As the latest estimate of excess deaths since the start of the pandemic passes 120,000, four main issues have continued to dominate the news this week, none of them inspiring confidence in how they’re being managed. At the start of the week a number of newspapers and websites headlined fury with Michael Gove, amid plungingContinue reading “Saturday 13 February”
Tag Archives: COVID19
Saturday 6 February
As we move into February the first week has seen plenty to occupy minds and media, from the Covid death totals, which remain very high (eg 1449 on Tuesday, 915 on Thursday, 1014 on Friday), to the sad death of Captain Sir Tom Moore, continuing debate about the vaccination programme and challenges regarding the slowContinue reading “Saturday 6 February”
Saturday 30 January
Yet again it’s been a very eventful week, the most arresting issues being the passing of the ghastly 100,000 Covid deaths milestone and EC/AstraZeneca row (see below). With a further 1725 deaths being recorded on Wednesday, taking just one day as an example, the situation is clearly improving only very slowly, in terms of numbersContinue reading “Saturday 30 January”
Saturday 23 January
As the week began, the NHS said to be in its most precarious situation ever, anti-lockdown Lord Sumption stirred up another storm by suggesting some lives (in this case a cancer sufferer) are worth less than others. Although many are rightly horrified by his Darwinist stance, hard decisions are already having to be made inContinue reading “Saturday 23 January”
Sunday 17th January
Last week, which saw even more shocking daily Covid death totals (eg 1564 on Wednesday), started with Boris Johnson demonstrating his ‘one rule for us, another for them’ stance, being spotted riding his bike 7 miles from home. Seen and snapped by a journalist besides a number of passers by, we have to wonder whetherContinue reading “Sunday 17th January”
Sunday 10 January
Not for the first time, I’m reminded of the Lenin quote which this blog began with in April: ‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen’. So much has occurred this week that recent events such as the 18th government U-turn (the third national lockdown announcement), and Trump’s shocking attackContinue reading “Sunday 10 January”
Saturday 2 January 2021
Happy New Year to all, or at least a better one than 2020, despite entering 2021 facing the dire situation of daily deaths approaching 1,000, a lockdown in almost everything but name, new variants running rife, overburdened and exhausted clinicians and medics’ concern about the policy to change the timing of the Pfizer vaccine secondContinue reading “Saturday 2 January 2021”
Sunday 20 December
With 586 Covid deaths registered on Friday and dire warnings of a new and highly contagious strain of the virus wreaking havoc in London and the South East (thought to be 62% of cases in London), the Prime Minister has now, after weeks of dithering, restricted Christmas relaxation of restrictions to one day in EnglandContinue reading “Sunday 20 December”
Saturday 12 December
Whereas just one of these would be more than enough to contend with, this week has seen ‘V-Day’ jingoism, Christmas and Brexit dominating the news agenda, some media outlets generally assuming that everyone has a fairly middle class lifestyle. A letter to the Daily Telegraph demonstrated this, quoting SAGE advice as to how to manageContinue reading “Saturday 12 December”
Saturday 14 November
Of all the eventful weeks we’ve had recently, this one must be a record, including the aftermath of Biden’s victory, Trump’s ongoing refusal to concede amid allegations of fraud, the second predictable government U-turn on free school meals, the relief (despite the hard work to come) of the Pfizer vaccine announcement, the defeat of theContinue reading “Saturday 14 November”
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 