School’s out for summer!
The world at the moment is uniquely screwed up and yesterday I spend five hours typing out a whole thing and it barely scratched the surface. I gave up on that abomination because it would have turned into a novel by the time it was done. Seriously, where the hell do you start when arseholes and their tiny moustaches are still acting like dick-tators in Europe, the Lebanese government decided to leg it after destroying their country, our government have echoed Trump by saying kids are essentially immune to the virus and don’t spread it, Scotland managed to crush the dreams of more than a hundred thousand kids from poor and deprived backgrounds and we have people talking about warships taking on pregnant women and toddlers in the English Channel?
I’ll start with school kids. I don’t have the time or inclination to sit and read through every story and every paper that touches on the subject of school transmission. Boris and Gavin Williamson may be right and I sincerely hope they are, and when schools return in full, the virus will hopefully leave pupils and staff alone to carry on with their studies and work. There’s a doctor on Twitter who has been keeping track of some of those working with youngsters who clearly screwed up and got in the way of Covid-19 as it was doing its thing.
https://twitter.com/Cleavon_MD/status/1292553265591103488?s=19
One lesson I learned this year when talking to and reading about the conspiracy nuts and their belief that either Jesus will protect them or maybe our alien or reptilian overlords will save us all, is that all too often when people double down, there’s probably no chance of convincing them they’re wrong. I learned that if you prove one point wrong, they’ll move the goalposts.
Now that we’re being told that schools are risk free and every child and their parents will be absolutely fine, I have to say it’s a massive relief. I wonder if we’re investigating to find out if it’s the school buildings that make kids and staff immune or if it’s the whiteboard pens and chewing sound coming from the back of the classroom. Whatever causes this anomaly doesn’t matter right now, it’s huge and hopefully when we discover what offers protection in school we can roll it out to the entire planet.
I’d convinced myself that we could use rapid tests in schools to screen for the virus every week. I was sure that improving ventilation, using small and cheap Co2 monitors in class to monitor how much exhaled air had built up and ensuring masks were used by older kids would have been useful. Thankfully we won’t need any of that stuff and we can just cram as many kids as possible into the buildings with no need to do anything else to keep risk low. Think of all the spare time the government will have now that they no longer need to take steps to protect kids and teachers, they might be able to find a way to feed kids, or those who were stupid enough to have been born into poor families at least.
The CDC seem to think that kids in South Korea were able to catch and spread the virus and I’m not sure how they could have got it so wrong.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article
I didn’t have a problem with kids going back to school, I just wanted to make sure that they were safe so we don’t end up in a situation where their school year is filled with chaos and uncertainty. They’ll no doubt be stressed already with worries they’ll fall behind and could be exposed to a deadly virus that might not hurt them, but one that could potentially kill their grandparents. Stability is important.
https://amp.dw.com/en/germany-closes-two-schools-due-to-fresh-coronavirus-outbreaks/a-54483737?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-children-schools.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/coronavirus-israel-schools-reopen.html
Throughout history we’ve seen visionaries who have been ahead of their time. Da Vinci was probably the most famous. Flying machines, guns and cars were just a few of the incredible creations he sketched. Going all the way back through history to the 28th of January 2020 there were other visionaries who dreamed of rapid diagnostic tests for what was known as 2019-nCoV. Eagle eyed historians will probably know that 2019-nCoV would later be known as SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus or Covid-19. The idea was fairly simple, they would use rapid diagnostic tests to rapidly identify clusters and outbreaks within the community. I know that things were different back then and technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now but I wonder what could have been achieved then if they had access to the tech we have these days.
https://hbr.org/2020/01/what-will-it-take-to-stop-coronavirus
It’s amazing to think that even back in those days they had good grasp on how to deal with a virus that had the potential for asymptomatic transmission. Oh how times have changed.
Those people who predicted mass testing and that America stood a chance of getting on top of the handful of cases they had would be absolutely shocked to hear that some countries refused to do the right thing when given the opportunity. Ancient texts like these should have been taken seriously.
Imagine for a second, and I know it will sound far fetched but hang in there. Imagine that there was a new fucked up virus that exploded to cover every continent and killed hundreds of thousands while leaving even more with debilitating illness. Imagine there was a way you could find out who had this virus that some didn’t even know they had! Seriously… No symptoms at all and they could still spread the thing. It’s bonkers, I know. But just imagine we had a way to take some saliva and stick it in a little device and it would tell us within minutes that the person had the virus. We could tell them to stay away from people which means the virus couldn’t infect even more unsuspecting people. When they beat their infection, they could rejoin the rest of the population knowing they don’t have this nasty virus anymore when their time was up. Imagine there was a way you could slow the spread by placing a piece of fabric across your mouth and nose, it would work a bit like a tissue and catch most of the droplets and aerosols before they had the chance to drift and infect other people.
Obviously we’d need to know which types of fabric and styles would offer the best protection and it seems that some people have been working on figuring that out.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/08/us/duke-university-face-mask-test-trnd/index.html
Yesterday was confusing because I read that we were redeploying our contact tracers, which is fine. Privatising test and trace has led to all kinds of problems and it made sense to get more support to local teams with experience in contact tracing. I’m just a little confused that we’ve decided to sack thousands of them when it would make more sense to keep them in reserve in case there were spikes in areas which needed extra manpower. Being able to quickly deploy additional people to help boost test and trace in the worst hit areas would be a cracking idea. Obviously there would need to be some sort of support for those going door to door in rough areas, or homes which refuse to comply or even answer calls. I think we should always aim to have a wee bit more than we need. I’d much rather have something and not need it, than need it and not have it.
The confusion continues.
If we’re deploying our contact tracers to local public health teams, why are G4S still involved? They’re shit! I’d much rather have our military deal with mobile testing since they actually have an idea of how to do things properly. I like the military, they know how to get things done and when we’re dealing with a virus that’s crippled our country, it makes sense to use the best.
Education is important and it’s something we can all agree on. Tests are important too, not just covid tests. When kids work hard and shoot for the sky, it’s probably gonna be a bit of a kick in the teeth to have straight A students handed a D in subjects they absolutely dominate. I highly doubt that Nicola Sturgeon was sat at home with a big rubber stamp with a D on it, marking down thousands of the poorest and most disadvantaged pupils but clearly things are messed up. She’s right to say that mistakes were inevitable during these dark times and I’m glad she’s apologised and promised to fix it. It shouldn’t have happened the way it did and it’s another massive screw up that we don’t need right now. I sincerely hope that Boris learns from our mistakes and the same doesn’t happen down south.
Sticking with the topic of Scotland for a moment, the virus is uncomfortably close to home at the moment and I hope the people of Aberdeen get their shit together, and fast. Anyone who’s spent any time in and around Aberdeen will be aware that as soon as you leave the city, towns and villages are spread across a large area. If I want to go to a proper supermarket, I can either drive 10 miles to one, or 20+ miles to another. People move around a lot and it wouldn’t take much for someone to seed an outbreak in a small village or town. The prospect of lots of hotspots springing up is sadly too high as things stand. I’ve had faith in Nicola throughout and I’ve never hid that fact, I just hope she throws the kitchen sink at any clusters and outbreaks.
So… How about the “invasion” on the English coast? Yeah it’s bloody terrifying. I spent last night preparing for the chaos and carnage to come now that we’re being invaded by rubber dinghies filled with scary, scary foreigners. The Nigels of the world will keep us right. If we get enough Nigels posting in CAPS on twitter, maybe we’ll stand a chance of surviving this influx. We can’t write off the toddlers either, have you ever watched Child’s Play? Chucky was a nasty little shit and it’s a warning to us all that we can’t write off little people. The Stephen King documentary ‘Pet Cemetery’ shows further evidence of what tiny little humans can do if we drop our guard. Should we be handing out body armour to the public living closest to Dover? Surely we’ve armed them already?
I’d better not joke, it might actually happen.
The UK needs friends and recently we’ve been the drunk uncle at the party who just pissed in the corner of the living room and threw up on the buffet table. While we take back control and get Brexit done, can we try to maintain some sort of friendly relationship with our closest neighbours? There’s no way we’ll ever get control of our borders unless we get help from France and I won’t even mention the irony there. See? I didn’t mention it. Maybe we should invite them over for a few drinks and see if they’re up for being friends with benefits? I’m just glad there’s been no mention of building an electrified fence along the sea between the UK and French sides. Laser sharks and attack crocs could work, couldn’t they?
All joking aside, we need to remember that they’re actual human people. I know some will see them as the wrong type of people because they’re not wealthy, white or male enough to be classified as truly human but I’d still rather see the UK treat them as if their lives had some value. Blocking them near Dover will force them to move further north to make their journey across and the further north they go, the higher the chances are of death. Allowing them to apply for asylum, making it as easy as possible, from France seems logical. Chasing down the gangs who exploit them is a no brainer. Figuring out why they’re scared to remain in France is another option. Are the French even worse than Brits? We’ve seen horrific levels of racism here in the UK, just how much worse can it get in other parts of the world?
We know that driving while black is grounds to be stopped, we know that the most brutal tactics must be reserved for people of colour, we know that using tasers to take down minorities who can outrun the police is vital. We’re making sure that people of colour know their place and that in the UK we won’t tolerate them doing people things and taking part in day to day activities. If we allow them to wear hoodies, ride bikes and drive cars, what next? They’ll demand the right to vote, get an education and even work. We can’t have that. We can’t give them money either, they can feed themselves if we give them money and that’s just not right. No, if we ramp up the hostility, the racism and the discrimination maybe they’ll learn to stop being the way they were born. Again, setting the sarcasm to the side for a minute. How the hell can people sit and watch as entire groups of people continue to be treated differently for no other reason than they’re from a different ethnic background? People’s words and actions are what matter. The perfect example is Barrack Obama vs Donald J Trump.
Obama urged the world to set up the infrastructure to deal with a pandemic because it seemed inevitable that we’d face one at some point. Trump has been charged with the unenviable task of actually dealing with one and it’s been a slow motion car crash from the start. Who is the failure? Is it the man who happened to be Black, who recognised the threat we faced or the White dude who thinks the Spanish flu ended WW2? Actions and words matter, skin colour is literally the least important part of a person. Still, we act on what we see and for some, the only thing they see is that few millimetres of flesh that covers the human body. It drives discrimination in the workplace, it causes racism to thrive on social media, it creates social inequality and it’s completely and utterly ridiculous. The BBC had to have an apology dragged out of them for using the N word. Andy Peters was hailed as one of the best TV presenters of all time, despite the fact he’s been relegated to the sidelines. Rina Sawayama was told she’s not British enough for a Mercury Prize or a Brit Award despite living here since she was four years old. Our systems and institutions are broken and we need to do better.
I thought we’d had enough of arseholes with their tiny moustaches thinking they can do whatever the hell they like? It’s been a wee while since we’ve seen scenes of one being dragged out of a hole before being put to death and I’m not calling for that. I do however think that we have a moral obligation to speak up when arseholes rig elections and turn on their own people. Free and fair elections, it’s not much to ask for. If dictators believe that only they have the ability to run a country properly, let them make their case to the public and let the public decide. We did make a statement and I guess it’s something. I’ll ignore the fact it amounts to “naughty dictator, bad, bad, bad”. We really have become a toothless irrelevant little country.
Vive La France! (my French sucks). At least there’s someone stepping up to the plate and trying to lead the way. President Macron seems to have the backing of the Lebanese people, I hope he can help them to create something close to a functioning government in Lebanon. God knows they don’t need another war and the country is already suffering enough. Cold hard cash still needs to get to the right people and the same is true for food, medical supplies and shelters. I’m glad that we’ve thrown a little extra into the pot and we’re doing our bit to help but I keep saying that I hold the UK to higher standards. We’re an old country and after we took control of much of the world and funnelled their wealth back home, I thought it was maybe time to give something back during hard times. I know we don’t like to pick at certain scabs because they make us uncomfortable but our past is our past and we can try to pretend some things never happened, it won’t change facts. We spent long enough acting like massive bellends, can we stop doing that and try kindness and generosity for a change?
Lastly and sticking with the theme of massive bellends. Does the special relationship between the UK and US still exist? I ask only because there was a lad killed by the wife of an American spy who still refuses to face up to what she did and it’s all kinds of messed up. I know we have a bad habit of forgetting about people and things when they’re no longer on the front pages of newspapers. Charlie Gard comes to mind. How are his family coping after all they went through? Alan Kurdi or Aylan Shenu, the three year old boy who washed up on a beach is yet another tragedy we’ve forgotten about. Thankfully we haven’t forgotten Harry Dunn just yet.
My best mate was slaughtered in the middle of Stevenston town centre, just a few feet away from a CCTV camera. After being stabbed, he was able to call for help on a payphone before dying soon after. His killer is serving an 18 year sentence in Carstairs and it won’t bring my best mate back. I’ve lost a lot of people and it never gets any easier. Just a matter of weeks ago I lost another aunt, the second to die this year. There’s of course something very different when someone you love is taken from you through the actions of another person. Losing someone to an illness doesn’t hurt any less, losing someone because of what someone else did, that just adds an extra layer to the grief. Skott, his friends and family were able to get closure. I know where that piece of shit is, and I know he’s not a threat to the public anymore. He apparently developed paranoid schizophrenia while on remand, I assume he hoped to get away with it if he said he was nuts. He didn’t escape justice and neither should Anne Sacoolas.
These are certainly dark times and it’s hard to keep up with it all. Mental health across the UK continues to take a hit and with some suggesting we weigh kids at school, eating disorders look set to become a big issue too. Homelessness, unemployment, rising debt, fear of the virus and what the future may bring… There’s an ever growing list of worries for people and I understand why so many are feeling the strain. Our country voted for people we hoped would look out for our interests and safety. Whether you agree with those elected doesn’t really matter, they’re the ones in charge and they accepted the responsibility. All the rest of us can do is hope they get things right and personally, I just hope they don’t make life worse for those already struggling. They’re human and I know they’ll screw up, I also know that they’ll carry the weight of their actions and the consequences that follow the best they can. If I was able to ask for one thing on a personal basis, it would be to stop making life hard for disabled people and those unable to work. I had to watch a grown man unravel because he’s been refused PIP, despite the fact he can’t walk to the end of his garden path unaided, he lives in constant pain and he’s had to install a frame around his toilet so he can go to the loo. Nobody should face the indignity of begging for the ability to buy food and pay the bills. We’re not a nation of animals, can we perhaps act like it?
Please stay safe, stay healthy and take care of each other.
