Blaming the public
Two weeks into the ‘lockdown’ imposed on us in mid-March, the government continues to reveal little at its daily evening press briefings. Last week I heard the slogan “only one thing worse than no...
Category: News
Trucking in the time of Coronavirus
The last couple of weeks have been a good time for me in terms of getting work, which had been a bit thin on the ground since the end of the last Christmas period....
Coronavirus must bring about public health improvements
One of the things that I have found very noticeable since the beginning of the current Coronavirus outbreak, since well before ‘lockdown’ or even social distancing but back when they were telling us to...
A soft lockdown
So, last night Boris Johnson went on national TV (programmes were interrupted or rescheduled on at least two channels) and announced that the British public was being ‘instructed’ to stay at home other than...
Coronavirus: panic buying and the dangers to disabled people
The medication review I talked about in my previous post happened today. The surgery texted me at 8am to tell me they would be carrying it out over the phone rather than face-to-face. This...
Coronavirus: no let-up from NHS bureaucracy
With cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus continuing to rise everywhere except China, where the outbreak has peaked and even in Wuhan, the quarantine measures are being lifted, life here in London is continuing surprisingly...
Coronavirus versus ritual ablution
I’ve been seeing a tweet being retweeted all over by Muslims, which lists an “anti-coronavirus protocol” which consists of washing the hands, face, hair and feet, washing the mouth out, and snuffing water into...
Prince Harry is just protecting his family
Two things have always fascinated me about attitudes to the British royal family. The first is how protective many people are about the monarchy as an institution and how vindictive many people are against...
Essex truck tragedy: why the driver is probably innocent
Note: this was written on Thursday 24th when the story was a day and a half old, the dead were still believed to be Chinese rather than Vietnamese, and Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson had only...
Charities “refusing” Presidents’ Club donations
In light of the revelations about sexual harassment of hostesses at the men-only Presidents’ Club dinner, an annual event for very wealthy men at which expensive prizes (e.g. flash cars, cosmetic surgery, flights in...
The best places to be average
A study commissioned by Halifax (part of the big HBOS banking group but formerly a mutual building society) has found that the district of Hart in Hampshire is the best place to live in...
Royal fake news?
So, yesterday it was announced that Prince Phillip, the 95-year-old Prince Consort to the Queen, was retiring from public royal duties as of this coming autumn. This followed an awful lot of speculation after...
Should we ban harmful bequests?
This week, a woman who had been cut out of her late mother’s will in favour of three animal welfare charities lost her legal battle to claim a large share of the estate. The...
Castro saved his country
Years ago, there used to be a common explanation for why communism didn’t work. It was all nice on paper, people would say; the state would share all the wealth around and make sure...
Sarah Vibert and her daughters: reunite them!
This morning I read a news report and a blog about a single mother who is fighting to keep her two daughters out of the foster care system in Alberta, and find them a...
Why do you believe her?
Last Tuesday a British soap actor, Michael “Le Vell” Turner, was found not guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault on a child (now 17). There has been some suggestions that his...
The rush to judgement on Oscar Pistorius
The story of Oscar Pistorius’s shooting of his girlfriend has been going on for a week and a half now, and last Friday, after a four-day bail hearing, he was released on bail of...
Jimmy Savile at Duncroft: who to believe?
The past week or so I’ve been following a series of posts by the blogger “Anna Raccoon”, who I earlier came across in her articles about the Court of Protection and her championing of...
‘Bonfire of standards’ may cut access in new buildings
Government orders building standards review | Politics | The Guardian The government has ordered a review of building standards regulations, with a view to reducing the number of regulations, ostensibly to facilitate a revival...
Jimmy Savile: the benefit of hindsight
I watched Wednesday night’s Exposure documentary in which the claims that have been made about his molestation of young girls in the BBC studios and at a special boarding school in Surrey in the...