Despair – Despondency – Depression

22nd July 2020

Where do I start?  Well lets start as the heading reads:

Despair

I sit here in France watching and reading about how Johnson and Cumming’s government rolls out the changes they have started making to the way the UK is run and what I feel is coming down the track for all of you back home.  Just to make it a little easier on me I’ve got The Beatles playing in the background (Paperback Writer) because I seriously need cheering up.  Their plans to roll up all power into 10 Downing Street is a massive assault on democracy in the UK.  The plans for the internal UK market will impact so hard on the devolved powers that it pours petrol on the already burning fuse for the explosion that Scottish independence will bring.  I’ve no great love for the Scottish National Party but fully understand their wish to be free of an overbearing and dominant English-centric Parliament and whilst Johnson calls himself the Minister for the Union his every action seems designed to force the issue and force Scotland out of the Union.  With what’s going on now, the Brexit result which saw Scotland vote overwhelmingly to Remain and the impact of Covid-19 I believe the SNP are a shoe-in to romp away with the next Scottish National Assembly elections on 6th May 2021.  That will trigger a demand for another independence referendum.  The result from 2014 saw a 55% – 45% split in favour of remaining in the UK but I can’t see that surviving.  Once independence is won the next step will be to re-join the EU and that will further complicate the UK – EU border problems that will have to be addressed with regard to Northern Ireland come a no-deal exit on 31st December 2020 – and that problem hasn’t been sorted out yet!  

Try this one now – Oh Darling

Back to the blog – can you imagine passport and customs checks on the England – Scotland border?  It would be a very real scenario and ask yourself how many roads there are that run between the two countries and their 96 mile border?  Now there’s a job creation scheme on top of the Brexit forced increase in customs checks and customs posts.  My Grandad was a Scot from Nairn but unfortunately he was my Mum’s step-father so I don’t think I’d qualify for a Scottish EU passport.

My despair is compounded by the ongoing mess Johnson et al are making of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Herd immunity failed, going with the science lasted as long as it suited and public support collapsed and failed quicker than Cumming’s eye-sight test in Castle Barnard, scientists stopped getting invited to the daily press conferences when they started speaking unpalatable truths and we still have people getting infected and dying even though we have, according to Johnson, a world beating track and trace system in place.  What utter rubbish!  We get lied to daily and the more recently deceased don’t even get recognised by the very people who (I firmly believe) are responsible because they are too scared to stand up to questions on a daily basis.  Have you tried watching Prime Ministers Questions?  The man even lies in the House – and gets away with it simply because he can because you can’t call an MP a liar in the House of Commons! FFS!!  Oh for a big old dog to set on Johnson and his cronies – Heh Bulldog – see them off!

Jems Jukebox has offered this little gem before but a Revolution is needed more now than ever if Johnson and Cummings get away with things the UK will turn into a tiny, inconsequential place on a Helter Skelter to oblivion and while we’re talking about Helter Skelter – have you ever sat back and realised that The Beatles invented the Heavy Metal and Punk Rock genres?   

So next – despondency.

This isn’t about me feeling down in the dumps about my condition – as bad as that is – but how I feel about what’s in store for my kids and grandkids, your kids and grandkids, everyone’s kids and grandkids.  All that was good about the UK is on the verge of being dismantled and for what?  If you believe everything you read or hear about Cummings it’s all because he wants to and now he’s got Johnson by his johnson he can.  He seems to want to cause chaos just for the sake of it, regardless of the cost .  I suppose that’s easy enough when you’re loaded and enjoy the protection that offers, that and the protection he gets from knowing what he knows about the likes of Johnson and Gove.  It has to be asked though – how can someone who is absolutely unaccountable to the voting public have so much power?  I believe he is still charged with being in contempt of Parliament yet at the same time he’s as good as got the keys to our fleet of nuclear subs – and there’s a scary thought – him over here and the orange idiot on the other side of the pond, busy falling out with China over Huawei on the one hand but not overly concerned about Russian interference in democratic elections.  When pressed on PMQ’s all Johnson could say was that Starmer was trying to revisit the Brexit result, because there was no smoking gun he tried brushing it off even though a massive security failing had been highlighted.  Johnson’s first job is to ensure the safety and security of the UK and it’s citizens – a job he fails at every day of the week.

And now – depression:

I fight a constant battle with depression as regular readers of this blog will know full well but the last couple of weeks have just piled shit on top of shit – literally!  First off I copped for a urine infection, brought on no doubt by the fact that I have to use a catheter four times a day to have a wee.  The first sign was the odd leak, a problem I’ve not had to face since I started taking Oxybutynin a couple of years ago, and very cloudy pee.  I had a wee test done on Friday 10th July but that got delayed because Tuesday 14th July was Bastille Day and the French have a really smart way of taking the extra day to faire le pont and extending the weekend.  So Dr Chanson came to see me to give me my ususal prescriptions and one for an antibiotic to clear up the infection.  He prescribed Cefixime and I popped my first one on Saturday evening 18th July but gave them up on Sunday because, guess what, a serious adverse reaction is diarrhoea and boy did I get it bad!  Regular readers (have I got any?) might recall that in May last year I was in hospital with sepsis and a blood pressure of 50/30 – brought about by diarrhoea caused by a change in antibiotic.  At that time I was emptying my bowels onto an open wound – a pressure sore that lasted for something like 18 months – but fortunately this wasn’t the case this time.  Karen saw the similarity immediately and took the tablets off me but I still had to endure five days of worry.  It’s hard enough being a spaz but incontinence makes it almost impossible to bear and I have to admit to a few teary moments.  I don’t know how Karen copes with the pressures my handicap puts on her but that she does is an enormous blessing – thanks sweetheart 🙂

Right I’m going now – I’m typing this listening to a thunderstorm rolling towards us and so I’ll wish you all a fond farewell until the next time – if I don’t turn off the power and unplug the landline I’ll get blasted and be off-air for a day or two.

Thanks for sticking with me

Jem