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.