Living, Working & Dying

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

So what are we here for?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

Rules, Regulations & Law

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Public Opinion - Not In My Name

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Choices

There is always a choice. Life isn't binary. 

We are sentient & intelligent beings, but we have made many choices & decisions for decades that are harmful or wrong. We are now realising that & paying a high price. Importantly, we now have crucial choices to make to either put things right, or go on mindlessly with those destructive & disfunctional ways of living, ultimately destroying the world we inhabit. 

It is your choice. Each & every one of you. It isn't a choice to be made on your behalf by someone else.

Every day is full of choices - mundane routine ones, what time to get up, what to wear, what to eat...we develop habits & we then mindlessly follow them. Some of those routine choices need to change. For example our idea that water is going to remain drinkable & instantly available in any quantity we need.

Water is a finite resource in a climate emergency world. Yes, we have just had a very wet spring, but if that is followed by a very long dry summer water will be rationed. If the climate continues to get more & more extreme we won't be able to rely on our water system. Our privatised water companies have already polluted every single river in the UK. In a world where millions don't have access to clean water we may well see mass population migrations & water wars. So, do you leave your taps running when you brush your teeth & wash? Do you ensure that you fill your washing machine & dishwasher? Do you use a pressure washer & garden hose? Do you flush every time you pee? Do you make the effort to save waste water? 

Choices, choices. Choices that matter, all the time, because every bit of water you waste cumulatively puts huge pressure on our creaking water system. 

That is just one example of choices that matter. The food we choose to eat also matters. Is it local & in season? Is it fresh or highly processed? Has it travelled miles? If so how, air, sea or land? 

The clothes we wear matter. Do we slavishly follow the dictates of fashion? Some fashion chains change their range more than 4 traditional collections a year. How long do we wear the clothes we have? (I reckon I don't need to buy any more clothes in my life except possibly underwear). What do we do with clothes & shoes we no longer wear? The fashion industry is notoriously unsustainable. https://hbr.org/2022/01/the-myth-of-sustainable-fashion

 

In a year of elections, world instability & the climate emergency make our individual choices matter more than normal. It is critical that we put people in power who do have an understanding of sustainability issues, who are not tied into powerful, wealthy, lobbyists, who will make the difficult decisions necessary in order to come out of this very challenging world situation. We need good leaders because we have had too many self seeking, power & money grabbing ones for a long time. 

Everyones choice matters, both on a daily basis & politically.

Holidays - Are they a Right?

I have just had two mini breaks, 4 nights in Italy on Lake Maggiore travelling by plane & 3 nights in The Netherlands (Amsterdam), travelling by Eurostar. I hadn't been abroad since 2019 when I went to Romania. I have travelled a lot to very far flung places in my life. I have also been lucky enough to work for charities in Nepal & Malawi. I do think travelling & experiencing other cultures & environments is important. I have benefited hugely from the experiences I have had. I hope that the countries I have visited have not been harmed by by my footsteps & maybe might have benefited from my presence.

My attitude to holidays as opposed to travel has changed over the years. I no longer think that we have a right to "go on holiday". I think that we have to weigh up the impact tourism has on the world & it's peoples, which is often detrimental in many ways.

 

Relatively wealthy people the world over have come to think that they have a right to go where they want & do what they want. They deserve it, they can afford it. We think that we need a break & in order to achieve that we need to go somewhere else, where the weather, the landscape, the food, the culture is different. I think we need to re-think that attitude in light of the many issues that surround mass travel. 

I live in Oxford. I rarely go into the centre of this lovely city because of the huge numbers of temporary visitors on the streets. We have students in the university. We have language students. We have tourists. The University alone has 26,000 students. We have 18 English language schools with thousands of students. The visitor population is approximately 8 million per year. That is a lot of people who often walk around in big groups & block the pavements. 

I accept that they also generate a lot of income too. But they use infrastructure & services & cost us money. They use up accommodation & make Oxford on a par with London for housing costs. Not only is it difficult to walk around Oxford because of pedestrians & bikes, it is also a horrendous traffic jam whichever way you enter or leave the city. 

Then there are the elephants in the room. The Climate Emergency - Pollution, Population increase, Species & Habitat destruction, Water pollution & scarcity, Extreme weather events, Supply chain issues, Food security....

I simply don't think we can ignore this any longer. We humans cannot continue to think in terms of our rights to do what we want. We have to start accepting that we each need to change the way we live our lives. It simply isn't sustainable. It is an existential threat.

Commitment & Country

I have commitment to my family, my friends, myself & my ethics, to trying to be honest, also to the importance of the Arts in human experience. Some people feel they have a commitment to their country, I'm not sure about that. It's too wide a concept. Too nebulous. What does it mean? England, the "United?" Kingdom? Does it literally mean the land, the population, the current politics? If so it's an awful lot of very diverse things & people to be committed to. I can't be committed to everything & everybody.

I feel I have to be more discriminating. I have to exclude things - I'm not committed to religious zealots of any belief system. I'm not committed to Climate Emergency deniers, or criminals. I'm not committed to politicians, (but I am to politics). I'm not committed to the Royal Family, (but I'm not against them). Once you start to think about commitment it raises all sorts of complicated issues. 

It is however, important to have commitment to something & some people. If we didn't have any commitment to anything we would be lesser human beings. If we are only committed to ourselves, our own self gratification & importance in the grand scheme of things we would be very one dimensional people. 

I have recently been in the company of a few people who I found to be completely self absorbed. Conversation was very one way, they told me things with very little pause for breath & no opportunity for me to participate in the conversation. It was exhausting & very boring. I found myself wondering why they thought I would be in the least bit interested in or entertained by the recounting of their lives, often over a very long period.

So I think we should all think more about being committed to being better people. Instead of being committed to our own small worlds we need to develop our critical thinking skills - the ability to interpret, evaluate, and analyze facts and information that are available, to form a judgment or decide if something is right or wrong. Instead of just being curious about the world around us, critical thinkers make connections between logical ideas to see the bigger picture. We need to cultivate empathy, interest in other people & things.

Commitment is important, but I think the Western world is becoming committed to the idea that they know best.

Trust & Instinct - The Age of Deception

Trust - "firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something"

Instinct - "the way people or animals naturally react or behave, without having to think or learn about it. A natural or inherent aptitude, impulse, or capacity".

The world has changed significantly in my 79 years. For the better & for the worse. I have overriding concerns now about the Climate Emergency we humans have created & it's very possible outcome for all living things. I am both saddened & angry about all the conflict, famine & inequality in our world, which politicians seem unable or unwilling to really tackle. I could go on, but you get the picture. 

However one of the most important issues for me is the fact that I no longer feel I can trust my instincts as to what & who to believe. I always felt that I had pretty good instincts about people & issues. I know what my behaviour perameters are for myself & others. I try to behave well & tread lightly on this world, but I will not tolerate poor behaviour & I refuse to be complicit in it by walking on by. 

The difficulty I have now is that I cannot trust what I see, hear or read in this "post truth" age. Information is routinely manipulated. Algorithms rule. Images can be manipulated & difficult to spot. Conspiracy theories are rife. Influential people in politics, media & business routinely lie.

If I cannot trust the information I am presented with as reputable, how do I make good decisions? I know intelligent people who do believe much of what they see & hear & don't fact check information. In this "Age of Deception" we all have a responsibility to ensure that what we believe & espouse is true. Deception for ones own ends has become a choice for many people who do influence people's lives. It is widespread & insidious. 

The result of this creeping lying is that I do not trust people that I should. Elected politicians for example. I no longer think that governments act in the best long term interests of the people who they supposedly represent. I believe that many basically want to retain power, influence & money. The same is true of the very wealthy leaders of businesses. Self interest rules. People are collateral damage.

We humans have created a monster. Orwells 1984 has nothing on us. https://bookroo.com/quotes/1984

 

Unless we all wake up & realise that we each have a responsibility to stand up for a decent set of values in every walk of life I fear for the future of my grandsons. We created this mess by passivity. We all need to stop the rot now. We can do it, but we are running out of time. 

 

 

Privacy - Public Figures & Mere Mortals

My mother was quite paranoid, probably with good reasons as she was German. She came to the UK in the mid 30's & had quite a difficult time in the war. She didn't want anyone to "know her business" & wasn't forthcoming, even to me. So I now realise there are quite a few questions I have about her life that I do not know the answers to.

Possibly as a result of that I have gone the other way & do readily answer personal questions about my life & my beliefs to friends & family. I don't think there are any topics I'm not prepared to think about my position on & discuss. 

But there are people who ask very intrusive questions. If a topic comes up in conversation that is different to being interrogated about very personal aspects of ones life. I think my view is that the questioner should respect that some things are private. I don't like being subjected to a "third degree". I don't tend to ask very personal questions myself & think that if someone wants me to know something they will tell me. 

I am very much an "open book".

I am not in favour of the current trend for people in the public eye to "bare their souls" in public. I get very irritated by celebrities & influencers who try to tell me what to think & do. I am tired of hearing personal confessions from these people. I don't know them, so their personal information & opinions mean nothing to me. I actually wonder why they think it is appropriate & am amazed that the public is interested. 

The point of all this is that I have found the press & media treatment of  Catherine Princess of Wales dreadful. Yes she lives a very privileged life in the spotlight because she married into the Royal family. She seems to me to deal with her duties remarkably well, given that unlike William she wasn't brought up to it. Personally, whatever the perks, it wouldn't appeal to me. I don't believe that her position gives the press & media the right to scrutinise her every word & action & speculate wildly on what they have been told. The rumours, speculation & criticism are completely unwarranted & must be upsetting. She is entitled to a private life as is everyone.

I am sure that she has a staff to protect & advise her. I hope that they shield her from the worst excesses of the "conspiracy theorists". I hope that she doesn't actually read any of the rubbish that is published about her. 

We all seem to be living in a "goldfish bowl" where legitimacy is given to an aggressive press & media who want us to believe that almost everything is in the public interest. At any time anyone may be unfortunate enough to be under their microscope & have packs of journos & photographers hounding us. I sincerely hope it never happens to me.

Catherine has been exemplary & is dealing with an extremely difficult personal situation. She is entitled to privacy to cope with it. But privacy is in short supply for anyone in the public glare in the 21st century.

Bridges v Walls

All the houses I have ever lived in have had hedges, fences, or walls marking out my land. We humans don't pee to mark out our territory, but we do seem to need to repel borders. It is very defensive. No moat & drawbridge, but the message is clear. 

The only 3 disputes I have ever had with neighbours as the owner of 6 houses & renter of 2, have all been about borders or noise. On the other hand, we bought one house in Gloucestershire which had a very long line of huge Leylandii trees between us & a neighbour, cutting out their light completely over a huge swathe of their garden. The previous owner had refused to even trim them. We agreed to cut them all down & my husband & the neighbour did all the work. There must have been well over 20. We gained garden & they could actually grow things all along the border. Leylandii are thugs, probably causing more neighbour disputes than other things. They also cause unhappiness, anger & despair. They take up a huge amount of water year round.

That made for a really good relationship with my neighbours, who I am still in touch with, even after moving 3 times. It immediately built a bridge. 

Trump wanted to build a wall along the US border with Mexico. The Israelis have built a wall between themselves & the West Bank. Both have been in the news & have caused huge issues. These two countries are not alone though, as this website shows clearly.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-border-walls

The longest border wall is the India-Bangladesh border wall at 2,030 miles. We Brits don't need a wall. We are an island & have the sea all around us. We are trying very hard to repel all borders though.

In the current climate, I find myself wondering if, instead of trying to stop population movements, the peoples of the world could work together to acknowledge the problems that beset us & solve them together for the benefit of everyone. Fighting wars to defend your territory seems to me to be a very masculine response. History shows us that actually no one wins a war. The cost is always too high.

So shouldn't we be trying to build more bridges? Shouldn't we recognise that everything we have been blessed with in this world belongs to everybody, to be sharded more equally? If you are starving, displaced & homeless, injured, orphaned, shouldn't everyone who has everything they need be doing all they can to help you? 

If more of us were bridge builders rather than wall builders, maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we are at the moment.

 

Swearing & Sex

Swearing - "use of language regarded as coarse, blasphemous or otherwise unacceptable in polite or formal speech in order to express anger or other strong emotion". To Swear on the other hand is entirely different - "to utter or take solemnly (an oath)" or "to assert or promise emphatically or earnestly". To swear by - "to place great confidence in".

I was helping in a day respite shelter for homeless people & people needing support yesterday. One of the clients used the f word continuously, but wasn't aggressive or a problem. Like many of the clients he probably has mental health issues. I'm an elderly woman & would normally think that use of the word was a measure of a paucity of language skills & unnecessary, reflecting poorly on the speaker.

In the 15th & 16th C the F word was a familiar word for sexual intercourse, but today it's use is very controversial, but is used liberally by many. The Guardian has even done a recent article about swearing 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/09/is-swearing-still-taboo

 

It is interesting that the majority of swear words are related to sex or the genitals. According to Pinker, an experimental psychologist who combines it with neuroscience, there are 5 types of swearing - dysphemistic, idiomatic, abusive, emphatic, and cathartic.

 https://www.openculture.com/2012/08/steven_pinker_explains_the_neuroscience_of_swearing.html

We each have to decide whether we want to swear & also how we want to react to others swearing. I have been known to swear in extremis, but never using the F or C words. We have to make a personal choice about what is offensive & what is just vulgar. Sometimes a swear word just pops out in the heat of the moment, I certainly don't make a habit of it. There is a tendency to think that men can swear, but women cannot. In the interests of gender equality I would challenge that. However I do think that swearing has become far too commonplace. I don't really want to be in a shop, on a bus or walking along the street & hear conversations liberally spattered with the F or C words. But it does seem to be the norm.

However I do realise that I may well be in the minority, because I also don't see the necessity to see people on the lavatory or graphic homosexual or heterosexual sexual intercourse in dramas. I'm perfectly capable of imagining that & do feel that it demeans the actors who do it. I simply don't see the point, or the difference between drama  & "soft" pornography. It seems to me to be the Hans Anderson folktale "The Emperors New Clothes" for the 21st century. 

The Arms Trade & War

The Arms Trade Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013 and entered into force on 24 December 2014 - https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-text.html?templateId=209884  One of the principles is "The responsibility of all States, in accordance with their respective international obligations, to effectively regulate the international trade in conventional arms"

To my simple mind, selling arms to counties who either invade other countries illegally, or to countries run by despots & dictators, who wantonly wage war on their own people, is immoral & should not be allowed to happen. Selling arms to intermediaries who then pass on arms to those countries & people should also be stopped. What is the point of a principle if it is not enforced?

To be clear, the countries in the arms trade should be supplying Ukraine with the arms it desperately needs, in a timely way, in order to defeat an aggressor, Russia, who invaded the country with no reason other than enlargement. If Russia wins it will directly negatively impact Europe, because Russia will not stop at Ukraine. Conversely, countries in the arms trade should not be supplying arms to Israel because of the illegal way they are behaving in Gaza. The ready availability of weapons and ammunition leads to human suffering, political repression, crime and terror among civilian populations.

 Joint Enterprise is secondary liability, a legal doctrine that applies where persons assist or encourage another to commit a crime. I fail to see why the worlds arms traders are not committing joint enterprise by supplying arms to countries breaking international law or committing civil war, as Syria has been since March 2011, when popular discontent with the rule of Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region.

The global arms market, was valued USD 308 billion in 2015. In 2022, the UK Government issued 13,200 SIELs, ( SIEL to make shipments of specified military or dual-use items to a named consignee and/or end user) of which 11,100 (84%) were for permanent exports. The total value of UK SIELs issued was £70.6 billion in real terms (at 2023 prices). Since 2015, the UK has licensed at least £474 million worth of military exports to Israel. The UK provides approximately 15% of the components in the F-35 stealth bomber aircraft currently being used in Gaza. In May 2023 the UK still deemed it acceptable to sell weapons and arms to the Government of Russia - despite Human Rights abuses.

If we do not control the arms trade effectively we are complicit in the death, maiming & destruction of human lives & infrastructure. If we put profit & jobs above the devastation caused by war we are condeming other people to unimaginable horror. 

Privatisation Versus Public Ownership

We Own It - 10 Reasons why Privatisation has failed & will always fail - https://weownit.org.uk/privatisation 

Harvard Business School 1991 - Does Privatisation serve the Public Interest? - https://hbr.org/1991/11/does-privatization-serve-the-public-interest

What emerges are three conclusions:

1. Neither public nor private managers will always act in the best interests of their shareholders. Privatization will be effective only if private managers have incentives to act in the public interest, which includes, but is not limited to, efficiency.

2. Profits and the public interest overlap best when the privatized service or asset is in a competitive market. It takes competition from other companies to discipline managerial behavior.

3. When these conditions are not met, continued governmental involvement will likely be necessary. The simple transfer of ownership from public to private hands will not necessarily reduce the cost or enhance the quality of services.

" It (Privatisation) has proven expensive for the public and a bonanza for comparatively few investors, often overseas". https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/22/the-guardian-view-on-privatisation-the-god-that-failed -

Who owned Britain in 2018? https://neweconomics.opendemocracy.net/index.html%3Fp=2472.html  You can bet that 5 years on the picture is even worse. How logical is it that Airports, the NHS, Social care, Public Utilities & Transport are privatised.

We have outsourced vital services. We have sold the "family silver". 

Billionairs control huge wealth & have massive power & influence. There are 25 UK billionaires with fortunes over £3 billion. Top 10 in 2024;-

1.1 1. Gopi Hinduja And Family - €35 Billion  -  Indian conglomerate with interests in the automotive, energy, and financial services industries.

1.2 2. Sir Jim Ratcliffe -€29.7 Billion - chemical industry / INEOS

1.3 3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik -€28.6 Billion - energy and media industries / Access Industries

1.4 4. David And Simon Reuben -€24.4 Billion - Real Estate

1.5 5. Sir James Dyson -€23 Billion - Technology

1.6 6. Lakshmi Mittal And Her family -€16 Billion - Steel / Acelor Mittal

1.7 7. George, Alannah, And Galen Weston And Their Family -€14.5 Billion - retail / Selfridges

1.8 8. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken And Michel de Carvalho -€13.1 Billion - beer

1.9 9. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing -€12 Billion - packaging / Tetra Pak

1.10 10. Michael Platt -€11.5 Billion - hedge fund / Blue Crest

Money & Power - the two drivers of capitalism. Private companies "raison d'etre" is growth & profit. 

I wish someone could tell me in words of one syllable how Privatisation, Outsourcing & Capitalism is in the interests of the vast majority of people in the world. Consumerism & perpetual Growth seem to me to be at the root of so many of the problems we face today. The inescapable fact is that if public services are run for the profit of shareholders & senior management, then the people who use those services will have to pay more.

I can remember the 3 day week, the lights going out, riots in big cities, the miners & teachers strikes, the Cuba missile crisis....I thought that was as bad as it gets.

I was wrong. 

 

 

Politicians - Clowns or Champions?

This sort of message is harmful to democracy & people's confidence in politics. Yes, this government has failed on many fronts, been incompetent & actually lied. Yes, our "ya booing" commons is a disgrace. Several conservative politicians make me sick to my stomach. But there are many politicians who are trying to do a good job & are guided by decent values. People who mock should just think whether they would be able or prepared to try to run a country in these exceptionally difficult times. I wouldn't know where to start & I am very political. So we the public shouldn't be glib & make cheap jokes. We should try to do something positive to make democracy work better & support the good politicians.

What do UK MP's do?  

• Represent their constituents interests and concerns in the House of Commons. 
• Consider and propose new laws as well as raising issues that matter to you in the House. Including asking government ministers questions about current issues & those which affect local constituents. 
• MPs split their time between working in Parliament itself, working in the constituency that elected them and working for their political party.
• Some MPs from the governing party (or parties) become government ministers with specific responsibilities in certain areas, such as Health or Defence. They continue working for their constituency &, whatever their role in Government or Parliament, still hold regular surgeries to help their constituents.

When I hear MP's answering questions in the media I have 2 reactions - absolute fury when they don't actually answer at all but parrot what they have been briefed to say & admiration that they can remember accurately all the necessary facts & figures. Given the "churn" in ministers & senior politicians responsibilities & the complexities of running a department I simply don't understand how they do it. I sometimes also don't understand how they can live with the dissembling & avoidance of truth & fact. 

But this is the system we have got. These are the people we voted in. We have chosen. Or we have avoided making a decision & not bothered to vote. 

Unless everyone wakes up to the dire situation the world & the environment is in & recognises that the choices & consequences of those choices will be very hard if we are to survive & have a world worth living in, our tomorrows will be worse. This is election year in many places. 2024 will be a crucial decider in what tomorrow will be for our children & grandchildren. 

Democracy isn't working. Our Public Services are at rock bottom, especially the privatised ones. Oligarchs, dictators & despots are winning. The United Nations isn't working. We need NATO to be effective more than ever. 

Don't imagine that someone else will sort this out for you. Your voice & your vote count. Use them wisely. Don't sit on your backside this year or you will reap the consequences.

 

Intelligence & Common Sense - Navalny's Death

Intelligence - the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. 

Common Sense - the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions. Sound, practical judgement concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, understand & judge in a manner that is shared by nearly all people.

Oh boy, do we need more people to have both of these today.

We who are free to think, believe, speak, act, read, vote in free elections, need to use that gift effectively to stand up for those millions in the world do not have similar freedoms. 

Aexei Navalny is dead. He was 47 & had been held in “Polar Wolf” IK-3 penal colony in Russia's Arctic north. Conditions are unimaginable -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68322113  The likelihood is that Putin authorised a final successful murder. Equally likely is that the body has not been released to the family because the state wants to delay any opportunity to examine the body for evidence of poisoning by Novichok or other agent. It is very difficult to detect.  https://www.rferl.org/a/everything-you-need-to-know-about-novichok/30964840.html

Navalny was one of many brave people who fight for the freedoms we take for granted. Russian dissidents make a very long list. Wikipedia lists 88, which may not be up to date - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_dissidents 

People are rightly appalled by the total disregard for human rights. We cannot say we do not know. It is all over the press & media. It has only taken me minutes to research for this Blog Post using reliable sources. We clearly know what is happening in so many parts of the world. We cannot remain silent & do nothing. We must use our intelligence & common sense to try to change things for the better in places where conflict is destroying lives  https://geneva-academy.ch/galleries/today-s-armed-conflicts  Dictators & corrupt politicians must be made accountable & stopped. 

If we don't do that what is the point of us? What is the point of being intelligent & able to think?

 

Love & Kindness

Loving kindness - Metta, a traditional Buddhist concept, implies acting with compassion toward all sentient beings, with an awareness and appreciation of the natural world. Compassion literally means to suffer together. In simple terms to "Walk a mile in someones shoes" - before judging someone, you must understand his experiences, challenges, thought processes, etc.

 

I can't walk a mile in the shoes of the families & friends of the Israeli's killed & captured on the 7th of October. I can't walk a mile in the shoes of all the people killed, injured, disposessed & without all basic necessities in Gaza. I cannot envisage what it must be like to actually fight & suffer in a war. 

Hundreds & thousands of people in our world are suffering in ways I can see on my TV, read about in newspapers & listen to on the radio. Most of that suffering is actually man made. However hard I try I am unable to really imagine living in a constant state of fear & anxiety without anything that makes life comfortable & worthwhile. The desperation of trying to protect the very young & the very old is utterly beyond my capacity.

I have to try to comprehend in simple black & white terms. War never works & is morally totally unjustifiable. The arms trade fuels war for profit. Killing other people must kill something within the killer, making them less than the best human they could be. Destruction of infrastructure means waste of precious limited resources & our precious world. Once again generating profit for the rebuilders. Arguments & differences of opinion are normal. But violence never solved a problem. Violence always escalates. 

Each of us has the capacity for both sides of the coin - great good & great evil. Each of us has to make a personal choice about what we will do in the face of wrongdoing. Will we intercede & try to negotiate & help resolve? Will we stand by & do nothing because we don't want to get involved? Will we do our best?

Unless the balance scales tip in favour of love, kindness, generosity & personal involvement I don't see a future for the human race at the moment. "I'm alright Jack" just isn't going to solve the problems that face us. Neither is putting up walls & boundaries. They won't keep us safe  & they demean us.

The Power of Music

I'm listening to piano music. I love music. I think it in my head as it's playing, I know the tunes so well, I feel the rhythm in my body & have to respond physically. I used to play quite a few of the pieces. Sadly now my hands have lost their strength & mobility & my brain has forgotten much of what I learnt as a child & teenager. I used to love to dance too. 

My point is that music puts me in a wonderful calm place. A place where I feel happy. A place where I can remember years playing the piano & enjoying an eclectic selection of different music. Mostly I remember walking to my piano lessons with a wonderful spinster whose name I have forgotten. A woman who made me love getting lost in the music. Without her I doubt I would love classical music so much. I remember practising for hours in the unused front room - too hot in the summer with the windows open & freezing cold in the winter. My parents weren't well off. I don't know how they afforded the lessons. But they gave me a truly wonderful gift that I can never repay.

Music still means a lot to me. I have got a Kursweil piano. Although it has weighted keys & a full 7 octaves, it isn't anything like the feel of a real piano. So I don't persevere. I don't practice to get my skills back. I didn't expect it to be so hard. I thought muscle memory would kick in. I always wanted a baby grand, but that's an excuse.

Music therapy relaxes you & lifts your emotions. It can help reduce anxiety and depression, help maintain speech and language, is helpful at the end of life, enhances quality of life and has a positive impact on carers. In dementia it can decrease a patient's agitation and improve communication. 

My grandsons go to clubs & dance to music that is completely different to the music I know. It's electronic. It's remixed by the DJ's. It's very percussive. There are dozens of types. It seems to me that it's the beat that matters more than an actual tune. The combination of the beat, & the dance synchs with heartbeat. There is some really interesting research into the effects of music on the body. Music & dance is beneficial.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1050173821000700#sec0016

Music is the best medicine for the soul. I wonder if dictators listen to music. If they did, would they start wars? Would they be cruel?

Acknowledgement, Apologies & Forgiveness.

No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. There are always different perceptions & ways of looking at things. Sometimes we say & do things in the heat of the moment, or thoughtlessly, that we wish we hadn't. If you don't think that applies to you then you are seriously misguided, deluded even.

Some of us are quick to acknowledge when we have made a mistake. Sometimes it may take a while to realise a mistake has been made. Ultimately it is important to understand that we have been wrong in thought, deed, or inaction. When that happens, not only should we acknowledge it to ourselves, but to others if they are involved. Trying to escape responsibility for our words, actions or inactions helps no one, least of all ourselves. It is important to recognise our own fallibility.

I do wonder about apologies though. Yes, I do tend to apologise for my mistakes & misdemeanors. I find the thought that I may have done something wrong, or worse, hurt someones feelings, difficult to deal with. But more & more I wonder whether the currency of apology has been devalued. It seems to me that sometimes apologies are glib, not genuine, just a way to take the heat out of the moment. On the other hand occasionally, when all that is needed is a genuine apology, one is withheld. I'm thinking, for example, about NHS mistakes. The fear of law suits means that medics are told not to apologise. For an apology to be meaningful It has to be genuine so that the recipient can accept it. 

We all have that inner bullshit detector. We tend to know when someone is evading responsibility or being honest.

When someone makes a real apology we have to find a way to genuinely accept it & forgive. It's a two way street with obligations on both parts. All of this is a problem because our emotions are involved. Emotions tend to blur reality & sometimes lead to irrational behaviour. If something has hurt us physically or emotionally we have to try to overcome that in order to accept that a mistake was made & the perpetrator is sorry. It's a big deal on both sides. I would argue that it shows the best of humanity.

 

Anger gets us nowhere. Anger changes nothing for the better. Anger hurts the angry person more than the person they are angry at. Anger is a bitter pill to swallow. 

Humanity has made huge progress, but unless we can learn to acknowledge, apologise & forgive we are still living in caves of our own making.

 

Philanthropy & Generosity

Does the "philanthropy" of the wealthy redistribute wealth & do good? No, not really. 

"A lot of elite philanthropy is about elite causes. Rather than making the world a better place, it largely reinforces the world as it is. Philanthropy very often favours the rich". 

"In the US, which statistics show to be the most philanthropic of nations, barely a fifth of the money donated by big givers goes to the poor. A lot goes to the arts, sports teams and other cultural pursuits, and half goes to education and healthcare." Elite institutions benefit most from elite giving. The global 1% only give away 2.5% of their net worth.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/08/how-philanthropy-benefits-the-super-rich

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2022/09/27/the-forbes-philanthropy-score-2022-how-charitable-are-the-richest-americans/?

The least well off donate 4.5% of income to good causes. But we need to dig deeper into what is really a "good cause". Charity law goes back to the 1601 Charitable Uses Act. There are 4 categories of charity, relief of poverty, advancement of religion, education and other benefit to the community. I can't help feeling this is past it's sell by date & should be reviewed. The world has changed in 423 years. For example I cannot understand how independent schools can justify their charitable & tax status. Labour have backtracked about removing this & say they would be able to enforce the same tax obligations by simply mandating that private schools pay VAT and business rates.This removes having to go through the onerous process of changing the law to take away their charitable status.

Wealthy donors get tax breaks for their "generosity". Many also make sure that everyone knows how "generous" they are. Most obviously in the arts & sport. For example The Neubauer family make very sure that you know they sponsor the Met opera live streaming.

For all these reasons it is arguable that charitable giving by "ordinary" people is far more generous, better supports charities with real need, & re-distributes wealth, far more than elite giving. "Children in Need" for example has raised more than £1 billion for disadvantaged children & young people between 1980 - 2023.

Some British charities are very good at arranging fund raising spectaculars.

https://tfn.scot/lists/the-UKs-25-biggest-fundraising-events 

My issue with this is that it is hugely biased. The top 4 are Cancer charities. 15 of the 25 charities are Cancer charities. Only 5 are for children & young people. Only 4 are other health charities. For this reason I never give to cancer charities. I try to give to smaller niche charities. Direct debits help them to plan knowing they have an income stream. Big donations can help charities deal with emergency situations. 

 

The US is 6th. The UK is 8th.

I also think it is important to know how much a charity spends on overheads & how they raise money. I personally object to "Chugging" - persuading people to fill in direct debit forms so that they can make monthly donations to a charity. I never give, whether its in the street or on my doorstep.

 

  

 

Refugees & Population Movements

Homo Sapiens began their migration out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. That should make us think on many levels. For a start we are obviously all descended from what were, presumably, black Africans. So racial discrimination seems rather silly & pointless. At that time there were no borders. There was just land & hunter gatherer people. Borders are a human construct. The first border was established in 1278 for Andorra. Our present system is only 350 years old. The British and French drew the modern borders of the Middle East, the borders of Africa, in Asia after the independence of the British Raj and French Indochina and the borders of Europe after World War I as victors, as a result of the Paris treaties. 

Now we build walls & have armed soldiers on border crossings. We spend vast amounts of money trying to keep people in or out. People have always moved around to try to improve their life chances. People are aspirational & often brave. Trying to stem the tide of population movement, for whatever reason, goes against an inherent instinct in people. If life conditions are bad, we try to make them better. We don't just accept. It's a survival instinct, not just for the individual, but for the generations to follow.

If you accept my premise, you have to seriously consider the validity of what countries & governments are doing today in the face of population movements due to war, dictatorships, climate change, famine & lack of the basic necessities of life. We must find a way to deal with this equitably because it is going to get worse. The world is more unstable than for a very long time. Instability due to War, Famine & Climate Change is not going to go away. Some places on earth are going to be uninhabitable.

I have no faith in the United Nations ability to deal with this for two main reasons. Firstly there is a worrying amount of corruption in the UN. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/22/united-nations-development-programme-undp-bribery-claims-iraq-aid-project  I also think that the fact that countries like Russia & China have the power of veto means that decision making is flawed & voting always results in compromise & inaction. Not particularly happy about the USA veto either.

I'm not a politician. But I think I'm reasonably intelligent. It seems to me that the present course of action is unsustainable & will ultimately cause even more death, destruction & upheaval. Maybe that is desirable to some? Are we, individually, going to tolerate living with the impact of that on other people who want the same good life that we have? Personally I can't.

I don't know if my solution is viable. But for what it's worth, this is it.

I think that trying to get a truly international agreement about dealing with population migration in a humane & equitable way is impossible. So I think we should focus on getting an agreement in Europe. Our lives are ruled by algorithms. Surely it is possible to consider factors like habitable land mass, population size, demographics, infrastructure, wealth & resources and come up with a plan for the assimilation of migrants in a fair way. Each country should take the number of migrants as determined by the calculation. Some countries, like Germany, need migrants because of their demographics. Some countries, like the UK have a relatively small land mass & are islands, so goods have to be imported.

We need fresh thinking. Now. Before this extremely difficult problem results in civil unrest or worse.

The Traitors UK - A Moral Dilemma?

I was persuaded to watch the second series by my daughter & became addicted. It is full of surprises & very entertaining. The psychology of human behaviour is fascinating. What would any human being be prepared to do for a big enough prize?

Seemingly anything. There are no holds barred. In order to win the big money prize the traitors have to be prepared to lie & deceive all the people in the group. They also have to be prepared to stab fellow traitors in the back & murder other contestants. These are people they spend up to 17 hours a day with for 3 weeks. Avarice wins the day.

In addition everyone has to work as a team to complete the missions & increase the prize pot. The missions are challenging. So a good traitor has to have a devious, split, personality - pretend to be a team player & simultaneously be prepared to shamelessly manipulate the group & individuals within it. While the faithful are woking for the good of the group selflessly, the traitors can only succeed if they are ruthless & selfish.

 

In the end, I was disappointed that the lack of morality triumphed. The telling moment for me was the final banishment when Mollie was about to vote Harry off  & whispered "it isn't you" & he replied "no". It was such a betrayal of trust.

I also agree with Claudia that there is an issue with the programme regarding the patriarchical slant. Overwhelmingly male traitors. The statistics are interesting. More female faithfuls were murdered than men 5/2. More men were banished than women 6/4.

The programme reminds me of the Roman spectacles for the entertainment of the masses. They were to distract the populace from the political and economic problems of the day. Is that what is happening here? I actually think it is. If you really think about all of the "reality shows". Most are very unedifying. 

Herd mentality plays such an important part. The psychology of the programme is an entertaining mirror on the human condition played out as a game. It's clever, but is this what we have become?

Cost, Price, Value & Incentives - Domesday Clock

Cost is the amount paid or charged for something. The Price of something can be the unpleasant results that you must accept or experience for getting or doing something. The Value is the monetary, material, or assessed worth of an asset, good, or service. An Incentive is a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something.

Our world is based on these 4 things. We have become a world of Consumers. Continual growth is King. Companies & individuals amass huge wealth. Politics is ruled by powerful & wealthy lobbyists, by consumer focus groups. We have more Stuff than we can possibly need & we waste vast amounts of that Stuff.

Advertising is a huge industry incentivising us to buy more & more Stuff. It can be very clever & insidious, persuading us that we just can't do without whatever the product is. We are faced with an overwhelming amount of choice. Just look at the Yogurt aisle in any big supermarket. We have become indoctrinated to buy. 

My generation can remember much simpler times when nowhere near as much Stuff was imported. When choice was limited to what was in season for example. When expectation about what needed to be available to buy was not nearly so high. But we have moved on. This is our reality.

The problem is that this new world has brought a wealth of problems. Not least is waste - pollution - inequality - depletion of finite resources & species - harm to the environment .... 

Our expectations have a huge Cost & we will pay an unimaginable Price if we don't Value what we have more & ignore the Incentives to make poor choices. We are at a Tipping Point. We could even have gone over it. Survival of the World is probably not at issue, it will probably recover if the human race sends itself into oblivion. 

The Doomsday Clock is at 90 seconds to midnight. That's a precarious position to be in & it isn't just about a nuclear catatstrophe.

Israel & Gaza - Reliable Sources

I had a lengthy conversation with a friend last week about the Israel / Gaza war. It made me realise how important it is to have reliable, unbiased, accurate information so that you can decide where you stand on a particular issue. One of my trusted sources is EAPPI - a Quaker group who sends independent monitors to the area to report what is actually happening.

https://www.eyewitnessblogs.com/

Another source is BBC Verify.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67764664

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67760523

There are many unreliable sources. Oxford University highlights the unreliability of some. International & Local reporters on the ground are being killed in record numbers. To counter the misinformation, open source journalism is being used more & more.

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/israel-gaza-war-highlights-power-and-limits-open-source-reporting

The death rate in Gaza is higher than any other major 21st century conflict according to Oxfam International.  The death toll in children & women is horrifying.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/daily-death-rate-gaza-higher-any-other-major-21st-century-conflict-oxfam

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the assault on the 7th October, and more than 240 were taken hostage.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/07/middleeast/palestinian-israeli-deaths-gaza-dg/index.html 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/21/gaza-death-toll-25000-un-antonio-guterres

I haven't found statistics for the number of Israeli soldiers & citizens killed by this war.

Seemingly the Israeli government is determined not only to finish Hamas, which I can understand, although I think it is unachievable. But they seem uncaring about the sheer number of people they are killing & injuring. I listened to an account today about a woman who had a leg amputated without anesthetics or proper surgical instruments. In addition the Israelis are flattening Gaza & destroying the infrastructure. Over 50% of the buildings are damaged or destroyed. It's the most destructive campaign in recent history.

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/gaza-building-damage-israel-war

Not only is this unacceptable, much is illegal according to internaltional law. It is also counter productive. The Palestinian people have suffered hugely since the state of Israel was created, but this will just drive them into the welcoming arms of terrorists. it will not solve anything. It will simply make matters infinitely worse,

The Will of the People

I'm reading "Why Politics Fails" by Prof Ben Ansell. He did the 2023 Reith Lectures, but I didn't hear them. So I'm reading the very interesting & well written book. I have long thought that we simply don't have a true democracy any more & like many I am completely disillusioned with our present government & many politicians. I have just finished the first section of the book on Democracy.

Democracy should mean that the people have the right to choose their leaders & replace them through  universal franchise. That supposedly gives rise to the notion of the "will of the people". Generally we are used to getting wealthier & having endless economic growth. But there is a conflict between individual self interest & collective goals. We are not all altruistic. We have to compromise, so politics is all about "trade offs". To legislate you need to win elections. To win elections you have to get people to vote for you. That is where the idea of the "will of the people" comes in.

Political parties make promises & have manifestos to persuade the electorate.The Institute of Government says " a large number of promises from recent manifestos have not been delivered"

Ansell argues that this is the "democracy trap" - there is no such thing as the "will of the people". Life isn't a series of binary answers. Life is more complex than that. People manipulate & even lie to get what they want. Parties & voters become polarised. Populism is one result. Four European countries have populist governments now.

An important concept is what we mean by Equality. My interpretation is that there should be equality of opportunity. So everyone, regardless of financial status, should have the opportunity to receive quality education & healthcare for example. In terms of the "will of the people" everyones' vote should count equally. Our voting system of "first past the post" does not allow that to happen. Denmark & Sweden for example have more inclusive electoral systems.

Another important concept is Freedom. Freedom of speech, association & conscience. All of these are being eroded during my lifetime e.g. no platforming, jailing of journalists in countries like Russia & Turkey. Is that done at the "will of the people"? No, it's at the behest of dictators who are able to coerce or indoctrinate populations in order to maintain their power & wealth.

We have seen a rise in income & wealth gaps internationally, biggest in wealthy countries. The wealthier you are the more power you have to manipulate politics & politicians. America is a prime example. They seem likely to vote Trump in as President again. A man who is worryingly unfit for high public office. The 2020 US election cost a record 14 billion $. How can elections be really democratic when money talks to that extent & gives wealthy donors tremendous political influence?

To my mind the "will of the people", if it ever existed, doesn't matter half as much as the money of the capitalists & oligarchs who can directly influence an election. Democracy is on it's last legs & the people have terminal laryngitis.

 

Job Descriptions - Parents & Teachers

I was a full time teaching head in a small primary school. I taught the juniors in the main building where the childrens loos were. The infants were out in a terrapin. One day at the beginning of the academic year I heard screaming from the girls loos. I rushed out & left my class. There was a new, first year, infant sitting on the lavatory screaming. She had never been to the toilet alone & didn't know how to wipe her bottom. Her mother had always done it. That was how she got her mothers attention.

It was my first headship & I learned a valuable lesson. From then onward I always did a talk for prospective parents, before their little angels came to school, about the sort of skills we needed children to have to be able to participate in learning. Basic things like being able to dress & undress themselves, operate a tap & wash their hands, go to the toilet, feed themselves.....Tooth brushing didn't come into it. The assumption was that parents did this in the morning & evening before & after school. Apparently children aren't able to brush their own teeth properly until they are between 6/8 - 9/10. Before 6 they don't have the dexterity. It should be done either before a meal or about 30 minutes after a meal.

So I am wondering why there is a move for schools to undertake supervised tooth brushing in school. I know there are breakfast clubs in schools with  50% or more children in IDACI (Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index) bands A-F. A being the most deprived. Children can't concentrate & learn if they are hungry, so I'm in favour. There are lots of benefits when so many families struggle to pay their bills & feed their children.

What I don't understand is how we have reached a stage where Education is expected to take on more and more of a parental or social work responsibility. The curriculum is already very wide & it's difficult to put everything educationally necessary in the hours available. The Arts & Sport timetabling has already been reduced because of the pressures of "core subjects" & the shortage of teachers confident & skilled to teach them. 

I would argue that basic personal skills should have been taught by parents before their children ever get to school. Children should also have been taught to be able to sit still & listen, to take their turn, to share with others. If you don't have these skills you cannot learn. If teachers have to teach these skills to some of their children, what are the children who are already ready for the demands of school going to do? In the case of teaching tooth brushing, do the majority of primary schools even have toilet areas where large numbers of children can brush & spit? Especially when each primary class may well have in excess of 30 children. The logistics don't stack up.

It seems to me that the fundamental problem is that some parents don't have adequate parenting skills. So they have expectations of what education can do for them that are unrealistic & in my view inappropriate. I would have thought that equipping parents with good parenting skills should be relatively easy & not hugely expensive. That could be school based, perhaps in the holidays, before a child starts school. It would benefit all the children in a family not just one.

I don't blame parents. Many have not been brought up by parents with good skills themselves. That doesn't mean they don't love their children. I do think that most parents would welcome help. Not just in this area, but also with setting goals & rules & enforcing them to encourage good behaviiour. 

It's hard enough being a parent of 1 or 2 children. Teaching a class of 30 plus is very rewarding, but can be an uphill struggle. 

Honours - Are they Honourable?

UK Honours are supposedly awarded for three specific things;-

• To to recognise merit in terms of achievement and service

• To recognise specific deeds

• To recognise a specific service, long or valuable service, and good conduct

The Normans started the whole thing with knighthoods & the Order of the Garter began in 1348. So there is a lot of history, which you can either think is a good, traditional, thing or an outdated, anachronistic irrelevance.

There are New Year & Birthday Honours & also Prime Ministers resignation Honours. Possible recipients are identified by public or private bodies, by government departments or members of the public. People are then selected by the Honours Committee. These are then submitted to the Prime Minister or Ministers for approval before being sent to the Sovereign for final approval. There are also Special Honours awarded by the Monarch. 

Quite a lot of people decline an honour. In 2020 it was 68 out of 2,504 offered, or 2.7%. Sometimes they are revoked, for example for conviction for crimes, breaches of military discipline, or when their conduct has been widely considered discreditable. In 2023 there were 12 revocations.

There has been ongoing dissatisfaction with the whole Honours system for years. Critics argue it is outdated and open to corrupt selections, “no more and no less than corrupt patronage”. Liz Truss’ honours list, after a singularly brief tenure as P.M. caused a furore. According to The National "she reward(ed) her local party apparatchiks, bag-carriers and assorted toadies, some of whom will retire to the House of Lords to live, like the reptilian Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, a life of pampered slothfulness at the taxpayers’ expense". Similarly Nadine Dorries had a public hissy fit at not getting an honour. The last reform of the system was 31 years ago in 1993. The root of the honours in the British Empire also seems anachronistic in the 21st century. 

As this link shows a government in power can & do  "load the dice" in the Lords. How democratic is that?

https://members.parliament.uk/parties/lords

If we are going to have a second chamber, which I think we should, then to my mind it should be democratically selected on the basis of the skills & experience individuals bring to the work of the house, the legislative process & the good of the country. There should also be minimum standards & expectations of attendance & real contribution to the work of the house. There should be a fixed number of Lords - currently there are far too many - 785. They must cost the country a fortune. The attendance figures are very low. Apparently 13% of peers rarely or never attend. In 2019 ;-

• Eighty-eight peers – about one in nine - never spoke, held a government post or participated in a committee at all.

• Forty-six peers did not register a single vote, including on Brexit, sit on a committee or hold a post. One peer claimed £25,000 without voting, while another claimed £41,000 but only voted once.

• More than 270 peers claimed more than £40,000 in allowances, with two claiming more than £70,000.

  Average Attendance by Sitting days Session Number of sitting days Average length of sitting hours:minutes Average attendance 2022-23 220 6:32 397 2021-22 156 7:45 367 2019-21 222 7:20 352

Personally I think there should be root & branch reform to reflect the work of a modern parliament. The present system isn't just "past it's sell by date", it's a costly laughing stock, which is a shame because there are Lords who do a really good job & have real expertise. 

Actually I would go further. While we are at it we should sell off the Palace of Westminster & build a modern parliament like Scotland & Wales have done, situated in the Midlands. Somewhere more representative of the UK than the South East. It could then have less adversarial chambers, either circular or semicircular. The unedifying yah booing might then cease. The present building needs constant expensive maintenance & isn't fit for purpose. 

I doubt any of that will happen in my lifetime, but I do think it might go a long way to restoring public perceptions of politics & politicians.