Memory & Memories

When I was a child at Primary school in Birmingham I walked from Higgins Lane to Lapal Canal via Four Dwellings school. I don't remember how I found my way there, but I went alone. I remember a field full of wild flowers that I walked through & swans nesting on the canal. It always seemed to be a sunny day & it was a place of beauty, peace & tranquility. An escape that I loved. That must have been over 60 years ago. No parent would let a young child do that today.

Nowadays a normal conversation opener is "what have you been up to?" My response is usually, I can't remember. I know that I have been busy. I know that my life has meaning, but my short term memory is shot to hell. I rely on several methods of remembering what I have done & will be doing - My phone, a calendar & a wipe clean weekly planner in the kitchen. Without all 3 I would be lost.

I often wonder what the point of doing anything is if I can't remember doing it. But there is a point. I mostly enjoy doing the things I do. I love interactions with friends, family, acquaintances & even strangers. I obviously have to do the mundane things that keep life ticking along, but I am free to go places & see people that give me pleasure & interest me.

I do things daily to aid memory & keep dementia at bay - The Telegraph general knowledge crossword & playing solitaire on my iPad mainly. I definitely have a visual memory rather that a factual one. I can often see the answer to a crossword clue, but not remember the word. I read fiction & non fiction. The problem with fiction is that I forget who the characters are & what they have done. I listen to radio 4 & watch TV. I keep abreast of world events.

Forgetting things is a nuisance, but it doesn't dominate my thinking because I forget that it's a problem! I don't stress about becoming senile. If I have lasted for this long with a reasonably "compos mentis" mind then hopefully I will manage to keep it.

I do find it really interesting that friends & family with whom I have shared memories remember things that I cannot. Even friends who are a similar age to me. I really don't have many memories of my childhood for example, only general recollections. Is that because I have chosen not to remember? Or because I've always had a bad memory?

My constant reponse is that the data is all there, it's just retrieval that's a problem. After all, my brain has been filling up for 7 decades. It's not surprising. I need to free up some space.

Symbiotic Relationships - Living Together

Generally this means a close ecological relationship between members of two (or more) different species in which both species benefit mutually. Parasitism is where one species benefits and the other is harmed. Commensalism is where one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped. Different species often inhabit the same spaces and share—or compete for—the same resources. In simple terms Symbiosis is the art of living together.

People have to live together. They are mutually interdependent. The relationships can be horizontal or vertical. Horizontal is when two or more parties have equal power and responsibility.Vertical is when one party has more power and control over the other party. I leave you to decide which is best & what your relationships are.

In this context we have to consider Love - an intense feeling of deep affection, a positive, reciprocal, symbiotic flow between entities. I can love my child & my dog. I can love more than one person. To love is to care & support. Mutual benefits & aid flow from love. If there is no love or caring then the relationship is not symbiotic. Someone gets the lesser end of the deal. Someone has the upper hand.

Humans also have to live symbiotically with nature. All humans require the benefits of the land, waters and air for survival, making this a commensal symbiosis at best, but often becoming a parasitic symbiosis. Humans cannot exist without the benefits that nature provides. We deplete those resources with our constant demands for more. We are, in effect, doing what the Easter Islanders did creating a barren land that will not support human life. 

Looking at our world today I believe that humans are split into 2 distinct camps. The "Haves" & the "Have Not's". It is obvious at the individual & the collective level. There are people who are totally self absorbed & also those who are empathetic & altruistic. There are the mean & the generous. There are the very rich & the very poor. The polarity has become unacceptable.

I believe we are currently fighting a battle between the two. That battle is at the tipping point. I know which side I want to win, but I am beginning to doubt that we have the capacity to get ourselves out of the mess we have created. Our relationship with eachother & the world we live in is disfunctional & unsustainable.

Toxic Behaviour

Toxic is not a word most people would use to describe people. But maybe it should be. 

Toxic people are self-centered, manipulative, abusive, and lacking in empathy. They drain others' energy by constantly demanding attention, sympathy, or validation. Toxic people tend to disrespect emotional and physical boundaries. Typically they dominate conversation & don't listen to what you have to say. They need a lot of emotional support & don't reciprocate it.

I think, although we may not actually use the word, we would all recognise a toxic person. In the extreme they can create stress and unpleasantness, even emotional or physical pain. Their behaviour adds negativity and upset to your life.

The key is how they make you feel. It's a gut reaction. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable or defensive on a regular basis, if you find it hard to understand their behaviour, if you would prefer to be with someone else, then take notice & do something about it. 

Behaving rationally, we would avoid toxic substances because of the harm they may cause to us. In the same way I think we should avoid toxic people for the same reason, despite the fact that they may well be dealing with their own stresses & traumas. There may also be personality disorders or mental issues.  

Most of us don't have the skills & experience to know how to deal with toxic people. They need professional help, which unfortunately is very hard to find. But we do need to have strategies to be able to cope. 

We should call them out & confront their behaviour. Nothing will change if you don't. It is important to be clear that it is the behaviour that we don't accept, not the person themselves. If we are not prepared to divorce ourselves from the person, we need to set boundaries for the behaviour that is not acceptable to us & limit the time that we spend with them. 

If those strategies don't work then the final option is to move on. Admit that the relationship is draining your resources & nothing has worked. 

It isn't failure. It's self preservation.

 

Planned Obsolescence OR A Circular Economy?

"Designing products to break quickly or become obsolete in the short to mid-term". The general idea is to encourage sales of new products and upgrades to boost profits, a practice that has been banned in some countries, but not in the UK. For example, a cellphone manufacturer may decide to use parts in its phones that have a maximum lifespan of five years, instead of parts that could last 20 years. It is also when spare parts or software updates aren't available, or an item can't be disassembled without destroying it. Changing a battery for example. Naively when I buy an item I imagine the guarantee as the minimum period the item should work for, with the expectation that it may well work for a lot longer. 

In my experience of 79 years, the general rule is that old stuff lasts longer. I imagine that is because of the quality of the raw materials items were produced with & possibly the skill & care workers took in the manufacturing process. I had a John Lewis fridge when I first got married that lasted decades for example. I kept clothes that I loved for years & years. They didn't fade, or fall apart. Seam allowances were sufficient, unlike todays clothes that regularly split.   

My generation valued craftsmanship & durability. We expected things to be worth what we paid for them & to last. That simply isn't true today. Most people expect to replace goods very regularly. They desire the newest iteration of whatever they buy. I didn't expect to change my kitchen units & white goods according to the dictates of fashion. I expected them to last for as long as I lived in the house. I certainly didn't expect to change my phone on a regular basis.

Why on earth have we become such slaves to fashion? 

Electronic waste in particular is becoming a huge issue that now threatens the environment. I remember taking broken electronics to someone to repair or calling someone out to repair bigger items. Nowadays finding someone with the skills is very difficult & expensive. Manufacturers have got away with telling us that it isn't viable to repair stuff. Many electronic components use raw materials that have to be mined & supply is not inexhaustable. This is unsustainable & destructive.

 

There is light on the horizon though. I recently had to change my router. The broadband company I was with, Plusnet, now has free recycling of old routers to recover precious components. I have also taken small electricals to "Share Cafes" locally where volunteers repair all sorts of things. 

This is called a "Circular Economy" - reusing, repairing and recycling existing materials and products whenever possible to extend their life cycle. A model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. The Ellen McArthur Foundation is a charity actively promoting this 

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

We all need to change our attitudes & habits. There isn't much time to get this right.  

Living, Working & Dying

We are born, we live a life, we die. Inescapable facts. Our lives are the jam in the sandwich between the basic bread of birth & death. The important part is the life we live. I believe that once it's over, it is over. What remains is the memories of how we lived in people we knew. Eventually that too will fade.

So what are we here for?

We have mental & physical capacities. Some of us are blessed with greater capacities than others. They are the tools we are given at birth. We learn, we grow & develop into adults. Do we use our gifts wisely & for the benefit of others? Do we live selfishly for our own benefit? Do we squander our talents? The parable of the Talents in Matthew & Luke tells believers to use their gifts. To work. 

How do we see work? Is it simply as something to earn a livlihood? Or do we see it as something to enable us to achieve something, to help our community?

Have we become a sick society? There are approximately 1.44 million unemployed people in the UK early this year. In 2020 there were 1.84 million. In 2019 10% of adults had never had a job. More than one in five working-age adults in the UK were not actively looking for work this March.

The bare statistics need to be investigated. How many of the unemployed are students in education? How many are suffering from chronic medical conditions & are so disabled that they cannot work? Are any temporary residents? Politicians need to identify the root causes of the statistics & they need to have a plan to deal with however many people could work, but don't. Demonizing the unemployed is not an acceptable strategy. 

In order for the UK Plc to function people who can work need to work, for a variety of reasons;-

• To make money & be independent. Money for food, for rent, and to enjoy their lives.
• To have a sense of pride and self-satisfaction by supporting yourself & family.
• Work is one of the primary ways we gain meaning in life - a sense of purpose.
• Work benefits our potential - it often defines who we are - e.g. vocational professions.
• Work benefits our emotional, physical & social well being.

At the tail end of my life I'm glad that I was a teacher. I got huge satisfaction from working with children & other teachers. I'm also glad that when I had to take early retirement on medical grounds in my 40's that I engaged in many interesting & challenging volunteering jobs. I have always felt there was a reason to get out of bed in the morning. 

 

If your day is filled with nothing satisfying you are diminished as an individual. One of my father's more irritating sayings was "it passes the time". Life is about more than just passing the time. 

We can & should  all contribute something. We all have value, we just need to use it.

 

Rules, Regulations & Law

My exercise of choice is lane swimming. I go 3 - 4 times a week for 30 minutes & swim about half a mile doing back crawl. There are conventions of how lane swimmers should behave, to do with safety & consideration for others. If there are several people in a lane it is important that these are observed to avoid swimmers crashing into eachother. I have to be especially careful because obviously I can't see where I'm going. If others don't observe the rules I'm in danger of a collision, which has happened occasionally.

My point is that rules & regulations are there for a reason, to enable us all to live together as harmoniously as possible. Societies are huge, complex systems. They cannot be a self indulgent "free for all". Everyone has to be prepared to conform to some extent. The alternative is chaos & harm.

So called democracies have a legislative framework that enables law to be enforced and operate in daily life, usually created by government ministers. The really important word in that sentence is "enforced". There is no point in having rules, regulations & law if they are just written & not enforced by a body with oversight & the power to impose sanctions.

My feeling is that in the UK & much of the world we have reached the point where norms of behaviour & the rules that govern them are not being complied with. Worse still oversight bodies or even legislators are not acting against serious breeches of accepted behaviour. 

This "laissez faire" attitude permeates from the ground upwards to the very top. The current debacle with the Water industry, the handling of the Covid epidemic, the Post Office Horizon scandal to name just 3. All have gone on for years. All have been shocking in the levels of incompetence & deception that have been revealed. 

Yet the Water industry is supposed to be overseen by Ofwat. Margaret Thatcher's government privatised England's water companies in 1989. The combined debt of the industry was £60.3 billlion in 2023.

Covid cost between £310 - 410 billion, largely due to the lack of preparedness for a pandemic everyone knew was coming. Public Health England had oversight, but were constrained by poor political decision making.

The Post Office is a public corporation of the Department for Business & Trade. There is supposedly a Post Office Redress Service, but I haven't heard anything whatsoever about them in the current enquiry. During the time of the scandal there were 11 government ministers in charge. Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses—an average of one a week. The cost of this will be in the billions.

"Headless chickens" are the words that come to mind. But it is worse than that. People in charge have routinely lied to protect themselves or their organisations. Enforcement simply did not exist. Innocent people have had their lives destroyed utterly & even died as a result. The tax payer - you & me are paying & will continue to pay the bill for this profligate incompetence. 

We deserve so much better. We all need to think very carefully about how we use our vote in the coming elections.

 

Public Opinion - Not In My Name

Obviously elections are the main way to guage public opinion, although given the normal low turnout, I'm not at all sure that is a true reflection.

Lobbying & Interest Groups are not a valid way to do it. They are remarkably unrepresentative of public opinion according to research. 

The Media - television, radio, newspapers & magazines, is supposed to have it's finger on the pulse of public opinion. They also help determine the political agenda. With the advent of smart phones & universal use of computers, interaction between the media & the public has increased hugely. The public use of letters & phone calls is far less now. Social Media is an instantaneous way to see what is trending & what consensus is emerging.

Protests, often involving huge numbers of people, seem to be becoming a regular way of understanding public mood. The problem is that mass protests sometimes result in group / mob mentality, leading to heightened emotional states - excitement, anger, hostility, etc. They are indicators of citizens dissatisfaction with government policies though.

Straw polls are a compromise between formal and informal methodologies. They are not as valid as opinion polls, because of minimal concern for the validity of the results.

Formal methodologies for measuring public opinion are usually classified into quantitative and qualitative approaches. They are more systematic ways of ascertaining public opinion & are likely to be conducted by scholars who understand their proper uses, & who are less likely than politicians or non-scholars to misuse them or misinterpret them.

Focus Groups are used by businesses in market research every day. They are also used by political candidates regularly. They are seldom used by academic researchers.

I definitely belong to various "interest groups" & I do lobby a lot & support various charities dealing with the Climate Emergency & Humanitarian Issues. I have quite strong beliefs in fairness & equality. I am deeply concerned about pollution & climate issues. My concern is that I increasingly believe that although there are huge numbers of people who think along the lines that I do, our voices are not being heard & the action we want is not being taken by governments. 

Much is happening here & now that I cannot support. Decisions are being taken that I would not vote for. Politicians are in charge who put their own power & self interest before what is necessary for the future of humanity & the planet. 

The world is moving rapidly in a direction that is "Not In My Name". The LSE has an intersting research project running until 2027 looking at this concept -  https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpnss/research/not-in-my-name  

Our world is very unstable. Making the right decisions & taking appropriate action is vital. We will be judged. But what will our world be like when that judgement happens?