Bees

I have just read a thriller, "Coffin Road", by Peter May, an author I really enjoy. The title works on several levels, not least the coffin mankind is creating for itself by deceminating bee populations all over the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_May_(writer)

I wondered if May was exaggerating the science - but unfortunately not.

The thread of the story is the part "Big Pharma" is playing in "Colony Collapse Disorder",(CCD), of bees due to memory damage caused by mono culture agribusinesses use of pesticides & insecticides containing Neurotoxins like Neonicotinoids.
https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder

Neonicotinoids damage bee brains & memory so they can no longer communicate to other bees the whereabouts of nectar sources from flowers. Pollination is a by product of the bees gathering nectar.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/27/eu-agrees-total-ban-on-bee-harming-pesticides

 

Insecticides & pesticides cause destruction of habitat & floral diversity & also cause water contamination. Lobbying by the hugely powerful & wealthy Agrochemical businesses means that these dangerous chemicals are not universally banned.

http://sos-bees.org/causes/

http://sos-bees.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/BeesInDecline.pdf

The situation in the USA is particularly bad - between 30 - 50% of bee populations are dying every year.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/40-decline-honey-bee-population-winter-unsustainable-experts/story?id=64191609

On top of all of this the poor bees have to cope with parasites like Varroa Mite. No wonder bee populations are suffering.
Parasites - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varroa_destructor

The thing is if we don't do something about all of this we are the ones who are going to be under threat. Our species depends on bees pollinating every single fruit, vegetable & plant. The very real danger is that bees will become extinct & so will we. All animals, including us, depend on plants.

Actually it isn't just bees. We have presided over the plummeting loss of insect species worldwide.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

Our meddling in the balance of the worlds ecology is really coming home to roost. The trouble is it has already happened - on our watch & we are sleepwalking towards real destruction. No one knows when the tipping point is.

Divorce, Death, Disagreements, Drunkenness & Desperation = Christmas

My lovely estate agent said that there is always an upturn in the property market after Christmas because so many people decide to Divorce. They realise that they just can't stand to be together, so they have to sell up.

In the 2017 to 2018 winter period, there were an estimated 50,100 excess winter Deaths in England and Wales. The excess winter deaths were the highest recorded since winter 1975 to 1976. Above average mortality is routinely seen between December & March. Most people die between 3 - 4 am.

We are holed up at home, with people we don't normally spend huge amounts of time with, & with no work exit. A week or two, with high expectations and sometimes frustrated hopes, can lead to things can coming to a head & Disagreements ensue.

We drink to be jolly & to cope with all of this. The average Briton consumed an average of 26 units per day last Christmas, with the nation collectively  drinking almost six billion units of alcohol between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day in 2018. Men in the UK have roughly one and a half more drinks than women on Christmas day, according to new research.(The women are too busy getting the Christmas lunch on the table!) There is huge pressure to drink far more than normal, with the usual resulting hangovers & worse. Apparently Champagne & Port make you drunk quicker. Drunkenness is not a pretty sight.

What is the point of it all? Why do we repeat the same behaviour patterns annually? For many people, Christmas is not a time of "good cheer". It is a time of lonliness & Desperation. A time when the pressure to spend what you don't have is enormous. The expectation of presents that will surprise & delight, the expectation of plentiful food & drink, the expectation of fun & enjoyment with friends & relatives - How can it fulfill all of this for everyone? 

It can't, it simply isn't possible.

Audiences & how they Behave - Oh no they Don't!

I am a volunteer usher at a local theatre. This week I have ushered for a small studio venue we have & for the main theatre. The former was a delightful production for toddlers & young children, the latter was the Panto for everyone from babies to Grandparents. They couldn't have been more different in every possible way.

This is a "Rant" warning - so look away now if you don't want to read it. Wrap a present or write a card maybe.

I am truly appalled at the behaviour of the audience for the Panto, (& in fact for many of the non Panto performances throughout the year). Frankly I find it inexplicable.

We volunteer ushers clear up after every performance. It is routine to fill several black bags after each performance with;- coffee cups & lids, water bottles, plastic cups, ice cream tubs & lids, tissues, tickets, flyers, sweet bags & papers, sweets, crisp bags....Then there is all the spilled ice cream, coffee, wine....One usher told me yesterday that she had to clear up after an Asian family who had brought a curry in & left everything on the floor!

We go up and down the aisles in the interval with our black sacks. Some people are great & do put their rubbish in. But this year I have been shocked at how much is just dumped on the floor for someone else to clean up.

Why is it that people don't feel able to go for approximately 50 minutes without eating & drinking? Shows usually have 2 Acts of about 50 minutes with a 20 minute interval when you can eat & drink to your hearts content if you wish. You can eat before you come or afterwards. Frankly I think it is "cinema" behaviour. Cinema audiences are used to having popcorn, hot dogs, coke & God knows what else. Cinemas don't rely on volunteers to clean up afterwards & the performers aren't live!

Then there is the unbelievable, to me, idea that it's fine to walk in & out whilst the performance is on going - Regardless of whether one is seated at the end of a row. Disturbing everyone in the same row & all the people behind seems to be OK - Twice - Out & back again. Are they all so desperate for something to eat or drink that they couldn't have bought it before or wait until the interval? It isn't surprising that they may need to go to the toilet, given that they are drinking continuously. Obviously bladder control is weak.

Lateness is similarly ill mannered. Yes I know parking can be difficult & the traffic can be bad. But the Staff & the Volunteers manage to get there in plenty of time. It's just an excuse. Leave home in plenty of time & allow for delays. Personally I wouldn't let them in until the interval.

Mobile phones are similarly annoying. The people around you do not want the disturbance of the very bright light as you check your emails & texts mid performance. The actors definitely don't. People certainly don't want to listen to your ringtone or alerts. Why on earth audiences think they have the right to take photos or worse still videos of a performance is completely beyond my comprehension. For most productions it is a definite "no no" & we are supposed to stop it.

I have been physically & verbally abused by members of an audience, only a couple of times fortunately. Most people are very friendly thank goodness.

It's all very selfish & bad mannered. How on earth have people been brought up? The theatre was completely refurbished a while back at great cost. Do people behave like this in their own homes? Hopefully not. So why do they think it's OK in the theatre.

I know of at least one actor in the West End who stopped the show because of audience bad behaviour. Good for him! I can't imagine how you can give a good performance if you are distracted.

Interestingly I went to the RSC last week & there was no such behaviour at all. Not a sign of rubbish at the end & we were in the circle & could see the stalls.

So - the questions are - Why is it happening at all? - What should we do about it? I know what I would do - but I'm not in charge.

Give us this Day.....

I'm not a fan of any established church or religion. Buddhism comes closest to what I believe. But I think the "Lords Prayer" has fundamental truths within it.

We all need to think about the line "Give us this day our daily bread". Not just at the time of obscene Christmas consumerism, but literally in our "daily lives". In this current time of instant gratification, landfill, built in obsolescence, huge food waste & a rise in homelessness, self harm, suicide & mental illness, we need to go back to basics. We all need to be satisfied with less.

I'm tired of the constant advertising push to get us to think that changing our kitchens, bathrooms & sitting rooms every 10 years or so is normal. I'm tired of fashion outlets changing stock every 6 - 8 weeks & ditching perfectly reasonable clothing. I'm tired of designer fashion literally "costing the earth" - Oscar de la Renta, Gucci & Louis Vuitton are apparently proud to be the most expensive "brands".

What I'm most tired of & indeed sickened by, is the complete mismatch between not just people who can afford to shop at M&S or Waitrose & those who have to go to foodbanks or school breakfast clubs. But the arrogant rich who treat "fine dining" & drinking Laurent Perrier, Dom Perignon or Armand de Brignac champagne like bottled water, as reasonable behaviour.

We all need to wake up & understand what we are doing. If we don't we have no right to "celebrate" Christmas. In fact we should probably cancel it. God, if he exists, must be wondering what the hell he has done. Or will he just blame it all on Satan?

Bulshit, Boris & Voting - What is Democracy?

Tomorrow I will vote. There have been very few times when I haven't in my 56 years of being eligible. I will vote with my heart, my conscience & my intellect. Not with tribal loyalties, or for the person who I like most or dislike least.

When I use public transport I don't choose the bus or train on the basis of which vehicle I like the most. I choose on the basis of which vehicle will get me nearest to where I want to go. Similarly in a Democracy we should be voting for the party which, on balance, offers the manifesto nearest to what our beliefs are.

We are not voting for the face fronting the Party. We have a Parliamentary Democracy with a Cabinet. No one person is anything other than a titular head. Personally I don't want either Boris or Corbyn as my Prime Minister. But that is all that either of them would be - the Prime minister. Not God, or anything approaching that. They are just the leader of a Party. They have power, but that can be held in check by the Cabinet & Parliament, as the last 3 years have shown.

Disraeli supposedly said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics". Disraeli would have been shocked had he listened to the campaign we have just undergone. Lying, misinformation & bulshit have all reached unprecidented heights. What makes matters worse is that we have a media & newsprint business which seemingly struggles to tell the difference between those 3 & the truth.

So, forget Brexit if you can. There are much more important things at stake here.

Vote for something, for the party who you really believe will do their best for the country & everyone who lives here. If you hold things like the NHS, the Education of our children, Justice, Transport & Infastructure, Housing & Homelessness, Poverty; dear, then think very carefully whose hands you want controlling the purse strings. We all need all of these at some point in our lives.

I'm lucky. I'm relatively comfortably off. I have a home I own, enough food to eat, heating & lighting, medication to control my health conditions. I want the basics for everyone. I want to feel confident that my 14 year old grandsons will grow up in a world which truly cares about people & the environment.

I'm not confident that I'm going to get that tomorrow.

The Importance of Breathing

"Take a deep breath". "Inhale the future, exhale the past". "Breathe & don't try to be perfect".....

I'm getting very breathless, so I am very aware of how I breathe. Bending down, walking up inclines, climbing stairs, trying to rush....I find myself panting & struggling a bit. I thought a new pacemaker would make me bionic again, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I don't suppose complete heart block, atrial fibrullation & a floppy mitral valve help much.

The last two weekends have been spent working on a craft stall in a local market. My daughter & one of her friends are very creative & decided to give it a try. One is a ceramicist the other works in multi media. It was an absolute joy despite the cold. The thing is that the stall was on the side of the busy Banbury Road. Both weekends I ended up with a very sore throat & tickly cough overnight after doing it. I thought I had a bug, but it only lasted 24 hours. I now realise that it was probably exposure to the traffic pollution.

We take the air that we breathe for granted. We take breathing itself for granted. It is what keeps us alive, but we don't think about that.

The statistics for chronic COPD & Asthma don't make good reading.
https://statistics.blf.org.uk/
Someone in the UK dies from chronic lung disease every 5 minutes. 1 in 5 people in the UK has ever developed COPD or Asthma. It costs the NHS & the economy a fortune.

We should all take the importance of being able to breathe clean air much more seriously.

Accountability & Trust

Looking back, it seems to me that I have never been able to "get away" with anything. I have made mistakes in my personal & professional life, but I have always been held accountable for them at some point. Sometimes I have been held accountable for things which were beyond my control because others higher up the "food chain" did not take responsibility.

In personal & professional relationships you have to show, by your actions, that you are trustworthy. Trust & respect have to be earned & simply saying that you have those qualities has no impact whatsoever. Dictators say a lot in speeches to influence crowds, then betray their populations & salt away money in offshore accounts.

We are in the midst of a crucial election to determine the future path of the United Kingdom. Leaders of political parties & their acolytes are promising the electorate improvements which should have been happening for years. The present government is sidestepping accountability for the situation they have created throughout their tenure.

How can we reasonably be expected to trust what they say when we have seen the results of their action or inaction in running the country? How can we trust what they say when time & again they will not answer simple straightforward questions? How can we trust them when actual lies have been exposed? How can we trust a Prime Minister who is not capable of facing forensic questioning by expert journalists or even the public?

I really think I have lost something very valuable. Something which has been central to the way I live my life. We should all be accountable for our actions. We should all be able to trust our politicians.

I have completely lost trust in our democracy - our political system & those that have power in it. Any government has an uphill struggle to convince me that they have the skills & moral compass to govern in the best interests of the country.

 

Yin and Yang

Yin / Yang - Dark / Bright - Negative / Positive. Seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent. Like my husband & me. Completely opposite personalities, politics, ways of operating, interests... but it worked because we complimented each other.

If you look at the colour wheel, opposite colours are complimentary.

 

In magnetism experiments opposite poles attract, same poles repel.

We often see this seemingly counter intuitive idea in everyday life. Look at your friends, are they all of the same mind as you? Do they look like you? I realised that many of my good women friends over the years have been quite tiny - I'm 5' 8". 

My point is that we should value difference. We should listen to other points of view. We shouldn't have expectations that others should share our opinions.

We should understand & value duality. We all have aspects of both Yin & Yang in ourselves. Duality creates dynamism. We need both dark & light, negative & positive. But there needs to be a balance between the two.

Why is Another Referendum Undemocratic?

Government Timescale

06.05.2010 - General Election
             Cameron / Clegg Coalition
2011 - Fixed term parliament Act - Elections after a full 5 year term
07.05.2015 - General Election
             Cameron Government
23.06.2016 - Brexit Referendum - After 1 year
13.07.2016 - May Government - Not elected
08 06.2017 - General Election - After 2 years
             May Government 
24.07.2019 - Johnson Government - Not elected
12.12.2019 - General Election - After 2 1/2 years

The point I'm making is why, in the face of blatant disregard of their own legislation for fixed term parliaments, do Tory Brexiteers say that another referendum is not democratic? 

Also why is it in any way democratic to have unelected Prime Ministers, who obviously do not have any mandate to run the country? 

On top of both those points there's Briefing Paper 07212 of the 3rd June 2015 which says in Section 5:-

"(This Bill)does not contain any requirement for the UK Government to implement the results of the referendum, nor set a time limit by which a vote to leave the EU should be implemented. Instead, this is a type of referendum known as pre-legislative or consultative, which enables the electorate to voice an opinion which then influences the Government in its policy decisions". 

"The UK does not have constitutional provisions which would require the results of a referendum to be implemented"

So to my mind the mess we are in has nothing to do with the Democratic rights of the people. If the Government can ignore Democracy to the level they have, there must be some other reason for the 3 years of complete mismanagement we have endured.

It seems to me that the only reason that we are not having another Referendum, in the light of all the new information we now have as to the real effects Brexit will have, is because of the polarisation & in-fighting in the Conservative party.

If I'm right Democracy in any shape or form has completely gone out of the window. 

What makes matters even worse is that some Conservative MP's & Ministers have been doing very well indeed out of all this. The obvious one is Jacob Rees Mogg, through his company Somerset Capital Management.

"A plague on all their houses" I say - They should be ashamed. The Institute for Government says that the the total amount spent over the years leading up to formal exit could be as high as £2bn.

    

Bonfire of the Vanities

In Florence in 1497, when the city was under the rule of the Dominican priest Savonarola, he ordered the burning of objects that some church authorities considered sinful, such as cosmetics, mirrors, books, and art.He was responsible for the destruction of secular art and culture. He was condemned as a heretic and schismatic by the Pope & the church, and sentenced to die. He was hanged while a fire was ignited below to consume his body. To prevent devotees from searching for relics, his ashes were scattered in the Arno.

The idea of such destruction seems over the top today, but perhaps we should consider what we would consign to the Bonfire now. I immediately thought of the all pervasive mobile phone. Just how beneficial is it to be instantly available almost anywhere in the world? What is the downside of that availability? Is it good to be constantly stimulated at any time of the day or night by video games like Fortnite or Pokemon Go? Do we need to have constant access to news streamed from around the world? Are we incapable of just observing what is going on around us & interacting with real people?

I've just seen "Hansard" streamed live from the National Theatre. It was a "tour de force" of acting. The cinema was packed & everyone was riveted for one hour & forty minutes of a two hander with no interval. The audience veered between laughter & tears. Our Culture is precious, we should never forget what the Arts give us. But we are in danger of losing them, of consigning them to the Bonfire. Government interference & underfunding of education means that the Arts probably only really flourish in independent schools. State schools are too strapped for cash & teachers.

As for books, I would be lost without books by my bedside & in my sitting room. But the statistics are very worrying - Nine million adults in the UK are functionally illiterate, and one in four British five-year-olds struggles with basic vocabulary. Three-quarters of white working class boys fail to achieve the government’s benchmark at the age of 16. They don't throw books on the Bonfire. They simply don't have access to read them.

Alongside all of this how much do we spend on cosmetics? On average, in 2018 we each spent £482.51 a year on beauty products – that works out at £2.39 per person per day. Personally I would definitely consign a lot of these to the Bonfire. I prefer women to look like real women not some artificial Barbie doll.

We need to think what we truly value & protect it. If we don't we will lose it & it will be too late. We do need to consign some things to the Bonfire, but we need to be careful.

It's a dilemma that is happening today.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/04/polish-priest-apologises-for-harry-potter-book-burning

Doing the Right Thing

I was brought up to always put myself last in any situation. Children were "seen & not heard". As a teenager & young adult my views had little importance - They were very different from those of my parents. I grew up to be a "pleaser" but also tried to hide quite a bit of anger at not having a "voice".

This background resulted in a lifelong reforming personality. I don't think I have ever been involved with any organisation, either paid or voluntary, without wanting to change it in some way. Hopefully for the better. I also complain if I feel things are wrong. Not aggressively, but definitely assertively. I simply won't walk on by & ignore or be made to be complicit.

I try to do the "right thing". It is very important to me. The concepts of justice, freedom & fairness matter a lot. Doing the "right thing" is often difficult & uncomfortable, especially if you are a woman. It's easy to be accused of being confrontational or strident. One of my grandsons thinks I "complain" too much. I want him to understand that if you don't stand up & be counted nothing will change for the better.

Many people don't want to confront wrong. They find confrontational situations acutely uncomfortable. We humans prefer not to "put our head above the parapet" or we "keep our head down". We are capable of walking on by & ignoring situations we know are troublesome or wrong as though we are wearing blinkers. 

The difficulty is that "the right thing" is subjective. The world seems to have become much more complex as I have aged. What I believe to be the right thing is not a universally held maxim. Black & white is usually several shades of grey. Who am I to say that someone else is wrong?

I think you have to just go with your gut instinct, your conscience. It's usually a good barometer. Whether you act on it is a matter for you. You have to live with your own bravery & cowardice in equal measure. 

A Really Green Christmas

 

https://shareoxford.org/2019/11/10/prepare-for-a-greener-christmas/

I've been doing some of this for years. I don't send any Christmas cards for example. I bring out the same few decorations I've had for years. I don't indulge in sparkly new clothes. I limit the presents I buy to immediate family. 

The time has come for all of us to think seriously about how we "celebrate" Christmas. The waste is not just unsustainable, it's becoming obscene. Personally I don't want anything. I get what I need when I need it. I also don't want to spend my time shopping for gifts. I don't want to waste sedentary hours watching the opening presents ritual & eating & drinking far more than normal. Most people could cut back a lot. 

Many people don't have the money for excessive consumerism. The difference between the the poor & the propsperous is getting wider every year. Read the "Trussell Trust" stats on Food Banks. https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/  Read "Crisis" stats on Homelessness https://www.crisis.org.uk/.../the_homelessness_monitor... 

Please - Lets all think what we are doing. Less is more at Christmas & always. 

Keeping Secrets

I'm not sure what I think about keeping secrets - it's complicated.

Is someone asking you to keep a secret knowing or hoping that you will actually tell someone? Is it appropriate to lay the burden of a secret on someone else? What is the motive for telling you in particular? Do they just want to unload on someone, or do they actually want advice or help?

You can presume that if something is a secret it is either serious or it's something like a surprise party. If it is serious then it probably needs sorting out & are you capable of doing that alone? If it's a surprise of some sort, will the person being surprised be pleased?

So a secret can be a bit of a poisoned chalice either way.

A surprise type secret is probably not going to cause lasting harm.

A serious secret however is fraught with difficulty. What are the implications for anyone concerned in the secret if you accidently share, or feel that you need advice & have to share? What happens when the secret becomes public & people find out that you knew & did nothing? All the psychological evidence shows that keeping secrets can be stressful.

If you accept a secret, are you trapped in a promise? On the whole I think not, it's a judgement call after the secret has been divulged. You have to decide for yourself whether you are prepared to keep it. That means you also have to accept the consequences if you do decide to. On balance, I think you have to make clear that you can only promise to keep a secret when you know what it is.

A secret can be a burden. A serious secret can have serious consequences.

 

Everything's going wrong! - Recycling

For some Karmic reason things just seem to be going wrong almost daily recently.

My newish second hand car started making a strange noise from the back when it went over speed bumps & potholes. That was after all 4 tyres set off a warning light because the pressures were all low. I have never had a single car tyre lose pressure before in 50 years of driving, never mind all 4 at the same time! The dealership said cars don't like being left standing for any length of time....! I'm taking the car in this week for the noise to be sorted - it's something to do with "bushings"? The car supposedly had a big service & was MOT'd before I bought it.  
PS - They had it in all day last week, replaced the rear axle. I thought it was sorted, but no - it's still making a noise going over speed humps & uneven roads. So it's going back again.

My dark wash came out of the machine covered with a white gritty powder at the weekend - I do de-scale it regularly. When I tried to rinse the load to get rid of it, the machine wouldn't work on any programme. I'm waiting to hear from AEG whether it's worth repairing - it was in the house when I moved here in 2013 - I gave them the model number & PNC. I don't want to pay the call out fee + parts if the machine is too old.
PS - AEG never responded to two emails. I decided I should get a new machine - John Lewis to the rescue this Friday.

I ordered some new full length curtains & a metal pole for my bedroom in August from a very well known British company. I paid to have their "design consultant" come to the house to do the measuring & advise. It's been a long list of things going wrong. The main issue is that the brackets for the pole are so long the middle one can't be fitted above the windows. The consultant is finally coming back this Thursday - so a 2 month wait so far & I've still got the old curtains up.  
PS - The design consultant brought the brackets for wooden poles. They stick out from the wall a lot & my bedroom door opens towards the window, so would hit the brackets.Therefore no good! She was supposed to contact me with an alternative on Saturday, but didn't. I'll have to get the poles elsewhere.

You really couldn't make it up. I could go on.

But a little ray of sunshine....

I went to a local repair cafe on Sunday. It's a volunteer run event every 2 months. All the repairers are volunteers too. This was my second visit. The first time my touch bedside light wouldn't come on - the dimmer switch inside the base was faulty. A lovely man repaired it by inserting a switch on the wire - it doesn't dim, but I don't care.

This time the press button on/off on my bedside alarm / radio only worked intermittantly. Another very patient man got into the complicated innards & swapped a tiny part on a button I didn't use for the one which was worn out. Now it works again.

It's a very jolly affair. There is a refreshment stall with home made cake. The range of things brought for repair is huge. There isn't a charge, but obviously donations are welcome. It is a really good feeling not to throw something out which is repairable. We are so casual about simply replacing things & adding to the huge mountain of electrical rubbish we create. I am full of admiration for all the people involved. Chatting to the repairers is really interesting, they are very skilled.

We need much more of this sort of thing. White goods & electricals are bulky. I hope a lot are re-cycled, but I couldn't find any statistics. Metals are a finite resource. We need to make the effort to be more sustainable.

 

We also need uniform re-cycling labelling & provision across the whole UK.

Waiting

I've had several NHS appointments where waiting seems to be the norm & is just taken as routine. Fine, I suppose, if you are retired like me, but patients do have lives to live & places to be. A patient being kept waiting for a long time may well have a knock on effect on work colleagues, friends & family.

I've also waited interminably for buses which don't arrive because of the horrendous traffic problems in and around Oxford. It is literally gridlock in all directions.

I had to chase up an order for made to measure curtains & a pole from a well known UK store. Quite a long delay & then the pole doesn't fit the window, despite being measured by them. I'm now waiting to find out what they are going to do about it 2 months after the initial order.

My new, under guarantee, second hand, car, supposedly MOT'd & serviced by a national dealership was very noisy at speed & then made a loud noise from the rear going over bumps. Again I had to chase them up & am now waiting for the repair at the beginning of November.

I could go on, but what's the point? I'm sure we can all relate to this. It is the new normal to have to wait, for something or someone. The thing I find tiresome isn't actually the waiting. I take a book if I'm going to a NHS appointment & enjoy having some downtime to read for example.

What I find irritating is the casual acceptance that it's OK to keep someone waiting for something. Plus the fact that it isn't routine to keep people informed as to why there is a delay & how long it will be.

I can be calm & accepting if I know what is happening. I can be very reasonable & understanding if there is a mistake & an apology. What I can't be is anything other than very irritated if those considerate & polite behaviours are conspicuous by their absence. Then I can be a force to be reckoned with!

Of course I am in God's waiting room & who knows how long that will be.

   

Moving House - Again?

I'm currently living in the 6th house since I got married at 21, having lived in 2 houses before going away to college. So, 8 houses in total in my life. That apparently is roughly the average, which is 7 in the UK.

Most of my life I lived with my nuclear family of 3 in four of those houses. For the last 10 years I've lived alone in 2 houses. Although I think women have the biggest say in which houses are purchased at any stage, this current house is the only one that has been truly mine.

The process of moving is time consuming, stressful & costly at the best of times. It is far more difficult if you are doing it alone. You have to have the energy & confidence to do it. As you age the energy, unsurprisingly, diminishes a lot.

Currently the British house market is dead on it's feet & has been for about 3 years. Over the last year property prices have fallen, even in the hitherto "special" bubble of North Oxford. Houses are languishing for sale with very little footfall of prospective buyers. Setting a realistic price is difficult & buyers expect to be able to offer much lower than the agents price. Sellers, especially those who have only owned a house for a couple of years, don't want to accept that their home may not be worth what they paid for it.

There needed to be a re-adjustment in property values, but so long as you are buying & selling at the same time it probably doesn't matter much. There is so much political instability & market volatility that you have to be brave to risk renting for any length of time before buying. Property prices can go up as well as down.

The house I wanted has finally gone, after months on the market, to a cash buyer. There doesn't seem to be anything much available,& certainly not anything that appeals to me. So what to do? I'm never going to be in a position to move if my house hasn't got a proceedable buyer. However I don't want to rent & have to effectively move twice.

There is absolutely nothing you can do to control buying & selling houses. You have to be prepared to accept the situation. I'm really lucky - I can do that. It isn't as if I have to move for employment reasons. There is little confidence around because of the political, economic, ecological world situation. It isn't just Brexit - Our world is in turmoil.

Travels in Romania

I just got back from 10 days in Romania, a country I knew little or nothing about, apart from the notorious rule of Nicolae Ceausescu's communist regime from 1965 to 1989.
https://rolandia.eu/en/blog/history-of-romania/romania-under-nicolae-ceausescu-s-communist-regime

That made an impact because of what we discovered after his overthrow. Particularly the abhorrent conditions for thousands of children in state orphanages. Overall, it is estimated that about 500,000 children were raised in orphanages & some still exist today, but the children are much better cared for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_orphans

I know a lot more now! Romania is a wonderful country to visit, with much to interest tourists. The varied & stunningly beautiful landscapes, the very different regional vernacular architecture, the beautiful churches & monasteries, wildlife, traditional food, costumes, music & dancing....

Romania is right in the middle of major migration routes & is surrounded on all sides, by Ukraine to the north, Hungary & Serbia to the West, Bulgaria to the South & Moldova & the Black Sea to the East. So it has been the centre of skirmishes & wars causing border & name changes over the years. Some places have names in 3 different languages. There are still tensions about who actually has a rightful claim to various parts of Romania today. To be honest the history is so complex you would be bored to tears if I attempted to give you a flavour. If you want to know read the Rough Guide to Romania.

There are Stone Age remains in the Carpathian Mountains dating back 35,000 years. Todays Romanians are descendants of Roman settlers from 106AD & local Dacians from 82BC. They are very proud of their culture & heritage & welcome tourists.

Sadly all that most tourists have heard of is Vlad the Impaler & Count Dracula, who are in fact one & the same person. (Dracul means Devil & Vlad was certainly that!)

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/vlad-the-impaler

But there is so much more to Romania than Vlad/Dracul.

There are 6 regions & the country is huge. I only visited Wallachia, Transylvania & Moldavia & still covered approximately 2,000 miles in a really exhausting trip. But it was a trip of delights. I really recommend you to go.

Fear Based Living - Trust

I know my childhood was a very long time ago in a different age. I understand that good parents have a very strong instinct to want to protect their children. But I do think that society doesn't have a balanced & realistic attitude to risk.

Childhood & adolescence is the time when we should encourage our children to find out for themselves what they are capable of. They need to be able to assess risk, make mistakes, learn by experience what the parameters of their capabilities are. They need to be able to deal with misfortune - things do go wrong occasionally.

If we are over protective of children they will become timid adults. They will be habituated to "fear based living". They won't have learned how to deal with adversity. They will have an unrealistic expectation that someone else will make choices for them & ensure that they are always OK.

Life itself is a risk, every moment of every day something bad could happen. But it mostly doesn't. Life is mostly fairly boring & predictable. Yes, dreadful things do happen, but you shouldn't live your life as though they are about to. If you do you are denying yourself & those you love real opportunities.

What we need to develop is a happy mind.

 

All the great spiritual teachers & philosophers of the world share the same message, that happiness cannot be found outside of us, in the external world. There is no person, place, material possession, or amount of money that will bring you true, lasting happiness. Happiness is only found within. You have to spend time taking care of yourself and discovering what makes you feel happy. It will vary from person to person.

There are so many things to be anxious about in our complex lives today. You can be crippled by fear. Anxiety disorders are the plague of modern living. The charity Mind is a great source of help and information -

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/anxiety-disorders/#.XYjn_WZ7n7A

We have to teach children to trust their insticts & not be limited by fear. We have to send them out into the world as happy & confident people. We can only do that if we are not bound by fear ourselves. 

Worry gets you nowhere.

Global Climate Strike - Extinction Rebellion

I think I'm getting a bit old for rebellion. But actually there were a lot of Granny's & Grandad's at the Oxford Climate Strike today. It was a very British affair as the handwritten schedule shows.

It was all very jolly with a band and various individuals with drums and instruments. There were people on their own like me, but also family groups, (often 3 generations) & groups of school children & teenagers. Most people carried home made or printed placards & banners. There were also quite a few photographers & press around, often getting in the way.

The noticable thing was that we were a very diverse group. There were new age hippies, college types, very ordinary families, all people who shared a common concern for the danger we are in. It was a lovely sunny day & the mood was happy, but focussed. Chanting emerged spontaneously out of nowhere. Because it was such a big group there were often several different chants at the same time.

The first march was just the children. Isn't it wonderful that we can let primary aged children go off on a march without their parents? Obviously there were stewards keeping everyone together on route. Isn't it also wonderful that children who are so young care enough & are informed enough to do this? 

At times the strike seemed to have a life of it's own, at times it seemed completely unfocussed & leaderless. It wasn't helped by the fact that the PA system couldn't cope & so I couldn't hear the speakers after the first march. 

In the end I left at the start of the second march because I was very tired, but also because I simply couldn't hear what was being said, which was a pity because there were some good speakers on the schedule. Also, boringly, I needed to be in for the plumber.

I hope politicians listen, but more than that I hope they have the guts to do what is necessary. It is, however, a forlorn hope.

Inhibitions - Personal & Political

I wouldn't go naked down the street - (It's one of my recurring nightmares. I wonder what that reveals). I wouldn't deliberately hurt someone physically or emotionally. I wouldn't be rude or inconsiderate. I would try very hard not to lie.

I'm probably quite outgoing & sociable. But I do have inhibitions, some of which I'm not prepared to reveal here.

I would actively try to inhibit someone else from crossing the boundaries of behaviour which I hold dear. If I didn't I would be tacitly accepting them as normal & within the range of social behaviour.

Inhibitions allow a social group to function well. Inhibitions also play an important role in conditioning and learning, because people must learn to restrain certain instinctual behaviours or previously learned patterns in order to master new patterns which are more acceptable.

That is why I am completely amazed & concerned by what is happening in our country & around the world. We seem to be living in a time when many of those in power have lost their inhibitions & feel no compunction to behave well or in the interests of those they govern.

Lies, deceit, ill manners, self interest, abuse of power & worse, all seem to be the norm. Peter Hennessy's "Good Chap" politics disappeared completely from the British parliament with this current Conservative government. Last night was the culmination of the total degredation of democratic government.

I am ashamed to be British. I am ashamed of the way the "mother of parliaments" has been debased. 

Democracy is in it's death throes because of the lack of all that makes it a workable principle. Principles & inhibition have ceased to exist widely enough for governments to be unable to govern.

I recently ushered for "Posh" at the Playhouse Oxford. As far as I can see the Bullingdon Club still rules at the Conservative party. Until that attitude of entitlement disappears I could never vote for them.

 

Now - A Single moment

My whole life changed in two single moments in 2009.

Firstly on my birthday in January I had a phone call, whilst in Madeira, to say that two thirds of my house had been inundated by a water escape from the loft & everything was destroyed.

Secondly in June my husband was terminally injured in a freak accident.

Since then I have been much more aware of the importance of moments. We all tend to live taking tomorrow for granted. We don't fully value today & what we have now, this minute. Buddhists call awareness of moments Mindfulness & learn to meditate so that they can be fully conscious of now. That takes effort & commitment, so it's hard to achieve.

I have been watching the political situation around the world all my adult life. Now defining political moments seem to be happening thick & fast, both here & abroad. So fast you can hardly register one before the whole picture changes. It is dizzying & very worrying. Now is unique in my lifetime.

Everything seems very negative & bleak if you follow the media who tend to mainly report "bad news".

I have to believe that things can change for the better. I have to believe that the Now I will leave for my grandchildren will be better than this Now. It is quite hard to remain an optimist in a climate of fear, when all around us the world seems to be disintegrating.

All the complex questions are political in some way or other. Many politicians aren't up to the job or are in it for their own self serving reasons. But many do really want to make change for the better happen.

We just have to hope that the good ones triumph - Now. Or it might be too late.

Boris et al - All because of a Lie on a Bus.

I'm not sure what I want to do - Weep at his conniving manipulation, shout & scream that he is prepared to destroy any semblance of democracy that was left, or put a contract out on him and all his extremist friends.(Sadly I'm a Granny, I don't know any hitmen).

How they have the nerve to say that another referendum would be anti- democratic when they ignore any rules of democratic behaviour themselves is beyond me.

Boris was not elected to be our Prime Minister. He was elected as leader of the Conservatives by 92,153 members of the Conservative party - 0.13% of the British population. Apparently that's the size of a decent football crowd!

During the whole election process he declined to be interviewed in the normal way so that the British public could hold him to account & know whether he could answer searching questions. Arrogant doesn't even begin to cover it. His minders were too afraid he might b..... everything up.  He is notoriously gaff prone. Just what we want in a politician, never mind a Prime Minister.

Since he became Prime Minister he is so afraid of answering Prime Ministers Questions in the House he doesn't do it. Instead he's doing a "Trump" & launching a regular “people’s Prime Minister’s Questions” slot on Facebook. Again - just what we need, a Social Media buffoon.

It isn't funny. The Brexit situation was bad enough before. Now it's downright Monty Python.

Interestingly 64% of the 22 members of the extended cabinet voted Remain, compared to just 36% who voted for Brexit.
Remain voters: Sajid Javid, Ben Wallace, Matt Hancock, Robert Buckland, Gavin Williamson, Liz Truss, Grant Shapps, Robert Jenrick, Baroness Evans, Alun Cairns, Julian Smith, Alok Sharma, Nicky Morgan, Amber Rudd.
Brexit voters: Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, Stephen Barclay, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Theresa Villiers, Alister Jack. Obviously three of the four top posts have gone to Brexiteers

It's important to note that a number of those who voted Remain have since stated they now support Brexit. How can they all put us in this dire situation?


I would never have predicted that British politics could become so farcical & so dangerous. Who would have thought that a lie on a bus could get us into such a mess?

 

You Have to go Through it.....

Listen to people. People you love, people you know, people you don't know.

Almost everyone has a story to tell about adversity of some sort. Some will have been through really dreadful experiences. Some will just be "catastrophisers", some are very self absorbed & will think that whatever experience they have is worse than yours - It's almost a competition.

But, in order to really empathise with adversity, you have to bring some experience of your own to be able to understand. So, the chances are the older you are the more experience you have & the more you can be an empathetic listener.

You don't have to go through exactly the same experience. You don't have to have had cancer yourself to be able to care & support someone who has it. On the other hand, if you are young & at the beginning or middle of your life, it takes quite an effort to really understand how someone might feel if they are towards the end of their lives. It is also very difficult to truly comprehend losing a partner, someone you love & have shared your life with 24/7, if you have never had that sort of long standing, loving relationship & loss.

So, to an extent it is true. You do have to go through it to be able to go through it with someone else in a really helpful way.

The other meaning is to do with life's journey. Whatever the adverse event is you do "have to go through it". There isn't much alternative after all - either you do & come out the other side or you give up & stop living. Only you know which choice is right for you - And it is a choice - And your choice affects all those who are close to you.

In the absence of any personal conventional religious belief, I do really believe that we are changed, for better or worse, by the events that we experience in life. Our experiences & the way we deal with them, shape us from raw beings into the beings we can become. All life really is is that journey towards becoming.

If we make the right choices we can become better. "Going through it" without being destroyed by whatever the event is means that we stand a chance of being the best being we can be. That is worth the pain.

 

Surgery - What will the NHS do? - What happens if you have to pay privately?

Private NHS surgery is a whole subculture of the NHS that patients aren't aware of until they are in a situation which means they have to pay for treatment. I don't read the Mirror, but this is a link to a relevant article.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-hospital-demands-18k-hip-16544619

Oxford University Hospitals have a website for the private work they undertake. I imagine that most NHS Commissioning areas do too.
https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/privatehealthcare/services/default.aspx

The reason I'm interested is because I had something on my face which could have been a Squamous cell Carcinoma, although neither my GP or I really thought it was. I was referred to a consultant at the Churchill hospital who confirmed that it was a cyst. That meant I had to pay for it to be removed. I was very concious of it & it had got quite a bit bigger, so I went ahead.

Whilst I was disappointed that I had to pay I understood the reason for it - It's cosmetic. However, possibly naively, I did expect that as a private patient certain things would or would not happen. I don't have medical insurance so I was not familiar with private consultations, except once at the Spire Dunedin in Reading to see a rheumatologist because I was in so much pain.

• I thought I would get written confirmation & instructions for the appointment I made over the phone - I actually had to phone & check the day before.
• I imagined that there would be private facilities - waiting area, coffee / tea / water etc - It was the same waiting room 2 I had been in as a NHS patient initiallly. It was very crowded.
• I really thought that a 3pm appointment meant a 3pm appointment - After waiting for an hour I asked a passing member of staff how long the delay would be. Although I saw the consultant fairly soon after that, I didn't go down for surgery until about 5pm.
• I would have expected to be informed, as a matter of courtesy, whether I was a NHS or Private patient, that there was a delay, how long that delay would be & when I could expect surgery to take place. Patients do get anxious about surgical procedures & they do have lives & commitments outside the NHS. Family / friends may also be involved in a patients appointment.
• I expected the consultant to know why I was there & have my notes from the initial consultation with his junior. He asked me why I was there.
• No one had checked to see if I was on blood thinners until I was actually in the operating room. I am on Rivaroxaban, but fortunately wasn't due to take it until 6pm, or I would have had to go home.
• I would have expected the procedure to be gone through so that I knew exactly what to expect, for example the anesthesia procedure - In fact I am not at all nervous. I have had quite a lot of interventions from the NHS over the years & have worked as a lay NHS volunteer in several capacities. But I am not typical.

I know there had been a problem with a patient earlier in the day which led to the backlog, because I did eventually ask. Was the clinic also overbooked? All the more reason to keep everyone informed.

The procedure went well. I have no complaints whatsoever about the consultant or my Nurse. They were both excellent & I actually enjoyed meeting them both & found them very professional. I realise that they were very busy.

This is a complaint about the admin, the logistics & the customer sevice. That is what the NHS, private or not, doesn't seem to grasp. We, the patients, are paying, directly or indirectly, for a service. I do think, that if you are paying privately on top of what you pay in taxes, you should be able to expect something a bit better.

I find myself in a difficult situation. If I was paying for any other service I would be expecting a significant discount. To have to pay almost £600, (I'm not even sure if there is VAT on top of that), for what happened to me goes completely against the grain. I don't actually agree with Private medical work anyway. Patients should not be able to have medical treatment simply because they can afford it.

I don't like to complain. I hope that lessons can be learnt from my experience. The best evaluation of the NHS is the patients experience of it. Mine left quite a bit to be desired.

  

The Lehman Trilogy

Utterly brilliant! A tour de force by three wonderful British actors. Three & a half hours of exquisite timing & characterisation. I don't think I have seen many productions of this calibre ever. It is gripping, funny & tragic.

The piano music is a clever thread running through, at times subtle & at times dominating, but always necessary. The whole conception of this poetic epic is wonderfully conceived & directed by Sam Mendes.

Hugely entertaining.

But, at it's heart, this is the story of 3 men, Henry, Rimpar & Emanuel & the dynasty they founded. They were Jewish emigrees from Bavaria to America & they started from a small dry goods store in Alabama & built an empire spanning the world.

The last Lehman, Bobbie, died in 1969 & Pete Peterson was brought in to save the firm. A series of CEO's followed culminating in the collapse of the company in 2008 because of their involvement in US sub-prime mortgage asset management. The world wide recession followed, which it is arguable we have still not fully recovered from. It was the largest failure of an investment bank. Thousands of people were adversely affected. It seems surprising that apparently the US weren't confident that they could prove that Lehman Brothers violated US laws in its accounting practices.

The ability to turn this story of 150 years of Western Capitalism into a hugely gripping theatrical production as innovative & unique as this just has to be admired. It is a credit to UK support of the Arts that the play "was developed over three years without the constraint of a schedule, or even a destination — I (Mendes) was allowed time to find its form, and to build a wonderful team with which to make it".

Unbelievable! So many lessons, on so many levels.

Terrorists & Foreign Policy.

I'm reading a book. I'm always reading a book, but this one is shaping up to be one of my all time most influential books. Noam Chomsky - "Who Rules the World?"  I can't put it down. All of my preconceptions about the foreign policy actions of the USA & the UK are being shattered.

The book is logical & evidenced based as you would expect from a man who is Emeritus Professor at MIT. His fields are Linguistics, Analytic Philosophy, History & Cognitive Science. He is very readable.

The first chapter looks at the responsibility of intellectuals. There are two types, conformist who support official policy & value oriented who are often dissident. You can probably guess which Chomsky values.

The second chapter asks who are the Terrorists? Well, all I can say is that I am shocked. The actions of successive American presidents, backed up by the UK make one ask "Who are the criminals? - Who are the terrorists?

The world we are living in now has been deliberately created by successive governments & politicians for years. The people with power have used it indiscriminately, pursuing policies, often illegal & self serving, which have caused great harm to people & whole countries. Thousands of innocent people have died as a direct result.

What really matters is not talk of freedom & human rights, it is actions that count & actions which show the real truth. Our politicians actions show that their political talk is at complete odds with their actions.

The thing is - we have allowed them to do this. For years. We need to become more questioning & more pro-active in researching & reading to find out the truth. The information is easily available in books & on the internet.

Brexit is a microcosm of this. We, the electorate allowed all of this to happen.

The Clothes on my Back

According to FashionUnited UK the fashion industry is worth 66 billion pounds & 555,000 people are employed in the fashion industry in the UK.
https://fashionunited.uk/uk-fashion-industry-statistics/

 

Another website shows how fashion fuels the UK economy.

https://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/industries/fashion/fashion-facts-and-figures/how-fashion-fuels-the-uk-economy

I could go on, but that isn't my point. You can look up the stats for yourselves.

When I was a child money was scarce. I had very few clothes & my growing out of them was a worry for my parents. Shoes in particular were expensive. Shops were not filled with ultra cheap fashion manufactured in countries like the Far East where labour is cheap. So clothes had to last as long as possible. My mother always encouraged me to go for quality not quantity.

That said a lot of my clothes were made by her. She had an old treadle Singer sewing machine followed by an electric one. There were plenty of haberdashery shops selling fabric & notions. She could also crochet & knit. I didn't mind home made clothes, she was quite good at it. I'm now sad that I didn't appreciate her effort more. I just took it for granted.

An added bonus was that she taught me valuable dressmaking skills. So as a teenager I took over making my own clothes. It was fortunate because I ended up doing textiles at college & making my daughters clothes when I had no spare cash when I was first married.

I'm now getting to the point. 

Today's fast fashion industry is toxic in ways we never dreamed of. Frequent new collections in the shops copy the catwalk immediately. The result is water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals & increasing levels of textile waste. 

Many vibrant colours for example are produced with toxic chemicals which pollute rivers in countries who don't have the resources to clean them up. These chemicals disrupt hormones & can be carcinogenic.

Polyester, an unpleasant but cheap fabric, sheds micro fibres which add to levels of plastic in oceans, which do not degrade. Fleece does the same thing in industrial quantities every time it's washed. These are harmful to aquatic life & we also end up eating them with goodness knows what long term consequences.

Watch "The True Cost" - https://truecostmovie.com/ Growing cotton is definitely not harm free.

There are now, literally, mountains of textile waste because of our obsession with "Fast Fashion". We demand constant newness regardless of the consequences.

Please read the "Independent" article:- 

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html

Also watch the Stacey Dooley documentary "Fashion's Dirty Secrets". I was shocked.

I do understand that people today are more time-poor than in previous generations. Also that there has been a  loss of sewing and mending skills over time. But this is doing incalculable harm. This is really dangerous. This is threatening out environment directly. 

We simply can't go on like this. We have got to change. We know what harm we are doing now. Clothes are functional. The sooner we stop thinking about them in terms of fashion the better.

Environmental Criminals

If we are in a Climate Emergency then I feel we should be tackling
Environmental Criminals with the full force of the law. What is the point of law if it isn't enforced? What is the point if the sactions are not sufficient to really deter the criminals?

Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. Criminal exploitation of the world’s natural resources affects our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the air we breathe. Environmental criminals pose a grave threat to our everyday lives, our planet and to future generations.
https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Environmental-crime

The top 5 environmental crimes are:-

• Wild animal traffic
• Indiscriminate logging
• Electronic waste mismanagement
• Finning - up to 70 million sharks a year are captured only to have their fins cut off alive on the ship & then are thrown back into the sea for a slow & painful death.
• Dumping in rivers & aquifers by companies, factories & public administrations.

https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/

In the USA EPA referrals for criminal prosecutions for environmental crimes are at a 30-year low.

 

The United Nations report "The Rise of Environmental Crime" recommends:-

 1 - Reduce threats to security and peace:  Strengthen the information collection, analysis and sharing,across sectors, in peacekeeping missions, Sanctions Commit-tees and across the UN as a whole on the role of natural resource exploitation in conflicts and security in order to inform holistic responses towards securing peace, secu-rity and sustainable development.

This includes integrating INTERPOL liaison officers in peacekeeping missions.  

2 - Rule of law: The international community must recog-nize and address environmental crimes as a serious threat to peace and sustainable development and strengthen the environmental rule of law at all levels to prevent safe havens including disrupting overseas tax havens, improve legislation at international and national levels, implement dissuasive penalties, substantial sanctions and punishments, capacity building and technological support, in order to enhance the enforcement and adjudication capacities in the area of environmental crime. 

3 - Leadership: Governments should establish central coor-dination and national cross-sectoral plans, with unity ofcommand and unity of efforts, in coordination with the relevant UN entities, INTERPOL, and other relevant international treaty bodies and institutions, as appropriate, to combat the involve-ment of criminal organized groups in environmental crimes.

4 - Financial support: Call upon the international devel-opment community to recognize and address environ-mental crime as a serious threat to sustainable development and strengthen the share of ODA to governance and judicial sector reform including to combating and preventing envi-ronmental crime. This should be targeted to capacity building and technological support to relevant agencies, national, regional and global law enforcement efforts against environ-mental crimes, such as information and analysis, inter-agency collaboration, enforcement, prosecution and the judiciary, especially in developing countries and fragile states.

5 - Economic incentives and consumer awareness:Strengthen economic incentives, relevant institutionsand awareness. This requires that plans for alternative liveli-hoods, economic incentives and consumer awareness also in importing countries are fully integrated and coordinated with enforcement efforts. Identifying best practices in behavioural change should be undertaken to reduce demand, including through a Communications Summit to address all points of this trade

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/7662/-The_rise_of_environmental_crime_A_growing_threat_to_natural_resources_peace%2C_development_and_security-2016environmental_crimes.pdf.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 

Every living thing on the planet depends on being able to live in harmony with the environment. We are the ones who disturb that balance. We are the ones who rape & destroy our own world. 

We are knowingly pissing on our own home. Ultimately we are also the ones who will pay the price for our actions & non actions. 

 

• by companies, factories and Public Administrations.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/
  up to 70 million of them are captured to only have their fins cut off alive on the ship and then be thrown back into the sea.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/Up to 70 million shaks are
  up to 70 million of them are captured to only have their fins cut off alive on the ship and then be thrown back into the sea.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment/
  up to 70 million of them are captured to only have their fins cut off alive on the ship and then be thrown back into the sea.
  
  https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/crimes-against-the-environment

Speech, Belief, Actions & Practice

It isn't necessarily what we say that is important. It is what we do. I can say literally anything. I don't have to believe or mean what I'm saying. "Words are cheap". Actions do "speak louder than words".

If I am to be believed, my actions have to show that I mean what I say. I have to "practice what I preach".

Most of us are capable of dissembling, to put it kindly. Or even lying. Most of us understand that we can't always tell the complete "unvarnished truth". If we do we can hurt others or do enormous damage to relationships.

I imagine most of us have been put in a situation where we have been asked to keep a secret. Breaking our word becomes a moral issue. In what circumstances should we do it? Or should we keep a promise come what may?

So, if we wish to be believed & respected as truthful, how do we tread the thin line between absolute truth & white lies to protect others? It's a question of good judgement. What is the other person capable of hearing & understanding?

If I were always completely honest & said exactly what I thought, in all circumstances, I probably wouldn't have any relationships left! If we were to "tell it as it is" all the time we wouldn't have many friends left to tell anything to. We all have to learn to edit our thoughts & speech.

My way of doing things isn't yours. My way isn't necessarily right. (Neither is yours). Actions are always questionable. The way I see the world isn't the same way you do. We as human beings, are constantly judging people, situations & actions.

So all we can do it try to act with wisdom & a highly developed moral compass. We need to care what impact what we say & do has on others. We definitely need to "think before we speak, (or act)". Because once out, the words cannot be retracted. The actions cannot be undone. They are always there between us.

That is the code by which I have learned to live. But there is a new "post truth" world, when the most powerful world leaders routinely lie & dissemble. I don't feel I can trust or believe many of them.

Where do we go from this new reality where nothing can be relied on? What is the point of having a vote when there is no one in power who can be believed?

 

Boris - Elected "Just Like That"

I can't help feeling that we now have Tommy Cooper as our Prime Minister. He was elected by 0.2% of the population. The Conservative party has just 180,000 members, whose average age is 72. Presumably not all of them voted. 141 of MP's are Conservative out of 314 - Not even half. It makes "The Will of the People" look ridiculous - UK democracy seems to be well & truly dead!

Boris's political record has been an almost total fairy story. He certainly has difficulty with truth & accuracy - Possibly learnt from Trump's success with virtual reality.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48663963
Interestingly that fact sems to be completely ignored by those who voted for him.

His personal life shows him to be unable to maintain a relationship with one woman
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1139287/Boris-Johnson-wife-married-women-Allegra-Mostyn-Owen-Marina-Wheeler-Carrie-Symonds
He must have something, because all of the women seem to be quite influential in their own right. Of course they are also the ones we know about - It does seem to be a pattern of behaviour, which is relevant, in my opinion, to whether I trust him.

He is taking the job of Prime minister seriously though I'm glad to say. He's had a haircut. So my concerns are completely groundless!