Assumptions & Politics

Our brains are amazing in all sorts of ways. We learn through our senses & our brains store the information & experience we build up. As we age, retrieval of that data might become more of a problem, but our brains function until we die. 

Consciousness is a state of being aware of internal thoughts, feelings & the external environment. It involves subjective experience, often described as "what it is like" to be an individual and perceive the world. 

All of this leads us to make assumptions all the time. About what will happen, about the character of people we meet, about good & bad....Our brains make assumptions for us & we base our behaviour on those assumptions. Hopefully we are intelligent enough to recognise that those assumptions can be right & wrong. 

I have never met a political leader as far as I can remember, but I make assumptions all the time about what I think about them as a person & how well they do their job. We all create an impression of ourselves to others. Politicians are trained to generate the impression they & their party want the public to see.  Sometimes that is fairly accurate, sometimes it could be a fiction. When we vote we are often voting for a particular person, rather than a manifesto, although that is very important too. Politics is often smoke & mirrors.

The USA voted in the mid terms yesterday. It's an important election because we knew that the control of the Senate & Congress could change from republican to democrat. Trump is widely disliked & distrusted in countries other than America & has only a 26% approval rating at home. So my hope was that Americans would show clearly what they thought of the mess he has created in the world. I thought it would be good if his power were curtailed for the final couple of years of his presidency, because he is a wrecking ball both at home & internationally. Today I celebrated with American friends because Trump has lost both the Senate & Congress.

Listening to ordinary Americans on the news I feared that it may not be as clear cut as I hoped. I hoped that Trumps obvious unsuitability to be in charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world would result in a massive movement to democrats. However, politics is complex. People fear change & pursue self interest. American politics, probably more than any other country in the world, hinges on huge amounts of money literally buying elections. Lobbying & publicity is an art form in America. So I hoped but didn't expect. 

 

Truth is often lost in the furore of mass indoctrination & hysteria. We can assume nothing today, but we can hope. I fervently hope that Trump & all his cohorts get their just deserts, but I assume he might well get away with it all. For now.    

  

 

 

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Peaceful Protest

I have had a poster in my front window saying "Starvation is being used as a weapon of war" for ages. I suspect that it has little effect because it has been there so long. I can no longer go on marches or demonstrations - I can barely walk to my local shops. I have considered what the impact of me having a heart attack on a march might be, but I don't really think it's a good idea!

I do support everyone's right to protest about things that are patently wrong. If that protest causes inconvenience I can accept that. We have a proud history of protest in the UK;-

• The Tolpuddle Martyrs 1834
• The Suffragettes & Suffragists in the 19th  20th centuries
• The anti apartheid movement in the 1970's - 1090's
• Access to the Countryside mass trespass 1930's 
• LGBT Section 28 marches 1970's - 2000's
• Justice for Gurkhas 2004
• Grenfell 2017
• Fracking 2011

The point is the public can make politicians take action about wrong. The mass voice of the public is very effective, because politicians know that it is us who elect them to power. Without that vote they are nothing. If we lose that power there is nothing to act as a check & balance to political power. The lobbyists will win & the public will be relegated to a voice crying in the wilderness. 

There are so many things happening today that are wrong. Despots wreaking death, injury & destruction all over the world. Bad actor counties interfering with due process & democracy. The climate emergency threatening our very existence. Species loss. Criminals seemingly rampant because law enforcement isn't effective. Huge international companies using great wealth & power to lobby & increase their profits...It's seemingly never ending.

If there is one thing that is important today it is the right of populations to protest. It is the only way that mass opinion can be heard on really important issues. If we allow that to be subsumed politically we only have the vote every 5 years & our voting system is unfair & not representative. 

   

You can't stop it, it became law this year. It is meant to tackle antisocial behaviour, knife crime, retail theft, public order, and violence against women and girls as part of the government's Safer Streets mission. But it does more than that. It gives the police powers that are quite concerning. It can curtail our right to protest drastically. Yes, there are people who deliberately disrupt peaceful protest & they need to be dealt with. But that is no reason to include those who have a legitimate right to protest & are behaving peacefully. They are actually risking a lot in order to make their voices heard.

Protest & Democracy are inextricable linked. It is arguable that disrupting people's lives is a way to get their attention to important issues. 

The Oxygen of Publicity

There is an appetite for news.We want to know what is happening, why & where. Who is doing what to who. We need to be informed. But we need truthful & accurate information. What we don't need is conspiracy theory, misdirection, greenwashing, whitewashing & gaslighting. We need to be able to trust our sources of information. 

I don't advocate censorship in any way. Freedom of speech is important in a democracy. However unpalatable I find someone's views, I do believe they have a right to speak. I just don't want to listen to them without being able to counter the rubbish they spout. I want to be able to provide accurate information rather than knee jerk, emotional, reaction. So I use trusted sources.

More & more I am irritated by people telling me I can't say something. I'm happy to argue my point with anyone. I'm happy to disagree, hopefully amicably. But I will not be told what I can & can't say. Sometimes that is difficult with friends, acquaintances & family. It's a fine line to tread to put your point forward without causing offence or creating a situation with those close to you.

The one area I do now think that we need to be more careful about is publicity. I hadn't thought about it before, but there are people whose views & behaviour are so toxic that I think they shouldn't be named publicly. The reason is that naming them makes them a focus for the elements of society who think & behave like they do. I am beginning to think that this then creates cults & groups of like minded people, who then become more & more influential & powerful. 

The obvious example is Trump & the MAGA movement. There has been reliable research into who MAGA people are, which indicates that at least 60% are white, and a majority are male. Roughly half are retired or over 65. A significant portion lacks a college degree—particularly working-class conservatives. There are concentrations in the deep south, suburban & rural areas & major cities. Hardliners are deeply religious nationalists & populists who view politics as an existential battle between good & evil. There are also relatively well off, politically active, anti woke, conservatives who are against change.

 

For all of these people, Trump manipulates the publicity machine, particularly social media. Everything is a photo opportunity for Trump. Similarly for Putin & Netenyahu, who also manipulate the media & news. Despots use the oxygen of publicity to stay in power & subjugate their people through indoctrination. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_use_by_Donald_Trump  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social 

Narcissism flourishes on the oxygen of publicity. So I wonder if we shouldn't seriously consider not actually naming people who are known to lack a moral compass or who don't adhere to norms of behaviour or law. We can identify them by their role rather than their name. Let's consider not putting  photographs of them on news. 

This applies to criminals too. Lets focus on the victims of crime, not the criminals. Naming & shaming doesn't seem to have worked. Some very objectionable people thrive on it. So lets try another way. Cut off the oxygen of publicity & see what happens. Media attention just seems to sustain controversial figures & extremist groups. 

Packaging

I never know where a blog post will go when I write it. This may well turn into a rant.

I am so fed up with everyday packaging I can't open. Everything - tins, cardboard boxes, plastic film covered food containers, blister packs. I have a drawer in my kitchen with 2 gizmos to help me open tins & 4 to help open jars. There is nothing to help peel the film back from plastic food containers or to prize open cardboard packaging. The problem with both of those is the glue. It's too strong. So I end up jabbing at it with a sharp knife.

In all honesty I will admit that my hands are not as strong or flexible as they were. But I really can't believe that it is beyond the wit of man to use a glue which allows people to open the package. As for opening child proof medication - I had to ask someone to do it for me with one bottle. 

The problem seems to be that manufacturers design packaging to solve business problems like theft, damage & tampering, rather than ease of use. Heat sealed plastic edges & rigid cardboard are cheap & fast to run on automated machinery compared to user friendly designs. Products often have to survive long distance shipping. 

We all want to be sure that what we buy is tamper proof, especially food. So I do understand this from the industry point of view. But not all packaged food is impossible to open without a knife, some is relatively easy, so  glue that seals but doesn't frustrate must be available. Why isn't it universally used? 

There are several cook your own food from fresh companies now. I tried one that has 3 small packs of the flavouring / seasoning & you supply your own fresh ingredients. I thought the recipes were very good. But opening the seasoning packs was a nightmare. They are small & round & difficult to hold while tearing off the film lids. Impossible to open without a knife because the glue is really strong. Lethal. I love the fact that these companies encourage cooking with fresh ingredients, but I stopped my subscription because of the packaging.

Packs of cake with instructions to "open here" with a tiny tab, but the glue is so strong you can't. On the other hand cereal boxes that have the same thing but open easily. Getting into blister packs of toothbrush heads. It's all about the glue strength.

We have just accepted that assembly lines churning out heat sealed, plastic to plastic, is the optimum method of transporting & buying food. Well it isn't. I remember a time when most food was not packaged at all. I remember fruit & veg shops, butchers & fishmongers. I remember when biscuits were displayed loose in big tins & you took how many you wanted & put them in a paper bag. Broken biscuits were sold off cheaply, not included in the packaged ones as now. 

Why on earth is fruit & veg packaged at all? I don't need 4 apples or pears in a tray wrapped in plastic. I don't need potatoes in a plastic bag. All of this has happened insidiously over time perhaps because we no longer eat food we have produced locally, in season. The "convenience" is to fit in with an industry that we actually don't really need & which produces mountains of waste.

I won't buy grapes when they are transported from Peru or Africa. I only eat grapes when they are in season in Europe. I won't eat French beans when they have been transported for thousands of miles. They grow really well in the UK & are seasonal. I'm tired of fruit that has been deep frozen, travelled miles, looks perfect & goes off really quickly, or is rotten inside or uneatable because it is so hard.

We have been conned by the food industry.

   

Legislation, Monitoring & Enforcement

I am a touch embarrassed to admit that when I was a teacher & a headteacher I did threaten to punish a whole class if a perpetrator did not admit to wrongdoing. I probably did carry the threat out & withdrew privileges or kept a class in. 

Israel has retaliated against Hebron in the West Bank by laying siege to the city, forcing residents out of their homes & then demolishing them after Palestinian gunmen killed 2 Israeli soldiers. The aim, according to Smotrich Israel's finance minister, is to “create deterrence and exact a price”. In other words an "eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth" - the Law of Retaliation. 

You have to decide whether you think that is an acceptable response.

Without the rule of law we do not have a functioning society. Without a functioning society there is chaos. Law needs to be properly policed & monitored & perpetrators need to be punished or made to pay in some way. I think most reasonable & intelligent people would accept that is in their best interests.

In France demonstrators with genuine reasons to protest have been hijacked by extremists bent on disruption & anarchy. 70,000 police officers have been deployed to prevent further violence and looting. New GL-304 grenades were used against protesters, with at least two causing serious injuries, and two others involved in dangerous incidents. Is this acceptable enforcement against legitimate public protest? Or is it blanket law enforcement that isn't properly targeted against actual perpetrators?

You have to decide. 

It seems to me that there is no point in any legislation if it is not properly monitored. A good example is the UK water industry after privatisation. It can be argued that Ofwat was actually in collusion with the privatised companies. There is  widespread public, political, and academic criticism for regulatory failure, weak oversight, and allowing companies to engage in heavy debt-loading, massive dividend payouts, and environmental pollution. 

We need all three legal arms for a successfully operating society. I don't believe we have that in the UK or the wider world today & the "chickens are coming home to roost".

 

The Voice of Reason

Today, more than ever, we need to listen to "the voice of reason" - meaning we all need to act sensibly, logically & calmly in the chaotic, emotional & risky world we now all live in. We need to prioritise evidence, facts, and balanced judgement over panic, bias, or heated emotions. Each one of us needs to be prepared to speak out against the lies & rubbish that proliferates in the public realm today.

I listened to the news of the attack on the Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank. Video footage shows masked men beating and kicking the veteran conflict reporter, (she is 64),  as she lay on the ground. She said it went on for about 10 minutes. Settlers stole her passport, phone, wallet and equipment. There were witnesses as well as video. So Netenyahu cannot get away with saying the facts were "unclear". She was clearly marked as Press & is in hospital with multiple injuries.

Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in a coordinated movement to disrupt the annual olive harvest in 8 villages, burning cars and trees and injuring Palestinians. The sustained attack on Heidi Levine shows just how extreme these settlers are. It also shows that the IDF & Israel's right wing politicians are not enforcing the rule of law. Where is the "voice of reason" from those who govern Israel? The treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank & Gaza is beyond any concept of reasonable.

Settler violence, using firearms, clubs & slingshots, has been going on in the West Bank for months in full view of Israeli military vehicles. The Israeli military fired tear gas at Palestinians when they picked up rocks to try to defend themselves. At least four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 others injured over the past month. Thousands of trees have been damaged. This has been designated as "ethnic cleansing" including by the UK government. Other journalists have been attacked too.  

Where is the "voice of reason" in all this? 

The 3 year Israeli Palestinian war started after the dreadful events of October 7th 2023. But in truth it has been on & off ever since the 1947 partition. It is difficult to understand how human beings on both sides can behave with such total disregard for the lives & freedom of others. We have international organisations, the United Nations for example, with 193 member states. They supposedly stand for maintaining international peace & security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid & promoting sustainable development. 

 

They have failed on all fronts time & again. While Countries like Russia, China & America have vetos the U N will never be able to be the "voice of reason" & fulfil their supposed aims. 

It is completely depressing. The bullies are winning. They need to be confronted. Reason will not prevail if we all stay quiet.

 

Water Security

A friend recently told me a little ditty - "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down." Flushing the loo is an automatic habit, so sometimes I don't remember. I also feel slightly embarrassed if someone else uses a loo & I haven't flushed. I'm sure they think I have finally lost the plot!

In the UK we all take clean, drinkable water for granted. 

In 1829 engineer James Simpson built the first slow sand filter for the Chelsea Waterworks Company, marking the first large-scale treated public water supply for an urban population. In 1854 Dr John Snow proved that cholera spread via contaminated water pumps & safer municipal water sources were introduced. Sir Joseph Bazalgette built the first sewer network in London between 1859 - 1875 because of the "Great Stink" of 1875. All helped to wipe out the Cholera epidemic. So the UK has an almost 200 year history of providing clean water.

Today we have water companies that have been polluting our rivers & seas with sewage for decades. Privatisation of the water companies means that money was diverted to investor profits & management bonuses for years - Not used to properly maintain & future proof the system. 

Today we are building vast data centres which need huge amounts of water because the physical servers that store, process & send out video files for streaming generate massive amounts of heat. Think about that every time you press "play" on a film or show. Entertaining you is in danger of seriously depleting a natural resource that is not infinite. 

In 2026 we had 5 prolonged periods of drought. Although it has now rained we are still in drought. We don't have enough reservoirs because the privatised water companies sold off dozens of them for housing & commercial development & didn't build new ones. The ones we have are way below capacity. 

10 water companies have not been able to supply customers with water on demand in 2026. Only 2 companies avoided implementing a hosepipe ban - Severn Trent & Bristol. South East Water & Thames Water had to temporarily open bottled water stations in 2026 following major supply disruptions & pipe bursts in 2026.

 It's a perfect storm.

Don't for one minute think that 2026 is simply an unusual, difficult, year. The water infrastructure isn't just creaking, it isn't fit for purpose & we can no longer rely on rainfall to top up supply. Demand is increasing & supply is reducing. Privatisation has largely destroyed the infrastructure & profiteering means that there isn't the will to right the wrongs of decades. Shareholders & salaries take precedence.    

No other country in the world has followed this model of full privatisation. Our politicians created this & we allowed them to do it. We now realise just how wrong we were.