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.