The Corona Diaries – Day 155

Posted on by Opher

The squirming and blame-shifting is starting up big time. The absolute chaos with the A-Level results you would think that the people in charge, the ones who oversaw it, who gave the instructions, should take responsibility. Seemingly not.

Gavin Williamson is innocent!

Boris Johnson is innocent!

It was a mutant algorithm! Nothing to do with those in charge! (What is a mutant algorithm?).

So Johnson and Williamson are exonerated! Sally Collier, from Ofqual, is thrown under the bus. Then Dominic Cummings sees a way to turn it to his advantage and have another go at dismantling the Civil Service and Top Education Civil Servant Jonathan Slater is chucked off the back of the careering train.

That’s sorted then. No incompetence in government – nothing to do with their orders or oversight – it’s those blooming civil servants and quangos.

The U-turn over facemasks is down to better scientific advice.

Great stuff – Now – I wonder who they are going to find was responsible for all those Covid-19 deaths? And who was responsible for having the worst hit economy in the G7? I’m sure we’ll find out before too long!

Meanwhile, over in the States, Trumpo is getting desperate. He’s now pushing the plasma therapy as a wonder treatment and panacea. Helpful it might be – a cure it is not. Like all the other untested drug treatments he’s been lauding (quite apart from the bleach and UV) he’s clutching at straws. The job losses are kicking in and the economy is shot (despite the feds artificially pumping in money). Trumpo is pushing for the vaccine to be available prior to the election – safe or not!

In the three-way race for the world’s most incompetent leader in the Covid-19 pandemic, Johnson is out in front with the most deaths per million – but there is plenty of time for Trump and Bolsonaro to overtake and become the world leader. Today Bolsonaro edged ahead again 47,134 new cases and 1,271 deaths. Trump was in the lead yesterday but has just slipped behind – just another 1,136 new cases and 1,271 deaths.

I’m sure Trumpo will exert himself (once he comes off the golf course) and exhort his followers to stop social distancing, handwashing and wearing facemasks because that’s a Deep State plot. He’ll soon get those stats back up!

Johnson seems to have petulantly dropped out of the game. He’s stopping the release of stats so we don’t know where we are! (Always worrying when leaders stop the release of information – makes me think that something stinks). He’s also massaged the figures. They’ve come down a lot because ‘we’ve been measuring them wrong’. Come on Johnson, this is no way to get to be world-beating! Get those figures up! – What? You are? You’re sending the kids back to school without a possibility of safety measures? That should do it!

Meanwhile, here in Yorkshire, today is as gloomy as the Brexit outcomes. But at least it’s not raining and I was able to get out and do my 10K walk. I haven’t got Covid yet – so all is well!

I’ve been doing some writing, playing the Byrds and generally doing OK.

You stay safe too!

Today’s Music to keep me SAAAnnnnnEEEE in Isolation – The Byrds.

Posted on by Opher

The Byrds went through a series of incarnations and I love most of them. They started off nicking the Searchers jangly Folkrock and doing a Rock job on Dylan songs. They were great and Dylan liked them too! They went on to develop this psychedelic sound with 8 Miles High and 5th Dimension. Then they became very West Coast Acid Rock with Notorious Byrd Brothers (my favourite album). After that they went downhill. Gram Parsons took them down the wrong route with Sweetheart of the Rodeo with smatterings of Christian guff.

Never mind – we have a lot of their good stuff to listen to!

The Corona Diaries – Day 154

Posted on by Opher

I had to laugh today – there was Tory fury when it was leaked that Rule Brittania and Land of Hope and Glory were being looked at with a view to drop them from the last night of the Proms due to their slavery connections. Never mind the jingoistic nationalism or patriotic xenophobia. Tories went ape-shit!! That’s what they stand for!! They still mentally inhabit the days of empire and colonial subjugation – that’s where all their wealth came from!!

I suggested using Roy Harper’s ‘I Hate The Whiteman’ as the new national anthem! Better still, we could ask him to write one!

Today has been a bit of a wash-out. It’s been raining most of the day and the cricket has been washed out! Tragedy! I couldn’t go for a walk so I did my exercise on the treadmill listening to Phil Ochs, Billy Bragg and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

I came back and started work on my book again – I’ve nearly completed the rewrite. I was then playing some George Harrison to raise my spirits!! Good old George!!

On the virus front, there is news of people becoming reinfected both here and in Hong Kong. That’s not good news for either herd immunity or a vaccine.

Trump is looking to fast-track the vaccine – which really could be a bad day for safety. If the vaccine had adverse reactions in just 1% of people that would put millions at risk of damaging their health – and those symptoms might take time to become apparent. Vaccines do not always work – sometimes they can make it more deadly should someone get the disease. There are no safety short-cuts. They need thorough testing on large numbers – but then all that is in Trump’s head is re-election – he really doesn’t care about peoples’ health – I think he has quite clearly demonstrated that.

The reduction in death-rates in the UK, which has been quite dramatic – just 6 yesterday, is attributable to the younger age of the victims coupled with much better treatments. That’s good news. At least the NHS is doing a better job than the government!

Johnson has popped up out of hiding. He is urging parents to send children back to school next week – sacrifice them for the good of the nation (along with their teachers)! You have a moral obligation! Once they are in school you can get back to your zero-hours slavery and boost the economy!! The wealthy need you!

An interesting snippet was that a survey found that kids are less stressed despite the pandemic. It seems that life among their peers, in school, or hanging out, is more stressful than fear of the virus. That that tell us something about bullying levels?

So on day 154 of my isolation, the UK staggers along with 1041 new cases but only 6 deaths.

Meanwhile, out there in the land of John Wayne another 33,618 cases were registered with 565 deaths – people are still saying it’s a hoax and everything should be opened up and threatening to start a civil war if it isn’t. My my!!

In Brazil with the callous Bolsonaro, who loves playing to his base as much as Trump does, there’s another 17,078 new cases and 565 deaths.

All the worst countries in the world have the same populist fools who only care about cash!

So endeth day 154!!  Take care everyone!!  Stay Safe!!

Today’s Music to keep me Insannne in Isolation – George Harrison

Posted on by Opher

I always liked George – he seemed such a nice guy – and kept getting cut out by the power of Lennon and McCartney. He did some great songs.

The Corona Diaries – Day 153

Posted on by Opher

I wonder how you are all doing out there? I sometimes forget that I have an audience from all over the world. I’m sure things are very different in other parts of the world.

In England, we’ve had another glorious summer day. We went out for a lunch at a local inn and sat out in the garden with a steak and beer. I’ve now done 12K walking to deal with some of the calories!

The weather has certainly made this lockdown bearable. We had a friend around for a drink in the garden and were discussing it all. They were totally fed-up with all this. We had both expected more evidence of the virus around us. A lot of people are no longer locked down. They are back at work and town looks almost back to normal, yet we are not hearing of cases around us. It is almost as if the virus doesn’t exist around here. It feels like we’ve given up meeting friends and family for nothing. After 153 days I was expecting more.

The one thing we were agreed on is that the government has been lamentable throughout.

They are atrocious and utterly immoral. Despite all the cock-ups, the waste of money on PPE, the awarding of contracts to friends, the cronyism, the visiting castles, messing up exam results, having the worst death-rate in the world, have the worst-hit economy, nobody is accountable, there are no resignations or apologies. Instead, they are shifting the blame on to others. It is the unions, OfQual, PHE and civil servants that are to blame – not the people giving the instructions (the MPs).

We have £500 million allotted to Tory sponsors with no hint of tendering.

We have Dido Harding making a pig’s ear of Track and Trace (remember all that world-beating tosh) and being promoted to run the whole health show.

We have Dominic Cummings lying and breaking every rule and not only staying in place but orchestrating reprisals.

We have Gavin Williamson (already sacked once by May for incompetence) messing up the exam qualifications but being allowed to go on.

We have Johnson himself disappearing, dithering and making a right mess.

Then we have all those faceless Quangos loaded with bureaucrats – with lots of high-paid jobs for the boys.

It is corrupt. Is there no accountability?? This is worse than the expenses scandal.

It seems that all you need to do is to be a Tory sponsor, vote Brexit and be loyal to Johnson and you’re in.

Loyalty comes before competence.

Just ask Philip Hammond, Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine, Rory Stewart, Jeremy Hunt – and all the others kicked out.

What we have left are an incompetent bunch of Tory right-wing extremists!

We have another 1041 new cases yesterday.

Speaking of right-wing extremists, Donald Trump and Bolsonaro are presiding over disaster areas – in the USA – another 36,426 cases and 554 deaths (it’s killed 177,000 people so far) – so much for the hoax. Obviously, the bleach isn’t working.

In Brazil it is another 23,421 new cases and 494 deaths – the ‘little flu’ has so far killed 115,000 people.

Another day down! Let me know what it’s like in your part of the world. Stay safe everyone!

Today’s Music to keep me saaaaNNNNeeee in Isolation – Malvina Reymolds

Posted on by Opher

Malvina looked like a little old granny but she was a feisty lady who took on the KKK and never backed down.

Most people don’t know that she was the lady who wrote Little Boxes (made famous by Pete Seeger) and What Have They Done To The Rain.

She was writing protest songs before protest songs were invented. She cushions a hard message with a soft touch.

Today I’ll be playing some Malvina and taking heart. We can make the world better!

 

 

The Corona Diaries – Day 152

Posted on by Opher

I’m into day 152 of isolation due to Coronavirus. Not surprisingly I haven’t caught it yet. That is probably because my risks are very slight. I do not go into shops, I have my food delivered. I have only met with friends and family outside, with proper distancing.

It has been a tough period of time. It feels as if I am in a bubble.

There have been good things about it though. There has been more time to do things and I do not have to keep thinking about the calendar – there’s nothing on it. The weather has been exceptionally kind and I have been for 152 10K walks – so my fitness is good. It has enabled me to see some exceptional creatures – stoats, red kites, buzzards, barn owls, hares and hedgehogs.

Now we are coming to the crunch time. The weather is going to become worse. We will not be able to meet outside and we all know that the virus is spread much more inside. Already the infection rate is already creeping up – another 1288 contracted the disease yesterday and 18 more people died. I expect that to rise substantially. They estimate that only 15-20% of the population have had it. That still leaves 80%+ to contract it.

If we want to see how bad things can get when you have poor leadership you only have to look at the USA and Brazil. The USA had a further 46,183 cases yesterday and another 1013 deaths. Brazil had 50,032 new cases and 892 deaths. When you put people in charge who don’t know what they are doing and do not understand science this is what happens. Arrogance does not defeat viruses.

In the UK I think a lot of people voted for Johnson because they thought he was a bit of a laugh and he told everyone he was going to sort everything out.

It takes more than words to sort things out. I think a lot of us have had more than enough of the world-beating and oven-ready rhetoric. The sad truth is that they are just enthusiastic, optimistic words, but the deeds have fallen well short of the promise. The App, PPE, and Track and Trace have proved a long way off world-beating and as for oven-ready, the Brexit talks are stalling and nobody has been on top of anything.

The pompous clown lies.

The real truth is that Johnson is a blustering, incompetent, overprivileged windbag of a chancer who is lazy and not on top of anything. He lacks the detail, speaks of the cuff and blunders his way through. There has been no leadership. He keeps going missing and he has a cabinet of extremist Brexiteers who are probably the worst shower we’ve ever had in government. He good rid of anybody with a spark of competence. But there is more to the government than Brexit and there is more to governing than putting incompetent people in charge of crucial roles.

Johnson has shown bad judgement, a lack of knowledge and poor leadership. He should have sacked Cummings and Williamson. But he has nobody to replace them with. All his cabinet stink of the same disease – incompetence.

Gavin Williamson is utterly useless. He was sacked by May.  He should never have been given the brief in the first place. The schools are a couple of weeks away from opening and still have not received guidance.

Dominic Cummings should be long gone. Instead, he is still causing mayhem with a range of daft ideas (such as disbanding the health system in the midst of a pandemic and putting Dido in charge (already a proven failure on track and trace))

No wonder people have stopped listening to these clowns. People are mingling as if there is no virus. I place the blame squarely on Cummings and Johnson.

The government is either in a blind panic or complacent never-never land. The real world is in chaos.

Competence is more important than mere loyalty. If they can’t do the job they shouldn’t be there.

Even with all this catalogue of stupidity and uselessness the government still retains a slender lead – which just shows how stupid the electorate really is. But we will see what happens in the next six months. When the furlough scheme ends there will be up to a million redundancies. When Brexit kicks in next January we will see how many more firms go to the wall, how many more jobs are lost, how much prices rise and what extra red-tape there will be.

We’ll see then if the country thinks it was a good idea to put a clown into office with a bunch of diddy-men to back him up!

Today’s Music to keep me sANNNEEE in Isolation – Rory Gallagher

Posted on by Opher

I first saw Rory playing with Taste. They were a storming three-piece band – really powerful. Rory was one of those Irish guitar geniuses who could toast the Blues.

I love his playing. Another sad case – destroyed by alcohol.

So today I shall reacquaint myself with Rory and send some adrenaline through my arteries!

The Corona Diaries – Day 151

Posted on by Opher

Into the dog-days of Summer. The sun is still warm but we’re into cloudy, showery weather as Autumn fast approaches. Our walk up the hill was pleasant apart from twice being rained on. But I’m still in shorts and sandals. We cannot grumble about the weather. I seem to have been in shorts and sandals all year. We started the year in Brazil and came back with a month of cold before May took us into the heat. June, July and August have been a bit up and down but we’ve had four months of good weather. It has certainly made dealing with this virus a lot easier. We’ve been outside a lot and going for long walks.

Today has been good. I’ve been for another 10K walk, played some Pirates and rewritten ten pages. I’m now watching the cricket with a beer. All good stuff.

They think Johnson is on holiday. No-one’s sure. It’s hard to tell the difference. Meanwhile, his cabinet are incompetently working their way through crisis after crisis. Our infection rate is going up again – 1033 new cases – with places like Leeds looking to go back into lockdown.  With schools meant to be going back in two weeks time, we’re running short of time to bring in strategies for how it can be carried out safely.  With Dido Harding in charge of the new Health response (yes – the one who made a balls-up on Track and Trace) I’m sure everything will go brilliantly.

Never have we had such a bunch of incompetent twats. No doubt they’ll carry on dishing out contracts to their mates as the need arises.

Nobody in the country is sure what the rules are anymore. Is it two metres or one metre? Who has to wear masks and where? A lot of people have given up bothering.

In the States people are still following Trump’s daft example – social distancing is an infringement of rights, facemasks are a commie plot – if in doubt, buy a gun. He’s still peddling untested cures and trying to make out that it’ll be over soon. Sorry Trumpy, the WHO estimates two years. With another 49,743 cases and 1113 deaths (perhaps a number of people wished they had socially distanced) and the rate going up still is looks like you don’t know what you are talking about.

In Brazil, the other populist twerp is looking at another 30,355 cases and 1054 deaths.

The question you have to ask is how long is it going to take before these idiotic leaders start taking it seriously and showing some real leadership. I don’t think they are capable of it!

So I’m completing my 151st day of isolation by watching a bit more cricket!

Take care everybody – and remember – never vote for a populist fool. They are all mouth and not a clue. (maybe Johnson will be back off holiday next week? – how will we tell?)

Stay safe!

Today’s Music to keep me SAAANNNEEE in Isolation – The Pirates

Posted on by Opher

They started out as Johnny Kid and the Pirates – one of the very few British Rock ‘n’ Roll acts to make the grade as real rockers. Unfortunately, Johnny Kidd was killed in a car accident in 1965.

Shakin’ All Over in 1960 was a classic – as good as any of the US tracks. It had a great guitar sound. I used to play this a lot as a young kid of eleven/twelve.

They went on to become simply the Pirates – still producing great R&B Rock.

The Pirates were great too!