Am I Being Unfair?

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Walk, run, think (kindly thoughts)

Ball mobiles are on hold at the moment. I’m currently working on aluminium and brass wires supporting flat aluminium paddles or end pieces, attached by rivets. Like most worthwhile activities, all it takes is time, focus and application. Irritatingly, these tend to elude me. I need to get a grip and create a more disciplined daily schedule. Even so, it’s still difficult to fit in. I’m spending more time running, walking and going to a great gym. My health is good and I can even afford to pickup a calf injury, stopping me running, because of some reckless gym work. Sitting and inactivity are the new smoking equivalents. You gotta move to stay healthy and alive. It’s all about balance, literally.

I’m also spending perhaps too much time thinking and arriving at conclusions, an activity in many countries that is fraught with risk. Many people do this publicly and thanks to the internet and social media we are inundated with information and perspectives which can feel compelling and convincing as well as alarming and anxiety provoking. It’s a minefield. How do we make sense of it all? By what we encounter in our lives. Our experiences, relationships emotions, our upbringing and by persuasion rather than logic, reason and the general public good. Right wingers excel at perceiving threat or condemning. They tend to have a narrow focus on personal liberty, and self and class interest. Left wingers look towards the interest of the larger community and also of minorities within it. Consequently the left is vulnerable to mockery and demonisation when they champion groups whom the right regard as undeserving or illegitimate.. In the UK. as in the USA, the popular politics of emotion and feeling currently garner huge swathes of support, entirely untouched by common humanity or compassion for the vulnerable except for the purposes of lip service. The Christian/Evangelical Right, surely a clear oxymoron, have more in common with Fascism than the teachings of Jesus.

Whether it’s the UK Tory government or Trump’s America, their politics are addressed to the peoples’ basest fears and prejudices. Where’s the humanity? Where’s the compassion?

 

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Running,Tory cruelty laid bare and King Charles 111 nearly expires from boredom delivering the King’s speech to parliament.

It’s been nine months since I had my cardiac ablation and, so far, my atrial fibrillation has not returned. I’m running around 20k a week, sometimes 25, with no ill effect, doing parkrun regularly, and an occasional 10k race. I can run 10k easily and have done a 17k in training. I did intend to…

by oscardiamond

Compassionate, caring Tories? Not with this Cabinet.

We supported Liz Truss winning the previous Whose Gonna Be The Next Prime Minister competition because we predicted she would sink the Conservative Party. She amply demonstrated her lack of understanding of conventional economics in the leadership debates and correctly anticipated that Conservative party members innate racism and credulity would see her through. The party…

by oscardiamond

Conservative Party voluntarily rotting from within. Shameless chancer Johnson bows out of latest Tory contest for Prime Minister leaving another rich public school boy to pull the wool over the electorate’s eyes.

Eight levers loosely fixed to check balance and movement. Atrial fibrillation still persisting. I’m on two waiting lists. One for cardioversion and one for ablation. Doesn’t sound too good, does it? Well, it’s not particularly bad. The first procedure resets the heart with a small electric shock and the second procedure threads a line up…

by oscardiamond

Johnson’s Tories still banjax Great Britain. Local elections could help to change balance of power if our cognitively impaired electorate wake up.

Yes, rotating wooden balls fixed to metal rods. And why not? It’s relaxing, quirky and has a retro feel. You know where you are with a wooden sphere. It’s entirely complete and uncomplicated. But are a cascade of moving, swivelling balls art? Of course. Art encompasses great technical skill, possessed by relatively few people, who…

by oscardiamond
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Running,Tory cruelty laid bare and King Charles 111 nearly expires from boredom delivering the King’s speech to parliament.

It’s been nine months since I had my cardiac ablation and, so far, my atrial fibrillation has not returned. I’m running around 20k a week, sometimes 25, with no ill effect, doing parkrun regularly, and an occasional 10k race. I can run 10k easily and have done a 17k in training. I did intend to do the Cambridge half marathon. Unfortunately I delayed registering and it was full. How stupid was that? So I can’t complain? Well, I can actually. My speed has fallen away somewhat and I’m wary of pushing myself too hard. I keep an eagle eye on my Garmin as it tracks my heart rate as I run. I would like to increase distance but I have slightly lost confidence. Nevertheless, I’m pleased to be able to continue to run at a reasonable level, despite having heart disease.

Those nasty, self serving Tories have an excellent role model, Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Fresh from opining that homelessness is a lifestyle choice, she has been busy inflaming tension and division concerning the Metropolitan (London) police’s decision to permit a pro Palestine march to go ahead on Armistice Day on Saturday, November 11th. She described the protesters as a hate mob, predicted that they would interrupt commemoration events at the Cenotaph, called on the police to ban the march and claimed that the police gave easy passage to left wing and #MeToo demonstrations compared with right wing events.

Sir Mark Rowley, Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police, has resisted Braverman’s demands to ban the Pro Palestine march, citing they have received no intelligence suggesting the protesters are planning to disrupt the Cenotaph commemorations. The march was scheduled to take place later in the day and its route was some distance away from the Cenotaph.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? Police estimated the size of the Pro Palestine march at around 300,000. It went off peacefully and was attended by many families with children. There were scuffles and arrests of far right demonstrators who chanted “Your’re not English anymore” directed towards the police near the Cenotaph commemoration. On the route of the march a group of right wing demonstrators were confined to a pub by police and missiles were thrown. There have been over 90 far right arrests.

WHAT CONCLUSIONS CAN WE DRAW? The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman’s concerted attempts to vilify peaceful protesters and foment violent disorder by tacit encouragement to far right groups has not succeeded. Those same far right groups, deprived of their chosen targets, will tend to turn on anyone, including the police. Braverman is not fit to hold office, even in a Tory government, devoid of a moral compass and compassion. The Tory government, as a whole, are not able to recognise what is palpably obvious to the huge majority of the UK population, that the current massacre of over 10,000 Palestinians and the complete destruction of their homes and infrastructure is not a proportionate response to to the outrageous atrocity perpetrated by Hamas. The government, and particularly Braverman, is happy to conflate legitimate support for the Palestinian people with hate, anti semitism and violence.

Here’s a picture of a number of my models to possibly lighten the mood.

King Charles delivered his King’s speech in the Lord’s Chamber on the State Opening of Parliament a few days ago. Written by the government it sets out the programme of legislation that the administration will pursue in the forthcoming parliamentary sessions. It’s worth watching to appreciate the full horror of his boredom and ennui which saturates his delivery. Charles is credited with various green credentials and had to read out policies which ride roughshod over measures to minimise climate change. These included decisions to grant more licences for gas and oil extraction. You almost felt sorry for him unless you remembered his extravagant lifestyle.

Dominic, I replied to your message in the last blog plus I sent you a private Facebook message.

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Returning to Alive and Running. Heart firing on all cylinders (combustion engine metaphor)

Where was I? Atrial fibrillation started in June 2022 until I had cardioversion to shock my heart back into normal rhythm in November 2022. This was successful. Three months later I had a catheter ablation procedure which requires a line to be inserted into a vein or artery, in my case, in the groin, and manipulated until it reaches the heart. Cells responsible for the electrical misfiring are then destroyed and hopefully normal sinus rhythm returns. This was also successful and should be a more permanent solution to stopping a return of atrial fibrillation.

These procedures were straightforward and painless . My anxieties were on the high side these but, on the day,I felt much more relaxed and reassured. I’m very lucky to have Addenbrookes and the Royal Papworth hospitals on my doorstep.

With regard to running, it’s now much less effort compared to when I had AF. Previously I was doing up to 35k a week. now it’s more like 15-20k. I’m still wary of pushing myself and my Garmin is very useful in checking my heart rate. All in all I’m happy to be back running without problems.

The icing on the cake is that parkrun has returned to Milton Country park, formerly known as Cambridge parkrun, three weeks ago, following a three year pause. What a joy to meet up with old running friends. Everyone was visibly happy to be back and there was great atmosphere. Lots of people put a huge effort into organising its return to Milton Country park and I’m very grateful. Exactly why it stopped and how it came back remains a mystery to most people.

Tomorrow, May 6th, is showbiz time. King Charles 111 will have his Coronation and the nation will lose its collective marbles.The unthinking, manipulated masses will marinate themselves in fawning adulation and obsequiousness and the rich and powerful will fall over themselves to demonstrate new levels of sycophancy. This is a hideous spectacle I can’t miss. I’ll be watching on TV, shaking my head, tut tutting and struggling to take in the enormity and wrongfulness of the event. It is a supreme example of privilege, wealth, power and class. For all his laudable charity work and supposed outspokeness on specific matters, you’ll not see Charles doing shifts at a Food Bank or urging the return of the Sure Start Children’s Centres or decrying the cost of living in any meaningful way. He’s a relatively safe pair of hands who can deliver gravitas to speeches convincingly, receive respect and admiration, appear very rich but “hard working and devoted to duty,” and can maintain the whole edifice of a royal fantasy. It’s showbiz and celebrity culture aided and abetted by public money.

God save the King. God save us All

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Johnson’s Tories still banjax Great Britain. Local elections could help to change balance of power if our cognitively impaired electorate wake up.

Music courtesy of Philip Glass

Yes, rotating wooden balls fixed to metal rods. And why not? It’s relaxing, quirky and has a retro feel. You know where you are with a wooden sphere. It’s entirely complete and uncomplicated. But are a cascade of moving, swivelling balls art? Of course. Art encompasses great technical skill, possessed by relatively few people, who execute a visually realistic interpretation or an advanced creative depiction that few people would seek to question as a high art form. But art can equally encompass non traditional forms which appear low on the spectrum of high art but include elements which pose questions and challenge preconceptions or express dissent or shock. Is there a line that needs to be drawn when you talk about art? Who gets on their high horse and why? Why do art installations appear to polarise opinion? Do left and right leaning people like radically different creative styles? If you are over seventy, are you much less likely to enjoy or appreciate abstract and modern art? These aren’t original questions and what constitutes art encapsulates myriad discussions and nuanced argument. Do I care? Not really. I accept art is all things to all people What’s more interesting is the vehemence, prejudice and passive-aggression with which views are expressed. Or the absence of active interest in art or creative activity. Poor, unbalanced people!

Music courtesy of Philip Glass

More musical balls.

I last posted in February, two weeks or so before the Cambridge half marathon. This went well, in the main. No surprises, a steady pace and a bit slower than the last Cambridge half in October 2021. I also did the nearby Cambourne 10k in April and met up with some old running pals. I used to see them regularly when parkrun was on at Milton Country Park but with the demise of that venue {gnashing of teeth} contact is intermittent. Still, I’m continuing to run 30-35k a week so I’m doing okay. This includes running with my Cottenham pal ,Rob, in an adjacent village.

Boris Johnson’s luck has yet to run out which, with a bit of reflection, isn’t surprising. Has has no moral compass and he has surrounded himself with supporters that either can’t tell right from wrong or don’t care or have no qualms lying through their teeth. Whether its blithely denying participation in illegal lockdown parties, explaining why they sent thousands of elderly patients from hospital back to their care homes, untested for covid, and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths, pretending they a have any sympathy or understanding for the ordinary working man or devising schemes to transport refugees/migrants to Rwanda permanently (out of sight, out of mind, cost undisclosed, plaudits from xenophobes, racists and fascists everywhere), you can always depend on the Tories to convincingly defend the indefensible and without a hint of shame or remorse.

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Winter running. The cold, the wind, the mud. It’s predictable, like Tory sleaze.

Two daughters and one boyfriend ran the Cambridge 10k the day before I ran the half last October. It all went very well. It’s satisfying that all my five children have been running at some stage and will return to it when their circumstances allow. Running. Who wouldn’t want to do it, huh!

I’ve managed to run consistently since my last post in November 2021, without injury, and covering 30-35k weekly. I now have a new running chum whom I meet weekly in an adjacent village. This has resulted in new running routes, which is very welcome, since I have relied on just two for years. It’s also added a new dimension to running, namely, chatting. Having been a lone runner for decades, I wouldn’t have guessed this would be conducive, but it is. Of course, our weekly runs aren’t competitive. My strategy in any races we do together is to encourage chatting while I listen attentively and then pull ahead towards the finish, using the reserves of breath I’ve held back. It’s a fool proof wheeze. Possibly.

I’ve also returned to parkrun on an occasional basis. Occasional because of the covid risk but also, since the sad demise of Cambridge parkrun at Milton, because of the travel involved. Storey’s Field, Eddington, a new town on the edge of Cambridge, is my chosen parkrun at present. It’s very well organised and there are plenty of familiar faces, yet I still pine for Milton.

Under two weeks until the Cambridge half marathon. I’ve now done two training 21k sessions and feel set to go. The last Cambridge half was in October 2021, deferred from the previous March, so now it’s back to its original time of year.

Prime Minister’s Question time, broadcast live on the BBC each Wednesday, never fails to be an education. Boris Johnson, having won the last election with a vast majority, has proved that you can fool most of the people, most of the time. Huge swathes of traditionally Labour voters were persuaded to leave Europe based on government cultivated xenophobic anxieties regarding immigration, loss of British jobs to foreigners, loss of British sovereignty and jurisdiction and the assertion that the haemorrhage of tax payers money to the EU would cease and go directly to boost the NHS. What is it about the British electorate that provokes them to regress to uttering simplistic demands about “wanting their freedom back” and instancing minor examples of European law and bureacracy?

The Ukraine crisis has proved to be a get-out-of-jail card for Johnson, allowing a diversion of attention away from the government’s handling of Covid and the scandal of numerous social parties organised by the government during the lockdowns, egregiously breaching their own rules, and showing contempt for ordinary people. Johnson clearly revels in playing an inflated role as the elder statesman on the world stage. He does this well, with confidence, conviction and powers of persuasion instilled in him by his class and education. That’s how the Tories excel. They project and amplify emotions that target the electorate’s fears, anxieties, prejudices and sense of being disadvantaged. They shamelessly use their own statistics to demonstrate success, relying on a credulous electorate to be impressed. Think about the thousands of extra nurses, doctors and billions going into the NHS. Don’t think about the previous lack of investment and cuts to services and loss of hospital beds. Do be awed by the repetition of billions of PPE items obtained during the pandemic and regular announcements of further billions of pounds being expended on the NHS. Don’t mention the government reacted slowly to provide equipment, or abandoned care home residents to die in their tens of thousands. Or that a a large scale excercise concerning management of a pandemic a few years earlier pin pointed exactly what was needed to meet such a contingency, but had its findings and recommendations ignored.

This is what the Tories do best. They are, collectively, a master class in expert, nuanced manipulation directed against a softened up, beguiled public in thrall to posh boy politicians and hard nosed, cruel female counterparts.

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Still running and still shocked by Tory bigotry

First post since last January. I’ve remained well, avoided covid and continued to run consistently. Parkrun returned over four months ago but I’ve only attended one so far. Unfortunately our local parkrun in Cambridge, Milton Country Park, decided not to host the event any more, a controversial decision that was extremely disappointing and taken for unclear reasons.The loss of Milton parkrun means I don’t meet up with running chums consistently and I’ve reverted to being a lone runner . I have, however, had more contact with a person I previously saw once a year at a local school run, which is good. They say friends and socialising is essential for robust mental health. I agree but I’m an introvert at heart. I did do Cambridge half marathon and three local 10k races and I’m currently running 30-35k each week. The Cambridge half took place late, in October, and I’ve signed up for the next one in March 2022.

Perhaps it’s a positive and protective behaviour that we don’t generally share our views and beliefs lightly with acquaintances, or that we do, much more whole heartedly, with people we know better or have reason to understand we will receive a sympathetic response. On the other hand, the unavoidable views of people who express clear opposition and animosity to our core values and standards produce a baleful effect and constant dismay. The Tory party, and Boris Johnson in particular, are the obvious examples. They have clearly demonstrated that elitist showmanship and entertaining guff can win hearts and minds. Unfortunately these skills and abilities are used to gloss over aggessive and cruel policies, blatent corruption and an obvious appeal to their credulous electorate. Their supporters thrive on the Daily Mail diet of fear, outrage, condemnation, predjudice, xenophobia, sentimentalism, thinly disguised racism and anti wokeness. They don’t appear concerned about sleeze, financial irregularities with tax payers’ money, the cavalier and fatal disregard for care home residents in the first covid wave or the plight of refugees dangerously crossing the Channel. Boris Johnson got Brexit done, they crow. We can be in control of our own affairs, stop immigration and forge our own way ahead. We can consider new ways of doing things, like pushing inflatable boats back to France and transporting illegal immigrants to centres abroad to be processed out of the public eye. The supine electorate laps up the big numbers the Tories claim to be spending on the NHS while fogetting that they ran it down in the first place. Rant, rant, rant. It’s not easy taking the moral high ground but this government of doesn’t make it hard either. What can you do when the Tories daily prove they possess no humanity and a sizeable chunk of the population just shrug their shoulders.

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What have we learnt over the last year?

 

It’s a very broad question and, of course, we all learn differently. So what have I learnt? {Yes, it’s all about me. me, me}. I have been deeply impressed by the kindness, forebearance and bravery of others, particularly in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic. The suffering and loss has prompted deep compassion and continuing, everyday examples of innate humanity, despite the backdrop of an incompetent and complacent government. But, then again, that’s what I would expect because most people, under the most trying circumstances, would endeavour to act responsibly and sensibly and follow rules designed to alleviate the current crisis. The severe restrictions may have brought financial hardship, increased poverty, unemployment, loss of movement, prevented social interaction with family and friends and  stopped activities we took for granted but life, although curtailed, carries on. Nevertheless, the cost to many is huge.

So far, so positive. I don’t find the above remarkable. It’s what I expect. It’s not an eye opener. But some of the responses to the Covid pandemic and the American presidential election and its aftermath do turn a spotlight on a number of disturbing beliefs and an apparent willingness to act upon them.

Covid and Trump’s America have exposed and highlighted the existence of a willingness to embrace fantasy as fact and condemn unacceptable facts as fake. Both Trump and Boris Johnson trade in arousing negative sentiments and heightening emotions to influence people. Trump in particular is skilled at exploiting resentment and amplifying feelings of loss, unfairness, anger and hatred. He points the finger and creates targets for the aroused masses to focus their attention. In America, Trump has been able to sidestep reality and construct his own elaborate conspiracy theory to explain his defeat. He blithely faces down any kind of fact based argument, rubbishes anyone who disagrees and tramples democratic norms. In the Uk Boris Johnson doesn’t have to go to such lengths because the levels of anger and seething bitterness in the UK are much less virulent. We tend to fall for wealthy right wing stand up comedians to pull the wool over our eyes instead.

Why do so many people fall for politicians like Trump and Johnson? Why are they able to marshal such negative passions in so many of us? Their supporters are not psychologically minded. They are primed to react, to be aroused, to release their anger, aggression and sense of losing out, of being tricked. Their focus isn’t on community or fairness but on loss and identifying  who has taken it from them. They don’t think, they feel. That’s the nature of right wingers. Even if you feel I have presented an exagerrated caricature the evidence in both America and the UK is that the middle of the road conservatives will hold their noses and still support a fascist narcissist or someone who makes them laugh. Theses politicians are able to stir the deep well of aggression and negative emotions a lot of us obviously possess.

Phew! Back to something less controversial. Despite my dodgy right knee I’ve managed to run around 32k each week. That’s three 9ks and one timed 5k. My knee is still weak and stiff but running isn’t problematic. Part of my run is along an old Roman Road called Mere Way (currently threatened by the construction of a waste water treatment plant}. It’s exceedingly muddy for most of its length. We’ve had a lot of rain and the ground is saturated. It won’t be drying up any time soon. We are still in partial covid lockdown and there are no races on the horizon yet apart from Cambridge half marathon scheduled for October. Entry is by competitive ballot this year. I’ll do it if I can, Covid allowing.

I’ve just had a phone call from my GP surgery offering me a Pfizer vaccine. It’s the only advantage to having heart disease. Yippee!

 

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British Understatement : 2020, a funny old year

 

Or rather, not funny at all. Certainly not funny ha ha and funny peculiar hardly describes it. But humour is a complicated thing and frequently misunderstood. I tend to spontaneously half gasp, half chuckle when I hear something outrageous or emotionally upsetting as related to me by others talking about their own unfortunate experiences. Surprisingly, no-one has ever found this response disrespectful or upsetting because they recognise my empathy and sense of outrage on their behalf. I reacted strongly because of my sense of unfairness and appreciation of their emotional hurt. Professionally, when I was working, I did a great deal of half chuckling, half gasping, sometimes even laughing out loud. I heard many accounts of emotional suffering, often spoken with sadness and resignation and they were never less than shocking. My responses never caused offence.

And now, in 2020, I’m still unable to stifle grunts, gasps, sharp intakes of breath, groans, sighs and bewildered expressions. I spend a lot of time feeling incredulous and disbelieving. While I’m at it, throw in pained expressions and open-mouthed shock as well.

Am I exaggerating? Of course, but not greatly. The events and behaviour, provoking these reactions are all around. Boris Johnson’s UK and Trump’s America provide countless examples of right-wing cultivation of people’s fears and prejudices which produce unkind, cruel and partisan policies .Both are populist governments heavily reliant on the populations’ deep reservoirs of anger, resentment, xenophobia and sense of betrayal. Lip service is given to the needs and welfare of the community and individual vulnerable groups. Maximum emphasis is placed on loss, damaging cultural change and ethnic groups or countries taking unfair advantage.

Brexit is a prime example in the UK. Another was the UK government’s determination not to fund free school meals for the children whose parents lost income during the pandemic restrictions or would normally be eligible if schools were open. The government, in the first pandemic wave, was responsible for the wholesale neglect of the elderly in care homes which resulted in many thousands of deaths.

The Trump administration demonstrates that absolute power can corrupt absolutely and how the normal checks and balances embedded in a democracy can be found wanting. He has wantonly and effortlessly degraded the office of the President, given succour to racists and the extreme right wing, run rough shod over normal and decent values, crudely whipped up violent and disruptive groups and lies without compunction. Trump is a single individual who has contrived to prove fascism is not only alive and kicking but can also accrue widespread support. A shameful, vicious and extremely embarrassing episode in American politics.

On the positive side, Covid 19 vaccinations are over the horizon, crazy anti vaccinators notwithstanding, and my running is stepping up. Despite my right knee remaining puffy and a tad stiff, I can run every other day. I can do 5k and 9k without obvious problems and I recently did 15k successfully. That means a half marathon is within range and I’ve pre-registered for the Cambridge half which is scheduled for October 2021. I’ve got high hopes that parkrun will recommence by the Spring when the vaccination programme is up and running.

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Last gasp of summer as second covid wave arrives

The little sunflower is still intact but summer in the UK came to an end today with plummeting temperatures and rain in the south. It’s coinciding with an upsurge in positive corona virus infections, a growing increase in hospital admissions, more severe restrictions on social interaction, limiting pub and restaurant opening times and government advice to work from home (again) wherever possible.

It’s pointless to speculate how a Labour government might have managed the impact of covid 19 on society and the economy. We only know and experience how the present Tory incumbents are handling the unprecedented challenges. We know, for example, that substantial lockdown measures were introduced far too late in March, that the Tory government abandoned test and trace measures around the same time and care homes, along with their vulnerable residents, were disasterously left to fend for themselves. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, famously asserted that he had thrown a “protective ring” around the care home sector, a claim that was competely hollow and a willful, cynical misrepresentation.

The government mantra is they are led by the science but the measures they announce to combat the virus are political and with an eye to their popularity.

Governments worldwide are having to manage unprecedented circumstances and formulate contingency plans. In essence, it’s a balance between saving lives and saving the economy. At present, without an effective vaccination available, in any given population, there are loud voices giving  emphasis to personal and family risk while many oppose severe measures because of the resultant loss of economic demand and consequential unemployment.

This UK government has a history of spin, bluster, slick presentation and dependence on feel-good bromides and platitudes. They are massaging the covid statistics and their “NHS”test and trace programme is not fit for purpose. Boris Johnson has the temerity to give it give it the prefix NHS but in reality it should be termed Serco test and trace. Led by Dido Harding, it’s a good example of Tory nepotism as is her appointment.

Currently, the running has come to a dead halt. Until recently I was running 9k every other day and my weak, stiff knee was coping well. Unfortunately I pushed it bit further by adding a 5k session in without sufficient recovery. Result? A painful unrunnable knee. Now having at least a week’s rest. Oh dear! But I can walk. Phew!

 

 

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Covid -Fools rush in where angels fear to tread (where you exert personal choice). Or are obliged to take risks and return to work with inadequate safeguards?

It’s a great advantage being very near to the Emmaus Cambridge community, a charity which accommodates homeless men and women and runs a substantial social enterprise accepting donated goods and selling them in their large store. I picked up this wonky glass flute, just right for this peperomia. Perhaps it’s too near. More than half our furniture came from Emmaus. It’s a good source of everything including books.

I’m running along Mere Way, a Roman Road near my village. This continues to be my current running route and is so much more enjoyable than pavements. Access to it is from a long farm road cul de sac with few cars and occasional large farm machinery. Fairly well used by runners, cyclists and walkers, it’s currently under threat by proposed A10 rerouting plans which would go right through it and the surrounding farm land.. Possibly this might call for militant environmental protest in the future. We’ll see!

My knee injury seems to have improved. I gave cycling up because it was too time consuming and running feels so much more time efficient and natural. I was doing 12k every other day but I found this knocked me out a bit. I am now doing 9k every other day with a 12k occasionally and this seems to work well. My problematic right knee remains a little swollen, and feels stiff initially when I get up but causes no problems when running. So, good result. If I put too much pace in, I do feel it aching at night but not enough to wake me. Additionally, with this running regime I have lost weight, around nine pounds and this has helped my knee.

Of course, the temptation when running is going well is to do more and I have revived an interest in fell running. I have never done this before but the urge to travel to a suitable fell is almost irristable. The nearest would be the Peak District national park, about two hours drive away or the Lake District, about four hours. It goes without saying I would need fell running shoes like Inov8s. At least I would be seen to have the right kit when I break my ankle or my knee snaps in half. For the moment I’ll just watch those very seductive fell race you tube videos.

Indoor plants have taken over the model making at the moment and I like to customise my teraccotta pots.

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We visited the Henry Moore Studios and Gardens in Hertfordshire recently and it was wonderful to see the monumental sculptures in an open grassland setting. The house was shut but most of the outside studio spaces were open and there was plenty of room to socially distance. A beautiful, creative place for thinking and relaxing.

Do say : What a phenomenally talented, innovative man that Henry Moore was.

Don’t say : What the bloody hell does it all mean? He’s an odd fish and no mistake!

Right wingers, Conservatives, Republicans white supremacists, fascists. Oh, and throw in the Christian Right evangelicals (a genuine oxymoron} They are all characterised by xenophobia, homophobia, racism, a fear of loss, anger, a huge sense of their own entitlement being under threat and an overwhelming concern with their class welfare alongside an absence of empathy for society at large, other cultures and vulnerable minorities. It’s a long sentence but could be longer. These people and some groups share these characteristics to a greater or lesser extent. For examples, see any of Trump’s outbursts/tantrums/tweets. For the the UK Tory goverment take the example of how the elderly in the care homes were abandoned by the goverment during the Covid pandemic and died in their thousands. See how the government was forced into a U turn by footballer Marcus Rashford after they were shamed into continuing food vouchers for the poorest families during the school holidays. Or how a Syrian asylum seeker, working in a hospital in East London, made an impassioned plea, on behalf of immigrant NHS workers shockingly excluded from the government’s bereavement compensation scheme and forced to pay a premium to use the hospitals they were risking their lives to keep going. Boris Johnson U turned the next day. Just everyday cruelty courtesy of the Tory party if they can get away with it.