The Saturday List #463 - Ten things that Covid and the pandemic changed in my life

 Four years ago, towards the end of November 2020, I wrote this 

" I always have a note in my diary for today to remind me to order the Turkey, think of a present for Clare, arrange an Xmas beer with a couple of friends that I've not seen through the year. It gives me a month to get myself in order. As I am sure you are aware, this year that note is largely redundant right now. I doubt those beers will be had. It seems likely that London will be in tier 2 or 3 of lockdown. It seems that we might see the family, but mass and a meal at Prezzo seems unlikely. In a normal year, I'd be in the middle of planning a few things right now. Since the Barnet Eye became established, we've always had the Barnet Eye community awards and The False Dots Xmas party in December. That isn't happening. There is the annoual Pogues/Pogue traders gig. That isn't happening. There is the Xmas trip to The Etihad for a match. There is my sister in laws Xmas party in Notting Hill. There is our post Xmas break with friends. You get the picture."  

The Blog was titled "Don't feel guilty for being happy". What was interesting was how much things have returned to Normal. I will be seeing friends for Xmas drinks. The False Dots have their Xmas gig in the diary (please come along, it will be a blast - click on poster for tix). 

We are booked to see The Pogue Traders at Dingwalls for the Xmas gig. On Wednesday, we go to the Etihad for our Xmas trip. My sister in law is having her party in Notting Hill and we have our trip away with friends. The only thing on that list that isn't happening is we won't be doing the Barnet Eye Community Awards. There are a couple of reasons for that, nothing really to do with the Pandemic. The first is the pubs we used to hold the awards at have either shut down or are under new management. The second is that I am really too busy with other things to do it properly. I may well next year, if we can get a decent venue.. I do feel that community hero's should be recognised, but getting nominations and putting an evening together is actually a lot of work. But in truth, the pandemic is the reason this stopped. When you do something every year and then you can't, you lose momentum and other things take priority. It got me thinking. What things in my life have changed because of the pandemic? I thought I'd make a list.

1. My finances. I was chatting yesterday with one of my customers. A nice chap, who was a candidate for the Conservatives in Mill Hill for many years, when the Lib Dems used to always win. He's also a musician. We always have a good chinwag about local issues etc. Before the pandemic, we were doing well financially. Don't get me wrong, we are not paupers now, but we are what you may describe as asset rich / cash poor. Keeping the business alive cleaned out our ready cash savings and the business turnover has not returned to pre pandemic levels. This means no expensive holidays, far fewer dinners out and cutting of other luxuries. Given that in 2020 I didn't think the business would survive and it has, I suppose I should be grateful. What upsets me is that it seems that at every budget in the last two years, both Tory and Labour governments have put the boot into small business. I discussed this with my friend yesterday. We are on opposite sides of the political divide, but he agreed with everything I said. If I wasn't so in love with music, I'd cash my chips in and put my feet up. Sadly, my life is music and without it, life wouldn't be worth living, so I am lumbered running my studio and my missus is lumbered putting up with it. Many people don't understand, but to me, what is the point of cash if you are not doing what you love? I could have all the money in the world and still be miserable, if I didn't have a band and my studios.

2. My sense of smell. This is an odd one. I have never tested positive for covid. I've never had the symptoms for the whole period of the pandemic. However, before the pandemic struck, over Xmas 2019, I had all of the symptoms. I lost my sense of taste. I thought I had lung cancer. I was waking up at night in a sweat. I was seriously thinking of going to the Doctor for a chest x-ray, but it abated after about two weeks and I forgot about it. I only realised when the government announced that loss of smell and taste was a symptom. We'd been having a curry on new years eve and my mates were saying it was lovely. I can recall thinking "They are mad, it tastes of nothing". I went to bed at five past midnight as I felt so ill. But.... and this is the really odd thing, now my sense of smell is 100 times better than it ever was. This is generally a bad thing. I have the sense of smell of a blood hound. Most smells are horrible. People on the tube, the smell when you have a pee (I can tell what my last meal was, be it fish, meat or veg). I can smell the pollen from Oak trees in the spring (never noticed it before). The list goes on. Anyone else noticed? Was it a long covid symptom? I am curious.

3. My musical taste. The pandemic made me listen to a hell of a lot more recorded music than I have for decades. I started making up Spotify playlists for fun. Lots of things that previously I dismissed as "unserious" I now love. A good example is the Mariachis cover of I love rock and roll, from the Mexican party album. This is now on my Cheer me up playlist!

4. My culinary ability. Mostly due to boredom, during covid, I did a lot of cooking. I had the time to experiment and I realised where I'd been going wrong previously. The down side of this is that I expect a far higher quality of food when I eat out. Summed up, I want restaurants to use good ingredients and prepare food properly. The best example is roast potatoes.  Before the pandemic, I'd par boil for ten minutes, then put in the oven. Now, I par boil for twelve minutes, give them a quick fry, salt and pepper them and put them on a hot plate in the oven. They taste a million times better. 

5. I am calmer. I did a lot of introspection during covid. I realised that I got riled far too easily. This has been an ongoing thing for me. In 1995, I actually had anger management sessions as Clare was pregnant and I realised that I needed to calm down. I am not a violent person, but I can be horrible when I am riled. During covid, I realised that I needed to do more work on this and actively practice the stratetgies. I realised this had worked on Wednesday. I was at the Virgin Gym in Mill Hill East, sitting in the sauna. A very arrogant and inconsiderate fellow member did did something that infuriated me (rightly). I was furious. Thirty years ago I'd have probably lost the plot and punched him. There was a big part of me that really wanted to but despite seething, I simply said in a very low, calm voice "what you just did was extremely inconsiderate and bad mannered" whilst glaring at him. To my amazement he backed down and apologised. It is the better way. Without the pause for lockdown, I doubt I'd have taken the time to understand my own weaknesses.

6. My time management has gone out of the window. I used to be extremely well disciplined and got things done. Now I don't.It infuriates me. Luckily Clare just about keeps things on track. Being lazy and having nothing to do for four months of total lockdown really messed me up. 

7. I discovered my voice. When we first set up the band, Pete Conway was the singer. He left and for a while I'd sing a few songs. I hated it and always felt embarrassed. After a couple of years, we got a singer and I concentrated on guitar. During lockdown, our then singer Allen Ashley couldn't rehearse. I started singing out of necessity. I realised I actually enjoyed it, I'd just been singing the wrong sort of songs! This culminated with the band releasing an album with me singing all the songs last week. I am really pleased with it. I am very much in the Ian Dury/Suggs school of singing, but as that's the music I love most, that's fine! I now bitterly regret having waited 45 years to realise.

8. My relationship with social media. The pandemic and lockdown made Social Media toxic. As people had nothing else to do, they piled on to social media and got really cross about everything. I very quickly tired of it all.

9. My relationship with God. I don't particularly feel comfortable talking about my faith and my religion publicly, but I also believe in honesty. I don't think anyone could see what was happening without challenging their view of the Universe. As someone raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, having time on my hands to think about my religion and faith enabled me to get an adult perspective that I'd never had previously. I've always had a deep suspicion of the heriarchical nature of most religions and a dislike of rituals and ceremonies. Weighed against that I have huge appreciation of the fact that churches etc are community hubs, where people come together to mingle and mix and try and be better, more compassionate individuals. I think it is a very good thing to spend an hour in such an environment. Clearly during covid, there were no masses etc at the Church. I didn't miss it, but when the Church reopened, I found I was glad to be back. I respect everyone's views. If atheism or another religion works for you that is great. This works for me.

10. My songwriting skills. When lockdown hit, I thought "great, I'll have time to write some brilliant songs". What did I do? I lay on the lounger and drank beer. I realised that without inspiration, I had nothing to write about. I tried, but failed miserably, so I gave up. Then I was looking at some old pictures and videos. When the band started rehearsing, I had some ideas. We were still in a level of lockdown but as music is my job, we could rehearse,  I started experimenting. Our drummer, Graham, started talking about how lockdown was like "Sunday in the 70's" where nothing was open and there was nothing to do. It inspired a song. The bits fell into place. It also gave me a template for how False Dots songs should work. It was the first video we released as part of the "New False Dots". Without lockdown, I'd never have written a song like this. 

What did the pandemic/covid change in your life?

Were the disabled deliberately culled in the first wave of Covid? A father speaks out

John Sullivan with his Daughter Susan in 2011

 Some things are too horrible to contemplate, especially when they touch on your life and affect your friends and family. Long time regular readers of this blog will be familiar with long time contributor to this blog, Mr John Sullivan and his daughter Susan, who passed away in 2020 from covid. 

John believes that Susan died as a deliberate policy of 'culling' disabled and vulnerable people in the first wave of Covid. When Susan was admitted to hospital with Covid, Johns family expressly requested that Susan did not have a "Do Not Resuscitate" notice placed on her and all efforts would be made to save her. Susan lived with the Downs condition. She was in good health prior to covid. The families wishes were ignored. 

John is not a man who ever gave up on Susan and he's not going to start now. Please watch this video podcast and read this article, which explains his campaign

John's Podcast

https://sites.libsyn.com/123829/who-do-we-not-save

Article

https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/who-do-we-not-save

I have to confess that when John contacted me and asked me to help publicise his campaign, I struggled to deal with what he was saying. Not because I don't have immense respect for John and his family, but in all honesty, what he was saying dug up a lot of very raw emotions, that I have struggled to deal with. 

This is especially painful for me to deal with. My cousin Theresa Fanning, who also lived with Downs Syndrome,  died of Covid. Theresa was in poor health prior to contracting Covid and was suffering from demetia. I was very closed to Tessie, as I knew her. I, rightly, had no say in any decisions about her treatment. She has brothers and sister who felt that the DNR was the right path for her, given her diminished quality of life in recent years. From what they told me, it was unlikely that much could be done for her by the time she was admitted and her passing was peaceful.

I used to take Tessie to Lourdes with our group in the summer, but she had become unable to travel, several years previously. My main reticence about publicisings Johns campaign was that I didn't want my cousins to see my comments as a criticism of their decisions. I thought about not mentioning Tessie at all, but that would be plain dishonest. When it comes down to it, I realised that the two situations were very different. It would be a dereliction of my duties as a blogger to not give John's campaign a platform. Every family has the right to do what they feel is best for their loved ones, and to fight for justice for them. I have no criticisms of what happened with Tessie, her siblings are comfortable with her treatment and the decisions made and I fully support that. John's situation is different and I support the Sullivan family as well.

Whilst, I am not criticising Tessie's treatment or the circumstances leading to her passing, I am sickened by the fact that we couldn't properly mourn her, due to covid regulations, but Boris Johnson and his cronies were partying, ignoring the rules that meant we simply had to mourn alone, in silence. I sincerely hope that when people vote in the Uxbridge by election, they do not forget the behaviour of their former MP and his cabinet chums, including the current Prime Minister, who was up to his neck in the shenanigans. 

 I also have to question whether protocols were properly in place to protect Tessie at her home, in the care of Barnet council. We all know of the appaling death toll at care homes. Everyone knew Tessie was highly vulnerable. Was every measure possible taken to prevent her contracting covid? I genuinely don't know. What I do know is that in tens of thousands of cases, vulnerable people in care were let down. The sad truth is that this has saved HM Government a fortune in care costs, as looking after vulnerable people with dementia and other similar conditions is extremely expensive for them. 

In truth, I'd rather not think about the whole thing. Yes, that is cowardly and dishonest, but it is far more comfortable to think of the future, of your next holiday, or the next family barbecue. But John and his family have an empty chair at their family parties and they believe the were failed. As for Tessie, when she passed, we didn't hold a wake, we had a gathering a year later when the regulations allowed. It was nice to see the family, but I feel she was robbed of the send off she deserved, which is important in our Irish tradition. Me, All I could really do was make a video and put some of my music to it. She was a beautiful and fun person. Many people seem to think that people with Downs syndrome have no right to exist, are sub human. I disagree profoundly, I celebrate the fact that humanity embraces our differences. This was my tribute to Tessie, please have a look. It may give you some insight as to why John feels that people with Downs syndrome are people and they deserved better.

The day the UK went bonkers - All covid restrictions abolished

Lord help you if you have a compromised immune system, are elderly or have other health issues. I'm all for going out to gigs and football matches if you are not infected with covid. What scares the hell out of me is the abolition of mandatory isolation for people with covid and the removal of financial support for those who have covid. Last week my wife had covid. She was happy to isolate. Despite the fact that I love my missus, we were both happy to be sensible and not see each other for ten days. Saturday was the first day we could. We put this too good effect seeing a band at the Old Bull arts Centre in Barnet. I'm not someone who wants to see lockdowns, but I want a sensible balance. 

This week my studio manager also has covid.  I wouldn't want him in work if he was positive. If he spread it to a vulnerable customer, both of us would have that on our conscience. 

Last week the UK saw over 1,000 deaths with restrictions on people who are infected, to me this is not a pandemic that is over. The purpose of the restrictions was to stop people who are infectious spreading the disease. Boris Johnson stated that he would follow the science. Where are Chris Whitty and the rest of the crew to back Boris up if the science is there?

The true purpose of todays announcement is to remove support payments for people isolating. This means that people will be forced to work to pay bills. There is a #COSTOFLIVINGCRISIS after all. I would have supported a scaling back of restriction. I cannot see why we are removing the requirements to self isolate. Boris Johnson states that people will use their common sense. How can they do this if he's scaling back testing. How can you use  common sense if you can't pay the bills?

If you have a job where you are working with someone with a compromised immune system and you think you have covid, but you are falling behind on your rent, what do you do? 

The sad truth is that for those who are struggling, they will be forced to make the most terrible decisions. I'm relaxed about abolition of vaccine passports. We can make our own choices about going to pubs and clubs, but we can't about work. 

We have been isolating when infected for good reasons. These reasons have not gone away. We are not even past the worst of winter. This has been a decision taken to pacify right wing nutcases in his own party. I've always believed that the first duty of a government is to protect it's most vulnerable citizens. Making people who are likely to infect them go to work is, quite simply, a failure of Government. 

Better Streets for Barnet Response to Barnet Council Enviironment Committee Report - A Guest blog by Jon Klaff

Today Barnet Council released its long-awaited report intothe emergency COVID measures which included cycle lane on the A1000. This week the Council’s environment committee will discuss this report, which broadly supports the lane. We at Better Streets for Barnet back this change as an important step forward in rebalancing our road environment.

For those new to the discussion, the segregated lane along part of the A1000 (from East Finchley to Tally Ho Corner) was put in as part of the emergency transport measures during the initial phase of the pandemic. It has caused much discussion amongst both supporters and opponents, and in our view should be seen as a success.

 The data shows that car journey times along the route are down, and air quality has improved. This fits a pattern that has been repeatedly shown wherever these schemes are objectively assessed – cycle lanes do not cause congestion. We applaud the diligence of the data collection team and thank them for their hard work.

 At the same time, the report does mention some areas in which the scheme could be improved. Better Streets for Barnet highlighted some of these during the consultation and will happily work with the council to ensure alterations meet the needs of all road users. We urge those designing these changes to consider how shared use paths might cause conflict between pedestrians and cyclists, and to avoid situations where cyclists would have to move out of the safety of a lane into the main traffic flow to avoid parked delivery vehicles.

 During the trial period, several different points of view have been raised – “why is segregation needed?”, “I support cycle lanes, but just not this one”, “it is in the wrong place”, “it puts cyclists at risk because of its design”.

Segregation is needed to address the fundamental problem of our roads – that putting two tonne metal vehicles moving at more than 25mph in the same space as 90kg bikes carrying humans with minimal protection is not safe. Any hazard control strategy places elimination at the very top - if we remove the risk, then we no longer need to worry about collisions occurring.  Working towards zero collisions must be the primary focus. We know by now that simple painted lanes do not remove the risk, they are little more than a warning sign and crashes still occur. 

So, Barnet are fulfilling promises in their transport strategy by putting this lane in, and it is absolutely in the right place. The A1000 is the number one desire route for transport in the borough. Starting here is going to produce the most benefit, it will encourage more people to cycle. Linking the main town centres in the borough will remove the need for car journeys of less than 5km, which make up a disproportionate amount of our trips. If we reduce the number of these short car journeys, the roads will be freer for longer journeys as well as for the emergency services.

We are under no illusion that the lane is perfect, and the report does mention improvements. Very few initial schemes of any sort are ideal, but in assessing these kinds of change, we should not allow perfect to be the enemy of good. We must work together to improve the lane, listening to the concerns of all involved and establishing ways to make it better. Removing the lane will undo the achievements of the past 18 months and will cause the Borough to commit further to roads being overly dominated by cars with the knock-on effect of dangerous air pollution being inflicted on Barnet citizens. The councillors supporting the lane should all be applauded and praised for their leadership, both in a time of crisis and going forward.

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Jon Klaff is a campaigner for sustainable transport and lives in the Borough of Barnet. Guest blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye

So where is the help that the Chancellor promised the hospitality industry?

 Do you remember that big announcement by Rishi Sunak that businesses in the hospitality industry would be getting grants to assist with the problems caused by the latest round of Coronavirus rules etc? That was back on the 21st December. Since then, many businesses (such as us) have had to pay VAT bills, rent and business rates are due any time now. In short, things are difficult. My business had a negative cash flow in December. Many artists booked rehearsals for Xmas and New Year shows. These were booked and paid for months in advance to ensure slots were secured. As Omicron hit and the govt discouraged us from getting together and  having parties, etc, we had mass cancellations galore. We had two weeks of negative cashflow as we processed numerous refunds. As the artists had no income coming in, they had no choice but to claim refunds rather than credits. The pubs and clubs they were playing at lost a huge amount in what should be the best time of the year. In short, the whole sector took a massive kicking?

Now the bills are rolling in for all of us. We've been left high and dry. I've been checking on a daily basis to see what Barnet are doing to pay this. This is the relevant page on their website. It says

New grant for businesses affected by Omicron

On 21 December 2021 government announced a new grant scheme to support hospitality and leisure businesses that are experiencing difficulties because of the Omicron variant.

Hospitality and leisure premises, including accommodation, food and beverage services will benefit from targeted grant support.

We are waiting for guidance from government and will provide further updates when we can.

As you can see, as of today 6/1/2021 at 3pm, Barnet still do not know what is going on. It is all very well saying support will be available, but businesses need it now, to pay bills, not at some date far off in the future. We have landlords to pay, utility bills, staff costs and we have no idea how much or what the criteria are to qualify. I can understand that it takes a few days to sort the details out, but many businesses are going to the wall. Sad to see that the Windmill in Cricklewood is the latest local casualty of the pandemic. 

Sad to hear Windmill pub Cricklewood is closing. Last day party @CluckTownUK is all day Sat. Good luck for future & we will miss you. Thank you George for reopening The Windmill & giving residents their local community pub back. Use your local pub, or lose them. 😢 #pubsmatter https://t.co/IXyFzJYA8M

— Fordwych Residents (@FordwychRA) January 5, 2022

The bottom line is that it is pointless promising aid, if it is not forthcoming. I've been a critic of Barnet Council but they have been most decent with our business with support during the pandemic. It is a shame that the Govt have not got their act together.

Why Boris Johnson lying about a party matters

Regular readers will know that in January, my cousin Theresa, who is six months younger than me and who I grew up with passed away from covid. Being from the Irish tradition, her Dad was my mum's brother, a family wake is a key part in the family's process of dealing with grief and marking the passing of a loved one. 

For many years, as Theresa suffered from Downs syndrome, I'd take her on holiday to Lourdes in the summer. When we staged the party for the reopening of the Friern Barnet Library, after the protests and occupation, Theresa came down with her helpers to join us and boogie to my band. But there was no wake, no party to celebrate her life. We accepted this because Theresa's death brought home the severity of the situation. What enrages me is that it is a green light to people to behave in a way that puts the lives of people who are vulnerable at risk. We eventually had the wake in August, but it is more than possible that the reason Theresa caught covid was because someone didn't follow the rules. That is the real harm that Boris has caused. He has given a green light to everyone who doesn't give a stuff for vulnerable people.

There are two ways you could react to the behaviour of Boris and his team. You could say "Well if he doesn't care, why should I?" and put other people who are vulnerable, such as Theresa's life at risk. Or you could say "I do care bout vulnerable people, I will do what I can to protect them and I will show my disdain for Mr Johnson and his government at the ballot box". The choice is yours. Choose a side.

There is no Covid crisis - This is all going to plan!

 So you are alarmed by the huge rises in covid cases and are wondering why Boris has not taken action? This was the question troubling me until yesterday. However in my job I am lucky. Our customers come in all shapes and sizes and some have day jobs where they do very important things in very important places. I was chatting with one such customer yesterday, who nipped in to buy a plectrum. He gave me a unique insight into the thinking at the heart of government. 

The UK is taking a very different direction to the rest of Europe. We are seeing a much higher death rate and huge rate of infections. You may think that this would have Boris Johnson in a panic. Quite the opposite. Whilst this may, on the face of it, seem reckless, there is a logic. Lets consider a few facts, Firstly just about every vulnerable person, who is prepared to be vaccinated has been. Those who are vulnerable and haven't been jabbed have made a positive personal decision to not be vaccinated. In the eyes of the UK government, they have made a decision that puts them at risk, so it is their business and not the business of government to protect them and further damage the economy. Secondly, the vast majority of those who have not been vaccinated are in a demographic that covid is very unlikely to cause lasting harm to. They may feel rotten for a few days, but that will be the sum of it for most. The third factor is that we are now starting to see the protection from the vaccines starting to reduce. If we are going to have another wave, it is best to have it when the vulnerable are protected and those who are not at risk are less likely to pass it on and kill them or put them in hospital. The fourth factor is that hospitals are not overrun. This is the absolute key for Boris. 

In short, Boris Johnson and his govenrment believe that the way out of covid is herd immunity. They will not say this, because they screwed up royally in March 2020 by deciding this was the way to go, but now, with vaccines, they believe it will work. The government believes that a dose of covid when vaccinated is actually the best things for many people, as it will give their immune system a huge boost whilst they have a degree of protection. Boris Johnson is betting the house on this. His view is that the UK will have the best economic outcome of any G7 country, if we rely on vaccinations to mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic and we stay open. His view is that sooner or later, we have to open up and the best time to do it is when the population has a reasonable degree of vaccine induced immunity.

If this all sounds sensible to you and you are wondering why the government is not saying this, the reason is threefold. The first is that covid will cause thousands of deaths. Not as many, by a long shot, as if we'd not vaccinated, but no Prime Minister wants to take the blame for thousands of deaths. The second is that if he mentions herd immunity, everyone will remember what happened last time he said it. And the third reason is that it is a huge gamble. If he hasn't broadcast the reason we are following this path and it all goes horribly wrong, he can deny it was a deliberate policy, if he's not stated that's what he is doing. In short, the UK is conducting an experiment, one that most of the rest of the world thinks is dangerous and reckless. In short, the government wants as many people as possible to become infected now, while immunity levels are high, so long as hospitals are not swamped. They believe that this will mean that the UK will be the first country to see the back of covid. I asked my customer whether he thought this was the right strategy. His answer "To be honest, for many of us, it's squeaky bum time, no scientists or doctors will openly advocate it, although economists will. Boris believes it is the only real exit strategy for covid in a society where not everyone will get vaccinated". I asked if it was likely to change. The answer "The pandemic has shown that things can change very quickly, once people start to panic, so who knows".

So there you go. 

I've never felt so terrified for the future in my whole life

Am I alone? I am feeling absolutely terrified for the future.  Maybe I'll feel different tomorrow, or next week. I certainly hope so.  I'm a natural optimist. Life has worked out pretty well for me thus far, but I have three children in the twenties and when I think about what the future holds for them, it fills me with dread. Not only that, but we are going into the Winter with fuel shortages at the pumps, the energy industry in crisis and massive gaps on shelves. My own business, which last week had recovered to normal levels, after 18 months of pandemic restrictions, has been plunged back into loss, as musicians cancel sessions, unable to get fuel to get their gear over. We've only just brought our staff back from furlough.

It becomes clearer every day that the whole fiasco that is #Brexit is ripping the economy apart. Those who foolishly claim that Brexit has nothing to do with the fuel crisis, they have had the rug pulled away as the govt has eased Brexit induced work restrictions on foreign HGV drivers. It is clear that there is an empty vessel in government when it comes to managing the logistics of running a major economy. No one has any idea whether Xmas will be a time of plenty or a mad scramble to find a few stocked shelves. Will those presents we've ordered arrive? If there is a cold winter, will there be enough energy to stay warm? We have no energy security and our supplies are controlled at the whim of Paris and Moscow. It might all work out fine, but no one should be surprised if Crimbo dinner is spaghetti and spam by candle light.

As to the longer term prospects. The free world is lead by Joe Biden. His only redeeming characteristic is that he's not Donald Trump. Trump is waiting in the wings for his next shot at the Presidency in three years time. He has stated that only a difficult call from his Doctor will stop him. There is a report about the dying days of his presidency in todays Daily Express. It is terrifying. If it is to be believed,  his top general had to phone the Chinese to reassure them that the US wouldn't launch a pre-emptive strike. The implication was that the US military would prevent Trump launching an attack if he ordered one, technically an act of treason (albiet a very sensible one). 

In Russia, we have a government that is happy to use nerve gas against opponents in the UK and we can do nothing about it. If that wasn't bad enough, they control our energy supplies. Afghanistan now has a regime that is in league with Al Qaida, an organisation that perpetrated the worst attack on the West in peacetime. It is surely only a matter of time before the terror camps open again. 

Then there is our relationship with Europe. It is 100% clear that this has gone wrong. I am off to Portugal soon. Although I am double vaccinated, the Portuguese don't recognise the UK NHS certificate as proof, so I have to get a covid test. This will cost a minimum of £50. Just one little bit of the expense of 'taking back control'. My eldest daughter was lucky enough to study in Italy under the Erasmus scheme. Boris promised that this would be retained, but renaged on his word. If my daughter has a daughter, she will grow up in a very different world. She won't have Erasmus. She won't be able to work in Europe without jumping through huge hoops. Many of my studio customers are bands that used to survive by touring in Europe. I am not aware of any going any time soon. Of course some of this is down to covid, but they say there it is no longer economical. 

Covid has cost the country trillions. Sooner or later, these bills will have to be paid. It is clear that the govt has no interest in getting the winners from covid (Amazon, Paypal, etc) to pay, so it will fall on the poorest (those getting a £20 cut in their benefits). 

Try as I might, I can see little to be optimistic about. We have a government that has shown it couldn't run a whelk stall. The opposition is no better. Watching the Labour conference, with the opposition arguing about how to stack the deckchairs on the sinking dredger, rather than holding Boris Johnson to account for the mess he is making, it is clear they do not provide a credible alternative. What does Keir Starmer stand for, a free pot noodle for anyone who can tell me.

My Dad used to always say "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die". I'm finding it pretty hard to be merry at the moment. 

Teenagers on the edge of a mental health precipice?

Anxiety. It is a terrible thing. I have been giving a lot of thought to how the fallout of lockdown will affect the children who are at school and going through all of this. Months out of school, friendship circles disrupted. Exams cancelled. End of year parties binned. Some will have seen financial hardship at home. Some will have lost family members and friends. Being isolated from friends as a teenager is a strange and unusual punishment. 

What is even worse though, is that the British have a strong aversion to admitting it is an issue, they don't talk about their problems and their friends don't want to hear them.  When people do seemingly irrational things, there is always an underlying reason. I'm not sure what the fallout will be from all of this. I think that we will see a surge of covid related PTSD cases as we go back to school. I wonder what would have happened if covid and lockdown had happened when I was 13 and at my lowest. If I'd had a year out of school, stuck at home? I think I'd have been terrified to go back. I still have nightmares that I'm back at school, having to resit exams or not knowing where my maths lessons are. God only knows what todays teenagers have nightmares about. 

The NHS is at it's most stretched. There are huge backlogs. Many of the staff are suffering burnout. The world in 2021 is not the world all of us grown ups were prepared for. Even the most mundane of things, such as 'seeing a doctor' has a new meaning. Will we ever routinely 'see a doctor' again? Yesterday I saw a bunch of friends that I'd not seen since November 2019, when we had a reunion get together. Some looked exactly the same. Some looked 20 years older. Some didn't come because they were too scared. These are people with life experience, for young people unprepared for normal life, let alone this sort of life, what on earth must it be like. It is a joyless drudge, that none of us can see an end to. When I was a teenager, time seemed to take forever to pass. The time I was at Finchley Catholic and Orange Hill Schools seemed like an eternity. Can you imagine how long it must seem like cooped up in your bedroom with little (non electronic) stimulation.

The Prime Minister will talk about 'learning to live with covid'. I worry that teenagers will need to learn how to live, full stop. Of course, some will thrive, but those who are of a nervous disposition, or who have had family trauma or financial crisis? We have a new health secretary who is more interested in the economy than the nations health. I believe we are sailing towards a mental health precipice. I do not see any evidence that HM govt has given this a moments thought. One reason the UK took such a hit from Covid is because we were unprepared and we are going into the post covid era in exactly the same way. We need a national strategy to address this crisis. There is no evidence that this is even recognised, let alone being developed. 

The ten mistakes of Boris Johnson's government that cost tens of thousands of lives

Matt Hancock has gone and we have a new health secretary. Boris Johnson has been briefing that he wants to draw a line under Hancocks reign and move on. But the buck never stopped with Matt Hancock. It stopped with Boris Johnson. He chaired the COBRA committee (when he could be bothered to attend). He was Hancock's boss. When there was good news it was him who fronted the conference (when there was bad news it was 'rent a stooge Hancock who generally got the gig). 

His government presided over the worst death rate for a major nation last year. This could have been avoided. I thought I'd list the grave errors of his government that lead to us having a 50% higher death rate than Germany. 

1. Johnson didn't bother attending COBRA meetings in the earliest days of the pandemic, this caused drift and meant that he was late to the game in his understanding the severity of the crisis.

2. When it was clear that the disease was deadly Boris did not close down air travel between hotspots and the UK (Primarily China and Italy).

3. As well as failing to close down air travel, there was no requirement for anyone returning from these places to self isolate or even have their temperature taken before or after boarding a plane. Thios point and the previous point meant that the disease entered the UK completely unhindered.

4. When it was clear that the disease was running rampant, Boris dithered for a week. If he'd have locked down a week earlier, every single study has shown we'd have had a minimum of 10-15,000 less deaths.

5. There was no attempt at all to prevent the disease entering the care home network. The most vulnerable people in the country, those most likely to get seriously ill and die, were recklessly and negligently exposed to the disease as people with infections returned from hospitals. 

6. There was no protocol to separate carers who had been exposed to the disease from carers and patients who were vulnerable in the early days of the crisis.

7. The government lied to the nation that face coverings were ineffective in slowing the spread of the disease. This was done to protect the NHS stockpile. This meant that when they changed the advice, many people simply didn't believe them. 

8.  When Dominic Cummings did his trip to Barnard Castle, he wasn't instantly sacked. This undermined the unity of the nation in fighting the disease and made a significant minority say "If they won't follow the rules, then neither will I". This meant that lockdown observance would never be as effective again.

9. Boris Johnson and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak launched the 'Eat Out To Help Out" scheme, without a vaccination programme in place and without tying it to use of the highly costly NHS App. I believe that if people had needed to 'check in'  on the App to get the discount, then the scheme may have been of some use, but all it did was pour petrol on the cooling embers of the fire.

10. When it was clear that the Indian Variant was rampant, he repeated the mistake of last February and March and was late in imposing travel restrictions.  Fortunately this has not lead to the same number of deaths as the first mistake, but that is completely down to luck.

None of these points are hindsight, they are statements of the bleeding obvious. The government needs to be properly held to account for these appalling failures. Sacking Matt Hancock for snogging his secretary in the broom cupboard in no way atones for the abject failure. If Boris was an honourable man, he'd have stood down long ago. 

Don't make the mistake of thinking the pandemic is over

 Like most of the country, we've been following the ups and downs of the pandemic, the infection and death counts and vaccination program with morbid interest over the last fourteen months. I remember the early days, going to the Good Earth for a Valentines lunch, where the owner, who has been a friend for many years, told us that people had cancelled due to the 'Wuhan virus'. We had a chuckle with him at the time, none of us expected that within a month, the pandemic would be on the verge of shutting the UK down. From being an obscure news story on the other side of the world, within two months, it would have killed my favourite auntie,  a good friends daughter and a long time studio customer and friend. That is the thing about highly infectious diseases, they are highly infectious. This one has mutated several times, becoming more infectious and more resistant to vaccines. In Barnet the signs are very positive. However we are one mutation away from being back to square one, if a vaccine resistant strain emerges. The best thing we can do is suppress the virus globally as strongly as possible.

There are arguments as to how best to do this. Vaccines are clearly the best way. Developed nations should make giving vaccines to the poorer areas of the world a priority. The more people who are infected, the higher the probability of new variants emerging that will set us back. There is also the spectre of more deadly variants. 

The anti vaxxer/covid denying lobby are pushing Boris hard to damn the science and open up. I am not quite sure what these people expect if the government followed their gameplan. It seems to me, from some conversations, that they believe that had we had no lockdowns and no vaccination program, we'd have had no deaths and everything would be marvellous. Many of them believe that the virus doesn't exist, or that it is harmless and the government has pulled a sleight of hand to con us. Anyone who refuses to believe these absurd claims are labelled 'sheeple' and told we've been conned. Sadly, for them at least, their evidence does not stand up to scrutiny. You would think that the suppression of the virus death rate would be evidence enough, but these strange people believe that viruses magically disappear of their own accord when they get bored. 

The truth is that a virus has exactly the same mission as any other life form. To reproduce and survive. to do this, it has to be passed on. This is why viruses will always evolve to become more infectious. It is there best chance of survival. It also means that they must mutate, as this is their only weapon in their fight against our immune system. Understanding these facts can only lead to one conclusion. We are not out of the woods yet.

Now I hope that we've seen the last of lockdowns and all the strain that goes with it.   My business has just about survived the shock. Our finances are not in the robustly strong shape they were last March, but we are OK. Many in the music industry are not. Many have taken on other jobs to pay the bills. Many are very wary of restarting their music career as they have bills to pay. Festivals cannot get insurance and freelance back up crew have been especially hard hit. Whilst we all crave a full opening up, nothing is more damaging than opening up then slamming on the brakes. This just makes everyone unwilling to make commitments. I was planning for my band to do some recordings in Portugal later this year. You may wonder why someone who owns a studio would want to fly to Portugal to another studio? The reason is that a change of scenery is helpful to the writing process. The studio is owned by one of my main collaborators and we often record material at both studios. As a band, we feel that it would be a fitting coda to the pandemic. But now our plans are thrown into chaos again. Many planning holidays will feel the same. What has happened today with regard to travel to Portugal is a stark reminder that we mustn't make the mistake of thinking the pandemic is over. We need to be careful until such time as we really do know it is beaten and it is not just ill informed, siren voices on Twitter shouting it.

How Barnet Eye guest blogger John Sullivan moved LBC's James O'Brien to tears

 Regular readers will know that I listen to Robert Elms on BBC Radio London of a morning. I was doing this, as I do every morning, when my phone buzzed. It was a message from a mate who simply said "Listen to LBC now!".  As my friend is a man of good judgement, I did just that. To my amazement, Barnet Eye guest blogger John Sullivan was talking to presenter James O'Brien. The subject? Dominic Cummings revealations about the chaotic government response to the covid pandemic. 

John and Susan in happier times

John sounded quite emotional, but he made his points well. By the time he finished, James O'Brien was in tears. After the call, I rang John. I just wanted him to know how well he'd made his case. John's daughter Susan died last year as a result of covid. John feels that Boris Johnson and Matthew Hancock failed his daughter in their duty of care to her (along with the 150,000 other 'excess deaths' that have occurred due to covid). He listened to what Dominic Cummings had to say yesterday and feels that he now has an explanation for how Susan was failed by those who's job it is to run our nation and keep people in Susan's position safe. Knowing that there was chaos at the heart of our government is no comfort. John feels that we need the public inquiry to take place now. We should not wait for the end of the pandemic, if there are lessons that could save lives now. The only reason to wait is to spare the blushes of Boris Johnson. 

I would strongly suggest that you click the link in this tweet and listen to John. 

James O'Brien is moved to tears by grieving father John, while listeners call for his story to be played before Boris Johnson. @mrjamesob https://t.co/AosmEa29Zg

— LBC (@LBC) May 27, 2021

This is what James O'Brien had to say after he spoke to John on Twitter

This call completely broke me. I will remember John - and Susie - as long as I live. https://t.co/0C6H4iVi0F

— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) May 27, 2021

I will refrain from adding any further comments, as I think John says it all very eloquently. I will simply say that John says what he has to say very eloquently and I find it hard to disagree with anything he said.

Is Monday the day the third wave of Covid begins?

 As regular readers know, I run a music studio. We are currently open only for professional musicians, solo/single household artists and education related to public exams. To give some idea of what this means, we have 19 bookings all day in our 17 studios. To give some idea of the effects of lockdown, on a similar day in 2019, we'd have somewhere between 40-50 bookings. What has this got to do with the headline? Well I am just giving you some idea of what a normal days business looks like at the moment and it is relevant. 

For our business, Thursday is our logical end of the week. We pay in our cash takings (or we used to when people used it), so we work our weeks out Friday to Thursday. Each week we keep stats to compare with the previous year. This allows us to plan, identify if a studio is not being used as much or much more. This allows us to improve as we can see in real time going back 20 years, what has worked and what hasn't. Of course, as we were shut last April, there is not too much to learn. However as I look at the coming week, I noticed something most unexpected. On Monday, we have no bookings at all. As Fri-Sun are booked  and Tues-Thurs have normal bookings, I was quite puzzled. They I remembered. Monday is the day when we can go to the pub, cafe or restaurant, if they have an outside area. It seems that all of our customers seem to be grabbing this opportunity with both hands. 

The latest Barnet Council dashboard says that Barnet has a covid infection rate of 27 per 100K people. Although that is massively lower than January, In December, the Govt was putting advisory warnings when countries rate went above 20 per 100K. In short, the Pandemic is far from over. What is different is that all vulnerable people and those over 50 have been offered a vaccination and most have had at least one dose. The chief medical officer tells us this means we are 80% less likely to die if we are infected. However almost no healthy people under 50 have been vaccinated, which means potentially there is a huge well of people who could potentially become infected. Now these are far less likely to get ill, so you may say "so what?" but the biggest risk is of vaccine resistant mutations. 

What my own studios bookings tell me is that we are desperate to be let off the leash. I don't blame anyone for this reaction. None of us want to be locked down a second longer than need be. Will meeting friends for a pint in the pub garden significantly raise the rate of infection? Only time will tell. I hope people are sensible and don't go completely over the top, but it is a concern. 

I was skeptical about he return of children to school last month and felt that this was a tad rushed. Although the rate of infection has not risen, it has not fallen at the same rate since the opening. This was good news. The mass testing has clearly helped. If we are sensible and keep a degree of social distance, then it is not unrealistic to hope that the easing will not have a major impact.

However there is one thing that concerns me. Those covid deniers, who believe the whole thing is a conspiracy, have been forced to follow the rules to some extent by the lockdown. They don't want vaccines and they don't want to social distance. In the USA where there are far more people of this ilk, covid rates and deaths have not come down. I do worry that this group could be the spark that lights the fire of another wave. There is a part of me that thinks this is just Darwinian evolution in motion, and as someone who is vaccinated, I'll be alright, but if the rate creeps up, the chances of mutation increase. The virus isn't sentient. It doesn't know that we have vaccines and it is under threat. It mutates at on a random basis, therefore the bigger the well of infection, the more chance. The anti vaxxers get very shouty about infringements on their liberty. If they bring in a third wave and another lockdown I'll take no satisfaction in smugly knowing that it is their idiocy that sent us back to Jail (in Monopoly parlence). 

There are some people who clearly don't understand statistics (I did an A Level in the subject), who are claiming Covoid is over. It isn't, we are just back to where we were last October, but we have vaccines to hold the worst of the pandemic back. My view, and the view of the chief medical officer is that we are not out of the woods. 

To sum up, I am happy that there is a relaxing. I just hope that we are all sensible enough to behave wisely and not spark a third wave. I suspect Boris is actually being far more gung ho than the medics in his team would like. I sincerely hope that we, the people, repay his faith in us. So when you see your mates, have a pint, but lay off the kissing and hugging for the time being. 

Why I believe that the mental health crisis we are facing will be even more destructive than Covid19

Pic courtesy
  www.toledolibrary.org/blog/mental-health-awareness

Why does Great Britain have the worst covid death rate of any major country on the planet? The answer is simple. We were completely unprepared for it. It would be simple to blame Boris Johnson, but the truth is that he'd been Prime Minister for a couple of months when the crisis hit. The planning for such an outbreak had been neglected for decades. Countries such as South Korea, that had a SARS/MERS outbreak a decade or so ago managed matters far better and had a miniscule death rate compared to ours. It took us the best part of six months and probably trillions of pounds to get to a point where we now manage the crisis. Most of us have been cut off and isolated from friends and family for the best part of a year. Whilst we seem to be getting to grips with Covid, it is widely accepted that what will most likely be a far greater long term problem is just starting to rear its ugly head.

I am talking about the nations mental health. Being cut off from friends, family and support networks, whilst a deadly disease has taken people we love, whilst we are bombarded every day with appalling news regarding deaths and disease is not conducive to a great sense of wellbeing. I don't know anyone who hasn't had a heightened feeling anxiety at some point during the last year. Recently I've been getting in contact with friends I've not seen for a while, with a view to meeting when allowed. One friend, someone who I've always thought of as a  robust individual told me that they would not be coming out to play for a very long time. Another told me they'd not been on a Tube train for over a year and wasn't looking forward to it. This is just the tip of the iceberg though. We try and put on a brave face, hoping that there will be a magical day when things 'normal' again. What concerns me is that for many, what was considered feeling normal may not return just because the pubs are open and that we can visit our Grannies and kids.

The former bassplayer in my band, who passed away a decade ago, found himself in trouble with the law and ended up serving a year in prison. When he was released, we went for a beer and when I asked him how everything was, he told me that he was feeling anxiety about sleeping with the door unlocked. He'd got used to the routine of prison life and he told me that it was difficult to readjust to freedom. Having spent a year the dreaming of being able to roam freely, be with his girlfriend and do as he pleased had given way to a fear of going out when faced with the chance to actually do it.

The furlough scheme has insulated many from the worst of the financial hardships, but many businesses are facing difficult choices right now. No one knows what the trading situation will be like. Many business owners will have re-evaluated the way they do business. It seems likely that many will find themselves in a position where the jobs they are furloughed from do not come back. I imagine that for many, having to find new opportunities, having been sat at home for a year may prove to be a stressful endeavour. 

For young people, the last year at nurseries, schools and colleges must have been a truly awful experience. The exam fiasco last summer has cast a shadow over them. Many who worked hard for GCSE's and A Levels only to have their plans thrown into chaos, with random grades imposed. I cannot imagine how that would undermine one's self confidence. Then there are those who finished degrees last year, just as the whole jobs market shut down. Most have put their lives on hold.

In the last year, I am aware of five young people who found it all too much and took their own lives. Two are children of friends of mine. I am only too aware of their pain and grief. Many young people, stuck at home with no positive stimulation have delved deep into dark websites, chat groups and other harmful and corrosive aspects of the web. Coupled with the intense isloation and claustrophobia of our current situation, many will be feeling vulnerable. Schools are now open, but we are still living under a dark cloud and with the constant testing, things are by no mans normal.

I started this blog by stating the reason that the UK was hit so hard by covid was because we were not prepared. I believe that the mental health fallout of the crisis will dwarf the scale of the damage we've seen and for many will live with them for the rest of their lives. The Government, local authorities, the NHS and healthcare providers need to start developing robust plans for supporting those suffering from mental health issues. Before the crisis, these were inadequate. With what is coming, they could make the stress on the NHS caused by Covid seem a cakewalk. Covid patients in a critical condition are by and large static and easy to monitor. The medical requirements are fairly well defined. Treatment for mental health issues is a very different matter. Whereas covid can be diagnosed with a simple test, mental health conditions are hard to diagnose, hard to treat and the people who are suffering often do not turn up for sessions, don't take proscribed medication and are resistant to therapies. I am not a medical professional. I have however spoken to several and the message is the same. We are chronically unprepared for what is coming.

In the Borough of Barnet, the Council and healthcare providers are aware of the issue and there has been talk of how this should be addressed. Ultimately what we need to do is have a cross community response. It is to big for just the council, the NHS and other care providers. Each one of us may be affected. We may need the support of friends, we may need  support ourselves. Churches, Mosques, Synagogues, schools, AA Groups,  playgroups, football teams, scouts, guides groups all have a role to play. Our communities need to come together to face this. When we can see people without fear, when we can drop in for a coffee, drop off some shopping or even just have a chat in the street, we can all do our little bit. If a friend or family member is feeling down, do not simply say "that's sad". Keep an eye on them, ask them if they need anything. If they don't want to chat, arrange to call back later or the next day. Speak to other members of your support networks. If you say "How are you?" Most people would say "I'm fine". If you say "This has been a difficult time, what aspect have you found most difficult?" you may get a very different answer. 

I would like to see the Council taking the lead by facilitating small scale, local support to be made available for friends and family of people who are struggling. Often very small amounts of resources deployed at an early stage will be far more effective than huge amounts once there is a serious problem. Support needs to be accessible and well signposted. It can often be more cost effective to assist through family and friends than directly and it is always more effective for these efforts to be coordinated. 

At this stage, we all need to be aware that friends and family may well be struggling or could start to struggle as things open up, just when you'd expect them to be starting to feel better about things. Human beings are designed to feel stress when we are faced with change, coming out of lockdown is as much of a change after all this time as going into it. Stress is our response to such change, both good and bad, this is how our body prepares us to deal with issues that challenge our survival. Anyone who is about to go on a first date will know that even things we are really looking for can be stressful. In our complex, internet led society, we are dealing with a new type of stress and one for which we are not well adapted. It's OK to feel anxiety and it's OK to feel stress. Don't be ashamed to admit it, don't be ashamed to seek support and if someone asks you, and you don't feel able to help, don't feel ashamed to seek advice on what to do if you are worried. But the first thing we need to do, is to make sure we are prepared, so we have a proper response, unlike the chaotic early stage of covid, where we couldn't even decide whether we wanted 'herd immunity' or lockdown.

Covid - We are not helpless - A guest blog by Dr Julia Hines

By Dr Julia Hines

Yesterday the Government confirmed that by their figures more than 100,000 people have died of Covid. It was a Tuesday, so Barnet published their figures, as usual, at 5pm. In 2020, across the whole year, 560 Barnet residents died of Covid 19. It was the cause of death on 20% of death certificates. This year, in the first two weeks of 2021, 130 Barnet residents died. Almost a quarter of last years death toll, and it feels like a toll, in just two weeks. 

Here is the thing - according to Barnet's figures, the case numbers are going down. But they are not dropping as fast as last week. And they are still incredibly high. Hospital admissions are not going down, but there are no beds. People go in faster than others are discharged. ICU is full, and expanded, and full again. 

It is so tempting to feel helpless in this situation, so easy to panic, so hard not to feel angry. To quote CS Lewis "I never knew grief felt so much like fear." 

We are not helpless. I am not going to talk to you about the rules you need to stick to. Honestly, the rules are so confusing and change so often, that I think only Adam Wagner understands them. But what we do have is a strategy. A set of basic principles that we can all understand. We can, and should, do more than the rules require, if we can. 

This is an airborne disease - wear a mask, in fact, wear two. Remember that anywhere inside puts you at risk. Work from home if you can; educate your kids from home if you can; ask for furlough if you need to; reduce your shopping trips for essentials; remember that when you order nonessentials online you put people in stockrooms and warehouses in contact with delivery workers, and people in sorting offices and post offices, and other delivery people, who also go to petrol stations. Open windows. Walk, cycle, get off the bus a stop or two early if you can. 

Stay 2 metres apart. Just, do.

Wash your hands. Wash the things you touched before you washed your hands - the doorknobs, loo flushes, light switches. And, whilst we are talking loos, close the lid before you flush. 

Get tested. Get the PCR test if you have symptoms or know you have been in contact with someone. Get the rapid testing regularly if you are a key worker or volunteer. 

Isolate. Ask for help if you need it, but please isolate. And I know that is easier said than done. 

Get the vaccine. Please get the vaccine. If you are worried about it, ask. If you have questions about it, ask. Ask me. Ask your GP. Turn up for vaccine appointment and ask the doctor there. A lot of people have worries about the vaccine - that is normal. A lot of rumours and stories go around about the vaccine. Stories are important, they bind us as communities, but being powerful does not make them true. 

Today, after the grief of yesterday, is Holocaust Memorial Day. The theme this year is "Be the light in the darkness". The darkness of distortion, hate and anger, the emotional darkness. We can be the light, we can make a path with kindness and calm. Because what we need to do is just what we have been doing, but more. 

Thank you to churches, temples mosques and synagogues who are already doing more by halting communal worship. We know your work continues, even though your buildings are shut. Thank you to all our key workers and volunteers for their courage. We see you and salute you. We know bravery was not necessarily in your job description. Thank you to everybody who makes every journey, every contact, every link in the chain, count. 

Be the light in the darkness and take care.

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Dr Resident of London Borough of Barnet and former trustee and now volunteer at Age UK Barnet.

Guest blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye.

Coping with lockdown (or not)

One of the guys who works for me commented to me today that I seem to be the only person he knows who is dealing with lockdown and not cracking up. He'd told me he had 'writers block as he was obsessed with the horror of what is happening.  I gave him a pep talk about using the free time to write some new music and if he was having difficulty getting inspiration, to try and write something left field and out of his comfort zone. I've no idea if my words will help or have any positive effect. I said to him "Don't be in a position, in two years time, when you don't have the time then to do stuff that you could be doing now, and wished you had". Being creative is hard and cannot be forced, but sometimes you can reboot yourself artistically with a bit of reinvention. Bowie was the master of it.

One of the most pervasive aspects of this situation is that it seems to be sucking all of the life and postivity out of creative people. I have a confession, I went through a period when I was struggling. I've always had structure in my life, always worked towards goals. It is hard to have any goals at the moment. We've no holidays booked, no desire to book one. The only goal for the business is to survive until 'things pick up'. With my band, our singer is isolating, so rehearsals have almost become a self help group, jamming abstract ideas, to work out for a forthcoming album to follow the forthcoming album we were due to release in December, but have postponed indefinitely. We are having our first rehearsal of the year next week. We are also working on a track we are planning for release. The main purpose is actually to learn our new software in the recording studio. Today, the UK passes 100,000 deaths from Covid. That is a really awful number. I think it would be distateful to say too much about the reasons today. But if that doesn't make you feel slightly down, then maybe you need to take a look at yourself. 

But I am coping now. Whether I will be tomorrow, next week, next month, who knows? But I am coping. I've achieved this by making some sort of routine for myself. At the start of lockdown, I was drinking too much. This was mostly boredom. I am not a three bottle of scotch a day person, but I was having a few beers, sharing a bottle of wine over dinner and then maybe a nightcap. After a few weeks of this, I realised that this was not good for my health. I had a consultation about my Prostate cancer last May, which focussed my mind. I returned to my "not drinking for three days a week" rule. During the first lockdown, the weather was great, so we did lots of long dog walks and I did lots of sunbathing in the garden. The lack of traffic meant that the air was fresher, with less pollution from the M1. As it became clear that lockdown was lifting, we made plans for reopening the business. Risk assessments, improved ventilation and other measures. As we moved into August, things seemed good. Gradually the tide turned.

Now we find ourselves back where we were in March. It is frightening. What seems worse is that whilst we should be more positive, from a rational point of view, no one seems to be feeling anything other than bereft. There are three vaccines that seem to work. It should be the case that when we are open later in the year, the vaccines will mean we are in a much better place. But it seems to me that the mood music is negative. Listening to todays Boris briefing, I am worried that he is painting the wrong colours on the picture. I believe that his message should be more positive (perhaps not today, but generally) if he has the evidence that the vaccines work (which he certainly should have). We need to stick to the rules now, so we are around and healthy to appreciate the benefits of this later in the year. n the picture. I believe that his message should be more positive (perhaps not today, but generally) if he has the evidence that the vaccines work (which he certainly should have). My biggest fear is that Boris is not helping the nations mental health with his approach, both the rambling chaos and tardiness or the mixed messages from manic bohomie to dire predictions of doom. I do wonder whether he ever seeks counsel on what effect his words may have on someone who is struggling to keep afloat.  We don't even have our churches, mosques, temples and shuls for solace. The normal support networks are broken. Many are cut off from friends, family and work colleagues. I have 14 staff at the studio, I've not seen eight of them since March 2020. People I'd see every day. Some of my studio customers have seen me more than they've seen shielding parents this year. It is truly awful.

As to me, I have done various things to make myself feel better and more positive. Here are a few things (you know how I love lists).

1. I am not drinking during the week. That means I have something to look forward to and makes the weekends feel special.

2. I am writing some new music, this gives me a channel for my creative juices.

3. We have a family takeaway curry on a Friday. This gives me a degree of normality in my life and I look forward to it all week.

4. I play myself some Ska music every day. Ska always puts a smile on my face, we all need to smile.

5. I am building a portfolio of pictures from around Mill Hill, working out the best time of day and lighting patterns to get various pictures. When this is all over, I intend to get some prints made.

6.  On social media, I've done everything to purge negative influences, by blocking trolls and other people who I do not need in my life.

7. I've put down my pen, I was writing an auto biography, but I realised that I was dredging up extremely negative feelings about some episodes in my life. This is not the time to address these things. I should add, 90% of the book is fun and full of laughter. The trouble is there is a very dark 10%. I was getting fixated on this, it was not healthy and with nothing else to think about was destructive.

8. I am walking everywhere, unless it is not practical or possible. 

These things may not seem like much, but they have given me focus. In life we all fall. There is nothing wrong with falling, it is human. Picking yourself up is hard, especially when the future looks difficult. But picking ourself up is what we do. We get on with it. Hopefully we'll all live longer than a few months, if we do, at some time this period will look like a strange period in our lives a long time ago. Like the three day week in 1974, like the cold war, like the hurricane of '87. Like 9/11. I remember after 9/11 when I was working in central London, every time I heard a low flying plane I flinched. I stopped flinching a very long time ago

 As George Harrison said, all things must pass. This will.

Time for Boris to publish a roadmap out of lockdown and restrictions

 We are now half way through January. We've been in lockdown for ten days. The weather has been miserable, we are cut of from friends and family. I ssupport these restrictions and believe we are where we are because the government has repeatedly been too slow off the mark. But now we have a way out. Two million people have been vaccinated and the rates of infection (in London) are starting to fall. We are not out of the woods as the number of people being hospitalised is still rising and the number of daily deaths is appalling. Given that we've been in this situation for almost a year and all of the finest brains in the nation are focussed on the crisis, it is time we saw some proper leadership from Boris.

What we need is a clear plan to leave this cycle of lockdowns, restrictions and pain behind us. I am not asking for  a timetable. It would be foolish in the extreme to publish this at the moment, but there is every reason to publish a roadmap. I believe that this will encourage people to comply and to get vaccinated.

There are several questions I have. The first is whether we need restrictions once everyone who is vulnerable has been vaccinated (or has had the chance to be vaccinated as some will simply refuse). Given that the mortality rate for covid is 1-2% and 99% of these are people who can be identified as vulnerable, with 2 million people vaccinated, we must be nearing the point where we can say they are safe. Getting the most vulnerable vaccinated is a key milestone. Boris needs to say exactly what his criteria for achieiving this is.

It is also clear that the biggest risk now is further mutations, especially ones that make the virus vaccine resistant. Boris needs to say what the rate of infection in the community has to be where we can see a loosening of restrictions. 

The third aspect is hospitals. These are currently overloaded, we need Boris to say what constitutes the NHS not being overstretched is defined as. As far as I can see, when the vulnerable are vaccinated, the rate has dropped and hospitals are not overstretched, then there is no reason to be in lockdown. Normal life can start to resume, albiet with sensible precautions.

Whether my criteria are correct or incorrect, Boris should know what the criteria are. He should give us the roadmap and tell us that the more strictly we adhere to the current lockdown, the sooner he criteria will be met. This would encourage us all to do what we  should be doing. If we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I believe we would act like adults and do what we need to do. 

It is time for Boris to do what he should of done all along. Work out how we move on from this mess and tell us his plan.

Ten things that I simply cannot understand about government covid policy

 I know Boris has the worst job in the world at the moment. The last thing in the world I would want right now is to be responsible for the decisions he's making. But the awful truth is that he is getting it completely wrong and the decisions he's making make no sense at all. I will outline the areas that make no sense to me and I will outline how I think they should deal with it

 1. How can schools still be open if families are being encouraged to get together for Xmas? This policy should be renamed "Kill Ganny for Xmas". The schools should have closed 14 days before the relaxation, if that was what they were going to do, and restrictions put on mixing. Schools are driving the virus and that is where the circuit breaker lockdown was needed.

2. Why are theatres, pubs and other venues being closed if they have made themselves 'covid safe'? If there is no evidence of transmission, why on earth are these businesses being penalised? Councils should monitor venues and close ones that are not observing rules.

3.  Why are people still being allowed to use public transport in a non covid secure manner. Masks should be compulsory unless someone has a medical exemption and they should be made to demonstrate this. There should be large fines. It should also be compulsory to sanitise hands before and after entering mass transport systems. These are no brainers. Strangers are forced to mix, so make it safe. They should also take temperatures at busy stations. There are loads of people on Furlough who could be recruited to do this.

4. Supermarkets are making a fortune. They have made minimal efforts to make themselves covid safe. Large establishments should be forced to ensure that baskets, trolleys etc are sanitised and that only people with valid exemptions enter them. They should also take temperatures. 

5. Why are we still not testing people entering the country? This is where it started and this is where it will keep coming from. It is insane that temperatures are not taken. 

6. The tier system is highly flawed. Areas with low transmission are in high tiers, areas with high transmissions are only raised when the whole region is high. Tiers should be by neighbourhoods. They should be far more stringent where there is high transmission and local authorities need power to decide whether schools, pubs and other places can open. They know their own people. They should publish full risk assessments to back up any decision.

7. We should have descrete covid clinics. This should be completely seperate and ring fenced from the rest of the health service in high transmission areas.

8. The assistance for business is completely all over the place. In the early days, it was fair to cut Boris and Rishi some slack, but the whole process is arbitary. It isn't helping the people in real need. 

9. The way that test and trace, PPE contracts and vaccine procurement has been performed is highly dodgy. This should be done through the NHS and local health authorities and the whole process should be transparent. If things need doing urgently, then the reasons must be given and there should be openness. It appears that far too much money has been spent with 'friends of Boris'. This may be fine, but without transparency, how can we possibly know or trust them.

10. The selection criteria for early distribution of the vaccine is insane. We have 800,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine for a population of near 60 million and 8 million vulnerable people. This doesn't scratch the surface of either. The vaccine should have been given to those most likely to spread the disease to the vulnerable. This would massively leverage the effects, but there has been no mention of this at all. You kill a contagious disease by removing transmission vectors, not by randomly vaccinating vulnerable people.

I would appreciate some sort of answers, if anyone can explain to me what I am missing. These are all perfectly reasonable questions and I beleive that addressing them would keep us far safer.

Why we need a risk based approach to beating Covid

 Now we all know what tier we are in and how we will be spending Christmas. We have to recognise that the government has a nearly impossible job in balancing the measures needed to keep people alive against the needs of the population to exist and the needs of the economy to pay for the measures. I've restricted my criticisms to when it is absolutely clear that the government is making a terrible mistake, such as the 'eat out to help out' scheme. There are several things we've learned. The first is that lockdowns do work in their goal of bringing down the rate of transmisison of the virus. We all hate the concept but the reason we have to some extent contained the outbreak is because the government has made us all lock ourselves away. It is pretty clear to me that both times, the government did it too late in the day, meaning more damage was done to the economy and our mental health than needed. A lockdown is a very blunt instrument. It is like using a sledgehammer to bang in a nail, it will bang the nail in but there is bound to be all manner of collatoral damage. Any sane person would only use a sledgehammer to bang a nail in if the nail had to be banged in and there was no more appropriate tool. 

Given that the first lockdown was implemented in a panic when it was clear matters were getting out of hand, we can't blame Boris for grabbing the biggest tool in the toolbox and whacking away. For the second lockdown, the government sort of manufactured the crisis itself, with its cash bung to get us all socialising. As a business owner, I watched with horror as the government spent hundreds of millions getting us to do the least sensible thing possible in the middle of a pandemic. what bemused me was that the scheme was not tied in to the launch of the track and trace app. A cash bung to get us all using it would have mitigated to some extent the effects.

Having got us all merrily reinfecting each other, once again a lockdown was inevitable and once again it was done too late. Once again they haven't learned the lesson of "Eat out to infect your Granny" and are set to repeat the fiasco with the easing of restrictions over Christmas. Much as it would be lovely to see people, I can't see any way another spoke and another lockdown can be avoided, once we've all travelled around spreading the virus along with peace and goodwill. 

The more I think about it, the more I am reminded of Margaret Thatcher and her response to the AIDS epidemic. AIDS coincided with the period in my life when I was most sexually active. After the sexual liberation of the 60's and 70's, it was a very bad hangover. Thatcher never struck me as someone who felt comfortable publicly discussing sex. Her section 28 laws were highly repressive for the LGBTQ+ community. When it became clear that AIDS was a major threat to the population, Thatcher put her Victorian morality to one side and followed the science. Her government set about educating the nation about risky behaviour. They realised that telling promiscuous people not to have sex was ridiculously stupid, so they educated us with how to mitigate the risks. The condom was the primary weapon. Many people have different ideas abut what Thatchers greatest achievement was, but for me it will always be persuading sexually active people to wear condoms. Whatever you may think of Thatcher, that probably save half a million lives. 

Fast forward to late November 2020. Where is the condom (so to speak)? Well there are two main 'condoms' one is a facemask and one is sanitising your hands. These are the measures that scientist are advising are the best way to combat transmission. I don't really recall anyone saying that wearing a condom was an infringement of your rights back in 1984. What is clear is that the government has got the message about masks completely wrong. It spent months saying they were useless before doing a massive U-turn. I've read things that suggested that the initial reluctance was all about the lack of available PPE for health workers. If this is true, it is a damning indictment. They should have levelled up with us.

There seems to me to be a marked reluctance to 'trust the science'. I recall back in 1984 there were conspiracy theories about AIDS. It was allegedly manufactured by the CIA to wipe out Gay people and black people. I shudder to think what would have happened if Bill Gates made condoms back then. 

The reason the UK did well with the IADS epidemic and so badly with Covid is because back in 1984, the government treated us like adults, laid out the risks, told us sensible mitigations and spent a lot of money making sure the message got through. We learned what were 'risky behaviours'. My greatest criticism of the government of Boris Johnson is that we've not been treated like adults in the same way. Pubs are shut /opened not on the level of risk they pose but because they are in areas with a high transmission rate. The figures show that going to the supermarket is far more risky, but they've had no restrictions placed on them.

I regularly go to all sorts of pubs. Between the two lockdowns, I probably visited 20 different ones. A couple had no mitigations at all in place, some were completely covid safe (given my understanding of the rules) and some were somewhere in between. In my view, every establishment that is open to the public should complete a risk assessment and submit it to their local authority.They should have it readily available for customers to review and any that do not perform the mitigations properly should be closed. Establishments that are safe, conversely, should be open. It is far safer to meet friends in a regulated, safe pub than to sneak around to their house. The government should be able to identify risk hot spots. I would refuse entry to all public places if people do not have the track and trace app (unless they have a very good reason). By plotting peoples movements, hot spots should be identified. The app should also be able to identify where establishments are not enforcing social distancing rules.

The bottom line though is that most people will not die of covid, even if infected. Most will have symptoms no worse than a bad cold or flu. The vulnerable groups are well known. They have had no proper protection from day one. This is where the risk is. As our knowledge of the disease has evolved we should have improved our methods of keeping the vulnerable safe. We havent. Any risk assessment should identify how people at risk will be managed in any environment. If we knew the hotspots where people with the disease are most likely to pass it on and we identify those who most need protection, we should be able to mitigate these risks.

What we have is rules that state you can't drink eight pints of Guinness and eat a pickled onion in a pub, but you can sink six bottles of Malbec and have a pasty and chips. If you think that is a science based approach to managing the risks of covid, I'm afraid to say I think you are off your trolley.

A second lockdown is pointless with these clowns in charge

This may be the blog where I lose ALL of my friends. But the bottom line is that if I can't tell the truth, then I am as nothing. I've always felt that you can't judge a government on a single decision or a single day. To really get some perspective of them, you need to look at how they deal with something over a period of months. In an unprecedented crisis such as covid, where not even the worlds best scientists knew anything in January, a bit of leeway needs to be given. It is now October. They've known about all of this for six months. We have more than enough information to objectively judge the performance of the Government. 

The big debate at the moment is whether there should be a second "circuit breaker" lockdown. Under any normal circumstances and any normal government, I would agree with Sir Keir Starmer, but we are not in normal circumstances and we do not have a normal government. We have one that is beyond incompetent. Let us look at the reason why the infection rate is currently going through the roof in the UK. Given that there is an increase across Europe, it might be tempting to say "well we are just following the global pattern and we always knew there would be a second spike in the Autumn".

This ignores the evidence of what our government has done. The key moment in the UK was when Dominic Cummings was given a free pass to ignore the rules. This sent a signal to the country that it is OK to ignore the rules if you have powerful friends. For people suffering financial and mental hardship, this was a complete insult. The concept that a rich and powerful man can flout the law, when ordinary citizens can't was the moment the government lost our trust and people decided that it was up to them to 'interpret the rules'. The fact we are still mentioning Cummings shows the damage done. Whereas prior to that, we'd all been responsible, Cummings gave us the excuse to flout the law. What could a Police Officer say to anyone breaking the law, when it was clear that for the rich and entitled, it didn't matter. A lockdown in the UK needs the support and consent of the people and it is clear to me that with this administration, it will destroy businesses, without changing the behaviour that spreads covid. For covid to be beaten, we need people to take the decision to not meet friends and family and the sad truth is that for many, they will simply ignore those rules.

Back in July, the UK was finally getting on top of covid. All we really needed was a functional track and trace system to keep it under control. The country spent £12 billion on trying to make this work. It still doesn't. Without such a system, the "Eat out to help out" scheme was an act of criminal negligence by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Had he waited until the App worked, and said that installing the App and using it in restaurants was how you got the tenner off, it may have worked, but he sent us flooding back to restaurants, without any mitigation whatsoever. 

Then there was the decision to send students back to college. Only a fool would think that student accommodation would not be a fertile breeding ground for covid infections. We have a friend who's daughter is in Liverpool at Uni. She has tested positive for covid, thankfully she's asymptomatic, but reports that everyone in her student block has the virus. Liverpool council have sent food parcels. I cannot believe that this was anything other than entirely predictable.

We have a Conservative government with a huge majority. There is no prospect of a change of party running the country for at least four years. But we desperately need a change of regime. I am not a fan of the man, but at least someone like Jeremy Hunt would not have the baggage and may be able to rebuild trust. Until we have a Prime Minister who people believe in and can trust, all a lockdown will do is damage the economy. When we had the first lockdown, the government bought time. They should have had a coherent plan to lead us out of lockdown and to restart the economy. They should have been cautious and they should have been able to give clear guidance. They should have anticipated a spike when Universities reopened and students left the relative safety of homes, to mix with dozens of strangers from across the country. 

Surely students should have been tested before being allowed access to student accommodation?  Surely people entering the country should be tested? Surely there should be fines for breaches of self isolation? Surely there should be support for people self isolating, so that they have no reason to breach?

Under the Boris Johnson/Rishi Sunak regime, if there is a second lockdown, it will devastate businesses, but as the police lack the resources to enforce any rules, the population will flout it. If you don't believe me, simply stand outside Tesco's in Mill Hill and see how many people are wearing masks in the shop. I would absolutely support a second lockdown, if we had a competent government, but we don't. We have one that long ago lost the trust of the people. The Rishi Sunak bung in August (Eat out to help out), was a hugely expensive PR stunt for Boris that has gone horribly wrong. 

The only way out of this that I can see, is for the Conservatives to act poste haste and find a new PM with a degree of integrity and trust and for Keir Starmer to work with him to sort this awful mess out. Anything else will just end in a cycle of chaos, where people die needlessly and the economy is trashed.