January Update No.3

'Nother little update. I got my passport form all sent off. So hopefully I'll have a nice blue British passport soon. One job ticked off for 2020. Still haven't cracked on with the work of fiction though. Very lazy of me.

Corona Virus

In the wider world we have the Corona Virus doing the rounds in China, apparently. People walking around in face masks and so forth. Though to be fair I haven't seen any face masks as of yet in the UK. In fact, these things always make me acutely aware of the "face mask psychology" - and I do think it's largely a psychological crutch. (Surely denying yourself fresh air and wearing a damp, breath-soaked mask outweighs the benefits of any protection offered when wearing one out and about?)

The practice seems very commonplace in the East, but not so common in the West. I always wonder if this is a sign that people in East Asia are more impressed upon by their media and institutions.

In the West, whenever we see these "outbreaks" in the media there's a mini panic. Lasting a few days. A panic that most people completely ignore, but that some get swept up in. Meaning they may start taking extra precautions - buying face masks, hand washes, maybe avoiding crowded places altogether. However, it passes pretty quickly and the big "fear factor" is relatively short lived. It seems to me though that people in the East are continually in that "precautionary" state. I've even seen oriental people walking around the UK in face masks over the years. It's like a weird hypochondria - though I may be missing the significance and value in some way.

Labour Leadership

In the normal world we also have the race for Labour leadership. I have no idea how the process works, so I'm not in a position to make any predictions. It's interesting to follow though and I suspect whoever wins there could be interesting implications. Keir Starmer seems odds-on favourite with the bookies. With Rebecca Long-Bailey second and Lisa Nandy third.

Personally I intuitively prefer Rebecca Long-Bailey and feel she would be the best choice, but I'm not massively invested either way. I think if she loses there'll be a lot of homeless people on the political left though. So that will inevitably lead to something in a knock-on sort of way.