After a cloudy start it brightened up. I stayed in through the morning working on editing my Harper book!! Lo and Behold – I’ve finished!!! I quickly sent it off to the publishers and feel quite euphoric! It’s all done! (Well apart from sorting some photos.)
The sun shone on me as I took my walk. There was a handsome spotted woodpecker hammering in a tree. I watched him a while. My adopted horse had been put in a back field. He couldn’t get to me to get his carrot and just peered forlornly over the fence.
I checked my diary today. I started doing my five mile walks on the 5th of March last year. That means I have completed a whole year (and twelve days) of consecutive walks!!
It’s a bouyant day!! No Covid Blues today!! Now I can focus on my Sci-fi novel!! I might have a glass or two to celebrate!!
Meanwhile, out in Coronaland the madness is galloping apace.
The more I find out about the corruption and cronyism that has taken place the more I despair. Billions of pounds have just been splashed around to Tory donors for all manner of contracts. One contract I read of today was a £178m contract for PPE given to a woman running a dog food company. She farmed it out to a firm in Hong Kong and pocketed millions.
It is obscene and corrupt. We cannot pay the nurses and key workers who have risked their lives but we can give millions to profiteers!!!
The nurses, teachers and those on low pay will be shoved back into austerity for years in order to pay for this corrupt shambles.
There is no transparency as required by law – no tendering as required by law – just incompetence (at best).
Then we have the mess over Brexit. Johnson has created such ill-will that we are virtually at war. Instead of friendly partners we have created hostile enemies and are paying for it. Trade has collapsed, the red tape and border checks are crippling, firms are going bust and it’s all being hidden up!!!
Brexit is shaping to be even worse that Project Fear was saying it would be. Farage, Johnson and Gove want locking up. I don’t know about £350 million a week for the NHS – they are bankrupting the country. This is costing us a fortune.
At the moment the vaccines are being weaponised in this ‘war’. The AstraZeneca is being shunned and called dangerous by the EU and they are threatening to stop the Pfizer from going to the UK. That could scupper my second shot.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot – I think we’ve shot ourselves in the head. Things can only get worse!!
But don’t worry! The Tories have sewn up the BBC, own all the tabloids and everything will be hunky dory. They’ll blame it on Covid and the EU. They even made protests impossible!
Oh for opposition!!! They are literally getting away with murder – 125,000 to be precise.
What an incompetent bunch of crooks!! They’ve made lying an artform!!
The more one finds out about the dodgy deals and corruption the worse it gets. Billions of pounds have been squandered on Tory cronies. All of this huge amount of money will be paid back through years of austerity for nurses and public servants while these profiteers pocket millions.
This is from the Good Law Project.
Good Law Project
This week’s Panorama gave us the extraordinary tale of a dog food supplier turned PPE broker bagging herself millions acting as a ‘bridge’ for a Hong Kong supplier. Details of the largest contract – worth £178m – came to light only after the BBC’s probing prompted the Government to publish. It sought to explain its failure as an “admin error.” But even if true – which we doubt – this doesn’t justify a further breach of the law on transparency.
Despite the High Court ruling in our favour last month that Matt Hancock had broken the law in failing to publish pandemic contracts, the failures continue.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and his Minister mislead Parliament about the scale of the breaches. And refuse to come clean about the beneficiaries of its ‘VIP’ lane. In his judgment, Judge Chamberlain said “The Secretary of State spent vast quantities of public money on pandemic-related procurements during 2020. The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.”
We agree. And so we have written to Matt Hancock launching new legal proceedings for his continuing failures to comply with the law. Our grounds focus on two key issues:
First, the Secretary of State’s failure to comply with his obligations to publish Contracts Finder notices (CFNs) within the requisite 90 days. In relation to contracts entered into on or before 7 October 2020, he had failed to do so in well over 50% of cases.
Second, the Secretary of State’s decision to obscure the key provisions in contracts. Many contracts are being published in heavily redacted form – one example from December shows the quantity, unit price, size and colour of gowns being redacted; another contract entered into almost a year ago but published only this month is so heavily redacted that no information whatsoever is visible regarding what was even purchased. Publication in this form isn’t transparency; it is advertising the lack of it.
“One unfortunate consequence of non-compliance with the transparency obligations…is that people can start to harbour suspicions of improper conduct…” said Judge Chamberlain in last month’s judgment. We agree. If they have nothing to hide why won’t they publish?
We are on the brink of a new world. The future does not need an army of workers. They are fast becoming surplus to requirements.
Look at the jobs that are going to be replaced by automation:
drivers
shelf stackers
factory work,
deliverers
miners
brain surgeons
pilots
soldiers
bricklayers
Robots and automation will do both unskilled and skilled work.
In the present day the skilled workforce was kicked out of well-paid jobs in mining, shipyards, docks, building, steel works, car plants, factories. They were replaced by automation. A machine can work night and day and does not need paying. It is cheaper, more efficient and less troublesome. A manufacturer can make much higher profits.
Our docks are all container ports now. There are no stevedores shoveling coal or carrying sacks.
The displaced workforce were put out to work in low-paid menial tasks. They are now stacking shelves in supermarkets, flipping burgers, driving an uber or dashing around all over the country delivering parcels.
Soon those jobs will go. Driverless cars will soon be the norm. Deliveries will be made by robots. We already have self-stacking supermarkets with no need for a checkout. They have machines that lay bricks and robots that build cars. There are automated fast-food joints. Drones replace soldiers and people are blown up remotely. Robots do a better job. The product is done to perfection. They are more efficient, faster and better. They are also a lot cheaper.
I have been doing a daily walk up my hill past the fields and observing the huge fields either side of my lane.
A couple of hundred years ago these were small fields with hedges and streams. The village would have been involved in planting tending and harvesting. It was very labour intensive and inefficient (but fun). Now it is different.
A big tractor comes along and in one day it ploughs the whole massive field. After a while another big tractor discs it. A tractor comes along and sprays the field with fertiliser (the needs assessed from assays. A tractor would come along and sow the seeds. Every few weeks a tractor comes along and sprays the field with pesticide and herbicide. On the big day, when the crop is perfect, three massive machines come along and harvest the peas. I stood and watched (with memories of laboriously shucking peas with my grandmother). The machines chopped the plants, separated pods from plant and shucked the peas. A tractor with wagon rolled alongside the harvester and the peas were poured from a shoot into the wagon. The wagon drove off to the factory where they were frozen and packaged to be sent to the supermarket. The whole field was done in a morning.
What took a whole village could now be achieved by one man, part-time, and five men for a morning.
In a few years time even this will be automated. There will be no need for tractor drivers.
What struck me was that no pea was touched by human hand. The whole process of sowing, tending, harvesting, freezing, packaging and ending up in the shop is automated. The only time a pea touches a human is when the fork enters the mouth.
The end result of this automation is scary.
The manufacturers can produce more goods more cheaply and efficiently and make more money.
People are no longer needed. The workforce is redundant.
We end up with a two-tier world. The extremely rich manufacturers and a very poor underclass who cannot find work.
Something has to change.
New jobs will be made. Robots need tending to. There is design and innovation. Factories need overseeing. Computers need programming.
But a lot of these jobs require skills and intelligence. Not everybody is suited.
There are the caring and leisure industries and education. But even these will be affected by A/I. Distanced learning and robotic friends, arse-washing toilets and smart wheelchairs.
The model for capitalism is under threat. How can people buy the mass of things manufactured if they have no money?
This could lead to a world of pleasure and leisure or a world of two classes of people.
Which is it?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be paid handsomely for work and only had to work two or three days a week?
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be trained to carry out caring jobs – nursing, caring for the elderly, looking after nature and teaching – which paid well and gave you plenty of time to prepare and have time off – with the money to do things.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a more equal society where the wealthy was more evenly distributed (on a global basis) so that everybody could proper from this new affluence?
Or is it going to end up with an extremely wealthy elite, greedily raking in the money while the rest of us live on peanuts?
The question is whether it is the right time to embrace Genetically modified crops and animals and solve all the world’s food problems or are there too many unknowns?
On one hand there are always people who will oppose new ideas on the basis of ‘fear of change’.
On the other hand we have a long history of big corporations (and governments) lying to us so that we don’t know the true story (Nuclear energy and waste disposal is a good example – they even covered up the meltdown in Windscale for fear of upsetting the public even though they knew it would result in many deaths).
I am a Biologist. I am excited by the possibilities that GM opens up. I am also extremely wary of all information put out by the authorities. They spin and manipulate for their own ends.
What is Genetic Modification (GM)?
Science has progressed to the point where we are able to take a gene from one organism and put it into another.
That means we could take the chlorophyll producing gene and introduce it into humans. We would all become green and produce oxygen and sugar when exposed to light. Now that might be a silly idea and have lots of implications. But it is feasible. We could even introduce genes from jelly fish that would make us glow in the dark and cut down road deaths.
There is nothing intrinsically unnatural about this process. I mean – we are not manufacturing ‘new’ genes.
What it means is that any beneficial genes that have evolved in one species could be introduced into another.
That seems extremely useful so far.
The Benefits of GM
1. We could introduce a gene from one plant into another that would give it a defence against crop pests. This would save having to spray it with insecticide. That would prevent pollution and run-off of pesticides into waterways and prevent nearby plants being plastered with pesticides indiscriminately killing off bees and other insects.
2. We could introduce a gene that increased yield. This would result in more produce per acre and less land being needed to grow crops. It would enable us to feed people without encroaching on more wilderness and killing off wild-life and habitat.
3. We could introduce a gene that would enable crops to grow in arid lands. We could grow crops in deserts and not have to use water from rivers to irrigate. This would benefit aquatic wild-life. Fresh water is rapidly becoming a major problem. We have droughts and shortages.
4. We could introduce a herbicide resistance gene that would enable us to spray herbicides and reduce the need for weeding.
5. We could introduce genes that would fix nitrogen and enable plants to be grown in poor soil.
6. It would make farming less labour intensive. There would be less chemicals and less need to spray. This would reduce fossil fuel use.
7. We could introduce genes that would enrich the protein, vitamin and mineral content of food. We could produce crops with omega 3 fish oil. This would make food healthier.
8. We could introduce genes that would produce oil, plastic or other useful chemicals. This would reduce the need to drill or strip mine.
9. We could use the technique to introduce genes into human beings to treat terrible genetic diseases such as Huntingdon’s Chorea, Cystic Fibrosis or Haemophilia.
10. We could introduce genes that would enhance flavour or texture or give other benefits e.g. Golden Rice – a GM variety with a gene that produces Vitamin A (over a million children a year die from lack of Vitamin A – this would save them, their eyesight, and provide numerous other health benefits).
The Case against Genetic Modification (GM).
1. It is not natural. God would not like it.
2. It has been set up by huge multinational companies for profit. They are lying, cheating, unscrupulous and not to be trusted. They have a history of lying, bribing officials, using legal loopholes to flout legislation and spinning the downside. Their only interest is profit. They don’t care about people, health or wild-life.
3. It encourages large-scale farming and monoculture. This would be to the detriment of the small-scale farmer and biodiversity. It would encourage greater mechanisation.
4. There is a health risk from the products of these genes in our foods e.g. the chemicals the plants would produce to provide immunity against pests or as herbicide resistance might be harmful to animals or humans. It would end up in our food.
5. The herbicide tolerance promotes over-spraying with pesticide. The resultant residue on food is a health risk. The run off and airborne spray is a pollutant that would damage the environment.
6. There is a danger of cross-fertilisation and breeding introducing these genes into weeds, animals and plants that we do not want. We end up with weeds being immune to herbicide and get an even bigger problem.
7. There is a risk of transmigration of genes (via virus vectors) from the crops to other organisms. It would create huge resistance problems.
My view for what it is worth.
a. I do not trust multinationals. They have too much money and power. They can circumvent laws.
b. This is not a religious issue. Superstition should not come into it. This is science.
c. I think the transmigration and cross-fertilisation issues need objectively studying to see if there is a danger. I think there won’t be. These genes have been around for millions of years in the host organisms.
d. Likewise with the health issues.
e. I think the benefits outweigh the risks.
What I would like to see happen
1. I would like an independent overseeing body to regulate. They would have the power to look at all aspects and make judgements on global health and environmental basis.
2. I would like lots more research (unhampered by protesters) so that we can ascertain the facts about health risks, cross-fertilisation, transmigration etc.
3. I would like strict regulation, erring on the side of caution, with stiff penalties for transgression. This would create barriers for cross-fertilisation, establish impact on environment and regulate things such as chemical use and spraying.
4. I would like to see GM used wisely for the benefit of humans and everything else on this planet.
For me the production of sufficient food is crucial. We have a population spiralling out of control. We have to feed it. I am for anything that is more efficient so that we are less polluting and encroach on wilderness to a far lesser degree.
I believe, with due regulation and stringent enforcement, that it may be time to embrace GM.
I’m not attracted to religious buildings because of religion. Being an atheist that side of things is amusing. What interests me is the architecture and art.
Religions run a power business. They compete with royalty in the game of impressing. While Kings and Queens build palaces and fortresses that are intended to intimidate religions build temples, mosques and cathedrals.
They both employ the very best artisans and artists.
It was fun to see the school kids dressed in bright coloured uniforms so that they can be easily spotted.
I was sitting on the bus going back to pick up my car. It gave me a higher view over the hedgerows into the fields beyond. I could see all the new builds.
As we approached the town there was more and more. New estates were springing up. The trees, streams and ponds were disappearing along with the remaining patches of wasteland. Even the word wasteland betrays the attitude. If it is not being built on or used for agriculture it is wasted.
So where do the voles, mice, hedgehogs, newts, frogs and toads go? Is there space foe the lizards, slowworms and snakes? Are we sanitising the countryside of insects?
I looked out over the fields and all the birds I see are pigeons, crows, magpies and sea-gulls – the scavengers. They are having a fine old time.
But how far can we continue pushing nature into the periphery before it runs out of room?
Is it all going to be ploughed fields, manicured lawns and ornamental shrubs?
How many creatures are shivering in the wreckage of their homes?
Being cool. What’s that about? Some people just are and some people never could be. It’s not so much fashion and style as attitude.
Kerouac in his lumberjack shirt and jeans was supercool.
Miles Davis had it.
But Michael Jackson was just a showbiz phenomenon.
To be cool is to be locked in to the flow of the universe, the cosmic dynamo – to have the energy flow straight through you – to be an individual. There are no trends when you’re cool. You just is. You be.
Back in the 50s it was the American blacks who were supercool. They set the pace for the hipsters. They wanted to live, to go and to hit into the energy of life. They had nothing to buy into, nothing to lose; theirs was the ultimate freedom.
The Beats sucked into that energy – go, go, go – the jazz, the wailing sax.
The Rockers tasted a different beat and rocked.
The Hippies dropped out and grooved.
The Punks wanted to tear it down.
The moment the fashions and styles were born they were dead. All the trendies jumping on the wave as if it was fashion. It wasn’t. It was life. There was no part-time life.
Chris Riddell is right on the ball. The antivaxxers are risking their own lives and keeping us all locked down longer. Covid-19 is far far more lethal than any vaccine.
The Trumpist anti-science igorance is no defence against death.
