“Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the 1.5oC target will be beyond reach” (Tamsin Edwards)
Code Red
Sunny the next two days, I hankered to be better. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. Monday, Phil took charge of chores and shopping while I posted blogs and worked on the next episode of the journal. I stayed up after dinner to watch iPlayer then went back to bed for Newsnight and got caught up in Secrets of the Museum. The biggest exposé was that so many nerds worked at the V&A!
On BBC Breakfast, Prof. Chris Smith warned flu could be worse next winter because there weren’t enough samples from last year while Linda Bauld thought responses to future covid surges should be targeted as the disease became endemic rather than pandemic. Although vaccine hesitancy fell from 14% to 11% in 16-17 year olds and from 10% to 9% for 18-21 year olds, it remained high in London and rose from 18% to 21% among ethnic minorities. Nicola Sturgeon got butterflies in her tummy as Scottish restrictions eased and nightclubs opened. Anti-vaxxers stormed White City TV Centre, unaware the BBC moved out in 2013. Berlin’s ‘long night of vaccination’ contributed to the EU overtaking the USA in the vaccine race (60% had a jab as opposed to 58%). 63% of Italians fully inoculated, they needed proof to access indoor entertainment. Belarus despot Lukashenko spluttered we could ‘choke’ on sanctions; they didn’t even know the UK existed until 1,000 years ago and they still didn’t want to: “you are America’s lapdog.” “The 1970’s wants its clichés back!” laughed Phil.
In a bid to save Geronimo the alpaca, 30 protesters marched from DEFRA to Downing Street. Twice testing positive for TB, the pet was so far not dead or even ill and hadn’t infected other animals. His owner maintained results showed false-positives and her calls for better testing were echoed by activists who also wanted cows and badgers vaccinated instead of culled. More storm warnings followed a soggy weekend and the UN IPCC report* issued a ‘code red for humanity’. Extensive research proved it was ‘unequivocal’ that human activity caused rising sea levels, glacial retreat and extreme weather. Ice sheet collapse, changing ocean circulation and higher warming also possible, they could be averted if emissions were net zero by 2050. Dr. Tamsin Edwards of Kings’ College said there must be immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gases. UK politicians responded they’d done more than other countries. Well, that’s alright then!
Tuesday, I spent the morning on niggly admin including sorting the holiday cottage payment. Previously told it was done, the money hadn’t gone through. Venturing down for coffee, I found a sink full of washing up and a filthy table which I bad-temperedly cleaned while doing some pre-cooking. Despite the prep, dinner took ages and led to painful indigestion at bedtime. The meditation soundtrack ineffectual, I resorted to Gaviscon and eventually dropped off.
146 covid deaths was the most since 26th March. 89% of adults had a first jab and 75% were fully vaccinated but only 1% of 16-17 year olds had one. Goblin Saj awaited JCVI approval to offer boosters to the vulnerable and over 50’s from September, at the same time as (useless) flu jabs. Andrew Pollard claimed they were superfluous and didn’t ‘look good’ when other parts of the world had none. He also said the infectiousness of the Delta variant made herd immunity impossible. Andrew Haywood advised future lockdowns target only the vulnerable and that testing of the asymptomatic should cease, as in Germany. PCR collection boxes full to overflowing, the government asked for a review of the over 400 companies profiting from the tests. Travellers branded them a rip-off. After failing to get the CE job, Dildo quit NHS improvement. She obviously thought: ‘my work here is done!’
The previous night’s Panorama revealed Camoron made £7m out of Greensill. On Jeremey Vine, Jacqui Smith gave an excellent explanation of why taxpayers were out of pocket after the company’s collapse. Did she want her old job back? it then emerged US biotech firm Illumina benefitted from him lobbying The Cock to get contracts. Results based on teacher assessments saw 44.8% of A level students achieving a grade A of which 17% were A*. 70.1% for private school pupils, the government insisted a range of assessment methods depending on circumstances and quality assurance overseen by exam bodies, ensured fairness. Shadow minister Kate Green complained a rushed, failed, standardisation system led to the disparity. Pupils from Brampton Manor Academy, Newham belied the stats with 55 Oxbridge offers, more than Eton at 48. SQA also reported more top marks for Scottish pupils and a disparity between rich and poor areas.
Slightly better but still wobbly Wednesday, I feebly attempted to clean the bedroom then sat on the bed and worked on my autumn submission for Valley Life magazine. Managing lunch downstairs, I discovered the kitchen somewhat cleaner. I took a cuppa back to bed, bought some essentials online and answered a call from a community carers volunteer, asking me to the cinema Tuesday morning. “No thanks, I can’t do that.” “Is it a transport thing?” “No, it’s a morning thing.” I lay down for a spell while Phil went to the shop.
Max Woosley celebrated sleeping outdoors for 500 nights and raising £550,000 for a local hospice, by wild camping. Triggered by an anti-cyclone across Europe and North Africa, fires still raged. Now 3 dead on Evia, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said sorry. Sicily hit a European record of 48.8oC. Elsewhere, 65 were killed in Algeria by a suspected deliberate blaze and The Dixie Fire in California wiped out the historic gold rush town of Greenville. “We’re fucked!” declared Phil. Half a million homes had no telly when North Yorkshire’s main transmitter was set ablaze. Fearing investment in HS2 and Northern Powerhouse rail wouldn’t materialise, mayors Jarvis and Brabin met in Sheffield to call for the integrated rail plan to be published. Both wore Yorkshire ‘Y’ lapel badges, his yellow, hers red – surely they should be white?
Dangerous Crossings
After the first decent sleep for days, loud diggers on the canal Irritatingly woke me Thursday morning. I forced myself to do a few exercises. Carrying the laptop and tray down needed two trips, making my kegs ache. I started computer work when the cheery Ocado deliverer arrived. An inferior bottle carrier dangerously ripped as I lifted it. Mid-morning by then, Phil complained he’d achieved nothing so far but conceded I’d done well after 10 days in bed. About to go to town on a warm and sunny afternoon, Phil said he was coming. I left him to get ready and arranged to meet in the square. Despite the late hour, I acquired a few veg and overdue toiletries on the market and saw the woman who lived next door who’d recently returned from visiting family in Poland. Waiting for Phil, I chatted with an old mate outside the pub in the square. Following a cancer diagnosis last year, he said chemo and radiotherapy had cured it. In the meantime, thinking he’d be dead by Christmas, he’d given loads of stuff away. “So, now, you’re still here in an empty house!” “Yep, I’m still here in an empty house!” When Phil arrived, we made a few charity shop purchases, dossed on a bench and picked mint on the way home. Nearby residents had installed wicker chairs beneath a sign declaring it a garden.
PHE now said vaccines saved 84,000 lives but a rise in new cases to almost 3,000, suggested the drop in infections had stalled. Increases in all UK nations especially Northern Ireland and all English regions except the North East, it was greater in Yorks & Humber. Rates grew in all age groups except 10-19, most in 20-29 year olds and least in the over 80’s. GDP up 4.8% April-June, Pladis didn’t say why the Glasgow McVities biscuit factory was closing. 28.9% of GCSE entries achieved top grades and pupils getting all top marks rose 36%. Girls widened the gap with boys and rich kids outstripped poorer. Ofqual attributed it to the uneven impact of coronavirus but labour said the government had abandoned those eligible for free school meals. Coupled with exam results earlier in the week, claims of inflated grades ensued. On Newsnight, Rishi evaded questions about Boris’ yacht and said there’d be “absolutely no return to austerity.” Watch this space! Referring to vouchers for electric cars, we laughed it would take years to collect them from The Sun. The ISS received a consignment of spare parts, pizza and slime mould. Had they not seen any sci-fi horror movies?
Jake Davison shot 5 dead in Plymouth then himself. No motive disclosed, it later transpired his gun permit was withdrawn in December and recently returned. The IOPC investigated and gun licence guidance subsequently changed, advising social media checks to see if applicants were nutters. How about banning guns altogether? Davison was linked to the misogynistic incel, a growing threat according to security expert Will Geddes. Vigils for the victims followed (his mum Maxine, 3 year old Sophie Martyn and her dad Lee, Stephen Washington and Kate Shepherd).
On the day a record 592 crossed the Channel, the French rescued passengers on a sinking boat 13 miles off Dunkirk. A man died prompting a manslaughter investigation. Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney said the death was “a tragic reminder of the importance of stopping migrants from leaving the safety of France on these dangerous crossings. The government’s new plan for immigration is the only long-term solution to fix the broken system, tackle the criminal gangs and prevent more tragedies.” Lisa Doyle of The Refugee Council countered: “The government must change its approach. Instead of seeking to punish or push away people seeking safety because of the type of journey they have made to the UK, they must create and commit to safe routes…While there is war, persecution and violence, people will be forced to take dangerous journeys to seek safety.”
Friday, it was Phil’s turn to struggle with bad eyes and dizziness. After chores and hanging washing out in a sunny breeze, I went to the co-op. Able to pay at the kiosk for the small load, the stupid cashier didn’t ask for my members’ card so I irksomely missed out on using coupons. Neglected for weeks, the garden had gone mad in the alternating wet and sunny periods. I hacked at thorns and weeded enough to regain the path, greeting a few neighbours as they passed by. Somehow, I got insect spray on my lips. Phil in the bathroom, I couldn’t wash it off and tried to ignore the numbness as I swept detritus into a pile. Phil then decided to clean the living room. Bad timing as I really needed to sit after my exertions. When I rose from the afternoon siesta, it was raining. I rushed to bring a sheet in, then the sun came out.
On BBC Breakfast, Calum Semple presented his report on hospital infections during the first wave and assured us there’d been huge improvements since the early days. I should hope so! Spurred by easing and returning students, Prof. James Naismith expected a fourth wave in September and urged more effective campaigns to encourage the hesitant to get immunised. A small study of volunteers showed those double-jabbed with Moderna had antibodies six months later, including against the Delta variant. New infections were detected at ‘unfit’ Napier barracks where migrants slept in dorms.
Dire Times
Still feeling ropey on Saturday, Phil watched footie in miniature. Leeds embarrassingly lost to Man Utd 5-1. I watched a terrible Elvis film then dragged myself off the couch to take recycling out and use the co-op coupons before they expired. Phil braved the shop in town. Typically busy, he saw a group of lads wearing underpants outside one of the central pubs. We hoped it was a stag do! That night, I experienced an EHS episode and recalled I’d had a few recently.
Although cloudy, I desperately needed to get out Sunday. Hoping it didn’t rain, a shower came as I prepared for the first local walk in over a month, but promptly stopped again. We went eastwards on the canal, watched a cruiser performing a 3-point turn, noted the number of posh barges had increased and admired a plethora of wildflowers. Turning right before the next village, we picked early blackberries, hastened into the woods as another brief shower descended and rested on a fallen tree near the old quarry. Phil unable to find his baccy and not remembering if he’d brought it out, we re-traced our steps in case he’d dropped it but of course it was on the sofa where he’d left it. Oh well. At least I had new material for a haigai. (For a fuller description of the walk, see Cool Places i i)
Dinner again taking much longer than anticipated, I slumped on the couch with fatigue and backache, managing to spill cooked berries. Phil kindly expunged the purple stain. Standing for him to do so, I swooned with exhaustion. At bedtime, I lay in the pleasant place between wakefulness and sleep for some time.
Peter Emberek of WHO implied Patient Zero was a Wuhan lab worker infected by a bat. ‘Batwoman’ Shi Zhenghi charmingly told her accuser: ‘shut your dirty mouth!’ Only 1.9% of Africans vaccinated but 10 million doses exported from the continent, Gordon Brown called for a western leaders’ summit. As the USA NOAA** confirmed July the hottest ever worldwide, Haiti was hit by an earthquake and tropical Storm Grace a few days later, leaving 2,200 dead. Torrential rain and flash flooding in Turkey’s Black Sea region killed 31.
Doing deals with local officials not to kill them, the Taliban took over major cities Kandahar and Herat, and controlled 2/3 of Afghanistan by midweek. In a public broadcast, President Ashraf Ghani indicated imminent surrender saying consultations were ‘ongoing’ and he wouldn’t let the ’imposed war’ cause more death. The US and UK response entailed cobra meetings and troop deployments to evacuate western nationals, disgustingly abandoning Afghans to their fate. British ministers insisted they had no choice but to leave when America pulled out with associated infrastructure. Sunday evening, the Taliban were in Kabul and the president scarpered. Referring to the rapid advance, Phil said: “They must have planned that for years. NATO could learn a thing or two.” The Commons recalled for an emergency debate Wednesday 18th August, Lisa Nandy wanted to know what took so long? Defending America’s actions, secretary of state Antony Blinken said the original mission was a success – i.e., they’d stopped terror attacks. Jack Straw later agreed it eliminated the threat from Al-Qaeda. If that was the only objective, what was the last 20 years’ ‘nation building’ about? Having recently read ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini, my heart broke for women and minorities now facing repression and death..
* IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
** NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
References:
i. My haigas: https://wordpress.com/posts/mondaymorninghaiga.wordpress.com
ii. My Cool Places blog: https://hepdenerose.wordpress.com/
The Corvus Diaries 