Where to start this month?

What’s your topic this month Jem?

That’s Karen’s question of me every time I sit down to blog, rather settle down to blog, because I’m always either sitting or lying down, I have no alternatives.  Anyway this month especially the question begged some consideration what with all the problems in the UK.  If I were to list the things that scream out at me I might end up writing a competitor for ‘War and Peace’ – so here’s a list of what is interesting me:

• NHS Data grab
• Covid-19 travel restrictions
• Covid-19 restriction easing
• Travelling to France
• Conservative Party criminality
• Brexit and Northern Ireland

So let’s start with the proposed data grab by the Tories, hidden (sort of) under the impact of, even justified by Covid-19.

Back in 2014 the Tories tried selling off all NHS patient data, supposedly to better enable research and responses to things like pandemics.  There was an unholy row in most part revolving around patient anonymity and the rights and wrongs of commodifying private, personal patient data.  The idea was dropped and the world moved on – until recently when it became apparent that the idea had reared it’s ugly head again and it became clear that GP’s had been instructed to hand over all their patient records to NHS Digital to be dumped into a grand database, to be used as the Government deemed fit.  The Government had given us until 23^rd June to opt out but after lots of criticism this has been moved to September now.  Be careful – they are assuming our consent.  If you want to opt out you have to download (or have posted out to you) a form which you then have to personally hand in to your GP.  This link explains how – don’t try the NHS Digital web-site as it will have you running around in circle’s trying to make sense of it – no doubt a deliberate ploy on their part.  Fans of Charles Dickens amongst you might well have read ‘Little Dorrit’ and so spot a very real similarity with the ‘Circumlocution Office’  Much has been said in certain parts of the press about this but these articles by Kenan Malik and especially Marina Hyde are well worth reading.  If you care about your privacy and personal health data act now – do you really trust Matt Hancock with all your Doctor knows about you, your general health, your mental well-being or even your sexual health?  You can bet your bottom dollar Johnson and his unholy cast of cretins will have opted out!

I have no problem with the NHS using my health data to help research – that would be churlish to say the least considering everything I’ve been through since 3^rd December 2015 – imagine if access to my records enabled some brilliant medical researcher somewhere in the world to figure out how to repair a severed spinal cord?  That would be brilliant but unfortunately this mob cannot be trusted to treat personal data with the respect it and the individual whose data that is demands.  Personal data is a commodity that this mob thinks is theirs to sell as they see fit and I for one do not want to see it in the hands of ‘Big Pharma’ just so they can milk it for every dollar they can!

Covid-19 continues to cause chaos.  Once again Johnson put his supposed influence on the global stage before the health and safety of those he is tasked to protect by not closing India off from the UK so that he didn’t jeopardise planned trade talks.  Pakistan to the west of India and Bangladesh to the east were both closed to the UK because of Covid-19 but for some reason Johnson and his idiots didn’t realise that the virus is no respecter of geographical borders and will hitch a ride to anywhere, anyhow.  So the next thing we know is that what was called the Indian variant, now the Delta mutation, is rampant in the UK and you are now on the verge of a third wave of infections, hospitalisations and deaths.  As promised by Cummings a couple of weeks ago his evidence of the total shambles within No 10 started appearing today – something about Matt Hancock being ‘totally fucking hopeless’!  No surprise there then.

All of which moves us nicely along to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in time to open up the country for the summer holidays.  Remember his promise to be led by the data, not the dates – remember that and bear it in mind in the autumn when all the good that has been done by the people who have done as asked for has been all undone.  I’m not Simon Jenkins’s greatest fan but I think he gets it right here.  As I type this it looks like he’s about to delay the easing of restrictions because the  (Indian) Delta variant is running rampant, especially in the North West amongst those communities and age groups least likely to have been vaccinated.  If he does continue the restrictions I believe this will be the first time he has made a correct decision – better late than never I suppose – but watch the idiots on the extreme right of his mob screaming manically in anger.  Nutters like Baker and Brady spring to mind!  Do the good people of Altrincham have a brain cell between them – fancy voting that clown Brady in year after year! 

Update – he has kept restrictions in place but had to get a stiff word off Lindsay Hoyle the Speaker to ensure Parliament was told first.  That’s a first, as is Hoyle putting him in his place – about time he grew a pair!

Brexit continues to wreak havoc for us.  The UK is now considered a ‘Third Country’ like the USA or Canada which means that people visiting France need to abide by a set of rules to ensure they do not become a drain on the State.  Now that is a completely understandable position, one I can fully appreciate and would expect all countries to follow – but after years of being in the EU it will come as an expensive surprise for people visiting us for instance.  Where once all you needed was your E111 to come and spend time with us here now any visitors will need to prove they have permission to stay with us, at least 65€ per day per person for the duration of the stay, health insurance that also covers the potential cost of repatriation in the event of illness or accident and a return travel ticket.  We would have to fill in a form with the names of the visitors, dates of visit, passport numbers and other stuff and then get that authorised by our local Mayor – at a cost of 30€.  This ‘attestation d’acceuil’ applies on a per occasion visit so a second visit would require a second document.  Given the way Priti Patel’s Border Force Stormtroopers are behaving I’ll not be surprised if the French start playing hardball come the holiday season.

And there’s still no progress with driving licenses so no reciprocal agreement on the validity of ours there and theirs here (if you know what I mean) means nothing but pain before we know it.  Thanks Johnson!

The criminality of the Tories continues to grow but unfortunately little is said or done about it, either in the Courts or the Press.  Again I must ask where the anger about this is.  There are countless examples of Tory cronyism and massive amounts of money being given to their chums for PPE contracts etc during the Covid-19 crisis.  Cummings’s allegations about deliberately discharging people back to Care homes from hospital could (and should) see Matt Hancock and others in the dock charged with manslaughter and the whole debacle is yet another instance of Tories lying blatantly and with no shame – Hancock now denies ever saying he had his arms around Care homes and all would be tested before being discharged.  Last week Michael Gove was found to have acted illegally in awarding a contract to old friends of his and Cummings.  In the good old days a Minister found guilty of breaking the law would have resigned – but any of this lot!  The really do believe they govern by almost ordained right (is it any coincidence that Johnson has returned to Roman Catholicism?) and that the rules only apply to the rest of us.  Something really does have to change.

It’s not just the overt and proven criminal acts that are the problem, it’s also the cruel and criminal behaviours we see every day.  Take the Home Office for instance – and let’s try to be fair to Priti Patel here as she inherited an awful, racist organisation that had its roots planted by Theresa May and then well watered by Amber Rudd and Sajid Javid before Johnson picked her for the job.  The Grenfell disaster is as of a result of institutionalised racism (racism is a crime by the way), the Windrush scandal the same and let us not forget the incarceration of refugees in Napier Barracks, left to suffer abuse, Covid-19 and inhumane treatment.

The Leader of the Opposition is a highly respected Barrister yet he continually lets Johnson off the hook about his Governments criminal behaviour and shame on him, as much as Johnson, for allowing that to continue.

So to my final concern as listed above – Brexit and Northern Ireland.  I’ve stated consistently that putting the Good Friday Agreement at risk was the singularly worst aspect of Brexit yet for some reason Johnson chose to impose his hard Brexit regardless of the potential impact on the communities that make up Northern Ireland.  He lied time after time, he deceived the people of Northern Ireland and now he and Lord Frost try to blame the EU for being inflexible and for not compromising on the protocol. Let me try to get that straight in my own mind – the Northern Ireland protocol is Johnson and Frost’s deal, signed by them with a flourish and the boast of getting ‘Brexit done’.  A number of letters to the Guardian sum it up perfectly – cynical, shameful and disastrous!  Unfortunately for Boris what he thought would be a jolly by the sea-side playing the great statesman saw him found out and the end result was pretty much a disaster for him.  If there’s one thing he’s not it’s a statesman.  What chance have we got as a country if the world is laughing at him?

With thanks to Ben Jennings/The Guardian

To conclude then – the building works at home continue to progress – slowly – the car port is nearly finished but the conservatory has ground to a halt for the time being.  The weather is great and things are opening up – restaurants are now open for example – so life is creeping back to normal.  Our friend Jehan who runs a little restaurant I’ve spoken about before copped for Covid-19 and was very poorly for three weeks, puffing on oxygen and feeling exhausted.  Fortunately he wasn’t hospitalised and he’s over the worst now but it was a worry for a while.  

So, that’s all for now folks.  Take care, keep safe – it can still get you if you lift your guard.

Speak again soon.

Jem