
Bojo has had the best part of a week to take action to deal with the new variant strain. Instead, he mocked Keir Starmer and others who raised the issue in Parliament, and conveniently only made the announcement after Parliament had gone into Xmas recess.
Sunday 20th December
In response to the spread of the new strain in the UK, many countries in Europe and around the world, have banned all travellers from the UK. As if Brexit hadn’t had enough of an effect of putting the UK out on a limb, these measures make Britain even more of an isolated country. We are becoming the Billy No Mates of the international community.
France has imposed a 48 hour ban on unaccompanied freight from the UK. As a consequence, lorries have been backing up on the M2 approach to Dover. Most drivers have no access to food, toilet or washing facilities.
Predictably, Lewis Hamilton won the BBC’s SPOTY award, which is fair enough given that he won the F1 world championship for a record seventh time. It was gratifying, however, that Jordan Henderson was runner-up in the public vote, and Jurgen Klopp won the Coach of the Year award.
Monday 21st December
Bojo is apparently considering the compulsory testing of lorry drivers, in an attempt to relieve the tailback on the approach roads to Dover.
Ministers are at last beginning to see sense, and apparently are considering closing all schools for the whole of January. Eminent scientists are pleading with the Government to impose a nationwide lockdown at Tier 4 levels, or run the risk of a public health disaster in 2021.
There are some reports that the UK and the EU are edging towards a Brexit deal after the UK government apparently made a concession with regard to fishing, although predictably the UK side put a negative slant on proceedings.
Tuesday 22nd December
Thousands of lorries are now parked at Manston airfield. Hundreds are still tailing back along the M2. No-one’s thought to lay on toilet facilities or provide hot food for them. There were reports of confrontations between desperate, frustrated truckers and police who didn’t appear to be wholly sympathetic. At least the UK and French governments have come to an agreement to relieve congestion, believed to involve testing of drivers.
Recently the Trumptard has been denied the oxygen of publicity, so in a move sure to win back attention, he’s issued pardons to contractors who were servicing sentences for the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq.
Thursday 24th December
Early this afternoon the UK and the EU finally, at long last, agreed to a trade deal. I believe it involves some movement on the EU side regarding the UK’s fishing rights in its own waters, and the U.K. conceding on the issue of jurisdiction of divergence of future regulations. You suspect the negotiators were starting to tire of the whole thing and wanted to wrap things up in time for Christmas. What is undoubtedly a historic moment for the UK was in reality rather anti-climactic. Bojo was photographed at the moment the deal was finalised putting his thumbs up whilst wearing a Benny Hill style idiot savant expression, which jarred completely with Ursula von der Leyen’s dignified, rather sombre, elegiac speech. The right-wing tabs will no doubt be creaming themselves and praising Johnson as a hero. The population as a whole will be thanking ‘thank God it’s all over’; they’ve got more pressing matters such as Covid and Xmas lunch preparations to worry about,rather than Brexit.
Sunday 27th December
A most disappointing result for Liverpool today; they could only draw 1-1 at home to one-off-the-bottom West Brom, who have only won only one league game so far.
Hundreds of British skiers skipped quarantine isolation regulations in Switzerland, fleeing over the border of France. Brits had non-socially distanced parties in Sydney, incurring the justified wrath of the authorities there.
Wednesday 30th December
Covid infections soaring. More than 50,000 cases daily now, and 981 deaths today. The vast majority of the country is now in either Tier 4 or Tier 3, and there’s a growing consensus that the Tier 4 conditions aren’t strict enough.
Parliament ratified the Brexit trade deal by 521-73, even though there was only a day made available for scrutiny. Disappointingly, Keir Starmer whipped his MPs into voting for it, on the basis that ‘a thin deal is better than no deal’. Which is true, and it’s also true that Starmer wants to win back the Brexit-backing ‘Red Wall’ voters who switched to the Tories. But Labour MP’s could have abstained and the bill would have passed anyway; as it is, they’ve been made to legitimise a deal which they know will harm their constituents. Starmer claims he wants to make a clean break and set Labour on a new path, but he seems to be willing to cut Remain support adrift. Which party of influence will speak for us now?
At least the Government has come to its senses in the area of schools, although it’s only done so kicking and screaming. Secondary schools (with the exception of exam classes who will be returning as normal) will now not return until 18th January, to enable school staff to set up Covid testing arrangements for their students. Those arrangements include expecting teachers with no relevant medical experience, to oversee pupils aged as young as 12 who would be expected to stick a swab up the nostrils and down the back of the throat. Apart from the obvious liability risks, no thought appears to have been given to who will be teaching the kids, if the teachers are absent trying to administer tests.
Another disappointing result for Liverpool, a 0-0 draw at Newcastle.
Thursday 31st December 2020
The U.K. left the European Union at 23.00 tonight. I was in bed before then. All the Brexiteer cheerleaders and followers were no doubt creaming themselves at that very moment.
Tommy Docherty, the last of football’s great characters, died, aged 92. I reckon everyone (except for United’s physio, for obvious reasons) had a soft spot for the Doc, even though his Man Utd team made me cry when they beat Liverpool in the 1977 Cup Final, thereby denying us the Treble.
We returned to Cyprus today. We’d heard horror stories from colleagues who found their status stamps weren’t sufficient proof of residence for Easyjet flight staff. In the light of their experience, Easyjet wisely changed their policy, and we were fortunate enough to benefit from it. We had a rather brutal Covid test upon arrival in Paphos, but other than that the process wasn’t as arduous or stressful as we feared it might be.
Friday 1st January 2021
Happy New Year. Here’s hoping 2021 is infinitely better than 2020.
Private Pike has backtracked and allowed all primary schools in London to close for the next fortnight. He’d previously threatened legal action against schools in Greenwich who wanted to close before the holiday fortnight.
Saturday 2nd January
Teachers’ unions are advising their members to consider not going into schools when the new term starts on Monday. At least one Union is considering legal action against the Government. This after it came to light that Sage warned it was ‘highly unlikely’ that the pandemic would be brought under control if schools were reopened. There were renewed calls for Pike to resign. But despite this our leader said on Marr that schools were still ‘safe’.
Sunday 3rd January
Gerry Marsden, the Pacemakers’ singer, died, aged 78.
Trump has been caught on tape, speaking to the secretary of state for Georgia and asking him to ‘find’ enough votes to overturn the state’s already certified presidential election result. Of all Trump’s manoeuvres to try and overturn the election result, this is the one which has prompted most outrage, and there have been calls for him to be impeached again. In the meantime, 12 Republican senators have pledged not to ratify the national result.
It is rather concerning that so many senior Republican figures are still going along with Trump’s increasingly doomed attempts o overturn the result.
Monday 4th January
Good news – the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine was rolled out today. This was in the midst of increasing calls not just for schools to close down, but also for a complete national lockdown.
Which Bojo finally announced, not before time, tonight. One day after he claimed schools were safe, he now described pupils as ‘vectors of transmission’ and conceded that schools would probably stay closed for the whole of January. Yet another example of the Government being shamed into a screeching, last minute U-turn when being forced to confront with the actual reality of the situation.
I did something I shouldn’t have today. We should be in self-isolation for 10 days from our arrival back in Cyprus, but I went out to collect the cats, and also did a bit of shopping for ourselves and the two girls. In retrospect perhaps I should have considered not collecting the cats until the 12th, but it’s done now. Just hope the colleague who must surely have saw my car on the way back doesn’t snitch.
Tuesday 5th January
Man City legend Colin Bell died today, aged 74.
Wednesday 6th January
Astonishing, alarming scenes from Washington tonight (our time). A mob of hundreds of Trump supporters breached whatever flimsy security there was, and forcibly gained access to the Capitol, seemingly in an attempt to prevent the procedure for ratifying the results of the presidential election taking place in the chamber. This followed a rally held by Trump in Washington, in which he urged followers to march on the Capitol.
Apparently the Department of Defence (a government department, of course) initially declined a request from the DC state police to call in the National Guard. There are rumours circulating that the police protecting the building were infiltrated by Trump extremists, and apparently some officers were seen taking selfies with rioters. Lawmakers were seen taking cover behind benches and locking themselves in their offices as protestors ran amok.
Even Mike Pence has broken ranks, and now he’s regarded as a Judas and earned the wrath of the extreme Trumptards by presiding over the formalities of Biden’s ratification once the chamber had been cleared.
This is the result when a populist who somehow reaches a position of great power can communicate his messages, his philosophy, so effectively in the era of social media, where millions of gullible, ignorant people feel that untruths and conspiracy theories have far more credibility than actual facts because they happen to coincide with their own misguided, misplaced beliefs.
Trump’s legacy is a horrendously divided nation not perhaps on the brink of civil war, but certainly one where an alarmingly large proportion of the population think they are entitled to use force to undermine legitimate, robust democratic processes, and who are likely to regard politicians from the ‘other’ side as legitimate targets for violence and intimidation because the election was ‘stolen’. Joe Biden has a horrendous task in trying to defuse this powder keg situation, and it wouldn’t be the greatest surprise if an attempt were made on his life at some stage.
Thursday 7th January
The world is absorbing the shock of yesterday’s events in Washington. Democrats have been calling for Trump’s removal, either by impeachment or by invoking the 25th amendment. As this requires the consent of the Vice President, it’s thought that the latter course of action is unlikely.
Meanwhile, the Covid death toll grows apace in the UK. Yesterday, there were 1,041 fatalities; today, there were 1,162. Intensive care wards are in danger of being overwhelmed.
The Government announced that new arrivals in the UK will be required to show evidence of a negative test within 72 hours of their intended arrival. Horse, stable door, bolted. Many other countries have been taking this common sense measure ever since the first wave.
Brexit is starting to bear fruit. People in the UK & EU have complained that they now have to pay additional VAT and customs charges when purchasing goods from each other. There are reports of supermarkets in some parts of the UK running short of fresh fruit and vegetables. Under cover of darkness, Rees-Mogg has refused a six month extension to the Commons committee intended to scrutinise the Brexit process.
Friday 8th January
1,325 deaths today, the highest tally since the start of the outbreak. The total death toll is now just under 80,000.
Members of the Trump administration are resigning en masse. Not so much brave acts of defiance, but rats jumping off a sinking ship just as the bow disappears beneath the waves.
Liverpool beat Villa’s kids 4-1 in the 3rd round Cup tie. Villa were forced by an Covid outbreak to field a weakened team, but the Reds made heavy weather of beating them.
Sunday 10th January
Most disappointingly, Keir Starmer has abandoned a pledge he made when running for the Labour leadership, to commit to negotiate for freedom of movement in the wake of Brexit, stating that a renegotiation of the treaty with the EU would not be possible if Labour were to win the next election. It seems he’s opted to try and regain the support of the pro-Brexit ‘Red Wall’ voters, in preference to acknowledging that most Labour voters were pro-Remain. It seems that Remainers have been abandoned by Labour and now have no effective political home (with the Lib Dems effectively stymied by FPTP). Starmer is probably assuming (rightly, unfortunately) that Remainers will by and large vote for Labour, solely on the grounds that they represent the best hope for evicting the Tories from power.
Monday 11th January
Mass vaccination at 7 sites across the UK open today. This as the NHS is under its ‘greatest pressure ever’, and also amid reports that one in 5 may have had the virus.
Tuesday 12th January
Apparently Bojo went for a bike ride around the Olympic Park today, seven miles from No. 10. Not sure if this counts as being within his ‘local area’, in accordance with his own Government’s guidelines.
This comes amid a growing clamour for tightening of lockdown restrictions, following several reports of widescale infringements, ICUs being overwhelmed, and soaring infection, hospitalisation and death rates.
The bad news just keeps coming. Man Utd went 3 points clear of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League – with the same number of games played – after winning 1-0 at Burnley. It’s the first time since 2013 that they’ve topped the table at this stage of the season. The two sides meet at Anfield on Sunday…….
Wednesday 13th January
Outrage over food parcels supplied to vulnerable children which are supposed to replace free school meal provision. Each parcel is apparently supposed to last a number of days, but in many cases publicised on social media, both the quality and quantity of the food within was totally deficient and inadequate. In one case, a parcel supposedly worth the equivalent of £30 of vouchers, was priced up by the recipient at just over £5. The company providing many of these parcels, Chartwells, is a subsidiary of Compass PLC, whose recently departed chairman has both supported and donated to the Conservative Party.
Covid is getting worryingly personal now. The MIL’s care home has now reported cases and Mrs C is understandably worried about that. She’s also understandably anxious that our ultimate bosses have chosen to keep the schools open for ‘operational reasons’, insisting that they’re ‘safe’, and that because personnel on Cyprus don’t have the help of extended families like they would back home, care for children having to stay home isn’t so readily available. This overlooks the fact that most military families have one spouse at home at all times.
Our bosses insist that the lockdown regulations are broadly in step with both those of the UK and Cyprus. Except in the case of schools, obviously, where seemingly they do as they please, and teachers are seemingly regarded in the same light as the poor bloody infantry. There have been at least 4 cases of Covid – 3 current – amongst the Cypriot staff here, but the base authorities are not including them in their stats, well, because they’re not Brits presumably. If parents got wind of this, surely they wouldn’t want to send their kids in. The school wouldn’t function without the local staff, who have been put in a difficult position with relation to Cyprus restrictions, through no fault of their own. As it is, teachers must be dreading going in, knowing that they’re being exposed to a risk which is disproportionate to the nature of the job. The likes of military personnel, miners, firefighters, police, and front line medical staff are knowingly exposed to physical risks as part of their jobs. The same shouldn’t apply to teachers, or other school staff. But for the Bases authorities, it’s all propaganda, the control of the news agenda, the denial of reality of the existence of Covid on the bases. They claim there are no cases, but that’s largely because there’s minimal testing. If you don’t look for anything, you won’t find anything. How convenient for them.
The House of Representatives – including 10 Republicans – passed a motion to impeach Trump. He thereby becomes the first US president to be impeached twice.
Thursday 14th January
Just a bit of concern that the Government has approved the discharge of patients infected with Covid, back into their care homes. The difference this time is that apparently patients who have been in isolation for 14 days no longer present a risk and do not need to be retested.
Covid outbreaks in care homes have trebled in a month.
Schools have been told not to give underprivileged children free meals during half term. Another Rashford-inspired U-turn is on the cards, then.
The Government’s plans to introduce mass testing of school pupils are in disarray, owing to the doubts of the reliability of the lateral flow tests which they had intended to use for the purpose.
It rained here for the first time since we returned on New Years Day.
Saturday 16th January
The Government has belatedly introduced restrictions on new arrivals into the UK, who must now self-quarantine for 10 days upon arrival. Five million people aged over 70 will start receiving invitations to receive Covid jabs.
Over 400,000 records of incidences of crime, including some which should have been permanently retained, have been deleted in error from the Police National Computer. Pressure is growing on home secretary Priti Patel to give a full account.
Sunday 17th January
The Brexit chickens are coming home to roost. Stories of British companies encountering difficulties exporting their goods to the EU due to increased bureaucracy are becoming increasingly common. British musicians now have to apply for country-specific visas when touring abroad; this is a consequence of the UK government rejecting the EU’s standard offer of visa-free short stays – working up to 90 days in a 180-day period – and also its refusal to allow European acts 90 days of visa-free travel. There are reports of Dutch customs officials confiscating UK truck drivers’ ham sandwiches on account of them contravening EU rules relating to processed meats; one Dutch official is alleged to have said “Welcome to the Brexit sir, I’m sorry”.
Meanwhile, in a typically mean-spirited and opportunist move, HMRC has announced that from Feb 1st, it will charge hauliers caught in congestion waiting for clearance through Brexit customs checks will have to pay £50 per hour. The rationale behind doing so is apparently to, er, reduce congestion.
Former supreme court justice Lord Sumption has made an ass of himself. He initially stated on a BBC discussion show that he didn’t accept all lives are of equal value and implied that the lives of younger people are worth more. When a woman in the audience with stage 4 cancer stated that “With all due respect, I am the person who you say their life is not valuable”, he replied that “I didn’t say your life was not valuable, I said it was less valuable.” Sumption has been an outspoken critic of the Government’s lockdown measures on the grounds that they impinge too far on people’s civil liberties.
Liverpool failed to score for the third consecutive game when they were held to a goalless draw at home by table-topping Man Utd (how it hurts to write that again after so long). They bossed possession but created very few clear-cut chances, and had Alisson to thank after he made two fine saves. At the time of writing, they’ve now dropped to fourth – and will be even lower if Everton win their game in hand.
Monday 18th January
Fishing lorries from Scotland and Devon travelled to Westminster to protest against the forest of Brexit-generated red tape which is crippling their livelihoods.
Controversy over the Government’s current plan to end the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit payments in April. In a non-binding vote on whether to extend payments, six Tory MP’s defied Johnson’s instruction to abstain.
A new patient is admitted to hospital with Covid every 30 seconds. The death toll for the last few days has been as follows – 13th, 1,564; 14th, 1,248; 15th, 1,280; 16th, 1,295.
Legendary pop producer turned murderer Phil Spector died in prison, aged 81.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested upon his return to Moscow, after months in Germany recovering from Novichok poisoning.
A stormy day here today, the fifth successive day with rain. But today was certainly the wettest, with the rain, thunder and lightning peaking in the evening.
Tuesday 19th January
There are fears that people who receive the Covid vaccine will relax their guard and abandon lockdown rules. There are also concerns that the rate of vaccinations has fallen, due largely to a shortage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
As Trump prepares to leave the White House, he is apparently planning to issue more than 100 pardons. Thousands of troops involved in tomorrow’s inauguration are being vetted by the FBI, for fear that security forces have been infiltrated by hardcore, extremist pro-Trump supporters. Washington is unsurprisingly reported to be tense, and there are fears that Trump extremists may incite violence in the other state capitals across the US.
https://vip.politicsmeanspolitics.com/2021/01/20/front-pages-20-january-2021/ (as Paperboy is down?)
Wednesday 20th January
After four traumatic, turbulent, bitter, divisive years, it’s over. And the world breathes a sigh of relief.
The Trumptard skulked out of the White House on the presidential chopper, en route to Florida via Andrews Air Force Base, where he was the ‘guest of honor’ of a farewell party which resembled little more than a private gathering of family and friends.
In Washington, the skies cleared in time for the inauguration ceremony, and Joe Biden took the oath in bright sunshine. His speech stressed the theme of unity, and was balm after the stinging bitterness of the Trump era. Mercifully, the Trumpist extremists didn’t pull any stunts such as flying explosive-laden drones in the vicinity of the White House, and there were no reports of any other disturbances from the rest of the country. There were performances from Lady Gaga who belted out the national anthem, Garth Brooks, and J-Lo. Biden wasted no time in getting to work, signing executive orders which rescinded the ban from Muslim-minority countries; ending the redirection of emergency funds towards the construction of the Mexican border wall; revoking permits granted for the construction of an environmentally unfriendly pipeline; and allowed the US to rejoin the Paris climate accord. He will also being taking steps for the US to rejoin the World Health Organisation.
Storm Christoph is causing havoc back home, with many incidences of flooding in the south Manchester area.
In other news which may otherwise have snuck under the radar, the government narrowly won a vote against giving UK judges the power to ban trade deals with regimes who the courts deem to be guilty of genocide. So we’re free to do dirty deals, the likes of which even the hardline outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo balked at.
Thursday 21st January
In one of the most petty-minded Europhobic gestures this government has made, it is refusing to give full diplomatic status to the EU’s ambassador to the UK, on the grounds that it doesn’t want to treat an international body in the same way it treats a nation state. Strange that 142 other countries around the world have no such problem in doing so.
GP’s are reluctant to go into care homes with Covid infected residents to carry out vaccinations, despite care homes supposedly being given priority.
Malware has supposedly been found on laptops given to children using them for online lessons.
There’s apparently a proposal, subsequently denied by ministers, that payments of £500 are to be made to all persons to diagnosed with Covid, in an attempt to persuade them to self-isolate, rather than having to go out to work.
After missing a hatful of chances, Liverpool concede an 83rd minute penalty against Burnley at Anfield, and suffer their first home League defeat for four years.
Friday 22nd January
Alarming news that the new so-called ‘UK variant’ of Covid could be up to 30% more deadly than the original. The efficacy of vaccines on both the original and the new strains is not yet known for certain.
Saturday 23rd January
Talk of much tighter travel restrictions being introduced, such as ‘quarantine hotels’ which we’ve already had in Cyprus and Australia to name but two. Meanwhile, there’s a difference in opinion over the Government’s policy of delaying the follow-up jabs for the Pfizer vaccine until 12 weeks after the first one. Pfizer themselves recommend a maximum period of 6 weeks, and the BMA stated that the UK risked becoming ‘increasingly isolated internationally’ by following such a policy. But several eminent scientists supported the Government’s approach.
Staff at DVLA in Swansea are being told to carry on working, despite there being 500 reported cases of Covid in the offices.
Alexei Navalny is arrested upon his return to Russia. Subsequent protests across the country are met with predictably heavy-handed responses from the police.
Sunday 24th January
Man Utd 3 Liverpool 2. But it’s only the FA Cup.
Apparently there’s growing unrest amongst Tory MP’s about the prospects of schools remaining closed until March.
Monday 25th January
At last the Government is getting to grips with the reality of the situation. Only about nine months after most countries had introduced similar measures,my they will introduce ‘quarantine hotels’ for travellers from countries deemed to be high risk for Covid.
There have been violent anti-lockdown protests in the Netherlands, normally a bastion of good sense when compared with us.
Apparently EU citizens are being offered incentives to return to their home countries. A pretty blunt way of saying that ‘we don’t want you here anymore’. What next, internment camps for EU citizens? Elsewhere, utterly shamefully, unaccompanied child refugees will no longer be offered sanctuary in the UK. Yet another reason to ask just what kind of country we have become.
Tuesday 26th January
A grim milestone was passed today. The U.K. exceeded 100,000 coronavirus deaths. We’re averaging about 1500 deaths daily at the moment. Bojo insisted the Government ‘did everything we could’ and was ‘deeply sorry’ for the death toll, but couldn’t explain why one of the richest countries in the world, with a universal healthcare system, could have such a high death rate.
Wednesday 27th January
An embarrassing spat between Astra Zeneca and the EU over supplies of their vaccine. The EU is claiming that AZ’s failure to deliver the number of vaccines that were apparently promised in the contract has not been delivered, and they are claiming that AZ should now redirect supplies bound for the UK (who signed their contract with AZ three months before the EU did).
Good news – Man Utd lost 2-1 at home to bottom of the table Sheffield United. Liverpool may not retain their title, but surely on this level United aren’t good enough to take it off them, surely.
Thursday 28th January
The Government has announced that schools are unlikely to reopen before March 8th. Meanwhile, the European Commission is threatening to restrict – or ban – export of Covid countries to non-EU member states, partially in response to the chronic shortages of vaccines in certain countries, but also seemingly as a retaliatory measure against the UK. For once our government’s been quick out of the blocks in procuring vaccines for its people, whereas the EU has been made to appear inefficient and sluggish on this front. I normally side with the EU, but in this issue the threat of petty retribution isn’t a great look and is grist to the mill for Brexiteers.
Liverpool returned to form in fine style tonight, gaining a convincing 3-1 win away to Tottenham. They’re now only 7 points behind City, having played the same number of games. Hope springs eternal.
Friday 29th January
Good news on two fronts; the EU has backed down on its threat to limit export of jabs to non-member states, and two new vaccines, from Novavax and Janssen, have been shown to be effective against the virus.
I’ve decided I’m becoming too much of a news junkie for the sake of this blog….
Saturday 30th January
The EU’s initial decision to restrict export of vaccines to non-member states has unintentionally reignited the controversy over the effect of the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland. As explained by the Guardian, ‘the Brexit protocol affecting Northern Ireland was designed to stop the need for a border within Ireland. Article 16 of the protocol can be used to override the agreement in certain circumstances. The EU signalled on Friday that it would trigger the clause to stop Northern Ireland becoming a back door for vaccines to enter the UK from the bloc, but ditched the decision after a diplomatic outcry from Dublin and London.’
Tory MP’s intended to use the ensuing row to demand an overhaul of the protocol, which has led to trade difficulties between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Protests across Russia against the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny are intensifying. I wonder how long it is before Putin sends in the tanks?
The UK has applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade bloc consisting mostly of countries around the Pacific Rim. Does the Government intend trying to tow Britain over to south-east Asia?
Sunday 31st January
Liverpool showed they’re back in the groove with a convincing 3-1 win at West Ham. Only 4 points behind City now, albeit having played a game more. The two sides meet next Sunday at Anfield….
The army in Myanmar have performed a coup against the democratically elected government led by fallen heroine Aung San Suu Kyi.
Initial data indicates that road freight between Britain and the EU is down by about a third since January 1st. There are stories of carrots taking eight days from being ordered, to be shipped to Northern Ireland.
More disturbingly, asylum seekers being held at a former barracks in Kent allegedly rioted and set part of a block on fire after being kept in poor, cramped conditions, without electricity, heating and water, and with some inmates being diagnosed with Covid. Donations from volunteers are being refused, and residents are seemingly being denied access to legal facilities by the private contractors running the site. That evil individual Priti Patel suggested that the fire had been started deliberately, and in a statement, she said, disgracefully, that ‘the damage and destruction at Napier barracks is not only appalling but deeply offensive to the taxpayers of this country who are providing this accommodation while asylum claims are being processed. This type of action will not be tolerated and the Home Office will support the police to take robust action against those vandalising property, threatening staff and putting lives at risk. This site has previously accommodated our brave soldiers and army personnel – it is an insult to say that it is not good enough for these individuals’.
Well, Ms Patel, some British taxpayers are deeply offended that you see fit to incarcerate desperate, impoverished people in such shameful conditions.
Monday 1st February
The South African variant of Covid is seemingly rampant in the UK, and teams of medical areas in certain areas of the UK are performing door-to-door vaccinations.
Tuesday 2nd February
Sad news today; Captain Sir Tom Moore died today, three days after being admitted to hospital with a combination of pneumonia and Covid.
More bad news; Man Utd beat Southampton 9-0, although this is qualified somewhat by Saints having a man sent off within the first two minutes, then having another sent off later. It seems Southampton are required to have at least one 9-0 defeat per season, after having lost at home to Leicester by the same score last season.
On a happier note, there’s news that a single jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine could cut transmission by two thirds, and – unlike the Pfizer vaccine – guarantee protection of about three quarters up to 12 weeks.
Wednesday 3rd February
A rather depressing day. Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Brighton, their second successive home defeat. With City having beaten Burnley earlier, surely the title’s gone now. Injuries have played a part, undoubtedly, but some key players have suffered dips in form, and others are either approaching or past 30. Even great sides only tend to last a couple of seasons; the Reds could be in for something of a (hopefully short) transitional period.
Also, apparently Labour plan to win back lost voters by appealing to their sense of patriotism. It’s depressing that they feel the need to ape the Tories in this way; I don’t recall Tony Blair espousing the Union Jack in the way that Keir Starmer has.
Thursday 4th February
Ulster Unionists and right-wing Tories are clamouring for the Brexit protocol to be radically altered, in the wake of cross-Irish Sea trading difficulties, and Ursula von der Leyen’s vaccines faux pas last week.
10 million Covid jabs have been given to UK citizens to date, way ahead of just about all other European countries.
Sunday 7th February
Mercifully, a few quiet news days. Apparently UK exports to the EU are down by 68% since Brexit kicked in on January 1st.
Liverpool are now in crisis mode. They were beaten 4-1 at home by Manchester City, and are now 10 points behind having played a game more. It was 1-1 about halfway through the second half when Alisson made two catastrophic errors, within three minutes of each other, both of which led to City goals. The title has gone now, and there’s a danger that the loss of confidence as a team will snowball out of control, such that their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League, let alone winning the title, will be in jeopardy. I don’t think Jurgen Klopp’s had to deal with a situation such as this for a long time. It’s the first time the Reds have lost 3 successive games at Anfield since 1963, and the title triumph now seems like a fast receding memory.
There are fears that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is less effective against the South African variant of Covid.
So-called Storm Darcy is ushering in a week of cold, snowy weather in the UK, especially on the eastern side of the country.
Wednesday 10th February
Trump’s impeachment trial has started, and apparently Donnie’s disgusted by his own legal team’s performance so far.
Three and a half years after the Grenfell disaster, the Government today belatedly announced £3.5m extra funding for those leaseholders who have been indirectly affected. The corrupt, pudgy-faced housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced that leaseholders living in blocks higher than 18 metres would be given grants to cover the cost of removing cladding – but those living in shorter blocks would only be offered ‘low-interest’ loans to cover the cost. The scheme does not cover any fire-related costs other than those to replace cladding (e.g. for fire wardens, other remedial works). Residents in affected blocks have had to pay increased insurance premiums and have been unable to obtain mortgages for their properties, or have had them rendered unsaleable, and have endured the fear and stress of having to live in a potential death trap.
Also, uproar after the Government threatened travellers to the UK with the possibility of a 10-year prison sentence if they tried to conceal that they had recently visited a Covid hotspot. New arrivals will have to foot a £1,750 bill for 10 days ‘self-isolation in hotels specifically requisitioned for the purpose. But – astonishingly – controls are still so lax at airports some individuals have still apparently gone through UK border control without being asked for proof of a negative test, or being asked to show their passenger locator form.
Presidio County in Texas doesn’t usually have a lot happening, but it became the centre of the world’s attention after a lawyer testifying in an online Zoom hearing unwittingly appeared as a cat, after being unable to remove a video filter. The judge put the video out on social media, and predictably it went viral.
Thursday 11th February
Happy birthday Dad.
It beggars belief that despite the Government’s obvious catastrophic ineptitude in handling the coronavirus crisis, and innumerable examples of corruption, it’s still obtaining around 40% in most recent opinion polls. How this has come to pass staggers me. Maybe people have become so brainwashed by the country’s predominantly right-wing MSM that any administration, no matter how corrupt or incompetent, is better than a Labour government. And obviously there’s a hardcore of the electorate who will always vote Tory (their vote share has not fallen below 31% in any post-war election). But my contempt is spared by the Red Wall voters who defected from Labour to support a party which has been overtly hostile to the interests of the working classes, just because Bojo promised them that he’d ‘get Brexit done’. No matter how much harm the Tories might do to them personally, or their families and communities, they’re clinging on to the golden vision of unicorns prancing around on those mythical sunlit uplands.
It’s convenient for the Tories, for their supporters in the media to churn out opinions which support their agenda, safe in the knowledge that large swathes of the electorate are not sufficiently informed to challenge them. And it’s convenient that under them, the education system does not equip pupils with the tools to question established cultural beliefs and give them the motivation to change the existing system. We are a nation of mushrooms; we’re kept in the dark and fed with bullshit.
Friday 12th February Last night the temperature plunged to -23C in Braemar, making it the lowest temperature recorded in the UK since 1995. The January just gone was the coldest in the UK for ten years. Meghan Markel (aka the Duchess of Sussex) won her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday. The case revolved around a letter she had written to her estranged father. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced plans for a reorganisation of the NHS, which are intended to better integrate health and social care, and stop the practice of inviting trusts to tender competitively in the market to provide certain parts of their existing functions. Saturday 13th February The right-wing tabs are making great play that the Government is likely to hit its target of 15m people being vaccinated today. In reality, it's got bugger all to do with the Government, and everything to do with a heroic effort on the part of the NHS and its staff. The evil Priti Patel described last summer's Black Lives Matter protests as 'dreadful', also saying she wouldn't be prepared to take the knee, and that policing came under a great degree of unwarranted pressure, adding that 'I don't support protest'. That last part is open to being taken out of context, but is displays the kind of authoritarian mentality that she possesses. Some good news; the coronavirus R number fell below 1 for the first time since July. Some bad news; Liverpool slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Leicester, after bossing most of the game and after having taken the lead. Leicester equalised after Thiago, who is seemingly struggling to adapt to Klopp's desired style, conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area, which was converted. Them another catastrophe for Alisson, who collided with new boy Karak to let Jamie Vardy run the ball into an empty net. The defence went AWOL for Leicester's third.
Sunday 14th February
To no-one’s surprise, Trump was acquitted of all charges raised during his second impeachment. Only 7 Republican senators voted to find him guilty, thus leaving the number who voted for impeachment ten short of the necessary two-thirds majority. Minority Senate leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, accused Trump amongst other things of a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’. But still voted to acquit him.
Both the Mail and the Telegraph claim that we’ll be able to have picnics in the park again from March 8th, and that pubs will be open again by Easter. Right-wing Tories, the so-called Covid Recovery Group, are demanding that the Government loosen all restrictions by the start of May.
Monday 15th February
Half term hols. Mrs C & I went for a walk on our local beach, which is only accessible by walking down a mile-long track. The weather turned surprisingly quickly; from being a really nice, sunny, warm early afternoon, the clouds and rain moved in very quickly and the temperature had plunged by quite a few degrees just an hour or two later.
Tuesday 16th February
Cold and wet, so I suppose I no longer had an excuse for not repainting the bathroom ceiling.
Liverpool gain a surprisingly comfortable 2-0 win against Leipzig in the away leg of their Champions League last 16 tie, played in Budapest because of German Covid travel restrictions.
Fears have been raised for the wellbeing of Princess Latifa, one of the 25 children of the ruler of Dubai, one Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who amongst other things is famous for owning racehorses. Apparently she is being held hostage in a villa guarded by several armed policemen, but the family insist she is safe and happy with them. Just a bit embarrassing for the Queen, and for several people in the racing industry who are dependent upon the Sheikh’s patronage for their wellbeing. If he pulled out of the UK, several Newmarket yards would suffer gravely, and the town’s economy would do likewise. A bit of a conundrum for the local MP who’s a big fan of the Sport of Kings, one Matthew Hancock.
Thursday 18th February
Right-wing Tories and tabs are becoming increasingly vocal and restive in their calls for Covid restrictions to be eased. Today’s front-page headline in the Mail: ‘Now take the brakes off, Boris’.
The 99-year-old Prince Philip is admitted to hospital with a minor complaint.
In America, provocative, racist, sexist shock-jock Rush Limbaugh dies aged 70, of lung cancer. Back in 2015, de poured scorn on the notion of smoking being fatal, stating that ‘smokers aren’t killing anyone’. As someone (not Mark Twain, apparently) once said, ‘I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure’. No loss.
Much of the US is being affected by severe winter weather. The situation appears to be most severe in Texas, where – due to the state’s innate mentality of ‘independence’ (it might be called ‘stubbornness), its electrical grid is not connected to the national network by virtue of the fact that they didn’t want it to be rendered vulnerable to federal ‘interference’. Consequently, in circumstances where demand for power exceeds available supply – such as now – they can’t import power from other states. As a result, people’s homes are unheated, water supplies have been severely disrupted, shops have run out of food, and at least 20 people have died. All this in the world’s richest country.
NASA have landed a rover on Mars. Yawn.
Keir Starmer made a major speech today, stating Labour’s aims for the future, one of which was a so-called ‘recovery bond’. But not a mention of the elephant in the room that is Brexit.
Facebook scored another spectacular own goal by refusing its Australian arm to share news content from other sources.
Friday 19th February
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, acted unlawfully by failing to publish multibillion-pound Covid-19 government contracts within the 30-day period required by law, a high court judge has ruled.
So it’s just as well from his point of view, then, that this news was overshadowed by the announcement that the Duke & Duchess of Sussex would be permanently giving up their roles as working members of the royal family. Consequently, their royal patronages and honorary military appointments were to be ‘redistributed’ amongst other working Royals. And this in a run-up to a much-trailed forthcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey.
I know that Harry has made a choice to be with the love of his life, but it seems a shame that he’s being relieved of the patronages of causes which he cared for, and about which he was greatly passionate. But it’s really harsh for him to be receiving so much criticism from certain quarters, bearing in mind everything he had to endure in his early years. There appear to be some in the British establishment who seen determined to deny him any happiness or peace in his life.
Saturday 20th February
And just to prove the previous point.
Earlier in the week, the Mail had joyfully announced that Meghan was expecting her second child. They were playing a rather different tune today. Their front page screamed: ‘Have they no respect?’, and claimed that they ‘blasted back’ at the Palace’s statement with a ‘churlish insult’.
One bit of good news; care home residents can have one appointed visitor who will be entitled to physical contact, effective from 8th March. That’s the date when Bojo is expected to start relaxing certain Covid restrictions. One of these relates to the reopening of schools; Johnson is understood to be pushing for all schools to reopen, much to the consternation of the CMO Chris Whitty.
One bit of bad news; Liverpool lost at home to Everton – for the first time since 1999 – making it 4 successive home defeats – the first time this has happened since 1923, and the first defending champions to achieve this unwanted distinction since, er, Everton in 1928-29. To cap it all, Jordan Henderson went off with a hamstring strain.
Sunday 21st February
Starmer is not covering himself in glory. Apparently the Labour leadership is trying to dissuade its MPs from making any mention at all of Brexit when asking questions in the Commons, when being interviewed, or when posting on social media. And now he comes out in an interview with Sky, saying that he would not call for Mr Hancock to resign over the court ruling, saying it was “not what the public really want to see”. Excuse me, but isn’t the point of the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition to actually oppose, and not acquiesce in Government wrongdoing? Isn’t the Leader of the Opposition supposed to be holding the government to account over its numerous transgressions?
It’s predictable that all the embittered Corbynistas, who would seemingly the Tories remained in power than have Starmer as PM, have predictably come out in droves to have a pop at him in social media. But now even moderate MPs and supporters are expressing doubt over Starmer’s leadership credentials.
Monday 22nd February
Bojo announced his long-awaited ‘road out of lockdown’ today, emphasising that the Government was taking a very cautious approach, which on the face of it is an accurate summary – except with the absolutely reckless addition of all schools – for all years – reopening on the same day, March 8th. Whereas Scotland and Wales are having phased reopenings. But predictably, the so-called Covid Recovery Group of Tory right-wingers complained that the measures did not go far and fast enough. What exactly is their personal motivation for being so aggressive about the release of lockdown conditions?
Tuesday 23rd February
Tabs predictably jubilant about the forthcoming relaxation of restrictions. Disappointingly, even the Mirror fell into line.
Prince Philip has now been in hospital in London for 6 days, with what has been described as an infection. I know the old buffer has a remarkably robust constitution for a man of his age, but the announcements coming out of the Palace have the air of truth being concealed, and I suspect his condition is worse than has been admitted to date.
It was revealed in the Guardian that to date at least 6,500 people have died during the construction of stadia and associated infrastructure for the World Cup in Qatar next year. I seriously hope the whole thing goes tits up, that there are thousands of unsold tickets, and that FIFA and the sponsors lose shedloads of money.
Amongst other assumptions and calculations, university modellers have estimated that reopening all schools would increase the R number by between 10-50%.
Wednesday 24th February
I’ve been prepared to cut Matt Hancock a bit more slack than most other cabinet ministers. He may have been a bit out of his depth, and he has been involved in his share of cronyism, but to a large extent he’s been used as the lighrning conductor, the whipping boy, for the Government’s abysmal failures in handling the pandemic. But then he goes and puts his foot in it by claining there was no shortage of PPE, when there so obviously was.
The Government’s plans for vaccination passports are being discussed; their rationale is that proof of vaccination history will entitle people to gain entrance to pubs, clubs & bars, and book foreign holidays. Others claim they could be used to infringe people’s civil liberties, and in some cases some occupations might be expecting employees to provide proof of a vaccination or lose their jobs. (Speaking of holidays, there was a five-fold in enquiries for getaways in the wake of the ‘roadmap’ announcement the other day). There’s concern that the rate of vaccination is slowing due to supply issues.
Tiger Woods was involved in a car crash near his LA home. It’s not known if he was intoxicated, or travelling from the scene of one of his infamous away games.
It’s all kicking off in Scotland. Former SNP allies Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, mentor and protege, have now become bitter enemies. The rift took root following allegations of sexual harrassment against Salmond by two female civil servants in 2018. In the subsequent inquiry, Salmond accused Sturgeon and her closest associates of conspiring against him; he won damages against the Scottish government after they admitted acting unlawfully in the course of the investigation.
Salmond was acquitted of multiple charges of rape and sexual harrassment last March; in not so many words, he appeared to accuse Sturgeon of martialling his supposed victims in a conspiracy against him, and threatened to make public certain information about certain people which could not have been disclosed during his trial. Two enquiries have been set up to investigate the affair, one consisting of a committee of MSP’s, and the other by an Irish QC. Salmond’s supporters are alleging that Sturgeon’s backers have been obstructive towards both enquiries. It’s been alleged that Sturgeon’s husband put pressure on the police to take action against Salmond. In addition, the Scottish prosecution service seemingly forced the parliamentary committee into removing parts of Salmond’s written testimony which supposedly included explosive allegations against certain individuals. Meanwhile, the Irish QC is investigating claims that Sturgeon broke the ministerial code when she told parliament that she hadn’t heard about the allegations against Salmond, until a few days after she and Salmond’s chief of staff had an unminuted meeting in her Scottish Parliament office – when she is said to have been told about the allegations against Mr Salmond for the first time. There were seemingly two breaches of the ministerial code that occurred; firstly, that she misled Parliament as to when she was first aware of the allegations, and secondly, as a consequence of the meeting in her office not being recorded.
It’s all very messy and complex; Salmond is due to testify in front of the committee on Friday. Normally, any breach of the ministerial code would be expected to lead to a resignation. But given the times we live in, some are saying there would be no surprise if Sturgeon followed Priti Patel’s lead and refused to go.
The Commons voted by 340-225 to remove amendments made by the Lords to the Fire Safety Bill, which would have insured leaseholders would not have to bear the costs of replacing potentially dangerous cladding; and also require building owners to inspect fire doors and lifts on a regular basis. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of leaseholders are facing the prospect of being burdened with bills of up to £100k. A Home Office minister, Kit Malthouse, said the amendments tabled in the House of Lords and by backbench MPs were “well-intentioned” but were not sufficiently detailed and could even delay repairs.
The bottom line is that this is a shameful dereliction of duty on the part of the Government to ensure that people are not exposed to undue, unnecessary danger and can live their lives safely. They are wilfully neglecting one of the essential responsibilities of any Government. It’s utterly shameful.
Thursday 25th February
I’ve been found out.
I was made aware of my previous mistake, which I removed. I was then made aware that there were certain similarities between my own activity, and someone with a particular name. I think my face was straight enough to get away with it. But I’m just astonished that there’s actually someone monitoring these things with such a fine-toothed comb. Honestly, have these bastards got nothing better to do with their time?
Gavin ‘Frank Spencer’ Williamson announced today that exams would be voluntary, and that teachers would be given the power, i.e. responsibility, to award suitable grades.
Astonishingly, England lost the third Test against India within two days. They made only 112 & 81 in their innings; India replied with 145 & 81-0. The suspicion is that the pitch at the new Ahmedabad stadium is largely to blame for this freak result. It will also be the scene of the fourth and final Test.
Friday 26th February
The High Court threw out Shamima Begum’s appeal for her to restore her British citizenship, and return to the UK to stand trial. For a country to declare a person stateless is really quite a serious step to take.
Sunday 28th February
Studies reveal that just one jab of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalisation from coronavirus by as much as 90%.
The successful Covid vaccine rollout has boosted Government popularity in the latest opinion polls. Why are people so stupid to understand it’s nothing to do with Bojo and his inept crew?
| Trump made its first public appearance since leaving the White House, at the CPAC summit in Orlando, where it strutted the stage, spouted all the usual rhetoric and made the usual baseless claims about the election, and hugged the Stars & Stripes. It was noticed that the stage design as viewed from above, resembled a rune that was used by the Nazis. This surely could not have been accidental. |
Sheffield United 0 Liverpool 2. Hallelujah, a win! Albeit away to the bottom club, and with the assistance of a VAR-aided first, and a wicked deflection for the second.
Monday March 1st
Quite an eventful day. There’s alarm that the Brazil variant of Covid has now been identified in six UK citizens who recently returned from that country; apparently this variant is more transmissible and more resistant to existing vaccines than other strains. Five of the six have been identified and are now self-isolating in line with existing requirements. There’s a frantic search for the sixth, whose positive result ‘is likely to have resulted from a home postal test or a test collected from a local authority, and the infected person did not fill out their details properly’. The infected individuals returned to the UK before the belated introduction of the ‘quarantine hotels’ scheme, which otherwise would more than likely would have prevented the subsequent possible spread.
The UK government has been severely criticised for slashing aid to Yemen by more than half. Yemen has suffered gravely from a war being fought between Houthi rebels and the government which is backed by Saudi Arabia, which in turn is supplying them with arms manufactured in the UK, and which is involved in committing war crimes against the rebels and the civilian population. So much for an ethical foreign policy. So much for ‘Global Britain’.
Prince Philip was transferred to St Bartholomew’s today; he continues to fight an undisclosed infection, and requires treatment for a longstanding, underlying heart condition.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was jailed for corruption; quite a spectacular fall from grace. If it were only possible to use it as a precedent for UK prime ministers indulging in grossly disproportionate political patronage.
A picture emerged of Gordon Elliott, one of the most successful trainers of recent times and the handler of dual Grand National owner Tiger Roll, sitting on a dead horse whilst making a mobile phone call. It’s a shocking look for someone whose trade depends on humane treatment of animals, and an appalling image for a sport whose detractors aren’t slow to criticise it for any alleged incidence of cruelty. The image may have been uploaded and circulated by a vengeful former associate, but Elliott should not have allowed himself to have been caught in such a compromising position, and for the good of the sport he needs to be made an example of, especially in the run-up to the Cheltenham Festival.
A judge today ruled that former Labour Party staffers who leaked details of a report investigating anti-semitism within the party – which included records of several private communications which were highly critical of then-leader Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership team – should not be identified, on the grounds that if their identity came to light, they could come to harm of some way. The case was brought by another former staffer, Emilie Oldknow, who apparently had taken the party to court to try and force it to reveal the identity of the staffers. The leakers would have been Corbyn supporters, so it can only be assumed that Oldknow – the wife of shadow health minister Jonathan Ashworth – wanted to pursue the case for personal reasons, given that it’s her who brought the case against the Labour Party.
Oldknow has been ordered to pay the Labour party’s costs and has been refused permission to appeal. Predictably, the Corbynistas were jubilant on social media afterwards, playing the ‘I’m Spartacus’ role by using the hashtag #ILeakedTheLabourReport.
Tuesday 2nd March
Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of disregarding legal advice that the case against Alex Salmond was unlikely to succeed and would involve a significant amount of public funds.
Liverpool legend Ian St John died, aged 82.
Wednesday 3rd March
Had my Covid jab today. I’m one of 20,703,615 people who’ve received their first vaccination.
Crap day at work. All the reports I printed out were wrong as they weren’t displaying all of the subjects; I only became aware of this tonight when Mrs C told me. I’m pretty sure it’s an issue with the crap MIS we have to use, and not as a consequence of any error on my part.
The Budget. Sunak didn’t raise the income tax thresholds, and will increase corporation tax from 19% to 25% from 2023, for companies declaring more than £250m in profits. Furlough has been extended until the end of September. But there’s no extra cash for the NHS or social care.
Claims are emerging that Meghan bullied staff during her time bullied staff in the royal household, in what appears to be an increasingly bitter war of words. Oprah’s interview with her & Harry is due to be broadcast in the US on Friday.
Nicola Sturgeon had a marathon 8-hour session testifying to the MSP’s enquiry into alleged harrassment by Alex Salmond. In an emotional session, she denied there was a conspiracy against her former mentor, described the deep personal hurt she felt about the whole affair, and felt he should apologise to his alleged victims to everyone she feels he had let down by his behaviour. But several deeply damaging allegations were also brought to light, which were extremely uncomfortable for her, and are threatening to make her position untenable.
Thursday 4th March
Outrage after the Government announced it’s only planning to give NHS staff a 1% pay rise this year, claiming that context is required as other public sector staff are not receiving any kind of salary increase.
The EU is delaying ratification of the Brexit trade deal, and accused the UK government of breaking international law for a second time after it unilaterally announced the extension of the grace period for checks on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland. The move was apparently initiated by Lord Frost, the hardline Brexiteer who led the negotiations, seemingly just as a provocative action to see how the EU would respond. Legal action – and the possibility of no-deal as a consequence of no ratification – is not an impossibility as a consequence.
Philip Rutnam, the former Home Office permanent secretary, reached an out-of-court settlement of £340,000 after he sued Priti Patel as a consequence of alleged bullying. One would imagine that unfortunately, as part of the deal, he had to sign a NDA.
King Kenny was 70 today. Unfortunately, Liverpool could not give him a present, as they slumped to their fifth successive home defeat, 1-0 at the hands of Chelsea.
Was a bit groggy this morning after the Covid jab, but otherwise I was OK.
7/3 – Frost tells EU to ‘stop sulking’ over Brexit; Liverpool’s 6th straight home defeat
Sunday 7th March
Liverpool suffered their sixth straight home defeat today, 1-0 against one-off-the-bottom Fulham.
The Sunday Telegraph splashed with the headline ‘Lord Frost tells EU to stop sulking over Brexit and make a success of it’. Whilst he didn’t actually use those words, he was quoted as saying that the EU should “shake off any remaining ill will towards us for leaving, and instead build a friendly relationship, between sovereign equals”.. Bearing it’s his confrontational, hardline stance in the negotiations which is largely to blame for any animosity, it’s a bit like throwing a petrol bomb into your neighbour’s house, then telling them not to be bit pissed off or resentful about it.
Monday 8th March
Meghan & Harry’s interview with Oprah has been broadcast on CBS in the States. It contained some explosive revelations and claims. She said she felt suicidal at one time; that a member of the Royal Family (not the Queen or Philip, she hastened to add) expressed concerns about the colour of her (then unborn) baby’s skin; that the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry (not the other way round, as originally claimed by some); and that at one time Prince Charles stopped taking Harry’s calls. But she went out of her way to praise the Queen.
Reaction has been predictably mixed. As Meghan was a friend of Oprah, the interview was always going to portray the Duchess in a favourable light and be one-sided. Some have made justifiable criticism that owing to the relationship between interviewer and subject, there were never going to be any probing questions, and that the other side of the story had not been heard to enable people to form fair judgements.
Some have doubted the veracity of the claims she made; this might be justified, I guess we’ll never know, but who would question the sincerity of someone who has claimed she was in such a bad place mentally that she would consider taking her own life? I guess there is always going to be the accusation of self-publicity, bearing in mind Meghan is an actress by trade and she’s normally very confident in the public eye (especially, some cynics might say, now she’s back on home turf). Entirely foreseeably, she’s now being accused of causing irreparable damage to the Royal Family. I guess there was an element of score-settling, and maybe some of it could have stayed in-house; and also, it could be said that she could have done her homework before marrying into ‘The Firm’. But having done so, and having obviously experienced difficulties into adjusting into the royal lifestyle, she might have expected to have received some assistance with adjusting to her new environment.
The amount of vitriol being aimed in her direction is totally disproportionate to any errors of judgement she has (undoubtedly) made; not just by the usual suspects (i.e. the tabs), but also by people who should know better.
Only the coldest of hearts could not feel any sympathy for Harry. He had a wretched start in life, and he couldn’t be blamed for holding a jaundiced view about the British media. He was always going to put his wife and family first, and he’s now caught in a very unfortunate situation in which there’s a great distance, and not just in the geographical sense, between him and his blood relatives. Notably, his father and William (who, along with the Queen, are deserving of considerable sympathy), who are both in a difficult position in the light of the revelations. It’s hard to see how the rift between the brothers can be easily healed. It’s very unlikely that Harry will be going back for any Xmas family reunions; the only get-together on the horizon is Philip’s funeral, which will be awkward in the extreme, you’d imagine.
Either way, both Meghan (and Harry by default), and the Royal Family have been the recipients of a lot of mud thrown in their direction, some of which will inevitably stick. But those who really deserve to come out worse of this whole sorry affair are the British media who have magnified this issue out of (its admittedly) considerable proportion, especially those who have vilified someone who they deem to have not toed the line, or who for reasons they are aware off, they deem not to conform to the stereotype.
All the while, the real royal scandal is overlooked; Andrew must be egging Meghan on from the sidelines, begging her to continue in the same vein to deflect attention from him. It’s strange that whilst the tabs have in the past led the moral crusade against anyone associated with paedophilia, they’re treating this particular case with kid gloves, presumably because they view Meghan’s rocking of the royal boat as a more serious matter than any potential offence committed by a Royal insider. There again, should anyone be surprised by the double standards and hypocrisy displayed on a regular basis by the right-wing media?
Elsewhere – schools went back; and the much-vaunted Nightingale hospitals, which were only ever used to a small fraction of their capacity, were closed down.
Tuesday 9th March
The Palace issued a conciliatory statement in the wake of the interview, admitting that issues of race raised by Meghan were concerning, but stating that whilst ‘recollections may differ’, Harry & Meghan would always remain much-loved members of the Royal Family.
In recent months, Piers Morgan appeared to have transformed himself (in the eyes of some, anyway) from provocative, loudmouth presenter, to just about the only person in the public eye who has regularly been holding the Government to account over its catastrophic handing of the pandemic. What a pity, then, that he’s gone and squandered all of that hard-earned goodwill by an ill-judged reaction to criticism by his GMB co-presenter, Alex Beresford (who happens to be mixed-race) of his continuing, increasingly spiteful criticism of Meghan. He stormed off set, saying that ‘I’m done with this’, and subsequently – after Ofcom had received more than 40,000 complaints about his behaviour that morning – announced that he had left the programme.
Inevitably, people have taken sides over the issue. One of the more startling developments was the release of a statement – apparently not cleared by its board – from the Society of Editors, headlined “UK media not bigoted”, which claimed laughably and disgracefully that Meghan’s claims that parts of the media were racist were “not acceptable”, whilst insisting that the UK media “has a proud record of calling out racism”. Unsurprisingly, there has been a significant degree of controversy and pushback.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned against shortening the 5-week gap between each reappraisal by the Government, warning that by doing so would risk a new spike. He did actually say that an increase in cases was expected anyway once conditions were relaxed, but any shortening of the timespan would risk accentuating any likely spike.
Germany team manager Joachim Low announced that he will be stepping down after the forthcoming Euros. The news prompted inevitable speculation that Jurgen Klopp would be a candidate for the position, speculation which was swiftly denied by Klopp himself.
Thursday 11th March
A police officer serving in the diplomatic arm of the Metropolitan Police has been arrested on the suspicion of the murder of Sarah Everard, who went missing after leaving a friend’s home to walk back to her home in Brixton. Human remains were found in a field in Ashford.
The head of the Society of Editors was shamed into resigning after his provocative statement that the UK media was not bigoted.
When visiting a London school, the Duke of Cambridge emphasised that the Royals ‘were very much not a racist family’. Mainstream news, for whatever reason, chose to make it their main story. Just a few short words magnified out of all proportion. He was hardly going to say they were, was he?
The murder of Sarah Everard has galvanised campaigners for women’s safety; there were plans for widespread candlelit vigils tomorrow night. Violence against women now stands at the top of the social media agenda, alongside racism, and quite right too. Shockingly, it’s been revealed that 97% of women in the UK have suffered some form of sexual harrassment.
Saturday 13th March
Shameful scenes tonight, as a vigil for the murdered Sarah Everard was broken up forcibly by police. Women were physically manhandled by male officers, and one woman was pinned down on her front by a number of police. Technically, the gathering was illegal due to Covid regulations, but the amount of force used by officers was totally disproportionate to any perceived threat of disorder or violence. The organisers did apparently approach the Met beforehand to try and obtain their consent and co-operation for a peaceful vigil (seemingly not acknowledged). There have been cross-party calls for Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner, to resign.
Murray Walker, the doyen of moror racing commentators, died, aged 97. Former middleweight champion Marvin Hagler also passed away, aged only 66.
Sunday 14th March
In the light of last night’s evidence, there’s growing concern and alarm over legislation relating to the right to protest, which will be debated in the Commons over the next two days. In Europe, despite an upturn in infection rates caused at least in part by the tardy vaccination rate, some governments – France, Germany, Italy & Ireland included – have delayed rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the grounds that some recipients subsequently suffered from blood clots. The number affected is very small, however, and the risk of coming down with a clot is heavily outweighed by the benefits of vaccination using the AZ jab. The action taken by these countries seems totally disproportionate to any potential risk, and it is likely that many will die needlessly as a result of this unwarranted action.
Monday 15th March
Liverpool got a welcome win at Wolves, the only goal coming from fit-again Wolves old boy Diogo Jota.
There is further controversy over the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill being debated in the Commons. Proposed new sentencing for defacing statues could be as long as 10 years, whereas the current maximum sentence for actual bodily harm is only 5 years. Disappointingly, it passed its second reading by 359 to 263.
In a ‘major reappraisal’ of the UK’s defence and foreign policy strategies, the Government announced a 40% increase in the maximum number of Trident nuclear warheads that it is permitting itself to stockpile. At a time of a Covid pandemic, when there’s apparently only enough money to give frontline NHS staff a 1% pay rise.
Tuesday 16th March
It’s Ladies Day at a crowd-free Cheltenham, where Rachel Blackmore, riding the mare Honeysuckle, the well-backed favourite, becomes the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle.
There’s increasing pressure on the Government for an independent public enquiry into the Covid pandemic. They continue to insist that ‘now is not the time’, presumably hoping that public anger will have subsided and that there will be other political priorities by the time they actually get round to calling one.
Wednesday 17th March
An almost comical, bitter-sweet moment at Cheltenham today. Michael O’Leary, the controversial, outspoken head of Ryanair, had previously withdrawn his dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll from this year’s race, on the grounds that the handicapper had allocated him too much weight and had not taken his poor form this season into account. It seemed at the time like a fit of pique, and it seems even more so in the wake of the horse returning to form and romping to victory in the cross-country chase today. I bet, and I hope, he feels pig-sick with his decision now.
Dominic Cummings deigned to appear in front of the Science & Technology select committee; he described the Department of Health as a ‘smoking ruin’ in the wake of its failure to provide sufficient PPE, and used that as justification for the vaccination programme to be removed from the department’s remit. This was generally regarded as being a swipe at Matt Hancock.
An independent review criticised the FA for failing to act on numerous instances of child abuse within football.
Thursday 18th March
The latest madcap, inhumane scheme from Priti Patel to process asylum seekers, involves taking them to Gibraltar and the Isle of Man; unsurprisingly, no-one thought that consulting the authorities there would be a courteous thing to do. At least it would be closer than the Ascension Islands.
A delay in vaccine supplies will put over-50 vaccinations in the UK back by a month. In the meantime, the EU is apparently threatening to withhold Pfizer exports to the UK. So it’s just as well that the European Medicines Agency, an arm of the EU, has approved the Astra Zeneca vaccine as being safe for use; some EU member states had been reluctant to roll it out on the grounds of the aforementioned blood clot scare. A third wave is building in Europe, so one would have thought that governments on the continents would have been desperate to accelerate, not hinder, the abysmally slow rollout of vaccines. Dare I say it, but there does appear to be a bit of envy, jealousy and resentment towards the UK on account of our own government’s success in this area.
Friday 19th March
A committee of MSPs found that Nicola Sturgeon misled Scottish parliament over her testimony to the Salmond enquiry. But its judgement is of rather limited value, given that its members split along predictable party lines.
Racing’s new golden girl Rachel Blackmore couldn’t quite put the cap on a golden week by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup. She elected to ride A Plus Tard, but was beaten by just over a length by his stable mate Minella Indo, with hat-trick seeking Al Boum Photo back in third.
Saturday 20th March
Don’t usually bother with rugby, but Wales’s hopes of the Grand Slam disappeared as they blew a 10-point lead and lost to France in Paris in extra time.
Sunday 21st March
Pleasant afternoon around with friends. Probably had too much to eat; certainly had too much to drink.
A protest against the Government’s forthcoming policing legislation in Bristol was, all too predictably, hijacked by anarchists and extremists who proceeded to attack officers and police vehicles.
Leicester beat Man Utd in their FA Cup quarter final tie; they’ll join City, Chelsea & Southampton in the semis.
The Government is threatening to take over the running of Liverpool city council in the wake of former mayor Joe Anderson’s arrest on corruption charges. I don’t think that is going to go down too well with the locals.
Monday 22nd March
A blockage problem following yesterday’s excesses ensured the day didn’t get off to the best start, but it had been forgotten about by the afternoon.
Southern and eastern Australia is being hit by catastrophic floods, a little over a year after the apocalyptic fires of last summer. Maybe Australia’s not ‘the lucky country’ after all.
The vaccines squabble is becoming more unseemly, undignified and petty, as the EU moved to try and block any exports of the Astra Zeneca vaccine to the UK. Meanwhile, amid a growing clamour from the usual suspects for the relaxation of restrictions to permit holidays abroad, the Sage experts advised caution on the grounds that allowing Brits to go overseas would run the risk of vaccine-resistant variants being imported into the UK on their return. Probably not a wise idea anyway, as the third wave seems to be increasingly out of control on the continent.
Tuesday 23rd March
The first anniversary of lockdown, and a day of nationwide reflection to remember the 126,000 lives lost to date.
The Government is proposing raising £5,000 fines on people who leave the UK ‘without reasonable excuse’. An independent inquiry led by an Irish QC concluded that Nicola Sturgeon did not break the ministerial code, so she is free to fight the forthcoming elections.
Wednesday 24th March
The evil Priti Patel has proposed that asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK will be refused the right to remain, regardless of whether they have a genuine right to claim asylum. This is supposedly a means of reducing a backlog of cases which is ‘overwhelming’ the Home Office. It’s nothing to do with the fact that Patel is so incompetent that she can’t get to grips with her own department’s inefficiences, or that she might be pandering to her party’s hardcore base of supporters. Not much, anyway….
The Government has announced new guidelines, stating that all Government buildings should fly the Union flag every day of the year, also stating that it would expect local councils to do the same. This lot’s obsession with the flag is just ridiculous. Government ministers are deservedly being mocked for appearing on TV with one in a prominent position in the background. Some no-mark Tory MP criticised the BBC for a lack of union flags in its annual report. This Government is determined, amongst other things, to convert us into a more nationalistic nation, and change the fundamental character of the British people, and not for the better either. Alarmingly, if recent opinion polls are anything to go by, they appear to be succeeding.
Thursday 25th May
Wet and very windy here today. I think it’s been the coldest March since arriving here in 2004.
About 12% of the world’s traded physical goods pass through the Suez Canal. It’s now been blocked by the Ever Given, a 200k tonne container ship, which has either end on each bank after losing the ability to steer during strong winds.
Friday 26th March
Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad. 61 years!
Protests outside a school in Batley after a teacher showed a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed in a lesson on the theme of blasphemy.
Now that Alex Salmond’s seemingly in the clear, he’s decided to form a new party, the Alba Party, with the similar aim to the SNP of obtaining independence. Hopefully, his new party will split the Nationalist vote and provide Labour with a way of recapturing the seats they lost to the SNP. Also, what with the fallout from the Salmond-Sturgeon split, the high water mark of the independence campaign has now hopefully passed. At least for the time being. But Labour have got to be agile enough to take advantage of this situation.
The Mail and the Express playing their usual game of whipping up expectations ahead of the partial relaxation of lockdown conditions in England from Monday, which will coincide with a spell of warm weather. Just as well that the Easter weekend is forecast to be cold.
Two footballing legends, Peter Lorimer and Frank Worthington, passed away this week.
Sunday 28th March
News about the extent of sexual abuse in about 100 mostly private schools came to light as a result of postings to a website set up to expose misogyny.
The BBC is now so wary of offending the Government that in this morning’s review of the papers on Marr, the Mirror’s front-page splash on Bojo’s affair with Jennifer Arcuri, placed at the bottom of the pile, was not even shown on screen. Recently the Beeb’s DG, Tim Davie, announced the scrapping of the political satire show The Mash Report, on the grounds that it was supposedly too critical of the Tories.
Another night of unrest in Bristol. Whilst protests there have undoubtedly hijacked to some extent by extremist anarchists, that does not excuse some of the aggressive tactics used by Avon & Somerset police; stamping on protesters who were prostate on the floor, ‘blading’ (using the edge of their riot shields as offensive weapons), and in one case punching a female journalist in the face.
Whilst the military continue their brutal clampdown in Burma, China is becoming increasingly belligerent. Beijing this week imposed sanctions on democratically elected politicians in the West, in response to the UK, US and EU on four Chinese officials. China’s stance in numerous issues – clamping down on protests in Hong Kong, creating artificial islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, its attempted intimidation of Taiwan, the ongoing persecution in Tibet, and now the alleged genocide of Uighurs – will surely at some stage need to be challenged by the West. Apparently president Xi Jinping is intent on persuading Western countries that the US is now a failed state, and if they know what’s good for them, they’ll accept the inevitable and throw their lot in with China. Appeasement – both political and commercial – must surely stop at some stage soon, or else the world could be entering a dark era where the peace is endangered by a tyrannical superpower seemingly intent on domination.
Monday 30th March
The first day of relaxation of lockdown conditions in England coincides with a spell of gloriously warm weather, with temperatures of 24C in London, making it the warmest March day since 1968. Cue all too predictable scenes of mass gatherings, litter droppings, and drunken disorder in parks in Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield (and no doubt in other venues which were not publicised to the same extent). That will be the ‘common sense of the British people’ on display again.
HM Inspectorate’s enquiry into the Met’s behaviour at the Sarah Everard vigil concluded that the force’s behaviour was proportionate to the situation and not unduly heavy-handed. Meanwhile, Minneapolis – and indeed the hole of America – is tense, as the trial of the officer accused of the killing of George Floyd gets underway.
Thursday 1st April
A storm of controversy as a Government enquiry into racism concludes that racial discrimination isn’t as significant a factor in social inequalities, as geography, family influence, socio-economic background, family and religion.
A debate over the trial of so-called Covid passports, which has united such unlikely allies as Jeremy Corbyn and Iain Duncan-Smith against them on the grounds that they infringe civil liberties. It would seem that the onus for checking them would be on pubs, clubs and other establishments, so unsurprisingly the hospitality sector has come out against them as well.
Friday 2nd April
Woken up by a pain on the left side of my right foot, by my big toe. I thought I’d sprained my foot (on the right-hand side) a couple of weeks ago, but this was a different affliction. It was a dull, throbbing pain, rather similar to toothache but obviously in a different location. My first thought that hopefully it’s nothing worse than a sprain (I did fear I might have broken a bone, but surely if that were the case the pain would have been properly severe). After an interrupted night’s sleep I didn’t wake up properly until 10.15, and rang the med centre to make an appointment.. They are of course closed due to the Easter weekend, except for emergencies.
Care home residents will be allowed two visitors a time, from 12th April.
Monday 5th April
Had people round for tea tonight. My tagine is a winner!
Tuesday 6th April
Liverpool put up a limp performance tonight, going down 3-1 away to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Wednesday 7th April
The weather has suddenly got a lot warmer. On the way to our walk in Trimiklini today, the car thermometer was registering 26C, and it was rather too hot and hazy to be ideal. Didn’t help that (thanks to suspect signposting) we got lost. At least we had a nice coffee at the end.
Thursday 8th April
To be honest, I’ve given up trying to exhaustively keep on top of all news stories recently, primarily because it’s easier doing so when I’ve been at work. Two stories have been dominating recently, namely the increased risk of blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccine, and six consecutive nights of disorder caused by Loyalist youths in Northern Ireland.
The AZ vaccine has apparently caused 7 deaths as a result of blood clots. This from a total vaccination of 18m people. There’s more chance of getting killed crossing the road, but for some reason the UK media (and, it has to be said, certain European governments) are making this out to be a major issue. British medical authorities have repeatedly confirmed that the risk of developing clots, or any other major side effects, from the AZ vaccine is minor compared with the risk of contracting Covid by not taking the vaccine.
The disturbances in Northern Ireland are perceived to be a consequence of the Brexit deal, which led to the province effectively being treated as an entity separate to the rest of the UK. It’s only now, however, that the practical consequences of that are starting to come apparent, in terms of obstacles to what was previously ‘frictionless’ trade, and it’s only now that the penny has dropped with the more militant Unionists.
It’s strange that the vaccine issue has continued to garner far more attention from the British media than the Ulster unrest. The latter is largely a consequence of Bojo’s botched Brexit deal; cynics are saying that the AZ issue is merely a ruse, yet another ‘dead cat’, to keep the focus away from its full consequences. The media are giving more attention to Johnson’s various lab-coated visits to scientific establishments, whilst giving very little space to anything he might have to say on the growing crisis in Northern Ireland.
Friday 9th April
We were invited to meet friends for lunch today. In line with Covid restrictions, and despite the chilly breeze, we had to sit outside in the sun, which was rather stronger than I’d bargained for. Four large bottles of Keo and three hours later, my face had assumed a darkish shade of pink. During our time there, the news of the death of a 99 year old man came to light. Predictably, Philip’s passing dominated the news in the evening, and numerous tribute programmes were transmitted.
Saturday 10th April
Grand National day! Some calls for the meeting to be cancelled in the light of Philip’s death were treated with appropriate contempt. As it happened, I couldn’t watch the race live as we’d been invited to a colleague’s wedding. We were delayed on account of a car having broken down ahead of us, and I had to give the driver a hand in pushing the car out of the way. It was a very pleasant service, and we adjourned to the beach bar for food afterwards; I had a gargantuan club sandwich which not even I could finish. We popped into the mess for a few more drinks with the bride and groom, but we had to sit outside, and I was starting to shiver owing to the unseasonably cool weather by the time we headed for home. To my horror, and much to Mrs C’s annoyance, I’d picked up the office keys, rather than the front door key, when we left. Luckily, she was able to get in the house via the downstairs bathroom, so the ticking-off I received was not as intense as it would undoubtedly have been otherwise. So all’s well that ended well; we got back in and the cats were fed, although predictably it was wall-to-wall Philip on the telly; I watched the recording of the National (and the redirecting of some of my money to Betfair – none of my 3 were ever in contention). Rachel Blackmore continued her dream season by becoming the first female jockey, aboard Minella Times, to win the race.
At least Liverpool ended their run of rotten form at home; they beat Villa 2-1 with an injury-time winner from Trent.
Sunday 11th April
Apparently the Beeb’s been flooded with a record number of complaints regarding its excessive coverage of Philip’s passing, but to be fair to them, they’re not the only guilty ones.
The Royal bereavement has undoubtedly deflected some focus from what would otherwise – in normal times – pass for a major scandal. Former PM David ‘call me Dave’ Cameron has been trying to lobby senior Government figures – including sending texts to Chancellor Rishi Sunak on his private phone, no less – in order to try and secure loans under the Government’s Covid loans scheme for Greensill Capital, a company involved in taking on responsibility from creditor companies, for collecting payments from their debtor companies. Greensill’s founder just happened to be an unpaid advisor for Cameron when he was PM; Cameron in turn worked for Greensill for a spell after leaving No. 10, and once had a shareholding in the company believed to be worth millions.
One of the latter was Liberty Steel, a major legacy company from British Steel. It just so happens that Greensill has now collapsed, and many bills owed to Liberty remain unpaid as a result, putting thousands of jobs with the latter at risk.
Monday 12th April
A landmark day in the so-called ‘road to recovery’ from Covid, as barbers, hairdressers, beauty salons, shops, and pubs and bars with outside seating areas, were allowed to reopen. As if someone was trying to send a signal that this wasn’t necessarily a good idea, it was bitterly cold across just about the whole of the country, with snow as far south as southern England. It didn’t stop hundreds of people queuing outside stores in the early hours, or drinkers waiting outside pubs at breakfast time, then either sitting inside hastily erected marquees or braving the cold outside, or revellers (a fair proportion of whom were not socially distanced or wearing masks) sitting outside pubs in Soho, Manchester’s Canal Street, and other epicentres of city centre nightlife, regardless of the evening chill. There were reports of widespread non-wearing of masks in major shopping areas.
There were only 13 registered Covid deaths in the UK in the figures announced today; with many people seemingly taking a cavalier attitude towards the safety not just of themselves but also of others, it’s unlikely to stay that way. You just have to hope that the vaccination programme will ameliorate the effects of any potential third wave.
Tuesday 13th April
Shirley Williams, former Labour cabinet minister and one of the SDP’s original Gang of Four, died, aged 90.
Wednesday 14th April
It transpires that a former top civil servant was advising Greensill whilst still employed in David Cameron’s government as head of procurement. Meanwhile, Tory MP’s defeated a Labour motion which would have established a cross-party committee investigating lobbying in general.
Liverpool are out of the Champions League after a goalless draw at home to Real Madrid.
Thursday 15th April
RIP the 96.
The second anniversary of the Notre Dame fire.
Bojo has ordered an ‘independent’ inquiry into the wider issue of lobbying. He’s nominated as chairman, a lawyer who used to work for a firm of solicitors who lobbied David Cameron during his premiership, trying to persuade him not to tighten the existing rules on lobbying. Make your own mind up about that.
In a nutshell, because it’s getting exhausting keeping tabs on all this:
https://twitter.com/paul__johnson/status/1382294223144292354
Joe Biden announces all US & NATO troops will leave Afganistan by 11th September. In the meantime, Russia is apparently moving troops en masse to the border with Ukraine.
Details of Philip’s funeral were released. Rather poignantly, the Queen is going to sit alone, and Peter Phillips will be strategically placed between William and Harry. In addition, as Harry was unceremoniously stripped of his military titles when he retired from royal duties, Her Majesty decided that the men would not be wearing military attire to spare Harry any humiliation.
Friday 16th April
Matt Hancock and his sister have sizeable shareholdings in a company which could possibly stand to benefit from being nominated as a preferred NHS supplier.
British Gas made several employees redundant, as they refused to sign new contracts which were on significantly worse terms than their existing ones.
The actress Helen McCrory died today, from cancer; she was just 52.
In November, Labour and the Tories were level-pegging in the polls. Now most polls have the Tories about 6-8% ahead. The perceived success of the vaccine rollout (actually a triumph for the NHS, very little to do with the Government) has benefited Bojo and his corrupt crew, and has seemingly trumped the Brexit ‘teeting problems’, the continuing accounts of obvious corruption and cronyism, and their initial disastrous mishandling of the pandemic.
If the roles had been reversed and Labour had been responsible for these combined shitstorms, the press would have absolutely slaughtered them. But a depressingly large percentage of the electorate are ignorant enough, or gullible enough, or quite frankly fucking stupid enough, or quite possibly all three, to swallow all of the lies being spoon-fed to them by the MSM. Our education system doesn’t seem to encourage questioning of established conventions, orthodoxies, and interpretations of history. And of course, that’s exactly how the bloody Tories want it.
I recently read an article which explored ‘Red Wall’ voters’ motivations for voting Tory at the last election. The overwhelming feedback from Labour party canvassers was that they wouldn’t vote Labour because they didn’t like Corbyn. In which case, why didn’t they just fucking abstain, rather than voting Conservative? My contempt for these morons knows no bounds.
At least the weather’s finally getting warmer here.
Saturday 17th April
Philip’s funeral. I didn’t watch it as I was having a nap, but there was a very poignant image of the Queen, dressed entirely in black, sitting entirely alone in St George’s Chapel. Apparently Harry & William exchanged a few words in the course of the day, which hopefully will herald a thaw in their relations.
In a turn-up, Chelsea beat the seemingly invincible Man City 1-0 at Wembley in the first FA Cup semi-final.
We went to a colleague’s house for a barbie tonight. Yours truly ate to excess and appreciated every mouthful.
Sunday 18th April
A quiet Sunday was meandering to a close when a bombshell announcement came through. 12 leading clubs, including six English ones, announced they would be joining the ‘European Super League’, a midweek competition. Initially there would be 15 clubs, with room for another 5 based on previous season’s attainment. There would be no scope for relegation, or promotion (unless nominated).
It wasn’t just the nature of the proposals – effectively a closed shop divvying up vast amounts of TV largesse between them, with no scope for ‘smaller’ clubs such as Leicester and West Ham who are currently occupying Champions League qualifying places – as the way in which they were publicised with very little forewarning – or consultation. Fans of all clubs – including those of the ‘Big Six’ joiners – came out collectively in disgust against them. Gary Neville made an impassioned diatribe against the proposals.
It seems as if the member clubs are gambling that any loss of gate revenues as a result of their regular supporters boycotting them, will easily be exceeded by the TV revenues from the vast potential markets of followers in areas such as Asia. UEFA, FIFA and the domestic leagues in England, Italy and Spain (French and German clubs declined to be involved) have threatened sanctions including the possibility of players being banned from international football if they participate in the breakaway competition.
It’s obviously been months in the planning, for so many interested stakeholders to be kept in the dark until the announcement was made. As a Liverpool fan, I can only say I feel betrayed by the owners. They have invested a good deal of time and money in cultivating a cordial and trusting relationship with the fan base, but that didn’t seem to enter their minds when millions were dangled in front of their eyes. I can imagine the hardcore fanbase is livid with them right now, and quite right too. It seems like Fenway are in the same rank as the Glazers and Abramovich when it comes to greed.
This could be the end of football as we know it.
Elsewhere, Leicester beat Southampton 1-0 in the other Cup semi at Wembley, in front of 4,000 fans.
Monday 19th April
The backlash against the ESL is dominating the news today. It put in the shade another football story which would normally have dominated the sports headlines; Tottenham have sacked Jose Mourinho after 17 fraught months in charge, just 5 days before they’re due to play Man City in the Carabao Cup Final. Things must have been really bad for them to dispense with his services just a few days before such a big match. There have been the usual rumours of Mourinho victimising individual players, uninspiring training sessions, defensive tactics, abrasive style, etc. etc. All the usual Jose tropes on display.
Elsewhere, some gobshite landlord in Bath took great exception to Keir Starmer trying to enter his pub, on the grounds that he supported excessively restrictive lockdown conditions.
America is on edge as it awaits the verdict on the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed George Floyd.
Tuesday 20th April
Towards the end of the day, it was announced that Man City and Chelsea would be withdrawing from the ESL.
After spending £2.6m of taxpayers’ money on a briefing room, the Government announced that planned White House-style TV briefings for the media – apparently the baby of the unlamented Dominic Cummings mini-me Lee Cain – are not to proceed. Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton – who had previously said, with tongue not in cheek, that he ‘acts with integrity and is honest’ in the light of revelations about his affair with Jennifer Arcuri – is to be redeployed to dealing with the COP26 climate change summit.
Wednesday 21st April
A massive news day.
Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all counts – second and third degree murder and manslaughter – relating to the killing of George Floyd. To some degree he may have been made an example of, but you would hope now that any serving police officer in the US will think twice about applying excessive force, whether it be armed or unarmed, towards a member of the black community.
And the ESL has collapsed. All but 4 of the proposed founder clubs have announced their intention to withdraw, in the light of the furious backlash to the plans.
Thursday 22nd April
News dominated by fallout from yesterday’s big stories. Liverpool’s principle owner, John W. Henry, makes a grovelling apology by video from his Boston pad, whilst Man Utd’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward resigned from his post.
Elsewhere, it comes to light that Bojo has been giving out his personal phone number willy-nilly to all sorts of contacts, and consequently he’s bombarded by texts from the likes of James Dyson, the Brexit-supporting vacuum cleaner manufacturer who had such faith in the UK that he relocated his corporate HQ to Singapore. A ‘source’ has revealed that at the start of the pandemic, Johnson promised Dyson that his staff wouldn’t have to pay extra tax if they came to the UK to make ventilators. This after other companies who specialised in that particular field had informed the Government that they were ready to receive orders, but received no reply.
The former veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer, a confirmed Brexiteer and right-winger, resigned – or, as some suspect, jumped before he was pushed – after failing to secure immunity from prosecution for members of the armed forces. In a blistering farewell shot, he said:
“This is the most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in, in government. Almost nobody tells the truth is what I’ve worked out over the last 36 hours.
“And, you know, I don’t think anyone really can get on their high horse about trust and ethics and all the rest of it in politics, because as far as I’m concerned, most of it is a bit of a cesspit.”
Now I’d lost faith in believing that was such a thing as a Tory MP with a conscience, and Mercer wouldn’t have been the first name that sprung to mind. But maybe he is an honourable man after all, although no doubt there are some amongst the current motley crew and their supporters that his resignation as a point of principle is seen as a sign of weakness. Maybe he’ll be seen as the first rat that jumped off a sinking ship?
Friday 23rd April
And speaking of rats, who should come crawling out of the woodwork now but King Rat himself, Dominic Cummings. Government sources (presumably in this case whoever is Cummings’ successor) claimed that Cummings is behind the leaking of the texts behind the PM and Dyson.
In a furious rebuttal of this claim, he replied in a lengthy entry in his blog that Johnson tried to quash an inquiry initiated by himself, into leaks regarding changes to Covid lockdown conditions, that might implicate an ally – namely Henry Newman, a friend of Carrie, who has since moved from the Cabinet Office to No. 10. Cummings told Johnson that this was ‘mad’ and totally unethical, and that he couldn’t cancel an inquiry simply because it might implicate friends of his girlfriend.
Moreover, Cummings alleged Johnson had sought funding from Tory donors for an amount over and above the permitted £30k, for refurbishment of the Downing Street flat. Cummings said in his blog that he told the PM ‘I thought his plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he intended’. He concluded by saying that ‘it is sad to see the PM and his office fall so far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves’, which of course a bit rich, seeing as he was heavily involved in Vote Leave’s activities of dubious legality himself, and took an integrity opt-out for his little drive up to Barnard Castle.
Cummings is due to appear in front of a select committee next month, where no doubt he’ll spill more beans. It’s a bit ironic, bearing in mind his previous notorious reticence about appearing in front of such committees, but on this occasion it obviously suits his purpose.
There are claims that Johnson personally phoned newspaper editors who he presumably believed to be sympathetic to him, to target Cummings with the leak accusations. It does seem strange that Bojo (at the behest of Carrie, apparently) chose to pick a fight with Cummings, knowing that not only does the latter have masses of dirt on him, but also that Cummings now has the motivation to spray it around, and will use any means necessary to put Johnson in a bad light. It’s coincidence, I’m sure, that Cummings’ mate Michael Gove, who’s been conspicuously absent from the public eye, is now back in circulation, having been spotted visiting a vaccination centre in his constituency.
Elsewhere, dozens of former Post Office workers had their convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting quashed by the court of appeal on Friday after one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
The decision to clear 39 subpostmasters led to immediate calls for a full public inquiry and for them, and the hundreds caught up in the scandal, to be properly compensated.
Some of the convicted workers were sent to prison, others lost their livelihoods and their homes. Many went bankrupt – and some died before their names were cleared.
So far, those who have been offered compensation are to receive less than £22,000 each after legal fees.
Saturday 24th April
Growing fury amongst MPs, as a poll reveals 40% of voters believe the Government is corrupt. Only 40%?
They have ruled out an enquiry into the pandemic on the grounds that it is not the right time, implying that staff are too busy at the moment. Understandably, this did not go down well with the families of Covid victims.
Liverpool could only draw 1-1 at home to Newcastle. They had more shots than when they beat Palace 7-0, but Newcastle got a late equaliser, and would have won it if a highly dubious VAR intervention not gone against them.
Sunday 25th April
Horrific accounts coming out of India. More than 3,000 Covid deaths a day, more than 300,000 new cases a day. Apparently, in Calcutta every other person is testing positive; hospitals are running out of oxygen; the health service is on the brink of collapse. If there is a hell on earth, it’s probably in India right now.
I know this jars, but we went for the famous Sunday lunch at a local restaurant with our older Brexiteer friends today. We made the most of the opportunity because Cyprus will be going back into lockdown for two weeks starting tomorrow.
Monday 26th April
I awoke at 2.30 this morning and just couldn’t get back to sleep. As a last resort, I turned on my mobile, logged into Twitter, and this is what came up:
Bojo is now finding out that it’s not a very good idea to make an enemy of Cummings.
There really isn’t much more to say about this. It’s possibly the most astonishing, shocking headline relating to political news that I’ve ever seen.
Later, more than one source confirmed independently of each other, that Johnson did indeed say those words, shouted out in frustration after a cabinet meeting, within earshot of a number of officials. Predictably, Johnson denied saying them, as did Michael Gove deny hearing them, saying that the PM did not use those words in the meeting. But Bojo has previous for making crassly insensitive remarks; during a visit to Libya a few years ago, he predicted that the country had a bright future once “they clear the dead bodies” away”.
If it is proved that he did say them – and it has been rumoured that Dominic Cummings has recordings of this and other incriminating verbal evidence – then surely the offence caused and the sense of revulsion will be so great, that you would have thought his position will be untenable. On the other hand, the moral vacuum at the heart of Johnson’s administration is so great that he will almost certainly try to just weather the storm, and continue on, for what passes as ‘normal’ nowadays, regardless.
He will certainly leave a legacy of some kind, one aspect of which is the imprisonment and arrest of the dual UK-Iranian national Nazanin Zagari-Radcliffe, who has already been held in Iran since 2016. Today a court gave her an additional year’s prison sentence, and a year’s travel ban once that had expired. In 2017, during his tenure as foreign secretary, Johnson said that she was ‘teaching people journalism’ at the time of her arrest, when she was actually visiting her family. His typically tactless remarks are believed to have harmed the chances of her application for release being approved at that time.
Tuesday 27th April
As well as the ‘bodies piled high’ remark, Bojo is embroiled in a scandal over the redecoration of the Downing Street flat which is possibly of more significance. Although the PM receives a grant of £30k from public funds for refurbishment, there are rumours that the lurid refurb (extortionately expensive colour scheme chosen by Carrie) may have cost as much as £200k. To cut a long story short, the main issue is that any private contribution towards the refurb, should have been declared by Johnson within 28 days of receipt. It’s alleged that Tory peer Lord Brownlow donated £58k to the Conservative Party, with the express intention that it should then be loaned to Johnson for the refurb – but Johnson made out that the cost of the refurb came out of his own pocket.
Chelsea drew 1-1 away to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Wednesday 28th April
Today, the Electoral Commission announced it would be holding an inquiry into the ‘Cash for Curtains’ scandal, announcing that “there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred.”
This set the scene nicely for an explosive PMQ’s this afternoon, in which Keir Starmer (in surely his finest moment so far) calmly pecked away at Johnson’s composure with questions over the ‘bodies piled high’ statement, and the flat refurb. Bojo’s composure visibly withered away, until the point when Starmer quoted the seven principles of the Nolan commission relating to standards in public life, and referred to Bojo as ‘Major Sleaze’ , whereupon he went into a spectacular meltdown. Arms waving, fingers pointing, hair unkempt, the whites of his eyes in full view, he disintegrated into full-on rant mode, as described here by the brilliant John Crace:
The jovial buffoonish clown mask slipped well and truly, to reveal the ugly face of an ill-tempered, petulant man-child. It was a sight to behold. Somewhere in London (or maybe Barnard Castle?), a bald-headed psychopath would have been smiling to himself. Cummings’ select committee appearance on 26th May will be essential viewing; the problem is that Bojo might just have vacated No. 10 by then.
Bojo appointed Lord Geidt as new ministerial standards adviser today, but true to form, Bojo restricted his remit, thereby overruling recommendations from the chairman of the Standards Committee, with No. 10 stating that Geidt wouldn’t be able to initiate investigations himself, and the PM retaining the power to decide whether ministers have broken the code, and any appropriate sanctions.
Asked if that meant the prime minister could reject any of Lord Geidt’s findings about his own conduct, his spokesman said: “The prime minister will remain the ultimate arbiter of this, yep.” So the PM is effectively the judge and jury of the behaviour of members of the Government – including his own.
All this inevitably overshadowed other stories which, on a normal day, would have been given far more prominence. In Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster resigned as leader of the DUP and the province’s First Minister, after growing dissatisfaction over the Brexit protocol, but also disquiet over what hardliners saw as her liberal stance on abortion. In Brussels, the European parliament voted through the Brexit bill with an overwhelming majority.
Shamefully, for the fifth time, Tory MP’s rejected amendments to the Fire Safety Bill which would have pretected hundreds of thousands of leaseholders from huge safety bills.
And something else which is a source of utter disgrace; the UK is to slash funding for lifesaving water, sanitation and hygiene projects in developing nations by more than 80%, according to a leaked memo.
Man City came from behind to win 2-1 away to PSG in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
Thursday 29th April
At momentous, contentios times such as we are living through at the moment, I can’t help but indulging in the guilty pleasure that is the Mail Online website. Not to read the seemingly ubiquitous celebrity tittle-tattle, but to rattle the cages of all the ignorant, ill-informed, bigoted specimens who wallow in the dregs of humanity, who populate the discussion boards. It’s just like rattling the cage of a lunatic. I just can’t resist doing it.
Friday 30th April
Under cover of Covid, this disgusting, immoral Government is sneaking through cuts of more than 80% in expenditure on clean water projects; of 85% of funding promised to the UN family planning programme; and of 70% of funding in a collaborative coronavirus research project.
Apparently Bojo’s personal phone number has been out there on the internet for the last 15 years. He ignored advice from senior civil servants advising him to change it and ensure it is not publicised on social media. Says it all.
Talks between the UK and Norway regarding British access to Norwegian waters post-Brexit have broken down. Consequently, whilst UK trawlers won’t be able to catch cod from the rich waters they previously visited, all cod for British chippies will have to be imported tariff-free from Norway; there’ll be no such thing as ‘British’ cod and chips any more. Brexit – the gift that keeps on giving……
This weekend, Liverpool is playing host to a series of pilot events to test whether future large gatherings for individuals who have been tested negative for Covid, are safe and viable.
45 people were crushed to death at a celebration for an ultra-orthodox Jewish minority tonight.
Sunday 2nd May
The match between Man Utd & Liverpool, scheduled for this evening, was called off after militant fans protesting against the ownership of the Glazers stormed stadium security and invaded the pitch, with some of the more Neanderthal element setting off flares, throwing chairs and physically attacking police. Now imagine if Liverpool fans had done this, Gary Neville would have been straining at the leash to criticise them, but he was seen fist-bumping some fans inside the ground.
There’s a possibility that having to self-isolate for 10 days after having been in contact with a Covid-infected person may not be necessary soon; in a trial scheme, individuals will have to take lateral flow tests every morning for 7 days, and may go about their lives normally if they test negative.
What was believed to be the final-ever episode of Line of Duty was shown on BBC tonight; the series has become a major TV event. We had a news blackout, anticipating the near-certainty that the identity of the villain known as ‘H’, the pivotal theme of the whole programme, would be revealed either in news bulletins or social media.
Did a nice little barbie this afternoon.
Monday 3rd May
It was the illiterate Brummie all along (he couldn’t spell ‘definitely’). Ted’s line about ‘failing upwards’ was a gem, and can be accurately used to described the career path of most members of the Cabinet, not to mention quite a few of our superiors at HQ back in the UK.
The EU is hoping to open up to visitors from outside the bloc (primarily us, of course) from countries who are in a good position regarding low infection rates, and who have been fully vaccinated. However, a cross-party group of MPs is advising the Government against its planned relaxation of overseas travel in a fortnight’s time, although Bojo remained optimistic that some form of relaxation could take place.
Tuesday 4th May
City reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history, by beating PSG 2-0 at a snowy (in May!) Etihad (4-1 on aggregate).
The trial of two former Paras accused of murdering an IRA member in 1972 collapsed due to inadmissible evidence. Another thing which appears to be collapsing is Labour’s support for Thursday’s by-election in Hartlepool; a phone poll recorded support for the Tories of 50%, compared with 33% for Labour. Corbynistas are already sharpening their knives to plunge into Starmer’s back, but it’s not about him really. It’s trying to comprehend how on earth so many former Labour voters are now supporting a party which has traditionally been hostile to their interests, led by an unscrupulous charlatan who, instead of giving a toss about them, is moaning about how he can’t afford to live on his £150k salary. I just cannot fathom it. If they’re not voting Labour because of Starmer, why don’t they just abstain? Or am I missing something here?
Wednesday 5th May
Apparently, France is threatening to cut off power to Jersey, in response to alleged reluctance by the island’s government to comply with post-Brexit agreements regarding access to fishing waters.
Chelsea beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, to guarantee an all-English final against Man City.
Something slightly unsettling happened tonight. Mrs C was on the phone to her brother, who’s very much a bit of a leftie. We’ve never really clicked, and much of the time he as good as ignores me, showing no inclination to engage in conversation with me, so I don’t bother with him whenever we meet once we’re past the initial pleasantries. They were talking about the subject of Labour and more specifically Keir Starmer; I couldn’t help but overhear him say ‘I wouldn’t say this in front of (him), but….’
Now I don’t know why he’d say this unless I thought I was a fan of Starmer. But it seemed to be an indication to me that he possibly perceives me to be the lowest form of human life, i.e. a moderate, centre-left Labour voter who’s not ideologically ‘pure’. (He normally votes for me by proxy, and on one previous occasion I asked him to cast my vote for the Lib Dems, so he knows I’m not one who’s truly ‘of the faith’ in his view. I’ve overheard his contemptuous views of Starmer in the past; he’s extremely intolerant of other people’s viewpoints and, to be frank, can get a bit lairy when talking about politics. I’ll just have to be on my guard in his presence in future, and keep it zipped when he’s gobbing off about moderate Labour supporters.
At the moment, Mrs C has nominated her brother to be the recipient of her death in service benefits, and I keep on meaning to broach this subject with her, but I have been reluctant to. With half term coming up, there might be a good opportunity for me to have that awkward conversation.
Thursday 6th May
I’ve been sleeping really badly just recently. Don’t know if it’s just encroaching old age, but I think I need to make to make some changes to my lifestyle and diet, to try and ease the situation.
It’s election day; councils in England, parliaments in Scotland & Wales, and the Hartlepool by-election.
Someone recently tweeted that the vaccine is doing for Johnson what the Falklands war did for Thatcher. He’s obviously more than aware of the restorative effects of a good war on Tory fortunes; today, he ordered a couple of Royal Navy gunboats to the waters around Jersey, to keep an eye on those pesky French trawlers who are trying to blockade St Helier harbour, in response to reduced access to Jersey waters post-Brexit. (Perhaps surprisingly, a good number of Jersey residents and fishermen sympathised with the French).
Of course, for the Tories it’s a joyous coincidence that Bojo is seen to be socking it to the Frogs on the same day that elections are taking place. Their core, xenophobic, anti-Euro voters are creaming themselves, and no doubt Johnson’s move will encourage quite a few more gullible simpletons to join the Tory cause.
Friday 7th May
Grim this morning. Just grim. Almost 6 years to the day after Cameron gained an overall majority (and costing me hundreds in the process), the Tories convincingly won the Hartlepool by-election and gained huge swathes of council seats in the North. On first reflection, it’s difficult to comprehend why so many former Labour voters have switched to the Tories, who historically have been so hostile to the interests of the working classes. Presumably a lot of them will have stuck with Bojo because he got their precious bloody Brexit done. It’s staggering that all the accounts of sleaze, of excessive expense claims for redecorations, and the ‘bodies piled high’ comment, appear to have next to no impact on how people voted. It would seem that Britain – or certainly England, at least – is becoming a selfish country seemingly living in some kind of moral vacuum.
Maybe, and quite possibly this is true, that not only do people either don’t like Starmer, or seemingly in many cases don’t even know who he is, but also feel – with a lot of justification – that Labour is offering them nothing new. Starmer seems to have completely failed in not only creating a convincing media profile, but also in putting any meat on the bones in terms of new policies which are likely to persuade people to vote Labour, rather than Tory.
Trying to be charitable, maybe the pandemic – and the successful vaccine rollout – has caused people to focus on their own material situation. Their own emotional, physical and financial wellbeing completely puts politics in the shade. If they’ve had their jab, managed to accumulate a fair degree of savings during the pandemic, and otherwise don’t feel too badly off, they might ask what’s the point of voting Labour when they’re not offering anything new?
Either way, it’s profoundly depressing. We badly need some kind of progressive alliance – centre-right Labour voters, Lib Dems, Greens, and sensible, moderate Tories (I think some do still exist). Unsurprisingly, all the Corbynistas are calling for Starmer to go, and he really needs to start making an impact. But these results are the combination of many factors – of which Brexit and societal changes are the major ones. It’s too soon to get rid of Starmer right now.
Fire in an east London apartment with Grenfell-style cladding. Luckily, no fatalities, but more than 40 people were injured or treated for smoke inhalation.
Saturday 8th May
I really tried to be charitable to those former Labour voters in Hartlepool and elsewhere who defected (in many cases via UKIP) to the Tories. But when you hear about some of them saying they ‘fancy a change’ and blame Labour for the closure of the local police station and cuts to local hospital services – when the Tories have been in power for more than 10 years – you do wonder about the standard of political illiteracy in the country, and whether people like them should be entrusted with the vote.
Even worse, Fred from Hartlepool said on LBC that he voted Conservative ‘because they had given the town 9 foodbanks whereas there were none when Labour were in power….’
Jesus wept. These people live amongst us.
Sunday 9th May
Looks like Starmer is going into panic mode; he’s sacked Angela Rayner as party chair, a move which has drawn criticism from both wings of the party. In Scotland, the SNP fell one short of the overall majority they required (although, together with the Greens, there’s a parliamentary majority in favour of calling for an independence referendum).
But it’s not all bad for Labour; they made some gains down south (as did, especially, the Greens, as well as the Lib Dems). If these results were replicated in a general election, the Tories’ 80-seat overall majority would be reduced to 4. And, amongst other results, Andy Burnham registered a convincing victory in the Manchester mayoral election. He has many attributes to make an excellent Labour leader; he has an existing profile amongst the public, he’s articulate and passionate, and, let’s face it, he’s not a bad-looking guy either.
Last night, armed Israeli police stormed a site containing the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest Islam sites, and proceeded to use stun grenades and rubber bullets against worshippers. There did not appear to be much condemnation from the West.
Monday 10th May
Starmer makes a panicked reshuffle of his shadow cabinet, which involves reinstating Angela Rayner to a role wielding considerable power. It’s a humiliating retreat for Starmer; the Left hated him anyway, but even people sympathetic to him are seemingly questioning his suitability for the position now.
Bojo confirmed that the easing of lockdown conditions intended for next Monday will proceed as planned.
A serious escalation of violence in the Middle East. As well as continued disorder in Jerusalem, rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel. The Israelis responded with air strikes on Gaza which caused the deaths of 24 people.
Tuesday 11th May
The Queen’s Speech. Amongst the supposedly major policy ‘initiatives’ announced were; a relaxation in planning rules to release more land for development, whilst reducing the right to appeal against these developments; planned legislation to compel voters to produce photographic ID when turning up at the polling booth, to ‘preserve the integrity of our electoral system’ (even though proven cases of voter fraud in the last decade can be counted on the fingers of both hands); legislation to enable individuals or bodies to sue educational institutions for not enabling their freedom of speech, for example if the college withdraws an original invitation (even though such examples of so-called ‘deplatforming’ are minimal); and legislation to make it more difficult to challenge the government in the courts.
When pressed, Matt Hancock admitted that there had been only 6 cases of voter fraud in the last general election, which equates to about one person in 9 million. It doesn’t take an Einstein to realise that the real motivation is to disenfranchise the poorer sections of society, and some ethnic minorities, who (a) are more likely not to vote Tory, (b) are unlikely to already possess a form of photographic ID such as a passport or driving licence, who may number as many as 2 million. The Tories are taking a leaf out of the Republicans’ voter suppression playbook in the US.
Shamefully, not a mention about any reform of the broken social care system, which Bojo promised to fix when taking office, other than there will be a ‘review’ before the end of the year.
Violent thunderstorms broke out over northern England tonight, particularly in south and west Yorkshire. A 9 year old boy was killed by lightning in Blackpool. After a very dry April, May has been quite wet so far.
Man City were confirmed as champions, after United lost 2-1 at home to Leicester. I reckon United threw the game just to spite Liverpool.
Wednesday 12th May
Bojo announced that there will, after all, be a public enquiry into the pandemic, but it will not start until next spring because, apparently, it would be inappropriate to divert resources away from the ongoing fight against Covid. This move was unsurprisingly widely criticised by MPs and victims’ groups alike. Past public enquiries have lasted for several years; it’s understood from the grapevine that the next election will be in May 2023, so Johnson did his best to make sure that this particular enquiry won’t have published its (probably negative) conclusions by then. A mental picture of shredders being worked until they catch fire, and deletion of documents on an industrial scale, across government departments springs to mind.
Sage is trying to play down the expectation of Covid restrictions being relaxed soon, as there’s localised spikes in cases due to an ‘Indian variant’.
The situation is deteriorating in the Middle East; so far about 54 civilians (all but 6 of whom are Palestinian) have been killed in exchanges of rocket fire, and extremist Israelis have taken to attacking Arab Israeli citizens in the streets. Slightly disappointingly, President Biden announced that Israelis ‘had the right to defend themselves’ against Hamas rocket attacks during a brief phone conversation with Netanyahu; it wasn’t stated whether he said any defensive moves should be proportionate.
Also disappointingly, Andy Burnham, many people’s idea of the next Labour leader (including mine – until today, at least) stated that Brexit ‘is a new reality now in the UK, and I think that’s the way everybody needs to embrace it.’ He went on to say that maintaining the Union was more important than rejoining the EU, stating that ‘that’s gone I am afraid, maybe for now, or maybe forever, I don’t know’.
Why are many sensible people in the Labour party now seemingly pandering to the Brexiteers, and at the same time knowingly snubbing the very considerble percentage of Labour voters who are pro-Remain? Why will they not acknowledge that all recent polls indicate a majority for rejoining the EU over remaining outside? And why are they now regarding the issue as an elephant in the room?
Thursday 13th May
David Cameron made two squirming online appearances in front of MP’s; select committees in relation to the Greensill lobbying scandal, and was told that his conduct had ‘demeaned’ the position of Prime Minister, and that his ‘reputation was in tatters’. He repeatedly refused to apologise for his conduct, or divulge how much he stood to gain from the company or its subsequent planned flotation.
Bojo refused to rule out the possibility of re-introducing future localised lockdown measures, as concern grows over spikes in the Indian variant in London and Bolton.
A victory of sorts in Glasgow, as hundreds of local residents surrounded immigration enforcement officials who had intended to detain two men with a view to deporting them. After a tense stand-off, police intervened to free the men back into the community, which prompted scenes of jubilation amongst the crowd.
Man Utd 2 Liverpool 4! Beforehand I’d never been so apathetic about a LFC-Man Utd match, but now there’s a possibility they might qualify for the CL after all, especially taking into account Chelsea’s recent home defeat against Arsenal.
Friday 14th May
Accounts have been emerging of EU citizens being held in detention centres upon arrival in the UK, for no greater crime than not having the appropriate visa – even though Home Office rules state that visitors without visas may attend interviews and other employment-related meetings. This disgusting treatment of individuals is totally disproportionate to any supposed offence; it’s a direct legacy of Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ policy, which is being enforced with relish by the vile Priti Patel.
Saturday 15th May
Fears are growing that the new Indian variant of Covid may jeopardise the planned final end of lockdown on June 21st, but not the forthcoming relaxation of conditions on Sunday.
The Government put Bangladesh and Pakistan on the ‘red list’ on 9th April, but didn’t do the same with India until 2 weeks later. Cynics claim Bojo delayed tightening restrictions with India because of his planned visit there to try and secure a post-Brexit trade deal. The tightening of restrictions prompted several people to return to the UK to try and beat their imposition – including, seemingly, numerous residents of Bolton.
Not content with blitzing the hell out of Gaza, Israel is now rumoured to be massing ground troops on the border, in readiness for a land invasion.
Moronic Rangers fans, ostensibly celebrating their piss-easy, meaningless title success, decided to have a riot in Glasgow city centre.
Leicester City won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Chelsea 1-0 thanks to a spectacular Yuri Tielemans strike. Kaspar Schmeichel had to pull off two superb saves, and Chelsea had a very late goal ruled out by VAR, but they held on. Afterwards, two of their players, Wesley Fofana and Hamsa Choudhury, ran around the pitch displaying a Palestinian flag. If this is what it takes to draw the matter to people’s wider attention and prompt the appropriate action, then bring it on.
Sunday 16th May
Several health experts are advising that the relaxation of conditions planned for tomorrow should be delayed, in the light of the spread of the Indian variant. But the Government has stated that it will carry on regardless.
A convoy of cars displaying Palestinian flags hurled anti-semitic abuse at people as they drove through Jewish parts of London. The cause could do without followers like these.
Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 at relegated West Brom – thanks to a headed 95th minute winner from Alisson, of all people. Now we just need Leicester to beat Chelsea again on Tuesday, and Champions League qualification could be back on again.
Monday 17th May
First day of next phase of lockdown restrictions. Some people are so desparate to go on holiday that they’ve flown to Portugal today. They don’t really need a holiday that badly. First day of being able to go inside pubs & restaurants, and have hugs with loved ones. Meanwhile, Matt Hancock revealed that most of the people currently in hospital with Covid in Bolton were eligible for the vaccine, but did not take up the offer. Vaccine refusers deserve everything they get.
The land invasion didn’t come to pass, but Israel is still blitzing the Gaza Strip, with seeming impunity. 200 Palestinians have been killed in the last week.
Brexit minister ‘Lord’ Frost is stirring it again with the EU, stating that if the UK is ‘forced’ to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol, he hoped the EU wouldn’t make the situation ‘more difficult by reacting to it’, whilst having the gall to suggest the block was undermining the peace process brokered in 1998, but admitting that the UK was “not keen” on aligning with EU food standards.
Tuesday 18th May
Mixed messaging from the Government over whether people should go on holiday is causing chaos. Bojo stated people should only go in the case of overseas family emergencies, whilst a Tory peer said it was still too dangerous to travel overseas. But evidently not to travel back to the UK; apparently several flights from India are still arriving. In Heathrow, 3-hour waits at passport control have apparently become the norm, thanks to a combination of tighter Covid-related checks, and a distinct shortage of staff at control desks which the Government does not want to seem to remedy with any great haste. It’s also usual for passengers arriving from red-list countries, to be confined in the same cramped arrival halls as those arriving from green & amber list countries.
Joe Biden at last seemed to be taking a tougher line towards Israel; in a phone call with war criminal Netanyahu, he stated that he expected a significant de-escalation of hostilities, which in the history of US-Israeli relations counts as something of a rebuke.
There are splits within the Government regarding the shape of a potential trade deal with Australia. The hapless trade secretary Liz Truss, apparently with the backing of Johnson, wants to slash import duties on Australian agricultural produce (including meat, which apparently is pumped with more dubious chemicals than even in the US). This of course will completely undercut and undermine British farmers, many of whom were duped into voting for Brexit, for reasons which made no economic or rational sense. Truss & Johnson are desperate to see this as the first ‘victory’ as they try to champion the ‘benefits’ of Brexit, with a view to applying to join the CPTPP, whose membership includes Australia, Japan, Canada and Mexico – i.e. all countries from whom the UK is geographically remote.
In a re-run of the Cup Final, Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, which wasn’t really the result Liverpool wanted.
Wednesday 19th May
Liverpool won 3-0 at Burnley, so now they only have to beat Palace at home on Sunday to secure Champions League football. Whoever would have thought this would have been possible a few weeks ago? In the second week of March they were 8th, fully 7 points off 4th place. Mind you, Palace have proven themselves to be something of a banana skin to the Reds over the years……
Thursday 20th May
Not a great day for the Beeb, or Martin Bashir. An independent inquiry concluded that the journalist – who only left the corporation last week – used ‘deceitful’ tactics to secure the sensational 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, and executives knowingly concealed the means used to obtain the interview.
A ceasefire was anounced in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which of course will last until it all kicks off again just down the line.
Back home, surge testing is being deployed in areas where the Indian variant is causing large spikes in cases.
The Government announced a major reform of the railways; basically, franchising would come to an end, and contracts would be awarded to rail companies, with incentives for improving punctuality and increasing passenger numbers. Something called ‘Great British Railways’ would administer the network centrally, and be the primary source for train information and ticket sales. It was claimed that fares will be streamlined and simplified. But not necessarily reduced to those of comparable services on the Continent.
Friday 21st May
Harry Kane stated he wants to leave Tottenham at the end of this season. Seems that things started to unravel for Spurs when Levy decided to sack Pochettino for some curious reason, and hired Mourinho to replace him.
Predictable feeding frenzy against the BBC from the right-wing end of the media.
Youths riot in Swansea after a vigil for a recently deceased teenager.
Saturday 22nd May
Met up with some work colleagues for tea tonight. Despite a notice stating ‘do not feed the cats’, I managed to sneak a few morsels of my burger to a couple of strays hanging around by my feet.
Sunday 23rd May
Whilst we were there, the Eurovision song contest started showing on the big screens. We woke up today to find out that the UK entry had nul points yet again, despite it being far from the worst song on offer. Felt a bit sorry for James Newman, but he seemed to take it in good spirit. Just goes to show how much everyone hates us, and that we’re not very good at building alliances with other countries. It’s a bit worrying that we got even fewer points than Israel, though…….
The Observer revealed that No. 10 tried to block the publication of data on Covid spread in schools, just days before it removed the requirements for students to wear masks in class. It stated that ‘data on the spread of the new variant in schools has still not been published, despite calls from union officials and scientists who say teachers and families are being put at risk. In hotspots such as Bolton, cases involving the variant are rising fastest among school-age children’.
In an astonishing development, a Ryanair flight from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, was instructed by Belarus airspace controllers to land at Minsk whilst being ‘escorted’ by a fighter (just before leaving Belarussian airapace), in order that the authorities could board and arrest a young blogger who’s a long-time critic of Lukashenko’s regime. Roman Protasevich was promptly detained by police, with his fate uncertain. The act was described as a ‘state-sponsored hijacking’ and will surely lead to Belarus becoming a pariah state – although Lukashenko does have Putin as an ally.
Days ahead of his long-awaited appearance in front of a select committee on Wednesday, Dominic Cummings claimed that herd immunity was the Government’s initial plan in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, despite denials from ministers.
The last day of the Premier League season. After a nervy start, Liverpool clinched third place and Champions League football next season with an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Palace. It’s a tribute to the manager and the players, who managed to salvage something from what seemed to be an impossible position in March. Special credit must be due to Nat Phillips, who was thrown into the deep end in a decimated central defence and stepped up to the plate handsomely.
Unfortunately, Leicester blew their chance to qualify for the CL again. It was in their hands when they were beating Tottenham 2-1, but then proceeded to concede three, with their defeat leaving them behind Chelsea, despite the latter losing at Villa.
Wednesday 26th May
Tired all the bloody time now. Wake up – usually as it’s just starting to get light, so that’s probably about 5.30 – feeling absolutely shattered and like a zombie. I know I’m 59 in 2 days’ time, but surely it’s not encroaching old age that’s to blame for this day after day?
I’m just too tired and can’t be arsed to type everything up, so I’ve included this link:
Shamefully, two former South Yorkshire police officers and their solicitor were acquitted of charges of perverting the course of justice, despite the fact that they had been involved in altering officers’ written statements in the immediate aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster. The judge at the trial at Salford’s Lowry theatre, Mr Justice William Davis, ruled there was no legal case to answer because the altered police statements were prepared for Lord Justice Taylor’s public inquiry into the disaster. That was not a statutory public inquiry, at which evidence is given on oath, but an “administrative exercise”, Davis told the jury, so it was not a “course of public justice” that could be perverted.
So basically, the judge has found a reason for them not to be prosecuted on the grounds of what appears to be a dubious technicality.
No-one has been held accountable for the disaster, apart from the safety officer at Sheffield Wednesday who got off with a £6,500 fine. If ever there was a need for an offence of corporate manslaughter, this is it.
Disgracefully, one Jonathan Goldberg QC, who was acting on behalf of the solicitor, chose to recycle the sordid allegations against Liverpool fans which had been disproven at the 2016 inquest. He claimed that their behaviour ‘was perfectly appalling on the day, causing a riot that led to the gates having to be opened, that unfortunately let in the people who crushed to death, the innocents as they were, the complete innocents, who were at the front of the pens, who had arrived early, and were not drunk and were behaving perfectly well.’ Just disgusting. If ever someone deserves a Twitter pile-on, it’s this despicable individual.
On a brighter note, Man Utd lost 11-10 on penalties to Villareal in the Europa League final.
Friday 28th May
It’s my birthday. Hooray! Went to one of our favourite tavernas tonight for tea. Purely by chance we met some work colleagues who were with their two sons, who were about to go home. The little cock who lives next door invited all his school friends around, and before we left he was cranking up the music and his guests were cranking up the swearing. Luckily, as we returned at about 10.30, the parents were back and the party was being wound up. We heard one of the guests, obviously the worse for wear, recycling the contents of his (her?) stomach in the crescent.
Matt Hancock was on the defensive today, denying Dominic Cummings’ allegations that he lied over the provision of PPE, and more importantly, that he promised to have all care home residents tested before they were discharged from hospital. The Indian variant is causing the number of new cases to increase for the first time since January, and there’s concern that so-called ‘Freedom Day’ will have to be postponed from June 21st as a result.
Saturday 29th May
The interview panel for the new head of Ofcom rejected Paul Dacre’s application. So the Government are going to move the goalposts, change the rules, and reopen the applications process. No doubt this will happen over and over until Boris gets his man.
Bojo & Carrie got married in a ‘secret’ ceremony in Westminster Cathedral, despite the fact that he’s been divorced twice and hence wouldn’t normally be able to get hitched in a Catholic church. One rule for him…..
He’s also been adjudged by Lord Geidt, his new independent adviser on ministers’ interests, not to have breached the ministerial code regarding the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat, which was refurbished without Johnson knowing who paid for it. So Geidt obviously bearing his teeth to their full effect.
Chelsea beat Man City 1-0 in the Champions League final in Porto. It has to be said they deserved it, as well. For some reason Pep sent his team out without a defensive midfielder, and this seemed to create confusion in his team. Havertz scored the only goal 3 minutes before half time; thereafter, City hardly threatened.
Tuesday 1st June
Abortive trip to a botanical garden near Paphos. We gave it up as a bad job after we saw that the access road, which was described as ‘suitable for all vehicles’, was clearly only so for 4WDs. We managed to salvage something from the day, though, with a visit to a very nice taverna in Kathikas which served some excellent vegetarian options.
Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after being threatened with disqualification from the tournament for refusing to attend post-match press conferences on the grounds that her mental health would suffer. The authorities saw this as a case of a player reneging on her contractual obligation, rather than showing sympathy with someone who is clearly not in a good place in her life. There was considerable debate in social media as to the rights and wrongs of he actions; some were implying that being a high-profile athlete meant everyone is entitled to a piece of you, and that Osaka has done very well financially out of the sport and should ‘give something back’. But sports stars are just human beings as well; just because you’re great at tennis doesn’t mean you’re naturally adept at handling the media, that you don’t have emotional frailties like the rest of us. Either way, the way in which the authorities have handled the issue, into making Osaka feel that she had no other option than to withdraw, was shameful.
War criminal Netanyahu’s reign as Israeli PM appears to be coming to an end, as the leader of the far-right opposition – who supports forcible annexation of the West Bank – formed an unlikely coalition with a centrist party.
Wednesday 2nd June
Right-wing tabs making great play that today is the first day that no deaths have been recorded from Covid since the start of the pandemic, and why do we still need restrictions? Possibly because new cases have increased to more than 4,000, having doubled in just a fortnight.
The Government announced a £1.4 billion programme of tutoring courses, intended to help students make up for lessons lost during the pandemic. This was only a tenth of the funds suggested by their education catch-up chief, who resigned in protest.
Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin, an outspoken Brexiteer who campaigned for the end of freedom of movement, is now pleading for the government to allow migration of staff from the EU, to ease a shortage of staff in the hospitality sector. You wanted this, Timbo. Now suck it up.
England beat Austria 1-0 in a Euro warm-up friendly in Middlesbrough. Beforehand, a small but unfortunately vocal minority booed when players from both sides took the knee. Don’t these morons realise they are hurting those English players who are black?
Mrs C is losing her shit that a new Anne Boleyn series features a black actress in the title role. There seems to be an agenda of forced revisionism in certain cultural activities, and this one is pushing credulity, it has to be said. It’s enough that just about every other ad features a mixed-race couple, or lesbians, or gay men, and in the case of Virgin, a disabled boy and a mixed-race girl. It’s bad enough that women are permitted to commentate on men’s sport. If you try and force-feed people with this denial of normality too much, they will push back and cling even more to traditional racial stereotypes, which is of course the opposite effect that these ads and programmes are intended to have.
Thursday 3rd June
Fury as the Government relegates some countries – including Portugal – from the green to the amber travel list, effective from next Tuesday, giving rise to the inevitable scramble for flights back home before the requirement for self-isolation begins.
Portugal was first promoted to the green list in mid-May. The Champions League final, watched by 14,000 fans who travelled over from England, was held last Saturday. Now Portugal’s being demoted again. Coincidence, I’m sure.
Lunch in Paphos today with two work colleagues. Very pleasant.
Friday 4th June
Liz Truss trumpeted a new trade deal with Norway, Iceland & Liechtenstein. Yippee.
We won the tri-monthly quiz yet again. Entertainment was provided by a non-regular participant shouting ‘quizmaster’ at Alan and claiming that his answers to a particular question were wrong, only to be put back in his box when Alan informed him politely that he’d misread the question. Muppet.
Saturday 5th June
G7 finance ministers announced a deal which will force multinationals such as Amazon, Facebook & Google, to pay tax in the countries they operate as well as where they are based, thereby closing a loophole which allowed them to pay minimal tax despite making huge profits.
The 16-1 shot Adayar won the Derby. Watched it after an exceptionally messy session at the cat sanctuary.
Sunday 6th June
Just ahead of the forthcoming G7 summit in Cornwall, many Tory MP’s from both wings of the party are threatening a rebellion against the proposed swingeing cuts in UK overseas aid, despite the Tories making a manifesto commitment to maintain it at 0.7% of GDP. It’s not a great look, when apparently one of the themes of the summit is aiding economic development in less fortunate countries.
Some no-mark right-wing backbench Tory MP called Lee Anderson has decided to boycott England games in response to players taking the knee, on the grounds that they were ‘supporting a political movement’. Another similarly minded backbencher – presumably there are plenty of them now under the sycophantic Johnson regime – said it was time to ‘ditch this ridiculous empty gesture’. Gareth Southgate and the players have stated that they are very much in support of maintaining the gesture, at least for the time being.
The response among certain quarters just shows that taking the knee needs to be continued until the booing ceases. I can’t see how a gesture against racism can be criticised by anyone – anyone with a conscience and sense of fairness and social justice, that is.
Monday 7th June
Ollie Robinson has been suspended by the England & Wales Cricket Board pending an inquiry into racist and sexist tweets he posted as a teenager in 2012 & 2013. Whilst it’s right that he should have some form of sanction, it needs to be proportionate. His career shouldn’t be blighted by a stupid error of judgement he made when he was younger, and in addition, he has shown contrition. Otherwise, any number of prominent people, in just about any walk of life, could be held hostage by someone dredging up inappropriate social media posts they may have made when they were younger and much less wiser.
Concern over the proposed June 21 relaxation of Covid rules is growing, as it’s confirmed that the Delta (aka the Indian) variant has been found to be 40% more transmissible. Matt Hancock confirmed he’s ‘absolutely open’ to delaying so-called ‘Freedom Day’, a move which apparently ‘provoked absolute fury’ amongst Tory right-wingers.
It was announced that Meghan gave birth to her second child, a girl, on Friday.
Tuesday 8th June
Hilarious front page in the Telegraph today:
https://www.thepaperboy.com/uk/the-daily-telegraph/front-pages-today.cfm?frontpage=63530
This is all part of the UK government’s ongoing reluctance to fulfil its obligations under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, and noises from David Frost and others that the EU is not being ‘sufficiently flexible’, and that the agreement – which, of course they signed up to and championed – is now somehow not fit for purpose because the issues now arising with relation to trade between Britain, Northern Ireland & the Republic, were not foreseeable. In other words, yet again they’re trying to welsh upon an agreement they supposedly signed up to in good faith.
Johnson refused to condemn fans who boo players taking the knee. His spokesperson said that the prime minister “fully respects the right of those who choose to peacefully protest and make their feelings known”, adding glibly: “On taking the knee, specifically, the prime minister is more focused on action rather than gestures. We have taken action with things like the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities and that’s what he’s focused on delivering.”
Meantime, the Speaker declined to allow an amendment which would have permitted MPs to vote on the proposed cuts to aid, ruling that it was ‘out of order’ – but he did say he sympathised with those bringing the move and said he’d look at other ways to bring a vote on the issue, something the Government is desperate to avoid for the reason that it would most likely be defeated.
I’m bored. Just bored. There’s nothing to look forward to at the moment. Even if we do make it back to the UK for summer holidays, I don’t know if we’ll be going anywhere. I don’t want another month stuck in that house. At least the MIL won’t be there any more.
Wednesday 9th June
Silly season has started. Tabs are in uproar because (a) students at Magdalen College voted to take down a photo of the Queen which was hanging in their common room because she ‘represents recent colonial history’; (b) it’s alleged Harry & Meghan named their newborn daughter Lillibet without asking the Queen’s permission first (apparently the name was a term of affection for the monarch during her childhood and hence has some resonance within the Royal Family). Harry denied it and insists he did ask the Queen for permission first.
Thursday 10th June
A court ruled that Michael Gove acted unlawfully when the Government awarded a contract to a PR firm owned by associates of Dominic Cummings without putting it out to open tender. Hopefully this sets a precedent for all of the other Government contracts awarded to their mates and without being put out to tender; we’ll just have to wait and see if the guilty parties have to bear any meaningful consequences.
Matt Hancock was up before the health select committee today. During a 4-hour grilling, he insisted there were never any national PPE shortages; that he didn’t mislead the PM over the testing of care home residents, insisting that the biggest risk of Covid getting into care homes was from staff and the community, not discharges from hospitals. Mr Hancock said he did not know how many people were discharged without testing. He also said he didn’t know why Dominic Cummings had been so scathing on him. It can be imagined that this didn’t go down well with the families of the 130k people who have died of Covid to date.
On the eve of the Carbis Bay G7 summit, the dispute between the UK and the EU appears to be becoming more acrimonious, with the EU doubting whether Bojo is acting in good faith regarding the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. It has to be said that Johnson has given them substantial grounds to doubt his sincerity. Led by the anti-EU provocateur ‘Lord’ Frost, the UK is now trying to portray the Protocol – which they were only too willing to trumpet as a good outcome when they willingly and knowingly signed up to the final withdrawal agreement – as not fit for purpose, and once again they’re trying to squirm out of their contractual obligations under international law.
This has not gone unnoticed by the new US administration, who are said to have served Frosty with a ‘demarche’, a term used to describe a diplomatic rebuke of the strongest kind, and believed to only have previously been used against the US’s traditional enemies. President Biden and Johnson had a somewhat awkward pre-summit photocall today; Biden’s commitment to the Good Friday agreement, and his Irish ancestry, are common knowledge, so hopefully he will have given Spaffer a piece of his mind.
A rather depressing report on the news about the alarmingly high degree of sexual harrassment that girls are subjected to in schools.
Friday 11th June
The delayed Euro 2020 tournament got under way tonight, with Italy beating Turkey 3-0.
Saturday 12th June
Among the less contentious awards in the Queen’s birthday honours, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling both received MBEs.
The G7 summit is far from turning out to be the PR success that Bojo hoped it would. It’s not just his reluctance to play the game with Brexit that’s scuppering it. All the other world leaders present were models of statesmanship, decorum and gravitas. Ours looked and sounded like an incoherent, babbling chimp dressed in an ill-fitting suit. What an embarrassment to our country.
Drama of the wrong kind at the Euros tonight, as Denmark international Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch shortly before half time in his team’s encounter with Finland. It transpired he’d suffered a cardiac arrest and was technically dead for a short period of time. Fortunately, he was stabilised in hospital after receiving emergency CPR on the pitch. Apparently, UEFA gave Denmark the choice of resuming the game immediately, or restarting it on Sunday, or by forfeiting it and having a 3-0 loss awarded against them. Because of the ‘need for players’ recovery time’ and the ‘tight schedule’, it wasn’t possible to restart the match from scratch. Utter bollocks.
Wednesday 23rd June
Happy birthday Mum.
The fifth anniversary of the day the UK threw itself off a cliff.
Sometimes real life just gets in the way. Since my last entry we’ve had; the G7 summit end with Bojo’s (and ‘Global’ Britain’s) reputations tarnished; a brief get-together between Biden and Putin in Geneva; England and Wales progressing to the knockout phase of the Euros, but Scotland finishing bottom of their group; the relaxation of Covid restrictions in England being put back by a month as the number of new cases related to the Delta variant has increased sixfold in the last month; the UK agrees a post-Brexit trade deal with Australia which will increase UK GDP by 1/5000th (whilst effectively throwing British farmers under the bus by exposing them to competition from Aussie imports pumped full of chemicals and produced under dubious animal welfare conditions); the Met being branded ‘institutionally corrupt’ after an inquiry into the 1987 murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan in London revealed likely links between officers and criminals, and subsequent obfuscation by the force during previous enquiries (current commissioner Cressida Dick is herself accused of being obstructive but has not offered to resign); Covid jabs are likely to become compulsory for all care home staff (good); Dominic Cummings revealing Whatsapp exchanges between himself & Johnson in which the latter described Matt Hancock’s handling of the Covid crisis as ‘totally f***ing hopeless’; DUP leader Edwin Poots resigning after just 21 days; the Lib Dems gaining a shock by-election win in the rock-solid Tory seat of Amersham & Chesham; former speaker and anti-Brexit hero John Bercow defecting to Labour; a surge in vaccine take-up amongst people aged less than 40; Johnson postponing a meeting with Sunak & Hancock regarding the broken care system that he’d pledge to fix when he took office two years ago; the possibility of those who have received both jabs being entitled to travel to ‘amber list’ countries without the need to self-isolate upon their return to the UK; ministers planning to privatise Channel 4; UEFA blocking a plan by German authorities to illuminate the Allianz Arena in Munich in rainbow colours as a protest against forthcoming opponents Hungary’s government’s anti-LGBTQ policies; the first NFL player coming out as gay.
Thursday 24th June
Diplomatic incident as a Royal Navy ship sails through disputed waters just off the Crimean coast, prompting it to be buzzed by Russian jets.
England top their group by beating the Czechs 1-0. Meanwhile, Germany, who were within minutes of a shock exit, equalized 6 minutes from the end of their match against Hungary to finish second in their group and thereby set up a last-16 clash with the winners of group D who are – England.
A tornado hits the Czech Republic, killing five people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/06/25/czech-republic-tornado-severe-weather/
An apartment block in Miami collapsed; four people were known to have dies, and 159 were unaccounted for.
The Government promoted Malta, the Balearics, Madeira and some Caribbean islands to the ‘green’ list. All very well and good, but due to the surge of cases related to the Delta variant in the UK, many EU states are considering banning UK citizens from entry.
Friday 25th June
Well, who would have thought it. That suave, handsome Lothario Matt Hancock, a married man with two kids, was caught on CCTV snogging Gina Coladangelo, a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care, whose brother just happens to be an executive at a healthcare company which has won several NHS contracts. A copy of the video was leaked to the Sun, who gleefully splashed with it. But the real controversy is that he breached his department’s own social distancing guidelines (the video was seemingly filmed on 6th May, before social distancing rules were relaxed on the 17th to allow hugging). Hancock apologised for his misdemeanours; this was accepted by the PM, who said he now considered the matter to be closed.
Bojo obviously doesn’t want to sack Hancock just yet, despite the latter seemingly giving him every opportunity to do so.
The question was raised on social media; who would have wanted to leak the video to the Sun? And how did it somehow manage to escape the security protocols seemingly in place in the DHSC?
Derek Chauvin was sentence to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
A tornado hit Barking in east London, causing significant damage to property.
Thursday 1st July
I’m having to do this retrospectively as real life has once again intruded. Since Friday, the following has happened:
Hancock resigned – it seems he decided to do so after he left his wife when he knew that the relevant CCTV footage would be linked. He was replaced by former chancellor Sajid Javid, who immediately made noises about pushing for the easing of lockdown conditions as soon as possible. Bojo tried to rewrite history, claiming he sacked Hancock, rather than Hancock going of his own volition.
Classified MOD papers were found in mud next to a bus stop in Kent.
After a fraught, bitter, unpleasant campaign, the Batley & Spen by-election was won by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, the sister of the murdered former incumbent Jo Cox. Much of the rancour was caused by the followers of George Galloway, who, it was feared, would siphon off more of the traditional Labour vote (he was perceived to appeal to Muslims on account of his strong pro-Palestinian stance). Luckily, it didn’t happen to the feared degree, and combined with the withdrawal of the Green candidate, this enabled Labour to scrape home by 323 votes. Some on the Left were hoping for a Labour defeat to hasten the exit of Keir Starmer. Predictably they were claiming that the narrow margin of victory was reason enough for him to be replaced.
The Covid infection rate in the UK is soaring, particularly amongst the young. Inevitable in part because (a) younger people have not yet been fully (or partly) vaccinated, (b) masks aren’t compulsory in schools. In just about every major advanced economy, the per capita infection rate is falling. There’s been a recent spike in Scotland, apparently a consequence of the mass exodus of football fans down to London for the Euro 2020 match, then bringing it back as an unwanted souvenir. Begs the question as to how prevalent the virus is in central London now.
Chris Whitty was hassled by a couple of (presumably) anti-vaxxer dickheads in a park in London; one of them was subsequently identified and lost his job as an estate agent as a consequence. Karma.
It’s been just a bit hotter in Cyprus. Up until about the 25th, the weather was gorgeous, about 27C most days with low humidity, breezes, and brilliantly clear sunshine. But since then, it’s been very hot and humid, with temperatures of around 35C.
But not as hot as parts of the northwestern USA and western Canada, which have been experiencing a heatwave which is not just intense but absolutely terrifying. Temperatures of 40C in Seattle, 41C in Vancouver, 46C in Portland, and nearly 50C in Lytton, British Columbia have been recorded. If this isn’t a sign that global warming is playing havoc with our climate, if the human race does not heed this as a warning that it needs to regulate its activities PDQ, then we truly are headed to a very dark place as a species.
England beat Germany 2-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals, and cue the predictable euphoria. After the match, the camera focused on a small German girl crying in the arms of her dad; she was subject to the most vile, sickening abuse on social media.
Elsewhere, the two most enthralling matches of the tournament to date occurred; Spain beat Croatia 5-3 after extra time, while favourites and world champions France surprisingly went out on penalties to Switzerland after the score was 3-3 after extra time.
Gap announced it was closing all of its 81 UK stores.
The 30th was the deadline for EU citizens resident in the UK, to apply for settled status. The Home Office has predictably refused to extend the deadline.
Wednesday 7th July
Real life is intruding with a vengeance. Really busy at work over the last few days.
Since my last post, the following has happened:
Rishi Sunak admitted talks with the EU regarding access rights to the City of London have stalled.
Nissan announced £1bn of new investment for an electric car hub in its Sunderland plant; how much of that came from HMG?
On the 5th, Bojo announced that virtually all Covid restrictions – including social distancing, attendance caps at weddings and funerals, capacity limits for indoor venues, and the requirement for table service – would end on 19th July. Sports venues could operate at full capacity, and nightclubs could reopen. Most significantly, the requirement to wear a mask would no longer be required by law. At a time when infection rates are rising exponentially, and when NHS capacity is beginning to be tested again, this is reckless in the extreme. Models have predicted that there could be as many as 50k new cases, and 200 deaths, a day as a consequence of this relaxation. It just goes to show Bojo is willing to break the back of the NHS, let many more people suffer the debilitating effects of long Covid, and see more people die than is necessary, just so he can give people back their individual ‘freedoms’ and placate his right-wingers. His hero Winston Churchill didn’t say during the Blitz that it was a matter of personal choice for individuals to leave their lights on, did he? It’s another catastrophe in the making.
The new health secretary Sajid Javid claimed that opening up would ‘make Britain healthier’. Go figure…..
Evil bitch Priti Patel announced proposals for asylum seekers to be processed off shore, in improvised venues such as disused ferries and abandoned oil rigs.
England are through to the Euro final after an easy 4-0 win over Ukraine in Rome, followed by a rather more tense 2-1 win over Denmark (with, it has to be said, the help of a suspiciously soft penalty). They will play Italy, who despite being largely outplayed, beat Spain on penalties after the score was 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes.
Sunday 11th July
Our neighbour invited us round to hers for the evening. She seemed blissfully unaware that there was a major football match tonight, so I gave her advance notice I’d be taking my leave early on the grounds I’d be Skyping my mate at 8pm (which was true).
England took the lead after just 2 minutes; it was glad to see Luke Shaw sticking it up to Mourinho. But thereafter they became more cautious, inviting the Italians to come onto them. Italy duly equalised and the inevitable penalty shootout ensued. Equally inevitably, England lost, and there was controversy over Southgate’s choice of takers; why did he choose the 19-year old Saka, who missed the final penalty, rather than someone more experienced?
Of more concern to me was the disgusting behaviour of a sizeable minority of those who claim to support the England national team. There were images of people queuing down the road outside their local pubs at 10am. There were scenes of young men in England shirts gathering en masse in Leicester Square, leaving mounds of empty beer cans and bottles, and throwing missiles at individual fellow fans who had become detached from the group. Those who negotiated Wembley Way had to work their way past groups of men urinating and just being generally drunk and disorderly, and similarly leaving piles of alcohol-related detritus everywhere. Gangs of so-called ‘fans’ stormed security barriers, caused crushes at turnstiles, and forced their way into the stadium, denying legitimate ticket holders access to their seats.
Unfortunately it seems to be a uniquely English problem, in that a sizeable minority who claim to support the team seemingly get intoxicated on a mixture of patriotism and booze. It doesn’t seem to happen in any other country, and it does seem to be an issue with the national team, rather than any of the club sides. And it seems to have holed the joint UK-Ireland bid for the 2030 World Cup below the waterline.
Monday 12th July
The three players who missed their penalties – who all happen to be black – have suffered a torrent of abuse on social media. A mural of Marcus Rashford in Manchester was defaced with racist abuse; within hours, the original artist had repaired the damage, and it had become a place of pilgrimage, much like the George Floyd mural in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, Tyrone Mings delivered a richly-deserved salvo in Priti Patel’s direction. Patel – along with Bojo – had refused to criticise England ‘fans’ who booed the team for taking the knee, referring to it as ‘gesture politics’. He said that ‘You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against happens’. Of all people, Steve Baker, right-winger and self-styled ‘Hardman of Brexit’, called upon the Government towards those who choose to take the knee. Who’d have thought that he would be acting as the conscience of the Tories on this matter.
The Tories voted to slash the UK aid budget; about 40 of their own MPs rebelled against the motion. Shame on the rest of them. Including Steve Baker.
Thursday 15th July
Disastrous floods in western Germany, and parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. At least 160 are dead and hundreds missing. Devastating fires in Australia, a killer tornado in the Czech Republic, a terrifying heatwave in northwest US & western Canada, and now this. Mother Nature has given us enough warnings over the years; now she’s telling us that she’s lost patience.
Friday 16th July
So-called ‘pingdemic’ as NHS Covid app alerts as many as 500k people in a week to indicate they should isolate, causing widespread staff shortages. There are now 50k new cases daily for the 1st time since January.
The Government panics & puts France on the so-called ‘amber plus’ list, requiring all people returning to the UK to isolate, including those who have been double-jabbed.
A review commissioned by the Government has recommended the imposition of taxes on sugary and salty foods. Bojo poo-poohed it, saying he was against levying taxes on ‘hard-working people’. Get the feeling he’s not too bothered against raising taxes on lazyarses either.
GB News, the channel intended to be an antidote to the ‘woke’ liberal elite, achieved a new landmark today. After former Beeb man Guto Harri chose to take the knee live on air, its (obviously not that large) audience chose to boycott the station to such an extent that its audience was actually reported to have fallen to zero. A rare bright moment in a grim news week.
Saturday 17th July
Health experts announce that the intended unlocking of Covid restrictions in England could pose a threat to the world. The Government will carry on regardless. Meanwhile, Ministers reject plans to tweak Covid app to reduce its sensitivity in the wake of the ‘pingdemic’ crisis.
Northern Ireland recorded its hottest ever day, with 31.2C recorded at Ballywatticock in County Down.
Sunday 18th July
Sajid Javid tests positive. No 10 originally states PM will work normally, after it’s annouced Bojo & Sunak were taking part in ‘pilot’ scheme, but after social media outrage is forced to backtrack less than 3 hours later.
After weeks of personally bigging it up, Bojo is now anxiously backtracking & advising everyone to be ‘cautious’, the day before ‘Freedom Day’.
Monday 19th July
It’s so-called ‘Freedom Day’ in England. Yippee!
Reports of queues down streets outside nightclubs which were opening at midnight. Hot, sweaty venues full of people who haven’t been fully jabbed and social distancing out of the window. This is only going to end one way.
And then Bojo announces that vaccine passports will eventually be required to access pubs, clubs and other crowded venues – but not until September. If he insisted on letting the pubs and clubs open today, why not insist on vaccine passports now? (notwithstanding the dubious arguments against them on ‘civil liberties’ grounds – it’s disappointing that Labour are opposed to them for this reason). Alternatively, couldn’t he have waited until September before allowing venues to reopen, so it could be synchronised with the introduction of vaccine passports?
A hot week is coming up in the UK as the Met Office issues its first ‘extreme heat’ warning.
The pastoral team had a little get-together at the house of one of them tonight; I was on chauffeur duty and was put on alert to expect a phone call for the return journey any time during the evening. It duly came at 9pm, when Mrs C told me she was a ‘bit pissed’. The extent of her inebriation became clearer as during the hour or so I was there, she repeatedly hugged a colleague’s young daughter, sang Beatles songs, and fell to the floor whilst dancing with said colleague. But her bonhomie had been replaced by her awareness that she wasn’t actually that well by the time she got home. To cut a long story short, she had quite a few lengthy conversations with Hughie before I finally managed to get her to bed at midnight.
Tuesday 20th July
Mrs C in no fit state to go in today (the last day of term). She had nothing to eat all day until forcing herself to have a couple of slices of dry bread in the evening. She missed the head of English’s typically erudite and lucid retirement speech.
Our Dom has been spilling the beans again. He claimed that Bojo implied ‘it’ll only be the over-80’s who will die from Covid’ & was strongly against both the first & the November lockdowns, presumably on the grounds that more older people dying would be a price worth paying to keep the economy open. He also seemingly refused to accept that the NHS would be overwhelmed, stating in a Whatsapp message leaked by Cummings that ‘I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff.’. Given his history of crassly insensitive statements, it’s the kind of thing that you can believe him saying.
Wednesday 21st July
The U.K. gives France the vast sum of £54m to try and prevent boats carrying asylum seekers reaching British waters, as it’s claimed that ‘record numbers’ of refugees are arriving on British beaches.
Apparently Border Force officials have been instructed not to check arrivals from green and amber list countries for proof of a negative Covid test.
Thursday 22nd July
The Government is still trying to wriggle out of the Northern Ireland protocol it signed last year by master diplomat David ‘Lord’ Frost. The EU is implying with some justification that Bojo, Frost and co aren’t operating in good faith.
Alarming scenes as central China is hit by serious flooding; images of a subway system being flooded, and terrified passengers standing with the water coming up to their shoulders whilst they’re in their train.
Liverpool is stripped of its status as a World Heritage site because of recent and planned developments (including Everton’s new stadium).
Dawn Butler is expelled from the Commons after calling the PM a liar; perhaps she could have been a bit more cute with her language.
Friday 23rd July
Next door have been away for the last few days, so the eldest daughter (who’s over on holiday) has decided to turn the house into a party venue. I couldn’t give a toss about the pungent aroma of weed wafting over, but I am pretty pissed off that we can’t sit outside enjoying the peace and quiet of our garden, or watching TV without the accompaniment of a thumping bass, or not being able to go to bed until 11pm or later. They’re really nice people but none of the kids appear to have been imbued with any sense of personal responsibility or consideration for others.
The opening ceremony for probably the least-anticipated Olympics took place in Tokyo today.
Today is the 7th consecutive day that at least 30C has been recorded in the UK. What makes this current heatwave so distinctive are the high night-time minima; one night the temperature at Boscombe Down didn’t drop below 23C.
Saturday 24th July
Went out for tea tonight. Was anxious about what awaited us when we returned, but the party girl kindly decided not to invite guests round.
Adayar was a very impressive winner of the King George at Ascot. With Derby third Hurricane Lane subsequently winning the Irish Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris, and St Mark’s Basilica winning the Prix du Jockey Club and the Eclipse, this year’s middle distance 3yo’s are looking a very high class group.
Sunday 25th July
Took Peps and Roxy to join Lou for their summer holidays.
Tom Daley won Olympic gold at the third time of asking in the synchronised diving.
Monday 26th July
Our covid tests came back as negative today, so we can fly home tomorrow. Phew!
Tuesday 27th July
Home. The flight home was a bit of a trial initially, with some old bloke playing Millionaire whilst having his device at seemingly maximum volume. Then, with just about everyone having settled down and quietly rested, some woman two rows behind us starts speaking at high volume with no regard for her fellow passengers. But when we landed, all that was forgotten. After days of heat and humidity, we disembarked at Manchester at 1.15am into a cool, rainy morning. Pure bliss.
US gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from team events on account of mental health issues.
Bojo’s new ‘crime reduction’ plan, which includes stricter enforcement of stop and search laws and ‘chain gangs’ whereby offenders will be forced to do community work whilst wearing fluorescent tabards, was widely criticized by police still smarting from the news that they won’t be receiving a pay rise this year.
Wednesday 28th July
The vile nicotine-stained man frog Nigel Farage criticized the RNLI, claiming that they were just ‘a taxi service for illegal immigration’; this prompted reports of at least one attack on RNLI staff reporting for duty. More happily, this also prompted a 2,000% increase in donations from the public. Normally they receive about £7k a day; today, they received no less than £200k.
More good news; Simon Cowell has decided he’s dropping the X Factor, 17 years after it first polluted the nation’s TV screens.
Thursday 29th July
An intense heatwave in the eastern Mediterranean has caused wildfires to break out along the southern and western Turkish coast, with at least four reported dead. Makes me think again about the almost total absence of sun and warmth since we got off the plane 3 days ago.
Members of the Home Affairs select committee expressed their shock and anger at the conditions of some camps which are detaining asylum seekers. Yvette Cooper quite rightly gave Priti Patel a torrid time during questioning today.
Friday 30th July
Quite getting into the Olympics now, although that’s been helped by Team GB’s excellent start. Also by the abysmal weather since we returned (and it’s having to compete with Glorious Goodwood for my attention).
Saturday 31st July
Our Gav Williamson announced plans for Latin to be taught in 40 state schools, in an attempt to make it less ‘elitist’. The fireplace salesman said that ‘there should be no difference between what pupils learn at state schools and private schools’.
Instead of making provision for teaching a dead language, how about redirecting it towards, say, languages such as French, German & Spanish which are still very much alive? Or making more money available for vocational options which have really been pruned back in the last decade?
Bojo announced that Carrie’s going to pop another one out in December.
Pompous peer Digby Jones made patronizing remarks about BBC Olympics presenter Alex Scott for her working-class London accent. Now I have no issue with Alex’s accent. What I do have an issue with, is that she’s been promoted well beyond her ability. Compared with experienced anchorwomen such as Claire Balding and Gabby Logan, she comes across as wooden and lacking spontaneity. And somehow she’s landed the Football Focus job, in favour of far more qualified individuals. Of course, she’s yet another woman who’s been shoehorned into a leading sports presenter role, solely because she’s a woman.
Monday 2nd August
Wildfires in Turkey, Greece & Italy. Harry Kane refusing to turn up to training to try & force a move to Man City, who are on the verge of signing Jack Grealish for an obscene £100m. Wealthy Tory donors have access to Cabinet ministers.
This disgusting, immoral Government is detaining EU citizens and threatening them with deportation, even though their status should be protected by virtue of them having applied for settled status.
Elsewhere, a poll stated that 45% of people blame the EU for the current friction over the Northern Ireland protocol, compared with only 31% who blame the UK government. The ignorance of this and other issues is just so depressing.
Saw friends of hours for a meal in the Turkish restaurant in the village tonight. The dynamic hasn’t changed; they still talk over each other. Nice evening nevertheless.
Tuesday 3rd August
Government moving the goalposts for Covid travel yet again. The fact that the daily death toll is back into three figures – easily the highest in Europe – is largely being overlooked by Britain’s MSM who are focusing on Team GB’s substantial medal haul at the Olympics. Speaking of which, a Belarussian female athlete who was ordered back home after publicly criticizing her coaches, successfully sought asylum in Poland.
Pleasantly warm and sunny. Apart from shopping trips, I’ve barely been out of the house since we got back and was going a bit stir crazy, so this morning, even though I was feeling knackered, I forced myself to go for a walk in the nearby country park and the fields beyond. Felt better for having done so.
Wednesday 4th August
The Government is seriously considering all 16/17yo’s the Covid jab; it could be doing something right, for once.
On the other hand, there are increasingly common reports of shortages of items in supermarkets caused by driver shortages as a result of Brexit. Bottled water is like gold dust in our local Sainsburys.
Very pleasant, warm & sunny day, the second day in succession here. We went to the MIL’s home and pushed her round the park on the doorstep. Went out in the evening for a walk on the local beach and sat out having our tea in a local pub, to the accompaniment of classical music wafting from the church garden over the road.
Thursday 5th August
Weather has turned.
Bojo claimed that Margaret Thatcher gave Britain a head start in combating climate change when she oversaw the pit closures programme. The comment on social media was that was a bit like saying that Harold Shipman helped the NHS by reducing waiting lists.
Friday 6th August
Weather is miserable, but managed to get out for a jog, although I was caught in a deluge on the way back. Went out for tea to a nearby pub with the same friends we saw on Monday night, together with our close friend Liz, her mum Pat and her close friend Carmel.
Johnson is losing friends and alienating people on his trip to Scotland. After turning down an invitation to meet Nicola Sturgeon, he refused to isolate after one of his party tested positive for Covid.
Saturday 7th August
Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate change summit taking place in Glasgow in November, has made at least 30 overseas trips in the course of his duties. Worse, he’s given approval for the development of new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
It was revealed that this Government of flag-shaggers has spent £163k on Union Jacks for departmental offices.
Weather appalling again. Heavy showers and virtually no sun. Had intended to go to Liverpool, but because the weather is so bad, and because I was knackered anyway, I didn’t bother.
Meanwhile, Athens is threatened by encroaching forest fires.
Monday 9th August
Drove down to Devon today. The traffic was horrendous round Bristol, so ultimately a journey that I thought would take around six hours ultimately took about eight. All of the clan were there. Unfortunately my sister is looking larger than ever, and my youngest niece, who had done so well in losing so much weight, has put on some again. My elder niece was there with her fiancé (I’ve known him for a few years and it was on the cards). Mum looks OK but Dad looked noticeably more frail than last year, and his memory (never his strong suit!) is starting to go, although otherwise he’s physically quite sound. Then checked into our Airbnb place in Littleham, approachable only by driving through narrow country lanes. It’s a gorgeous bijou top-level barn conversion which is larger and even nicer than it appears on the photos. Lin is very nice and helpful, and we also had the pleasure of meeting her gorgeous cat, called Luna😿. There’s a radio but no TV, so if you really want to get away from everything, this is a perfect bolt hole.
Tuesday 10th August
Sunny and pleasantly warm. Walked around the village, then went to Torrington for the day. Walked down to Taddiport, then back up the hill and went into our favourite time warp cafe. After a quick walk on the common, took Mum & Dad to the chain pub up the road for tea.
Wednesday 11th August
Cloudy with some drizzle. Took Mum & Dad to Appledore, which was absolutely heaving with staycationers. Had to queue for the best part of an hour outside a cafe for lunch, but it was pleasant nevertheless, and Dad didn’t seem to be quite as disorientated as he was yesterday. Went for a quick walk round Fremington Quay afterwards, then had tea at the village pub, which could possibly do with a lick of paint and new carpets, but otherwise was very pleasant, with friendly bar staff and locals, and the food was nice too.
Thursday 12th August
Home. Popped into Mum & Dad’s, had hoped to speak with my brother, but he hadn’t made it home from work by the time we had to leave. Mercifully the traffic on the way back wasn’t as nearly as bad as on the way down. Stopped off on the way to see Ali’s uni friend & her hubby in their barn in Staffordshire.
Back in the real world – a lunatic shot five people dead in Plymouth before turning the gun on himself. Following the withdrawal of western forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban have been very quick to capitalize and launch offensives across the country. They’ve captured Kandahar, the country’s second largest city, and Lashkar Gar. Britain and the US in particular are being criticized for leaving the Afghans to the mercy of the Taliban. Of course, knowing the history of the country, we should never have gone in there in the first place. It means all of the lives lost have been utterly in vain.
Saturday 14th August
Nice little day out to Burton Manor, despite the cloudy, damp weather. Burton is a very photogenic place, a bit of a hidden gem, with the good view over to the smelting works in Wales. Then went to Parkgate where yours truly had a double cone from Nicholls that I didn’t really need.
First full day of the Premier League season (newly-promoted Brentford beat Arsenal 2-0 last night). Man Utd beat Leeds 5-1 in a clear statement of intent, and Liverpool gained the customary three points at Carrow Road, beating Norwich 3-0.
Sunday 15th August
A grim day. The Taliban is now on the outskirts of Kabul and is poised to take the city. This will go down as a major failure of policy by the Biden administration. There are accounts of people trying to flee the city in desperation. The U.K. Government is still balking at the suggestion that we should grant asylum to Afghan interpreters who helped British armed forces during the war.
And on top of all this, Haiti has just been hit by another massive earthquake (a little over a decade after the last one, from which it has barely began to recover), and with 2,000 dead. It’s also in the path of a major hurricane. Poor Haiti; it must be the most godforsaken country on Earth.
Monday 16th August
Awful scenes at Kabul airport. Afghans desperate to escape the clutches of the Taliban were trying to clamber up the outside of an American military transporter plane as it was attempting to take off. At least two people fell from the plane to their deaths. People were climbing up the walkways to plane doors in their hundreds. There was one photo of one transporter plane with more than 600 Afghans, all standing like sardines, in the fuselage. A shameful few days for the West.
Met up with Andy & Mark tonight in the Mill for a few bevvies, together again for the first time in many years. A very pleasant evening. Andy mentioned his youngest is on the books at Everton (his eldest is at Oxford Uni).
Tuesday 17th August
Some Tories are showing a conscience and speaking out against the UK’s withdrawal. Tobias Ellwood and Tom Tugendhat were critical, and defense minister Ben Wallace became emotional when referring to those we had to leave behind, whilst being interviewed on Good Morning Britain.
Revealed that Bojo was on holiday in Somerset and did not immediately return to No. 10 when Kabul was on the verge of falling. And Dominic Raab had to be shamed into breaking his holiday in Crete and returning home. Even worse, he apparently refused to speak to an Afghan official who was organizing evacuations, delegating the call to his subordinate.
Wednesday 18th August
Parliament was recalled for an emergency debate on the Afghan crisis. Bojo was subject to withering criticism not just from the opposition benches, but from his own side as well. Some notable contributions from Ian Blackford, Theresa May and Johnny Mercer (who has served in the armed forces) but the most passionate, damning speech came from Tom Tugendhat. Of course, these noble contributions from Tory MPs does not exclude their complicity in all of the government’s numerous morally suspect actions.
Anyway, here are some summaries:
https://www.indy100.com/news/afghanistan-debate-mps-parliament-taliban-b1904605
Met friends of ours for the first time in two years; we took them to Burton where we’d been on Saturday. Weather is still dismally dull and cool; it’s been about a week of this now.
Thursday 19th August
Went to friends’ house in Prenton for a barbecue. Actually turned quite warm, for the first time in ages, when the sun came out. Reacquainted myself with Millie, their cat, and met their two dogs. Dave is a witty, most convivial host who topped up my prosecco glass when I’d popped away for a while. Because of my trip to London tomorrow, I didn’t intend to consume that much alcohol, but as I wanted some variety I also had one beer and one glass of wine, and tried to dilute it with a big glass of water and a coffee. Excellent food, including the pudding of apple crumble, although I didn’t really want to go to bed on a full stomach.
Comedian Sean Lock died of cancer, aged only 58.
Friday 20th August
Had a rotten night’s sleep. On the train, I thought I really wasn’t up for this; I was wishing I was back in my bed. Needless to say, however, after meeting Joe and having had a couple of jars, I’d put those thoughts to the back of my mind. Good to see him again, although he still won’t let go of his belief that Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy stabbed Corbyn in the back. Did a tour of Islington, which is now impossibly cool and uber-hip; very reminiscent of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. Full of independent coffee shops, organic grocers and bars and restaurants, although it was seemingly impossible to find a pint of traditional English bitter; all the pubs seemed to be selling overpriced craft and artisanal beers. We intend to visit Covent Garden at Xmas, Covid permitting.
One of the sons of our friends in Birkenhead had his passing out parade for the Paras in June. Margaret did say that there was a possibility that, given current events in Afganistan, Josh would be posted out there.
Tonight, on the news, there were scenes of British soldiers trying desperately to control the flow of Afghan people trying to gain access to Kabul airport. Unbelievably, in the heart of all the chaos and amidst the scenes of desperation, there was the unmistakeable face of Josh trying to hold the crowd back, shouting ‘No, no, no’.
Saturday 21st August
Babies being thrown over barbed wire by their mothers to US soldiers within the secure compound at Kabul airport.
The US has seemingly unintentionally abdicated its role as the world’s policeman. You can imagine that the Chinese are rubbing their hands at the prospect of filling that particular vacuum.
Had been hoping to walk up to the local Indian for today – just Mrs C & myself – but the BIL and his boy came round as his wife was out for the evening. Not happy about that. Once they’d left, we watched the very disappointing conclusion to Baptiste.
Sunday 22nd August
Now that the MIL is safely in a home, I had hoped I would be able to spend a lot more quality time with Mrs C. I had hoped to have a nice day out, or to go for a meal somewhere. But we’re taking her nephew out one day, meeting friends one day, and has appointments for two other days. She’s also seeing her mum, and honestly, I get that. But for the last three years, I’ve effectively been left to my own devices each summer holiday. I’d have thought that in the course of a month, she’d have been able to spend more quality time with me alone – not with her nephew, not with our friends, not with her friends – just me, her husband. But from one day in Devon, and the trip to Burton and Parkgate, nothing. Apparently she’s too busy to go for a meal, and her mum has to take priority. I’m fed up with spending so many days on my own, rather than doing things which couples should be doing together.
Monday 23rd August
Went to Liverpool for the first time since Xmas. Had the treat I’d promised myself, a rum baba in Paolo & Donato’s, my favorite Italian cafe, in Williamson Square. The beer garden in the Bombed Out Church is closed on Mondays, so I headed up to Ye Cracke, where I had a couple whilst out in the garden. Nearby were sat three young guys, one of whom was a local, one was a Londoner, the other from Northern Ireland, engaging in a lively, expletive-ridden but non-threatening discussion, who got up to leave before I did.
On the way to the Grapes, I passed a ginger cat perched precariously on a window ledge. On arrival, took my drinks upstairs to the enclosed terrace where there was ample space. I was soon joined by the same three guys who were in the Cracke. It started to get a bit loud, so returned to the Cracke (the cat had hopefully climbed off the ledge, rather than fallen off). This time I sat inside, and spent a quid on 90’s indie classics on the jukebox. I had thought about leaving at about 5.00, but became engaged in an interesting discussion with the guy who had sat next to me. He was called Steve, he was 71 and we had a chat about football and politics (as Scousers tend to do) and bought each other another pint. Didn’t leave until about 6.30. A most enjoyable afternoon.
Tuesday 24th August
Another bad night’s sleep, admittedly probably not helped by excess ale consumption yesterday. Took Mrs C’s nephew to Chester Zoo; luckily, it wasn’t quite as much of a chore as I thought it would be.
President Biden confirmed that US troops would cease the evacuation of essential staff from Kabul airport on the 31st, despite pleas to extend the deadline from the UK, France, Germany and others. What a disappointment he is proving to be. The scenes on the 31st are going to be horrendous; already, there are reports that the Taliban are performing summary executions.
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died today, aged 80.
Wednesday 25th August
We travelled to meet Liz in Manchester. After arriving at Piccadilly, we walked whilst Liz recounted the sad saga of her fallout with her siblings over the sale of their mother’s house. Ten minutes later, it seemed to me that we were walking aimlessly round the city, and interjected to ask Liz if she had somewhere in mind. She replied that ‘I don’t really know Manchester’. I don’t think I made a very good job of disguising my annoyance, especially when she was walking whilst trying to read Google Maps, but eventually we sat down for a coffee (in Katsouris, of whom the original branch in Bury we went to a few years ago). After some research, I herded the girls down to Rain Bar next to the canal, and thereafter proceeded to have a very pleasant afternoon in the warm sun. We then went to Brewers in the Gay Village and watched an interesting parade of passing pedestrian traffic, before saying our farewells and heading home. It turned out all right in the end.
Thursday 26th August
The Taliban attack Kabul airport. At least 100 are dead, including 13 US soldiers. Coincidentally, our friends’ son was, by incredible fortune, posted away from the gate where the attack happened the day before. We met them again tonight, in an excellent vegetarian tapas restaurant in Heswall.
Friday 27th August
Rumours abounded this morning that Christiano Ronaldo, who has decided he wants to leave Juventus, is on the verge of signing for Man City. So it’s pretty astonishing that by the end of the day, he’s signed to rejoin Man Utd. Funny old game.
Saturday 28th August
Lovely sunny day. Took my book (Middle England by Jonathan Coe) and a can of Abbot Ale, and crashed out in my new favourite secret spot by the path on the way to the Irby Mill. Was slobbered over by at least 3 canines as I lay there. Just a really nice afternoon.
Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Chelsea. Earlier, Man City beat Arsenal, who are now bottom of the table, 5-0. Arsenal are at home to Norwich next; if they lose that, it’s surely curtains for Arteta.
Sunday 29th August
Apparently thousands of emails from MPs & charities to the Foreign Office asking for help for desperate Afghans, have not just gone unanswered, but have not even been read.
Increasingly frequent accounts of shortages of goods in supermarkets, but also medical equipment including syringes. ‘But it’s down to Covid’, say Brexiteers. Funny, then, that it’s not happening in France, Germany, Spain, Italy or elsewhere in Europe. The true reason is that truck drivers who are EU nationals have decided it’s no longer worth their while coming to, or staying in, the UK to make a living. Apparently there’s a shortage of about 60,000 lorry drivers at the moment. There’s little reason to join the industry, with poor wages, excessively long working hours caused by tight deadlines, and appalling working conditions.
Final meal out with Mrs C’s gang tonight.
Monday 30th August
The flight into hell. An Irish family to the left of, and behind us, were going out to Ayia Napa for a wedding. The two lads, both of whom were the size of an obese horse, proceeded to guzzle their way through seemingly endless cans of Heineken and bottles of wine (which they proceeded to let pile up on the seats beside them) and became progressively louder and obnoxious as the flight proceeded. The cabin staff, who were presumably on commission for alcohol sales, made no attempt to prevent them from drinking further. They also proceeded to blow €200 on two pairs of Raybans and various fragrances from the duty free. Just before the plane began its final approach, they then dozed off. Then the thicker of the two, attired in a Man Utd away shirt (might explain a lot) awoke from its slumber as the plane descended and started rocking back and forth in its seat; I thought it was going to puke, but luckily did not do so (although it went into the toilet before getting off the plane on arrival). At least I could block out some of the noise by listening to my racing podcast; Mrs C and several others didn’t have a device and headphones to resort to. Then they pushed in at the front of the queue for passport control; eventually the Cypriot authorities decided that rather than run the risk of a disturbance, discretion was the better part of valour and let them through. Black mark for Easyjet all round.
Tuesday 31st August
Cat orientated day. Picked up our three little angels from their summer break, then took them to be vaccinated (and Lou to be chipped).
The last US flights left Afghanistan.
Hurricane Ida caused considerable disruption in Louisiana and Mississippi, but thankfully appears to have caused only four deaths.
Wednesday 1st September
Back to school today. At least we got a free breakfast out of it, and the kids aren’t back until tomorrow.
Raab got a well-deserved grilling from the foreign affairs select committee, who pressed him on why he seemingly failed to act on warnings from his own Foreign Office staff that the Taliban could rapidly return to power, and failed to put contingency plans in place.
On a happier note, Wetherspoons pubs are beginning to run short of certain beers owing to the shortage of delivery drivers caused by Brexit. You wanted this Tim, now suck it up.
Thursday 2nd September
England players were subject to racist abuse during the 4-0 win over Hungary in Budapest.
The tail end of Ida caused chaos in north-eastern USA, with at least 49 dead. Central Park in New York recorded more than 3 inches of rain within an hour, there were tragic accounts of people drowning in basement apartments, and some parts recorded as much as 9 inches of rain.
Friday 3rd September
Under cover of the Olympics and the Afghan crisis, Covid has become increasingly prominent again, although you wouldn’t have known it by looking at the UK MSM. New cases have now topped 40k daily, and yeaterday there were 178 deaths (207 the day before). It’s as if people are pretending that life is back to normal, and seemingly refusing to accept Covid is still a threat. That will change when the NHS will be overwhelmed by the combined effects of the next wave and the winter flu season. Speaking of which, I think I’m coming down with a cold, kindly given to me by Mrs C.
Abba have announced they’re reforming, and will be releasing new songs as well as participating in a series of virtual live concerts.
Saturday 4th September
Our first stint back at the cat sanctuary after the summer hols.
Apparently the Government is considering going against the advice of the JCVI and introducing Covid vaccinations for 12-15 year olds.
Sunday 5th September
Girls Aloud member Sarah Harding died of breast cancer; she was just 39.
Growing unrest on Tory backbenches over the Government’s plan to address the growing crisis in social care by increasing National Insurance contributions by 1.25%. I’ve always found it curious why higher paid employees pay a much lower marginal rate than those on lower salaries (at the moment, people earning between £9,500 & £50k are subject to 12% NICs, whereas earnings over £50k are only subject to 2% NICs.) Surely there’s scope to make them more progressive, or am I just being naive?
Cold kicking in now.
Monday 6th September
Absolute rotten night’s sleep. Every time I nodded off, my nose started running and woke me up. It’s running faster than Usain Bolt at the moment.
India beat England by 157 runs in the 4th Test at the Oval, to take a 2-1 series lead. This after England had had a first innings lead of 99. Talk about rescuing defeat from the jaws of victory.
Tuesday 7th September
Think my cold is starting to ease off now; had a better night’s sleep, although still quite interrupted.
Johnson finally bit the bullet and announced the aforementioned rise in NICs in the Commons today, admitting that the manifesto commitment not to raise taxes would be broken in the process. “I’ll be absolutely frank with you”, he began – probably his first honest statement as PM in the Commons. You could cut them some slack by admiting that a pandemic couldn’t have been foreseen when the manifesto was written. Nevertheless, it’s claimed in some quarters that the UK tax burden is now at its highest since the end of the war. In addition, the pensions ‘triple lock’ – whereby state pensions are increased in line with the highest of inflation, wage increases or 2.5%, has been suspended by a year, owing to wage increases being exceptionally high due to labour shortages in some areas.
From October 2023, people will pay no more than £86k for the cost of their care; local authorities will pick up the tab for all costs in excess of this amount. The threshold for assets, below which an individual pays nothing, will be raised from £14k to £20k; the threshold above which an individual pays for the whole amount will be increased from £23k to £100k. Those with assets between £23k-£100k will get means-tested assistance from their local council.
The fear is that the monies raised by this new ‘levy’, as it’s being called, will be swallowed up by the costs of covering the NHS backlog, rather than being directed to the social care budget.
A late summer heatwave saw the temperature hit nearly 31C near Aberystwyth.
Wednesday 8th September
Priti Patel announces plans to force boats carrying migrants to return to French waters. Unsurprisingly it’s in contravention of international law, not to mention any sense of moral obligation, and the French are unsurprisingly none too chuffed about it.
British teenager Emma Raducanu reached the semi-finals of the US Open.
In its desperation for a trade deal with Australia, the UK government has apparently removed references to the temperature goals of the Paris climate agreement. Scomo’s Aussie government is widely regarded as a laggard when it comes to climate change.
Our Gav, who is widely tipped for a well-deserved and overdue demotion, has dropped another one. Apparently he claimed to have spoken to Marcus Rashford over Zoom, only for his team to subsequently issue a correction that he had in fact spoken to England rugby international Maro Itoje. It’s an easy mistake to make – they all look the same, don’t they? Says no intelligent, aware person ever. Cue the predictable torrent of outrage from opposition politicians, and ridicule on social media. And this from the education secretary………(but not for much longer?)
Thursday 9th September
Our school authority has proposed to adversely affect teachers’ pay and conditions, and the NASUWT members have voted for strike action as a result. Mrs C’s a member of the NEU, and she could in theory take out temporary membersship of the NASUWT for the duration of industrial action. I would wholeheartedly support them, but I and others in my position have no union or staff association to defend our interests. Someone has indicated that he will call in sick on the proposed days of industrial action; this seems to be the most viable course of action for the rest of us in this position. Interesting times.
The heatwave in the UK ended with thunderstorms in many parts, which caused flooding on the Wirral and other areas in the north and west.
Saturday 11th September
The 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Prince Andrew was served with legal papers in relation to the alleged sexual assault he carried out against a girl whilst she was still a minor.
Met a former colleague, his wife (whose mother has sadly recently died) and her son in Pissouri village for tea tonight. Evenings with Dave tend to be quite late affairs and this was no exception, although by previous standards this one wound up quite early at 11.15. I was too tired to stay up to watch Emma Raducanu win the US Open ladies’ singles title. An astonishing achievement for an 18-year old qualifier who was unheard of outside tennis circles three months ago.
Sunday 12th September
Mrs C insisted we were going out for the day. We had intended to go to Omodos, but the queue to enter the village backed up almost as far as the main road, so we gave it up as a bad job and went to Vasa instead. Went for a walk round the village and had toasted halloumi sandwiches and fresh orange juice. A very pleasant afternoon, although I was still knackered from last night.
Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win at Leeds. It should have been more, and there was a price to pay with a serious injury to Harvey Elliott, who dislocated his angle; Sky spared us the grotesque footage.
Tuesday 14th September
My first outing with the running club for about four months today. Really felt it, especially going up that hill, but felt better for having gone.
After Ronaldo gave them the lead, Man Utd then proceeded to get a man (Wan Bissaka) sent off, then in the 5th minute of injury time, conceded a winner away to Young Boys of Berne. Gutted for them.
Wednesday 15th September
Bojo got his axe out and launched a ‘radical’ Cabinet reshuffle. Raab was demoted from Foreign Secretary after going on his jollies whilst the Taliban invaded Afghanistan; he’s been replaced by Liz Truss, the queen of post-Brexit trade deals, who’s the most popular Cabinet minister amongst the grassroots. Also, at last, hapless Gav was expelled from the post of Education Secretary and replaced by vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi. The corrupt pudgy-face Robert Jenrick was evicted from the post of Housing Minister. Somehow, Pritler has clung on as Home Secretary, and Bojo has seen fit to promote former reality TV star and failed novelist Nadine Dorries to the head of Culture, Media and Sport to continue her vendetta against the BBC and other ‘woke’ organisations.
Liverpool came from behind to beat Milan 3-2 at Anfield in their opening Champions League game. They took the lead, then missed a hatful of chances (including a penalty) before Milan scored twice in the five minutes before half time. It all ended well, with Henderson firing home the winner in the 69th minute. Elsewhere, City cut it fine against Leipzig, winning 6-3.
Thursday 16th September
A major furore as the UK, US & Australia sign a defence co-operation agreement, part of which sees Australia agreeing to buy submarines from the UK, rather than with the French as previously contractually agreed. Understandably the French are very put out about this; they recalled their ambassadors to Washington and Canberra. It seems as if Biden is shifting the US’s defence focus towards the Chinese threat in the Pacific.
Friday 17th September
The traffic light system of categorising countries according to their supposed level of Covid risk, is being abandoned by the Government. Double-jabbed people will no longer have to have proof of a negative PCR test before arriving in the UK, and it’s planned to scrap the current requirement for all arrivals to take a PCR test.
Had an enjoyable evening at Antoni’s in Avdimou. Loukanika and halloumi is just a fantastic combination.
Saturday 18th September
Rises in energy prices – UK electricity is >2x as expensive as any other European country
The Government plans to allow retailers to sell goods using imperial weights & measures only, rather than being required to display metric measurements as supposedly required to under EU laws. Seeing as this happens just about anywhere anyway, the impact of this is minimal. But of course the Brexit purists will regard it as a symbolic moment.
Liverpool beat Palace 3-0, whilst City could only manage one shot on target during their goalless draw at home to Southampton.
Sunday 19th September
There is growing alarm as soaring energy prices is causing some smaller energy providers to fold, with the larger providers understandably proving reluctant to take on their customers; the energy price cap in force is below the much higher prevailing price, and hence losses are being made. Moreover, the soaring energy prices have caused plants which provide 60% of the UK’s carbon dioxide to at least temporarily cease production. As CO2 is widely used in food processing, including the slaughter of pigs and poultry, there are fears of food shortages in the run-up to Xmas. The UK is particularly vulnerable because we are over-reliant on imported gas; successive governments have failed to secure diversified energy sources, and now we’ll all literally be paying the price of not doing so. Already, UK electricity is at least twice as expensive as in any other European country, partly as a result in soaring natural gas prices. It doesn’t help that the UK is no longer a member of the EU internal energy market, which helped reduced fluctuations in energy prices and supplies.
Legendary striker Jimmy Greaves died, aged 81.
Monday 20th September
There seems to be a growing air of crisis, anxiety and despondency in the UK. Threatened energy shortages and skyrocketing prices. Concerns over shortages of food and other items in the shops. It’s like being back in the 1970’s, almost. Except that, as far as I can remember, there was always enough food in the shops. And neither was the NHS facing the threat of being completely overwhelmed, as it is this winter. The daily Covid death toll is now regularly exceeding 200, but no-one seems to be batting an eyelid.
And neither were thousands of the poorest members of society facing a £20-a-week reduction in their weekly income.
The US lifted travel restrictions to double-jabbed travellers; some claimed Biden made this seem as a sweetener after the Afghan fiasco.
Tuesday 21st September
Bojo visits Biden in the White House. Afterwards he was forced to concede that a UK-US trade deal – remember, the supposed Holy Grail for all the hardcore Brexit purists – was off the agenda for the foreseeable future because the President ‘had bigger fish to fry’.
Meanwhile, back home the Government managed to make a deal with the American firm CF Industries, which is responsible for 60% of the UK’s CO2 output, to resume production.
The proposed strike action by the NASUWT at our school is off; Mrs C received a text from a colleague advising her of this. It means that the member of staff who’s in the NASUWT but stated that he wouldn’t be participating in the action, is off the hook – for now. (His wife has left the union altogether). Apparently it’s only because the authority has shown some kind of willingness to come to the table, that the union has taken this conciliatory step. However, if the authority does not make any concessions in respect of its proposed changes to terms and conditions, the union would seemingly be justified in going through with its two days of strike action next week.
Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win at Norwich in the Carabao Cup.
Wednesday 22nd September
If anyone doesn’t know it already, Bojo has confirmed over the last two days in the US that he is a twat of the highest order. On Tuesday he was interviewed by Laura Kuennsberg of the Beeb, Sky’s Beth Rigby, and C4’s Gary Gibbon. In the course of all three interviews, he employed the same modus operandi he uses during PMQs; refusing to answer the question, regurgitating the same stock, glib untruths about his government’s ‘achievements’; and even worse, interrupting and speaking over the interviewer.
Later, he expressed astonishment over the angry response of the French to the cancellation of their submarine order with Australia. He said that France should ‘prenez un grip about this and donnez-moi un break’. In his speech to the UN regarding the change, he had the brassneck to tell the world to ‘grow up’ and even quoted from Kermit (that’s from the Muppets, not Black Grape’). This, ladies and gentlemen, is our ‘statemanslike’ PM.
Thursday 23rd September
Now it’s the likelihood of petrol shortages which is fuelling (pardon the pun) the growing discontent back home. The refineries have plenty of petrol, but because of the driver shortage it’s difficult to transport it in sufficient quantity to the nation’s forecourts. Echoes of the tanker drivers’ strike 21 years ago this month.
Friday 24th September
Entirely predictably, pleas from the Government to people not to panic buy petrol, have led to queues and frayed tempers at petrol stations.
Actually rained a little today. There was a light shower in the night, and a slightly heavier one this afternoon.
Went to a reggae-themed night in Kolossi. The lovely Fiona used her not inconsiderable charm to persuade me to dance with her. Three large Keos were in order, but didn’t really need either the subsequent brandy sour or the small beer at Sharon & Sean’s place.
Saturday 25th September
Increasing pressure on the Government to introduce at least some kind of temporary visa scheme which will enable the recruitment of EU workers in areas such as HGV drivers, food processing & agriculture. Elsewhere, a number of smaller energy providers are going to the wall.
Keir Starmer looks to be in for a torrid time at the Labour Party conference starting in Brighton tomorrow. Of course, certain elements of the Left have been looking to pick a fight with him the moment he took office. But he’s chosen now to replace the ‘one member, one vote’ system of electing the party leader, with a return to the electoral college format whereby MPs, unions & members had a roughly equal share. Needless to say, this hasn’t gone down well with the Left. The media of course are making a big play of more Labour in-fighting, at a time when it should be looking to promote new policies and land big punches on a Government as it lurches into an autumn and winter of massive discontent.
Regular stint at the cat sanctuary. Pat really is an old battleaxe; for some reason she doesn’t seem to like me and makes no effort to engage. Stuff her; I’m doing it for the cats, not her.
Out again tonight. Luckily it was within walking distance. Found out whilst there that Liverpool had been held to a 3-3 draw at Brentford. Got back to see Anthony Joshua lose his title fight to Oleksandr Usyk; he was apparently outclassed by the Ukranian. And Europe are getting tonked by the USA in the Ryder Cup.
At least earlier in the day, Man Utd lost at home to an 87th minute goal from Aston Villa, and still found time to miss a penalty. City sent out a statement of intent with an ominously impressive 1-0 win at Chelsea.
Sunday 26th September
German elections took place today; Angela Merkel’s 16 year stint as the country’s chancellor is coming to an end. It’s on a knife-edge between her conservative CDU & the centre-left SPD.
Keir Starmer is having a predictably fraught conference. After having to climb down over his electoral college proposal, he won a victory of sorts, when rules requiring leadership candidates to have the backing of 20% of MP’s (rather than the present 10%), were passed. In addition, the one-off membership scheme which permitted membership at a reduced rate solely for the purposes of voting in leadership elections has been abolished. And proposals which make it harder for constituency parties to deselect sitting MP’s were passed. Of course, both the last two mentioned were employed on a widespread basis by Corbyn supporters. It didn’t help whin his deputy Angela Rayner refused to apologise for referring to Bojo as ‘scum’ during a fringe meeting. The sentiment is admirable, but her choice of words isn’t really becoming of a frontline politician.
The Government has relented – in part, at least – and agreed to a temporary visa scheme for EU lorry drivers, and employed in some aspects of food processing. It’s going to be in force for just a miserly 3 months. It will take much of that time for all the necessary formalities to be completed. And after the way they were treated during last year’s festive period, why would they want to come back anyway? The head of a lorry drivers’ union in the Netherlands came out with a priceless quote when he said that ‘we will not go back to England to help them get out of the shit they created themselves’.
I haven’t seen Scamps during my evening constitutionals since we returned from England. Someone mentioned on Saturday that a few of the estate strays had recently ‘disappeared’ without trace; I rather fear that she and Doppelganger may be amongst them. She was my last link with the old days; I just hope that one evening she’ll come bounding out to meet me again.
A few weeks ago, Spurs were top of the Premier League, whilst Arsenal were bottom. Today, the Gunners gained a convincing 3-1 win in the North London derby to leapfrog their neighbours in the table.
Monday 27th September
Shadow employment minister Andy McDonald resigned from Keir Starmer’s front bench, claiming that effectively he was criticised by the leadership after refusing to argue against a conference motion for a £15 hourly minimum wage. This after he had worked closely with Angela Rayner on proposals for a £10 minimum, and seemingly gave no indication of proposing for a much higher figure. In addition, apparently Starmer had thought about sacking McDonald but was talked out of doing so by Rayner. Starmer’s supporters claimed that the move was made – and deliberately timed – to divert attention from a proposal to invest £28 billion in green industries.
Lecherous R&B ‘superstar’ R Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Liverpool legend Roger Hunt died today, aged 83.
Tuesday 28th September
Liverpool romped to a 5-1 win in Porto, whereas City went down 2-0 to PSG, Messi, Mbappe, Neymar and all.
Labour disappoint me. Rachel Reeves said in her speech that there would be no return to freedom of movement. Starmer seems terrified of even mentioning the B word, or alluding to it indirectly. Meanwhile, some on the Left are following their own selfish agenda. To cut a long story short, they forget that millions of people are putting their faith in Labour to improve their lives. They cannot seem to grasp the concept that if they want to make the changes they crave, they need to win power first. That implies not only winning back the traditional ‘Red Wall’ voters who were stupid enough to vote for the Tories last term, but also the ‘middle England’ voters who Blair so successfully won over. If they’re serious about winning power, they need to stop acting as if they have the interests of the people they claim to represent at heart, rather than in their own narrow interests (the election of Ed Miliband rather than his brother, and the voting down of proposed PR, being cases in point). It’s the MP’s who represent their constituents in Parliament – not activists in the party membership.
But certain factions on the the Left are intent on declaring war on centrists, embracing unrealistic policy proposals (such as the minimum £15 per hour working wage), and playing at being toytown Che Guevaras and wannabe revolutionaries. Admittedly, Starmer hasn’t helped his own cause with his clumsy attempts at modernising the party and unnecessarily antagonising his enemies within the party. But the fact is that when the country is in such a state of crisis as we are now, and when Labour should be landing massive body blows against the worst Government in living in memory (and probably in history), the party is embroiled in factional warfare.
Much as either side is loath to admit it, the centrists and the Right cannot win power without the commitment and backing of the Left. And the Left has such a toxic relationship with vast swathes of the electorate, that millions will not vote for Labour as a consequence. Unless Starmer sorts it out, he needs to go and be replaced by someone who at least has a chance of reconciling the two wings. Yes, I mean Andy Burnham.
Wednesday 29th September
Having said all that, Starmer made a lengthy conference speech today which seemed to go down quite well with the majority of the audience. We’ll have to see if this represents a turning point as regards the electorate’s perception of him.
Sarah Everard’s killer, an off-duty officer with the Met, received a life sentence today. It was revealed that he arrested her using Covid regulations before handcuffing her, and driving away to then rape and kill her.
The 40th anniversary of Bill Shankly’s death.
Man Utd got a scrawny 2-1 win over Villarreal, thanks to a Ronaldo winner in what used to be Fergie time. Meanwhile, Chelsea lost 1-0 away to Juventus.
Thursday 30th September
I had intended to stay dry every weekday evening this month (I only broke this self-imposed abstinence on the evening of the mess quiz on the 8th). For a reason I can’t remember now, I had a couple of bevvies tonight. But on the grounds that Thursday is the new Friday, I’m claiming a moral victory and saying that I’ve achieved it.
Calls for Cressida Dick to resign as Met commissioner in the wake of the Sarah Everard verdict.
The last day of the furlough scheme.
Saturday 2nd October
Fiona & Gary’s murder mystery party. Good laugh (even though we didn’t get to have any cake!)
Man Utd could only draw 1-1 at home to Everton.
Sunday 3rd October
On the first day of the Tory party conference in Manchester, here’s a summary of the stories making the news: Tories tell Bojo that he can’t ‘level up’ if he increases taxes for the poor & removes Universal Credit; the Army being brought in to assist with petrol deliveries; concerns over shortages of turkeys and toys for Xmas; furlough ending & Universal Credit uplift being removed tomorrow.
Bojo deigned to appear on Marr, and was given quite a hard time. At last, Andrew Marr, together with other prominent members of the media, are starting to hold the lying, incompetent buffoon to account. Johnson glibly played down fears of a mass culls of pigs at farms because of a lack of abattoir workers, completely missing the point that if pigs aren’t slaughtered for their meat, then their farmers don’t get any income for them.
80-1 outsider Torquator Tasso becomes only the third German-trained winner of the Arc de Triomphe in the race’s 100 year history. Tarnawa edged Hurricane Lane for 2nd, with my tip Adayar weakening into 4th after leading into the home straight.
Liverpool and Man City fought out a 2-2 draw at Anfield. City were all over us in the first half, but the Reds were a different side, twice taking the lead (on the second occasion due to a wonder goal from Salah), only to be pegged back on each occasion; De Bruyne’s equaliser actually took a deflection from Matip on the way in.
Monday 4th October
The Guardian have chosen to splash on the so-called ‘Pandora Papers’, leaked documents revealing how prominent people in positions of power have shifted their assets and used offshore accounts to evade tax liabilities. Of course it’s very serious, given the vast sums of money involved, but it’s so remote from the everyday concerns of the vast majority of people that I find it hard to take an interest in it.
‘Lord’ Frost, aka Frosty the No Man, has again threatened to invoke Article 16 in an attempt to force the EU into removing the Northern Ireland protocol.
Keir Starmer has done himself no favours, by writing an article for the S*n. Either he’s been incredibly politically naive, or he’s been badly advised, or he’s ignored his advisers. Understandably, MP’s and others on Merseyside are outraged; Labour cannot afford to lose their seats there, but Starmer’s actions must surely have put them in even more jeopardy.
Tuesday 5th October
Government making noises about a ‘transition’ to a ‘higher wage economy’, on the one hand claiming that the UK has a ‘world class’ logistics industry, and on the other, blaming said world-class industry for the shortages, stating it’s not the Government’s responsibility to ensure guaranteed supplies of petrol and food to consumers.
This ‘transitional’ phase is going to take a lot longer than Bojo and his Brexit chums hope. The UK’s great dependence on EU workers has been exposed post-Brexit, but the Government has said that once we’ve overcome a few ‘bumps in the road’, a golden future lies ahead. But any adjustments to the new environment won’t take weeks, or even months, but years. It will take a long time to train up all those hordes of prospective British recruits who want to be HGV drivers or poultry workers.
Johnson claimed he’s not worried about the resultant price rises, and it’s ‘not his job’ to fix supply chain issues. The long and the short of it is that this lot are saying that any crisis is ‘nothing to do with us’; ultimately it’s up to the market to find solutions.
Bojo, living in his rich bubble, may not be concerned about price rises. That’s a view which is probably not shared by the vast majority of the electorate.
Now Sajid Javid has weighed in, saying that people should rely on their own families first for health and social care, rather than the NHS. If you’ve got a GP, or counsellor, or qualified carer, or surgeon in your family, you’ll be OK. The point is that the Government is trying to lay the ground for the privatisation of the NHS by stealth.
Felt very lethargic and drained at work today, with a bit of a headache and gutrot. Didn’t go running today. Think I’m building up to a day off.
Wednesday 6th October
Felt shit. Duly had a day off (it was my first in 14 years, mind).
Bojo’s headline speech at the Tory conference. Referred to Corbyn as the ‘corduroy Communist cosmonaut’. References to ‘build back beaver’ and ‘build back burger’. Other numerous puerile jokes. This clown is our PM. FFS. Business leaders and trade unions slammed the speech, with it being described as ‘economically illiterate’.
Record-breaking rain of truly biblical proportions in northern Italy. 35 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours in the Ligurian hills north and west of Genoa, including record-breaking 24-hour and 12-hour falls of 29 in & 12 in respectively. But it didn’t afford a single mention in the UK media.
Thursday 7th October
Back to work.
Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, was ruled to have broken the law by using controversial and exceptionally powerful spyware to hack the phone of his ex-wife and a number of associates during legal proceedings for the custody of their children. He has previous in abusing female members of his family, of course.
But that wasn’t the most sensational story today involving the UK’s allies in the Middle East. The long-mooted takeover of Newcastle United was finally approved, after previously having been rejected by the Premier League. Many Toon fans were celebrating the end of Mike Ashley’s 14-year long barren regime, and also the prospect of their club becoming, almost overnight, the richest in the world.
But it has put many of them in something which the term ‘moral dilemma’ is barely sufficient to describe. Newcastle’s new owners are a Saudi sovereign investment fund, owned by a man who is believed to be responsible, at least indirectly, for the murder of exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, and financed by a regime with an infamously barbaric human rights record. Apparently the takeover was approved once the PL had received assurances that the KSA would not actually be owners of the club.
Inflation likely to increase above 4% soon. Flu deaths of 60k forecast for this winter. Annual energy prices likely to exceed £2k soon. There are signs – on social media, even in the MSM & talk/phone-in shows (even Question Time tonight, in Tory-friendly, Brexit-supporting Aldershot) that people are losing patience with Johnson, and that they are reaching the end of their tether.
Friday 8th October
We won the restaurant quiz. Again. The old Tory banker spouted shite about Brexit. Again. I had to bite my lips on a few occasions. We were the last to leave. Again. At 11.15.
Tory MP James Brokenshire died from lung cancer, aged only 53, despite never having smoked in his life. Despite his political affiliation, he came across as a thoroughly decent guy.
Saturday 9th October
Really didn’t sleep very well last night.
One of our favourite kitties at the sanctuary has found a forever home! In the summer, poor three-legged Oscar was filthy, covered in skin lesions, knackered, and surrounded by flies who were seemingly just waiting for him to die. He was always very affectionate, despite his condition. Now he’s much cleaner and much healthier, and is on his way to Germany to see out his days. A very happy ending.
Quiet night in tonight, mercifully.
Sunday 10th October
Woke up to find that Tyson Fury had beaten Deontay Wilder in what proved to be an epic final part of their trilogy. Both men had put the other down twice, but after what many observers agreed was one of the greatest fights of all time, Fury won on a TKO in the 11th. Fury has a mandatory title defence before he can take part in what is surely now the fight everyone will want to see, against AJ’s conqueror Usyk.
Frosty the No Man is gearing up for another scrap with the EU this coming week over the Northern Ireland protocol. Meanwhile, his boss Bojo is swanning off to a luxury villa in Marbella for yet another holiday.
Monday 11th October
The Treasury slapped down business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, after he claimed he’d been in talks with them about giving financial support to business which are struggling due to the current energy price crisis. It was intriguing that No. 10 (not Bojo, as he’s on his jollies in Spain) came down on Kwarteng’s side subsequently.
Tuesday 12th October
How convenient that the bog brush blonde buffoon is on holiday, as a cross-party committee of MP’s issued a damning appraisal of the response to the Covid pandemic by not just the Government, but also by leading scientists (which would seem to be a little unfair on the face of it). Some of the most damning criticism is as follows:
The report questions why international experts were not part of the UK scientific advisory process and why measures that worked in other countries were not brought in as a precaution, as a response was hammered out.
While Public Health England told the MPs it had formally studied and rejected the South Korean approach, no evidence was provided despite repeated requests.
“We must conclude that no formal evaluation took place, which amounts to an extraordinary and negligent omission given Korea’s success in containing the pandemic, which was well publicised at the time,” the report says.
The MPs said the government’s decision to halt mass testing in March 2020 – days after the World Health Organization called for “painstaking contact tracing and rigorous quarantine of close contacts” – was a “serious mistake”.
The EU has indicated it’s willing to scrap most post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland, but is still insisting that the European Court of Justice is the final arbiter regarding trade disputes. This will probably not be enough to appease Bojo, Frosty and the Northern Ireland hardliners, who do not want the ECJ to act as judge. Bluntly, Frost has always played the role of provocateur. Having rejected an extension to the transition period – and given minimal opportunity for Parliament to scrutinise and debate it – the UK is now claiming that the Brexit deal was ‘rushed through’, and is almost giving the impression that it signed in great haste and under some form of duress. This is of course bollocks of the highest order. All Frost has ever wanted to do is to make a massive car crash of all negotiations with the EU, finding something else to pick fault with once a deal has been agreed. As former Irish premier Leo Varadkar observed, the UK is now gaining the reputation of a nation whose government cannot be trusted. Its intentions were seemingly confirmed by Dominic Cummings, who broke cover to imply that the Government never intended to follow the spirit of any agreement it signed, and referred to Johnson as a ‘joke’ PM.
Hungarian hooligans fought with police after they took the lead against England in their World Cup qualifier at Wembley. Apparently Orban is intent on using football as an expression of extremist Hungarian nationalism. The match ended 1-1.
Wednesday 13th October
Star Trek actor William Shatner, who’s now 90, ‘oldly went where no man has been before’ when he became the oldest person to go into space after his flight on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin craft. Prince William and others have questioned how rich men can spend obscene amounts of money on environmentally unfriendly vanity projects like this one, when that money could be put to far better use on Planet Earth.
Thursday 14th October
Disquiet over Sajid Javid’s plan to force GPs to make more face-to-face appointments.
Friday 15th October
Shock as long-standing Tory MP Sir David Amess is stabbed to death at a constituency surgery meeting in Leigh-on-Sea. By all accounts he was a decent bloke (for a Tory) and an excellent constituency MP.
To Paphos tonight to see some friends of Mrs C (who’ve previously stayed at our house), who are in Cyprus on a cycling holiday. Paphos was surprisingly heaving, bearing in mind what’s happening, and our preferred restaurant was fully booked when we turned up on spec. Went to one of the harbour places instead. A pleasant evening, although yet again we didn’t leave until it was approaching midnight (I thought we’d finished at last about 11.00 when Mrs C decided to get another round in).
Saturday 16th October
Liverpool won 5-0 at Watford, with one of the goals being another wonder strike by Mo Salah. Meantime, Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer said that Marcus Rashford should ‘concentrate on the day job’, rather than trying to feed the kids. Perhaps Ole needs to follow his own advice; United slumped to a 4-2 defeat at Leicester.
Champions Day at Ascot. Baaeed, the up-and-coming star, beat Palace Pier in the QEII, whereas Sealiway (5th in the Arc) won the Champion Stakes, with Mishriff only 3rd, and Derby and King George winner Adayar a disappointing 5th. Hopefully he’ll stay on in training next season; quite possibly it was a mistake to run him in the Arc after an interrupted preparation, and here only 13 days afterwards, over a trip which is probably too short for him.
Sunday 17th October
Nice little trip to Omodos, even though it was surprisingly heaving. Note to self: don’t go to Omodos at the weekend in future.
Monday 18th October
Seems like Bojo & Carrie had a ‘babysitter’ staying with them over Xmas, in contravention of Covid regulations. One law for them, one for everyone else. Again.
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell died, aged 84.
Tuesday 19th October
Mrs C’s birthday. Had planned to take her out, but she’d accepted an invite from friends of ours (the same people who hosted the murder mystery 2 weeks ago) to attend a charity curry event at CBF’s gaff. I had hoped to leave a little message in the toilet, but guests were instead redirected to portakabins in the garden. It was a pleasant enough evening, and the gardens are stunning (enhanced by a beautiful grey cat with gorgeous eyes), but frankly the curry wasn’t up to much.
Experts from the scientific community, and NHS chiefs, are urging the Government to introduce its so-called ‘Plan B’, which involves the reintroduction of compulsory mask wearing, vaccine passports, and persuading people to continue working from home. But no, current infection, hospitalisation and death rates are ‘within predicted levels’, so no further restrictions will be introduced at the moment, although they will be keeping ‘a close eye’ on developments. Never mind that infection rates are at least 6 times higher than those in France, the next highest European country. Their neglect of people’s wellbeing is shameful. No doubt they’ll be forced into another humiliating climbdown when the NHS, already at breaking point, finally collapses under the weight of existing backlogs, new Covid cases, and a winter flu outbreak.
Liverpool do their best to rescue defeat from the jaws of victory against Atletico Madrid tonight; after breezing into a 2-goal lead, they’re then pulled back to 2-2 before a second half penalty from Mo Salah gives them the win.
Wednesday 20th October
Man Utd come from two down in their Champions League game against injury-hit Atalanta at Old Trafford to win 3-2, thanks to a late Ronaldo goal.
Shamefully, Tory MPs defeat a Lords proposal which would have compelled water companies not to pump sewage into waterways.
Thursday 21st October
Tabs in a panic as the Queen is forced to cancel a scheduled visit to Northern Ireland and has to spend a night in a hospital, as a precaution.
Again, shamefully Tories voted against a proposal which would have prevented the redundancy of employees followed by their rehiring on worse terms and conditions – so-called ‘fire and rehire’.
The second anniversary of one of the saddest days of my life.
Friday 22nd October
Even though today was an inset day, went into school to process the y7/8/9 reports. Only the first two years were done. Alex doesn’t seem to realise it’s so much more protracted under Bromcom.
Tragedy as a director is killed on the set of Alex Baldwin’s latest film, as a result of a shot from a replica gun. There are rumours that the gun carried a live round. UK MSM headlined on it, but although it’s undoubtedly tragic, surely more important things are going on in the world today?
Saturday 23rd October
Took Mrs C and the wife of my immediate work colleague to the airport today.
Chelsea whipped hapless Norwich 7-0 to confirm their place at the top of the Premier League. Meanwhile, Man City kept up the pressure with a 4-1 win at Brighton. Our turn against the Mancs tomorrow…
Sunday 24th October
Had booked a table at Symposio in Pelendri for 12.30. Didn’t sleep particularly well, but believed I had plenty of time when I eventually got out of bed at (what I thought was) 8.30. It was only when I logged on that I discovered the clocks weren’t going back until next Sunday…..
To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the meal. I went there to sample some of the much-lauded vegetarian options, but because it was a Sunday, they were only doing meze dishes for 2 or more people. And whilst the lamb option I eventually went for was OK, it was excessively expensive in my view. It was a very nice place, and the service was very attentive, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back. Went for a short walk on a nearby nature trail afterwards.
Liverpool routed an embarrassingly bad Man Utd 5-0 at Old Trafford. All this without Fabinho and Matip as well; Konate was thrown into the deep end, but was scarcely bothered throughout the whole 90 minutes. Mo Salah got a hat-trick, and the luckless Naby Keita scored another before being crippled by a reckless tackle by that expensive luxury Pogba – who was on as a sub and who promptly received a red card.
United have some great players, but the team as a whole doesn’t seem to have any comprehension of what they, as a whole or individually, are supposed to do. It doesn’t really help that they’ve had to adapt to accommodate marquee buy Ronaldo (a renowned non-presser) into the team. It doesn’t really help that Pogba (a renowned sulker who only plays when he’s in the mood) doesn’t pull his weight. They’ve now conceded 13 goals in the last 3 games. Questions are rightfully being asked of Solsjkaer and his coaching team. Surely this state of affairs cannot continue for much longer (much as I’d love it to!), and being a bona fide club legend can only buy you so much time. United have got Spurs away next weekend – then they’re at home to City, who are surely gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation.
Monday 25th October
Limassol to buy a bookcase. Eventually found the place. Public didn’t have an Ipad recharging cable, so I bought one on Amazon instead (can’t use the tablet at the mo due to insufficient power).
Backlash on social media against the Government’s rejection of the Lords amendment relating to sewage disposal. In the vanguard of the campaign is former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey.
Sunak announces plans to drop the public sector pay freeze in Wednesday’s Budget.
Tuesday 26th October
I’d set the trap overnight to try and catch the sandy/white stray which has been a bit of a nuisance recently. I woke up at about 7.15, feeling absolutely knackered, and got up an hour or so later. Mercifully, there was no cat in the trap; I really didn’t fancy a trip to Paphos. Did domestic chores in the morning, had a kip then made white sauce & butter curry sauce in the afternoon.
Mrs C & I keep missing each other, but we spoke at last tonight. Her mum has recently been in hospital after an infection, and whilst that issue was resolved, she was unable to take in any liquids, and given her condition, doctors evidently thought this was a sign of her body shutting itself down. She’s back home now and has seemingly shown signs of improvement, but the fact that the end has been discussed makes you wonder how much longer she has left now.
After widespread outrage – and a rebellion by 22 of its own MPs – the Government backtracked and made a partial U-turn (or should that be U-bend) on the environment bill. There will, after all, be a duty on water companies to reduce the impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows.
Tory MP Owen Paterson faces suspension from the Commons after being found to be in breach of lobbying rules.
Sunak had his wrist slapped by the Speaker after leaks in the Press about his forthcoming Budget. He’s been desperate to put a positive slant on it, describing it as ushering in ‘an age of optimism’. Are they laying the ground for an election next year, before the shit really hits the fan about Covid, Brexit and the desperate state of the NHS?
Former Rangers and Everton manager Walter Smith died, aged 73.
Solsjkaer hasn’t been sacked yet.
Wednesday 27th October
Mercifully, nothing in the trap this morning. Had intended to go the shelter this morning, either with or without feline passenger, but still knackered. I think I just need a quiet day at home today.
7.22pm. My phone goes. It's Mrs C. She's very upset: 'She's dying......'. Her Mum's been given less than a fortnight to live. It's unlikely that she'll return here to go to work on Monday. It's a horrible limbo to be caught in, when you know that something grim is definitely going to happen soon, but you don't know exactly when. It's a great shame that she's seemingly not going to live to see another Xmas, or to see her grandson's next birthday in February. Went to bed on edge, dreading a phone call in the course of the night. Sunak's Budget. Amongst other things he announced were the cutting of duty for domestic flights and a freezing of fuel duty for the 10th successive year (in the run-up to COP26); cutting the surcharge tax on bank profits; a restructuring of alcohol taxes, such that those with higher alcohol content will have higher rates (conveniently, this will have the effect of reducing duty on sparking wines such as champagne and prosecco). And a few quid for yet another Beatles museum in Liverpool, where 30,000 school children live in poverty. Generally, it takes Government spending to the highest level of GDP since the Labour government of the 1970's, (although of course is is in the context of being in an immediate post-pandemic situation); Sunak's felt able to make a more generous settlement than expected, as the economy has bounced better than expected from Covid. But he got a good going-over from shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (deputising from Keir Starmer, who's been diagnosed with Covid). Meanwhile, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility released a report stating that Brexit will cause a 4% reduction to per capita GDP, compared to 2% for Covid. Liverpool reserves gained a rather unconvincing 2-0 win at Preston in the Carabao Cup. Thursday 28th October
It's rained in the night, the first proper rain since the spring. Woke up to cloudy skies. I won't be going anywhere today (certainly not to the shops as it's Ochi Day here), and I won't be doing a barbie. Mrs C called at about midday. Obviously still upset.
Friday 29th October
Mrs C’s mum passed away at 4.20 am today. Mrs C was quite calm when she broke the news to me. Maximum 5 days’ compassionate leave, so we’re going to have to play the system and get her signed off sick for at least the first week (and quite possibly more; it depends when the funeral is).
Did a barbie today. Could actually relax a bit and not feel guilty about doing so, now that it’s actually happened.
A spat between the UK and France over fishing rights took a dramatic escalation. The French are claiming Britain hasn’t granted the number of fishing permits as promised under the Brexit agreement, and evidently have lost their patience – they have impounded a British trawler, and have threatened to ban British trawlers from landing their catches in French ports, cut off energy supplies to Jersey and the UK grid, and possibly blockade British ports. Mustering all of the limited diplomacy and statecraft that he could muster, environment secretary George Eustice said that ‘two can play at game’ – echoes of Gav’s comical ‘Russia should shut up and go away’ statement. It’s been speculated that the French will ask for a sign of solidarity from its EU allies – in which case, it’s no contest. The UK government have accused the French of using confrontational language and using ‘disproportionate’ threats – and then foreign secretary Liz Truss took a disproportionate course of action of her own, and summoned the French ambassador to London over the issue.
Torrential rain in the Lake District and the Scottish Borders causes widespread flooding; nearly 15 inches of rain fell in Honister Pass in Cumbria, in less than 30 hours.
Saturday 30th October
Spoke to Mrs C. She seems to be OK, but mentioned that not only would her brother, his partner & Mrs C’s nephew be moving to her mum’s house sometime next year, but that would be staying with them during the holidays. This prospect does not fill me with joy. I don’t really get on with him, and after regarding that house as ‘our’ home in the UK, we’d effectively be guests in their house. I need my personal space, and somewhere where I can completely relax and slob as I do at home. I won’t be able to do that if this comes to fruition. I think I may need to have an awkward conversation with Mrs C at some point in the future.
Not a good day football wise. Six days after putting five past Man Utd, Liverpool blow a 2-goal lead at home to Brighton. It renders City’s 2-0 loss at home to Palace almost irrelevant. And they’ve lost further ground on Chelsea, who are now 3 points clear at the top after a 3-0 win at Newcastle. Meanwhile, United themselves strolled to a 3-0 win at Tottenham, whose fans turned angrily on manager Nuno Espirito Santo towards the end.
Sunday 31st October
Chaos at the opening of COP26. Long queues, heavy-handed security staff not permitting the taking of photographs, and a disabled Israeli delegate unable to gain access (how did that building get selected for the event if there were accessibility issues?) After making glib references to football and James Bond, Johnson went on to preach to world leaders that ‘it’s one minute to midnight’, just a few days after his chancellor reduced fuel duty on internal flights and froze duty on petrol for the 10th successive year. Hypocrite. But should we expect anything else?
Ironically, delays to trains caused by the dreaded ‘leaves on the line’ leads to some delegates having to take internal flights from London to Glasgow. It was a stormy day in much of the UK, with reports of a tornado in Northamptonshire.
Kids came round trick or treating. Has to be said, they all really made an effort and there were some great costumes on display.
Monday 1 November
A maskless Bojo caught nodding off whilst sitting next to the 95-year-old Sir David Attenborough. But the right-wing rags choose to focus on Biden – who’s nearly 30 years older than Johnson – doing the same.
Spurs sack Nuno. Conte – who had been linked with Man Utd after their Liverpool humiliation – is favourite to replace him.
The fishing dispute with France appears to have petered out after Jersey offered to give more permits to French fishermen; it’s being portrayed in the right-wing rags as Macron ‘backing down’, when in reality it’s France who has withdrawn the threat of action after a concession by Jersey authorities.
Yorkshire CCC covering itself in the mire after one of its former players who was from Pakistan claimed nothing was done after he was subjected to racist comments from team-mates, and possibly others within the club.
Wednesday 3rd November
Previously, an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, found that Tory MP had lobbied on behalf of two companies, one of which was Randox Health, each of whom had paid him £100k, and recommended that he be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days. In an extraordinary attempt to get one of his mates off the hook, Bojo managed to put a motion before Parliament which would set aside the ruling, scrap the existing parliamentary standards mechanism, and set up a new system which would better reflect the need for ‘natural justice’, i.e. would be more lenient towards Tory MPs who regularly twisted the rules (it would be chaired by a Tory, and 5 of its 9 members would be Tories). Despite whipping his MPs to back it, several Tory MPs abstained or voted against it, and it passed with a majority of only 18. Those who voted for the amendment included 22 Tories who were either already under investigation or had been ruled against by the standards commissioner.
The move provoked widespread outrage, not just from the opposition, but also from Tories angered by being forced into voting for the measure. Even the normally loyal Daily Mail reacted vehemently to the move, with its headline stating that ‘shameless MP’s head back into sleaze’.
Shamefully, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who said he ‘doesn’t feel shame after all’. openly undermined Stone’s position by saying that she should consider her position. It could just of course be a coincidence that Bojo is facing a fourth inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner into the farce of his Downing Street refurbishment. Again, this is one of those affairs where all bases just can’t be covered. Whether it achieves any cut-through with the dimmer, more compliant sections of the electorate remains to be seen.
Thursday 4th November
Well bugger me, Bojo has made perhaps the biggest screeching U-turn of his tenure at No. 10. Labour and other opposition parties decided to boycott the new proposed cross-party committee arrangements, and Johnson withdrew his support from Owen Paterson partly as a result of the backlash no doubt, but apparently because he displayed no contrition or awareness of the gravity of his offences. The Government’s new arrangements have been consigned to the dustbin and so has Paterson’s parliamentary career; he decided to resign as an MP, although there are rumours he’s now in line for a peerage (again, should anyone be surprised?) Tory MPs are furious for having been made fools of, and have called Bojo’s judgement into question, mentioning that their inboxes are full of emails from furious constituents.
Also, on top of the No. 10 refurbishment saga, Bojo has refused a request from Kathryn Stone to disclose the costs of his Spanish jolly last month, which was funded by the family of Tory peer Zac Goldsmith.
Entertainer and all-round nice bloke Lionel Blair died, aged 92.
Friday 5th November
Resignations at Yorks CCC in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq racism issue. Michael Vaughan has been exposed as allegedly making racist remarks to team-mates; he’s been stood down by the BBC from his radio show.
The Government is apparently on the verge of invoking Article 16 and thereby provoking a trade war with the EU.
Saturday 6th November
The vultures are hovering over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s head again, after United slumped to an insipid 2-0 defeat at home to City.
Labour are pressing for the parliamentary standards commissioner to launch another probe into the refurbishment of Bojo’s No. 10 flat.
Meanwhile, Covid deaths in the UK are now averaging 1,000 a week. Only Russia and Germany have a higher number than us amongst European countries.
Sunday 7th November
Yet another beautiful, warm & sunny day here. No sign whatsoever of any rain.
A major disappointment for Liverpool today, losing 3-2 away to West Ham. They bossed possession, but showed worrying vulnerability to set pieces and were exposed on the counter. Alisson had one of his car crash games, unfortunately. Mane missed an absolute sitter at the end. We should really have got something from this game. But any team which concedes 3 at Brentford and West Ham, and squanders a 2-goal lead at home to Brighton, probably isn’t going to win the league.
Monday 8th November
Shit night’s sleep, the worst for a long time. Had my wrist slapped by our excuse of a head regarding my application for special paid leave for the mother-in-law’s funeral next week. After she agreed to it in principle face-to-face, I informed everyone that I wouldn’t be in next week, only to be slapped down for doing so before she had the chance to find out what the official policy was. She can do one. Not happy.
A special debate on parliamentary standards in the Commons today. A substantial proportion of Tory MPs were absent today; whether they were showing contempt for proceedings, or felt they could not support the Government’s line, is open to conjecture. What there’s no doubt over is the fact that Bojo is a coward. The fat blob didn’t even deign to attend proceedings, making the excuse that he had a prior appointment at a hospital in Northumberland where he was photographed not wearing a mask, his belly bursting out of his shirt and his tie tucked in. What an absolute disgrace he is. Starmer said that Johnson ‘is not a serious leader and that joke isn’t funny anymore’.
Tuesday 9th November
Sajid Javid orders all NHS staff to receive the Covid jab, or lose their jobs. Quite right too, although it’s possible that this may exacerbate the already chronic staff shortages.
Another Tory sleaze scandal – Geoffrey Cox is under pressure to resign after it was revealed he’d been using his parliamentary office to perform paid legal work for the British Virgin Islands, for which he’s rumoured to have earned £6m. Conveniently, he voted in the Commons by proxy whilst he spent a month in the Caribbean. Another slew of lobbying allegations involving Tory MPs acting on behalf of plastics companies, bookmakers, hand sanitiser manufacturers etc. etc. Seems like a sizeable proportion of Tory MPs are at it.
Poland and Germany are accusing Belarus of dumping refugees from the Middle East at the Polish border, with the intention of destabilising the EU.
Wednesday 10th November
Alarming accounts of the NHS being at breaking point, with staff shortages, a backlog of cancelled operations, and record waiting times at A&E. This in turn has been exacerbated by the aforementioned care sector labour crisis, but also by the increasing number of Covid hospitalisations. And all this before the winter flu season has started.
The husband of British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in the second week of a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office.
Commentating legend Gerald Sinstadt died, aged 91.
Thursday 11th November
Gloomy assesments about the possibility of an agreement at COP26 as it approaches its conclusion.
Former South African president F W De Klerk died, aged 85.
Steven Gerrard left Rangers to become the new manager at Aston Villa. To be honest, I’ve always been a bit ambivalent towards him as a person; he doesn’t have much in the way of engaging warmth that Jurgen Klopp, not to mention most Scousers, seem to have. It’s easy managing a side in a league which may as well be decided by the toss of a coin; we’ll now see how good a manager he is, and if he’ll be suitable to replace Klopp if the time comes (coincidentally, Gerrard’s contract at Villa expires at the same time as Klopp’s recent contract extension at Anfield).
Saturday 13th November
Mrs C called me in the morning, asking me to bring some clothes back for the funeral. By the end she was telling me ‘do not forget’ to bring them back on more than one occasion, like a child. Each time I responded with an ‘I won’t’, gradually increasing in tone. Didn’t really put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. Things got worse at the cat sanctuary, where Pat (who’s a bit of a battleaxe at the best of times) told me to get on with filling up the water bowls, when I’d informed her that some Russian ladies wanted to adopt one of the residents. Christine assured me that she was out of order, and by the end of the shift Pat seemed to realise she’d overstepped the mark when she thanked me for turning up today.
Spoke to Joe tonight; he’s not having a great time at the moment, having to take time off due to stress. His medication is also putting our usual Xmas session in doubt!
Sunday 14th November
Remembrance Sunday. Much speculation about the Queen’s health after the Palace announce she wouldn’t be going to the Cenotaph because of a ‘back sprain’. Why can’t they just be honest? She’s 95, after all.
COP26 ended with an agreement of sorts, unfortunately watered down at a very late stage by China and India, who insisted that the declaration state coal be ‘phased down’, rather than ‘phased out’. In unrelated news, schools and offices in Delhi are to close after air pollution in the city reached record high levels.
A bomb exploded in a taxi parked outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital minutes before the remembrance ceremony was due to start at the nearby Anglican Cathedral; at the ime of writing, details haven’t come to light whether it’s a terrorist incident, although three men have been arrested.
Mrs C a bit emotional tonight when I called her. She’d been going through old family photos, which were bound to bring happy memories back. All I can do is to give her a shoulder to cry on when I get back.
15/11/21
Flight home. Andy very kindly picked me up from the airport, and kept me entertained with his anti-Brexit rankings. Mrs C was mostly OK, although she obviously suffered a few pangs of pain which caused a few tears.
Tues 16/11
Awake too early; it was just starting to get light, so it must have been about 7. I was at a loose end for much of the day; I wasn’t sure if my presence was appreciated. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, after all, it’s not my mum who’s just died. My mood wasn’t lifted when she told me that her brother and his family might be coming over to Cyprus for the Whitsun bank holiday week; I’d hoped to be going to Munich that week, with or without Mrs C. I’m not the only one, but I just want the next 18 hours or so to be out of the way asap.
Shocking and moving testimony from Azeem Rafiq in front of the DCMS, which lifted the lid on the full extent of the seemingly institutionalised racism at Yorks CCC.
Wed 17/11
Mrs C’s mum’s funeral. It wasn’t as traumatic and emotional as I thought it might be. The reception afterwards was very pleasant.
A bad day for Bojo. He was roasted by Keir Starmer (who was reprimanded by the Speaker for referring to Johnson as a ‘coward, not a leader’ – Starmer later withdrew it, but reiterated that Bojo ‘wasn’t a leader’) in PMQ’s. Johnson had his knuckles wrapped by Hoyle as well on two occasions, for his usual ploy of turning questions addressed to him by Starmer, into questions to Starmer. Later, Johnson was given a hard time by Yvette Cooper and others on the Liaison Committee, and finally apparently had a ‘muted’ reception at the 1922 committee, who gave him a tough time over proposed new regulations on MPs’ second jobs, asylum seekers, and other issues (its members were apparently told not to speak to the media afterwards). It’s obvious that there is mounting speculation over Johnson’s future; the stardust is looking very shabby now and is starting to fade.
Thu 18/11
Eastern HS2 s rapped; phone note of Paterson/Randox contract note ‘not taken’; shit sleep-next summer; Rafiq anti-Semitic tweet
The Government scrapped the eastern leg of HS2, as well as the proposed ‘Northern Powerhouse’ line from Manchester to Leeds. So much for ‘levelling up’; it’s been proven to be another glib, meaningless cliche from Bojo.
Embarrassment after it was revealed that there was no written record of a phone conversation between Owen Paterson and Randox prior to the company winning Covid testing contracts.
Azeem Rafiq isn’t whiter than white himself; he admitted posting anti-Semitic tweets about a decade ago.
Utter shit night’s sleep. Next Easter and summer is keeping me awake. I’m just awaiting for a suitable opportunity to broach the subject with Mrs C. It’s going to be an awkward conversation. Out for tea night with the brother in law and his family.
Fri 19/11
Another walk round the country park. Nice, mild, sunny day.
Outrage in America after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of fatally shooting two unarmed men and shooting another, on the grounds of ‘self-defence’, after he’d travelled to a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin last August. The judge presiding over the case is believed to have conservative, right-wing views.
Saturday 20th November
Back to Cyprus today. All the cats were happy to see us, notably Lou who’s rarely as cuddly and affectionate as she was tonight. Back in time to see Liverpool trounce Arsenal 4-0. Meanwhile, Man Utd put in another dreadful performance in a 4-1 loss at Watford. Ole’s time is surely up now.
Mounting concern over the apparent disappearance of a leading Chinese tennis player, Peng Shuai, after she made allegations of sexual assault against a high-ranking government official; she’s not been seen for more than two weeks.
Right-wing media in meltdown as record numbers of migrants are crossing the Channel; more than 23,000 in the year to date, three times the total for last year. Prittler is proposing legislation which is intended to criminalise refugees and asylum seekers arriving in the UK who have not requested permission beforehand.
Monday 22nd November
Bojo made an embarrassingly shambolic speech at a CBI event in North Shields, in which he quoted Peppa Pig, then went on to completely lose his speech, seemingly having great difficulty in reading from his script. But the British people voted for him….
I came off Twitter today, after deciding I needed to take a break from reading the same old depressing stories about Government incompetence and corruption.
Tuesday 23rd November
Massive unease amongst Tory MP’s in the wake of Johnson’s cringe worthily awful speech yesterday, following on from the HS2 cancellation, the inequitable new care cost proposals, and the growing numbers of refugees risking their lives crossing the Channel to arrive in the UK.
It rained today, so I had an excuse not to go running. Man Utd won their first game of the post-Ole era, beating Villarreal 2-0 in the Champions League.
Wednesday 24th November
Shocking events in the Channel today, as 27 refugees drown whilst trying to make the crossing.
Friday 26th November
Just to lighten the load, there are fears that a new Covid variant, called Omicron, which is believed to be the most infectious mutation yet, has been discovered in southern Africa. Consequently the Government has re-imposed restrictions on travellers arriving from that area.
Stephen Sondheim died, aged 91.
Saturday 27th November
Omicron arrives in Europe. The Government announces that the wearing of masks will once again become compulsory in shops and on public transport.
Storm Arwen arrives in the UK, bringing strong, destructive winds to northern coasts & snow in the Midlands and North.
Bojo tweeted a letter to the French interior minister with ‘suggestions’ to avoid a repetition of Wednesday’s tragedy. This unorthodox means of diplomatic communication didn’t go down well with the French, who responded by withdrawing an invitation to Priti Patel to attend a summit of all countries affected by the crisis.
My home town team Reading have been in difficulties recently; an explosion in their wage bill caused them to breach Football League financial regulations and incur a 6-point penalty, which has left them perched precariously above the relegation zone. So today’s 3-2 win at Swansea was a massive boost to morale.
An exceptionally messy session down at the cat sanctuary today. It was almost as if someone had sprayed a poop gun round the pens.
Sunday 28th November
Lunch with the four old Tories. Ate a garguantan amount of food; I wasn’t to know the salad bar was available again, and by the time Paco asked for dessert orders, I thought ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’. We were there for three and a half hours. At least half an hour too long imo.
Man Utd, now under the caretaker management of Michael Carrick, did us a favour by holding Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at the Bridge. Ralf Rangnick has been recruited from Moscow as ‘interim manager’ for the rest of the season.
Monday 29th November
New restrictions have been announced, which could bugger our Xmas. All arrivals into the UK, regardless of their vaccine status, will be expected to take a PCR test within 2 days of arrival, then self-isolate until they receive a negative result. This could stump our plans to see Liz the day after we get back.
Failed to buy a new laptop or phone before the end of Cyber Monday.
I’m still pissed off with life at the moment. Until (if?) we go on a nice holiday next year, there’s nothing really nice to look forward to at the moment. Indeed, there’s more anxiety than anticipation at the moment regardng next summer, and Omicron isn’t likely to make that any easier. Booked my train tickets to see Joe today, only to find that the new restrictions were to come into force.
Tuesday 30th November
Barbados becomes a republic. The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell on charges of sex trafficking began today in New York. Keir Starmer made a shadow cabinet reshuffle which was widely perceived as shifting Labour further to the centre.
Jenny Harries, who at the height of the first wave annoyed many (including myself) of the patronising tone of her appearance at the evening Covid press briefings during the first wave, suggested people should limit their socialising over the festive period. She was promptly slapped down by No. 10 by these comments, and provoked outrage from the knuckle-dragging libertarian wing of the Tories. Meanwhile, it came to light that Bojo hosted a boozy get-together in No. 10 just before last Xmas, in direct contravention of the social distancing regulations in force at that time. One rule for them….
The great Ray Kennedy died today, aged 70; he had suffered from Parkinsons for most of the second half of his life.
Thought about going running this afternoon, but it was quite windy and I overslept.
Wednesday 1st December
The WTA announced a boycott of all tournaments in China and Hong Kong, following continued concern over the wellbeing of Peng Shuai.
Liverpool trounced Everton 4-1 at Goodison; that’s 8 games without a win now for Agent Benitez’s boys. Unfortunately, both City and Chelsea won as well.
Thursday 2nd December
Shocking story of a 6yo boy in Solihull who was subjected to appalling abuse and neglect by his father and stepmother, who amongst other things starved him and force-fed him with salt.
Ministers are continuing to send out mixed messages about the festive period, with Bojo and others insisting it’s still OK for Xmas parties and family gatherings to go ahead as per normal, whereas others are sensibly going along with the advice of the medical experts and exercising caution.
Outcry after Kingspan, who provided flammable cladding for Grenfell, signed a sponsorship deal with the Mercedes F1 team, whose lead driver is Lewis Hamilton.
An investigation into the shameful scenes in and around Wembley on the day of the Euros final concluded that serious injuries and deaths were only narrowly avoided.
Sir Anthony Sher, legendary classical actor, died, aged 72. Mrs C says she’s never heard of him.
Saturday 4th December
Some properties in Scotland and the North are still without power, more than a week after Storm Arwen hit. The travel industry is up in arms after the Government announced a requirement for all arrivals into the UK to show proof of a negative PCR test prior to departure.
Chelsea lost in sloppy fashion, 3-2 at West Ham. Luckily Liverpool were able to take advantage, although only with a 94th minute winner from supersub Divock Origi.
Had hoped to go out for tea tonight, but we both we were too tired so got a kebab in instead.
Thursday 23rd December
Quite a lot has happened since my last post. We have been made to work up until almost the last day of term (more of which later).
In the meantime, the hapless Bojo has taken a well-deserved hammering. Reports of ministerial parties in No. 10 and other locations, in contravention of Covid regulations; Johnson’s staff joking about their party whilst being caught on video (followed by a tearful resignation by former Peston sidekick Allegra Stratton); the PM’s own standards adviser seemingly being duped into believing Johnson funded the Downing Street refurb; a rebellion by some 100 Tory MP’s against legislation tightening Covid restrictions, in the face of Omicron seemingly surging out of control; a humiliating by-election defeat in North Shropshire to the Lib Dems in a seat with a 23,000 majority; and Labour surging to a 6% lead in the polls. Oh, and have I mentioned his cringingly awful ‘Peppa Pig’ speech, in which he completely lost the thread of his script?
Almost forgot – David Frost resigned from the Cabinet, stating he didn’t agree with the Government’s direction of travel, i.e. its turn to the right wasn’t sharp enough.
Back to work matters. The y11 & y13 mock exam reports were due to go out on the last Monday of term, and I was on schedule until I was roped into the admin for the school’s Covid tests. At this time I was informed that there would be a so-called ‘mock exam breakfast’ for the y13’s on Tuesday morning. No problem; even if they hadn’t been enveloped by the end of Monday, I could do it first thing Tuesday, safe in the knowledge that even though the y11 reports wouldn’t be ready by first thing Tuesday, they’d be ready to be dished out in the last lesson – as they have often been in the past.
Mrs C broke the news that there would also be a mock breakfast for the y11s, and thus the reports would be needed for period 1. There was absolutely no chance of that happening. So it was a surprise when our not-so-esteemed vice principal came down to me in a panic, asking for me to print off the reports regardless of whether they were complete or correct. Fine, that’s OK, nothing to do with me, and my name’s not on the covering letter. Job done, flap over.
So I was none too pleased when she subsequently sent an email implying that I should have reported ‘faults’ with our MIS, and I should have communicated to her if I was aware of any prospective delays. I replied that I hadn’t been informed of the y11 event until Mrs C told me after work, and that any communication fault wasn’t down to me. She then shot back that I should be more flexible as regards working hours, especially as staff were permitted to leave school premises to go onto camp, and be prepared to stay late – or come in early – as required. Implying that I was swinging the lead when it came to popping out of school when required. I replied that it was unreasonable to expect me to come in early on the morning the reports were due as effectively this fact had not been communicated to me during school hours – and also because I didn’t see why I should deal with the consequences of other peoples’ mistakes. She wisely left it at that. But I’m still pissed off about it.
In the meantime, we went to see our former colleague and close friend near Bury for her birthday, having a meal at an Italian restaurant and then staying at her ‘worker’s cottage’; Roy Orbison and the Pretenders were prominent during the course of the evening. Then Wednesday, after some deliberation, I decided to go to London after all to see Joe for a few Xmas drinkies; the fact I’d paid £94 for my train ticket was a major factor in my decision. Glad I did, of course. The pubs were reassuringly quiet; one of our venues was the Wheatsheaf, one of George Orwell’s former haunts, which was a bit chilly inside but served up excellent steak pies. We went to the Xmas market in Leicester Square as our final port of call; we agreed that in Easter or summer, we’d do it properly and stay overnight, rather than having to cut our drinking short to catch a train.
Massive furore over the end to the F1 season. Normally I wouldn’t regard it as being noteworthy, but even I admit this season’s been exceptional. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen went into the last race in Abu Dhabi level on points. With just a few laps to go, Hamilton was 11 seconds ahead of Verstappen, when an accident caused the safety car to come out, with the effect that Hamilton’s advantage was drastically reduced. On the last lap, Verstappen overtook Hamilton to finish ahead of him and thereby claim the title. A very unsatisfactory way to conclude a dramatic season.
Just a thought about Bojo and the Tory MPs. It was ironic that the proposed restrictions were only passed with support from Labour MPs, most of whom were seemingly acting in the best interests of the country. This contrasted with those Tory MPs who voted against them, on the grounds that they constrained their personal liberties. Basically, rather than voting on the grounds of their constituents’ wellbeing, they were just pursuing their own selfish libertarian interests. Typical Tories. Expect nothing better.
Saturday 25th December
It was OK I suppose, although four hours is enough in their company to be frank, let alone weeks on end.
Both Desmond Tutu and Janice Long died.
Monday 27th December
Managed to meet Andy in the Mill for a couple of hours, after negotiating my way past felled trees and boggy fields. Very enjoyable, especially when Andy submitted a dummy bid for a former acquaintance’s piece of ‘artwork’ on EBay.
Tuesday 28th December
Liverpool slumped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Leicester; the first time they’ve failed to score in 30-odd times, and in addition Salah missed a penalty. So with Chelsea being held at home by Brighton, the stars are aligning for City, who got a late winner at Brentford.
Wednesday 29th December
Round to our friends in Prenton, where some of us (including me) proceeded to feed our faces and get inebriated. Played Cards Against Humanity, but the UK version is very tame compared to the Aussie version. We stayed overnight, and Mrs C criticised me for dropping one in the night. I thought it was very minor and would only have measured 2 on the Richter scale, by my standards. Very enjoyable night nevertheless.
Thursday 30th December
Our anniversary. I’d originally intended to go to a Chinese place in Birkenhead, but after last night’s exertions I really couldn’t be bothered to go that far, so we went to a nearby Thai place instead. To her credit, Mrs C has acknowledged that it’s not an ideal situation for me to be staying with her brother’s family for five weeks in the summer. She even suggested that we consider finding a nearby Airbnb place for that time, and raised my expectations that as her mum was no longer on the scene, we’d be going out on several days out with the chance of a couple of short breaks. More importantly, she emphasised that we would be doing our own thing, and not have to adapt to her brother and his family’s routine. That has given me considerable reassurance.
Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking in her trial in New York. Prince Andrew is next….
Friday 31st December
The mob came round in the evening. Mrs C’s step-niece brought her lazyarse boyfriend (who hasn’t been jabbed yet). We had roast pork, when I’d have preferred to participate in our new year’s ritual of watching crap telly, eating cheese, crackers and biscuits, and getting quietly pissed. Watched The Aftermath in the run-up to midnight.
Saturday 1st January
Quiet. Very mild. The warmest New Year’s Day since 1916, apparently.
Xmas telly has mostly been crap, but there have been a few good series on terrestrial recently. We’ve had Vigil, North Water, Ridley Road, (the rather overrated imo) Showtrial, the excellent You Don’t Know Me, and The Girl Before. What looks to be compulsory Sunday night (or Monday nights in our case) viewing started tonight, namely the Beeb’s The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan.
(Sun – flight home; Liverpool draw with Chelsea whilst City beat Arsenal SaT)
Sunday 2nd January
Flight back to Cyprus. Liverpool lost a 2-goal lead at Chelsea. This, combined with City’s rather fortunate win away to Arsenal yesterday, leaves Guardiola’s boys ten points clear at the top.
Monday 3rd January
Accounts of shortages of Covid tests, as the virus is now having a severe effect on staffing levels in all public services. The number of cases is rising steeply, and the number of hospitalisations is now starting to display a worrying upturn.
Tuesday 4th January
Tony Blair is made a knight in the New Year’s Honours List, prompting predictable controversy. Of course the real issue here is whether the existence of the honours system can be justified, at least in its current form. Lindsay Hoyle’s comments that all PMs are worthy of a knighthood for the ‘service’ (parentheses relevant mostly for the current incumbent) hardly strengthens the case for it.
Prince Andrew’s legal team are desperately trying to get him off the hook, claiming that an agreement in which Virginia Giuffre, his most famous accuser, seemingly waived any right to legal action against Jeffrey Epstein or any other ‘third party’, which was signed by both parties in 2009. Of course it is not known whether Giuffre was coerced into signing this agreement, or whether she felt otherwise compelled to do so. Some commentators are claiming the terms of the agreement are so vague as to render them unenforceable in law. In which case, Andrew really is deep in the brown stuff.
Schools in England are instructed to ensure all pupils wear face masks when they reopen this week. School managers are, as before, given minimal notice to prepare for this change.
Thursday 6th January
World No 1 – and infamous vaccine sceptic – Novak Djovokic is having to spend time in a Melbourne quarantine hotel, after his vaccine exemption granted by Victoria state authorities was revoked by the Australian government. Of course, it’s just totally foreseeable that he’s going to be made the most famous martyr to the cause by the anti-vaxxer morons.
The ‘Colston Four’ were found not guilty of criminal damage, following their toppling of the eponymous statue in Bristol in June 2020. It’s a bit uneasy, this case. It would appear to be an obvious case of criminal damage, and the judgement would appear to give carte blanche to those who would wish to remove or vandalise statues of certain controversial figures from history.
From tomorrow, fully vaccinated arrivals into England won’t need to take a pre-departure test before they travel; and from Sunday, they’ll only need to take a lateral flow test within 2 days of arrival, rather than a more expensive PCR test.
It threatens to kick off in Kazakhstan, where government troops have killed 18 people protesting against oil price rises. Putin has apparently offered to send in ‘peacemaking’ troops.
Friday 7th January
It came out that Bojo was seeking funds to refurbish the No. 10 flat from Lord Brownlow, and in return promised to fund some recreation of the Great Exhibition from the 1850s. Elsewhere, the Government stated it would force developers to pay for the removal of cladding from all buildings over 11 meters high. But this statement still only refers to the removal of flammable cladding, and not other installations which pose a risk to residents. And if you live in a block below 11 metres, you’re still getting diddly squat.
Acting legend Sidney Poitier died, aged 94.
Saturday 8th January
A day of shame for Reading FC. After taking the lead, they slump to a 2-1 defeat away to Kidderminster (who are 6 tiers below the Royals) in their 3rd round FA Cup tie, after keeper Rafael lets a shot slip underneath his body for the winner. At least they’re not the only ones; the biggest ‘shock’ (if indeed it counts as one) was Newcastle’s 1-0 home defeat by League One Cambridge United.
Sunday 9th January
The weather here turned with a vengeance, as the wind really got up and heavy rain started before we went to bed.
Liverpool fell behind to Shrewsbury in their Cup tie, but eventually ran out 4-1 winners. Meanwhile, England pulled of a great escape in the Sydney Test, admittedly with some assistance from a rain delay. Australia had a 1st innings lead of 122, and declared at 265-6 (after England had them at 86-4 at one time). Somehow, England escaped defeat by the skin of their teeth on 270-9, with Ben Stokes playing heroically through the pain barrier to score 60.
Monday 10th January
Novak Djokovic won his appeal against his visa being cancelled, but that’s unlikely to be the end of it as the Australian government are threatening to revoke his entry visa for a second time. He’s now out of his quarantine hotel after being ‘imprisoned’ there for four days. It subsequently came to light that the day he’d tested positive for Covid, just before Xmas, he was photographed at an event the day after, whilst not wearing a mask. And in addition, he knowingly incorrectly completed he Australian travel declaration form incorrectly. He stated he’d not travelled to any other country in the 14 days before he arrived in Australia, when in fact he’d spent the New Year and a few days afterwards in Spain. Even if he does ultimately win, he has forfeited the respect and goodwill of millions of people. Hopefully he’ll get a hostile reception every time he takes to a tennis court from now on.
Outrage as a leaked email revealed the PM’s principal private secretary invited more than 100 staff to a ‘socially distanced’ ‘bring your own booze’ party to ‘make the most of the lovely weather’ (on 20th May 2020), in full knowledge that such gatherings breached Covid lockdown rules in force at the time. And moreover, both Bojo and Carrie were in attendance.
Weather is still foul; windy and periods of heavy rain.
Tuesday 11th January
A wet and windy night, but that wasn’t why this day will remain in the memory. In the middle of the night, I was awoken by the curious sensation of what felt like the bed wobbling on top of a pile of jelly. I quickly realised that it was an earth tremor, and it went on for a good 10 seconds. Turns out that there was a quake of magnitude 6.4, with the epicentre out to sea, about 65km west of Paphos. It’s certainly the strongest quake I’ve experience since arriving in Cyprus in 2004.
Furious Tories are expressing their outrage about the ‘bring your own booze’ party, and Bojo’s evasiveness about it; he’s refusing to confirm whether he and Carrie were actually in attendance. It does seem that a tipping point is being approached; most Tory MPs have until now been willing to at least turn a blind eye to Johnson’s dishonesty. But in the light of revelations about yet another No. 10 gathering in breach of Covid regulations, at a time when people couldn’t attend the funerals of loved ones or visit relatives in hospital, their sense of moral revulsion at last seems to have exceeded their desire to keep their jobs and climb up the greasy pole. PMQs tomorrow will be interesting, to say the least.
At least the Government did one thing right today, suspending the rollout of so-called ‘smart’ motorways until 2025 following a number of deaths on stretches of road with no hard shoulder.
Humiliation upon humiliation for Reading FC as they crash to a 7-0 home defeat at the hands of Fulham; this equals their record home League defeat.
Wednesday 12th January
Bojo’s squirming apology to the House of Commons at PMQs. He admitted attending the BYOB event while arguing it was a work event and “technically” broke no rules. No. 10 denied receiving the invitation email from No. 10’s own PPS. Can’t wait to see tomorrow’s front pages.
Humiliation beckons for Prince Andrew as a New York judge rules he will have to face trial for his alleged sexual assault of Virginia Giuffre. His options would appear to be: an out of court settlement; to submit himself to trial by jury; or to ride it out, do nothing, and presumably have a verdict made on him in absentia. Giuffre’s very unlikely to want a financial settlement; she’s insisting on her day in court, and who can blame her.
It’s not been a good week for three liars and deviants, has it?
Still wet and windy. Three days of it now.
Thursday 13th January
It stopped raining this afternoon.
Prince Andrew has been stripped of all of his military titles and patronages. There’s no doubt that this was at the instigation of the Queen, but how painful this must be for her. It threatens to overshadow the planned Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
Reports of a Chinese spy allegedly having given £584,000 to Labour MP Barry Gardiner.
Liverpool could only gain a disappointing 0-0 draw against Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi, even though Xhaka was sent off after about half an hour.
Friday 14th January
Reports of parties in No. 10 – on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. Just what the Queen didn’t want to hear, especially after the events of yesterday.
The Australian government has cancelled Novak Djovokic’s visa, meaning his almost certain non-participation in the Australian Open, and the possibility of being banned from the country for three years. Good.
Saturday 15th January
Cats. Bright but cool. Stayed in tonight whilst the boss was out with school colleagues. Was in the doghouse again because I forgot to leave the back door unlocked.
Heartbreak for Reading; after taking the lead at Middlesborough, and after apparently a very well-disciplined performance, they concede twice in the last five minutes to lose.
Sunday 16th January
Bright and sunny but decidedly chilly; the temperature didn’t rise much above 12C, and there was a keen breeze.
The polls are turning against Johnson; Labour has a 10-point lead in one of them. Tory MPs are increasingly furious with the way the Government has handled – or more accurately, hasn’t handled – ‘partygate’. There’s increasing speculation about the number of no-confidence letters from MPs. And Red Wall voters, bless’em, have finally got wise that Bojo is nothing more than a fraud. Things can only get better.
Liverpool gain a routine 3-0 win over Brentford, but still have a huge deficit with City to close. Meanwhile, Everton – one win in about 12 League games, a loss to struggling Norwich yesterday – sacked Rafa Benitez after five unhappy months.
England’s disastrous Ashes tour ended with another shambolic defeat. After a first innings deficit of 123, they bowled the Aussies out for 155, thus setting a target to win of 279. But after a decent start, reaching 82-1, they then proceeded to collapse to 124 all out.
Monday 17th January
Not a great start to the day. On the coldest morning of the winter so far (admittedly a dry and sunny one), I found out that the car had a flat battery, so I had to cycle into work, Then, I couldn’t renew my expired EU Covid pass because I couldn’t renew my NHS proof of vaccination, which had similarly expired. Paul next door came to the rescue; after an abortive attempt to start the car with jump leads, he very kindly drove me to the village to buy a new battery, then fitted it for me. An absolute hero and a genuinely nice guy, so it’s so bemusing that his kids are totally bonkers.
In a desperate attempt to save Bojo’s floundering Premiership, the Government announced ‘Operation Big Dog’, which will likely involve throwing certain individuals under the bus, but definitely involves the undermining of the BBC. So-called culture minister Nadine Dorries announced that the licence fee will be frozen for two years, with plans to scrap it in 2027.
Tuesday 18th January
Stupidly windy today, with periods of heavy rain and thunder in the evening. Still couldn’t resolve my EU Covid pass issue, so couldn’t go shopping. Just as well, seeing as the weather was so foul.
Doing the Covid test admin again. Everything changed at the last minute, as per usual.
Wednesday 19th January
Sunny but very cold here. 4C as I drove into work just before 8, 7C as I drove home just after 2. One of the very coldest days since I arrived in Cyprus in 2004.
Interesting day in politics. The Tory MP for Bury South crossed the floor and defected to Labour. Then, to make things worse for Bojo, David ‘thick as mince’ Davis, who quoted Leo Amery’s famous 1940 speech to Chamberlain – ‘in the name of God, go’. But apparently those Tory MPs from the 2019 intake who were thinking of submitting letters to the 1922 committee are now having second thoughts about doing so, on the grounds that today’s events have damaged party unity so much that to do so would inflict more harm. Cowards.
Thursday 20th January
The workman bodged a repair job to the bathroom taps, such that the hot bath tap is now constantly dribbling and the hot water tap will eventually be drained. Together with the car not starting and the NHS Covid app not functioning as it should, this is ‘the week where things didn’t work’. At least I managed to resolve the last issue today, so I’m not banished from shops and restaurants any more (not for another month, anyway).
Allegations have surfaced that Tory whips have used blackmail tactics to coerce recalcitant MPs to toe the party line, including threatening to withdraw funding for certain projects such as schools, and leaking allegations about their past conduct. Meantime, in another attempt to get said MPs back onside, the Government scrapped compulsory wearing of masks in confined spaces and the ‘work from home’ advice. This at a time when Covid deaths have risen to well over 300 a day.
The US warns Vladimir Putin against an attack on Ukraine, as 100,000 Russian troops mass alongside the country’s eastern border.
Meat Loaf died, aged 74.
Friday 21st January
Apparently Meat Loaf was an anti-vaxxer who died of Covid.
Walked round to a colleague’s house tonight (to which he nearly proceeded to set fire). His Dutch wife cooked a nasi goreng, and some of us proceeded to over-imbibe somewhat.
Saturday 22nd January
Friday was fine, but it chucked it down today. Luckily the worst was over by the time we went down to see the cats this afternoon – but it returned with a vengeance tonight.
Sue Gray, the senior civil servant appointed to investigate ‘partygate’, has apparently been given access to swipe card data from No. 10. In a new, separate scandal, a female Tory MP of Asian origin claims she was sacked from her ministerial post because, as the Chief Whip Mark Spencer allegedly said, her ‘Muslimness’ was ‘making colleagues uncomfortable’.
There’s also growing pressure from many quarters for the Government to scrap the proposed rise in National Insurance contributions, which is due to take effect from April.
Worrying reports of players from visiting teams being hit by objects thrown by home fans (new Villa recruit Lucas Digne at Goodison, his former club, where Villa beat Everton 1-0) and at Stamford Bridge, where Spurs fans threw missiles at Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger. Meantime, Reading lost 4-3 at home to Huddersfield; the Royals are now without a win in 8, and are only out of the bottom three thanks to Derby’s 21-point deduction.
Sunday 23rd January
Liverpool gained a slightly flattering 3-1 win at Palace, reducing the gap by two points after City could only draw at Southampton yesterday.
Monday 24th January
Never mind all Bojo’s denials about there being illicit gatherings in the No. 10 garden. It appears he had a little birthday party in his Downing Street flat. And Sue Gray’s investigating a series of other gatherings that are believed to have occurred there.
Apparently, stock markets have plunged as fears over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine grow.
My line manager’s pissing me off again. Even though the deadline for y7 reports to go out isn’t until Wednesday – and even though parents’ afternoon isn’t until 7th February – she’s still desperate for the reports to go out tomorrow. This on top of the reintroduction of Covid testing, which basically takes a whole day in terms of admin.
Tuesday 25th January
Horrible day today. Poured with rain in the morning, twice woken by thunder, and the temperature didn’t rise above 7C. The house is like an icebox; I’m having to resort to wearing three layers indoors.
Bojo must be shitting himself now; the Met announced they’ll be launching a criminal investigation into the parties at No. 10.
Meanwhile, about 400 people a day are dying of Covid.
Wednesday 26th January
As the country waits on tenterhooks for Sue Gray’s report, Bojo is accused of lying over his role in the evacuation of pets from Kabul last August. He’d previously denied any part, but emails have been leaked, indicating he (or Carrie) had seemingly given their approval.
Prince Andrew is now insisting by trial by jury in the States.
Comedy legend Barry Cryer died, aged 86.
Thursday 27th January
So much going on. Partygate and the non-appearance of Sue Gray’s report. Bojo’s desperate tactics to try and hold onto his job. A possible rebellion over the proposed rise in National Insurance contributions. Energy price rises almost literally coming down the pipeline. (It will be so if Russia invades Ukraine, thus jeopardising the supply of Russian gas to western Europe). Prince Andrew trying to squirm out of sex charges.
Friday 28th January
The Met have decided to jump in with both feet into the Partygate enquiry. As a result, Sue Gray felt compelled to announce that she could only issue a heavily redacted version of the report, in case her full findings might ‘prejudice’ the Met’s enquiries into possible criminal events at No. 10. There are fears that consequently, the truth of what really went on may never see the light of day. It’s not impossible to imagine that Bojo’s team persuaded Cressida Dick to intervene to stop the Gray report in its tracks, but make sure their own full conclusions are kept confidential. What a disgrace.
(Sydney Test 9/1; Bojo scraps 2-day test condition; trouble in Kazakhstan)
Saturday 29th January
Had two female work colleagues round tonight for a raclette. Which was great, but the raclette didn’t work (as our physics teacher colleague ascertained, this was due to a faulty plug, rather than any fault with the set itself). We improvised and stuck everything under the grill, and in the end it was quite successful. But just as I hoped they’d make a move (at about 11.30), someone thought it was a good idea to break out the Filfar and rum. The upshot was that we didn’t get to bed until 1.30 am.
Sunday 30th January
In a desperate attempt to deflect attention from his deceitful wrongdoings, Bojo is poised to announce a raft of policy ‘initiatives’ on the eve of jetting off to the Ukraine in another likely vain attempt to come across as statesmanlike. These include a new so-called ‘levelling-up’ announcement, and a bonfire of EU ‘red tape’.
Rafael Nadal claimed one of the most remarkable victories of his distinguished career, as he came from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final.
Still on tennis, it appears that Novak Djokovic lied over the dates he tested positive.
Man Utd player Mason Greenwood was arrested on suspicion of rape. Another example of a footballer having an excuse for a brain between his legs.
Monday 31st January
The much-redacted Gray report is published, but its contents are still damning enough for Johnson to be given a well-deserved beasting in the Commons. The report stated that there was a ‘failure of leadership’ at No. 10, and that as many as 16 events there were ‘difficult to justify’. Keir Starmer said that Bojo was a ‘man with no shame’.; in response, Johnson landed a low blow by making the false claim that in his capacity as DPP, Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile, for which Bojo was chastised by the speaker. After pressure from its own MPs, the Government was forced into committing to publish the report in full once the Met had concluded its enquiries.
Tuesday 1st February
The weather has mercifully turned much milder all of a sudden, with temperatures up to about 16C today.
The Government’s so-called ‘levelling-up’ strategy was trumpeted today; new roads and other infrastructure projects, investment in school, super-fast broadband, blah blah. The obvious question is : where’s the money to pay for this if they won’t raise taxes? (Especially if Sunak replaces Bojo in No. 10).
A rotten culture of misogyny, racism and bullying is apparently still entrenched in the Met Police.
After writing off £4bn on the emergency Covid loans scheme as a result of fraud, the Treasury announced it has written off £9bn on faulty or obsolete PPE equipment. It’s not exactly a burnishing of Sunak’s credentials as successor to Bojo.
Friday 4th February
Four of Bojo’s top aides quit in one day. One of them, policy chief Muniza Mirza, who’s worked closely with Johnson for a decade, wrote a withering resignation letter. Meanwhile, chanellor Rishi Sunak, who was noticeably critical of Bojo’s ‘Jimmy Savile’ slur, warned the UK public to brace themselves for even higher energy costs in the autumn, with inflation forecast to hit 7%.
Apparently the Winter Olympics began in Beijing today. Man Utd lost on penalties – at home – to Championship side Middlesbrough in their 4th round Cup tie.
Saturday 5th February
A very quiet day. Not even any really noteworthy sports stories today. Unless you count Scotland beating England in the Calcutta Cup.
Sunday 6th February
On the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne, the Queen stated that she wants Camilla to be Queen Consort when Charles does eventually become king.
Senegal beat Egypt in a penalty shootout to win the African Cup of Nations; it was Sadio Mane (who missed from the spot in normal time) who scored the winning penalty and consigned Mo Salah’s side to defeat.
Monday 7th February
Not my line manager’s finest hour.
Normally on parents’ afternoons, staff get to choose their own appointments. For some reason, on this particular occasion I was appointed to do it single-handedly. I tried to allocate appointments for the convenience of both parents and staff, and had finalised the schedule by the original deadline for parents’ returns last week. Then in her ultimate wisdom, she extends the return date, and I was asked to send out appointment letters to all parents who’d replied by Friday; this I did, and it required me to stay behind until 3pm that day. But she does not reinstate the deadline for returns, and consequently – in addition to the time-consuming task of the admin for the school’s Covid tests – I was expected to update the schedule as replies dripped in – on the actual day of the event! – and notify staff and parents (by phone, right up until the end of the normal working day). Needless to say, the afternoon turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. She has gone right down in my estimation during the last two months.
Keir Starmer, and his colleague, the excellent David Lammy had to be rescued by police after they were assailed and abused by a gang of anti-vaxxer morons. Bojo condemned the incident, but is still refusing to apologise for his provocative, tasteless comments. Apparently Muniza Mirza tried to dissuade him of making the baseless allegation, but he insisted on deploying it anyway. This is straight out of the Trumpian playbook. Ultimately, hopefully he will reap what he sows.
University Challenge legend Bamber Gascoigne died, aged 87.
Wednesday 9th February
Bojo announced that all Covid restrictions in England could be ended within the month. Cue euphoria from his right-wingers that he’s still desperately trying to appease, and the more extreme right-wing rags. Meanwhile, about 2,000 people a week are still dying from the virus.
Shocking footage emerged of West Ham defender Kurt Zouma drop-kicking and slapping one of his pet cats; his brother, who was smirking at the time, was the one who filmed it.
Thursday 10th February
After years of scandals and weeks of speculation, and after London mayor Sadiq Khan gave her an ultimatum about investigating the toxic misogynistic and racist culture within the force, Cressida Dick finally resigned as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, just hours after stating she was adamant that she wouldn’t do so.
The situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border is becoming increasingly perilous after talks between the countries in Berlin broke down. Liz Truss, who is currently masquerading as Britain’s foreign secretary, was humiliated by her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in talks in Moscow; he referred to their encounter as like a conversation of “the mute with the deaf”. Russia and Belarus are engaged in joint manoeuvres on the Ukrainian border. It is to be hoped that Putin has all this time been engaged in nothing more than loud sabre-rattling, in a bid to get Russia and himself more attention in the geopolitical sphere.
Prince Charles has been diagnosed with Covid, days after visiting his mother.
Liverpool reduced the gap at the top of the Premier League to nine points – with a game in hand – after beating Leicester 2-0 at home.
I nearly inadvertently started a fire in the bedroom tonight. I turned on the bedside lamp, not realising the strap from my eyeshield was hanging over the bulb. Soon a pall of unpleasant smoke and fumes hung over the bed; I turned off the bedside lamp (of course), and turned both the main light and the fan on, in an attempt to disperse the fumes. The thought that I might meet my end by inhaling toxic fumes kept me awake for a while after I got into bed.
Sunday 13th February
Mrs C had invited our neighbours, together with crazy cat lady Ronny, to our place for Sunday lunch. The tagine went down very well, but alas so did considerable quantities of gin, such that despite us dropping hints that they might like to consider leaving soon, our guests didn’t actually do so until about 8pm, some 7 hours after they came round. Don’t think we’ll be repeating that exercise any time soon….
Idiot Canadian anti-vax truckers have been holding protests in the capital Ottawa, as well as blocking the main bridge between Canada and the US. Just when you think Canada was the sensible younger sister, compared to her reckless elder brother.
Monday 14th February
The world is holding its breath whilst waiting the latest developments in the Ukraine-Russia crisis. Other than that, it’s pretty quiet; Parliament’s in half term recess, so Bojo won’t be able to make a tit of himself in PMQs for a while.
The inquiry into the Post Office accounting scandal opened today; the first of many heartbreaking, shocking accounts detailing how people lost their jobs, their liberty, and in some cases their lives, were heard. All because the Post Office chose to put faith in, and believe, an accounting system which was known to be faulty, rather than the accounts of about 700 people, some of whom even paid some of their own money into making up the false shortfalls. It has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Tuesday 15th February
In a sensational development, Prince Andrew went back on his wish to defend himself in a US court, and made an out-of-court settlement, believed to be worth about £12m, with his accuser Virginia Giuffre. The consensus is that this was his only viable course of action; bearing in mind his car crash interview with Emily Maitlis 15 months ago, his advisors feared he would perform so poorly in the witness stand that he would be totally humiliated – well, to an even greater extent than he’s been already.
Wednesday 16th February
Small beer compared to the Andrew scandal, but Charles’ charity is alleged to have supported a Saudi’s application for UK citizenship and bid for a knighthood, in return for an appropriately proportionate donation.
Anti-vaxxer chump Novak Djokovic says he’d rather miss all major tennis tournaments, than take a Covid jab. Nose, face, spite……
Liverpool won their first leg last-16 tie with Inter Milan with two late goals in the San Siro, despite being under the cos for most of the second half. I was happy I stayed up to watch it. Elsewhere, in their crucial crunch match, Reading avoided defeat for the first time in 9 matches with a dour goalless draw away to their nearest relegation rivals Peterborough. We’ll clutch at any straw.
Thursday 17th February
Got my hair cut today, for the first time in two months.
Friday 18th February
Storm Eunice batters the southern UK; 4 dead, trees felled, the top of a church tower in Wells blown off, a sizeable proportion of the roof of the O2 Arena in London blown off, planes encountering extreme difficulty in landing. Transport chaos. What’s believed to be England’s highest-ever recorded gust of wind, 122 mph, is recorded at the Needles.
At last, some good news for Team GB from the Winter Olympics; both our men’s and women’s curling teams are guaranteed at least silver medals after reaching their respective finals.
Saturday 19th February
The Government announced that it’s likely to end all existing Covid restrictions next week, including he requirement to isolate after having tested positive, and is considering withdrawing free lateral flow tests. In addition, it intends to greatly reduce the statistical monitoring of the virus. Great move that, Bojo.
Took Mrs C to the airport today. Home alone for the next week. Liverpool beat Norwich 3-1 at home. And in the evening Spurs blew the title race wide open in an enthralling encounter at the Etihad. They were leading 2-1, and then what would have been their third was struck off due to VAR ruling it offside (correctly). City then won a penalty on the brink of full time (a clear handball, correctly ruled by VAR), then, in a dramatic conclusion, once wannabe City player Harry Kane scored the winner. City are now only 6 points clear, and Liverpool have a game in hand.
It’s been a great footy day; Reading won 3-2 at Preston (they had been 3-0 up, and just clung on for the win), then Derby (who of course are fighting their own battle for survival) did the Royals a massive favour by beating Peterborough. It was a bit strange, therefore, for Reading to part company with manager Veljko Paunovic immediately after the game.
Sunday 20th February
Gorgeous, sunny day, and quite warm. After feeding Ronny’s cats in the squalor of her kitchen, I headed for Arsos in the expectation of having lunch in the ‘other’ taverna, before walking along the nature trail. I hadn’t expected them to be fully booked, so I reverted to Plan B and went to Vasa instead. Had a nice lunch in the taverna there, before strolling round the village and feeding a few of the local ferals.
The Queen is diagnosed with Covid, but apparently will carry on with ‘light duties’.
The men’s curling team have to make do with silver, but the women’s team win gold.
Flooding in greater Manchester and Yorkshire, and thunderstorms in Lincolnshire. And this is before the arrival of storm Franklin, hot on the heels of Eunice……
Monday 21st February
Immediately after the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway states in the east of Ukraine. He then promptly ordered ‘peacekeeping’ troops into these states. The invasion of Ukraine has begun.
Johnson announced sanctions against three Russian oligarchs and five Russian banks. Not exactly measures to have Putin quivering with fear.
A danger of serious flooding in the Severn Valley following the passage of Storm Franklin. There’s already been serious flooding in Yorkshire.
Tuesday 22nd February
A palindromic day. There won’t be another day like this until 3rd February 2030.
Went for a walk round the back of the estate to make the most of the sunny weather. Shops in the evening.
Reading won again! They beat Birmingham 2-1 and are now on a three-match unbeaten run. Hopefully they have really turned a corner now.
Wednesday 23rd February
Went out for drive in ‘South Dakota’ country north of Choletria. Weather was warm and sunny. Intended to stop in Kelokedara, but I couldn’t pass anywhere near the coffee shop. Went on to Salamiou, and perchance found a short nature trial giving extensive views over the village. The two cafes in the village centre were closed, and as I left I felt a really pressing need for a coffee. Luckily, there was a cafe on the way out of the village, where I stopped for coffee and a sandwich.
Turned into the Diarizos valley, and the scenery is really stunning this time of year. Rock formations, lush valley floors contrasting with bare scree-like faces on the other side of the river, orange plantations adding some additional colour; I imagine it’s possible to use a huge variety of walks using the (unmapped) tracks and sheep trails. Stopped in the Extreme View cafe, then headed home, by which time it had clouded over and there was a little rain in the air. Not feeling particularly hungry tonight so had foul medames and salad for tea.
Liverpool won their game in hand, trouncing struggling Leeds 6-0. Meanwhile, Man Utd gained a rather fortunate draw away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Thursday 24th February
A day that will go down in infamy.
Putin sent his armed forces into action against Ukraine today. Russian troops made several incursions over the Ukrainian border, and there were air strikes against (mostly?) military targets across the whole country. That didn’t stop several innocent civilians being killed. The mood in Kiev and other big cities appears to be surprisingly calm, but as the Russians push forward, that’s unlikely to last.
Putin made an early morning announcement, as stated in the Guardian:
“We have taken the decision to conduct a special military operation,” he said, in what amounted to a declaration of war. He claimed it was for the “demilitarisation and denazification” of Ukraine, echoing a theme of Kremlin propaganda, the false claim that the Kyiv government is controlled by the far right.
“We do not intend to occupy Ukraine,” he said, and he had a chilling warning for other nations. “To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: if you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history. All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, and justifiably, there was worldwide condemnation of Putin’s actions. It’s doubtful whether it has too much support within Russia itself; as the BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg said, ‘this is the Kremlin’s war’. Parallels appear to be being drawn between Putin’s apparent desire to regain former territories of the Soviet Union, and his opinion that the West imposed an unjust ‘defeat’ against the Soviet Union; and Hitler’s view that the Versailles treaty imposed unjust restrictions against Germany, and that seemingly, initially at least, he only wanted to reclaim parts of the country that it lost during the First World War. There are other, more sinister, parallels between Hitler and Putin, although as far as I know, the latter doesn’t have an agenda of genocide or ethnic cleansing.
Also, the right-wing MSM will no doubt attempt to portray Bojo as Churchillian, in an attempt to sweep Partygate and all of his other misdeeds under the carpet. Never forget that Bojo and other Tories were cosying up to Putin and his oligarch pals years before this kicked off. The Ukraine war will end up as Johnson’s Falklands War moment.
Friday 25th February
Russian forces are apparently only some 20km from the centre of Kyiv; it’s hard to believe that the city played host to that Champions League final only four years ago. Speaking of which, UEFA have stripped this year’s CL final from its intended venue of St Petersburg, and awarded it to Paris instead.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace is claiming that the Russians have not achieved their first day objectives. The possibility was raised later that if that is the case, then Putin will become more desperate and use even more indiscriminate force, including artillery. The trouble is he’s been in power for more than 20 years, has lost touch not only with his own people but also reality, and is now surrounded by sycophantic yes-men who are terrified to stand up to him. He has well and truly fallen prey to the dictator’s sense of megalomania and delusion verging on insanity, which has dangerous consequences for the whole world.
Did the sorting job I promised myself I’d force myself to do one day. I managed to catch the poor cat who’s been hanging around for months and take him to Paphiakos, where he can be properly cared for and fed, and won’t have to go from house to house begging for food.
Saturday 26th February
Ukrainian resistance is stiffer than Putin had anticipated. Roman Abramovich has relinquished control of Chelsea to the club’s charitable trust. In a landmark moment, Germany effectively ended non-involvement in external conflicts by stating that it would supply arms to Ukraine.
Man Utd could only draw 0-0 at home to bottom-of-the-table Watford. Unfortunately, Reading’s nascent revival came to a shuddering halt with a 4-1 loss at Blackpool.
Had hoped to buy my tea from the rotisserie in Erimi, but – again – they were already closed, despite my having delayed my shopping trip.
Sunday 27th February
An alarming development as Putin puts his nuclear forces on alert. Kharkiv and other cities have come under attack, although the attack on Kyiv appears to have stalled. In a typically ham-fisted, cowardly announcement, FIFA announced that Russia could continue to compete at international level, but would have to play its matches behind closed doors at neutral venues, and would have to participate under a neutral flag in the name of the ‘Football Union of Russia’. It’s a shameful cop-out, but partly to be expected because of Infantino’s close ties to, and admiration of, Putin.
A much more edifying football story today, as after a gripping 120 minutes, Liverpool won the Carabao Cup by beating Chelsea in a penalty shootout. If truth be told, Chelsea created the better chances, with Mount missing two sitters, although Liverpool probably edged possession. It didn’t help that Thiago was injured in the pre-match warm-up and was replaced by Keita, who unfortunately was once again somewhat underwhelming; the main impression he made was on Chalobah’s groin, with a rather risky tackle he was lucky to escape punishment for. Both keepers, Mendy and Kelleher, made some fine saves. Penalties were for the most part of the highest quality, and after all outfield players had taken theirs, it was down to the keepers. Kelleher, who is rapidly gaining cult hero status, buried his; but Kepa, who rather cruelly came on as sub for the unfortunate Mendy seemingly because Tuchel thought he was better at saving spot-kicks, skied his, and so the trophy went to Anfield.
Picked up Mrs C from the airport.
Monday 28th February
Reports of Russian forces using cluster bombs. The rouble tanks on the foreign exchanges. At least FIFA was shamed into hardening its stance and banning all Russian teams from foreign competition, not least because individual national associations declared they would refuse to fulfil upcoming fixtures against Russia.
The evil Priti Patel refused to waive all visa rules for Ukrainian refugees, on the grounds of fears of ‘extremists’ and ‘Russian agents’ possibly entering the country. Contrast this with the EU, which is preparing to grant Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for up to three years. Makes me sick that we’re no longer part of this, that we can’t show unconditional solidarity with our neighbours.
Tuesday 1st March
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the EU parliament through a video link, and received a lengthy standing ovation. Elsewhere, in Geneva, a number of diplomats walked out of the room when Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, addressed the UN human rights council via a pre-recorded video message. All the while, a 40-mile tank column advances on Kyiv amid fears of Putin intensifying his military action. There will come a point where Russia’s superiority in the size and arming of its combat forces will surely overwhelm the hugely brave Ukrainian resistance, and what will happen then? Will the world just have to wait for the Russian people to wake up, smell the coffee, see what Putin’s done to their country, and start a second revolution?
Pancake day. Didn’t know about it until the last minute; it was too late for me to buy any cherry jam. Gutted.
Wednesday 2nd March
Nearly a million people have already fled Ukraine to escape the conflict. After stating that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete at the forthcoming Winter Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee performed a screeching FIFA-style U-turn and stated that they would be banned after all.
Roman Abramovich has confirmed that he is willing to consider offers for Chelsea FC, following calls for him to be sanctioned because of his links to the Putin government.
Thursday 3rd March
A stormy day. The wind howled from the early hours right through until bedtime.
Kherson fell to the Russians. There is disquiet that the British government is proving to be so slow in sanctioning Russian oligarchs. Even now, they have 18 months under existing legislation to re-register their assets in the UK to another jurisdiction.
Friday 4th March
A grim day.
We woke up to the news that Russian troops had attached Ukraine’s largest nuclear power station. Very fortunately, there appears to have been no discharge of radioactive matter as a consequence. But it just goes to show the degree of recklessness to which Putin is prepared to go, to achieve his aims. It’s been commented that having failed to defeat (so far) Ukrainian resistance on the battleground, Putin is now resorting to targeting the country’s infrastructure – power stations, transport links, etc. – with the aim of disabling it. And now the Russians are seemingly targeting civilian populations; they’re laying siege to the southern port city of Mariupol. There are reports that the city is now without power or fresh water.
In the afternoon, the death of Aussie cricketing legend Shane Warne was announced. He was only 52 and had apparently died of a heart attack at his complex in Thailand. A true icon of his sport and his country, he always seemed to play and live with a huge smile on his face and was loved by just about everyone, even us Poms. His passing overshadowed the death of Rod Marsh which was announced earlier in the day; he was 74.
Saturday 5th March
A supposed 5-hour ceasefire in Mariupol, which was intended to allow civilians a window of opportunity to escape, was ended by Russian forces after barely 30 minutes. Putin is now cynically deploying the Syria playbook by targeting civilian targets (including innocent people and medical facilities) in an attempt to demoralise them and subjugate them into defeat. There is anger and frustration amongst Ukrainians over NATO’s refusal to enforce a no-fly zone over the country, for fear of prompting a conflict between Nato and Russia. Citizens are now leaving Kyiv in expectation of a forthcoming siege.
Football fans across the country showed their support for Ukraine today. Except for a section of Chelsea fans at Burnley, who chanted Roman Abramovich’s name during what was intended to be a round of applause for Ukraine. Lovely people. There are some things bigger than football.
Liverpool gained a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to West Ham. Earlier, Reading lost by the same score at home to Millwall, whilst Derby beat Barnsley.
Sunday 6th March
Out of bed at 9.15. Fed the cats. Had breakfast. Ominously quiet. Still no movement by 10.30, even though the cats had somehow got upstairs. Fortunately, she surfaced soon afterwards.
Mrs C has been suffering, for the last few days, from a circulation problem which has caused her to experienced a sensation similar to pins and needles on her face and particularly round her eyes. Her skin is starting to dry out. In addition, she appears to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat, which occurred again this afternoon. She’s got an appointment on Thursday; we need to get to the bottom of this asap.
Monday 7th March
The EU throws its doors open to Ukrainian refugees.
Meanwhile, in Brexitannia:
And this:
And this:
It’s all in there. No further comment is needed. It gives me another reason to be ashamed to be British. Some have been saying that ‘this is not who we are’; I rather fear this is what we’re becoming, thanks to Johnson, Patel and their partners in crime.
Tuesday 8th March
Fears for the world economy as energy prices soar in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. Western economies now have an incentive to reduce their excessive dependence on Russian energy. Overseas companies rush to close their operations in Russia.
A major disappointment for us Remainers, as one of our heroes, John Bercow, is exposed as a bully and a liar following an independent enquiry into his conduct, and banned from parliament for life. In the present day Parliament, Ukrainian president Zelenskiy gives an online address and receives a standing ovation. The UK and US ban the import of Russian oil.
Wednesday 9th March
Sickening accounts of a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol being destroyed by Russian bombs. They are increasingly deploying the playbook they used so callously in Syria. Accounts of refugee corridors being bombed as well. At least the advance of the armoured column outside Kyiv appears to have stalled. Elsewhere, desperate refugees are fleeing westwards en masse; images of packed trains leaving Ukraine and arriving in Polish stations. There are fears that Putin may be planning to use chemical weapons.
This:
Thursday 10th March
The EU, US and other countries have not ben so reticent to sanction Russian citizens associated with Putin, as the UK has. Today, Britain announced sanctions on seven individuals, one of whom is Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich. The measure means that he cannot currently proceed with the sale of the club, but also that he cannot profit from any additional revenue that the club generates. So Chelsea have been banned from ticket and merchandise sales, and from selling in the transfer market. To add insult to injury, club sponsors Three moved to end their association with the club with immediate effect.
Those of us who hate Chelsea often hoped that Roman would get bored with the club and pull out all of his financial stake. Now he’s being forced to, you almost feel sorry for those Chelsea fans who happen to be decent human beings. The club’s business model – being subsidised by a wealthy individual, rather than generating sufficient income to cover transfer expenditures – obviously becomes unsustainable when said individual’s involvement ends. It’s doubtful whether Chelsea will be able to sustain their position as one of Europe’s elite clubs, given that their stadium is so much smaller than the likes of Liverpool, City, Barcelona, Real, Bayern and others.
Friday 11th March
The wind howled all night and it tipped down. Much, much colder today; my car thermometer didn’t rise above 7C. It’s certainly the coldest March day I can remember on the island.
Ridiculously busy at work. Boss hassling me re reports and tests. Felt he need for a quick beer when I got home.
Saturday 12th March
Liverpool won 2-0 at Brighton, but Reading were trounced 4-0 at Forest.
As you were in Ukraine. The Government is going to offer £350 per week to homeowners who are willing to accommodate Ukrainian refugees. A belated attempt to appear humane.
Sunday 13th March
In what is widely interpreted as a warning to the West, Russian forces attack a Ukrainian military base just 6 miles from the Polish border.
Michael Gove brushed off concerns raised about the peerage awarded to Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev. Whose father was in the KGB.
Bitterly cold here, the 3rd successive cold day. There hasn’t been such cold weather so late in the winter since I arrived in 2004.
Tuesday 15th March
The first day of the Cheltenham festival. Crowds are back for the first time since the 2020 ‘superspreader’ festival.
President Zelenskiy states that Ukraine joining NATO is not an option. You would imagine that this is a statement intended merely to appease the Russians and buy some time; it’s hard to imagine that Ukraine wouldn’t want to join in the future, given what’s happening now.
As Chelsea are currently banned from selling tickets for any matches, they attempted to have their forthcoming FA Cup quarter final tie at Middlesbrough played behind closed doors on the grounds of ‘sporting integrity’ in an attempt to have a level playing field. Quite rightly, and predictably, this prompted a furious response from Boro, the football authorities, and even the Government. Chelsea preaching about ‘integrity’ is a bit rich. It’s a spectacular PR own goal on the part of those who run the club.
Wednesday 16th March
Amid Russia’s relentless, indiscriminate bombing campaign, there are reports that they deliberately targeted a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol where 400 people were taking shelter.
But amidst all the gloom, there was one piece of good news. Nazanin Zahari-Radcliffe, the dual UK/Iranian national who was arrested whilst visiting her family in Iran for ‘spying’, has been released after 6 years, apparently after the UK finally decided to honour a long-standing military debt dating back to the days of the Shah.
At Cheltenham, red-hot favourite Shishkin blows out in the Champion Chase; he was never going well in the soft going, and was pulled up at about halfway. Combined with the absence of Bravemansgame in the novice staying chase, this led to Wednesday (the best day of the Festival imho) feeling rather anti-climactic.
Still cold here. It’s certainly the coldest March since I arrived here in 2004. It’s sunny but there’s a nagging, chilly breeze. The house is still like an icebox. There’s still snow on the Troodos.
Thursday 17th March
In a shocking development, P&O sacked 800 of its staff with immediate effect – by a pre-recorded video message – and replaced them with foreign labour who are paid a fraction of what existing employees earned. It’s possibly the worst example so far of ‘fire and rehire’ tactics used by some employers. Apparently it’s legal because the company’s ships aren’t registered in the UK, but in other countries where employment laws offer far less protection to workers. You’d like to think that any short-term saving they make as a result of this appalling move, will be outweighed by the public backlash that is surely forthcoming, and an irreparable blow to their reputation.
Friday 18th March
Thousands go to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, scene of the 1980 Olympics, and of the 2018 World Cup final – some apparently bussed their will – to attend a triumphalist rally by Putin. There were inevitable comparisons with Hitler’s rallies at Nuremberg. Meanwhile, President Biden warns Chinese premier Xi Jinping that there will be ‘consequences’ if China supplies arms to Russia. The thought of China forming an alliance with Putin sends a shiver down the spine.
Saturday 19th March
Anger, embarrassment and outrage as Bojo’s outrageous claim that the British people voting in favour of Brexit is on a par with Ukrainians fighting Russian invaders. As the Guardian said, ‘the remarks caused astonishment not only because Ukraine applied last month, after the Russian invasion began, to become a member of the EU, but because the comments suggested that the EU was itself a form of tyranny to be escaped from’.
Here’s the whole article:
Mariupol still under siege. The British ‘homes for Ukrainians’ scheme is apparently hindered by bureaucracy, and probably not least the requirement for would-be hosters to already have made contact with a prospective guest. As if fleeing refugees have access to a good wi-fi network whilst they’re sheltering from bombs or fleeing besieged cities.
France win Grand Slam as Italy beat Wales with a very late try in Cardiff, their first win in a Six Nations match since 2015. Meanwhile, Reading’s survival bid is strengthened with a 1-0 win over promotion-chasing Blackburn.
Sunday 20th March
Reports emerged of thousands of civilians being forcibly deported from Mariupol to Russia. An appalling story of Met Police strip-searching a 15-year-old black girl at her school. The organisation is truly shot through with toxicity.
Liverpool gain a very hard-fought 1-0 win away to Forest in the FA Cup sixth round.
Monday 21st March
Meanwhile, in the UK, nearly 2,000 people a week are still dying of Covid. New cases are running about 120,000 a week, 3 times the level of a month ago.
If I were cynical, I could imagine Bojo asking his mate Vladimir to start a war, to divert people’s attention from Partygate, and the continuing rise in Covid cases.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe criticises the UK government for taking 6 years to obtain her release from captivity. In doing so, she earns the opprobrium of hordes of spiteful trolls, one of whom accuses her of being an ‘ungrateful bitch’.
Tuesday 22nd March
Still cold here. Meanwhile, parts of the UK basks in temperatures of around 20C.
Wednesday 23rd March
World women’s No. 1 tennis player Ashleigh Barty announces her shock retirement, at the age of just 25.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak made his spring statement. It didn’t go down well He announced a 5p per litre cut in fuel duty, which will have minimal impact bearing in mind how much petrol has gone up recently. (In any case, those poor enough not to be able to afford a car wouldn’t feel any benefit). Otherwise, there’s nothing to alleviate the forthcoming rise in energy bills. The hike in NICs remains in place, although the threshold at which people start paying them is raised. The announced 3.1% increase in benefits is well below inflation, which is forecast to rise to 8%. There will be a cut in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19% – but not until 2024, which most people stated will be the year of the next election. The OBR announced that the chancellor’s actions would offset only about a quarter of the tax rises he had announced last October and warned that living standards would fall by 2.2% over the coming tax year – the biggest fall since the 1950s.
Wales beat Austria 2-1 in their World Cup play-off qualifier, to set up a tie with either Scotland or Ukraine (that tie being postponed for obvious reasons). Meanwhile, in what must surely rank as one of the greatest upsets in the history of international football, European champions Italy lost their play-off tie at home to the minnows of North Macedonia.
Friday 25th March
A storm of criticism in the media for Sunak’s statement, and he was apparently tetchy in some interviews. Looks like what was a smooth running operator has had some sugar thrown into his petrol tank, and the wheels might be starting to fall off the ‘Sunak-for-PM’ bandwagon. Which means we could be stuck with Bojo for a bit longer. God help us all.
Sunak – the millionaire former merchant banker whose wife has a shareholding in an IT holding with links to Russia – was filmed in a stunt showing him filling up a modest car at a fillling station, then seemingly not knowing how to pay using a credit car. Man of the people….
Saturday 26th March
Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad!
William & Kate’s tour of the Caribbean was not an overwhelming success; it was generally agreed that his statement of contrition for the UK’s role in the slave trade didn’t go far enough, and according to some, the concept of members of the Royal Family popping in to Commonwealth countries is increasingly seen as an outdated and patronising concept.
Shock news – Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was found dead in his hotel room in Bogota, aged just 50.
Rumours that Bojo wanted Sunak to keep the energy price cap at a lower level, but he Chancellor apparently ignored him. Who’s supposed to be leading the country?
President Biden made a controversial speech in Warsaw, whereby he appeared to call for regime change in Russia by referring to Putin as a ‘butcher’ and stating that ‘this man cannot be allowed to remain in power’.
Sunday 27th March
My brother’s now safely arrived in London. He’s had to hit the ground running; he had to take the boys shopping for toys in Hamleys.
Sad news – the mother of one of my former work colleagues died.
Today’s the 34th anniversary of Reading’s Simod Cup win over Luton. On the RFC Facebook thread marking the occasion, purely by chance I came across the name of someone I went to school with all those years ago. He was a lairy, Cockney wide boy then, and judging from his profile now – anti-EU, anti-Blair, etc. etc. – he still is. A leopard can’t change its spots, as they say. I supposed it got under my skin because he announced he’d now retired. The gobshite.
At last, the warm weather has arrived; it was a gorgeous sunny day today. Mrs C & me had a little walk around Pissouri, so at last we had the time and opportunity to talk about holidays. I had hoped to try and convince her to take a big holiday this year, but it seems in her mind that the Munich short-break train has already well left the station. At least we can start planning it now, and at last I have something to look forward to. The awkward discussion about where we’re staying for the rest of the summer will wait until another time.
Will Smith slapped compare Chris Rock at the Oscars, after the compare made a joke about Jade’s aloepecia.
Monday 28th March
Leaving do after work. Food took an age to arrive. Didn’t do the shop run tonight as a result.
Apparently Roman Abramovich was poisoned whilst recently in Kyiv as a member of an ‘informal’ Russian-Ukrainian negotiating team.
Tuesday 29th March
Pleasantly warm and sunny today. House is still cold, though.
In talks in Istanbul, Russia announced it would ‘scale back’ military operations in Ukraine. To date all we’ve had from the Kremlin is lies, and denial of the obvious truths, so understandably there’s considerable cynicism in the light of this statement. Not enough to prevent significant rebounds in stock markets, though.
The Metropolitan Police announced that it has fined 20 individuals for lockdown breaches in No. 10. This appears to hammer a nail through Bojo’s claim that rules were followed within Downing Street. As the Guardian said, the move by the Metropolitan police was seen as clearcut confirmation of lawbreaking at the heart of government, yet Downing Street provoked fury and derision by refusing to accept that the fixed-penalty notices meant the rules had definitively been broken.
It’s not a difficult concept. If the Met has imposed fines, this implies it would have done so because those fined would have broken some kind of law. Yet Johnson claims that he was ignorant of illegal gatherings taking part in his own home and garden. Surely any incumbent PM who was aware of such flagrant breaches of law should be expected to resign, even if he may not have been guilty of any himself? (which of course is somewhat unlikely……)
Prince Philip’s memorial service in Windsor today. The Queen, who’s looking frail nowadays, was assisted to her place by….Prince Andrew. Either she’s chosen very unwisely, or she’s been badly advised, but this was surely not the best PR move by the monarch, and Charles and William were visibly awkward and unimpressed. It was also noted that Harry and Meghan chose not to attend, citing ‘security concerns’ for their absence. Hard to know whether Meghan had the final say over this, but it gives the impression that Harry is rather burning his boats with the Royals. The Queen’s funeral, whenever it occurs, is going to be mightily awkward – that is, of course, Harry deigns to turn up.
Wednesday 30th March
An enquiry into maternity care at an NHS trust in Shrewsbury found that 200 babies could have died with better care. Nine women died giving birth, and several children were left with life-changing injuries.
Memorial service to Shane Warne at the MCG.
Putin’s advisers are apparently frightened to tell him the truth of Russia’s shambolic war in Ukraine. I think the Wehrmacht generals had similar issues with Hitler.
Went for a little walk nearby to take advantage of the warmer weather and the greenery, before the spring drought kicks in.
Thursday 31st March
Coming down with a cold.
UK energy suppliers’ sites crash under the surge in use for consumers wishing to beat hefty increases in tariffs coming into effect tomorrow; the maximum price cap increases by 54%, which translates into a £700 annual rise for the average household. Other countries have reduced taxes on energy, or extended price caps. But not in Thatcherite Britain.
The end of free lateral flow tests in England tomorrow. 1500 people a week are still dying of Covid in the UK, and there are still well over 100k new cases a week.
Friday 1st April
Bloody cold coming out now. Worst thing is my nose running through the night and waking me up.
Deja vu in Ukraine unfortunately. The draw for the World Cup took place in Qatar today, like I was bothered. We went out for tea tonight by the beach, which was very pleasant, but Mrs C’s salmon was undercooked.
Saturday 2nd April
Record high levels of Covid infections, just when free tests have ended.
Cold was bad enough for me not to go to the cat sanctuary today. It’s warm, sunny and quite dusty now, with temperatures about 25C. A far cry from the cold of previous weeks.
Liverpool gained a hard-earned 2-0 win over Watford to temporarily go top (City beat Burnley later in the day to regain top spot). Reading scored a late equaliser to gain a crucial point in their relegation six-pointer at Barnsley; it means they still have a five-point gap, rather than the two it would have been.
Sunday 3rd April
Cold is still crap. Worst thing is that I’m really tired. I even had to forego the opportunity of brunch at Ronny’s just up the road.
Shocking reports of mass killings of civilians, and alleged rapes by Russian troops in Ukraine.
It’s all shit at the moment. Covid cases rising again. Energy price rises. Petrol price rises. Rise in NICs. Benefits not being raised in line with soaring inflation. Millions of people having to choose between heating and eating. Why aren’t people protesting against this to a far larger extent? And on top of this, there’s war and slaughter in Ukraine, and chaos and delays at ports and airports due to staff shortages caused in part at least by Covid – and, yes, Brexit.
But at least we booked our flights to Munich today!
Monday 4th April
Cold getting better; well enough to go into work.
Actress June Brown, who played Eastenders icon Dot Cotton, died, aged 95.
Controversial plans for the privatisation of Channel 4 were announced. One opinion is that ‘culture’ secretary Nadine Dorries is doing it out of spite, after the channel’s critical coverage of the Government’s handling of Brexit and Covid, and after Krishnan Guru-Murthy made her look ridiculous in a recent interview (not that she needs help from anyone else to achieve that).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated in a highly critical report that it’s ‘now or never’ to avert climate change disaster. In other depressing developments, hardline Hungarian leader Viktor Orban won a fourth successive term, after maintaining a stance critical of both the EU and Ukrainian president Zelenskiy (almost alone amongst Western nations, Hungary is refusing to supply Ukraine with weapons or allow military aid to pass across its borders).
Tuesday 5th April
Zelenskiy appeared virtually in front of the UN security council. He called for Nuremberg-style war crimes trials, and basically said the UN needs to reform itself because of the veto situation; by virtue of being one of the five permanent members, Russia can veto any motion critical of itself, thus seemingly rendering the UN impotent in a situation where a member is so obviously guilty of war crimes. The Russian spokesman spewed a load of shite about Ukrainian ‘atrocities’, and claimed that videos of dead bodies and wanton destruction caused by Russian forces were ‘forgeries’.
Liverpool won the first leg of their Champions League quarter final 3-1 away to Benfica, whereas City gained a narrow 1-0 win at home to Atletico Madrid. Reading gained a vital 2-1 win at home to Stoke.
Friday 15th April
Have been a bit busy one way or another over the last few days, so it’s been impossible keeping tabs on a daily basis.
War goes on in Ukraine; there appears to be something of a stalemate on land anyway. The Ukrainians landed a major blow with the sibling of one of Russia’s major battleships.
Sunak’s chances of ever becoming PM have possibly been terminally damaged with the revelations that not only has his wife been evading UK tax on her overseas earnings by virtue of her non-dom status (she still retains Indian citizenship), but also that he’s been doing the same by virtue of being granted a US green card. (to gain one of these, the applicant must show some indication that he intends to settle permanently in the US at some time in the future).
Both Bojo and Sunak have been issued with fines as a consequence of not complying with lockdown laws. Johnson thus became the first ever UK prime minister to have broken the law whilst in office. But they’re both refusing to resign. Johnson, especially, is a man totally devoid of any sense of shame. A precedent has been set where an elected leader who was responsible for introducing legislation, has broken those very laws for which he was at least in part responsible. The vast majority of Tory MPs are giving their tacit approval to this by refusing to criticise him, or by offering their resignations.
Robert Peston made the point that if Johnson knowingly misled Parliament, then under the ministerial code, he has no choice but to offer his resignation. If Tory MPs choose to keep him in office, then they’re disregarding the ministerial code, sticking two fingers up to the constitution, and Peston claims that any party with a large majority is then basically just an elected dictatorship.
To try and distract attention, the Government announced a scheme where people who they deemed to be illegal migrants would be deported to Rwanda for ‘processing’, as part of a deal with the central African country. Basically, these poor sods will now be rounded up and dumped in a country thousands of miles from everyone and everything they know, which has a poor human rights record. And, of course once having been dumped there to fend for themselves, they wouldn’t have the resources to leave the country, having spent just about everything to get to the UK. Just when you think this outfit couldn’t sink any lower, they always manage to find new depths to plumb. Appalling.
Staying with the brother in law and his family for the rest of the Easter holiday. There’s not much room for your own feet, so much stuff is scattered round the place. There’s no way we’re spending the whole of August there, and Mrs C now realises this. They do have three gorgeous cats, though.
This after coming up from Mum & Dad’s, after having flown into Bristol last Saturday night. What could be our last ever family reunion didn’t turn out to be so fraught after all, despite my sister (who typically turned on the waterworks when we were all together – it had to be the Sunday because she was off on a Dutch bulbfields cruise the next day) having previously grabbed hold of the wrong end of the stick when I mentioned the possibility of discussing the arrangements for Mum & Dad when one of them passed. TBF she did apologise for over-reacting afterwards. Nice little trips to South Molton, Mortehoe, Appledore & Bideford, and we went out for a curry with my niece’s fiance. The hotel was good too, so we’ll go back there in August.
Met Andy for a couple of jars at the Mill today. Very pleasant afternoon. Helped by Reading scoring a last-minute winner at Sheffield United, soon after the home side had pulled it back to 1-1.
Saturday 16th April
Liverpool beat City 3-2 in an enthralling FA Cup semi, the one held at Wembley which should have been held at Old Trafford.
Sunday 17th April
Need to take a break from this, as I’m not in my normal routine. Tories round like a pack of dogs on the Archbishop of Canterbury after he criticises the Government’s plan to dump asylum seekers in Rwanda.
Monday 18th April
Reading came from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 at home to Swansea, with an equaliser in the 7th minute of added time!
Mrs C’s brother’s wife tested positive for Covid. As a precaution I took a test, which thankfully was negative, so tomorrow’s jolly in London is still on.
Tuesday 19th April
Drinking with Joe in and around Little Venice. Weather mostly cloudy, a few very light showers, with some sun towards the end of the day. Listened to Liverpool trounce Man Utd 4-0 on the way back. Didn’t really need the can of Budweiser on the train. Class from the home fans, as they gave an ovation on the 7th minute of the match to acknowledge and pay respects to Christiano Ronaldo after the tragic death of his newborn son. Some things just transcend all rivalries.
Keir Starmer branded Bojo as ‘a joke’ and ‘dishonest’ (for which he was reprimanded by the Speaker) after Johnson repeatedly made empty apologies for breaching lockdown rules, which he continued to claim he didn’t know he was breaking his own laws.
Wednesday 20th April
Travelled to Summerseat to see our friend Liz. Didn’t over-indulge in booze as frankly I was a bit woozy from yesterday. Manchester is so full of high-rise blocks now. City beat Brighton 3-0 to go back to the top.
Thursday 21st April
Out tonight again, this time for a Thai with Mrs C’s friends.
MPs have backed a Commons inquiry into the Partygate scandal, despite Bojo’s best attempts to block it. Such is the state of disquiet amongst Tory MP’s at the moment that they defied a three-line whip intended to derail a Labour motion initiating the inquiry. You know the PM’s in deep shit when even Steve Baker, a Johnson loyalist and hardline Brexiteer, says that the PM ‘should be long gone’, and ‘should just know that the gig’s up’. In the meantime, in an act of cowardice, the Met have decided not to issue any more Partygate fines until after the forthcoming local elections in two weeks’ time.
Friday 22nd April
Ukraine. Partygate. But next to nothing in the media about Covid; within the last two months, the weekly death toll has increased from about 500 to about 2,000. The only consolation is that the number of new cases continues to fall.
Out with Mrs C, her brother & nephew tonight. Only one beer. But that’s the lull before tomorrow night’s storm.
Saturday 23rd April
The news first; top Tories are calling for Bojo to go, as it emerges from a source privy to the Sue Gray enquiry that its findings will prove to be so damaging that it will be impossible for him to remain in office.
Whilst other European countries are accepting Ukrainian refugees without visas, the UK Government’s ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme is being criticised for being, amongst other things, too bureaucratic. A whistleblower has claimed that visas are being withheld to keep numbers down, and that visa applications for young children are being processed separately from other family members, thereby preventing the family from leaving Ukraine and arriving in the UK at the same time. Utterly shameful.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been leaving passive-aggressive notes on the desks of civil servants who are still working from home, stating that he’s ‘sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.’
The day of the reunion. Was warm and sunny when I left Lime Street, but Wolverhampton was cloudy and chilly. Predictably the Cross Country service was rammed, but eventually I found room to leave my suitcase and sit down. Station Road has all but been obliterated; there is a large scale development going up on the site. Alas, the Hoggs building is still standing…
After a 10-minute walk lugging the suitcase, I arrived at the hotel (Premier Inn – excellent as ever). Had intended to rest immediately upon arrival but first I decided to check-in for tomorrow’s flight, then try to top up my mobile. Accomplished the first but failed with the second (well, I topped up successfully but no other device recognised the number I’d had for the last 6 years, and the lady on the Three helpdesk kept on repeating that the number I gave her wasn’t a Three number (when it so obviously was) that I hung up in frustration. The horrible truth also dawned upon me that I must have left my front door key and cycle lock key back in the BIL’s house, so it wasn’t the best of starts to the evening. Called Mum & Dad after a rest, then showered and had a pint whilst waiting for the taxi to calm any nerves I had.
The taxi ride was interesting. Dairy cows are all female and do nothing but stand in a field and eat grass, right? Well, I saw two cows humping as I went past. I’d forgotten how pretty Wargrave and the surrounding countryside is, and also how filthy rich the area is. My journey took me past what looked like a stud farm, before we entered the grounds of the golf course.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I won’t bother committing my memories to writing here; I have them, and a few photos. Hadn’t intended to drink quite so much, but people were buying me pints and I quite naturally reciprocated. Made it back to the hotel at about 12.45.
Sunday 24th April
Slightly hungover this morning. The train journey passed through the very pleasant North Downs countryside between Guildford and Reigate, before entering workaday Redhill. Got to Gatwick 3 hours before scheduled departure and joined the check-in queue which appeared to be moving very slowly. A man announced he’d ‘finally got it to work’ and promptly extricated himself from the queue. Then it dawned upon me that as I’d checked in and downloaded my boarding pass, I didn’t need to join the queue; I could just have dropped my bag, gone through to security, and not wasted an hour. But there was nothing to indicate that I could have done this upon arrival in the terminal.
Moved myself to the back row, to avoid the two rows of posh boys who were talking quite loudly; actually dropped off now and again. Mrs C picked me up at Paphos; she told me that upon getting back herself last night, she was confronted by a disaster scene in the kitchen. The freezer had defrosted because someone had turned it off at the wall, so she’d been up until past midnight clearing up the mess and disposing of rancid chicken breasts and the like. (obviously, that person was me…..). Slightly annoyed, not least because I’d now have to make a new supply of white sauce, ratatouille and butter curry sauce. Decided not to break the news of the missing key until later.
Tyson Fury beat Dilian Whyte in the defence of this world title, then announced that he would definitely retire. After City’s 5-1 trouncing of Watford on Saturday, Liverpool beat Everton 2-0 at Anfield to maintain the pressure. The Blues are now in the bottom three (albeit with a game in hand) after Burnley’s win over Wolves.
Reading are safe now, although not due to their own efforts (they lost 3-0 at Hull); Peterborough’s home defeat to Forest condemned Posh to the drop instead.
Europe breathes a sigh of relief after the incumbent President Macron beat the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election.
Monday 25th April
Outrage across the political spectrum over the lead article in the Mail on Sunday; a Tory MP claimed that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner had tried to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs. Not sure as to whether the outrage should have been directed at the Tory MP in question; it’s the kind of revelation you might have expected a paper unsympathetic to the Tories, like the Guardian or the Mirror, to make. But then it was revealed that Rayner begged the MoS not to run the story, and was obviously ignored. Bojo condemned the article, but even if he was being sincere about that, the fact is that a culture of misogyny and sexism has become rampant within the Conservative Party under his watch.
That vile specimen Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44bn. I will have to consider my membership.
Tuesday 26th April
Veteran DJ Tim Eastwood is accused of multiple counts of sexual misconduct, by at least seven women.
Manchester City beat Real Madrid 4-3 in their Champions League semi first-leg; City had been winning 2-0 after 11 minutes, and Real scored a late penalty to set up next week’s second leg nicely.
Russia is now trying to foment unrest in Moldova by inciting trouble amongst Russian speaking inhabitants of the Transnistria region, bordering Ukraine.
A nice little earth tremor this evening, at about 10.10, followed about an hour later by a smaller one.
Wednesday 27th April
A Tory MP has been accused of watching porn in the House of Commons, whilst sat next to a female colleague. It’s rumoured that the culprit is a front-bencher.
Meanwhile, Russia has cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria because they refused to pay in roubles.
Liverpool had to be patient, but two early second half goals secured a possibly decisive 2-0 win over Villarreal in their Champions League semi first leg.
Thursday 28th April
The Guardian article below incorporates a reference to four particularly pernicious pieces of legislation given Royal assent, before Parliament was prorogued (legally) this time:
Apparently the Lords were forced to back down because of the size of the Government’s majority. The new laws incorporate moves to make displaying ID compulsory when voting; to enable the Government to control the activities of the previously independent Electoral Commission; to empower police to restrict ‘noisy’ protests; making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally. Yet another shameful day in the history of this shameless Government.
Friday 29th April
Our little boy cat has gone missing. He’s not been eating properly since he returned from the cattery on Monday, and we had made an appointment to take him to the vet this afternoon. But he hasn’t been seen since 7am today. (He turned up at 7.30pm; we took him straight to the vet and was kept in overnight).
Neil Parish has been named as the Tory MP watching porn in the Commons.
Boris Becker was jailed for two years after being found guilty of trying to conceal assets after being declared bankrupt in 2017.
Saturday 30th April
Shops. Cat sanctuary. Kip. Watched a recording of the 2,000 Guineas. Chips & guacamole for key. Weather quite a bit warmer all of a sudden. Our cat didn’t have a hairball or an intestinal blockage, but only a fever; we can pick him up on Monday.
Had really wanted to stay at home & watch the football. As it happened, Liverpool won a potentially tricky match at Newcastle 1-0, thanks to a first-half Keita goal, although the score flattered the hosts. They only spent a few hours at the top, however, as City trounced Leeds 4-0 in the evening game.
Sunday 1st May
The Mail desperately trying to sensationalise an incident whereby Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner attended a constituency event in Durham. It doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction amongst the population.
Quiet day at home.
Monday 2nd May
Went up to Koilani for lunch, after establishing that the taverna there was one of the very few locally that opened on Monday. Excellent food as ever. The weather was very strange; mist descended over the hills, and it was cloudy back down at sea level; there were even a few spots of rain in the evening.
Collected our cat. He’s OK, although slightly disorientated and seems to have lost his appetite.
Tuesday 3rd May
The US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade. Individual states can now legislate to ban abortion.
Bojo actually consented to be interviewed on GMB today, but typically bumbled, shambled and waffled his way through it.
The Daily Wail is obsessing about so-called ‘beergate’, where Starmer was snapped from outside eating curry and drinking a beer with party colleagues during an evening campaign meeting in Durham before last year’s ill-fated Hartlepool by-election.
Squeaky bum time for Liverpool. They trailed Villarreal 2-0 after a shocking first half performance, but were transformed in the second half and won 3-2 on the night to clinch their place in the Champions League final on the 28th. My 60th birthday!
Wednesday 4th May
An utterly astonishing night in the Champions League. City were winning 1-0 on the night, 5-3 on aggregate, seemingly easing to an all-English final, and had also missed some good chances. Real hadn’t managed a single shot on target. And then, two goals from sub Rodrygo on the verge of time – within a minute – took the tie into extra-time, during which Real scored the winner with a penalty. This is as spectacular a choke as you’ll see.
Thursday 5th May
Local elections day across the country. Perhaps opportune for the Bank of England to make a grim economic forecast of stagnant growth and inflation topping 10% by the end of the year.
Friday 6th May
Satisfyingly bad results for the Tories. Labour did well in London and the South, but didn’t regain much ground in the ‘red wall’ constituencies. It did gain second place in Scotland, behind the SNP. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein again raised the prospect of a reunited Ireland after they received the largest share of the vote in assembly elections.
Durham police announced they were to launch an investigation into Beergate after ‘new evidence’ – apparently provided by both a right-wing Tory activist and, allegedly some Corbynistas – mysteriously came to light. The Mail predictably led with this, glossing over the Tories’ abysmal electoral performance.
Saturday 7th May
Liverpool are held to a 1-1 draw at home by Tottenham, a big blow to their title hopes.
Sunday 8th May
City trounce Newcastle 5-0, and are 3 points clear with 3 games to go.
Dennis Waterman, legendary actor from The Sweeney, Minder and many others, dies, aged 74.
The Mail and Mail on Sunday still obsessing over the Starmer ‘beergate’ story.
Monday 9th May
In a major political gamble, Keir Starmer announces that he will stand down as Labour leader if he is fined for breaking lockdown rules. This of course is designed to contrast his principled stance against Johnson and Sunak,who are still in situ despite both having been fined. Also, any Tories calling for Starmer to resign would inadvertently caused calls for Johnson to go.The Mail are straight on it, claiming that by his actions Starmer is now putting undue pressure on Durham police not to fine him – following their failure to take action against Dominic Cummings for his little drive to Barnard Castle during the height of lockdown.
Tuesday 10th May
The Queen fails to attend the state opening of Parliament for mobility issues. The Queen’s Speech is made instead by a pomped-up Charlie in full military regalia on his mum’s throne. Not much of any real substance is said, certainly virtually nothing relating to how the government intends to help families through the cost of living crisis.
Twat face Elon Musk in a bid to buy Twitter; apparently if successful, he would revoke the ban on Trump using the platform.
The so-called ‘Wagatha Christie’ court case, where Jamie Vardy’s vacuous wife Rebekah is suing Colleen Rooney for libel on the grounds that she’s being falsely accused by the latter of leaking stories about her. Mrs Vardy apparently has previous for doing so; she’s not going to come out of this looking very good.
Liverpool come from behind to win 2-1 at Villa, keeping their title hopes alive.
Wednesday 11th May
Israeli troops shoot dead a long-standing female Al-Jazeera journalist. Of course the Israelis deny it, blaming it predictably on Palestinian ‘terrorists’.
Nasty piece of work Tory MP Lee Anderson prompts outrage by claiming there’s no need for large-scale food banks, saying that ‘there are generations of people there who simply haven’t got the skills to budget properly’. The same Lee Anderson who’s claimed £220k in MP’s expenses.
City trounce Wolves 5-1 at Molineux to restore their 3-point advantage. As their goal difference is now markedly superior, they effectively have an additional point.
Thursday 12th May
Predictable impasse in Northern Ireland after the local election results. The DUP are refusing to nominate a first minister in an attempt to persuade the UK government to unilaterally make changes to the NI Protocol – a legally binding agreement which the UK government signed up to, in his haste to get ‘Brexit done’. The EU is already threatening a trade war, and the Americans – who are guarantors of the Good Friday agreement – expressed their unease and concern.
Rees-Mogg announced that 91,000 Civil Service jobs are to be axed, to bring staffing levels back to pre-pandemic levels – and, more relevantly, to free up money for ‘tax cuts’. This ‘economy’ barely represents a drop in the ocean.
Friday 13th May
Two in five Britons are now buying less to eat.
Disgusting scenes as Israeli police harass pall-bearers and mourners at the funeral of the Al-Jazeera journalist killed by Israeli police.
Saturday 14th May
In what was almost a replay of the Carabao Cup final, Liverpool and Chesea played out a goalless draw in 120 engrossing minutes of football, before the Reds won the FA Cup final on a penalty shootout. Great stuff.
Afterwards, the right-wing MSM foamed at the mouth about Liverpool fans booing the National Anthem. And whilst I’m sure that a few did so on the grounds of being genuine anti-monarchists, several people pointed out that this wasn’t so much a personal gesture against the Queen, but a means of expressing their anger and disgust against a British establishment that has continually dumped on Merseyside since the days of Thatcher and Hillsborough.
Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin as expected. What wasn’t quite as foreseen was our boy Sam Ryder finishing second!
Strange weather today; cloudy all day, no sun whatsoever, and a few spots of rain in the evening. Our Peps still not great. He’s having the occasional mouthful of food, but he still hasn’t got anywhere near fully regaining his appetite.
Sunday 15th May
Thunder and rain in the early hours. When I got up, it was brilliantly sunny and cloudless, and no trace of moisture whatsoever.
Our Peps didn’t turn up all day. He never, ever fails to turn up at some stage during the day. The last time he didn’t do so was during his juvenile wanderlust as a 15-month old kitten. Worried now.
A dramatic day in the Premier League. It was accepted by most that if Citeh were to slip up at all on the run-in, it would be at West Ham. And so it proved. The Hammers were two up by early in the second half, then City came back and equalised with an own goal from a free kick. And in what could still turn out to be a pivotal moment in the season, Riyad Mahrez had the chance to win the game with a penalty four minutes from time, but his attempt was saved by Lukasz Fabianski. It means that – assuming Liverpool win at Southampton on Tuesday – that City will have to beat Villa at home on Sunday to retain their title, assuming that the Redmen beat Wolves at Anfield. All Liverpool fans will be imploring Stevie G to get his boys to park the bus that day. For once, Sky’s boast about it being a Super Sunday could be true.
Elsewhere, Everton failed to secure safety after losing 3-2 at home to Brentford, and being reduced to nine men in the process.
The Government is apparently poised to introduce legislation which would unilaterally amend the Northern Ireland protocol. Which, let’s not forget, is an arrangement agreed under international law and which they signed up to in good faith. The right-wing press indulge in some predictable EU-bashing, accusing it of a ‘lack of flexibility’ and of somehow making the UK’s cost of living crisis worse. The UK’s inflation rate, forecast to hit 9% this week, is higher than any of its European competitors.
Finland and Sweden confirmed their intention to apply for Nato membership. This didn’t go down well with Turkish president Erdogan, who was of course fighting the corner of his Russian ally.
Monday 16th May
17-year old Blackpool player Jake Daniels becomes the first British footballer to come out as gay since the ill-fated Justin Fashanu, and wins widespread praise for doing so.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned that ‘apocalyptic’ food price inflation caused by the war in Ukraine could be catastrophic for the world’s poor.
The war in Ukraine has seemingly taken a back seat recently. The Russians have given up trying to take Kyiv, and have focused their efforts in the Donbas, and in trying to blast Mariupol off the face of the earth. It was announced that Ukrainian troops holed up in that god-forsaken city’s steelworks, would be exchanged for Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainians, if they came out of hiding. This duly happened, and thereby Russia has achieved one of its objectives, namely by taking the whole of the Black Sea coast from the Donbas to the Crimea.
Our Peps did not turn up again. We went looking for him tonight, to no avail. Mrs C is desperately upset and emotional. We’re starting to genuinely fear that he’s a goner now. Very sad.
Tuesday 17th May
Peps turned up first thing. Thank the Lord. However he wouldn’t eat, felt very light, and yelped in pain when Mrs C picked him up to put him in the cage. Took him down to the vet before going into work.
Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 at Southampton, thereby ensuring that the race for the title will go to the final day.
Wednesday 18th May
A Tory MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape. He can’t be named, but it’s all over social media. There is a culture of toxic masculinity, sexism and misogyny rampant within the Tories.
In the Wagatha case, Wayne Rooney stated he asked Jamie Vardy if he could ask his wife to take it easy with her social media activity during the Euros in 2016; Vardy denies that he was asked to do so. The fallout from this isn’t likely to be pretty, and I’m not just referring to Wazza.
Rangers lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final in a sweltering Seville; the two sides were level at 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time.
We went down to see Peps today. He has a gall bladder infection, has lost about a quarter of his body weight. There’s little outward sign of his condition; he was very glad to receive our cuddles, but he’s obviously lethargic and weak, and by no means certain to pull through. He needs to recover sufficiently to regain his appetite and eat without the need to feed him intravenously, or by foring nutrients in liquid form into his mouth.
Thursday 19th May
At the end of the Met’s investigation into Partygate, Bojo gets off with a single fine, even though he attended other illegal events for which relatively junior staff were fined for attending.
Everton confirm safety, after coming from two down to beat Palace 3-2. Joyous fans celebrate finishing 16th by invading the pitch in their droves.
Friday 20th May
Wimbledon is stripped of its ATP ranking points – retrospectively as well, it seems – after unilaterally banning players from Russia and Belarus from this year’s tournament.
A proper, authentic tornado caused widespread damage in the German town of Paderborn.
Saturday 21st May
Mrs C’s mobile rang at 9.40 am. It was the lady from the vet. Peps is not responding as hoped to antibiotics, is periodically on a drip, and is still not eating. Mrs C was understandably emotional about this bad news. But it was decided that – as normally antibiotics can take as long as 10 days – these should still be administered to him. We agreed that he can be brought home to us on a nightly basis, in the hope that he’d be happier here and thus might accelerate his recovery. He headed straight away for under the sofa.
Otherwise, a quiet but very warm day. Mrs C didn’t feel up to going to the sanctuary this afternoon, so I went by myself.
In Australia, ScoMo’s Liberal government were voted out of office after a decade in power.
Sunday 22nd May
Reports that Johnson and Sue Gray had a meeting about her forthcoming enquiry report. Understandably, questions are being asked about its validity, if Bojo has ‘persuaded’ her to tone down her findings.
Peps seemed to have a comfortable night; we took him back to the vets for his drip & medication sessions, then brought him back in the early afternoon. After an afternoon nap, we went round to a colleague’s house for a gathering for her hubby, the D&T teacher who left at Easter. It was very pleasant, with an excellent Lebanese buffet, and I would have liked to have stayed longer.
But circumstances dictated that I return home to plant myself in front of the telly for the climax to the Premier League season. It didn’t start very well. I was driving back home when news that Liverpool had fallen behind at home to Wolves after just three minutes. Liverpool laboured for much of the first half, although Mane equalised.
Then, potentially sensational developments at the Etihad. Villa took the lead just before half time, then doubled it soon after the break (through none other than Coutinho). Liverpool seemingly just needed to keep their part of the bargain to clinch the title.
Within the space of five minutes, however, City completely turned it around, with two goals from Gundogan and one from Rodri putting them in front with just five minutes to go. The fact that Liverpool scored twice within the final five minutes was rendered irrelevant; at no time during the course of the evening were the Reds actually at the top of the ‘in-play’ table. And there was a price to pay, as well; Thiago sustained an injury which almost certainly rules him out of the Champions League final. And cult hero Divock Origi was denied an appearance in what would have been his last home game (unfortunately, he’s also ruled out of Paris). But he was given a nice presentation at the end.
Elsewhere, Leeds consigned Burnley to the drop by winning 2-1 at Brentford, whilst the Clarets lost at home to Newcastle.
Monday 23rd May
Photos were leaked to ITV, showing Bojo toasting to Lee Cain at his farewell party, sorry, get-together, with several bottles of alcohol on a table in the foreground. But the Met still decided this wasn’t serious enough to warrant a fine.
Peps seemed to have another comfortable night. I took him back to the vets for drip and medication, and he seemed no worse than yesterday.
But when Mrs C brought him back this afternoon, he just looked dreadful. He could barely walk out of his cage. In my heart of hearts, I knew there was no way back from this. Mrs C still wants me to ask the vet if there’s any possibility of giving him any time of long-term care, of extending his course of antibiotics in the hope that he will eventually be well enough to eat again. But I knew this is going to be the end. I really, really hoped he would slip away in the night.
Tuesday 24th May
He was still with us when we went down in the morning. We went to work for the first half hour, then came back to prepare him for his final journey, the last time ever he’d have to endure the ordeal of travelling in a cage. Mrs C was understandably very emotional.
He cried for some of the journey, and for a while when we arrived. I was told by Phyta that she had an appointment and wouldn’t be able to see us for 30 minutes, but she managed to finish earlier. There was no way that I was just going to hand him over; I didn’t want him to be on his own when he went. I asked Phyta if there was any chance of him recovering at all; after a brief silence, she shook her head. She asked if I wanted to do it now; I said yes.
I took him through to the room, he came out of the cage, and lay on the table. I stroked his head and looked into his eyes as first, a powerful anaesthetic, and then the last drug, were administered. He slipped away quickly; immediately his pupils became huge.
I thanked Phyta and the receptionist for everything they’d done. Got back to the car, then let out a couple of sobs.
After work, tried to have a nap. Didn’t hear Mrs C come in, but when I rose, she called out and asked if he had gone. When I told her, she started sobbing.
He was part of our life for ten years. He was the most handsome, intelligent, placid cat you could wish to have. Farewell, little boy.
Ten days after ten people were shot dead at a supermarket in Buffalo, 19 children and teachers were massacred at an elementary school in Texas.
Wednesday 25th May
The Sue Gray report was finally released, with accounts of parties going on until 3am, an ‘altercation’, one attendee vomiting, and of security and cleaning staff being treated badly. . Damning, but she admitted she did not investigate the so-called ‘Abba party’ held in the No. 10 flat on the grounds that the Met were already looking into that. Either there’s a cover-up, or she’s been pressured into dropping that line of enquiry.
Thursday 26th May
Sunak announces a package of support for the hard-pressed British people, funded by another screeching U-turn. The Government will impose a (temporary) windfall tax on energy companies – something Bojo has said repeatedly that it will never do – using the proceeds to fund a one-off £650 payment to those on means-tested benefits, as well as a £200 payment to all bill payers that won’t need to be repaid. Classic tactic to deflect from the aftermath of the publication of the Sue Gray report.
Friday 27th May
Bojo amended the ministerial code to state that ministers would not always be expected to resign if they breached it. Johnson also blocked his independent ethics chief, Christopher Geidt, from gaining the power to launch his own investigations, and rewrote the foreword to the ministerial code, removing all references to honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability. This has accelerated the growing swell of disquiet amongst Tory MPs, more of whom are expected to submit letters of no confidence in the coming days.
Delays at ferry terminals and airports at the start of the half term hols.
We went to Cleopatra in Limassol for my birthday. Very nice meze as ever. Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow’s tea.
Saturday 28th May
My 60th birthday. Hooray! It was a really nice day. Until the evening.
Opened cards & prezzies, popped to the shops for cake, fizz, croissants, etc. wearing my Shankly shirt. Quite a few postings on my Facebook timeline, which was gratifying.
Kip, then leftovers for tea. Changed into my ‘lucky’ LFC Champions League shirt before having a quick chat with my mate, then settled down excitedly for the evening whilst Mrs C went to collect her brother & his family from the airport.
The first signs something was amiss was when news of delays outside broke about 9.45 pm Cyprus time, about 15 minutes before the scheduled kick-off. The reports became increasingly anxious, and the kick-off was delayed, initially by 15 minutes, then by another 20 minutes. The narrative was being prepared in advance; the scoreboard at the Liverpool end announced that kick-off was delayed ‘due to the late arrival of fans’.
When the match did kick off, Liverpool quickly assumed superiority, but could not convert any of a sizeable number of chances, not least due to the brilliance of Real keeper Thibault Courtois. They had a warning just before half-time when a Real goal was disallowed after a lengthy VAR delay. It seemed even then that they might regret not scoring from any of those chances.
And so it proved to be. Real scored just before the hour, after Trent lost Vinicius at the far post. Thereafter, Liverpool seemed to run out of guile and energy. They still created chances, and Courtois pulled off a couple more outstanding saves, but there seemed to be no conviction or confidence, and too many players were somewhat below par. It just seemed as it it was a match too many at the end of a long season. Alarmingly, reports of crowd congestion continued after the final whistle. I went to bed about 30 minutes after the game finished, at about 12.45 am.
Sunday 29th May
Appalling accounts of crushes outside the stadium, of fans queuing patiently being pepper-sprayed indiscriminately by riot police, of a bottleneck barely a metre wide caused by a parked police van, through which all 20,000 Liverpool fans were expected to pass, of fans (of both teams) being mugged and assaulted by local scallies before and after the game. Sure enough, local police and some French politicians (not to mention the usual anti-Scouse tribal trolls on social media) were quick to point the finger at Liverpool supporters, whose behaviour by both Merseyside police representatives and journalists from the national papers was praised as being exemplary. The whole saga has left a sour, bitter taste at the end of what has been a phenomenal season. To top it all, Sadio Mane announced he wants to leave, with Bayern Munich being his preferred destination.
At least the team had their celebratory open-top bus tour round the city, which was witnessed by at least 500,000 people, and which by all accounts lifted the spirits of the players as well as the fans.
Met Mrs C’s brother and his family at their complex. I hadn’t intended drinking any booze other than a glass of celebratory fizz, but the BIL very kindly poured me a birthday beer, so I decided ‘in for a penny…..’. Booze was accompanied by some very nice chocolate cake. Received a few cards and pressies, including a classy T-shirt commemorating yesterday’s match. It will be a good memory of my 60th, although unfortunately the occasion itself was tarnished.
Bojo is apparently thinking seriously about reintroducing imperial weights and measures to commemorate not just the Jubilee, but also our ‘new-found Brexit freedoms’.
Legendary jockey Lester Piggott dies, aged 86.
Monday 30th May
Tales of chaos at airports, cancelled flights due to staff shortages, huge queues at security, etc. etc. dominate the headlines.
French interior minister Gerard Darmanin reinforces the ‘Liverpool fans to blame’ narrative by claiming at least 30,000 turned up with forged tickets, or none at all. Unsurprisingly, this prompted an angry reaction from both fans and club.
Tuesday 31st May
Hideaway tonight. Actually slightly chilly.
Wednesday 1st June
The jury in the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard case found in favour of Depp. This isn’t really a great outcome, as it may deter female victims of domestic abuse pursuing legal redress through the US courts. It also went against a suit between the same two in the UK courts, which found in favour of Heard.
Scotland lost their World Cup playoff against Ukraine 3-1, in an emotional night at Hampden.
That infamous night at Fat Mama’s, after visiting Tombs of the Kings.
Thursday 2nd June
First day of the orgiastic monarchical love-in, otherwise known as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Wall-to-wall on the telly, and the right-wing tabs are all leading on it.
We had an evening off, as they did their own thing tonight.
Friday 3rd June
Surely what will prove to be the highlight of the whole Jubilee jamboree; Bojo being booed upon arrival at St Paul’s for the commemoration service. Certain outlets tried to claim that the cool reception was actually for Harry & Meghan (not true), whilst, shamefully, the BBC edited the sound for subsequent broadcasts of the scene.
It’s almost as if nothing else was happening in the real world, such has been the coverage of the festivities. Predictably, the coverage in the tabs has been fawning and excessive. Can’t imagine inhabitants in the council estates of Liverpool or Glasgow are much bothered with the jubilee shenanigans. Meanwhile, the brutal reality of war in Ukraine continues; the Russians seem to be making slow but sure progress in the bitter, attritional battle in the east of the country.
The gang came down this afternoon. I’d initially been reluctant to go go-karting as I wanted to prepare the barbie, but eventually consented and it was quite good fun. Apart from the burgers and the halloumi sticking to the griddle, the barbie was a great success.
Saturday 4th June
Jubilee concert, blah blah blah. The gang went home. The 3-1 favourite Desert Crown, with Her Majesty watching on the box in Windsor rather than in person at Epsom, won the Derby.
Sunday 5th June
The Jubilee festivities concluded with a pageant, the highlight of which was the Golden Coach being towed around the Mall.
Growing speculation that there will soon be enough letters submitted to the chairman of the 1922 committee, to trigger a vote of no-confidence in Bojo.
Monday 6th June
The vote happened. Bojo won, but the 211-148 margin was worse than Theresa May’s VONC in December 2018, 6 months before she was forced out. A Phyrric, hollow victory if there ever was one, even though all of Johnson’s sycophants were desperately trying to put a brave face on the result. On one hand, it’s a shame that the rebels couldn’t have waited until after what will surely be humiliating by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton on the 23rd; on the other, it means (in theory) they’re stuck with him for at least another year, and what with the worsening cost of living crisis, this will only harm the Tories’ chances at the next election. The longer he hangs on, the less time the Tories will have to bed in a credible replacement for the next election, and the less time the economy will have to recover and come to their rescue once he’s been dumped. The consensus is that he’s toast and could be gone by the end of the year.
Tuesday 7th June
Bojo sycophants still insisting it was a convincing win, that he ‘gets the big calls right’, etc. etc. Just try telling that to the families of nearly 200k victims of Covid. Calls from the right to cut taxes to ease the cost of living crisis. NO – that’s the last thing the country needs, after more than a decade of austerity has seen public services cut to the bone and barely functioning.
The ‘hard-left union’ (copyright Daily Mail) RMT announce three days of strike action on the railways, on the 21st, 23rd & 25th.
Wednesday 8th June
The biggest one-day increase in the price of petrol for 17 years; it now costs in the region of £100 to fill up the average family saloon. The cost of living crisis is now even more of a genuine crisis for many people. It seems as if the days where automatic increases in prosperity for the vast majority of people appear to have gone for the foreseeable future.
Thursday 9th June
Two captured British soldiers are sentenced to death by a court in an area of eastern Ukraine invaded by the Russians. Johnson apes Thatcher by stating that housing association residents should be permitted to buy their property they’re currently renting, and in addition, said that housing benefit recipients could use that cash to apply for a mortgage. Problem being, of course, that too many of them are struggling to buy the bare necessities of life to even think about the possibility of saving for a mortgage. The well of new Tory ideas is bone dry, and being well and truly scraped.
Friday 10th June
Yet another shameful day in the UK’s recent history, as the High Court rules that Priti Patel’s scheme to dump refugees in Rwanda is lawful. Prince Charles is alleged to have described the scheme as ‘appalling’, a comment whose leaking has put him in the centre of a political storm.
Sunday 12th June
The Government plans to prepare legislation to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol that it itself signed up to. There’s deep disquiet amongst many Tory MP’s that such an act will lead to the UK contravening international law (apparently the deportation of refugees to Rwanda is not strictly illegal; it just breaks every moral and ethical code going). The CBI claims that overriding the protocol will damage investment into the UK.
Apparently the Government intends to rush through legislation enabling agency staff to be recruited to do the jobs of striking workers. It won’t happen in time to replace employees on the rail network who are scheduled to strike for three days next week.
After a protracted series of negotiations, Liverpool finally landed Uruguyan forward Darwin Nunez from Benfica for an initial fee of £64m, which could rise to £85m with addons, making him the Reds’ record signing.
Tuesday 14th June
The fifth anniversary of the Grenfell fire. The enquiry seems to be proceeding at a snail’s pace. Like Hillsborough, victims’ families are having to fight a loaded system to obtain any form of justice.
English cricket appears to be emerging from a long, dark tunnel. The test team recently went 17 matches without a win, but now superman Ben Stokes is captain, and today they achieved a sensational victory in the second test against New Zealand to clinch the series. Both sides accumulated huge first innings totals at Trent Bridge, with England scoring 539 in reply to the Kiwis’ 553. England’s reply to NZ’s second innings of 284 was in deep trouble at one stage, having been reduced to 93-4 at one stage, but then Jonny Bairstow hit an astonishing 136 off just 92 balls, and in the end England won relatively comfortably, by 5 wickets with 22 overs to spare.
Alas, the football team appears to be on the crest of a slump. They crashed to a 4-0 defeat to Hungary at Molineux, in the glorified friendly series that is the Nations League. Not too much should be read into this; there were many less experienced players, whilst the old hands are more likely knackered after a long hard season. That won’t stop the ‘Ingerland till I die’ spewing out their criticism of Southgate.
A momentous day in the saga of refugees being dumped in Rwanda. Initially, about 30 men were due to be deported on a charter flight, hired with £500,000 of taxpayers’ money. After a number of successful individual appeals, the number of deportees was whittled down to a handful. Even at a very late stage, the Government was still prepared to fly a virtually empty plane out, on the basis that it was trying to prove a very important point.
But then there was a dramatic intervention after lawyers appealed successfully to the European Court of Human Rights to stop the process, to the extent that the flight did not even take off. Charities and refugee pressure groups were justifiably jubilant in the aftermath.
Apparently Bojo and Patel’s next move is to consider taking the UK out of the ECHR which was the brainchild of none other than Winston Churchill, in the aftermath of the last war – and of which it was a former signatory and founding member. The only European countries not members of the ECHR are Belarus and Russia. That says everything about how desperate this Government is to try and ‘prove their point’, to try and pander to their core, racist voters and the rightwing tabloids who push their agenda. I would have thought that withdrawal would have to be approved by Parliament in the first place – and in any case, the Good Friday Agreement, sponsored, let’s not forget, by the US, a trade deal with whom is still seen as the Holy Grail by Brexiteer fundamentalists, is underpinned by our membership of the ECHR. If it ever came to a vote, it would be interesting to see how many Tory MPs would actually show they had a spine, and voted against the Government.
Whatever happens now, it’s a humiliation for Bojo, and especially Patel, although no doubt Johnson will keep her in post. Her credibility and her policies lie in tatters – although, alarmingly, a poll indicated that more supported the Government’s Rwanda ‘initiative’ than opposed it. The two by-elections are now just 8 days off. And even if Johnson survives the humiliation over Rwanda, the forthcoming likely annihilations in Tiverton and Wakefield, and the furore over overriding the Northern Ireland protocol, he still has the parliamentary enquiry into Partygate to look forward to in the autumn. Tick, tick……..
Wednesday 15th June
Right-win Tories and tabloids in a foment over the ECHR’s judgement. Some seem to be making the basic error that the ECHR is part of the EU (it’s not, of course).
Lord Geidt has finally decided he’s now too full to swallow his pride, and has resigned as Bojo’s ethics advisor.
The EU is now considering legal action against the UK government, after the latter’s stated intention to override the NI protocol.
This Government is now desperately flailing around and lashing out at all of its favourite easy targets. The EU, refugees, unions, so-called ‘lefty’ human rights lawyers……the list goes on.
The concerning thing is that Starmer just isn’t attaining any degree of cut-through with the electorate, despite Labour leading in the polls. People perceive him as boring, and do not know what Labour really stands for. They need a coherent set of policies in place sooner rather than later; given the current volatile political climate, who knows when the next election will be?
Friday 17th June
The first intense European heatwave of the year reached UK shores today. Parts of Spain (including the normally cool north coast) and many parts of south, south-west, and central France exceeded 40C; in the UK, Santon Downham recorded 32.7C.
The vile, evil Priti Patel attacked the ECHR decision as ‘scandalous’ and described those who reached it as ‘racist’. She really is dangerously unhinged. The Home Office announced that asylum seekers arriving ‘illegally’ would be tagged, on the same day that Assange’s deportation to the US was confirmed.
37 years after its original release, Kate Bush’s fabulous Running Up That Hill reached the top of the charts after being featured on a TV programme. Stranger things have happened.
43% rise in Covid cases in the wake of the jubilee celebrations.
Saturday 18th June
Three days’ of strike action by the rail unions next week. Right-wing rags making great play that Starmer is supposedly refusing to condemn the strikes. Growing likelihood of industrial action by other public sector workers, including teachers, barristers & NHS staff.
Storms in Kent, London, Essex & Suffolk. Meanwhile, the mercury rises to 43C in Biarritz. Horrific.
Sunday 19th June
The Times originally run with a story that Johnson tried to land Carrie a job as his PA in 2018 during his stint as foreign secretary whilst he was still married. The story was mysteriously pulled from later editions. It appeared that Downing Street had exerted some pressure on the paper to do so. Seems that press freedom is now in some degree of peril if the PM can use that degree of coercion.
The horrific heatwave has spread to Germany; 39C recorded in Cottbus and other towns in the East, and not far off that in Poland.
Poor Keir Starmer. Criticised by the Tories for not condemning the rail strikes, now getting it in the neck from some on his own side for instructing cabinet members not to show support on the picket lines. Hapless transport secretary Grant Shapps is still trying to scapegoat the unions for defending their members’ interests, but the signs are that he and his Cabinet colleagues have seriously misread the mood of the public, many of whom appear to be supportive of the strikers.
Monday 20th June
The trouble with Starmer is not just that he’s been accused of sitting on the fence regarding the rail strike, but he’s also doing the same over Brexit. Recently, Yvette Cooper, who’s usually so brilliantly forthright, and who ripped Patel to shreds last week in the Commons over Rwanda, refused to give a straight answer when pressed by Andrew Marr on Labour’s stance on Brexit. Starmer is desperate not to offend all the dopey traditional Labour supporters who voted Tory in 2019 just to ‘get Brexit done’. He seems to be completely ignoring the fact that most Labour supporters actually voted Remain, and is seemingly very reluctant to give them (us?) any kind of succour or even basic lip service. His lack of a clear stance on these, and let’s face it, many other issues, could cost him (and Labour) dear. Many people have said they have no idea what he actually stands for. Modern UK politics has shown that it’s no good hoping to win the vote just opposing something; Labour has got to start forming its own clear vision for the future, with distinctive policies that enthuse people. And it’s got to start doing so soon.
Bojo plans to use agency staff to break the rail strike. Trouble is that many agencies are concerned about the possibility of their reputation taking their hit if they do; and also that many staff who are signed up to them will refuse to cross a picket line.
Tuesday 21st June
Right-wing tabs and Tory MPs desperately trying to link the RMT strike to the days of the 1970’s, when militant unions were far more powerful and disruptive than they could ever be now. And it was predictable that they’d highlight the 25 Labour MP’s who defied Keir Starmer’s instructions not to join picket lines. To be fair, though, Starmer dug another hole for himself there; he could just have left it by saying he didn’t necessarily approve of strike action but understood the reasons behind it. Instead, he’s seemingly kowtowed to the Tory press and tempted fate by sending out a draconian instruction to his MPs, only for said press to react gleefully when this move – with some degree of predictability – backfired.
Elsewhere, the Government is drafting legislation intended to enable it to override any future judgments passed by the ECHR. They really are in full-on dead cat diversion mode at the moment; to detract the population from their multitudinous, grave, all too obvious failings on multiple fronts, they’re whipping up acrimony and division in the hope it will play well with their hardcore right-wing support. In the run-up to the by-elections on Thursday, of course.
Wednesday 22nd June
Polio detected in the UK for the first time in 40 years, in a sample from a sewage works in east London.
Sad day for Liverpool fans as Sadio Mane signs for Bayern Munich, in a deal reputed to be worth £35m.
Thursday 23rd June
Happy Birthday Mum!
Drama in our front garden. For the last couple of days a couple of crows have perched seemingly permanently in the two big conifers at the front of the house, and making sure everyone is aware of their presence. Their squawks can sound very intimidating. Today, after my afternoon nap, I saw Lou toddling from after the road for her afternoon feed, only to be set upon by said crows. I went out there and somehow scared them off, and enticed Lou safely to her usual dining spot at the front of the house. It was only then that I saw why the birds were so agitated; a crow which obviously must have been the child of the two big birds, was lying dead under the trees. I covered the body with an opaque garden bag, but even then I didn’t dare move it until it was dark. (Lou managed to escape unscathed in the meantime).
Friday 24th June
Good day, bad day. Good – the Tories lost one of their Red Wall seats in Wakefield, and saw a 24,000 majority in Tiverton & Honiton turned into a 5,000 majority defeat at the hands of the Lib Dems.
Bad day – in the US, the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade judgement from 1973 which established a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Immediately, about half the states made moves to close down clinics. Of course this won’t stop abortions, but merely create a black economy of back street operations and unnecessary deaths. It’s bitterly ironic that in some states, a sentence for abortion as a consequence of rape is quite likely to be longer than a sentence for rape. Millions of American women will be living in fear. One of Trump’s poisonous legacies.
Saturday 25th June
Apparently Bojo says he wants to go on for a third term in the 2030’s, and claimed he’s never told a lie. Echoes of end-of-days in a dictatorial regime. There are growing calls – also from some leading Tories – that he has to go.
Glastonbury is back for the first time in 3 years. Macca headlined tonight; his voice isn’t what it was, but he’s still a national treasure & was on stage for two and a half hours. He was joined on stage by Dave Grohl & Bruce Springsteen. It’s just a pity he lowered himself to sing Glory Days.
Cat shelter do at Pastos tonight.
Monday 27th June
The Government’s motion to override the Northern Ireland protocol passed in the Commons tonight. A number of Tories abstained, but didn’t have the balls to vote against it.
On the same day that Russia bombed a shopping centre in Kyiv (but apparently they don’t bomb civilians), NATO announced it would increase its forces on its eastern flank by 300,000. The UK government is apparently committing to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP within the next few years, as if we can afford it.
Tuesday 28th June
Ghislaine Maxwell gets 20 years for sex trafficing. Turkey lifts its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
On the day that Patel’s legislation restricting the right to protest comes into force, Remainer hero Steve Bray has his loudspeaker and speakers confiscated by the Met (who are about to go into special measures) from his pitch on College Green.
Nicola Sturgeon makes a new bid for a referendum on Scottish independence, which she wants to hold in October next year.
A White House aide gives explosive testimony to a panel investigating the events of January 6th. She stated that Trump knew his supporters were armed and wanted security staff at the Capitol to turn their ‘f**king mags off’ because they wouldn’t be using the weapons against him. Also, she stated that when Trump was being driven back to the White House, he tried to grab hold of the steering wheel and said to the driver that ‘I’m the f**king President, take me to the White House now’. There were also claims that certain witnesses were told that they could be trusted ‘to do the right thing’, with clear implications that there could be, er, consequences for them if they didn’t.
Wednesday 29th June
R&B letch R Kelly gets 30 years for sexual abuse charges. First Ghislaine, now him. He won’t be believing he can fly for a while.
Thursday 30th June
A story broke that deputy chief whip Chris Pincher got so inebriated at the Carlton Club that he ended up groping two men.
Friday 1st July
Pincher had the whip withdrawn, but only after Bojo had been put under pressure to do so. This contrasted with the way that Neil Parish (caught watching porn in the Commons) had been treated; he had the whip withdrawn almost immediately.
Meal out with our bonkers and very close friend Liz, who’s over in Cyprus for a few days.
Saturday 2nd July
Turns out Bojo knew of Pincher’s previous form when he appointed Pincher as deputy whip in February, and did so despite warnings. He knew Pincher was, to quote one Dominic Cummings, ‘a bit handsy’, and mentioned that he was ‘Pincher by name, Pincher by nature’.
In a narky match at Wimbledon, Aussie trouble magnet and all-round knob Nick Kyrgios beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets, after ball abuse and hitting a ball directly at his opponent (Tsitsipas) and audible obscenities (Kyrgios). In the post-match press conference, Tsitsipas accused Kyrgios of being a ‘bully; Kyrgios responded with a few typically charmless barbs.
50th anniversary of Pride in London.
Sunday 3rd July
A procession of ministers are being wheeled out on the Sunday morning media rounds to defend Bojo’s claim that he was unaware of Pincher’s track record when appointing him. More muppets defending the indefensible.
Six dead at an Independence Day shooting near Chicago.
Monday 4th July
Starmer closes the door on Labour even applying to rejoin the Single Market, let alone the EU, claiming that by doing so would reopen all of the Brexit divisions. He said he would try and ‘make Brexit work’, and try and reach compromises on current areas of disagreement. It’s a cowardly stance designed to appease Labour’s Red Wall voters, and he’s not given so much as lip service towards the majority of Labour supporters who voted Remain. All the evidence suggests that joining the single market would alleviate many of the current British economic ills – but as it would require freedom of movement, Starmer is not willing to agree to it. His stance as a former ardent Remainder is a bitter disappointment.
Tuesday 5th July
Blimey. Sunak and Javid have resigned from the Cabinet. And they’ve started a rush of government members towards the exit doors. He’s toast now, surely.
This was a consequence of a former top civil servant wrote to the parliamentary standards commissioner to claim that No 10’s claims that they knew nothing of Chris Pincher’s track record before appointing him was untrue.
Wednesday 6th July
Ministers and other government members resigning en masse. Bojo refusing to resign despite pleas from cabinet colleagues for him to do so. For once, Starmer on form in PMQs. The Guardian:
In an often brutal prime minister’s questions performance, the Labour leader ridiculed ministers still serving in the government, such as Nadhim Zahawi, the newly promoted chancellor, who sat next to Johnson on the Tory frontbench.
“What a pathetic spectacle,” Starmer said after Johnson accused him of poor policy decisions. “The dying act of his political career is to parrot that nonsense. As for those who are left – only in office because no one else is prepared to debase themselves any longer. The charge of the lightweight brigade. Have some self-respect. For a week he’s had them defending his decision to promote a sexual predator. Every day the lines he has forced them to take have been untrue.”
And:
“He is only in power because he has been propped up for months by a corrupted party defending the indefensible,” Starmer said. “Anyone with anything about them would be long gone from his frontbench. In the middle of a crisis, doesn’t the country deserve better than a Z-list cast of nodding dogs.”
Earlier: Starmer said any ministers resigning now after having long defended Johnson did not have a “shred of integrity”.
“Isn’t this the first recorded case of the sinking ships fleeing the rat?” the Labour leader said.
This was followed by an absolute car crash of a session in front of the Commons Liaison Committee, chaired by Bernard Jenkin (an arch Brexiteer, let’s not forget):
Elsewhere, apparently the Women’s Euro 2022 footie tournament started today.
Thursday 7th July
He’s gone. But not yet. Bojo announced he will be resigning as PM, but not until the Tories have appointed a new leader. His resignation speech was typical of the man. No dignity. No grace. No self-awareness. Self-pity. Blaming others. Refusal to acknowledge his errors. ‘Herd instinct’…’eccentric’…..’them’s the breaks’….WTF?
Friday 8th July
Predictable hysteria in right-wing press, allegations of backstabbing, etc. One of Bojo’s final acts of the evening was to sack his old mucker Michael Gove. Actually, it wasn’t, because he then proceeded to scrape the bottom of the Tory puddle of talent to form a new cabinet. Echoes of rearranging the deckchairs as the bow sinks beneath the water.
Durham police clear Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner of breaking lockdown rules, so neither of them will be resigning. Bet the Corbynistas are as disappointed as the Tories.
Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is assassinated.
Rafael Nadal has had to pull out of Wimbledon at the semi-final stage owing to an abdominal injury he sustained during his epic 5-set win against American Taylor Fritz in the quarters. It means that his intended semi-final opponent gets a bye into the final. It’s none other than…..Nick Kyrgios….
In the other semi, Novak Djokovic saw off gallant Brit Cameron Norrie after conceding the first set.
Saturday 9th July
Bitter, vicious infighting within the Tories. Sunak bearing the brunt of much of it. All the other candidates seemingly involved in a Dutch auction over how much they can cut taxes, as if that’s what the country really needs right now.
Sunday 10th July
In a predictably eventful encounter, Djokovic beat Kyrgios by 3 sets to 1 after conceding the first set. The Aussie gobshite was at his worst at times – audible obscenities in front of Prince George in the Royal Box, throwing banana skins around (apparently), ranting at his team as they sat in their box. And yet, after the game, he was surprisingly charming, as good as apologising to the officials and ballboys/girls for his conduct during the tournament, suggesting he had a ‘bromance’ with Djokovic and that they go out for a meal then ‘go nuts’ in a club after. He’s still a cock, though.
UK on heatwave alert for next week – temperatures could rise as high as 36C next Sunday.
Thursday 21st July
I can’t keep tabs on everything that’s been happening recently. It’s just been far too busy at work, I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’m just knackered.
I’ve inherited some roles that my predecessor in the office used to perform. Most significant of which are the implementation of the timetable for the next academic year, and the processing of leavers, which is nothing more than a time-consuming academic chore (luckily I’ve managed to fob off most of the latter to Rodia in the front office).
I’ve been thrown into the deep end with the timetable; I knew next to nothing about what to do. I’ve been in a rush to do everything that needs to be done, to the extent that I’ve been going in early and taking my breakfast into work, but the task is just too large. (It doesn’t help that much to my annoyance, I’ve been asked to re-run some reports which were missing some fields – yes, it’s my mistake, but given the vagaries of our MIS, it’s so easy to make a mistake or omission and not notice it until it’s too late). Yesterday it was obvious that I couldn’t complete it. So today – the last day of term – I had a ‘normal’ breakfast, and did what I could do before the day finished early for the end of term assembly. And then – relaaax….
Loads of people left yesterday. After the assembly, there was a gathering in the staff room, with speech, tears and some gorgeous food prepared by our wonderful Cypriot staff.
In the meantime, we’ve had (1) the UK’s hottest ever weather. On Monday 18th, the mercury hit 38.1C at Santon Downham in Norfolk; that night, the temperature did not fall below 25.9C at Emley Moor in Yorkshire. The next day was truly record-shattering and alarming; what was jaw-dropping was not just the intensity of the heat, but the extent of it. A new British record of 40.3C was recorded at Coningsby; and at least 34 other sites exceeded the previous record of 38.7C, set in Cambridge just three years ago. 38C was recorded as far north as Manchester, and 37C in Newcastle. Several wildfires broke out, the most serious of which was at Wennington, near Rainham, where houses were burnt down.
We’ve also had (2) the Tory leadership contest, which started last week. So many candidates declared that it was likened to the Grand National (Donkey Derby would surely have been more appropriate). Some candidates were reluctant to commit to net zero carbon emissions before Tuesday’s inferno. We’re now down to the last two, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. The latter has emerged as the ‘Stop Rishi’ candidate, in a reaction to the belief that Sunak stabbed Bojo (who made a typically immodest, flippant, graceless farewell in his last PMQs yesterday: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/20/pmqs-verdict-boris-johnson-andrew-sparrow). There is just no other reason why she is so prominent; she’s devoid of personality and doesn’t have much in the way of gravitas, authority, or indeed much between the ears. So for everyone who hates the Tories, it’s a choice of (a) someone who’s reasonably competent, but who might just beat Starmer in the next election; or (b) Boris Lite, who could proceed to wreak untold havoc on the nation for the next two years before the next election.
(3) In a BBC documentary, Mo Farah revealed he’d been trafficked into the UK as a child and assumed a new identity (his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin), and was forced to work in domestic servitude, until his talent as an athlete came to light when he started school at the age of 11. So basically, under the law as it stands, he’s technically an illegal immigrant. No doubt if he hadn’t become a hugely successful gold-medal winning Olympic athlete, then Priti Patel would have had no second thoughts about signing off the deportation order.
Saturday 23rd July
Found out today that Dad passed away on Thursday.
Tuesday 15th August
It has rained today. The first time for ages.
Quite a bit has happened since my last entry. An intense, prolonged heatwave, with the country becoming parched. Increasing concern over soaring energy prices, with another large rise in the price cap in the pipeline in October (and a seeming potential catastrophe when winter sets in – seems ironic that I’m writing this in the middle of one of the hottest, driest summers on record). Continuing war of attrition in Ukraine, with the alarming possibility that Europe’s largest nuclear power station could be damaged. A Tory leadership crisis in which the two rivals appear to be intent in racing each other to the bottom in terms of taxes, regulation, freedom of expression and compassion.
Hot weather should be enjoyable. But not when it’s heat and drought of this magnitude and duration. The mood of the country appears to be of an overheated, exhausted, depressed nation just struggling through from day to day. Public services stretched to breaking point, increasing industrial action, but a lame-duck caretaker government led by a fat, lazy, unscrupulous, incompetent oaf who’s been on holidays to Slovenia and Greece whilst he’s serving out his notice period, and refusing to iontervene in the country’s numerous crises.
In the meantime, we went to Munich. I ran it past Mum first, but she said it was OK for us to go. Had a great time, although unfortunately we had a bit of a disagreement on our last night, which happily we managed to resolve.
Went to Devon on the 3rd. Isolated farmhouse accommodation in a beautifully isolated location. Nice little trips out. Popped into Mum’s every day. On the Saturday evening, for the first real time, she looked like an exhausted, frail old lady. What was concerning was that even though it was a nice, warm day, she was feeling cold. However, she seemed to be quite a bit better the next day.
The day of Dad’s funeral was hot. Ian’s mates came down from Reading; Keith and I have not always got on, but we were cool today. I was almost emotional, but nothing came out. My sister was presumably a bit emotional; she’s quite highly strung at the best of times, and doesn’t have much emotional resilience, but to be fair she and my eldest niece played a blinder in organising everything. The reception was at a very nice venue, but for £450 you expect a bit more than the use of a room, a few sandwiches and chips (worked out at about £15 a head, when about half that amount would have covered it).
And then back to Mum’s……..
Family is gathered in Mum’s front room when the next thing is that sis is having a hysterical crying fit. Basically it’s all getting too much, but even by her standards this is dramatic. Eventually she calmed down; turns out the catalyst was Mrs C suggesting that the rugs in the entrance hall are a bit of a trip hazard, after I’d mentioned it to her earlier in the day. Later, after everyone had gone, she messaged me apologising to both Mrs C & myself for her outburst, saying she could come round tomorrow to ‘clear the air’ (which I was a bit mystified by). I responded by telling her not to worry about it, that she was knackered and needed some quality time to herself, thanking her for all her efforts, etc. etc.
Next morning, it’s 8.15 and we’re getting ready to go. Then sis turns up, and it’s obvious from her body language that she hasn’t come to ‘clear the air’. To cut a long story short, she claimed there was an atmosphere between us and that everyone had picked up on it, that I had upset Mum by something that I had said to her, that I should apologise to Mum and that she wouldn’t leave until I had done so, that I hadn’t spoken about Dad the whole time I’d been down there, that Mrs C hadn’t helped Mum tidy her cupboards as she’d promised (actually Mum had told her not to), that I should have foreseen that she needed some help with getting the death certificates, helping with the shopping, etc. (Sorry Sis that I wasn’t born with the power of telepathy), etc. etc. At one stage she was standing in front of the door barring our way, at another her face was right in front of mine, shouting her mouth off (I had to tell her to keep her voice down as Mum was in bed – hopefully asleep). Basically, it was one long psychotic rant.
I told Mum that I was sorry if I’d done or said anything to upset her; she said she felt I could have stayed down a bit longer bearing in mind my brother was over from Australia, and maybe I should have left the paperwork to my sister, but otherwise I’d done nothing wrong. I told sis that I was sorry if I had upset her (whereupon she responded by saying ‘yes, you did’ – she similarly rebuffed Mrs C’s apology to her). We made up after a fashion, and mercifully we eventually got off. When we eventually made it back to the car hire office after a seven hour journey, when her brother came to pick us up, she went up to him and started sobbing out of relief.
Potentially, this has put me in a really shitty situation. The following day, I messaged my brother to say I was sorry that I couldn’t have stayed longer, and that I hoped he & his wife were OK, and that I would call him when he returned home (I haven’t received a reply to date). Until I call him, I’m left in a very awkward limbo; I have absolutely no intention of telling Mum the full extent of what happened. I can hardly tell my two nieces and their respective partners that their mother is in such a bad place that she has taken to using me as an emotional punchbag with no justification whatsoever. The possibility is that she has already given them a very jaundiced version of what happened, and turned them all against me. Ideally, as things stand, I want as little as possible to do with her, but until Mum goes, I have the unpleasant prospect hanging over me all that time, of having to meet up with her to discuss funeral arrangements, the will, and the disposing of the contents of the house.
We stayed in a terraced house in Wallasey for a few days. The lack of a garden, a nearby park, or indeed leafy streets would not normally have been an issue, but the heat and almost complete lack of shade only accentuated my despondency. Not helped by the fact that when I woke up in the night, it was that issue which kept me awake for ages.
Friday 19th August
Got back today from seeing our friend near Bury. Visit to Piece Hall in Halifax, then a tour round her manor in and around the surrounding moors. Then a pub quiz in the evening. Thursday morning, my sister sent me an email. No hint of contrition; she just recycled the previous allegations and accused me of being aggressive.
I’ve offered to pay for the reception in full. Mum didn’t want the money (even though the do was apparently paid out of Dad’s estate). Instead, she suggested I give some of the amount to my sister for everything she’s done in organising the funeral. No problem with that, and then I’ll ask Mum if she wants to give the rest to any particular charities.
So I’ll thank my sister for the photo of Dad that she sent me, and ask that she give me her bank account details.
And then – and not before I’ve spoken to my brother this coming weekend – and in a separate email – I will respond to the rather unpleasant email she sent me. In the meantime, I will keep her dangling on the end of the string, keep my powder dry, and then (in the most tactful way, of course) tell her exactly what I think of her behaviour. I’m going to let her have it, both barrels. It’s unfortunate if I upset her, but no way is she going to dump all of this shit on me and expect me not to respond.
Sunday 21st August
Went over to Liverpool yesterday. There was a RMT rally in the city centre; I hung around St George’s to watch a few speakers. A lot of references to union solidarity and ‘comrades’, which to be fair was to be expected, but tbh I didn’t feel in my natural environment there. Then a couple of pints in town, before meeting up with Mark in the Irby Mill in the evening. Late night tonight; stayed up to watch Usyk beat AJ again.
I tried four occasions this morning to ring my brother, but for some reason he is not responding. I have had no contact with him now since the day of the funeral. Maybe I am getting paranoid, but it seems as if he may have swallowed a load of lies that my sister told him and is deliberately not responding. Either that, or somehow I have inadvertently pissed him off and is ignoring my attempts at communicating with him. Either way, it’s hard to get the feeling that the rest of the family is ganging up on me out of my head. If it ever came to that, I would be truly devastated. It’s horrible being kept in this limbo. I might see if I can contact his wife to see if she can prompt him to contact me.
In the meantime, I sent my sister an email (as mentioned on Friday), and made no reference to the one she’d sent me before. It was actually of a quite pleasant tone, but she said she could not accept any money from me in the light of what had happened. At least her tone was almost conciliatory. But seeing as my brother has not responded, I feel I can wait no longer in telling her what I think of her behaviour the morning after the funeral. I intend to do this tomorrow morning.
Afternoon round Mrs C’s friends’ house. Very pleasant.
Saturday 27th August
A horrible, horrible week. Despite all the stuff I did.
Monday night, stayed at friends who lived near Bolton. It’s a bit difficult spending so much time with people you don’t have much in common with. At least they had Sky Sports, which with the benefit of hindsight was a curse rather than a blessing as Liverpool put in a wretched performance against Man Utd (who, don’t forget, had been tonked 4-0 at Brentford previously). Then banged my head against a cupboard when I got up to go to the loo in the night.
Tuesday, we went to RHS Bridgewater. Very nice, but I have this dark cloud hanging over me. Tea back at theirs, then we made it back to the Wirral to take part in a quiz with friends.
Wednesday, I sent the message to my sister.
Thursday, I travelled down to London for an overnighter with Joe. Stayed in halls of residence near Waterloo. Didn’t augur well when I couldn’t get into the original room I’d booked, but after a bit of a wait, staff managed to give me an upgrade. Obviously no TV or tea/coffee in the room, but a bargain for the price. Visited some cracking pubs, including my new favourite, the Seven Stars in Holborn, which has a resident cat, and where we had tea (bratwurst, fried potatoes, and rather un-Germanic chutney). And then got back to my room to find the bomb in my inbox.
My sister had shown Mum the email I’d sent her; I knew she was always likely to do this. What I didn’t know was that Mum would unequivocally take my sister’s side in this issue. Her message was really harsh; I didn’t know she was capable of this. And she criticised Mrs C as well. It was not a great note to end the night on, obviously.
Friday morning, checked out with Joe; he wanted to walk to Victoria from Waterloo, so I kept him company. He can be hard work sometimes, especially when we’re both a bit tired and hungover. Amongst the crowds of tourists, I felt as if I was walking in a zombified state, so stunned was I by that message.
Saturday I had a nap in the afternoon, lulled to sleep by my new favourite soundtrack, a 10 hour recording of nothing but the ambient sounds of running water. It’s incredibly soothing. Then later, went for walk in the nearby woods to clear my head.
Watching Liverpool trounce Bournemouth 9-0 on Match of the Day whilst checking my emails. There was a message from my sister. A long, toxic rant full of lies, falsehoods, distortions and unrefined vitriol. (And to think she wasted her Saturday evening writing it). I was so stunned and upset that I started crying, and Mrs C was on hand to comfort me.
But now I am in a really shitty place. My sister has no doubt turned my nieces, my niece’s fiance, and her own partner against me. The fact that I haven’t heard from my brother since I got back seems to indicate she’s managed to turn him against me, as well. I may have made a few mistakes, but I don’t think I’m a bad person, and I’ve certainly done nothing to deserve this. I now face the prospect of being ostracised by my own family. Dad will be in utter dismay if he looked down to see what was happening. I am utterly devastated and heartbroken by this. And it’s all the fault of my sister. There is no way back between me and her now. I’m done with her. I want nothing whatsoever to do with her. This may mean of course that I may feel unable to attend Mum’s funeral when she passes (obviously I hope later rather than sooner), but I cannot bear the thought of walking into a toxic, hostile atmosphere.
Thursday 8th September
Stuff has happened since my last entry. Been too busy one way or another to keep tabs on everything.
Work has been mental. September’s a difficult enough month at the best of times, what with the end of the holidays, the start of a new academic year which is busy enough anyway, and the fact it’s still roasting hot here. But the start of this year has been utterly chaotic, what with being expected to do a lot of stuff I had no idea what to do with, on top of the usual start of year tasks. And also it’s a bit hotter than usual.
As I write (5.30 pm), it seems the Queen is on the verge of passing. All the Royals are going to Balmoral to be at her bedside. Two days ago, she’d invited Dizzy Lizzy Truss, the winner of the protracted Tory leadership crisis, to form a new government, after having just accepted the resignation of the fat, lazy, narcissistic clown. Amongst a raft of predictable appointments rewarding blind loyalists was that of the fat, cigar-smoking, brandy-swilling Therese Coffey as health secretary.
That Sunday of the bank holiday weekend, I spent four hours writing a message to my brother putting my side of the story, trying to phrase it as diplomatically and frankly as I could. I went for another walk in the woods halfway through, trying to clear my head and remember some salient phrases with which to finish it off. Luckily, the effort was worthwhile; I received a message from him the following morning, saying that we were good, that I hadn’t in any way offended him, etc. I don’t mind admitting I cried with relief.
Monday we went round to former colleagues’ massive house on the edge of Birkenhead Park.
Tuesday we went to the same golf club quiz as last week. Whilst we were there, we found out that Mikhail Gorbachev had died.
Wednesday we flew back to Cyprus.
Thursday, called Mum. She just sounded tired and frail, but not so much to stop her suggesting I should apologise to my sister. I ignored her remark; she’d be even more upset if I told her the truth of what happened that morning. I’m still very sore about the message she sent me, and the fact she’s seemingly unconditionally taken my sister’s side without hearing my side of the story. I’m not sure that our relationship isn’t now permanently damaged.
Saturday, had a chat with my brother in Australia. It was extremely reassuring to hear him say I hadn’t done too much wrong. Felt so much better afterwards.
Weather back in the UK has been extremely unsettled recently to say the least. An area of low pressure has parked itself just off south-west Ireland, and is introducing an extremely unstable airflow over the country. There have been widespread thunderstorms, with deluges and spectacular lightning displays over much of the country, and on Tuesday there was even a tornado in the Edinburgh area.
Wednesday. Particularly humid. Particularly busy. Particularly tired after yet another night’s interrupted sleep. The internet on the PC has packed up; after 40 minutes on the phone to the Cyta helpdesk, the outcome was that I needed to arrange for an engineer to come out to fix it at my own cost. And to round off a particularly crap day, Liverpool put in a particularly crap performance as they were thumped 4-1 by Napoli in their opening Champions League game.
Meantime, Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel after their disappointing start to the season (they lost their CL opener against Dynamo Zagreb on Tuesday night).
A new baby kitty has started appearing in and around our front drive.
Friday 9th September
The Queen passed away at about 8.20pm Cyprus time last night.
Still hot. Still knackered. Still stupidly busy. Had to stay until 2.30 to set up tests for Monday morning at short notice. None too chuffed about that. Had to have an emergency beer when I got in. Was supposed to be going to see a Queen (the band, obviously) tribute act tonight, but was just too knackered.
I left Footie Manager for good today.
Life’s not particularly much fun at the moment. Bought Mrs C some flowers today. I’m going to need her company and support quite a lot over the next few months (and years).
Tuesday 13th September
All main channels showing overkill coverage of the Queen’s period of mourning. A car filmed from the air travelling along a dual carriageway in Scotland. Endless vox pops outside Buck House, Windsor, Balmoral, etc. A plane stuck on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for today’s flight taking the coffin to London. Some extreme reactions. Shops closing for the day of the funeral is fair enough, but Center Parcs throwing out customers who’d booked for the day of the funeral is just beyond the pale. Anti-monarchist protesters arrested, merely for expressing an opinion.
Still hot (but not quite so today). Still knackered. Slept for two hours yesterday afternoon, when I didn’t mean to. Can’t get the casting function on the Chromecast to cast BBC Iplayer to the telly (although I can do so with Youtube, so that’s something). Work is stupidly busy. Just fed up at the moment. Of course it’s quite possible that Dad’s passing, and the subsequent shenanigans, have had something to do with my current despondency. But cooler weather and a decent night’s sleep would help. And maybe some exercise as well; maybe if I went out for a run in the next couple of days, now it’s slightly cooler, it would make me feel less lethargic.
Mrs C said I need a new focus in life, and she’s probably right. I am seriously thinking about starting a German course soon now.
One bright spot; the sandy and white cat who I used to feed, until he suddenly disappeared in May, reappeared on Monday as I was leaving work (although he wasn’t present today, oddly enough).
Saturday 17th September
Forgot to mention the Charlie pen stand incident; last Saturday, he petulantly motioned to one of his aides to move a pen holder which was impeding his ability to sign the proclamation. Had another pen incident in the week, where his pen proceeded to spring a leak, after he’d signed a document with the incorrect date.
The Queen’s coffin was transported to Westminster Hall for five days of lying in state. As I write, the queue is estimated to be five miles long, with a waiting time of 24 hours.
Also, as I write, I’m awaiting a call from the Google helpdesk (now eight minutes overdue) re the Chromecast. Really annoys me when things don’t work as they should, or when people don’t do as they promise……..
Work still manically busy. Was on a bit of a downer on Wednesday (coincidentally, the anniversary of Grandad’s passing). Played my melancholy Spotify soundtrack just because I felt like it. Subconsciously, I am starting to accept that I may never see my nieces, my elder niece’s fiance, and my sister’s partner ever again. As things stand, I would be very wary about going to my Mum’s funeral, whenever that may be. There’s no chance whatsoever of building bridges with my sister; I have absolutely no desire to do so. As for Mum, I’ve also subconsciously accepted that – as a result of the email she sent to me on 25th August – that our relationship is now permanently tarnished. She’s pinned her colours to my sister’s mast, despite not having heard my side of the story, and despite her being aware of my sister’s previous form for lying, distortion, and embellishing stories. I’m a bid sad, but oddly enough I’m not broken hearted. Don’t know if I’ll be going down there to see her at Xmas. My sister is entirely to blame for all of this. It’s still the first thing I think of when I wake up in the middle of every night now.
Ukraine appears to be making a successful counter-attack against Russia, recapturing areas in the east of the country. As the Ukranians advance, evidence of apparent war crimes, in the form of mass graves, are coming to light.
Same old Tories under Truss, but even more extreme. Whilst the country is being distracted by mourning for the Queen (if you believe the MSM), the government has publicised measures involving the removal of the cap on bankers’ bonuses, and a relaxation of the ban on fracking, to name but two. There’s a theory on social media that the Tories have accepted they’re going to get their backsides kicked in the next election, that they and their best mates may as well fill their boots whilst they still have the chance to do so.
Catastrophic floods in Marche in Italy, killing 12.
Much to my (concealed) chagrin, Mrs C invited our neighbours and our friend the mad cat lady round for tea last night. They didn’t leave until 10.20, and the ‘little bit of washing up’ took 50 minutes to finish. Today, we’re going to the cat sanctuary, then in the evening we’re meeting up with friends who are notorious nightowls. I’m absolutely knackered as it is; I really could do without this. Roll on tonight when I can stagger into my bed with two days off to look forward to.
At least Liverpool won their crucial Champions League encounter, beating Ajax 2-1 at Anfield with a late winner from Joel Matip. Why he and Thiago didn’t start against Napoli, only Jurgen Klopp knows.
Tuesday 20th September
Saturday night, we met the nightowls and two other colleagues for tea. Managed to get off at 11.30, which of course was plenty late enough.
Tried to get hold of my brother on Sunday, but didn’t succeed. Spoke to my Mum; she mentioned she might have problems in getting to her hospital appointment tomorrow, as my darling sister is working and the neighbour who often takes her is unavailable. I told her I would investigate it. Started a Duolingo German course.
Monday, the day of the Queen’s funeral. A strange, strange day. We’d been invited to the mad cat lady’s house for brunch before the service started. I initially declined, but after having investigated transport options and having found a local volunteer driver service, I was persuaded to attend for a while.
The service was a good show, no need to detail it here.
Whilst watching the service, Sis messaged me. She said that I’d told Mum that I’d organise transport for tomorrow; I just mentioned I’d investigate. I gave her details of the volunteer driver service, whereupon she mentioned she already had them. I asked her if she wanted me to contact them, and she mentioned she already had. She said she’d book a taxi; I said OK and left it at that. So it was surprising that an hour later, she said she was still very upset, and that I didn’t help when I could so I shouldn’t offer to help now. I replied that it wasn’t true, that she knew it wasn’t, but I was still willing to help, but also that I didn’t appreciated being misrepresented to other people (which, given she’s got previous for lies and distortion, has probably already happened with Mum, my nieces, and her own partner).
Later she fired back another groundless email rant, similar to the first one, although this time she ended by saying she wanted nothing to do with me. Well, Sis, I’d come to the same conclusion about you a little while ago. I wasn’t so upset this time, as I had the reassurance that my brother had heard my side – the truthful side – of the story. If it wasn’t so serious, it was almost comical, the scale of her delusions and distortions. And, just to round the day off, at 10pm her time, she sent a message saying ‘come on, tell me what you did to help. Oh you can’t, you did nothing’. I’m not upset anymore, just pissed off. Any more of this, and I’ll just block her.
Tuesday, stupidly busy at work. Not only am I inundated with my own work, I’m having to show my new colleague how to do stuff as well. I don’t think the 3 SLT members talk to each other much. They need to get together to properly prioritise stuff. We’ve got the TSR and the census coming down the line, as well as the first of six (6!) reporting sessions. Why we’re making things so difficult for ourselves, when most parents don’t give a shit about reports, and when someone’s got to print off 6 lots of address labels, affix them to 1800 odd envelopes, and generate and print off 1800 odd reports, I just do not know.
Friday 23rd September
Can’t remember what happened on Wednesday. Other than Dizzy Lizzy being in New York for a UN meeting which was dominated by Ukraine.
Thursday – wrote to SLT about work situation. Not Nicola’s fault, but as she’s asking me questions all the time, I can’t get the necessary momentum to do what I need to do.
In the evening, I sent a message to my beloved sister, basically saying that I was fed up with the shit she was shooting in my direction and told her to stop all of the animosity now.
And then I blocked her. Both on Messenger and email. So, when I wake up in the dead of night – as I invariably do nowadays – and reach for my smartphone to do some browsing in the hope it will help me get back to sleep – I won’t have my heart in my mouth any longer.
Mogglodyte announced the moratorium on fracking is to be lifted. Great.
Today – the new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng – he who was caught smirking whilst using his mobile during the Queen’s funeral – announced his ‘mini-budget’ statement. The 45% top rate of tax abolished, whilst basic rate was cut by 1%. The hike in NICs to pay for social care reversed. The cap on bankers’ bonuses abolished. Planned hike in corporation tax postponed. Stamp duty threshold increased from £125k to £250k. Massive tax cuts at the same time that borrowing is dramatically increased. The Bank of England is threatening to increase interest rates to keep a lid on information. Now it’s been undermined by this statement which is pumping more money into the economy, thus giving a further boost to inflation.
The markets took a very dim view of the statement. The yield on UK gilts – the premium the government must pay to persuade investors to hold gilts – soared. Sterling plunged by 3.2% against the dollar, its lowest level since 1985. And borrowing is increasing at a time when gilt yields and interest rates are soaring – a double whammy.
Roger Federer played his last competitive game of tennis tonight in the Laver Cup in London; he’s calling time on an illustrious career, at the age of 41.
Called Mum tonight. She’s aware of what’s happening between sis & myself, but (outwardly anyway) didn’t seem too upset about it. But it’s a very tricky situation now, especially – as expected – if she nominates both sis & myself as executors to her will. I will need to do quite a bit of research to try and pre-empt any moves that sis might make. In her current frame of mind, she could be capable of anything.
Monday 26th September
Tried to get hold of my brother, without success. Did the stint at the cats this afternoon. Was getting tea ready tonight when Mad Cat Lady came round. She’s not in a great situation at the moment, admittedly, but she didn’t take the hint when I told Mrs C that tea was ready. I wasn’t too chuffed about being banished to the kitchen whilst she unloaded to Mrs C in the living room, when I wanted to chill and have my tea in front of the telly on a Saturday night.
Quiet Sunday. Putin’s desperately trying to enforce conscription, whereas many Russian men are trying to flee the country. The people are seemingly losing faith in him; this could cause him to become increasingly desperate and reckless.
Thursday 29th September
At last, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, as far as work is concerned; my workload appears to be easing off. My new colleague’s feeling a bit better about things, after she’d had a justifiable meltdown after Squaddie Dave the IT assistant bawled her out for something that wasn’t her fault. Still knackered, though.
The IMF criticised the UK government for the action taken in ‘KamiKwasi’’s so-called mini-budget. At one stage the pound dropped to 1.03 against the dollar, and gilt yields continued to soar until the Bank of England’s intervention yesterday, which it saw as absolutely essential to secure the UK financial system’s integrity, and especially the viability of its final salary pension schemes which apparently were dangerously exposed in the wake of soaring yields on gilts.
Spoke to Mum last night; she seemed to be a bit better thanks to stronger medication which has enabled her to sleep a bit better.
The Labour Party conference in Liverpool concluded yesterday on a very chipper note, in the wake of the Government collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence. The polls put them 17 points clear. There’s talk of Truss not even lasting until Xmas, so spectacularly inept have she and Kwarteng been in their handling of economic matters over the last week. She put in a series of disastrous interviews with various local BBC Radio stations this morning, doubling down on her position and refusing to consider a u-turn, which to say the least has not been well received.
Sunday 2nd October
Has turned roasting hot since yesterday, about 32-33C, some 5-6C above where it should be.
Russia has held sham referendums in provinces that it’s annexed from Ukraine. Predictably, the results returned 95% majorities in favour of merging with Russia, who will now claim that any attempt by Ukraine to attack these provinces will be an ‘attack on Russian territory’ and could be met with a ‘proportionate’ response which may include the use of nuclear weapons.
Ruptures in the pipeline supplying gas from Russia to Europe, in the North Sea; sabotage is suspected.
Revealed that Kwasi Kwarteng met up with a group of hedge fund traders on the evening of his so-called ‘mini-Budget’, and proceeded to tell them that further tax cuts would be forthcoming. No doubt they are going to act accordingly. With just about any other PM, this would lead to his almost certain sacking.
Nice evening on Friday, with med centre boss Paul, his wife, bonkers Gemma, and the Mad Cat Lady. Paul did a fab veg chilli, based apparently on a red wine reduction and a little bit of chocolate. Must try it sometime.
Saturday evening, we went to Castro. OK but a limited menu and a bit expensive.
Football is back in prominence, for the first time really since the Queen’s death. Liverpool struggled to a 3-3 draw at home to Brighton, whilst Arsenal beat Spurs 3-1 in the North London derby.
The Arc today. Unfortunately Adayar (who I would have backed) had been pulled out on account of the softening ground. In his absence, it was a wide open contest, without any one outstanding horse, won by the 7-2 favourite Alpinista.
Tuesday 4th October
The heat’s gone, mercifully. Actually had a light shower last night, and a heavier one this morning, but the sun was back by afternoon. Went to running club for the first time in ages; sadly it appears to be dying on its feet as only 5 turned up.
Yesterday the Government made a screeching U-turn on its decision to abolish the 45% top rate of tax, faced by the threat of a substantial rebellion by its own MPs.
Today was actually quite slack in work, so I drafted a posting, asking for advice about the potential situation regarding myself, Her, and our potential positions as executors to Mum’s estate when she goes. Was completely unprepared and shocked by the stream of sanctimonius criticism I received, from what were presumably overwhelmingly female respondents. People appear to be rushing to judgement and condemn me on the basis of hearing only a small part of the story. I thought I was done with going on unnecessary guilt trips; obviously I was wrong.
Sunday 9th October
Have not bothered visiting the Money Saving Expert thread since. Don’t want to needlessly beat myself up again. But it has given me cause to think about the situation again. Maybe I should drop sis a line to try and defuse some of the acrimony? Should I do so now, or wait until after my niece gets married? (if she returns my card & present, then I’ll know for sure that sis has turned our own daughter against me, so any further contact may be pointless). Was I a little bit harsh towards her? On the other hand, she has no second thoughts about blaming me for everything…..
Liverpool was awarded the right to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine, pipping Glasgow to the post.
Threats of power cuts in the winter due to potential gas shortages. It’s like the 1970’s. But we weren’t so divided, unequal or rancorous as a nation then.
A bridge between Russia and annexed Crimea was damaged by an explosion. It was one of Putin’s pet infrastructure projects, intended to display that the Crimea was part of Russia.
10 people were killed in an explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal.
Almost forgot, it was the Tory party conference in Birmingham last week. So reassuring to see them in total disarray. But we could have to endure another two years of this chaos. Even the Third Reich only lasted 12 years.
Went out to Pissouri for tea last night with Mrs C’s old departmental boss and his wife. She held quite a senior position in the educational authority and retired 5 years ago, but still talks incessantly about it. Someone else who just can’t let go.
Sunday 16th October
Too much going on. Can’t keep tabs with it all. Work is ridiculously busy.
Tuesday, Kwasi Kwarteng flew to Washington for an IMF meeting. Wednesday, Dizzy Lizzy put in an abysmally wooden performance at PMQs, in which she stated there would definitely be no cuts in public spending, then had to face a meeting of the 1922 committee. MPs in attendance departed feeling furious, or dejected, or both. In the meantime, not only has she climbed down on the issue of the 45% income tax rate, but also on the issue of cancelling the increase in corporation tax.
Thursday, Kwarteng is summoned back to London and thus has to leave the IMF meeting prematurely. Upon arrival, he’s relieved of his responsibilities as chancellor. In the afternoon, Truss calls a Downing Street press conference giving an explanation for her chosen course of action, then invites questions; from the Telegraph, Sun, BBC & ITV – then ends it after less than 10 minutes. That’s enough to prove she’s just cowardly and not up to the job. Belatedly, she then decides to reach out to that part of the parliamentary party which didn’t vote for her, and appoints Jeremy Hunt as chancellor. Of course there’s a delicious irony here. Hunt has twice ran unsuccessfully for the leadership. And Truss can hardly sack him any time soon, right after having appointed him. Hunt proceeded to make a series of speeches indicating that the Government had ‘made mistakes’ as far as the ‘mini-Budget’ was concerned, and that future tax rises and cuts in spending were likely. So he’s destroyed the crux of Truss’s economic philosophy and her authority at the same time, and is now effectively the most powerful person in government. The de facto PM if you like, which is what he’s wanted all along, of course.
Never before has a PM and government lost its authority too quickly. A complete clusterfuck, or if you like, a Trussterfuck before. Some say she’ll be ousted before Wednesday to spare her the ordeal of another PMQs. Either way, her authority and credibility has gone completely down the pan. It’s a matter of when, not if.
Liverpool won 7-1 at Rangers in the Champions League, with the help of a 6-minute hat-trick from sub Mo Salah. And that after falling behind as well. And today they beat Man City 1-0 with another Salah strike.
Heavy rain today, the first substantial rain of the autumn.
Tuesday 18th October
Monday morning before sunrise was very wet. When I popped out at 11am, there was an absolute deluge, accompanied by really loud cracks of thunder. It rained heavily again last night, but today has been mostly fine and sunny.
Jezza trashed Dizzy Lizzy’s mini-Budget proposals in the Commons today. This after Truss did not turn up to answer an Urgent Question on account, according to Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, of attending ‘urgent business’, which in reality was a meeting with Graham Brady, leader of the 1922 committee. No, she assured the House, the PM wasn’t hiding under a desk. She only deigned to appear just before Hunt made his statement which destroyed the mini-Budget. Another brazen act of cowardice. Surely she can’t hold on much longer.
Mrs C was a bit short when I asked her if I should buy cakes for her birthday today. No, I don’t, I don’t want people to know it’s my birthday, I’m too busy, and I don’t want a fuss made over me. I thought it’s a bit sad, firstly not wanting to go to the Xmas do (although I didn’t tell her that), and now this.
I forgot to renew the MOT in February, and have been without wheels since Friday. A bit inconvenient, when I really need as much time as possible to make the photo album of Peps as a present by tomorrow.
Saturday 22nd October
The end of one of the most incredible weeks in UK political history. Wednesday, Truss managed to avoid putting her foot in it at PMQ’s, but the best was yet to come. Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who yesterday had made a ridiculous speech referring to the ‘tofu-eating wokerati’ who made up the so-called ‘anti-growth coalition’, was sacked, ostensibly on the grounds of a minor transgression. She sent a scathing resignation letter, accusing Truss of not accepting responsibility for her mistakes. Then, in the evening, a vote ostensibly against fracking turned into a shambles when the Government tried to make it into a no-confidence vote, forcing its MPs to vote for it by enforcing a three-line whip. Cue chaotic scenes in the voting lobbies, accusations of possibly recalcitrant MPs being manhandled, the Chief Whip resigning and then not resigning.
Next morning, there was a torrent of no-confidence letters in the PM to the chairman, and she was gone in the afternoon. So another leadership contest. Hunt’s ruled himself out, but Sunak and Mordaunt are likely to stand. As is a certain Boris Johnson, who’s flown home from a holiday (what else would he be doing?) in the Dominican Republic. Lord help us if the vote goes to the membership, which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
Mrs C’s birthday went OK in the end, although she thought the risotto was too gloopy with the addition of a bit of cream cheese. She appreciated the album, though.
The weather’s settled down, and it’s warm and sunny today. Mrs C flew back to Blighty last night, so I’m home alone for a few days. The new neighbours have moved in. Quite a lot of doors slamming, it has to be said.
Just six days after beating City, and three after beating West Ham 1-0 at home, Liverpool slumped to a 1-0 loss at struggling Nottingham Forest. The malaise is back.
Sunday 23rd October
A very stormy day back in the UK, at least in south and east England. Widespread thunderstorms, torrential downpours, vivid lightning, and some reports of tornadoes. Meanwhile, here in Cyprus, a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Went to Arsos and had a massive plate of meat for lunch; so big, I couldn’t finish the loukanina, sheftalia and kibbeh. A local cat helped me out with the pork, which actually looked a bit underdone, but the rest was very nice. Unfortunately the nature trail has been somewhat neglected since my last visit, so I had to do a bit of clambering.
Monday 24th October
Phew. Bojo has pulled out of the Tory leadership race, after he finally came face to face with the reality that he couldn’t get the 100 MP nomination threshold. And then Penny Mordaunt withdrew when it became clear that she was well short of the threshold too. So Sunak will become PM by default, and on Diwali as well. At least the blinkered membership didn’t have a chance to vote for Johnson again.
My niece got married today. Hope she and Jack had a great day. No doubt sis will have blubbed all the way through the day.
Another glorious day today. Spent much of it trying to amend my investments, but my normal website is not functioning as it should, so I achieved nothing. Frustrating. Went for a walk round Apollo Hylates in the afternoon. Had second thoughts about going away for a night tomorrow.
Tuesday 25th October
Sunak sworn in as PM today. Hunt and Cleverley remain in situ as Chancellor and Foreign Secretary respectively. But he’s reappointed Braverman as Home Secretary and Raab as Deputy PM. Jesus wept. At least Rees-Mogg has been shown the door, but seemingly no room for Mordaunt. And, unbelievably, the brandy-swilling, cigar-smoking Coffey is now Health Secretary.
Wednesday 26th October
Drove up to Kelefos Bridge with the intention of going on a walk in the woods. Took an hour after my arrival at 12.15, to realise I needed to be about a mile up the road to avoid an unnecessary walk on tarmac. And when I did start, an approaching thunderstorm persuaded me to abort it after half an hour and return to the car, just about beating the ensuing deluge. Just my luck that the weather didn’t play ball on my intended walking day. Got the garden furniture in, only for just a few drops to fall back home.
Thursday 27th October
Very negative reaction to Braverman’s re-appointment. Sunak has started with a lot of goodwill from the usual suspects, but he looks like carelessly squandering it. And his various appointments seem to indicate that he’ll still be taking a hardline right-wing agenda. He won’t be going to the forthcoming COP27 in Egypt next month, on the grounds that he’s got more ‘pressing priorities’.
Spent some of the day re-hanging the washing line, attending to my investments, and cooking myself a vegetarian peanut curry. Didn’t find time even to go out for a walk or a quick bike ride. Bogdan the cat has taken to wandering down to our house in the search of food. He’s such a cute character, but we don’t want him becoming a nuisance. Picked up Mrs C from the airport tonight.
Friday 29th October
Turns out Braverman had used her personal email account to send confidential docs to John Hayes, a right-wing Tory MP, who informally assists her with various matters. This lax attitude to security has led to calls for her dismissal by Sunak, just a few days after he’d reappointed her. Meanwhile, Sunak has decided he can’t be bothered to attend the forthcoming COP27 in Egypt; that’s another unforced error he’s committed.
The world’s richest man, supernerd and dickhead in chief Elon Musk finally succeeded in buying Twitter, and promptly readmitted Trump to the platform.
The husband of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked at their home in San Francisco.
We went to Polis for the night. I hadn’t bothered to find out the apartments were self-catering, but they were fine and the people managing them are very nice. Had very nice vegetarian meals for tea.
Saturday 30th October
Sunny and still very warm for the time of year. Woken up early by the local cockerel, which thereafter proceeded to crow on a regular basis. Nice breakfast; I had deliciously creamy yogurt, then croissants and toast with homemade fig jam, and then scrambled egg and bacon (a rare treat!)
Lazed by the pool again, then wandered around Polis old town for a bit before heading up the coast to Argaka for a drink by the beach. Mrs C was on a mission to find me a Dracula cloak for tonight’s Halloween party, we popped into the local supermarket and bought a black towel and black bin liners in case she couldn’t find anything in the school’s fancy dress wardrobe. Happily, she did, so I really looked the part. Our hosts were typically most jovial and generous, and a fun night was had by all.
Bad football day; in what should really have been a home banker, Liverpool were beaten 2-1 at Anfield by a Leeds team who were two off the bottom at start of play. And Reading lost 2-1 at Burnley with a goal in the fourth minute of injury time, and all that after taking the lead.
Appears Liz Truss’s phone was hacked by the Russians during her time as Foreign Secretary whilst she was running for the Tory leadership. Not only that, but seemingly Bojo and Cabinet secretary Simon Case tried to cover it up.
Tragically, at least 153 people were crushed to death during Halloween celebrations in Seoul city centre.
Tuesday 1st November
On Sunday, a migrant processing centre in Dover was firebombed by a lone individual, who promptly took his own life. Yesterday, in the wake of a surge in numbers of migrants crossing the Channel, and reports of a centre in nearby Manston housing a number of refugees more than twice its capacity in squalid, disease-ridden conditions, Home Secretary Suella Braverman continued her own individual attempt to stoke racial tensions. She claimed she did not cease to use hotels to rehouse refugees, which would have eased pressure at Manston, and had not ignored legal advice on the matter. Then, using language which even Priti Patel might have balked at, she described the Channel migrant crisis as an ‘invasion’, and, outrageously, said: ‘Let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress’. Then, inadvertently damaging the Tories’ handling of the issue, she went on to say that “The system is broken. Illegal migration is out of control..’’. Disgraceful stuff.
There was some good news; Bolsonaro was beaten, albeit narrowly, by the former president Lula, a compassionate left-winger, in the Brazilian election. Needless to say, to date Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat.
Some dramatic lightning over the mountains today, but there wasn’t much rain at sea level.
Friday 4th November
Continuing controversy over the migrants crisis. Braverman flew into the Manston centre yesterday in a chopper costing £3k of taxpayers’ money per hour. Refused to engaged with journalists or local politicians. The Government is now desperately trying to reduce numbers at Manston, so much so that one coachload was effectively dumped at Victoria station. Meanwhile, ‘Suella’, as the Express now refers to her, is looking to replicate the Rwandan arrangement (which at the last count had resettled no migrants, at huge cost to the taxpayer) with Paraguay, Peru and Belize. The Mail wails that one in six citizens in England and Wales was born overseas.
Matt Hancock has effectively given up on his political career and has chosen to participate in I’m A Celebrity, never mind his constituents in Newmarket. Predictably it hasn’t gone down too well.
Alarmingly, Netanyahu has won power again in Israel, with the existence of far-right extremists. Already, the Israelis had been intensifying their persecution of the Palestinians. This is only going to get worse, and I don’t suppose the West will lift a finger to help.
The Bank of England raised its base rate by 0.75% to 3%, the biggest rise since 1989, in an attempt to control inflation. And with spending cuts to come, just to placate the money markets rather than being sound fiscal (and social) policy, the BoE has forecast a recession lasting well into 2024.
Everything is just so grim at the moment.
Tuesday 8th November
Very wet and thundery afternoon yesterday, but brighter today.
Nurses will be voting to go on strike. COP27 opened in Egypt. Liverpool got a slightly fortunate 2-1 win at Tottenham on Sunday.
The world is anxiously awaiting the outcome of America’s midterms. Republicans have been making noises about possibly falsifying future votes if they win, thus in effect subverting democracy and possibly giving rise to what could become an elected dictatorship if enough Republican-voting states follow similar courses of action. And to cap it all, Trump – the cause of the current toxicity infecting the GOP and US politics as a whole, is threatening to run for President in 2024. Barack Obama was on the stump in Pennsylvania, giving a typically articulate and passionate speech in support of the Democrats. The consensus is that democracy in the US is at a critical juncture.
A slew of revelations against ‘Sir’ Gavin Williamson, the former champion fireplace salesman who’s a malevolent version of Frank Spencer. In addition to his previous history of leaking from the Security Council, cocking up the exam grades, and telling Russia to ‘go away and shut up’, our Gav has been accused of sending abusive texts to former chief whip Wendy Morton after he failed to gain admission to the Queen’s funeral. Choice excerpts include:
(from the Guardian): After he was not among ministers or former ministers invited to attend the Queen’s funeral, Williamson texted Morton saying it was “very poor and sends a very clear message” that members of the privy council who were not “favoured” by Truss were being deliberately excluded, and said it looked “very shit”.
“Also don’t forget I know how this works so don’t puss [sic] me about,” he wrote.
“It’s very clear how you are going to treat a number of us which is very stupid and you are showing fuck all interest in pulling things together,” one message said. “Don’t bother asking anything from me.”
Another read: “Well let’s see how many more times you fuck us all over. There is a price for everything.”
There are also allegations that during his time as Chief Whip, Williamson threatened to expose details of the private life of a female MP who now just happens to be in the Cabinet; and during his time as defence secretary, he told a member of MOD staff to ‘slit your throat and jump out of the window’. Bet his parents are proud of him. In any other walk of life, he would have been sacked, but Sunak seemingly has complete confidence in him.
Fenway Sports Group are seemingly seeking to sell at least a part-share of Liverpool FC. They bought the club for £300m in October 2010; it’s now worth £3.6billion, a twelvefold increase. Not a bad return on investment if they do sell. Despite a few mistakes, they’re generally seen as being good custodians of the club. The obvious fear is that LFC may end up in the hands of an oppressive regime, a la Man City or Newcastle.
Friday 11th November
Gav resigned; he obviously jumped before he was pushed. Starmer inflicted carnage on Sunak in PMQs on Wednesday; in one of his best performances to date, he said the following (from the Guardian):
“Everyone in the country knows someone like the member for South Staffordshire, a sad middle manager getting off on intimidating those beneath him,” Starmer said of Williamson.
“But everyone in the country also know someone like the prime minister, the boss who is so weak, so worried the bullies will turn on him, that he hides behind them. What message does he think it sends when, rather than take on the bullies, he lines up alongside them and thanks them for their loyalty?”
Starmer added: “If he can’t even stand up to a cartoon bully with a pet spider, if he’s too scared to face the public in an election, what chance has he got of running the country?”
The Russians have retreated from Kherson. The midterms didn’t turn out as badly as had been feared; at the time of writing the House of Representatives was leaning towards the Republicans, although many of the Trump-backed candidates happily fell well short of expectations. The Senate’s still on a knife-edge; all the Democrats have to do to retain control, is win 50 of the 100 seats.
Hancock goes into the Jungle and gets a rather cool reception.
Liverpool juniors (the first team included five youngsters making their first team debut) beat Derby in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw, in their Carabao Cup tie. Supersub keeper Caoimhin Kelleher saved three from the spot.
This week I’ve at last managed to make headway on realigning my finances. Have been meaning to do it for ages, but work has been so busy and I’m just too tired to spend the necessary amount of time on it at home. It helps that the two SLT guys have been out of school this week.
Went to Pissouri for tea tonight. I drove as Mrs C is rather partial to the red wine at this particular restaurant. Much to my annoyance, after having gone to the loo in the hope that we would be making moves to go home, people had ordered another round of drinks. It’s no fun when you’re the driver, you’re tired and desperate to get to bed, when you know everyone else is on the sauce and aren’t likely to finish their drinks for at least another 30 minutes. We eventually left at 11.45; we didn’t say a word on the way back. I was a bit concerned that I might have given myself a bad name, but I was just so tired, what with it being a Friday night. It wouldn’t have mattered so much if I’d been able to have a few drinks. Next time I’ll make sure we go by taxi.
Saturday 12th November
The latest Tory to be exposed as a bully is Dim Dom Raab, who was caught on camera mouthing the word ‘wanker’ at Keir Starmer during PMQs. The Ministry of Justice’s permanent secretary told him to treat staff with respect (this time) upon his return to the MoJ.
Ukrainian forces moved back into liberated Kherson, and the Democrats were confirmed as having held the Senate.
Arsenal are now five points clear at the top of the Premiership, after their win at Wolves today, and City’s shock loss at home to Brentford as a result of a 98th minute winner. Liverpool beat Southampton 3-1, and Reading got a badly-needed win thanks to an own goal in the 94th minute at Hull. Apparently, there was some women’s rugby match as well.
Tea at the Mat Cat Lady’s place tonight. Roast beef (a bit on the tough side), but the spuds and Yorkshires were nice. Had a bit too much red wine, though.
Sunday 13th November
Tried to call my brother, but he declined my call. What the hell’s going on there?
England won the final of cricket’s T20 world championships, beating Pakistan by five wickets.
Ahead of the Chancellor’s autumn statement on Thursday, Jeremy Hunt warns that we’ll all have to pay more tax. But somehow I doubt any tax rises will cover the feared forthcoming cuts in government spending.
Friday 19th November
Bit behind now. Not very motivated to do this.
In the last few days: the UK has agreed to give additional funds to France to help deal with the migrant crisis; Biden’s met with Xi in the G20 in Bali; a rogue missile killed two people in a Polish village close to the Ukrainian border (it was originally feared that the Russians had fired it, but this was subsequently disproved).
Dickhead Elon Musk is running down Twitter, intentionally or not. According to the Guardian, he’s given Twitter’s remaining staff a Thursday deadline to commit to working “long hours at high intensity” and being “extremely hardcore” or else leave with three months’ severance pay.
In an email to the social media platform’s employees, seen by the Guardian, its new owner said building the next iteration of Twitter would require “exceptional performance”.
Not surprisingly, this ultimatum prompted a further mass exodus of staff, many of whom are critical to the company’s functioning. Twitter users went into meltdown, saying they’d be deserting the platform for alternatives such as Mastodon. He’s already laid off more than half of the company’s 7,500 permanent staff and 4,000 contractors.
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement yesterday. Basic tax thresholds frozen, but that for 45% reduced from £150k to £125k. Electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from excise duty after 2025. Windfall tax on energy producers increased from 25% to 35%; this should have gone a lot higher. He claimed public spending would continue to grow in real terms (has anyone noticed this???), but at a slower rate. Capital expenditure on infrastructure projects will be maintained in real terms for the next two years, i.e. up to the next election. Benefits (including the pensions ‘triple lock’) and the national minimum wage will be increased roughly in line with inflation. Help with energy bills will be targeted towards the less well off. But no mention of assistance in this area for small business, who will now also have to shoulder the burden of the increased national minimum wage. The OBR said that living standards are forecast to fall by 7% over the next two years – the biggest fall since records began in 1956. Inflation has already risen to 11.2%, the highest rate since 1981.
Monday 21st November
Spoke to my brother on Saturday. We’re still good.
Strange racing day. A Plus Tard was pulled up in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, won by Protektorat, whilst Nicky Henderson pulled potential hurdling superstar Constitution Hill out of his proposed engagement at Ascot on account of the ground (although to be fair, several other trainers did; in 7 races, there were only a total of 30 runners) But the official going was ‘good, good to soft in places’; that could hardly be considered as dangerous going on the face of it.
Infantino made an embarrassing, cringeworthy speech at a pre-World Cup press conference today. Amongst many passages were the following:
“We have been told many, many lessons from some Europeans, from the western world,” he said. “I think for what we Europeans have been doing the last 3,000 years we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”
“Today I feel Qatari,” he said. “Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”
He added: “Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.”
Predictably, the speech provoked a universal storm of richly deserved criticism and ridicule. It’s all about him and his fellow travellers in the FIFA mafia, all about defending FIFA and its paymasters against entirely justified criticisms.
Sunday, there were interesting political pronouncements. Starmer stated he would abolish the Lords if Labour won power, whilst there were accounts that the Government were seeking a Swiss-style agreement with the EU, thereby seemingly outflanking Labour’s lukewarm stance. Unlikely that this revised position would win the Tories many new supporters amongst those who voted Remain (incidentally, a poll indicated that 56% of respondents believed the UK was wrong to leave the EU, compared with 32% who thought it was right – the highest pro-EU figure yet). Remainers are still far more likely to vote Labour, despite Starmer’s cowardly stance which was repeated by Jonathan Ashworth in an interview today).
The World Cup started today. The Qataris strongarmed Fifa (again) into ensuring the hosts played in the first game, rather than the holders. For their pains, Qatar were beaten 2-0 by Ecuador, and the stadium was emptying even by half-time. Reports of overcrowding in the fan zone.
Really nice day in Lofou today. Huge veggie meze at Kamares, followed by a wander round the village. There were loads of stray cats, and sadly the microbrewery wasn’t open as advertised, but it was still a very enjoyable Sunday.
Today – in the face of threats of bookings for individual players from FIFA – England and other individual associations backed down from their insistence that players would be wearing the One Love armbands. FIFA have always claimed that politics and football shouldn’t mix. But that was inevitable the moment Qatar, with its suspect human rights history, bought them off for the right to host the tournament; and once again FIFA have left it to the last possible moment before taking a controversial course of action. It’s obviously wrong that the rules of the game, rather than, say, a fine for the respective associations, should be used to punish a supposed transgression not related to actual events on the field of play. But since when have FIFA done anything that follows normal logic and morality.
Wednesday 23rd November
COP27 ended with a commitment for developed countries to help compensate less developed ones, but a lack of commitment to reducing fossil fuel emissions means the 1.5C target agreed in Glasgow last year appears to be in jeopardy.
On Monday, England beat Iran 6-2, whilst a late Bale penalty gave Wales a 1-1 draw against the USA. Reports of Welsh fans wearing rainbow hats being barred from entry to the ground.
Yesterday, very disappointingly, Keir Starmer spoke at the CBI conference in Birmingham, saying that the UK must end its dependence on cheap foreign labour, and must train up more of its own people instead. Which sounds good on the face of it, but it won’t solve the short-term issue of labour shortages caused largely by Brexit, and also by older workers not returning to the labour force after the pandemic. More dishearteningly, and yet again, he said he would not take the UK back into the EU, or the single market, or the customs union. He trotted out the tired old mantra about ‘making Brexit work’. The vast majority of businesses need to be able to recruit labour now, just to survive. He moaned about ‘quick fixes’ but said nothing about what Labour would do to solve the short-term problem. I’ll be voting for Labour at the next election, not for Starmer. Why are so few frontline politicians unwilling to get their heads out of the sand when it comes to Brexit?
In a supreme irony, Owen Paterson, a leading Brexiter who also once argued the UK should “break free” from the European Court of Human Rights, is challenging the finding that he repeatedly broke the rules on paid advocacy by bringing a case against the UK government in, er, the European Court of Human Rights. You couldn’t make it up…….
Massive footie day on Tuesday, and not just at the World Cup. In Qatar, Saudi Arabia caused one of the greatest shocks in WC history by coming from behind to beat Argentina 2-1, whilst holders France beat Australia 4-1. Back home, two huge stories revolved around the Theatre of Dregs. United confirmed that the Incredible Sulk Christiano Ronaldo’s contract would be terminated with immediate effect; this in the wake of the disharmony he has caused by his recent tell-all interview with Piers Morgan. Also yesterday, the Glazers announced they’d be putting the club up for sale, after 17 years of controversial, turbulent ownership.
Thursday 24th November
Prior to their game against Japan, the German team had a team photo and held their hands over their mouths, an obvious indication that they had been unable to express their opinions freely over the One Love armbands affair. Some players wore boots with rainbow stitching, and the whole squad wore training tops with rainbow colours during the warm up. It didn’t do them any good on the pitch, as – in another shock – they lost 2-1 after taking the lead.
The Supreme Court ruled that Scotland could not call for another independence referendum without the authority of the UK government, which of course is never going to happen.
Saturday 26th November
Train drivers and nurses going on strike. Migration to the UK reaches an annual record of 500k, so in a bid to massage the numbers, the government has mooted banning students from overseas. Unbelievable.
England are fortunate to get a 0-0 draw against the USA last night, whilst Wales underachieved miserably and slumped to a 2-0 loss to Iran. They now need to beat England by 4 clear goals on Tuesday night to have any chance of progressing.
Tory peer Michelle Mone secured a place in the so-called ‘VIP lane’ for a company which subsequently won contracts to provide millions of pounds of PPE equipment – most of which proved to be defective – during the pandemic. Her husband subsequently received £65m from the company; he secretly redirected £29m of it to a secret trust fund set up for her and her children. Michael Gove is implicated in the process which saw PPE Medpro win the contracts.
Thursday and Friday were very wet, but today is sunny and quite warm.
Wednesday 30th November
Sunday, we went to the brunch cafe in Pachna, then a wander round the village. Even for Cyprus, Pachna has a lot of cats.
Spreading protests in China against the government’s ongoing policy of Covid lockdowns, after 10 people were killed in an apartment block fire in the west of the country. A BBC journalist was assaulted by police in one instance.
Spectacular lightning show Tuesday morning, although oddly enough there was little in the way of thunder or rain.
The British media massively overhyped last night’s match between England and Wales. The latter were never going to get the 4-goal win they needed to go through to the next stage; the only question really was, would England win to avoid playing the Dutch in the last 16? Eventually they did so in considerable comfort, a brace from back-in-form Rashford, and one from Foden, seeing off a distinctly outclassed and limited Welsh team, for whom talisman Gareth Bale looked tired and well past his peak. England now play Senegal in the last 16.
Thursday 1st December
The late Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Lady Sarah Hussey, was forced to resign after 60 years of service, after subjecting the head of a charity helping domestic abuse victims, who was black, born in Britain, and a bona fide British citizen, to some unnecessarily probing questions about ‘where she really came from’. Not great timing for the Royals; Wills and Kate are currently visiting Boston, whilst Harry and Meghan’s tell-all documentary on Netflix is about to be released.
Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie died, aged 78.
NHS in chaos, with tales of record waiting times and chronic staff shortages. Increasing likelihood of industrial action in the run-up to Xmas. Backlog of mail as a result of continuing strikes by postal unions. One in 26 trains has been cancelled over the last year. Water customers are paying 20% of their bill towards servicing chronic debt or – scandalously – dividend payments. Yesterday, in PMQs, Sunak – with an estimated fortune of £730m – tried to justify not imposing VAT on private school fees, which are worth £6m to his former school of Winchester, which has its own rifle range and rowing club.
Public services have been cut to the bone. People are really struggling with their day-to-day lives. We are at the mercy of a zombie Government. The UK is an exhausted, clapped-out, demoralised nation. We have at least two more years of this before we can get rid of the Tories.
The only ray of light for many people at the moment is the football (unless you’re Welsh, of course). Today, Belgium’s old men failed to make it to the knockout stage. And tonight, in a gripping evening, Japan – who, having been largely outplayed by Spain up to that point – came from behind to win. Their first was a result of the Spaniards trying to play out from the back and deservedly being caught out and paying the price. The second is surely now the most iconic moment of the tournament so far. The ball appeared to have crossed the line when a Japanese attacker crossed into the goalmouth for a teammate to convert, but after a lengthy VAR check, it was ruled that the ball had not wholly gone beyond the line and had thus remained in play. The upshot of Japan’s win was that Germany were out by virtue of an inferior goal difference to Spain. They had to come from behind to beat Costa Rica 4-2, but it didn’t matter in the end.
Sunday 4th December
Labour gained a comfortable win in the Chester by-election. Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi made the ludicrous and offensive claim that industrial action by nurses risked playing into the hands of President Putin, who he said wanted to fuel inflation in the west. The Government is yet again talking tough about immigration, proposing the return of all people who arrive in the UK in small boats.
On Friday, South Korea’s win over Portugal (who had already won the group) rendered Uruguay’s win over Ghana irrelevant. Ghana might see this as revenge for 2010, when Luis Suarez’s goalline handball infamously prevented them from triumphing in normal time in the quarter-finals that year (they eventually lost on a penalty shootout)..
Yesterday we saw old friends who we hadn’t seen for over a year, and had an early tea at an Italian in Paphos. Luckily, for once we didn’t stay too long after paying the bill and made it home at about 8pm. Back in time to see Argentina beat Australia 2-1 in the second of the round-of-16 matches (Netherlands beat USA 3-1 in the first).
Today, England cruised to a 3-0 win over Senegal in their first knockout tie; this sets up a mouthwatering encounter with current champions France, who gained a similarly easy win over Poland in their match.
Tuesday 6th December
Yesterday, England won only their third ever Test in Pakistan, in what was one of the highest-scoring Tests ever. Pakistan had scored 579 in reply to England’s first innings of 657, and Ben Stokes’ second innings declaration at 264-7 set the hosts a target of 343. At 259-5 they appeared to have a chance, but in quickly fading light, they lost their last 5 wickets for just 9 runs. And all this after a virus had ravaged the squad beforehand, raising the possibility that the match may have to be delayed.
Thursday 8th December
Government u-turns on housebuilding targets and onshore wind farms, just to placate its backbenchers. Ambulance drivers going on strike over Xmas. Outrage from certain quarters after Netflix releases a trailer about its imminent Harry & Meghan documentary.
Morocco knock Spain out on penalties.
Outcry as the Government approves a coal mine in Cumbria; this is completely at odds with its supposed credentials as a zero-emissions leader.
Police in Germany arrest the ringleaders of an apparent plot to overthrow the country’s state, inspired by Trump’s January 6 attacks on the Capitol. The usual crew of anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers and far-right conspiracy theorists.
Matt Hancock announces that he is standing down as an MP. Although to be fair, so are quite a few other Tory MPs, all anxious to jump ship before they’re caned at the next election. Whenever that may be.
Thursday 15th December
Rather annoyingly, I’m sure that some input I made previously has been lost, so I’m having to do much of this retrospectively.
Friday afternoon, we met up with the Nightowls and a colleague in Pissouri for a drink, before going round to the Mad Cat Lady’s place for a very nice chilli. Got back in time to see Argentina squander a 2-goal lead against the Netherlands, before eventually winning in a penalty shootout. Earlier, Croatia had put out Brazil on penalties.
Saturday – a tragic day for Jersey. Nine die in a gas explosion in a block of flats, whilst three crew are missing presumed dead after their trawler sinks.
The football day started well. The tournament’s surprise package Morocco put out much-fancied Portugal 1-0. Afterwards, rather than keeping his distraught teammates company, swallowing their disappointments and shaking hands with the victorious Moroccan team, Ronaldo sulked of the pitch in tears and on his own. Just sums up the selfish, narcissistic nature of the guy. Brand CR7 is permanently tarnished. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
For once, England were genuinely unlucky. They matched France in just about every department, and the move which led to the opening French goal should have been prevented in the first place when Saka was fouled – in the penalty area, no less. England had another legitimate penalty shout dismissed (they should have at least got a free kick). So it was a bit ironic that Harry Kane missed what should have been England’s third penalty of the night (he’s equalised with one which had actually been given). Yet another case of FIFA appointing a referee to officiate at a big match, who was so out of his depth.
The country has been enduring a bitterly cold snap since last weekend. Last Sunday and Monday, there was heavy snow across many parts, with reports of thundersnow in Scotland and the South East. Tragically, four boys died after they fell into a frozen lake in Solihull.
The Government doubled down on its ‘tough’, i.e. callous, policy on immigration, stating that all those arriving illegally on small boats would be barred forever from being granted UK citizenship. There’s no intention whatsoever to create safe, legal routes for refugees. It’s such an immoral, heartless approach, and as with so many other areas (not least its approach towards striking public service employees), it’s increasingly at odds with general public opinion. It appears that Rishi Sunak is so concerned about the Government’s dire electoral prospects, that he will pander to the basest instincts of its core supporters to keep them sweet. They, and their mates in the media, are demonising desperate people in search of a better life, rather than the criminal gangs who are exploiting them.
In a bitter irony, the day after this was announced (Wednesday), four people drowned whilst trying to cross the Channel; the Government was accused of having ‘blood on its hands’.
Argentina and France will contest the World Cup final on Sunday. But whereas Argentina comfortably beat Croatia 3-0 in their semi, France had to graft for their win against Morocco and didn’t secure a two goal advantage until right towards the end of the game. My money would be on Argentina, who appear to be peaking at the right time, whilst France have laboured in recent games.
Two big stories on Thursday. Firstly, members of the Royal College of Nursing went on strike for the first time in their history, with the overwhelming backing of the public. Secondly, Netflix has released all parts of its ‘docudrama’ series on Harry & Meghan. Amongst a slew of revelations, Harry claimed that his brother ‘screamed and shouted’ at him, and Charles subsequently told untruths, during a meeting on their future, which apparently Megan was barred from; and that Meghan suffered a miscarriage, which Harry blamed on the actions of the publishers of the Daily Mail.
The attitude of the UK press towards Meghan has undoubtedly been overly negative, and it’s not easy to isolate how much of this is down to racism, conscious or subconscious. I’d been prepared to believe that the degree of vilification that she’d been subject to, was disproportionate to any ‘offences’ she may have committed. And let’s not forget that Harry had to go through the trauma of losing his mother at a young age (as did Wills, of course), and they both witnessed the tabloid feeding frenzy that Diana had to endure. But it’s not really very edifying to see Harry especially washing his dirty linen in public so willingly. I don’t think there’s any way back between him and William. Which of course will make Charlie’s funeral (whenever that may be) potentially a massive car-crash for the Royals.
The Government is stubbornly refusing to intervene in any constructive way, to find a solution to the nurses’ strike, or any other public sector industrial dispute, at the moment.
Wednesday 21st December
Flew home on Saturday.
Sunday, we went round to friends who put on a very nice roast dinner, and then watched the World Cup Final. Argentina deservedly won, but they needed extra time and penalties to beat France after a dramatic conclusion, which could not have been foreseen after their almost total domination of the first 75 minutes.
Right-wing petrolhead gobshite Jeremy Clarkson made a disgusting remark about Meghan, saying that he’d like to see her dragged naked through the streets whilst onlookers pelted her with excrement.
Monday, I went to London. My mate’s recuperation from a minor operation was unfortunately taking longer than anticipated, so rather than waste the £70 I’d spent on train fares, I went on my own. I had a dreadful night’s sleep, and I knew I wasn’t right when I got off the train at Euston and felt distinctly shivery. Nevertheless, I decided to make the most of the day. First port of call was the College Arms, then walked through Soho, through Trafalgar Square, and then down Whitehall to Downing Street. No action there, so I made my way along Charing Cross and the Strand, sadly passing a group of Eastern European migrants living out on the streets fighting amongst themselves, and then to the Nell Gwynne, a tiny one-room establishment in a small side street just off the Strand, with bags of character and a fantastic old-style jukebox. Then on to see the cats at the Seven Stars, where at 4pm (!) I had my tea of guinea legs with red cabbage and fried potatoes, before calling it at the Lord John Russell and back to Euston for the train home. Got back to find that Specials frontman Terry Hall had died at the age of just 63.
In a depressing ruling, the High Court ruled that the Government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda was lawful.
Tuesday, felt crap and didn’t do too much, other than go to shops in Birkenhead. Mrs C went to a jazz night, so I laid low and watched the first part of Vienna Blood.
Wednesday was not a good day. We’d been looking forward so much to going to the Xmas markets in Manchester, before going to see our dear friend for a night out in Summerseat (a Tina Turner tribute band in an Italian restaurant, no less). But I just didn’t feel up for it, and I thought the prospect of spending the night in the same bed wouldn’t have enthralled either of us, given my cold guarantees sleep interruptions on a regular basis. Mrs C was genuinely regretful that I couldn’t make it, as she was actually looking forward to spending some quality time with just myself in Manchester. I was actually quite touched that she felt that way. A trip down to Sainsburys confirmed my belief that it would not have been a good idea to go; I was so drained that I slept for nearly two hours in the afternoon.
Ambulance staff went on strike today. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, I suppose, but two years after endorsing the ritual clapping of NHS staff, the Government and some of its cheerleaders are now trying to demonise them. Steve Barclay, the individual who passes for the Health Secretary at the moment, wrote in the Telegraph that ambulance crews had made a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients by going on strikes, as his minion Will Quince advised people to avoid unnecessary car journeys, participating in contact sports, or getting drunk. Even worse than this, the Daily Mail did what it does best by inflaming anger and hatred with its headline: How will they live with themselves if people die today?
Neither The Sun nor ITV intend to sack Jeremy Clarkson after his toxic rant against Meghan.
Thursday 22nd December
Zelensky in Washington. A panel investigating the January 6 insurrection condemns Donald Trump’s actions.
Monday 26th December
Just before midnight on Xmas Day morning, a woman was shot dead in a pub in Wallasey and three others were injured. The pub wasn’t too far from our Airbnb place we had in the summer.
Xmas day itself was predictably dull. And then we played charades.
Boxing Day, stayed in, watched the racing, had a kip, watched the second half of the Villa-Liverpool game, which the Reds won 3-1.
Friday 30th December
Tuesday, if memory serves me correctly, rather than waste a dull, boring, wet afternoon, I made a late decision to go into Liverpool. Strictly business and none of the pleasure I’d hoped for, i.e. no sitting in the Cracke listening to tunes on the jukebox. That will have to wait until Easter now. Bought a pair of trainers and two pairs of jeans, and had a late lunch in my favourite Italian cafe.
Wednesday, had hoped to originally meet a mate for a few drinks, but he was waiting for a delivery so we agreed to defer it until Thursday. So Mrs C and I decided to go into Birkenhead, whereupon Andy said the delivery had now been made and could we now meet this afternoon? Unfortunately I had to decline, but he was still OK for tomorrow. Thursday, walked through the wood and yomped across muddy fields to the pub. Andy had been waiting, not too long fortunately. Spent a most enjoyable three hours in his company, and learnt (1) he was seriously ill with Covid in September, but luckily there appear to be no signs of its long form; (2) he too has a psychotic sister. I’m relieved to know that there are other people in my circle who are similarly cursed.
Today’s our anniversary, but you wouldn’t have known it. At the time of writing (5.30 pm), she still hasn’t written my card. And no, she didn’t want any fizz to celebrate. I suppose I could consider myself grateful that we’re going out for a Chinese tonight. Not that I’m overly hungry, after a sizeable cooked breakfast this morning at our former colleagues’ massive house on the edge of Birkenhead Park.
Both Pele and Vivienne Westwood died yesterday.
Tuesday 3rd January 2023
I take it back; Mrs C gave me a card before we went out for the Chinese.
It was cold in the restaurant, at least initially. Had the crispy shredded chicken with pepper; was OK, but really needed a sauce of some kind. Mrs C confirmed that her brother and his family would most likely be coming out in May half term, and then went on to say that ‘they’re all I’ve got’. I thought about saying, well, what about me, don’t I count for something? Frankly I’m tired of playing second fiddle to her family all of the time. Now that her Mum’s sadly no longer on the scene, I thought we’d be able to spend more time together during half term holidays. But it seems as if I can’t escape them; not only do we have to stay with them during Xmas, Easter & summer, I have to share my half-term holidays with them as well. I didn’t say those words to her at the time, of course, but it’s put a bit of a dampener on things, and frankly left me feeling a bit downhearted. She didn’t want to engage on the subject of summer holidays, either. I’m buggered if I have to make do with a few days away, like we did last year; I’m determined that we have a proper holiday this year. And if she even thinks about going home in October, or getting her brother out here again, I’ll go off on my own somewhere. For sure.
Back in time to see the second half of Liverpool’s fortunate 2-1 win at home to Leicester.
New Year’s Eve was predictably nondescript; the proceedings weren’t helped by the fact that we had to fly back the next day. Had a roast dinner (why?), played a few games, watched Jools & the London fireworks, then bed at 12.30. Honestly I was glad to be leaving. It’s alright for her, she likes being with her family, but I need my space and can only tolerate being in that house for a few days at a time. The only things which make it more tolerable are their cute cats. At the moment I don’t really have a ‘home’, the closest to it is our house in Cyprus, and frankly I couldn’t wait to get back and into some sort of routine again.
The UK has stated that all passengers arriving from China will need proof of a negative Covid test beforehand, in line with the US, Spain and some others. However, such testing has proved of little value in containing the virus, as Chris Whitty and other experts stated.
Flight back was uneventful, fortunately. We left a country seemingly descending into chaos; shocking reports of massive delays at A&E departments across the country, and both Labour & the Lib Dems demanding the recall of parliament to discuss the NHS crisis. There are claims that there are as many as 500 excess deaths a week at the moment, owing to the current state of affairs.
Yesterday, went shopping & collected Roxy from the cattery. Liverpool slumped to a miserable 3-1 defeat at Brentford; their luck ran out after the fortunate win over Leicester. Spoke to both Mum & my brother; they both seem OK.
Friday 6th January
Fairly quiet first week back at work. Fairly quiet newswise as well, at least until yesterday. Strikes & the NHS crisis ongoing. Sunak & Starmer made New Year policy speeches.
The big news yesterday was Harry’s autobiography, leaked to the Guardian. It contained sensational revelations about him being physically attacked by William; how his father, now King Charles, supposedly said to his wife, Princess Diana, on the day of Harry’s birth: “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare – my work is done.”; that he took cocaine at 17; that he killed 25 enemy fighters in Afghanistan, describing them as ‘chess pieces removed from the board; a claim that both he and William begged their father not to marry Camilla; and so on and so on. He said he didn’t know if he’d be attending his father’s coronation, but had earlier claimed that he wants to “get his father back” and to “have his brother back”.
Well, he hardly seems to be going the right way about it. The impression is of someone who’s desperately unhappy, who’s been (understandably) traumatised by his childhood, but who is now just wanting to lash out against everyone he holds responsible in public. He doesn’t seem to have second thoughts about washing dirty family laundry in public; it’s very hard to see any form of reconciliation between him and his father, let alone his brother. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to have any kind of sympathy for him.
To quote the Guardian, It seems King Charles’s plea to his sons, as recounted by Harry, at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral: “Please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery,” may have fallen on stony ground.
Tuesday 10th January
On Sunday, lots of Brazilian mini-Trumptard Bolsonaro supporters tried to storm the country’s presidential palace, obviously trying to ape Trump fans’ attempts to overturn a free and fair election result almost two years to the day.
Elsewhere, it’s still Harry dishing the dirt, the NHS crisis, and continuing industrial action.
The UK’s first attempt at putting satellites into orbit from a launch from British soil (Cornwall’s Spaceport, no less) ended in not so glorious failure, after the carrying rocket failed to reach the required altitude. Another blow to our soiled reputation, although it pales into insignificance when compared with Brexit and Harry’s washing his dirty linen in public.
Pretty quiet weekend. Liverpool’s indifferent form continued; they were fortunate not to be beaten by Wolves in an FA Cup 3rd round tie at Anfield, which ended 2-2.
Thursday 12th January
Very wet and stormy today. Ongoing war in Ukraine; the Russians claim to have captured a key town in the east. Continued chaos in the NHS. Public sector strikes. And now the possibility of flooding.
Guitar legend Jeff Beck died, aged 78.
Our MIS has crashed, so I’m having to do the reports manually. I was told towards the end of today, that I definitely had to finish them by noon tomorrow, because – rather than giving them to the pupils to take home – the head Wise Monkey has invited all parents in to collect them during period 5. This implied I felt compelled to stay for an additional hour at the end of today to ensure I was in a good enough position tomorrow morning. Why have we made ourselves hostages to fortune in this way? I will let SLT know of my opinions on this subject early next week.
Friday 13th January
Can’t now produce address labels on the MIS, so I had to resort to doing them the old fashioned way by mail merge. And then I couldn’t get them to print off. Was none too pleased to say the least; in my frustration, I kicked the waste paper bin , forgetting that it wasn’t the lightweight plastic one anymore, but a heavy duty metal one. Got a bruised foot as a result; serves me right, I suppose. Just about got the reports out in time, but this cannot happen again.
Mr Potato Head Andrew Bridgen had the whip withdrawn, after claiming that the Covid vaccination programme was ‘the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust’. And Suella Braverman has refused to apologise for her language, after she was confronted by a Holocaust survivor who criticised her for describing the arrival of migrants in the UK as an ‘invasion’, amongst other emotive and provocative language.
Lisa Marie Presley died, aged only 54.
Saturday 14th January
Had my head bitten off by Mrs C after I suggested she move discarded toilet roll holders which she’d not taken down to the recycling bin, or put in the waste bin. Why does she think she can treat me like this? I didn’t deserve that.
Felt myself coming down with something this afternoon, at the cat sanctuary; and when I was trying to have a nap, I found myself shivering. Not a great football day; Liverpool slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Brighton, whilst Reading lost a two-goal lead at home to QPR. Man Utd came from behind to beat City 2-1.
Sunday 15th January
One of the strays from Mad Cat Lady’s house, a ginger who’s been called Fluffy, has taken to coming down to our house. He’s a beautiful cat, but Roxy won’t appreciate his company, so we’ll have to get him off to Paphiakos, I think.
Arsenal beat Spurs 2-0 at the ‘new’ White Hart Lane to go eight points clear of City.
A very wet afternoon here. Flooding in the UK.
Monday 16th January
Quite a busy news day. A member of the Metropolitan Police, who had been in the force for 20 years, was exposed as being a serial rapist and sex offender who had subjected victims to particularly unpleasant depravities. But despite several red flags and (obviously totally useless) vetting procedures, he had managed to get away with his offences until one of his victims reported him to the force. In the wake of the Sarah Everard murder, it begs the obvious question of how many more rotten apples there are in the Met.
The UK government stated that it aimed to block Scottish legislation which would give 16 year olds the legal right to transgender; it would be the first time that legislation approved in any of the devolved parliaments would be overruled. Naturally, Sunak’s decision seems likely to give a boost to those in favour of independence.
The NEU voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, despite the considerable handicap of having to reach a 50% turnout on a postal ballot in the middle of a posties’ strike, and requiring 40% of its members to vote in favour. The rules implied that at least 80% of all those who voted must be in favour; the actual percentage was about 90%, which is seriously impressive.
Thursday 19th January
Stopped raining here on Tuesday. And Liverpool beat Wolves in their Cup replay, to set up a 4th round tie at…..Brighton.
More nurses’ strikes. Jacinda Ardern announced her intention to step down as PM of New Zealand early next month.
Controversy over the latest awards from the Government’s so-called ‘levelling-up’ fund; it seems Tory seats have been awarded significantly more per capita, than other seats with similar levels of deprivation. A Guardian analysis found that Conservative marginal seats, those with majorities of fewer than 8,000 votes, have received 1.5 times the amount of funding per person than all other constituencies under the £4bn budget – £76 a head compared with £53 a head. Constituencies that won under the Conservative landslide in 2019 – many of which will be vulnerable at the next general election – have been awarded almost twice as much per person as other seats.
Those constituencies, which include “red wall” areas such as Burnley, Workington and Blyth Valley, have received £90 a head under the levelling up fund compared with an average of £53 a head in all other seats. Council leaders questioned the government’s approach after areas like Sefton in Merseyside, which includes some of the most deprived streets in the country, were not deemed to be of high need and had bids rejected.
The Government’s legislation for removing thousands of EU laws from the UK statute book – without any parliamentary scrutiny – was voted through.
Went for my first run of the year.
Friday 20th January
I may have landed myself in the shit at work. Yesterday a colleague asked me to investigate why our MIS wasn’t syncing with an app the parents use to interact with the school; he sent me a screenprint illustrating the issue. Alas, I posted them on two forums (one of which was the MIS community one) to ask for possible solutions – without thinking to obscure the personal contacts data contained within. The moderator of the MIS forum subsequently emailed me to say that as I’d committed a data breach, he was obliged to inform my school.
This will hang over me the whole weekend. I know what’s coming down the line, but I don’t know when it’s going to hit me. I feel exhausted (not so much because of this) and downhearted at the moment. Shit.
Monday 23rd January
At the time of writing (12.35 pm), the brown stuff hasn’t hit the fan. Yet.
The Crazy Cat Lady is moving back to the UK next weekend, so we’re inheriting some of her foodstuffs & spices (most of which are out of date) and a new toy for me, an air fryer. We had her round for pizza on Friday night. She was a bit emotional on Saturday when she brought one of ‘her’ strays to the sanctuary (she’s already taking six cats back!) One of her ‘proper’ cats has terminal cancer, and a friend of hers opposite has stepped in to look after him for the rest of his time. On Sunday we went out for a curry in Pissouri with her, our neighbours (the guy works in the med centre, the lady works at the school), and some med centre colleagues.
Arsenal beat Man Utd 3-2 with a last minute winner, to consolidate their position at the top. Liverpool could only manage a dull 0-0 at home to Chelsea, another ‘elite’ team out of form.
Sunak has been fined for not wearing a seat belt. Conservative Party chairman – and former chancellor, of course – Zahawi has paid a penalty to HMRC, seemingly for not settling his tax liabilities when legally obliged to (non-payment of capital gains when selling a sizeable shareholding in YouGov, the company he co-founded). There have been several calls for his resignation.
Bojo (currently on yet another ego trip to see Zelensky in Ukraine, after having been to the annual gathering of the rich in Davos – just what was he doing there?) apparently confirmed the current BBC chairman in his position shortly after the latter gave Johnson a £800k loan.
In a shocking story given little attention in the mainstream media, it’s been revealed in the Guardian that ‘dozens of asylum-seeking children have been kidnapped by gangs from a Brighton hotel run by the Home Office in a pattern apparently being repeated across the south coast’. A whistleblower, who works for Home Office contractor Mitie, and child protection sources describe children being abducted off the street outside the hotel and bundled into cars.
“Children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They’re being taken from the street by traffickers,” said the source. The whole depressing story is here:
Braverman has shown no indication that she will resign over the issue, unsurprisingly.
Tuesday 24th January
Two fatal shootings in California; 11 on Sunday, 7 yesterday.
Saturday 28th January
A black man died after suffering a vicious assault by five police officers in Memphis. The difference with this case is that all the officers concerned – who have all since been sacked – are black.
Cruella announced that she will not implement all of the committee recommendations into the Windrush scandal – which Priti Patel actually signed off on. Just when you think she can’t go any lower, she then goes and surprises everyone again.
Rumours that HS2 will not now terminate at Euston, but at Old Oak Common, some four miles to the west. FFS, it’s been bodged enough already, but if you’re going to see it through, at least do it properly. What an absolute farce.
Germany and the US have both agreed to supply tanks to the Ukraine.
Zahawi still remaining in place as Tory chairman. Flybe goes bust, for the second time.
Yesterday, seven Israelis were shot dead by a Palestinian in east Jerusalem. This was in response to an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank. Who are the real terrorists here?
A Scottish court has ruled that a trans women who committed two rapes whilst still a man, should be detained in a male prison. Don’t see any problem with that.
Went to Pissouri last night for a farewell meal for the Mad Cat Lady. Left plenty late enough as it was (about 10.35). Tonight, I was strongarmed into going to friends of Ronny’s for tea, even though I really wanted to stay in and slob in front of the box. Actually it was a very pleasant evening, although I made sure I escaped in time to watch the start of Reading’s Cup tie at Man Utd (lost 3-1 – I went to bed after United scored two second half goals in the space of three minutes).
Sunday 29th January
Zahawi’s been sacked, and not before time. Liverpool are out of the FA Cup after a miserable performance, going down to an injury-time winner against Brighton after taking the lead.
Mad Cat Lady popped round to say goodbye, on her way to her flight. Washed the cars after rain on Friday night brought down a load of dust.
Thursday 2nd February
The weather turned with a vengeance yesterday. Torrential rain and a plunge in the temperature. Sunny but cold today.
The UK economy is the only one of the G7 forecast to shrink this year. 500,000 public sector workers went on strike yesterday.
Mason Greenwood, who has been suspended by Man Utd after being charged with rape and assault, was acquitted of all charges today.
Monday 6th February
Heavy showers yesterday. A very wet, thundery night. Chucking it down as I’m writing this.
Friday, went into Limassol to try and get the internet radio repaired. Managed to find the address given; the owner’s premises is festooned with old tellies and Chelsea memorabilia. He said he’ll call me at the appropriate time. Drove back through a torrential downpour.
Saturday morning, I bent down to put some clothes away, and felt something go immediately. Since then, if I stay in one position too long, it’s rather painful, and it seems to be worse today. The earliest appointment I could get was Friday, i.e. the day before I’m flying back to the UK; I was advised I could try calling at 7am tomorrow instead, so most certainly I’ll do that.
A very sad situation regarding one of Crazy Cat Lady’s cats. He’s terminally ill with cancer and I had hoped she’d have him put to sleep before leaving Cyprus, or take him back with her. Friends have agreed to take him on, but they have two cats of their own, the odour from his rotting flesh is repelling them, and sadly he’s leaving a lot of mess inside the house, to the extent they can’t keep him inside. I’ve walked past theirs a couple of times, and poor Gus is sat outside, underneath their car. It’s not that they haven’t done their best, they’ve taken him to a vet who said he should be put to sleep, but they need CCL’s permission (they didn’t ask her permission to take him to the vet, so can’t let on). But he doesn’t deserve to see out his days this way, pining for his owner and former feline companions, left out in the cold. It’s so sad because he’s such a sweet character. Last night, he was lying under the car, but he was being kept company by one of the cats which CCL didn’t actually own, but which she fed on an irregular basis. Like he wasn’t going to abandon his best mate. Very poignant.
I agreed with Mrs C that we should try and take him down to CCL’s vet for him to give a decisive opinion. Which I will try to do today. Back permitting, that is. But the weather intervened; it was so foul that Gus was nowhere to be seen.
Watched the finale of the brilliant Happy Valley tonight.
A woman has mysteriously gone missing in Lancashire whilst walking her dog along the local river; the local police think she fell into the river and drowned, in which case, why hasn’t her body been found more than a week after her disappearance?
America shot down a helium balloon which had travelled from China and hovered suspiciously over an air force base in Montana for a while. Predictable howls of outrage from the Chinese.
Liverpool put in an abysmal performance in going down 3-0 away to supposedly shot-shy Wolves. It’s the third consecutive away game in which they’ve conceded three goals. Something is seriously wrong at Anfield at the moment. Maybe the players have just collectively grown too old. Maybe there’s still the hangover from the end of last season. Maybe FSG’s manouvering behind the scenes in trying to find someone who will purchase part of their holding in the club is having an effect. Maybe it’s not just the players who are mentally exhausted, but Klopp as well; either way, at the moment they don’t seem to be responding to him. It’s hard to see them getting past Real Madrid in the last 16 of the CL, in which case the season will be effectively over, and Europa League qualification is the best they can expect. You sense major changes could be afoot, both on and off the pitch.
Thick Lizzy Truss has written a piece for the Sunday Telegraph, whingeing that ‘fundamentally, I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support,” she said.
“I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was. While I anticipated resistance to my programme from the system, I underestimated the extent of it.”
Several people, including many senior Tories, responded by saying that she was basically wrong. There’s something of a sweet irony that someone who is such an advocate of free markets, was deposed by the responses to her policies by said free markets.
This morning (Monday), an earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit parts of Turkey and Syria; the current death toll is 1200, which is likely to rise. I didn’t feel anything myself in Cyprus, though.
Wednesday 8th February
The Premier League has charged Manchester City with multiple breaches of its financial rules; if proven these would be the greatest offences committed by a club in the history of the competition. Possible penalties include not just fines and points deductions, but also demotion and being stripped of their titles. It’s been described as possibly the biggest scandal ever in British football.
The death toll from the Turkey/Syria earthquake is now approaching 10,000.
At least my back’s getting better. It was most painful during the day on Monday, but at least now I can get dressed, tie up my shoelaces and walk around without inflicting pain on myself. Still slightly sore when I sit too long in the same place.
Weather is now sunny but decidedly chilly. Managed to get Gus down to the vet yesterday; she said that as long as he’s eating, not suffering a sudden loss of weight, not in any obvious sign of pain, and if his skin lesions don’t suddenly deteriorate, there’s no reason just yet to have him put to sleep. Has to be said that he did seem sprightly enough when I got him back home.
Saturday 11th February
Happy Birthday Dad.
Sunak has made 30p Lee Anderson the vice-chair of the Tories. First Braverman, now this. Says how weak he is as PM by having to appoint such nutjobs to keep the Tory fruitcakes happy.
Songwriting legend Burt Bacharach died, aged 94.
The death toll in the Turkey/Syria earthquake has risen to more than 24,000, greater than the Turkish quake in 1999.
Gus still under the car. CCL has found out and is very upset, but what did she expect? Weather sunny but still cold, especially at night. At least my back is better now.
Monday 13th February
Room in the Hilton was cold, no radiator or blankets. Had to resort to using a towel. Full English was nice, although the waffle machine wasn’t working and a bloke nearby was making strange noises whilst eating. Was given a bloody great Toyota Corolla estate by Europcar; took a bit of getting used to, controls wise.
Mum’s OK; took her to see Dad in the remembrance garden, then bought cakes from Sainsburys. Tea in the Cedars restaurant; food was good but our table was in such a cold area that I had to ask to be moved.
Last night, the bar stopped serving at 9.45 (local licensing laws my backside, even given it was a Sunday) so had to make do with just the one pint. What a hardship.
Saturday 18th February
Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation as leader of the SNP. Subsequent immediate polls indicated a reaction in favour of Labour. Speaking of whom, Starmer announced that Jeremy Corbyn will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in his current constituency of Islington North, and said that if anyone doesn’t like the current direction of travel, then they can leave. I’m not sure if the fact Starmer’s wife is Jewish has any bearing on his tough stance on Corbyn, but IMHO Labour needs to accommodate its Left, which has always been a seed-bed for some of its most innovative policies. Starmer has obviously decided that he’s only too willing to pick a fight with the Left. But if he wins, will Labour have anything in their manifesto which offers desperately needed radical change, rather than just tinkering at the edges of the current broken system?
There’s seemingly a possibility of a breakthrough on the issue of the Northern Ireland protocol, and Sunak flew to Belfast last night to try and accelerate the process. As ever, the stumbling block is the DUP, who have insisted amongst other things that restrictions on the movement of goods between GB & NI are eased, if not removed; and also that the European Court of Justice (part of the EU) is not the final arbiter of any future disputes.
Sam Smith’s ridiculous inflated black bin liner outfit at the Brits on Monday.
Tuesday, went back to the Remembrance Garden to see Dad. Could only mumble a few, unfluent words. It never seems possible to say the right things, any things, at times like this.
Got lost on the way into Bristol. Fine approaching the city, there’s a spectacular view approaching it from the west, but hit traffic soon after, inadvertently diverted from my intended route, went through Clifton and the north of the city centre, and only got the car back 30 minutes late after the due time. Didn’t have time to fill up the car; had to leave it and leg it to Temple Meads.
Got to London; nice hotel, had a Jamesons in the bar, then went to a nearby Middle Eastern takeaway where I had to sit outside. The eat-in menu was substantially more expensive takeaway, and the salad I was offered, which I assumed was gratis, was unfortunately not. So I ended up paying £12 for a meal which I’d expected beforehand to pay only about half that. Washed it down with a couple of pints afterwards.
Wednesday, met up with Joe. Nice bevvies, put the world to rights again, a nice Thai curry in the Lemon Tree. However, by about 7.30, I was really starting to feel the pace, and had to apologise to Joe and call it a day. City won 3-1 at Arsenal to top the Premier League; at one time they were (I think) 8 points behind the Gooners.
Thursday, regretted having a sizeable wrap for tea last night after saying farewell to Joe. A really bad night’s sleep, but at least I was up before the boilers came back on at 6am.
At Stansted, my bag was gone through with a fine-toothed comb. OK, I should have been aware, but on the previous occasion I’d taken hand luggage only (to Munich), this didn’t happen. Lesson learned, I suppose. Then, on arrival at Paphos, I was asked if I had two passports, which seemed curious. To cut a long story short, I didn’t declare my SBA status when leaving, and according to Mrs C, my 90-day status could be jeopardised (in theory). The thing is, the position has never, ever been explained properly by the SBA authorities to all of its subjects. They may have informed entitled personnel, but seemingly they haven’t bothered to inform mere dependants like myself.
At least poor Gus is now out of his misery; he was put to sleep last week after he took a turn for the worse.
Tuesday 21st February
Picked Mrs C up from the airport on Saturday night. We went to Anogyra for lunch (I had to go for a walk beforehand, but we were a bit late getting up). I tried to pin her down on the subject of summer holidays, but she felt she couldn’t commit at this stage because she was worried we might not be able to catch Lou. I’ll just have to try subtly chipping away.
Tories (with Bojo to the fore) hoping to scupper Sunak’s proposed deal with the EU on the NI protocol. Johnson is desperate to get back in the limelight and stick the knife into Rishi’s back as revenge for Sunak’s part in getting him ousted.
Sadly, Nicola Bulley’s body was found a mile downstream from the bench where her mobile phone was found.
On Monday, President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv to see President Zelensky; it was interpreted as a bid to steal Putin’s thunder ahead of his ‘state of the nation’ address to the Russian people later today.
Liverpool back on the up; a 2-0 win at home to Everton on Tuesday, followed by a win by the same score at Newcastle on Saturday. Arsenal are back on top; they came from behind to win 4-2 at Villa, whilst City squandered a hatful of chances at Forest and conceded a late equaliser.
Thursday 23rd February
President Biden made a defiant, assertive speech in defence of Ukraine and democratic values in Warsaw. Putin subsequently announced that Russia would withdraw from a nuclear arms reduction treaty. All this together with the possibility that China may now provide Russia with arms.
Shortages of fresh fruit and veg in UK supermarkets. The Beeb and most of the MSM are seemingly intent on blaming it mostly on cold weather in Spain and Morocco, the main sources of supply during the winter. But social media is full of photographs showing supermarket shelves chocca in Europe. For once, Brexit is seemingly not the main cause of this; it’s partly due to reduced production as a result of increased energy prices (to power the greenhouses). And it’s cheaper and less problematical for producers in Spain and Morocco to transport and sell their produce in mainland Europe, rather than transport them across the Channel. Apparently.
A court ruling was made that Sajid Javid, Home Secretary at the time, was right to revoke Shamima Begum’s British citizenship, but the judges acknowledged there were awkward moral questions to be considered. The issue is that she was 15 when she travelled to Syria via Turkey, i.e. still a child and not considered mature enough to make informed decisions about the implications of joining ISIS; and that in all probability she may have been a victim of child trafficking. Rather than taking the nuclear option of stripping citizenship, most other Western nations usually bring any of their subjects in a similar situation back home so they can be subject to the usual legal process. But this Tory government is determined to pander to its right-wing MPs, party members, supporters in the media and elements of its support, rather than consider a humane, morally just course of action.
Liverpool are humiliated at home by Real Madrid in their round-of-16 first leg tie at Anfield; they lose 5-2. And this after taking a two goal lead. It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if Klopp decided he’d had enough and walked away from it all at the end of the season, unless they qualified for next season’s Champions League against the odds. And their hopes of landing Jude Bellingham in the summer are surely now seriously compromised.
Sunday 26th February
Friday saw the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with appropriate commemorations around the world.
I really don’t like shaming people on account of their appearance, but the character of that horrible fat bitch Therese Coffey is as ugly as her appearance. She suggested people should eat more turnips and work more hours to overcome the cost of living crisis and the current shortage of fresh fruit and veg in the UK.
Legendary commentator Motty died, aged 77. As did that thoroughly nasty piece of work, Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary Bernard Ingham (aged 90), who infamously referred to Liverpool fans at Hillsborough as a ‘tanked-up mob’ and refused to retract his remark. There’s a place in hell specially reserved for him.
Apparently a plan was afoot to involve the King in the formalities of the signing of the Northern Ireland protocol deal, when Ursula von der Leyen comes over to Windsor for its signature tomorrow. Hugely controversial for the obvious reason that it could be seen as Royal involvement in, and approval of, a political process which is contentious to say the least. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage, God forbid, have expressed concern and anger over the move.
Man Utd beat Newcastle 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final; at least Karius didn’t embarrass himself, by most accounts having a good game. Liverpool struggled to a dismal goalless draw at Palace.
62 migrants die as their boat hits rocks and breaks up off the south coast of Italy.
Wednesday 1st March
The weather here has turned very warm and hazy; about 24C, far too warm for this time of year. And there’s been very little rain recently; the flowers are out but the grass is already starting to turn yellow, which doesn’t normally happen until the end of March at the earliest.
Sunak’s deal with the EU has been christened the ‘Windsor framework’ after it was finalised in a hotel in the said town. Basically, it keeps Northern Ireland inside the EU’s single market for goods. All goods from GB destined for NI will go through a ‘green lane’ with minimal checks (but users will need to register as ‘trusted traders’); all goods from GB destined for the Republic will have to go through the ‘red lane’ with more thorough checks. It remains to be seen how the possibility of goods being smuggled into the Republic through the green lane will be dealt with. This part of the deal sounds strangely reminiscent of the bill Theresa May tried so desperately to get through Parliament before she was ousted in 2017.
The deal also provides for the ‘Stormont brake’ which in theory allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to object to new EU legislation which would affect the province. To cut a long story short, provisions have been put in place which should ensure that the brake will only be used in extreme circumstances where NI is likely to be disadvantaged by the proposed legislation. Critically, to appease the Unionists and diehard Brexiteers, disputes will be resolved not by the European Court of Justice, but by independent arbitration. And also, the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, introduced by Bojo, and would have given the UK the power to scrap the old protocol deal, has been scrapped.
And all of a sudden, poor old Boris appears to be out in the cold. His beloved protocol has been trashed, and with it, his hopes of becoming Tory leader again; his supporters in the parliamentary party largely seem to be saying as much.
Reaction to the deal has generally been favourable. The consensus is that although Sunak is a Brexiteer, his conciliatory approach engendered a sense of trust from the EU which they were not willing to grant to the previous moronic incumbents at No. 10. There was also a sense of personal warmth between him and von der Leyen which helped to seal the deal. Generally, there appears to be a feeling that UK-EU relations are now on a much sounder, mutually respectful footing than they ever were during the bad old days of Johnson and Truss, and that a new chapter, a new phase has begun. He just needs to get it through Parliament now, but as Starmer has said Labour will support the deal, there appears to be little prospect of the lunatic right-wing fringe and DUP getting sufficient numbers to defeat it.
But then, he appeared to score something of an own goal. Whilst in Northern Ireland, the PM said: “Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position, a unique position in the entire world, European continent.”
He said the province was now had “privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, but also the EU single market”.
Mr Sunak told the audience of workers: “Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys – only here, and that is the prize.”
And several commentators remarked that the rest of the UK was also in this ‘unbelievably special position’ – before the Brexit which Sunak supported.
Today – an outcry after a whole host of messages from Matt Hancock’s Whatsapp account were leaked to the Telegraph. In the interests of brevity, here’s the link from the Guardian:
Hancock has scored a spectacular series of own goals, but among his biggest must have been his decision to employ Isabel Oakeshott as ghost writer for his now notorious book, The Pandemic Diaries. Oakeshott is infamously a typical shrill right-wing journalist and lockdown sceptic; she has obviously breached his trust – and also seemingly a NDA she had with Hancock, when she chose to leak them to the Torygraph. It begs the question why on earth he chose her for the task.
Elsewhere – at least 40 are killed in a train crash in Greece. Harry & Meghan have reportedly been asked to vacate their home on the Windsor estate, barely two months before the coronation. Perhaps not the best timing?
Friday 3rd March
Tories wetting their knickers because Sue Gray, who headed the inquiry into Bojo’s Covid parties, has been appointed by Starmer as his new head of staff. Meantime, a cross-party committee found evidence that Johnson misled the Commons over parties during lockdown, and that he and his aides would have known they were breaking the rules in force at the time. Cue his deployment of the Putinesque ‘lie and deny’ policies, and concerted efforts by him and his supporters to discredit the committee and their findings. They’re getting increasingly desperate.
The little shit next door had mentioned he was having a party with 30 people tonight, so we got ourselves off to Pissouri for the night, where we met up with Mr Night Owl, the English teacher. A very pleasant evening.
Saturday 4th March
Poached eggs, salmon and avocado for breakfast. Very nice. When we got back, the only evidence of the previous day’s debauchery was a broken vodka bottle on the neighbours’ front path.
A very bad day for Reading FC. Not only were they stuffed 5-0 by Middlesbrough, but they now seem to be subject to a 6-point deduction for breaching financial regulations, for the second time in a little over a year. The deduction would leave them just six points ahead of the relegation zone. What the hell is going on there?
The town of Bakhmut in Ukraine is under siege by Russian forces, and by many accounts is threatening to become the next Mariupol.
Continuing revelations from Hancock’s leaked Whatsapp messages.
Sunday 5th March
Hadn’t really envisaged giving that much attention to tonight’s Liverpool-Man Utd encounter. Had foreseen I’d be popping in and out of the kitchen to watch it whilst preparing tea. Wasn’t particularly hopeful; would have taken a draw. But 7-0! The Mancs just collapsed in the second half. Apparently it’s their biggest defeat since about 1928. Oddly enough, I’m not too euphoric, as the only thing at stake realistically was qualification for the Champions League – which, after defeats for Newcastle and Spurs yesterday, is all of a sudden very much back on the cards. Gakpo, Salah and Nunez all got braces, and the icing on the cake was when Bobby Firmino, who had announced just a couple of days ago that he would be leaving Anfield at the end of the season, scored the seventh. Bobby is truly loved at Anfield and everyone will be sorry to see him go.
Currently reading Peter Hook’s book about his time in New Order; it’s filthy, hilarious, poignant and hugely entertaining. It also contains a track-by-track listing of all LPs (except Republic, which he didn’t enjoy making). The summary of Brotherhood led me to play the album again. When it first came out, with the exception of the sublime Bizarre Love Triangle, it didn’t really do much for me, probably suffering in comparison to the great Low–life. But it has actually aged very well, being more melodic and almost poppy in parts, with guitars more to the fore, and deserves reappraisal.
Monday 6th March
Apparently Bojo would like to give his old man a knighthood in his farewell honours list. He is obviously not averse to a bit of nepotism, in addition to his rampant deployment of cronyism. What will Stan be receiving it for? Not for services to humanity, that’s for sure; if he’d been thinking about that, he’d have pulled out about 59 years ago.
Tuesday 7th March
Cruella introduced the ‘no boats’ plan to the Commons, and later Sunak fielded questions at a press conference whilst standing behind a lectern displaying the crass slogan ‘Stop the Boats’.
Under the plans, asylum seekers arriving in the UK via small boats will be detained and deported, and barred from entering the UK permanently. ‘Illegal’ arrivals will not be able to invoke human rights or modern slavery legislation. A legal obligation will be placed on the Home Secretary to remove all illegal immigrants.
In speeches unveiling the bill, the home secretary and prime minister accused boat migrants of “jumping the queue” and violating “fairness”, saying that refugees should only arrive on routes that are chosen by the government and subject to a numbers cap.
Braverman said in the Commons that ‘by some counts there are 100 million people around the world who could qualify for protection under our current laws.
‘And let’s be clear: They are coming here. We’ve seen a 500% increase in small boat crossings in two years.’
Quite apart from the typically inflammatory language and distorted use of statistics, there’s so much to take in here. Braverman admitted the proposals went right up to the boundaries of what was permissible within ECHR
The consensus seemed to be that the bill could only be ultimately passed if the UK disengaged from the European Convention on Human Rights – which we co-drafted – which would breach the Good Friday agreement, and put us in the company of those renowned beacons of democracy, Russia and Belarus. The UNHCR claimed the proposals amounted to a ‘clear breach of international law’.
And all of this is before the moral aspects are considered. France and Germany accommodate far more refugees than we do; those arriving on small boats only account for about 10% of new migrants to the UK; our ‘proud humanitarian tradition’ is being seriously undermined; there are very few legal options for safe passage for individuals who have genuine asylum claims; people who only want a better, safe life are being criminalised, whilst in the meantime seemingly very little is being done to address the existing asylum claims backlog.
Sunak is meeting with Macron on Friday; now that his political capital’s been replenished (until yesterday, at least), he’ll no doubt ask Emmanuel if France could give us a hand in maybe processing asylum seekers on their side of the Channel.
Of course there are two ironies. Those making most noise about the small boats ‘crisis’ are inevitably those who promoted Brexit on the grounds that it would enable us to ‘take back control’ of our borders. Now we’ve left the EU, we’ve lost the right to return migrants to the EU country in which they arrived.
The other is that, with ongoing and future wars and the worsening climate crisis, mass migration from poorer to richer regions of the world is only going to increase. So far, there appear to be no concrete long-term proposals announced by the UK government to deal with this particular train that’s coming down the line.
The whole thing’s disgraceful and gives me another reason to be embarrassed and ashamed to be British.
Thursday 9th March
Russia launches missiles at Ukranian cities including Kyiv and Lvov.
Gary Lineker at the centre of controversy regarding his tweets criticising Cruella’s anti-refugee proposals. Good for him.
Many parts of the UK affected by snow.
HS2 to be delayed by two more years due to soaring costs. What an utter fiasco. Now that it’s been started, why can’t it be done properly? Another reason why the UK has become a laughing stock.
Record waiting lists. Takes days to get an appointment with a dentist or doctor. Takes hours to get to speak to someone in a local authority service. Trains cancelled or delayed on a regular basis. Employees leaving schools and the NHS in droves. Shortages of fruit and veg. Spiralling energy bills. Few things work as they should be expected to in a supposedly advanced society.
The country is starting to resemble a broken Third World nation.
Monday 13th March
The Lineker saga has dominated the UK news agenda over the last few days. Initially the Beeb announced he would be ‘stepping back’ (translated as ‘suspended’) from presenting duties on Match of the Day, pending a review. As a consequence, Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, and all other pundits and commentators announced they would not be available for Saturday’s edition, in showing solidarity with Lineker. A truncated 20-minute programme, with no punditry or commentary whatsoever, was transmitted.
Such was the backlash, and the suspicion that the chairman (who allegedly was involved in organising a £800k loan for Bojo) and the D-G (a former card-carrying Tory member) – both appointed by the Tories – were doing the government’s dirty work for them. It was pointed out that some BBC employees such as Lord Sugar and Andrew Neil are free to express their (largely pro-Tory) views on social media, but someone who is critical of the Government isn’t. Lineker was eventually reinstated yesterday. A hugely humiliating episode for the BBC – but it’s not the organisation itself which should be criticised, but those at the top who set the tone.
The saga rather overshadowed news of the UK paying France £500m over three years to France to assist them with the migrants issue, following the Sunak-Macron buddy meeting in Paris on Friday. But, perhaps surprisingly, rather than working themselves into a foment of rage about kowtowing to the Frogs, the tabs apparently were too preoccupied with giving Lineker a good kicking to devote much attention to this issue.
A week after trouncing the Mancs 7-0, Liverpool returned to type for this season and lost 1-0 at struggling Bournemouth, with Mo Salah shanking a penalty wide. Worryingly, Reading lost 1-0 at home to Millwall, their third consecutive defeat and the third game in which they’ve failed to score. They’ve lost form at the worst time of the season, with a potential 6-point deduction hanging over them.
Another big sports story – England suffered a humiliating 53-10 defeat at home to France.
Managed to get Thursday and Friday off this week, to watch the Cheltenham Festival. Great! Unfortunately, the mornings might be affected by the need to catch one of the cats which used to be fed by CCL, which has taken to coming to our house to beg for food (he and the two others know where we live!) Even though – more fool us again – we’re feeding them twice a day as it is.
The illegal migration bill, the most controversial piece of legislation going through parliament at the moment, and one of the most electorally important to the Conservative party, passed its second reading in the Commons last night, by 312 votes to 250 – a majority of 62. No Tory MP voted against. There were 44 Conservatives who did not vote at all, including the former prime minister Theresa May. Shame on those cowardly supposedly moderate Tories who – yet again – rather than follow their principles, put career and party before country and waved it through.
Tuesday 21st March 2023
Bit behind with this now.
Here’s a summary of what’s happened since my last entry:
The Beeb has reinstated Gary Lineker to MOTD. Cue outrage from the right-wing tabs.
Jeremy Hunt’s Budget – the rich can save huge amounts into their pension pots tax-free, in a move ostensibly to persuade doctors & surgeons to come out of retirement (but really to ensure the Tories and their rich supporters can fill their boots before they’re kicked out of office).
Panic in the markets as Credit Suisse announces it is encountering difficulties.
The Government appears to have climbed down and made a new offer to NHS employees, whose unions are recommending acceptance to its members.
Political chaos in France, as Macron uses special constitutional powers to force through measures increasing the state pension age from 62 to 64, without a parliamentary vote. Widespread disorder in Paris and other cities. We need to be more like the French.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
Cruella went to Rwanda to sign a new deal for dumping ‘illegal’ immigrants into the UK. Journalists from the BBC, Guardian, Independent and other ‘left-wing’ media outlets were not given the usual accreditation. From the Guardian:
She really is a vile, disgusting, callous specimen. The right-wing tabs are claiming that the European Court of Human Rights is willing to back down on the blocking orders that had previously prevented refugee flights to Rwanda.
A damning independent report found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic.
President Xi of China went to Moscow to see Putin, to discuss various issues which quite possibly may have included supplying Chinese arms to Russia for the war in Ukraine. China is very much the senior partner in that relationship now.
Bojo and his chums are attempting to undermine the integrity of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, which has been investigating whether he knowingly misled Parliament over the Partygate scandal, ahead of his appearance there on Wednesday, to be shown live on TV.
RMT signal workers and maintenance staff (not train drivers) have voted to accept the Government’s revised pay offer. Maybe the period of industrial unrest is slowly coming to an end.
Outrage after a primary school head in Reading took her own life, after the Ofsted gestapo downgraded her school from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’.
Most of the last week’s big sporting winners have been Irish; the rugby team won the Grand Slam, Galopin Des Champs won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Energumene gained a bloodless win in the Champion Chase, and dual Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle pulled down the curtain on a great career with an emotional triumph in the Mares’ Hurdle. At least the Brits could claim a major triumph with new superstar Constitution Hill’s win in this year’s Champion Hurdle. And possibly the best news – only one horse (still one too many, I know) suffered a fatal injury in the course of the four-day meeting.
Thursday 24th March
It was good to see Bojo squirm and snivel and lose his composure in front of the Committee yesterday. Even if he isn’t suspended from Parliament, hopefully the damage done to his reputation will prove to be terminal, and he’ll never get centre political stage again. It comes to something when both he & Dizzy Lizzy were amongst only about 20 Tories voting against the Stormont brake, and even most diehard Brexiteers voted it through. Looks like yesterday was a sea change in British politics, with the end of an era dominated by Brexit divisions, lies and deceit, and economic (if not political) extremism. Both Johnson & Truss are now surely yesterday’s people; we can but hope.
Interestingly, Sunak chose the day to publish details of his tax returns; echoes of ‘a good day to bury bad news’ from 9/11.
Wednesday 29th March
Continuing disorder in France, including a fire in Bordeaux town hall, lead to Charlie & Camilla’s visit next week being postponed.
In Israel, war criminal Netanyahu is trying to force through greater powers to the executive at the expense of the judiciary; this has led to mass protests and widespread strikes. Even mainstream Israelis are starting to rail against the corrupt Bibi now, it seems.
The BoE hiked interest rates to 4.25%, supposedly to counteract inflation; it’s the highest base rate in 14 years.
The Government plans to ban laughing gas, more seemingly on the grounds that it’s a litter nuisance, rather than a danger to individuals’ health. Sunak is apparently going against his own experts on this one. Criminalising any substance doesn’t tend to end very well; when will the powers that be ever realise this?
After a divisive campaign, Humza Yousaf is elected as Nicola Sturgeon’s successor as SNP leader. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has blocked Jeremy Corbyn’s attempt to stand as the official Labour candidate in his current Islington seat.
TV personality and national treasure Paul O’Grady dies at the age of 67.
Friday 31st March
The Government announced plans to house migrants on cruise ships and barges. Bit cheaper than the £6m a day they’re having to spend to put them up in hotels, I suppose.
Charles and Camilla made the first overseas state visit of their reign, to Berlin.
The big news – Trump’s been indicted over the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels. Yaaay! He thus becomes the first US President to be criminally indicted.
From the Guardian:
The indictment relates to a hush-money payment made on his behalf to the adult film maker and actor Stormy Daniels in 2016, shortly before election day as Trump ran for president.
Trump’s attorney at that time, Michael Cohen, orchestrated the payment to buy Daniels’ silence over an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Cohen – now an outspoken Trump foe who testified before the grand jury in the Manhattan case – made the $130,000 payment to Daniels in October 2016. When Trump was president, he reimbursed Cohen with monthly $35,000 checks from his personal account.
Gwyneth Paltrow was found not at fault after a civil case in a Utah court, in which a man sued her for injuries and psychological damage as a consequence of a collision on the ski slopes between the two.
Thomas Cashman was found guilty of murdering 9yo Olivia Platt-Korbel after she was shot at her home in Liverpool last August.
Wednesday 12th April
Sometimes you don’t get the time to keep up with everything. Have been very busy since I got back to the UK on the 1st.
Finalised Dad’s memorial with Mum; it should be in situ within 6 weeks. Mum was OK & she fed me up (too!) well; I polished off a pork casserole intended for 2 the first night, then had a vast portion of fish, chips & veg the second. Had my ritual panic trying to find the Europcar depot; had to stop and ask a young Oriental guy where we were. He was very helpful & I touched his arm to show my gratitude. Initially I swore I’d never drive back into Bristol again, but hopefully next time I do it I’ll have company.
Very nice two-night stay in Harrogate, seeing old work colleagues. Happily, the cantankerous shoving bully wasn’t able to make it. No loss. Did a little tour of Wharfedale & Nidderdale, then back on the Wirral for Good Friday.
Actually went for a little walk around Thurstaston on Saturday. Went to the Hulme Hall beer festival (on my own) on Sunday. Never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m losing my taste for beer. Liverpool came from two down to draw 2-2 at home to league leaders Arsenal. Reading are in deep shit; after a last-minute defeat at Preston on Easter Monday, and after confirmation of the 6-point deduction for failing to comply – for the 2nd season running – with Financial Fair Play rules, they’re now in the bottom three. Paul Ince wasn’t given the chance to resign in disgust at the incompetence of the owners; they fired him after a run of only 3 wins in 19 matches.
Went into Liverpool Tuesday. Most unfortunately, the jukebox in the Cracke had been turned off; I’d been looking forward to inflicting my good musical taste on the regulars (of which there were hardly any). Out in the evening with friends, first to the craft beer pub then the Turkish restaurant, where I proceeded to have three courses and regretted having the cheesecake for dessert. Again woken by a cat either walking over me or knocking thing off a shelf. Much as I love little Socksy, it won’t be sustainable in the summer. I need to ping down Mrs C into committing to a holiday plan soon, because I’m not staying in that house for the whole of August.
Summary of the news: raw sewage being dumped in UK rivers; Trump appears in court in relation to the hush money scandal; massive delays at the port of Dover caused by ‘bad weather’ (Suella Braverman) or post-Brexit passport checks (the reality); Thatcher’s chancellor Nigel Lawson died, aged 91; head of the CBI sacked after ‘inappropriate behaviour’; Nicola Sturgeon’s husband and former SNP chief exec Peter Murrell arrested as a consequence of financial irregularities within the party (inevitably, the question is: how much did she know?);
Major controversy over Labour attack ads which allege Rishi Sunak doesn’t think child abusers should go to prison. Didn’t think Labour would resort to such low measures, and unfortunately Starmer subsequently endorsed the sentiments expressed within. This is most disheartening; I’m becoming increasingly disappointed with Starmer. No sign of a coherent vision or a coherent set of policies; he seems intent on trying to win back the Red Wall voters, seemingly to the exclusion of all other Labour voters, by pandering to their basest instincts.
Two British-Israeli sisters, their mother, and an Italian tourist are killed following an upturn in violence in the Middle East. To no small degree it’s been caused by Israeli troops storming the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam’s three most sacred sites.
Junior doctors – some of whom receive just £14 ph – go on strike again. Increased violence in Northern Ireland, ahead of President Biden’s visit to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
City beat Bayern 3-0 at the Etihad in the first leg of their CL quarter-final. It’s starting to look as if it could be their year.
Wednesday 19th April
Struggling to keep pace again.
Last Thursday, went to Aintree. Good day out, and losses were minor, but unfortunately missed Mark. It’s the first holiday for ages where I haven’t seen any of my mates. A bit sad really. Previously, I’d gone to a local beer festival on my own. Never thought the day would come, but I seem to be losing my taste for real ales.
Unfortunately the Grand National won’t be remembered so much for the winner, but for the protests beforehand (118 activists were arrested, and their protests caused the race to go off 15 minutes late), and the fatal fall of one horse at the first fence. It was just pure bad luck that a number of loose horses caused a degree of chaos not seen in the course of the race, and it didn’t make for easy viewing (and I say that as a horse racing fan). Needless to say, I didn’t back the winner. There was a predictable backlash against the race afterwards.
Arsenal look as if they might blow the title; after leading 2-0 at West Ham, they miss a penalty and are pegged back to 2-2. They’re 4 points clear of City, who have a game in hand.
Still haven’t spoken to Mrs C about holidays. I’m buggered if I’m spending all of August in that house.
Thinking about putting my tax-free cash lump sum from the Pru into my stakeholder, but have been made aware that I may fall foul of the Revenue’s recycling rules. May defer payment until age 65 instead.
Summary of the news; Harry will be attending his dad’s coronation but Meghan won’t be attending. Biden made a whistle-stop visit to Northern Ireland, seemingly giving Sunak the brush-off when touching down at Belfast, then sparing him only 45 minutes over a cup of coffee before visiting friends and rellies in the Republic. (Apparently Biden wanted more time than Rishi was initially offering to discuss the situation in the Province, but the Americans weren’t apparently impressed with the amount of time the Brits offered). Biden’s made no secret of his pride in his Irish ancestry, and you’d like to believe he really has a genuine reason for not attending the forthcoming Coronation, sending the First Lady in his place instead. Unionists are predictably uppity, with some accusing the President of being ‘anti-British’.
Some rare good news; Rishi Sunak has decided to scrap plans for so-called ‘smart’ motorways, so-called because technology is used to regulate the density and speed of traffic flow. On some stretches, the hard shoulder has been removed altogether, with an entirely foreseeable increase in fatalities as a consequence. Also, energy firms have been banned from forced instalment of prepay meters in homes of the over-85’s – but not for other vulnerable groups.
Yet more strife for the SNP, as now its treasurer is arrested. And Rishi Sunak himself is now embroiled in a sleaze scandal. His wife has a substantial shareholding in a childcare company, one of a small number of such companies which stand to benefit from a pilot scheme announced in the recent Budget to train new childminders.
Monday 24th April
At last managed to pin Mrs C down re holidays, whilst taking a Sunday walk round the abandoned village of Paramali. She said she’s stressed out and doesn’t want all the hassle of hiring a car, going for long days out, packing/unpacking, etc. So my hope of going to Northern Spain is dashed for another year. She’s also going on about going with her family to Australia next year to see their auntie; the prospect of spending a holiday with my brother-in-law doesn’t fill me with joy. Hopefully it will fizzle out in time. Anyway, she said she wants a nice quiet holiday, preferably by a lake (and preferably the Italian ones). So at least I have something to go on now.
Gorgeous session at the cats on Saturday. Unfortunately (but fortunately for them, of course), a lot of them will be rehomed in Belgium in the near future.
Really infantile behaviour by Sunak in PMQ’s last Wednesday, referring to Starmer as ‘Sir Softie’.
There’s a real danger that the Home Secretary will be given powers under the disgraceful Illegal Migration (aka ‘Stop The Boats’) bill, to disregard any rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (to which, of course, the UK is signed up to) on the issue.
Fox had to cough up nearly $800m to a company which manufactures vote counting machines, after it claimed said machines were defective and had caused votes to be ‘reallocated’ from Trump to Biden in the 2020 election.
At last some good news – serial bully Dominic Raab was eventually shamed into resigning from the Government following the publication of a report by a KC on the issue. Despite saying he’d offer his resignation if the report stated he was guilty of bullying, Dim Dom disregarded its conclusions and initially refused to go. But after a day of dithering by Sunak, he eventually suggested it might be best if Dom fell on his sword. Needless to say he didn’t go quietly, blaming a bunch of so-called ‘activist’ civil servants for his demise, and for refusing to tow the Government’s line (which of course is not what they’re supposed to do; they’re there to help implement policy, not devise or delay its implementation). The affair casts questions over Sunak’s judgement over appointing him in the first place (as he surely would have known about the bullying allegations beforehand, not to mention his incompetence and laziness in his previous roles in government). And it showed cowardice on the PM’s part in not sacking Raab immediately the report was published, for reluctance in wanting to dispense with the support of a key ally.
The Tories immediately announced plans to enable ministers to appoint their own civil servants, with the inevitable patronage and bias that goes with such a move.
The CBI is in utter crisis and disarray, after a number of prominent companies announced their withdrawal in the wake of rape and sexual assault allegations at some of its functions in the past.
A nasty, vicious civil war has broken out in Sudan, to be followed no doubt by yet another humanitarian crisis.
Aussie comedy legend Barry Humphries died, aged 89.
Worrying times for Reading. They lost to Coventry on Saturday, and all other results went against them. Third tier football is looking increasingly likely next season.
Arsenal look as if they’re bottling the title. After blowing a 2-goal lead against West Ham, they could only draw 3-3 at home to bottom club Southampton on Friday night (and that after being 3-1 down). There was a social media post of a Spurs fan who’d gone to the game and was secretly indulging in schadenfreude. It was rather unwise to do so, as Tottenham lost 6-1 at Newcastle yesterday; following Conte’s departure, they appear to be in as much disarray as the CBI.
Elsewhere, City beat Sheffield Utd 3-0 in the first FA Cup semi. In the other, United – who’d been dumped out of the Europa League after a hapless 3-0 loss in Seville on Thursday, rather fortuitously beat Brighton on penalties, after two goalless hours. So now we have the first ever all-Manc FA Cup final on June 3rd.
Thursday 27th April
At last, I’m able to make some progress into researching where we’re going on holiday this summer. The Italian Lakes would appear to be the frontrunner at the moment.
Len Goodman, Harry Belafonte and Jerry Springer all died. Right-wing chimp Tucker Carlson’s been sacked by Fox after the Dominion debacle. Criticism for the Government after a seemingly tardy response in evacuating UK citizens from war-torn Sudan; France has even taken pity and flew some of our citizens away from trouble.
A senior Bank of England employee, reputed to be on £180k a year, said families must ‘accept they’re worse off’ and stop pushing for ‘inflation-boosting’ pay rises. Harry’s at it again; he’s claiming Charles went behind his back to make a deal with the media to ensure he and Camilla receive favourable coverage, after the Queen had given her support to Harry taking legal action against News UK.
Pudgy faced immigration minister Robert Jenrick – he of the dodgy London property deal notoriety – claimed that the ‘values and lifestyles’ of those crossing the Channel in small boats ‘threatens social cohesion’ in the UK. Cruella claimed there was ‘heightened criminality’ amongst small boat arrivals.
Trump on civil trial for rape in the US.
On the day that health secretary Steve Barclay succeeded in his legal action against the Royal College of Nursing on the grounds that their forthcoming industrial action exceeds their legally binding mandate, allegations of his bullying behaviour have emerged. Speaking of thoroughly nasty individuals:
The Illegal Migration Bill passed through the Commons; hopefully the Lords will do the right thing and chew it to bits.
In the aftermath of Diane Abbott’s suspension from Labour for saying that there was a false equivalence between racism suffered by black people, and that suffered by Jews, Irish and gypsies, Starmer refused to commit to changes in the voting system. The country desperately needs radical reform, but all Starmer seems to want to do is tinker round the edges.
City surely clinched the title after a 4-1 demolition of Arsenal, who’ve now let in 11 in their last 4 games. City are 2 points behind, with 2 games in hand. Meanwhile, Liverpool won 2-1 at West Ham.
Friday 5th May
Well behind on this now as I’ve been busy trying to arrange holidays, but never mind.
Huge hailstorm last Saturday morning, but has turned hot since yesterday (26-27C).
Disappointingly, rail unions announced strikes on 13th May (Eurovision) & 3rd June (the FA Cup Final, not forgetting the Derby). Train drivers get paid a fair whack already; they could be in danger of losing the PR battle on this one, as they’ve seemingly timed it to cause maximum inconvenience, rather than clhoose a powerful message. Couldn’t they have chosen May 20th & June 10th instead?
After BBC chairman Richard Sharp was forced to resign in the wake of the Bojo loans scandal, the Excess disgracefully stated on its front page that ‘BBC must act to silence Lineker’. Dangerous & irresponsible victimisation.
Starmer claims he’ll be bolder than Blair on public service reform. But he went on to backtrack on his pledge to abolish tuition fees, and also to increase the top rate of tax for the highest earners. What exactly does he intend to change, then?
The Archbishop of Canterbury is inviting everyone to collectively swear their allegiance to the King during tomorrow’s coronation. Honestly, what kind of country are we now?
Tories claiming that Sue Gray was negotiating with Keir Starmer to become his chief of staff, whilst still chairing the Partygate enquiry. Haven’t really followed this story tbh.
The Home Office has been sending letters to ‘known’ anti-monarchist, informing them of new anti-protest laws which were rushed through Parliament in time for the coronation. Some 30,000 police are expected to be on duty tomorrow.
Russia alleges that Ukraine attempted to kill Putin by firing a drone at the Kremlin, and released video footage purporting to show the alleged attack. As if anything could get past the defences of one of the most strongly defended buildings on the whole planet.
Sadly, Reading are down. They failed to beat Wigan in a must-win game at home last Saturday, and their fate was confirmed last night after Huddersfield beat already-promoted Sheffield United to stay up.
Tuesday 9th May
Tories predictably routed in last Thursday’s council elections, but there are disturbing accounts of would-be voters being turned away on the grounds that they were unable to produce a ‘correct’ form of ID. This issue picked up disappointingly little traction in the MSM.
The result still wouldn’t be enough for Labour to gain an overall majority.
The coronation on Saturday. Watched up to the point where the Archbishop plonked the crown on Charlie’s head, then did something useful and went off to do my stint at the cat sanctuary. Accounts of the Met arresting republican protestors hours before the event, seemingly merely for carrying signs in the vicinity of the route, and then detaining them in cells for 16 hours. Also, some ‘Street Angels’ were arrested and detained merely for being in possession of rape alarms. The front page of the Mail on Sunday (some editions) had previously stated that protestors would throw alarms at police horses to try and spook them. Totally overlooking the fact that said horses are trained to be in the vicinity of large, noisy crowds and to be acclimatised to sudden loud noises. I thought we were supposed to be a democracy, that it was OK to protest peacefully?
Harry left early to return to the US and predictably provoked another vitriolic outpouring from right-wingers, who didn’t seem to mind Andrew’s presence so much.
Apparently, funds which are normally allocated for worthy causes such as food banks – including those from the National Lottery – were diverted to pay for this ostentatious display of wealth and privilege.
Strictly from a costs v benefits point of view, the UK still benefits hugely from the monarchy, largely of course because of the tourist revenues it generates. But when people are struggling to make ends meet, when funds for good causes are being diverted to a dubious cause, when the Royals are exempt from inheritance tax to name but one, the display of diamond-encrusted crowns, gold-plated carriages and the rest, isn’t really a great look.
Just about all the tabs predictably creamed themselves over the event, and BBC Breakfast seemingly had a news blackout on any stories that weren’t related to the coronation.
Back in the real world – Liverpool fans predictably booed the national anthem when it was played before Saturday evening’s home game against Brentford, which they won 1-0. Jordan Henderson was apparently filmed singing the anthem, which provoked rather dogmatic outrage from the hardest of the Corbynista hardcore of the fan base, who shouted that he should be stripped of the captaincy/put on the transfer market, etc. etc. He’s only one of Liverpool’s most committed players, an absolute role model who’s donated thousands to charity, but that counts for nothing because he sang God Save the King? Get real.
Liverpool’s Champions League chances, seemingly non-existent a month ago, are alive again, thanks to six straight wins and Man Utd’s recent stumbles; defeats at Brighton and West Ham mean the Mancs are now only a point clear, although they still have a game in hand.
Quiet holiday weekend for us. Went for a walk along the coast up from Melanda on Monday. Mum’s leg issue has unfortunately flared up again; she was a bit emotional and obviously in a lot of discomfort when I called her on Sunday.
Thursday 11th May
Hallelujah, the holiday’s been sorted. We’ve booked a ‘package’ (term applied loosely because there’s no airport transfer – we need to do that ourselves) to Stresa on Lake Maggiore.
Tuesday was apparently quite a stormy day in the UK. Some dramatic thunderstorms, mostly in the Midlands and the South, some flooding in the South-West, and some reports of funnel clouds.
The city of Liverpool is absolutely buzzing ahead of the Eurovision final on Saturday; there are also semi-final events (the first took place on Tuesday, the second is tonight). Would have been great to have been there.
Some great news; in a civil case in New York, a jury found that Trump sexually assaulted a female journalist back in 1996 and awarded damages against him. (He was cleared of her allegation of rape). Surely now, his presidential bid is now toast???
More good news; the Government succumbed to pressure and practicalities and ditched its plan to review or repeal all EU laws currently on the statute book, before the end of this year.
Justin Welby launched a scathing attack on the Government’s Illegal Migration bill. Quite right too. Predictably, the Tories and their media chums were outraged and said that the Archbishop should butt out of politics.
The time has come to relocate the two cats who have wandered down from the CCL’s house. Norman, a tabby and white, is seemingly the shier of the two, but definitely the dominant one when it comes to feeding time. I set the trap yesterday; the other one (Vlodomyr) actually went in first but escaped unscathed. After I’d adjusted it slightly, Norman went in and the door came slamming down. Poor little fella; he didn’t go without a fight, I made the mistake of not wearing gloves, and even with them on, I was very wary of picking the trap up. Eventually I backed the car up onto the drive and had to pull the trap into the back; during this time, poor Norman was at a 45 degree angle, and evidently had done himself a little bit of damage (cuts on his head and one of his paws). He’d calmed down by the time I arrived at the sanctuary. It’s never nice to do it, but at least he’ll be looked after, neutered and fed there.
The other one, Vlod, is a really sweet-natured ginger and white one, the one who befriended Gus in his last days. It will be a bit of a wrench taking him down, as he appears to be quite trusting. I’ve decided to do it next week now, as I’m knackered and could do with a rest this afternoon.
In the Champions League semi-final first legs, City drew 1-1 with Real in the Bernabeu on Tuesday night, and last night, Inter beat Milan 2-0 in what was nominally their away leg (they share the San Siro, of course).
The 2020's - Charlie's Brexit Decade 