The Corona Diaries – Days 749/750

It has been rather a frantic weekend. We’ve been entertaining one of our grandchildren which has kept us extremely busy. We’ve been to zoos, castles and play areas! all rather exhausting.

One thing that is quite apparent is the effect Covid has had on us. It has completely sapped out energy. We are now 4 weeks on from when we went down with it and it still lingers!!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, our jolly fickle electorate shows just how gullible and influenced by the media they actually are. Everything in the media is now about the war in Ukraine. There has been a change:

It’s as if Partygate, the law-breaking, lying, MET report and Sue Gray has never happened.

It’s as if the Russian connection with the Tories, Brexit and the election of the Tories and Trump is of no consequence.

The sleaze and corruption with Wallpapergate, second salaries, cash for peerages, cash for meetings, preferential illegal pathways, PPE tendering and the rest are forgotten.

The inept handling of Covid is being reinvented as a success. Johnson not only got Brexit done but he beat Covid too!

Speaking of Brexit – the fact that the inept negotiation is costing us £37 billion a year is just being glossed over!

Despite all this corruption, lying and incompetence Johnson’s approval ratings have lept up 11 points and Labour’s lead has been cut to 5%.

Any belief I had in the electorate and the democratic system is shattered. The population is being led around like a bull with a ring in his nose by the likes of Murdock and the wealthy elite who control the media.

Unbelievable. This must rate as the worst government and worst Prime Minister in history and they’re still in with a shout!!

Stay safe!! We just might survive a nuclear Holocaust. We just need to dig a very deep hole and store enough food in it for a year or two. Good luck.

The Corona Diaries – Day 748

Still feeling tired and lethargic following covid. Liz has added sore throat and cold symptoms. It’s not so much Long Covid as Lingering covid. We both feel off and muzzy. It’ll pass. Our brains are probably still a bit inflamed.

Beautifully sunny and warm but with a cool breeze. I took a walk up my hill. My red kite was flying low over the field. I was expecting the songbirds to be out in force filling the air with song but I did not hear a great deal. I did hear shooting though. Is it shooting season? Up here they shoot anything that moves – even if it gives itself up. They’re worse than Putin.

I’ve been doing some reading (Jasper Fforde), writing a poem or two and sorting with one of my mates to do a podcast. We are going into the studio to natter. Not quite sure what we will call this podcast yet – probably something like ‘Oph and Mike talk about Rock and stuff’. It’s going to be primarily music-based as Mike doesn’t like upsetting people whereas I like to speak my mind. We’ll see. Any suggestions for a name for our weekly podcast??

I’m off shortly to pick up one of the grandchildren. He’s won the lucky golden ticket and gets to stay with us for the next couple of days!!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland war has worked wonders for our resident clown. Lies, Partygate, Sleaze, Russian donors – all forgiven. His ratings have zoomed up 10 points!! What is wrong with people??? What has he done?? Do they like the costumes?

Don’t they mind that Russia has been calling the shots?? Beyond me! The peasants doff their caps to the Eton boys!!

Meanwhile, Ukraine is being pounded into rubble with hospitals, schools and ambulances targeted and Russian troops are being massacred.

Priti Patel has set up a centre in the Artic to process rapid visa entry for traumatised Ukrainian refugees! She asked them to bring their own wheelbarrows to transport the necessary forms.

Operation Big Dog is working.

In the pandemic that has now morphed into operation Save Big Dog (turd) everybody is pretending that there is no pandemic. It’s over!! Freedom day!! But today the numbers went up to 84,401 new cases with another 142 deaths. Hospital cases are rising as antivaxxers fall ill. Kiss your ventilators dudes!!

I’m fine and don’t have to worry. Not only are we triple vaxxed but we’ve got over a dose!! “We’re immune for a few months!!

Stay safe!! We might be threatened with a nuclear holocaust but our clown is there to defend us. He’ll come up with a world-beating soundbite to send the missiles back to their silos and show us what a tramp looks like in a Haz-Chem suit!!

All’s well!! Bring back Charlie Chaplin!!

The Way a Corrupt State Works!!

Never have we had such corrupt government!

The Corona Diaries – Day 747

Here we are, over two years later, with a jumbo of a day!! 747 days!! All in economy class!!

Today was really warm and sunny. I actually had to go out and mow!! Whatever next!!

I’ve spent the day reading Jasper Fforde, listening to Leonard Cohen and monitoring what is going on in the world as we stumble from one crisis to the next!

This coronavirus has left us really washed out. I’ve been knackered all day and Liz is feeling crap too! The effects seem to go on and on. Fatigue and listlessness, slight sore throat, slight muzzy head, nothing that screams at you. It just taps you on the shoulder to let you know it’s still there!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, our dozy clown has as much of a grip on events as a dodo had of flying away to safety.

Priti Patel displays all the callous features that the Tory Party is renowned for. She’s moved away from pushing hapless Syrian mothers and children back into the sea, kicking out anyone she can with her hostile environment, and is now trying to create as many obstacles as possible to prevent those evil Ukrainian traumatised mothers and children from getting into the holy of holy’s – Tory paradise!! Unless you’ve a few million to bung into Tory funds, or a bung or two as a backhander, you are not welcome here!! Indeed, most of the population that lives here is not welcome. If they didn’t need someone to exploit and rip-off we would have all been kicked out.

What a bunch of totally obnoxious self-servers!!

I believe that in times of crisis our wartime leader Churchill addressed the nation. Our leader through crisis after crisis (at least one of which was self-made) prefers to repeat soundbites (like a parrot with tourettes), hide in fridges and dress up.

Every time I see the twat dressed up in some Hi-Vis uniform posing in a plane or whatever, spouting some stupid soundbite and looking like an obese scarecrow, it makes me feel physically sick. Their response to this crisis has made me feel thoroughly ashamed.

Johnson has gleefully thrown himself into posing. All mention of the MET report or Sue Gray conveniently forgotten.

The carpet is now so lumpy that it must be impossible to walk on.

If it wasn’t for the war fever we might be making even more fuss about the Russian connection. Not only is the Tory Party awash with Russian money but they invited them in to launder their dirty money and provided a safe haven for them so that we could take a share of their ill-gotten gains. It stinks. Now they are shouting loudly about hitting the oligarchs while hardly naming any and giving them ample time to get all their dirty money out!

I notice Abramovich and other oligarchs are stealthily moving assets away. Their superyachts are quietly gliding out of harbours.

No wonder they don’t want to focus on the Report on Russian interference with elections. It was the Russians that got Brexit done, the Russians that got Trump elected and the Russians who are responsible for 12 years of Tory rule and austerity.

They are already lifting up the carpet and sweeping like mad!! How much more corruption and sleaze can they get under there??

How about that knighthood for the useless cretin Gavin Williamson??? There’s another travesty!! Fuck up your job as badly as you can. Show yourself to be a useless, incompetent fool. As long as you know stuff about the Tories and Johnson and can tell people about the levels of sleaze and corruption you can become a peer!!

So, as Russia continues to flatten hospitals, schools and civilian areas in order to free the Ukrainians from neo-Nazi tyranny while denying there is any war and disseminating lies and misinformation, we watch. Will it escalate into a nuclear conflagration or resolve itself into a compromise? Will the Russians use Ukrainian nuclear power stations as a bargaining chip or use chemical warfare? Will this grind down into a long war of attrition with them pounding cities into dust and terrorising civilians as a warning? Is the West happy for this to go on and on, for them to arm the Ukrainians and fight a proxy war, for the Russian economy to collapse! Isn’t that pretty much what they did with the USSR? Putin’s war chest is finite. I don’t know if a desperate Putin will hit out and start a third world war! Anything’s possible. My money’s on a face-saving exercise!

Save the Big Dog is well underway (Did the Tories ask Putin to invade Ukraine??). We no longer have a pandemic. As predicted by all the sacked scientists the virus is taking off again. We had 68,378 new cases yesterday with 123 more deaths and rising hospital cases.

Johnson and the Tories have at last found a strategy!! They will remove covid tests so nobody can test positive. Stop announcing the statistics so nobody knows how much it’s all going up by. Ignore the whole thing and sweep the deaths under that carper along with the peerages for cash, second salary scandal, illegal lobbying, lying to the house and Queen, lying about Brexit, the 180,000 deaths that are already there, cash for meetings, PPE tendering, Partygate and all the other inept bungling and law-breaking. If you ignore it then it will all go away.

Red Meat for the gullible!! We’re levelling up!! Oh, that flying pig just shat on Johnson – not that it notices!

Stay Safe!! We could be living in a totalitarian state where protest is illegal …….. hang on…..

Vladimir Putin’s School Visit

Vladimir’s School Visit

Vladimir Putin in order to get on the good side of voters, goes to visit a school in Moscow to have a chat with the kids. He talks to them about how Russia is a powerful nation and how he wants the best for the people. At the end of the talk there is a section for questions. Little Sasha puts her hand up and says, “I have two questions. Why did the Russians take Crimea and why are we sending troops to the Ukraine?” Putin says, “Good questions”. But just as he is about to answer the bell goes and the kids go to lunch. When they come back, they sit down and there is room for some more questions. 

Another girl, Misha, puts her hand up and says “I have four questions. Why did the Russians invade Crimea, why are we sending troops to the Ukraine, why did the bell go 20 minutes early and where now is Sasha?”

The Corona Diaries – Day 746

I noticed today that I’m really not fully recovered from Covid. The effects linger. Talking on the phone I found myself croaky. We went for a walk this morning, which was a big effort that made me feel weak and I’ve been completely washed out all afternoon. I am continuing to sleep really deeply. Weird. I wonder how long this is going to last?

I also wonder what this would have been like if we hadn’t been fully vaccinated. I dread to think!

Today it was sunny so we decided to nip to the coast and take a walk by the sea. Scudding clouds, big waves and a keen south-easterly wind. We were going to get some fish and chips but the place was shut so we went home.

I’ve been working on publishing my 25th book of poetry – I’ve called it Toxic Times. These are indeed Toxic Times. They seem to get more and more toxic by the second! I have to write this quickly before we receive a nuclear strike!!

When not sorting my book out I have been listening to some early Donovan and reading another Jasper Fforde book.

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, I despair that our stupid electorate are backing Johnson. His popularity is rising. What is up with people? Are they completely gullible? Do any of them really think this clown is doing a good job?? What has happened to the MET report?? What has happened to the Sue Gray report? What about the Russian money propping up the Tory Party? What about the Russian Peerages for cash? What about the appalling lying and treatment of the Ukrainian refugees???

It seems that for a lot of people none of this matters. We see Zelensky leading his people and showing us what a leader looks and sounds like. He mimics Churchill and sounds like a statesman. Our clown is obese and slouches around like Churchill, pretends to be Churchill and looks and sounds like a clown.

The nastiness of the Tory Party seems to have gone mainstream. People seem OK with it. It is as if Brexit has unleashed a right-wing selfishness.

As for the war in Ukraine it goes from bad to worse. The Russians pound civilian areas with artillery and missiles. They even destroyed a hospital today. They can’t beat the Ukrainians on the ground so they have gone for the inhumane tactics they deployed in Syria and Chechnia.

There is something extremely flawed in human nature. We have the capacity for violence, for cruelty and heartlessness.

Johnson says there is a surge to process the thousands of Ukrainians in need of help and shelter. They sent a table, three guys, a box of crisps and a box of kit-kats. That’s Johnson’s idea of a surge!! Poland takes in a million and we manage 50!! It stinks!!

Is this what Brexit looks like?? The racist element in our country wanted to kick out all the foreigners, all the Eastern Europeans, who came over here to pick fruit and veg, to drive lorries and work in shops, restaurants, as carers and in hospitals. It started up that vicious hostile environment.

Is that the mean-minded Britain we want to live in? Not for me!! I hate this small-mindedness! I hate this racism. I really hate this racism! I hate this closed-off little Britain.

I really do not like what Britain has become!! They deserve these Tories!!

Putin threatens us with a nuclear war and our clown quakes!! No planes!!

So where are we with this pandemic that no longer exists?? My sister’s husband went down with it today. He’s feeling very rough. There were another 62,407 new cases with 213 deaths. It’s not going away is it? It’s getting worse! Ignoring it has not solved the problem. So what are the long-term plans?? What is the strategy? If we had a leader perhaps we’d know??

The Corona Diaries – Day 744

It was a cold day in Yorkshire. It feels strange to have the house to ourselves again – kinda empty. Kids eh? Who’d have ’em? Not just for Christmas! Drive you mad but ……………….

After the exertions of yesterday I had a quiet day in. I’ve been writing some poems, listening to Gang of Four, watching the news, reading my Jasper Fforde book and sitting in front of a warm wood fire. Nice.

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, our clown is still trying to be Churchill. The war has been his saviour.

Plenty of costume opportunities and, once again, he is safe from interrogation about all those lies and sleaze. Couldn’t have been better if he’d organised it himself. He didn’t did he? He’s not that close to Putin is he? Surely not?

Mind you, the Russian connection has thrown up another problem for him and the Tories. They now have to explain why they were so close to all those Russian Oligarchs, allowed all that dirty money into London, gave out peerages and filled their coffers with filthy Russian money. They don’t really have to explain though do they? We know why! To a Tory cash is cash wherever and however. Cash is the only thing that matters!!

The problems are mounting up aren’t they?

Lies about Brexit.

An inept Brexit deal.

Covid incompetence, panic and complacency (what a combination!)

PPE illegal contracts

Cash for meetings

Cash for peerages

Illegal lobbying

Scandalous second jobs

Partygate

Dubious donations for wallpaper, holidays, expensive wines and meals

Illegal prorogation

Let the bodies pile up

One rule for us, one rule for them

Lying to the Queen

Lying to the House

Lying about everything, constantly

Then we have the ineptitude, looking like Wurzel Gummidge, the silly soundbites, ridiculous dressing up, lack of leadership, lack of intelligence, lack of honesty, lack of scrutiny, lack of responsibility, lack of accountability.

I’ve probably missed half of it out!! The sleaze and corruption is endless. Have we ever had a worse government? I think not.

So, yesterday, in this pandemic that we pretend is over in order to save Boris Johnson, there were another 44,806 new cases with another 110 deaths.

The worldwide death rate passed 6 million!

Research is going on to find new treatments. The analysis of DNA of those who have had it badly, or died, show some genetic factors at work. It appears that certain DNA mutations are involved. This could lead to the rapid identification of those most at risk as well as the development of new medicines. That would be good.

Other studies have found that covid badly affects brains. MRI scans show shrinkage. Boris Johnson, who has had covid badly, of course, is immune to this effect. His brain cannot get much smaller.

Stay safe!!! Nuclear radiation kills microbes!

The Corona Diaries – day 741

This coronavirus certainly hangs around. Even when you are over the worst the symptoms linger. Liz was up a lot last night coughing. It’s left her with a phlegmy chest. I feel pretty much back to normal, a slight cough, some phlegm, the odd sneeze and feeling more tired than normal. One positive thing is that I’m sleeping more and, according to my Fitbit, I’m sleeping deeper.

Today I’ve been storing all the wood that arrived yesterday. With the soaring prices of gas and electricity, due to our dependence on fossil fuels, I’m looking to use the wood burner more.

This government is an arse. They talk about the need for Green energy and insulation and, as with everything else, they do fuck all. At a stroke they could raise building regs to include triple glazed windows, thicker insulated walls, heat pumps, heat retrieval systems, inbuilt solar panels and make our housing stock extra efficient – just like they do in the Scandinavian countries. They’ve built 600,000 new homes with inferior regs. It’s so much easier to build these things in that to try and retrofit them. It would also save people a fortune in bills and pay for itself in no time at all. Usual double standards and lazy thinking.

Indoors I’ve been working on my latest poetry book – TOXIX TIMES – and playing some Doors!! I’ve even found some time to read my Jasper Fforde. Very clever writer.

This afternoon we popped out to Burton Agness to the stately home to see how the 1% live and have a look at some orchids. I’ll put some photos up!

My – how these days are going by. How predictable is life!! This isn’t quite the wild times that I imagined when I was young!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, things are hotting up. Putin’s war in Ukraine is proving much more costly than he ever could have imagined. There has been major resistance, death and attrition. It’s been slow progress with much disaffection among conscripts and complete bogging down of advances. The cost has been enormous and worse is to come. They have taken to barbaric pounding of cities, killing civilians and reducing areas to rubble.

This was supposed to be a liberation!! The Ukranians were Russian brothers!! This is all out war. The attack on the nuclear facility was just madness. But then all of this venture is madness. War is madness. How did he think anything good would come out of it? This war is going badly. Already three of his generals have been killed.

Putin’s aims are oblivious to put a buffer zone between Russia and NATO, to reinvent the USSR and make Russia great again. He’s failing miserably. The actions taken by the world will strangle the Russian economy. The poor display of Russian forces has shown them up for what they are – third rate. The cost is draining the cash he’d put aside for this invasion.

Couple that with the terrible suppression of the Russian people, the propaganda machine and draconian punishment for dissent and you have a nightmare scenario. Repression of this kind may have worked under Stalin but now, with the internet, the Russian people have access to life outside Russia. They can get alternative news and views. No matter how oppressive the Putin regime is they won’t be able to keep a lid on it. They might be fooling the majority of Russians now but as the body bags start flowing home and the cuts and shortages start to bite the dissent will grow. When it reaches a level it will explode.

The future for Putin and his regime looks grim. Their economy is being strangled. I think the West has had enough of Russia’s interference in Western elections, posturing and cyber attacks. They are going to do something about it.

The first thing is to turn off Putin’s cash:

‘The European Commission’s masterplan to escape Putin’s energy grip may involve boosting Europe’s renewable infrastructure and diversifying its gas supply, according to a leaked document seen by EURACTIV.’

Europe is seizing the nettle. It will diversify its energy supply and rapidly increase its green energy. Without the cash coming in from gas and oil Russia will be left high and dry.

These are dangerous times. Putin has already threatened a nuclear response. He is now calling the sanctions being imposed an act of war!

https://news.sky.com/video/ukraine-crisis-putin-calls-western-sanctions-against-russia-equivalent-to-war-12558219

Where is this heading?? World War Three?? A Nuclear Holocaust? Mutual destruction?? A regime change?? A negotiated solution for Ukraine? Further Russian expansion into other former USSR states??

Time will tell!!

I just wish we had a leader who wasn’t a clown and a government that wasn’t awash with Russian money. It doesn’t fill me with confidence!

The fact that we are shouting loudly and doing little is typical. Boris Johnson always makes silly statements about ‘Oven Ready’, ‘World Beating’, ‘Levelling Up’, ‘Care Costs Plan’, ‘£350 million a week’ and other garbage – all of which turn out to be lies and bluster!! The guy is well out of his depth and is nothing more than a greedy little conman.

With all these crises we end up with a leader unfit to manage a pub. A lazy, stupid man.

The only thing worse would be Trump!!

So, in this pandemic that everybody has forgotten about the levels are going up – another 44,800 new cases yesterday with another 110 deaths. Still no sign of scientists, no accurate data and no sign of our leader. He doesn’t like scrutiny or being held to account. He says it and it all magically happens – just like out world-beating apps and Track and Trace. What a moron. If he’s not dressing up he’s in a fridge!!

Stay safe. We might be able to harness the heat from a nuclear exchange so our energy bills go down!!

The Corona Diaries – Day 740

A miserable day here in Yorkshire – quite cold and drizzly rain all day. Suits the mood of the country!! Our recovery from Covid is not quite complete! We are both feeling lethargic and I still have some sinus problems and phlegm. Apart from that we are back to normal!!

I decided to stay inside, work on my latest poetry book and listen to some outrageous Fugs. A day not wasted!

Meanwhile, out in Coronaland, things go from bad to worse. The war in Ukraine is raging with cities being pounded into rubble with missile attacks and heavy artillery.

According to Putin this was a mission to save the Ukrainian people from slavery under a neo-fascist government (that they elected). It seems that Putin has the same philosophy that the USA had in Vietnam. These people need killing in order to save them.

The Ukrainians were supposedly brothers!! Now brothers can be quite competitive and they can even develop a jealous, haeful relationship but this is taking sibling rivalry to a whole new level. This is vindictive madness.

Did Putin really expect the population of Ukraine to welcome him in??

The trouble with these things is that once the genie is out of the bottle there is no telling where things will lead.

Putin is now a rat trapped in the corner. He can’t see a way out. He did not expect the rest of the world to utterly condemn his aggression and take these massive steps to isolate him and starve him of cash. As Lavrov said: ‘The West imposes sanctions and then a week later they are back crawling for business’. Not this time I think. Not only are they shutting the banking system, pulling out of Russia and freezing the cash supply, they are looking to break their dependence on Russia oil and gas. Hopefully this will accelerate the move towards green energy and do away with gas and oil altogether. Not only would it be great to break our ties with Russia but also those loathsome regimes in the Middle East.

Putin has bitten off more than he can chew.

Not only that, but the world can clearly see the limitations of the Russian military. One of the greatest powers in the world – not! Bogged down, blown up, logistically inept. Ukraine, with it’s limited resources is showing it up. They are reduced to using the same horrendous tactics they used in Syria – mass, long-range use of missiles and artillery to kill civilians and reduce cities to dust and rubble.

How long can he pour resources in and suffer these casualties and costs? We’ll see!

What it has done is to create a unity in the world and a renewed determination to make Russia pay for these atrocities. Hopefully they will.

But, like that trapped rat, Putin is dangerous. He is hitting out. In Russia there is extreme suppression of news, shutting down of criticism and legislation to oppress people. This is a return to Stalinist repression. No alternative views are allowed. And he dares to call Ukraine neo-Nazi? Incredible!!

He is threatening nuclear war and as an extreme act of stupidity actually attacking, shelling a nuclear plant. How can a nuclear power plant put up resistance?? How can that be a legitimate target?

Insanely, in true Orwellian double-speak, he is blaming it on Ukrainian subversives. He’s gone nuts.

Having an unstable madman in charge of the country is not a good thing. We know. We’ve got one ourselves! Johnson is quite on a par but he is an inept loony.

The one thing we can be grateful for is that we don’t have Trump in charge. He’d either be in there with his mate Putin invading Ukraine or we’d already be in the midst of a nuclear conflagration.

So where is this going? Who knows? It’s going to be one of a number of things:

A third world war nuclear madness in which Russia, Europe and the USA get wiped off the map

A protracted war of attrition (like in Syria) with the complete destruction of Ukraine and uimpoverishment of Russia

A negotiated settlement

We’ll see.

Meanwhile, while all this is going on, our useless clown is laughing his head off. Everyone’s forgotten about the MET report, parties, Sue Gray, the lies, sleaze and corruption. They are worrying about being instantly vapourised. Johnson, miraculously, lives to fight another day.

Mind you, another major problem has come along for this crime syndicate masquerading as a government: the public have found out that they are being funded by the Russians and are knee-deep in Russian sleaze. It has resurrected the whole Russian business – the sleazy deals, the donations, the meddling in elections (Trump, Johnson and Brexit), the oligarchs in the House of Lords, money laundering and dirty Tory profiteering. We’ll see where that goes. No doubt, with the media in their back pocket, it’ll melt away back uner the carpet along with everything else. The problem is that the carpet is now bulging up to the ceiling!! They can’t get much more under it!!

We’ve all forgotten we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. Johnson said it was over and everybody conveniently agreed. We didn’t need science or facts. All very Trumpian!! Just talk bollocks and everyone will agree with you.

We are now living with the virus – though there has been no debate, no guidance and no scientific input – Just Johnson sorting his own job out. The new cases have gone up to 45,683 new cases today with another 194 deaths. We are told it’s going down though!!

I’m OK. Having just had it I’m not in immediate danger of catching it and neithwer will I be spreading it for a while to come.

Stay safe!! Caught between a nuclear melt and the ventilator – not a great choice!!

Poetry – Conspiracy

Conspiracy

Infection from 5G

Conspiracy

From a Chinese Laboratory

Conspiracy

The CIA did it to me

Conspiracy

Fake news on the TV

Conspiracy

Social distancing – a tyranny

Conspiracy

It’s a media heresy

Conspiracy

The democratic hoax theory

Conspiracy

NO!! It’s a virus mutating – you’re up your own tree!

There’s no conspiracy!

Opher – 21.4.2020

Fakes news and conspiracies are being churned out from sources with vested interests.

It is good to be cynical.

It is foolish to be fooled.

Each claim must be weighed up against the evidence. Nothing, not matter how persuasive, can be taken on face value.

Who is churning the conspiracy theories out? What are their motives?