A nice Jewish boy is born....

JUST read an interesting piece by Simon Kellner in the i. He outlines why Christmas can mean a lot to Jews as well as Christians. Kellner of course is a Jew and rightly proud of it. He amusingly reminds us that Jesus was “a nice Jewish boy”. That is what set me thinking.

I am an atheist and am fairly convinced that Jesus Christ, as portrayed in the New Testament, did not exist. But that does not mean I doubt there was a rebellious Jewish lad around that time. Indeed I expect there were many.

My reason is that I like sometimes to imagine what it may have been like to live in another time; to try to understand why events occurred the way they did. And so to Israel and the Roman occupation.

Roman general Pompei conquered Jerusalem and its surroundings by 63 BCE. The Romans deposed the ruling Hasmonean dynasty of Judaea (in power from c. 140 BCE) and the Roman Senate declared Herod the Great "King of the Jews" in c. 40 BCE.

So around the time Rome invaded Britain the invaded Is real. We know how they behaved in Britain and while typical of invaders it could not be described as genteel. So it must have been in Israel.

Israel had an entrenched and dominant religion – Judaism. Indeed, from what we know of Britain the Judaic faith had a very much stronger and more ubiquitous hold on Israel than the Druids had here.

But one feature is certain – the Romans of that time were decidedly pagan. To them the monotheistic Jewish faith would have been impenetrably mysterious and alien. So too the Druids. And to both Jew and Druid the Romans would be positively demonic.

Here the Romans hunted down and destroyed the Druids but we must bear in mind they wanted what the druids controlled – the gold, especially in north Wales. But in Israel the entire nastion held the same stoic faith; that was not an option. Thus Herod, the Roman 'placeman' was given or took the authority to rule by despotism while leaving the religious structures in place.

The natural reaction of the Jewish hierarchy may well have been to reinforce their hold through their religion. And this would have given greater power and authority to the priests. And encouraged sects such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And energised those who took a differing view to these entrenched and more traditional extremes. Namely young upstarts like the Christ figure. His reported views were positively revolutionary to the Jewish hierarchy – and thus a threat to Roman rule. The reported attempt to moderate this with the 'render unto Caesar' line cut little ice it seems.

Add to that the crackdown by an invading and unwelcome dictator like Herod and you start to have the perfect storm in which things boil and bubble.

So when Kellner teasingly refers to Christ as a nice Jewish boy he is probably not far from one truth while distant perhaps from fact; there may have been nothing very nice in reality to men like Christ. They were rebels with a cause. Or possibly two causes – to tear down the hierarchy that controlled the religion and the people and thus create the environment for rebellion and the removal of the upstart and ungodly Romans.

And when the writers who recorded the stories of that time came to put pen to paper they chose to characterise the people as rebellious – they chose the dastardly Barabas against the more genteel Christ; that metaphor may tell us much.

I firmly believe that the New Testament as translated for the Christian market is, just as the Old Testament is for the Jewish faith, a mythical and metaphorical rendering of folklore mixed with real history. And what that may tell us is a religious version of the Jewish struggle against both the Romans and those who saw power to be hand by collaboration.

And that , under the veneer of this story, lies the real truth – that many rebels wanted a new order; a new Judaism and new Judaic government of Israel.

Sat in the lands of Israel Rome would have seemed very far away and its actual power reduced to those legions and arms that could be seen. The idea of a successful revolt would not have seemed as impossible as we understand it would have been.

Like Boudica and her Iceni tribes, Rome looked vulnerable. Especially to the military method of terrorist shock and awe that ancient Britain plied. Rome would have looked stiff, formal, inflexible to warriors who ran free in the woods and struck without warning or mercy.

So in Israel, Rome may have looked vulnerable. And that made the 'Quisling' intermediaries of the Priesthood and the warring sects look like the real problem to be overcome. Build a new, vibrant faith and the people will follow. It's a possibility, I suggest.

What that does is to place Christ, Barabas and others in the category of freedom fighters (aka of course, terrorists).

It makes them equivalent to Boudicca and the then Roman Governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus – Jewish rebels versus Herod.

But unlike Britain, in Israel the Romans appear to have the had the ubiquitous faith onside already, at least among the hierarchy.

And so the burgeoning rebellion of the transition years was put down by removing the head(s) of the viper(s).

Thus it was another 60 years before the Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) began. It saw the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled Judea, resulting in the destruction of Jewish towns, the displacement of its people and the appropriation of land for Roman military use, as well as the destruction of the Jewish Temple and polity.

Interesting to note the dates – Boudicca's revolt was in 47CE.

And so to Christmas. Why would Jews not mark the winter solstice anyway? And they acknowledge John the Baptiser as a prophet and even Jesus; it is only his Messianic role they utterly deny. But the faith they pursue today is the same faith that the Jeus person was said to be tearing down; he cannot easily be a martyr in their eyes.

But they live and work and pray alongside people of many faiths. And the history of Christianity starts with Judaism and remains a monotheistic religion. It seems to me entirely natural that they should see the Christian festival as a reason to join in the celebrations.

So just as this here atheist acknowledges the winter solstice and the reason for peace and love and the religious drive to faith for others so do all men of goodwill. Mazel tov! Merry Christmas! And may we all together wish for a Happy New Year!

SIDEBAR: When I was a boy my father played double bass in dance bands in the west end and to get to and from the gigs he used a black London cab run by a chap called Reg Page. Reg was big, jolly, and Jewish. His favourite joke was the Jewish toy factory owner who took his sons to the warehouse every Christmas. “Look boys – empty shelves! That's why we celebrate Christmas!”.

And so Reg arrived every December 25, mid morning to wish us all a Merry Christmas, take a glass of sherry and enjoy a joke or two. As he would always joke as he left: “Where else would I go on Christmas Day – I've nothing else to do...”

Spelling out the end of care?

THIS week I received a letter from the Department of Health and Social Security signed by the Rt Hon Sajid Javid, secretary of state.

Now I have to say at the outset that I have no doubt at all that this letter (Page One reproduced below) was sent in good faith, with honest intent to inform and reassure its audience. But...

It is five pages long (but three sheets double sided) and contains at a rough estimate 2,000 plus words. It is printed in about 10 point type, sans serif but at normal line spacing. It is easy to read but only if you have good eyesight and light.

It has been sent to all the vulnerable people on the NHS 'at risk' Covid-19 list. That is about 3 million people of which the majority will be over 70 years of age. 

Having been in the business years ago I know what the cost of such a letter can be and at today's prices and consultancy fees I am going to guess it at about £100 a word. No seriously! That's £200,000 just to create one copy....

But this is three pages of A4 and with a run length of maybe 3million - or 15million sheets of A4. To be honest, with the current shortage of wood, pulp and paper that is a lot of trees. 

Then there is the envelope, packaging, the franking process, the transportation to mailing depot, the cost of mail.

If each letter cost only £2 all in the total cost will be not far short of £10million. And the rest you may well say!

But my point is not even all of this - it is that the letter is an utter waste of time. It informs, but contains far too much information for any ordinary person to absorb. It is repetitive of past information already sent in earlier letters. It is over-inclined to justify earlier actions. And finally it actually ends up meaning just this:

YOU ARE NOW ON YOUR OWN.

In fact the last paragraph, almost certainly I will suggest, dictated by the political advisers, reads thus:

"I know the pandemic has been a  difficult time and recognise that it has been particularly hard if you have been advised to take extra precautions. The decision to include you as part of what was the clinically extremely vulnerable group was made to help keep you safe, based on the information we had at the time. I thank you for your efforts to keep yourself and others safe. Yours etc..."

I cannot help but draw attention to this line: The decision to include you as part of what was the clinically extremely vulnerable group...

"What was..."? So we are no longer clinically vulnerable? Rubbish. I may have been double jabbed and about to get a booster and had a 'flu jab but none of that changes my underlying and pre-existing conditions. At the last count that was 11 - of which three impact negatively on my immune system and two on my ability to weather a serious infection anyway.

Sorry Javid but this is wrong, extravagant and a politically unsound misuse of government funds and my identity. And it may leave far too many elderly, frail and, yes, vulnerable people living alone asking themselves.... why this? what next?

Pot holes? You ain't seen nothin' yet!

THERE has been a pothole crisis this year. Delayed maintenance to cut budgets in the name of austerity have taken their toll and emergency work has been needed. Where it didn't happen in time vehicles have been damaged, riders spilled into the road and vast amounts of time, money and materials wasted. Not to mention human lives.

And it is going to get much, much worse. Why? Let me explain and offer a few images to help.

Seen a lot of these Road Closed signs lately? Indeed you have because BT and many of its competitors have been putting fibre in the ground. This will provide superfast broadband internet access across the nation, in hamlets, in villages, in remote farms. Everywhere.

The new Conservative Government promised it. They would of course since it represents an opportunity to make money for all their rich chums and themselves.

And so the great roll out has been gathering pace throughout the pandemic, and all in the name of 'content'.

And what is that? Well you have had it for years but now you can get it delivered to your very own 'device' (what happened to computers?) at lightning speed. It's movies and stuff. All you have to do is pay for it – and put up with road closures and damaged streets and footpaths.

Oh, and potholes. Lots and lots of potholes.

You see when you dig up anything you damage the surface. A lot. And unless you are very careful when you restore it water can seep into the edges. Then, in Britain and other northern territories, that water will freeze. Water expands when it freezes. Water is NOT compressible (unlike the air we breathe) so guess what? It breaks open the repaired road and traffic then rips up the now loose tarmac. Pot hole. Untended it gets bigger daily. And deeper.

So I predict that soon after Christmas we will start to see ever more and even bigger than ever potholes opening up along all the badly finished off trenches that have been dug to stick in a really very thin (50mmm tops) tube and then to dig up the road to millions of homes and offices to install similar 'service' pipes to deliver the brave new world of lightning fast stuff to you home or office.

A lot of this will have been done by 'stitching' – a technique invented yonks ago in my British Gas days to make two holes 20/40/60 metres apart and thread the gas/water/electric pipes from one hole to the next. Fewer holes, fewer risks of potholes. But back then these repairs were inspected and woe betide the team that did a bodge job. Ever seen an inspector these days? Private sector see; so good they don't need checking 'cos it damages profitability (oh yeah!?). So does doing a proper job.

Sorry to be a bearer of bad tidings because of course, it will be you who has to pay for all the repairs. Still, think how quick it will be using your high speed broadband connection to make the council tax payments.

Road Closed Ahead - and everywhere in East Anglia.

A classic pot hole - and very dangerous so close to a crossing.

Here comes another one - a classic situation; new trench, new crack, new entry point for water.

It takes hard work to re-surface a trench properly; this one looks good.

3.8 million people abandoned by this government

SO finally today we know the truth. This Government, our Government is prepared to abandon 3.8million people to luck and fortune.

Is this really what the Conservative and Unionist Party stands for? That the most vulnerable in society in the face of a potentially fatal disease should be left to face utterly unknown risks to life and limb?

For that is what Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid, my MP James Cleverley and the rest of the benighted members of this Government are doing. For they know, they have been told, in very clear terms what is going to happen in the next few months IF they relax all the constraints that have even then failed to keep us safe.

We, the vulnerable, have been told not to associate with anyone who has not had TWO vaccine injections. How will we know? How can we know in time to avoid contact? How can we possibly avoid contact with materials contaminated by these people whoever they are.

Are we really expected to ask everyone we come within 2 metres (6 feet) of : "Have you had both jabs?" And how do we know they speak the truth when they answer? How, for heavens sake?

So are they really saying that for the foreseeable future I and my wife must lock ourselves away? Are they going to re-institute the delivery of our vital medicines? Will they ensure that our food is delivered? Will the dreary food parcels re-start? 

What these lame-brained individuals seem to expect is that we should remove ourselves from risk by taking worse steps than were required during lockdown.

And meanwhile the unhinged will be drinking themselves to an early death, crushed up against each other at bars and clubs and sporting events willfully spreading the virus ever wider.

And worse, we seem to have no allies, no supporters. Most of the media is ignoring the story (paid off by the Tories I bet). Labour under its piss-poor leader Keir Starmer is equally silent.

If this were any other nation our hypocritical Government would be screaming 'genocide'!

But no. The Hitlers and the Goebbels of the 21st century are right here, right now, committing mass murder with impunity.

You're on your own now – best of luck...

IT seems that “following the science” does not mean the same for the likes of Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid as it might for me and you.

What else can explain this week's frankly bizarre announcement by Boris Johnson that, two weeks early, he can tell us that on July 19 practically all restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 and the overwhelming of the NHS were to end.

• Jostling at the bar for service is back.
• Screaming furious glee down the back of someone's neck is back.
• Joining in raucous singing and dancing in smoke filled underground caverns is back.

Yes, Britain is to return to normal and thus our excesses can once again feed the economy (and the pockets of these rich bastards). Tim Martin must be over the bloody moon!

If it all seems like some OTT BBC sitcom about life in Westminster then yes, minister, it is.

Before I really get into my stride let us play memory lane.

• The R number. Hands up if you can remember this and double stamps if you can recall the last time you heard it.
• Save the NHS. No that's too easy... last week and it was another lie.
• Eating out to help out? Yes, we all can, we did, and we spread the virus exceptionally well.

I can obviously go on but why should you let me have fun at your expense.

Anyway, back to following the science or, as I like to call it, making it up as we go along.

On day one in his new job the chap who cannot quite forget he was once chancellor stepped into the soiled shoes of Matt Hancock and immediately erected his first hostage to fortune. “We shall be free on July 19” said (sort of) Sajid Javid. I did love his shiny confidence.

But then he clearly had listened to his briefing from Number 10 on his appointment for lo and behold, Chubby Checkout, the cheeriest night club doorman in Britain, was saying the same thing days later.

So I thought that we should just check out the science, which I hesitate to tell you, they basically admit. It will get a very lot worse quite soon.

But here's what they may have missed. The only possible reason for lifting all these sensible restraints is to kick start the economy. Sadly the science says it will not work.

And why is because of the effects of what they freely admit: The national sick list is going to be HORRIFIC.

• Millions will be ill and off work, at least for a few days.
• Tens of millions may have to be in brief but necessary isolation – and not at work.
• All these millions will cost their firms, the health service and the taxpayer billions.

And the it gets even worser (yes I know but it will).

For LONG COVID is abroad and it is blighting the life and work of the young. You know, the power house that Boris is turning on (or off) daily. For Long Covid affects the young worse than us oldies and they could be off work for months, or even ever.

We have been led this far by fools and charlatans. But now it seems some homicidal maniacs have been rooted out by the Tory party and installed in Downing Street.

I hate to say it but where are Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock when you need them most?

The science says:.

* It is predicted there could be 2 million covid cases:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/06/data-predicting-2m-uk-summer-covid-cases-prompts-health-fears

* Ministers were warned that waiving the requirement for contacts to isolate immediately on 19 July would result in cases being up to 25% higher than if waiting another four weeks to do so. - Guardian

* Prof Whitty: “Since there’s a lot of Covid at the moment and the rates are going up, I regret to say I think we will get a significant amount more long Covid particularly in the younger ages where the vaccination rates are currently much lower,” he said at the Local Government Association’s annual conference.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/long-covid-rates-young-people-24472611

* The Office for National Statistics says: An estimated 962,000 people living in private households in the UK (1.5% of the population) were experiencing self-reported "long COVID" (symptoms persisting for more than four weeks after the first suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) infection that were not explained by something else), as of 6 June 2021; this is down slightly from 1.021 million (1.6%) at 2 May 2021.

There is loads more if you want to look!

Genocide or very nearly?

It is hard to see a Government under the command of a buffoon like Boris Johnson with henchmen of the level of incompetence of Matt Hancock and co guilty of anything quite so calculated and cruel as Genocide. But it seems to me that had some of the things that have happened in the past year or so been committed by the likes of, say Radovan Karadzic or Col Gaddafi that might have been the charge.

And while incompetence is not a defence it is not even available as a mitigation to an arch member of the band of brigands currently in charge. I refer of course to the apparently lovable Mr Rishi Sunak, a billionaire who hides most of his undoubtedly ill-gotten gains in the name of his wife.

So, and first, to the substance of my suggestion, reserving my pummelling of Mr Sunak to later.

We now know with absolute clarity (they have been telling us how 'clear' they are for months) that releasing Covid 19 patients from hospital back into the care homes was the cause of countless fatalities.

We also know now that no one was in any doubt at the time that they would transmit the disease within the care home to other residents and the staff.

We also know that the Government was aware that the availability of PPE was at best limited and at times entirely absent.

Thus it is that the decision to send patients back to their care home when sick was taken in full knowledge of the facts. Of course the actual moment of decision was well removed from those actually in charge.

But it is Matt Hancock and his boss Boris Johnson whom I accuse of knowingly consigning thousands of people to an unnecessary death. Given the victims all fall into one specific demographic unit and are among the most expensive users of Government services I suggest the charge should be GENOCIDE.

And so to Mr Sunak, who you will recall was appointed by the Prime Minister (oh how that sticks in the craw!) to the second highest political office in the land – Chancellor of the Exchequer.

It is now well known that his department – he indeed? – ordered that the fact that furlough support was after all available to those needing to isolate and so remove themselves from work should be hidden from the public.

We also know that anyone suffering from Covid19 has the ability to infect others, who may well be more vulnerable and thus die.

So anyone who, for economic reasons, could not remove themselves from the workplace will have infected others around them. If they, or these unintended victims are alive they now know that they could have taken time out to isolate and still maintained their home, family and life.

That they did not is the direct responsibility of the Treasury Office and the buck thus stops with billionaire Rishi Sunak.

I suggest he should be charged, along with his boss as accessory, with the death of a further countless number of innocent victims. And again I suggest that, since the decision was taken for fiscal reasons, the charge should be GENOCIDE.

.

So good to be back inside - happily the coffee is just as good!

SO we are back indoors at last and all our favourite spots are open and most re-visited already. And isn't it nice not to huddle in the cold and shiver through your coffee? All together - YES! Anyway those already visited are listed below.
The coffee at all is recommended. Most know their macchiato from their latte (and the one which didn't, does now). Some use Italian brands (the best ones) others have discovered the joys of Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds coffee companies. And, to be fair, Freepack stands up well in this company.

https://thelounges.co.uk/prado/+
The only chain (albeit quite a small one) that we recognise as any good - and very good it is in Sudbury. Excellent food and very well 'signposted' for those with food issues. Now with outside seating for the warmer weather.

https://www.facebook.com/spencersfarmshop/
An old favourite - now under new management. Early worries assuaged and the cafe is reopened. The brilliant chef is still in charge, the food is very good especially anything involving pastry. The Cox family is into branding so the cafe is now Carter's at Spencers (as the excellent market fruit and veg stall holders have named their bit of the farm shop Cox's at Spencers - all very up to the minute!)

https://www.assingtoncountrykitchen.co.uk/
Further afield this one but worth the drive. The barns site includes an excellent farm shop/deli. The cafe is a restaurant as well serving very good food. Possibly the best coffee of an excellent bunch.

 
https://www.facebook.com/Thehyacinthtearoomgreensteadgreen/
More traditional this one but very good coffee. Their cakes are a speciality so if you like towering creations of sponge and cream this is your heaven. Good honest food. In a lovely old barn with excellent outdoor, covered, seating. Visit the adjacent clothing and children's shop in the post office/general store next door.

https://theforagersretreat.co.uk/
And the best is last. This opened a couple of years back in converted stabling at Pebmarsh. Carl (chef) and Beth Shillingford opened the Retreat in time to be banjaxed by Covid-19! But they survive and the coffee is excellent as is the Italian deli. But best of all is Carl in the kitchen. His food is divine all the time. He likes to ring the changes and is at home with most food styles, including Eastern. One clever trick is to prepare cook and chill dishes for home finishing; they are nothing short of brilliant.
After a coffee call we booked Sunday lunch. Now we use Sunday lunch as a test in a way. Of course, with only two at home cooking decent joints is not a sensible use of time, money or effort. But good Sunday roast is an acid test for the kitchen. Well his beef was brilliant, his pork divine, the vegetables a triumph of choice and delivery, the potatoes I wish I could buy. We did our usual - one starter for me (shared) and one dessert for Janet (also shared). The dessert deserves mention - a trio of Italian confections - tiramisu of course, lovel cannoli (home made and soft) and the other defeats my memory but not my taste recall - divine!
So there we have it; providing June does indeed bust out all over we are home and dry!

Oh, just the Fox and Herb in Halstead High Street to return to - tomorrow!

 
And of course we are booked in for posh lunch at the unbeatably brilliant emporium of Pascal and Karine Canevet at Maison Bleue, Bury St Edmunds next month. More anon.
https://www.maisonbleue.co.uk/

Flight Path has landed.... we are stardust

MAYBE a couple of times in a lifetime you  happen upon a talent that enthrals you. You know well enough why but not how*.

As a teenager my enthusiasm for the standard pop fare was muted. But then I was better moved by Buddy Holly. Of course that, and he, were short lived. Then came Carole King ( it was a while before I realised she shared her talent with Gerry Goffin). But I realised my thing was the troubadour - the singer songwriter whose canvas was life, mostly their own of course. The tapestry unfurled.

I even knew part of the why - "Woods! You are tone deaf boy. Go and do your home work". A kindly soul, old Clover but he was partly correct. I was not deaf to tone - I can hear pitch pretty well. No, my problem was conveying what I heard to my sound production apparatus. It didn't travel. An atonal dirge**. 

So my life has been a tapestry of the sounds of other voices, other talents. Many came - Don McLean, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon... and more. Then came Janis Ian. Mid 70s, three albums and not  one was not on my list of top tracks. 

And for years, while I dallied with many, I reserved dillying for Ms Ian. Late in the 20th century I found more folk again - Steve Knightly especially. Then, early in the 21st I found Karine Polwart and was amazed. But it was TV that did for me.

That bloke Wallander in his Branagh mogrification and the theme... Nostalgia. I Googled. Super surprise. Not just a great voice but that magical creature - the troubadour; singer songwriter Emily Barker. I have never looked back.

The diminutive Australian, who adopted England in 2000ish (may have been in Cambridge when I was on the Science Park)  and Stroud a scant decade later. I have everything she has made (bar a couple of EPs) and seen her live three times; met her (briefly)  twice. Singer, songwriter, very good and self-taught guitarist, harmonica player (lover!) , keyboardist and independent publisher. Oh and coffee nut, too!

And today I met the muse within her. Well sadly not for real but her first serious foray into verse arrived; verse by way of album notes; album by reprise. Of course, Emily's her lyrics have ever been poetry frankly; the best always are, and she has performed some verse. But this work proves what I already knew and explains the reasons for being in thrall to her. Empathy, perception and plagency. And sharing.

I read the poems through once; then declaimed it as all poetry should be. Door shut, voice lowered but decently stressed. I am old fashioned and prefer a rhyme or two but cadence is everything really. This is very good. Really, very. It deserves being heard, read well.

Remembrances from her songs are never far away and as in the songs, all along are conveyed the people, places, philosophies and events of her life. We meet her grandmother's eyes ("there's a tear that resides..." song) and the dear river, and the smell of the jarrah  and horse leather. 

Memories of a premonitional day in Charleston as the hurricane howled down and thoughts of ancient times crowded in. Tonight I shall hear the album; re-worked genius interspersed with poetry readings. A decided indulgence!

This latest year has not been a year only of covid-19 for Emily or her fans. Most of all it has been the year of those sweeping accidental formations that flocks of birds create to pique our wonderment. Chaos theory writ in fluttering aerial fluency. And of virtual gigs in serried circles in empty halls. 

And the words tumble too in torrents of perception.  Her life events are in these verses as in her songs. Emily is a beautiful person inside and outside; we are lucky to have her here. To (mis)quote a dreadful advert, I am lucky to have found her. 

BELOW: The sleeve emblem of her latest oeuvre "Flight Path Rhymes" taken from "The Art of Flying" by Jan van Ijken; and below a stunning study of Emily by Emilie Sandy. 

https://emilybarker.bandcamp.com/album/flight-path-rhymes

*The how? It's all about your own response... to the sound, the words, the talents and the person. Obviously. 

**So now you know what I would give my right arm for!

Never mind 4%, the entire NHS deserves the George Cross...

MANY stories of the horrors of this second wave of the coronavirus pandemic have come to us all and to me as well. But until this week they had been mostly second hand. Not now. Not at all.

This week I met my first survivor, or what remains of her for only she can really know what is left after months of sheer terror and horror. Nothing in this senior and highly qualified nurse's experience had prepared her for this. Her words.

Some years ago after many years on wards in major hospitals she elected to become a community nurse. Not by any means a sinecure but with normal, family friendly hours (for the most part) and more variety and less organisationally generated stress.

The first wave and lockdown passed. The regular work was made more difficult by “hands, face, space” but most of it could be done.

Cometh the second wave and everything changed. This was, as hospitals term it, a major emergency. And that means all hands on deck. The community work was put on hold and our hero was immediately recruited to the Covid-19 wards of a major Essex hospital. As an experienced respiratory nurse she was invaluable.

But that was only the beginning. While she opened up to me I did not (much as I wanted hack-wise to do so) press her. But it seems the hospitals had to call in every reserve they could – from the long since retired to the not at all qualified.

And so, instead of working with a hugely experienced and capable team at her back our hero had to be trainer, mentor, and mental support worker alongside the trauma of critically sick patients heading to, but not often out of, ICU.

None of this she actually enunciated – just the basic concept – but her eyes told the rest of the story.

I have had, over the years, much experience of the medical professions. For very good reason my esteem of the nurses and hospital doctors has always been higher than for any other branch of the clinicians world.

It has been my experience too that the difference between nursing and doctoring professions is actually very clear: nurses are trained to care while doctors are trained to diagnose. Both of course 'treat' but the difference in approach lies right there in the training.

And as a result I have never really doubted that, when push comes to shove, the NHS can become unbelievably skilled, capable and warm.

But I have never before been in such awe at the sheer bloody guts and determination that a major emergency can demand of its troops.

The entire NHS has earned the George Cross – the highest civilian medal and known as the civilians' Victoria Cross. And none less than my brave hero; her eye tell the whole story.

Make no mistake, the George Cross is awarded for: “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.”

Given they had no vaccination and poor PPE this was indeed their finest hour.

I don't want Boris Johnson to win any election ever but if he does the decent thing for the NHS on this then May 6 will be his even if politically he does not deserve it.

Go left! Not so smart motorways and silly adverts...

 Today we start with a video... but you may wish to read a bit first: https://youtu.be/zDfdQlSBc6Q

And a screenshot from same:

And a picture. Of a crash. On the M3. Where there used to be a hard shoulder.... It's at the end of this piece - brace yourself.

SOMETIMES one does want to hear from Government. Especially when they are seeking response to major changes, such as the provision and rules of motorways.

But here's the problem - various government sites are deemed spam by BT's mail servers! Yes that's right, government messages are treated as unsolicited commercial mail - spam!

Now I use a mail client of course so rarely visit my webmail site. In fact I try to visit roughly once a month and check the very heavily over filled spam folder. Which does not reach me of course in most cases. BT's spam protection is ridiculous frankly and seems out of or beyond my control. Anyway...

There it was, from Highways England on March 1. A consultation on changes to the Highway Code regarding what they laughingly call 'Smart Motorways' but which in reality are just a new way of killing people. No, fact - although to be fair so far only a couple of coroners have said so.

Anyway I would have had much to say - but thanks to BT it ended up in spam and I was late on the prowl and the expiration date was March 29!

So I will say it here - this is insane!

HighwaysEngland and the rest of the buffoons in this pantomime, having ended up on a couple of legal actions regarding the killing of innocent people being forced the stop during a breakdown in the former hard shoulder now inside lane of an expanded motorway, are now seeking to 'normalise' their cock up.

They are providing new must/must not and should/should not rules in a vain attempt to make the stupid idea either safer (!!!) or palatable 9!).

Now for those who have had their attention from real life utterly diverted by the woes and worries of Covid-19 the issue is this:

Motorways have so added to the attraction of car ownership that they are now overcrowded by people wanting to actually drive their cars from place to place.

Expanding motorways is one of the most expensive ways of increasing traffic capacity. It need not have been if a bit of extra width had been purchased decades ago 'just in case' but it wasn't.

The banks and financial houses having robbed Britain blind a decades ago, successive governments have compounded the felony through 'austerity' - the process by which the poor have to pay for the excesses of the rich, especially bankers who thought our money was chips in a casino.

A lot of these poor people are actually in work. This used to be a profitable endeavour by which people earned enough to have a roof over their head, three square meals a day, decent clothing, and enough money for some travel and even means of travelling. In exchange for one job, 40 or so hours a week and sick and holiday pay.

Thus they had the nerve to venture onto the very roads which had been advocated by two heavily embroiled men - one a builder of roads and bridges; the other a representative of road hauliers.

(I refer to Messrs Marples and Beeching, the twin demons of the 1950s and 60xs)

Now this influx of extra traffic meant that everything slowed down. A dreadful state of affairs if you are a major employer (people stuck in traffic don't work) or carrier of goods (customers get irritated by delays).

Desperate to avoid any further expense on public works, the Highways people turned to the obvious source of wisdom - a youthful brat/ bratess who was not around when the theory of the highspeed road, its inherent dangers, and the 'safety refuge' of the 'hard shoulder' was dreamed up.

Thus this genius observed that every motorway seemed to have an empty inside lane.

"Let us fill it" he opined.

And they all nodded. "This will save billions! Give the man (it may well have been a woman of course) a peerage" they all cooed.

And so they began. At first it seemed to work, especially near junctions. But then the reports started to come in. Vehicles were breaking down! They were sitting there like lame ducks in the former safety refuge (that's the real name of the hard shoulder by the way) and being hit by speeding vehicles - usually HGVs with horrendous consequences. Some of course managed to avoid the obstruction but the results were even more horrific.

Obviously something had to be done! And then they had the solution - "We shall re-write the Highway Code and while we are about we shall make it all seem really silly by running a series of utterly banal advertisements on television showing two insects (the last two after the motorway cull of all insect life) urging a driver to sweep across three lanes of traffic to make use of one of their sparsely provided and totally inadequate 'refuge zones'.

Bloody hell, you could not make this up and get it broadcast!

What the deliberately blind cannot see!

ONE of the most extraordinary things during this long and wearisome year of pandemic is just how many sane, educated people have taken up the various conspiracy theories. 

Now I can understand a willingness not to trust this government. They have after all performed appallingly badly throughout, squandering our money without proper diligence and placing contracts with their chums on far too many occasions not be seen as criminally corrupt. 

But to reject that the events are even happening is to go so far as to suggest serious mental illness frankly. And this is especially true if these same people have easy access to all the proofs that are available. And like the Moon landings, far too many people would have to be in on the scam for this not to be happening - you can bribe a few hundred but millions are beyond reach! 

The first rejection to shock me is that there are serious frauds involved in recording the deaths. One example is the idea that a young man, tested positive for Covid-19 but who dies in a motorcycle accident three weeks later is recorded as a Covid-19 death! This is beyond ridiculous as so many people would have to be in on the fraud. But proving that one single ridiculous error occurred would be hard. Proving that it cannot matter in the great scheme of this pandemic is blindingly easy. 

First there are 1.3 million employees in the NHS and they have all been reporting assiduously that life this past year has been harrowing and horrific. And scores have died. 

 Second we have seen for ourselves what is happening in hospitals and it has not been easy viewing. 

Thirdly, people have died and families have grieved in numbers too great to even contemplate. But the funeral industry can bear testimony. 

Fourth, and I have to say this is the absolute clincher - excess deaths match the numbers. 

What you ask are excess death. Well until recently they were not something much heard about. But they are beyond any doubt the best measure of the extent of the pandemic. You see it is easy to know how many people 'should' die this year. Or any given year. We have a life expectancy of about 80 years. There are about 64 million of us in the UK. So one eightieth should die each year. That's about 800,00 people. From all causes. 

Guess what? This last year we have seen well over 125,000 'excess deaths' - and all down to coronavirus. Tested and proved on the death certificates of them all. And here below is the annual return for our 12 months of horror and necessary cessation of rights to freedom. 

The black line marks the boundary below which can be seen the average deaths in an average year in white. Our two peak periods of agony and lack of ecstasy can be seen, with the valley of hope just before Christmas equally bloody obvious. So please people, stop kidding yourself and others and accept the vaccine.

Now, about your jab Mr Woods...

THERE are those who think that like everything else so far, the vaccine programme is finally running into trouble. As it happens I do not agree. But let me first get something off my chest.

 There is something truly criminal about deliberately calling the failed test and trace programme the NHS Test and Trace but not calling the pretty good vaccine programme the NHS Vaccine Programme. That really is scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to gilding your so very tarnished lilies, Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock. 

 Right , now vaccines. Back in December I did some rough sums and decided that a vaccine for all at risk could be managed by Easter. And it very much looks like I was right. 

To be fair I assumed that they would use the existing NHS facilities, rather than acquiring a whole load of new locations. But in the end the vast majority of jabs will be propelled by NHS staff so fair play. What we did not fully know then was the 'two-jab' scenario which is what is exercising some minds. 

OK, they say to achieve the first jab for say 30million by end April-ish but how about TWO JABS? Well I of course hate to defend anything this bunch of trained chimps has done but I think they did work out the second jab issue. 

The problem was that getting the most with the first jab was the priority since that is what is cutting the NHS impact of the second wave. So we saw them start at about 250,000 a day and now it has ramped to over 400,000. 

The cheat was on the Pfizer jab - ratified at 3-4 weeks Hancock and co cheekily expanded that to the AZ-O 12 weeks to give them a chance to: 

A - get the most people with the first and 

B - have a fair chance of getting the second in as well. 

 Now we shall see if the plan works. Reaching the most at risk means about 20million; we are there on first jab. We are starting on second jab. If we can manage the 400k a day that is around 3million a week. 7-8 weeks will see some 20m hospital risk cases with a 70-90% protection. I say they can do it. 

 When I did my piece the 'two-jab' scenario had not been declared. It is in the archive - December 19. (For the record we had our first on January 26; second AZ-O is due late April; stocks permitting!) 

The price of not planning for emergencies is about to be paid...

SO it looks as if we might have found our way out of the pandemic. Rather like many earlier diseases including influenza the answer is a vaccine. Of course we have a way to go to achieve a 100% secure inoculation but all the signs are good.

Like influenza, covid-19 is not going away. The virus will remain in circulation for decades yet. The hope is we can maintain control, limit its impact and in particular keep it out of our hospitals and mortuaries.

The time is fast approaching when we must do the reckoning. Blame will be easy to apportion – a lack-lustre government led by a mendacious and vacillating man whose inclination is always towards bullshit rather than brains, optimism rather than realism made worse by an assemblage of third rate ministers incapable of persuading their boss that the game was up.

But what to do? In fact that too is not difficult – BE PREPARED. Indeed you could put Boris in shorts and a toggle and almost hear him say it to his troop.

It was his Tory peers who got us into this mess. They who led us into the dark waters of unpreparedness. Them and their mantra of austerity have now cost us billions.

I read only the other day that the UK has only seven ICU (HDU) beds per 100,000 population compared to more than 20 in most European countries.

• And we know from bitter experience that we had inadequate PPE.

• And that we lacked spare hospital capacity due to the closing of wards formerly mothballed against emergency need.

• And inadequate spare capacity of ventilators.

Plus we ended up building Nightingale bed farms for which we actually had no staff and no equipment and ultimately no use. And a long trusted test and trace system was allowed to decline and has had to be restored. It has taken almost a year!

As events unfolded we also proved incapable of marshalling forces to help us in a fiscally sound way. Instead we sprayed contracts worth billions at every old chum who put their hand up and ended up among other insanities with one car park in Kent (among many I will bet) in which either 48 or 96 containers full of rejected PPE will languish until we wake up and send it to help out in Africa.

So we also need to prepare a contacting process that can reliably and securely deliver contracts to suitable and proven sources in a secure and effective way without the need for protracted tendering processes.

This is all called Emergency Planning and it used to be something even I in my small way played a part. And it mattered. Every year the plans were dusted down, rehearsed, revised and restored to readiness. While I and the media practised messaging (which didn't go well either!) my colleagues were reviewing their suppliers, contracts, commitments.

Most important is to restore our state of preparedness for emergencies in general. There had been a disgraceful reduction before this pandemic and the cost of catch up probably is about one third of all the costs. Spending every year on readiness can save billions.

It's enough to make even Rishi Sunak cry....

THERE is a mantra that may have been heard a lot in the corridors of Whitehall and Westminster this past year. And it is a mantra that has always cost the public purse dear.

It is the eternal cry of the embattled politician, administrator or legislator and it is music to the ears of Public Relations men the world over:

“We must be seen to be doing something...”

It may go a long way to explain why our dear government, backs to the wall in the Covid crisis, has been so busy throwing vast sums of taxpayers' money – this generation and the next two – into the corporate whirlpool run and controlled by their chums in the City and the Corporate headquarters of the world. The place where the politicians themselves hope to end up, guzzling greedily in their declining years.

What the mantra means is never mind what exists we need something new, bigger, shinier that we can “announce” to our public.

So, faced with the disaster that the stocks of PPE so willingly dumped during 'austerity' turned out fundamental when the chips were down, had to be resurrected by spewing dodgy contracts in the direction of any persuasive tycoon willing to swallow a few million of tax money.

So it was that faced with a similar and sudden realisation that actually having a few score spare ITC/HDU wards in mothballs was essential really not just extravagant that cash had to be hurled into the private sector to secure what should have been there already.

And when the shortage of what used to be called Iron Lungs, dumped due to 'austerity' became an issue yet more public money was found to persuade sharp eyed dealers to get busy. Or not very.

So it is that those pointless, unstaffable but hugely impressive and expensive and brilliantly mis-named Nightingale Hospitals came to be built, or at least 'created'. And then dumped, unused.

The list goes on and has now reached its zenith, although to be fair this time the effect has been impressive if arguably over priced.

I refer here to the the fact that, if you throw vast sums of money and promissory notes at organisations used to working in these difficult fields they will come up trumps in short order. I refer to 'Big Pharma' and its truly impressive ability to get brand new vaccines to jab-ready condition in a matter of months.

But there is more, for we have also witnessed the sudden development, construction and staffing of scores of vaccination hubs to deliver the inoculation that will, in the end drive coronavirus down to influenza status. When the job will be handed back to the systems already in place for the job, if tragically under-funded before the sudden need.

Exactly what all this will cost us, the taxpayer, down the line is a closely guarded secret just now. I have noticed that even Rishi Sunak's eyes appear to be watering at times. It will be a lot and take decades to amortise.

Yep, they sure have been seen to be doing something. When not justified by emergency as they are here many of these grand designs would be called vanity projects. Like HS2. What was needed was more investment in the northern transport services, especially east-west. What we have got is a more comfy ride for 20 minutes less for the London-Manchester brigade, usefully passing Birmingham en route. And a chance to charge a lot more for it.

The real problem is that after any period in which Government thinks it has to be able to announce big solutions to urgent problems the same old, same old cry goes up: Can't do that; no money, austerity... all is austerity.

This parting is no sweet sorrow

THIS Covid-19 is a truly terrible thing. Bad enough that it kills and worse that it cripples normal life. But it cuts us off from those we care about and makes no concession for illness.

My brother, who saved my life by giving his T-cells to re-build my immune system in a bone marrow transplant 15 years ago, is now into his ninth week in hospital. Never mind it is one of the best - St James, Leeds - and his specialist surgeon is also a top man but nine weeks is a very long time to be under high intervention medicine. The op itself - major elective - went well enough. It is what has followed that is a disaster. 

Of course he is institutionalised by know  - but the institution has had him lying abed for so long it hardly notices him any more. He gets the very best of everything - every device known to medicine is being deployed. The food was poor until he discovered the curries. 

But no one can visit. His wife is in Cambridge fretting daily. I am in Essex fretting daily. His children are scattered and can only join the general fret.

We have sent a card or two but more is difficult - Covid makes it so and an imposition on the staff to 'cool' everything before it is handed over if not from his 'bubble'.  

He has even had Covid. It got onto the ward! And recovered which seems incredible except the level of infection may, or indeed must, have been very low. 

So amidst all our pleasure at having the first vaccine jab and thus beginning to see some light up ahead we are in gloom for brother Roger. Yet another procedure looms on Friday. Le t us hope it works and is the last of so many. 

Praise for some but the grumble remains....

FIRST a thank you and a congratulation to the Pump House Surgery, Earls Colne for delivering the Covid-19 vaccine in well organised and pleasing manner. Well done to all including the volunteers.

But, second a bit of a grumble in effect on their behalf.

Information is power but it is also about co-operation. And withholding it can lead to unnecessary problems.

At no time in this crisis has anyone bothered to explain the real challenges facing the people charged with safely delivering the vaccine. Of course we all took as a model the 'flu vaccine, safely delivered by every surgery and pharmacy virtually.

Would it not have been sensible, Matt Hancock, our CCGs and co, to ensure we understood that this was not considered possible. At all.

What actually had to happen it appears is to take an entire surgery OUT of the front line of primary care and turn it into a vaccination centre.

And that clearly could not happen to every surgery. So here in mid Essex, where the foolish CCG failed to inform anyone of anything, the long and narrow Colne Valley and its environs posed a special problem.

Patient convenience would have set up at least two centres spaced along the 20-mile corridor from the Hedinghams , through Halstead and down to Wakes Colne.

But that would have meant two surgeries taken out of commission as primary care centres. The difficult decision, taken without so much as a word to the public, was to use only one - Earls Colne - even though this meant risky travel for a lot of people. What it did mean was, as I saw today, that a highly efficient and safe process could be instituted.

I for one have been appalled at the apparently laggard vaccine delivery progress in this part of Essex, Suffolk and other parts of the east. And I have made my feelings known. I would apologise but the failure to provide a decent level of public information is the cause and for that the CCG and others deserve a short sharp shock.

What also bothers me is that this Government during this crisis has spent an absolute fortune of our money on consultants. Could they not find any to advise on the PR aspects of this most critical public information process?