As 2025 gets underway, it feels as the last couple of weeks have been accompanied by a strong whiff of suspended animation, with endless media speculation about the responses of the combatants in the Gaza ceasefire deal and about what Trump will do when he takes up the presidential cudgels again. Agonizes one newspaper: ‘FacedContinue reading “Sunday 19 January 2025”
Tag Archives: social care
Sunday 9 April
Happy Easter to everyone…. Many of us will be benefiting from a sunny yet slightly chilly day. It’s a shame that cynical Tories have chosen to misuse this special day by posting the most hypocritical stuff on social media, for example Environment (sewage) minister Therese Coffey’s tweet accompanying a picture of Christ on the crossContinue reading “Sunday 9 April”
Sunday 28 November
After social psychologist Professor Stephen Reicher tweeted that trust was crucial for people to accept and follow government restrictions a sceptic responded that trust is not specific to one area of government action: ‘sadly this government has repeatedly shown itself to be dishonest and corrupt, harming public health’. This principle is central to this blog,Continue reading “Sunday 28 November”
Sunday 19 September
As the working week ended with our climate-aware Prime Minister jetting off to the States and 178 Covid deaths, it started with ‘acceleration’ of the vaccination programme and continuing debate over autumn and winter strategy – with much in between. It’s been quite some week, which will have been unsettling for many, from the reshuffleContinue reading “Sunday 19 September”
Sunday 12 September
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 will be concentrating minds even further on Afghanistan and the west’s legacy there. As accounts of Afghans’ distress and persecution continue to emerge, the only guard of the Kabul UK embassy to have made it to the UK with his wife and baby was interviewed on Radio 5 Live lastContinue reading “Sunday 12 September”
As the school term begins and with Parliament about to return, 178 deaths from Covid were recorded on 2 September, the highest number for some time, yet mask wearing on public transport is still patchy, some passengers reporting only around 25% compliance on their journeys. When in Wales recently it seemed to me that complianceContinue reading
Sunday 16 May
Confirmation of the third step of lockdown easing understandably dominated the news agenda this week but wouldn’t you just know that, like last time, the sense of release was marred by the exponential growth in Indian variant cases. These are tripling every week and there are at least 1300 cases in this country, particularly affectingContinue reading “Sunday 16 May”
Sunday 9 May
News last week, including that a senior Tory, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross, said Boris Johnson should resign if he breached the ministerial code, has been temporarily obscured from view by the striking results of local elections and the Hartlepool by-election. The ‘catastrophic’ losses suffered by Labour including losing control of 21 councils have alreadyContinue reading “Sunday 9 May”
Saturday 17 October
With a week like this, during which COVID cases have risen by 50% (now about one in 160 according to the Office for National Statistics) and the government has imposed its much-trailed Three Tier strategy, it could be easy to overlook other important news, such has been the resulting outcry. Under the new rules, nearlyContinue reading “Saturday 17 October”
Sunday 2 August
As the death toll exceeds 46,201, the real total is thought to be around 66,000, so shocking it’s almost unimaginable. Yet the government sticks firmly to its script, heavily reliant upon mantras like being ‘guided by the science’, a rather selective process, it seems. It’s interesting that, throughout, neither the government nor the media haveContinue reading “Sunday 2 August”
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 