Increasingly Positive Propaganda

I spent this morning going back through the UK Prime Minster Twitter account to download all the little Coronavirus graphics. Quite an odd thing to do I know, but I'd noticed over the last week or so that some of them have been quite arty. Obviously the Stay Home and Stay Alert campaigns have become a big part of our lives over recent months. Whether we've wanted them to or not. So thinking ahead I'm imagining that at some point in the future (assuming we have any sort of normal future ahead of us) that these images will acquire a certain iconic allure. Much like some of the propaganda images from World War II and other eras.

(A mosaic showing some of the images from May)

It's also quite striking how different in tone the more recent ones have been in comparison to the earlier ones. Back in March the warnings from government were quite stark and stern. It was very depressing seeing them pop up at the time. Especially for someone like me on the anti-lock down side of the argument. However, the more recent ones have been much more charming and playful.

(A stark image from the 29th of March)

(A somewhat sunnier one from the 23rd of May)

Quite a contrast. There's also a noticeable improvement in aesthetic quality.

I wonder, is it a little in-house government department that knocks these things up? Or do they just hire private advertising agencies? I have no idea. Either way I hope the people responsible keep the gig for future things. Hopefully things that are a bit more positive. Like promoting post-Brexit Britain maybe :)

(As I've been posting this one popped up.)

Another nice and colourful one.

Hotting Up

Another extremely warm day. I'm tired too :( I got sidetracking into arguing with people on Twitter again over lock down 😄 It's truly incredible how much time that consumes. I think it was about four o'clock when I finally went to bed. What a life.

The other big news at the moment is the rioting in the US. I find it quite sickening seeing how much these things are being deliberately stirred up. I hope it's something that dies down pretty quickly, but if this is a continuing trend then it's a big worry. I might have to start spending some time on Twitter arguing about that.

..the heat (!!!!)

Also, and this is completely idle speculation here, I've been wondering about the climate a little bit. Thanks to the virus we shut down so much travel and industry that it massively reduced our pollution output (we can all remember the images and news reports). With it being so repressively hot these last few days it got me thinking; perhaps there could be some unpredicted consequence of this. A butterfly effect type thing.

Of course, every summer we always say "wow, it's so hot ...I don't remember it being this bad, EVER!". It's human nature. So I'm sure everything's perfectly normal and dandy.

It is interesting though. Every year we pump out tonnes of pollutants. It's the natural state of things (however bad you may deem it) and it's gradually developed to this point over decades. Now all of a sudden we've shut things down for months on end. If the human impact on climate really is as pronounced as is claimed then it's not unreasonable to wonder at the impact this may have. Our instinct, based on our self-flagellation over our horrible impact on the Earth, is to see it as a positive thing. We're giving nature a little break from our bad behaviour. However, what if nature has grown used to our ways. Now all of a sudden we're giving things a little jolt in the other direction.

It reminds me a little of The Day the Earth Caught Fire. Great movie. Perhaps I may watch it again as I sweat away in this heat.

Political Footballs

I'm super-tired ..oh, the heat. It's been a ridiculously warm day today. However, I've just been thinking about something that's perhaps worth noting, so I feel I better get it down while it's fresh (the only thing that is fresh).

Anyways, the Premier League has announced a return date for its football (17th June). Great news. This also means that fpl - Fantasy Premier League that is - should be back too. This is something I play and also blog about. I find it quite a nice little excursion from the more serious newsy stuff I focus on here and elsewhere (at least that was the case until Covid came along).

So, to try to not get too bogged down, this is the thing; there's quite a large online community surrounding fpl. In fact, it has millions of players worldwide. Now though I play and make fpl content I generally keep myself to myself and refrain from interacting with this wider community. I watch their YouTube channels and follow a few accounts on Twitter, but I always make sure not to contact or interact with them. This is largely just out of respect. A lot of my online output is a little controversial (politics, conspiracies - not to mention odd memes and other crap). So I feel it would be unfair to taint their world with mine. All these guys focus solely on fpl. For some it's their main job, for others it's maybe a semi-profession or hobby they've invested a lot of time in. So either way it's their overriding interest.

Of course, when you do make money doing something like this then sponsors and larger employers come into the equation. So being controversial or associated with controversial people and ideas can have negative implications. Due to this factor I keep my distance. Knowing that they'd either rather not interact with me at all as they have the common sense and self-interest to stay away from "controversial" troublemakers. Or that they'd willingly and kindly interact, but that it might have some adverse effect on them further down the road. They may get tarred for being associated with "a conspiracy theorist" or something like that. Heck, they may end up even becoming a conspiracy theorist listening to me 😅 So I always feel it's not really fair to intrude into their space. It's a bit like going into someone's workplace and causing trouble. So I don't do it. This does mean that my little fpl blog wallows in obscurity though.

Anyway, today.. 

..as English football is coming back I did a little blog post about it. In the past I've actually kept my fpl blog exclusively for fpl. All football, no politics. A firewall hiding my political opinions from anyone that does consume my fpl content. However, when the lock down kicked in I did do a few posts criticising it, and basically stating how bad it is for football and civil liberties in general. I did it knowing that it would make me even more of a black sheep - not that many people actually read the blog posts anyway. However, my conscience kicked in. So I felt I had to pollute the football world with my unpopular opinions. There were bigger things at play.

When I returned today I tried to draw a line under all this, and get back to "just the football". However, it got me thinking about how wrong this whole situation is. When I thought about the professional fpl players - the YouTubers, bloggers and whatnot - it occurred to me. Actually, they are very political. They often promote all sorts of political issues. They're just always issues that are verified by the mainstream. Be it discussing mental health issues, promoting LGBT+ causes, and so on and so forth. In fact, one of the guys I follow on Twitter (a very intelligent young guy who posts some truly great fpl content) also often posts lots of "remain" and "anti-Tory" type stuff. Of course, that's all acceptable. You can't get ostracised or lose your job or income for posting that sort of political content online.

What struck me the most when I thought about it all though was not simply the unfairness, but also the actual consequences of this situation. In Hong Kong at the moment, as we speak, people are losing their rights and being sucked ever further into the Chinese totalitarian state. Now I'm sure the issues on the ground there are complex and not all one-sided, but nevertheless freedoms are most certainly being eroded. Yet few in the west are speaking out about this. This is no doubt because it's "the wrong type of issue to be talking about". We have a culture and business environment where certain opinions are not supposed to be discussed, and may even result in complete career termination. Generally this means anything that's deemed on "the right", though it's not always quite as clearly delineated as that.

In this particular case it's; the British Empire is bad, therefore being pro-Hong Kong is bad, and by virtue of the "empire" overtones a little bit racist too ..and that slight and completely illogical perception of "racism" will be enough to make it unacceptable in the workplace. So you can champion say an Antifa or climate change protest in the workplace, but not a Hong Kong protest.

(Hong Kong Earth flag - I'm

just going to do this with everything)

Given the situation in Hong Kong, and in the world in general, perhaps we need to start changing this ..and sharpish. As it seems we're completely failing to defend our core values both here and around the world. So I'm now wondering do we need to start pushing back against this "career termination" type censorship more aggressively. Is it time that I and others stopped being so worried about politicising things which are already clearly very politicised anyway?

And is there a way to do this that doesn't simply come across as confrontational?

Organic Clown Chaos

It's starting to feel like Britain has reactivated organic clown chaos. This sounds bad - if the phrase even makes any sense xD - however I think it's a good thing.

During the endless Brexit saga we had this 'clownish' situation in Britain that looked like total political chaos. Leading to a constant refrain from people that went something along these lines:

"Britain is an embarrassment, what must the rest of the world think of us?!" *shocked and angry face*

Essentially the observation that there was no leadership, no organisation, no common purpose ..and that this was a bad thing.

(A clown country; how Britain's

detractors view Britain)

As I've noted on here before though. Britain, with our very old democracy and our vague, but deep rooted notions of individual liberty, don't operate (or suit) a fully top down system. Things happen more organically here. There are lots of voices. Lots of chitchat. In fact, I can hear the birds in the trees chattering away as I type this, which might be a good analogy. It's noisy. We kind of work things out through a massive family discussion. Often quite a heated one.

I've compared it to the digestive system digesting food before. We digest political crises. It looks messy, but something's going on. There's a process, but it's too nebulous for any one person to fully understand it. The election just gone is a good example. We had three years of "chaos" following the Brexit referendum, but we eventually reached a point where we'd discerned the will of the nation and a direction forward. For all the "chaos" there was no violence or riots during that period. It was all quite peaceful - much more peaceful than in many "less chaotic" countries. It's a good, and very natural system. At least in my opinion.

Now it seems we're back in full clown mode. We've had this politicised flu virus thrown at us. Through no real fault of our own. Lo and behold we now also have the EU offering another "two year extension" to the transition period. So we have another huge crisis on our doorstep.

We've taken our time to get to grips with all this, but it feels like we're finally beginning to click back into gear. This lock down has went completely against our normal instincts. We're "doing so badly" because this isn't really our natural game. We're suffering because of this, and will no doubt continue to suffer. It's hard to say what will happen next, but the fact that we seem to be re-entering the kind of vibrancy that we saw during the Brexit saga gives me hope. Perhaps if the world continues heading towards "organised" totalitarianism people in other countries might start seeing some of the benefits of our more organic "clown" approach.

Getting my ducks in a row

Last night I was going through some of my posts from the last month or so. Trying in a sense to collate, or just re-familiarise myself with some of the anti-lockdown arguments I've been making. Getting my ducks in a row so to speak.

I think it's important to get on the front foot with these things, and to be able to state and espouse your core values. I see more and more people coming out against lock down - which is great. However, they always tend to be on the back foot, which is understandable given the situation. Trying to justify why lock down isn't needed rather than trying to make their opponents justify why it is.

The classic one is getting locked into arguments about the data (I've found myself in this situation too). You say "but the death rate of this virus is just 0.3%, we don't need lock down measures." Which is good, but it also implies that there is a percentage rate at which these measures become necessary. So if the data changes (can much of it even be trusted?) you then look like you're backtracking. You put your eggs in the "low percentage" basket, now that percentage is moving higher you're going to look like you're moving the goalposts if you then refuse to concede that lock down is justified.

So I've been trying to hone core arguments. I've been calling it "the small pox test", i.e. could I make this argument in a small pox outbreak. Of course, I'm using small pox simply because it has a high death rate, I've no real idea how that disease spreads. So it might not be the perfect choice. You get the meaning though. Could I make this argument in the face of scary data?

Locking down entire countries and regions is so clumsy and soviet. Especially when you're locking down healthy people and sacrificing so many other things - including lives lost due to other things. So I always like to ask the people advocating draconian measures;

"Is this really the most intelligent solution you can come up with?"

Put the onus on them.

This Brutal Lock Down

Over the last day or so I've been quite conscious of the human aspect to all this. People not being able to see dying loved ones. People that have died because they haven't been able to access healthcare the way they would in normal times. The cascade of stories on social media, coupled with stories from everyday life creating quite a familiar picture by now.

Normally I don't like to get too personal or sentimental. It's not really my style and tone. However, I think I'm duty bound to comment on this stuff. To give one example from my own everyday experience. My uncle's friend died of pancreatic cancer a month or so ago. He died with no friends and family beside him. When his sister received the death certificate it had Covid-19 down as a co-factor. Even though it was clearly just the cancer that killed him. She wasn't too happy.

This is pretty brutal stuff. A basic lack of humanity.

Of course, I'm against the lock down anyway, but even so. Even if I thought some of these measures were necessary I could never stoop to removing the rights of relatives to see their dying loved ones. How can we be so insensitive to this? Isn't showing respect for the recently deceased a basic cornerstone of all civilisation?

I worry this will brutalise society. When you start forcing people to be so cold it will inevitably harden people. When people can't express due emotion towards their closest family members how insensitive will they become towards strangers? We're even hearing stories of politicians and other public figures that have forgone seeing dying parents, grandparents and other relatives because of this. If we're not careful we'll end up with a class of very cold, calculating people.

For normal people this experience will just leave them broken, angry and distraught. They had no real choice in whether they saw their dying relatives or not. They didn't choose to take this route.

..but the politicians and other leaders opted for this. They calculated that this was an acceptable price to pay as part of the pursuit of some 'greater good'. If we don't reflect and turn back from this I fear where we'll end.

Strange Days

Well I said get the popcorn. It's been an interesting last day or so. There isn't really much point in relaying everything, it's all over the news anyway (at least in the UK that is). Yesterday we had the media going hell for leather after Dominic Cummings. Today a Cummings press conference in the rose garden of No. 10.

It's been interesting to watch. I've learnt a lot ..mainly that I don't know as much as I thought I did. What the hell is going on and what comes next I have no idea.

It was strangely satisfying watching Boris not sack Cummings yesterday though. The press were in a right tizz over that. I enjoyed it. However, I enjoyed it with the nagging feeling that there may be more going on than meets the eye and that perhaps I shouldn't be getting too sucked in to the whole pantomime.

p o p c o r n

I've no idea what's going on now. Time to just sit back with the popcorn I think. We now have people on the right of the Tory scene (can I call it a scene? I can't think of a better word) calling for Dominic Cummings to go. Steve Baker, possibly the most vocal MP criticising the lock down, is now openly stating that he should be sacked or resign.

Baker was highly reluctant to pass the Coronavirus legislation that went through parliament a few months back ..and quite emotionally so.

It was a little disturbing watching this at the time. On face value he's probably the politician that has been closest to my own position on all this. At least of those visible in the media. So my natural inclination is to take his side if we're going just on the policies. However, as I noted yesterday, I do like Dominic Cummings. In spite of my opposition to this whole lock down nightmare.

It reminds me very much of all the Brexit rumblings. Where we had the pro-leave Tories unhappy with the May government and constantly plotting and trying to pull government into line. My feeling back then was that the hard leavers were correct (i.e. I agreed with their core aims and values) but that they lacked cunning and foresight. Or rather, at times they weren't pragmatic enough. Who am I to make such a judgement though, so far removed from things. Again, probably why it's best I just sit back, acknowledge I have no real idea what's going on behind the scenes, and get the popcorn.

I do always wonder though; what's the plan? We always see calls in the media for people to go. "This person must resign!", etc. However, we rarely get any real discussion or indication about what follows. If Cummings goes what do we then have? Who comes in? How does it affect policy?

In regard Brexit there seems to be an endless supply of Remainers in politics, but a finite supply of Leavers. So I'd always be reluctant to lose people. It's a long way until the next election too, so the pool of politicians we have is limited until that time as well. Hopefully, given that the Conservatives have an 80 seat majority, the parliament is chock-full of real, conviction Brexiteers. However, this is politics and these are politicians. So it's always foolish to be optimistic.

Dominic Stayings I Think

It feels like we're back in standard politics today. Dominic Cummings coming under fire for visiting his parents in Durham whilst under lock down. We have the usual left/right back and forth. With people now calling for Boris to fire him, and #DominicGoings trending on Twitter. Personally I like Dominic Cummings, even though I'm on the opposite side to the government over this lock down. In fact, this morning I was reminded of the doodlings I was doing of him last Halloween amidst the Brexit furore.

(scary stuff ! )

However, I have to say he has been a bit hypocritical here. There have been arguments back and forth over whether he technically transgressed the law. Either way though the spirit of the law. The unholy spirit of lock down which decries everyone as a potential murderer for even the slightest indulgence. Was definitely in breach. I see a lot of people on the Brexit side defending him to the hilt, but if it was someone on the other side of the aisle they wouldn't quite have the same sympathy I suspect. So I think the criticism is probably fair, if a bit hysterical.

Do I think he should be fired though? Definitely not, and hope he stays and the issue blows over.

My suspicion is that he will stay. He has his friend Michael Gove firmly in his corner, who's very central to the running of government at the moment. The media are clearly out to get Cummings though, as they seem to have been for months now, so I doubt the issue will blow over anytime soon if they do choose to stay the storm.

VCRs and Digital Hermitages

A few things today, or rather tonight (it's the early hours of the morning). Firstly I'm wondering if texting is making this generation more literate. I have a pet theory that states that widespread literacy is the product of technology not teaching. Or in effect that the advent of the printing press gave rise to the mass availability of literature. Which in turn led people to take it upon themselves to learn how to read (usually in an organic or informal way) in order to enjoy and consume these newly available products.

I've compared it to learning how to use a mobile phone or VCR. Things that can be quite complicated to use for those unfamiliar, but which people nevertheless pick up quite naturally without the need for formal lessons. They want the benefits of this technology so they learn organically as they do whatever it is they want to do with it. Be it messaging someone, watching a movie, playing a video game, etc.

(VCR is quite an old reference isn't it 😄 It's such a natural one to reach for though as growing up it was so common to see older people struggle with the things.)

Anyway, I've been messaging friends and family members much more during the lock down. One of my nephews isn't the most enthusiastic about school. He seems to take pride in getting into mischief. I was a little worried about his education. However, I've noticed his grammar is fairly decent in his messaging - minus the text speak and acronyms. No different to many of the adults I message in fact 😅

Things like texting tend to get a bad rap, but I'm thinking that perhaps they actually help. Off the top of my head I can't think of any major aspect of my non-school life as a child that involved a lot of written communication. Computer games not so much. TV zero. Sports nada. You tended to communicate with your friends in person. With messaging though you are actually communicating with the written word and constructing sentences. So I do wonder. It would be interesting to see what impact things like mobile phones have in places where literacy is generally low, like parts of Africa.

The second thing..

The second thing I was going to mention is I guess slightly related. Earlier I was thinking about how people are self-isolating and it reminded me of hermitages. People secluding themselves away from other people. It's all very medieval. I jokingly mentioned on Twitter that perhaps everyone should have the right to their own little hermitage. That way they can isolate themselves from everyone else, for years if need be, then they'll have no excuse for demanding that others do the same.

"...but you don't need to lock other people up, you have the option of a hermitage. You can self-isolate there for as long as you wish. We'll welcome you back into society when you feel ready."

Of course, I'm joking, but we are in uncharted waters at the moment. I'm beginning to feel like a hermit myself. Such behaviour changes can't not have some impact on the mindset of society you'd think. There'll surely have to be some kind of spiritual lilt to it all as well.

As above though, in today's hermitages we're also communicating with people digitally. So that changes the dynamic a bit. We now have digital hermitages I suppose.

On a further note, though I'll finish it here, I'm also thinking this could tie in with the idea of living space rights. The digital hermitage, the pod, the home.

Fear Without Faith

It occurs to me that a lot of the hyper-fear surrounding the Coronavirus partly stems from the general lack of faith in society. I saw an image on Twitter just over half an hour ago showing a school library where the books had been taped over. Literally cordoned off like a crime scene. It's quite insane. I can't help but think the people doing these things have a serious lack of faith. They seem to be so scared of death that they can't enjoy the bigger picture of life.

Personally, for what it's worth, I'm agnostic. At least that's my official position anyway. I feel that there's more to life. That there's some higher meaning to it all. I even pray sometimes. However, I also recognise that I can't really prove any of this. To myself, let alone to other people. The belief I have that there is some greater meaning does inform my decisions and helps me in my life though.

I would hate not to have this. It must be awful to have a materialistic worldview that only sees the mechanics and minutiae of life. In fact, I know it's awful to have this worldview because it's a worldview I used to hold. As a child I was a total atheist. My parents weren't especially religious nor fundamentally non-religious. So I largely got to make up my own mind, though no doubt I was influenced in numerous subtle ways by my surroundings. When I was then introduced to Christianity at school as a small child I quickly threw the baby out with the bathwater. Much of it just seemed silly and irrational, so I deemed all of it silly and irrational. Though looking back I think I did absorb a lot of the morality weirdly.

It was only much later as I got older that I cottoned on; proving something is impossible in this reality doesn't discount the idea that there may be things beyond this reality.

Or rather. Science and rational logic may tell us that it's impossible for a man to speak to angels, or for some other miraculous event to occur. However, that doesn't disprove the idea of God. The laws of science may govern this reality we find ourselves in, but we can't prove, nor disprove, that there's nothing beyond this reality we're experiencing. So agnosticism becomes the rational position. Though again, as with myself, I think it's fine for an individual to have a bias towards one side or the other. As long as it's recognised that ultimately it can't be proved either way.

Moving on a little.

It's a beautiful day outside, the Sun is shining, the birds are singing. I may feel like I'm having a "meaningful" experience, but can I prove it's meaningful? Whether to myself simply on some emotional or experiential level, or, to go further, in a wider "spiritual sense". If I can't prove it should I then throw that intuitive feeling out, and make myself immune to all such "feelings" in the future? Surely my experience and enjoyment of life would be much lessened were I to do that. In fact, how can I even prove it's a beautiful day? Do I measure the Sun's temperature, count the number of birds singing, then calculate the beauty in someway?

I feel that people towards the atheistic end of the spectrum tend to dissect their experience of life to death. Missing the big picture by focusing on the smaller aspects of it. Looking to understand the whole by focusing on and extrapolating from the narrow. Not seeing the wood for the trees so to speak.

I've went on a bit, much longer than I planned, but I guess I feel that the focus on Coronavirus to the exclusion of all else is a bit like this. The fear of death is completely ruining the enjoyment of life.

Earth Flagged

Post number two. A few weeks back I was brainstorming ideas concerning my fresh air and liberty plans. You may remember I came up with a flag consisting of two halves - blue on top, green below. Symbolising the horizon. Green fields and blue skies. In keeping with the natural theme.

This morning, half-jokingly, I was thinking out loud that it could be an earth flag. For all the peoples of the Earth. I'm still not too keen on the actual shades of green and blue though. It looks very gaudy.

I then attempted to scratch one together with actual scenery. A palette to aim for.

(very much better ..when I get the funds for

world domination I'll remove the watermarks)

I then added to British flag to make a revamped Commonwealth flag.

(come to think of it the watermark

gives it a nice meme aesthetic)

All joking aside I actually genuinely quite like this. I think I've found my standard.

I've tried to change the flag to these colours, but it's not quite the same when you don't have the natural richness of the colour gradients.

Certainly more tolerable than the one at the top though.

..slowly but surely I'm developing a vision for the coming century :)

Clement Cemeteries

Two posts today. Both picture themed. I'll start with the photographs.

Since the beginning of lock down I've been forced to make the most of the local scenery. Trying to find new curiosities to look at as I go out for my daily, self-isolating walks. A favourite haunt of mine has been Eston Cemetery. This is a beautiful cemetery, a decent length walk away from where I live. (I'll share some of the pictures I took a month or so ago at the bottom of the page.) It's an old cemetery, so it has lots of picturesque well-worn gravestones. Plus, as Christianity was more of a thing for the average person back then, there are also lots of carved angels and crucifixes and other bits of Christian iconography. Likewise there are quite a few masonic style obelisks dotted about. So along with all the trees and squirrels it's quite a nice little scenic detour.

However, what I'm primarily posting about today is not that cemetery, but one closer to home. There are two little cemetery plots on my estate - the dreaded Thorntree - literally about five minutes walk away. I've walked past these cemeteries a million times, but had never been in or paid a great deal of attention to them. They're much newer (the housing estate only really being built after the war), so the graves are much more formal. Just rows of slabs that no doubt mean a great deal to the family members of the people buried there, but that aren't especially interesting to the average passerby. In essence it doesn't quite have that old graveyard feel. Everything is too fresh and personal.

Anyhow, I had a wander round about a week back, mainly pressed by lock down boredom, and found them to be surprisingly pleasant little places. So yesterday I took a few pictures.

Interestingly there's also a large plot in one of the two cemeteries for Muslim graves. This is a very white, working class part of town, so I was surprised by this. I wanted to take some pictures of that section too, but there were some families visiting graves and I was worried they might be a little offended. In fact, my first thought was that they might think I was some kind of white nationalist photographing it all as evidence of some Muslim invasion or something. Which is quite sad really.

Maybe I might get a few pictures to add to the ones below next time I visit.

(click to enlarge)

(this one was ruined slightly by the Tesco bag

under the hedge on the left - typical Thorntree)

Now below the pictures from Eston Cemetery. You can see the oldy-ness by comparison.

fini.

[Update: after penning the article I went to get a few more pics. Beautifully sunny day out there. I got a few pictures of the Muslim part of the cemetery. Again, I didn't like to intrude too much and film the gravestones in detail, though some were beautifully ornate. I did capture the nice little placard type thing.

I also got another pic of the little, nicely-framed Jesus statue - this time sans the Tesco carrier bag.

The Student Economy

I'm in a much better mood today :) I ended up having quite a busy day yesterday and getting a fair bit done. So I feel like I'm in the ascendancy. As for the current corona situation I tend to be thinking more locally at the moment. I really worry for the town where I live. The university plays a huge roll in the local economy. So if that doesn't kick back into gear in the autumn then that alone will make a huge dent. What with all the students from around the country, and from abroad, not being here to spend their money on the high street and in the bars and clubs. I don't think people realise how much of a problem this will be. It's quite a sizeable chunk of the population to remove. So even if businesses do reopen the demand will be completely deflated.

Still though, I'm in a good mood, so I won't be letting it worry me too much today.

Slow Day in the News Room

I have so little to write today. The politics is beginning to bore me a little. In fact, a lot. I'm back to taking an interest in other things now. It seems negligent to turn away from politics given how serious the overall situation is at the moment. How can you just sit back and read a book when the whole nation has its rights stripped? ..but it is just getting so dull. I've just clicked on the BBC News homepage and the headline is that loss of taste and smell has now been added to the official list of Coronavirus symptoms. It's just endless drivel. My only hope now is that everyone else gets as bored of all this as I am. I think it's the only way out. I really can't see any hope of us reasoning ourselves out of this.

Actually, scratch all that. I'm being incredibly negative aren't I. I shouldn't really paste my current mood on the overall situation. There are actually quite a lot of good people beginning to speak some common sense. So there is much room for hope. I think what's annoying me is that we're beginning to reach the stage where the informational dam is bursting and the mainstream media are allowing more critical voices to appear. Which in turn means people who get all their information from the mainstream media are now becoming aware of things you were trying to explain to them two months ago.

Yesterday a family member told me I should check out Lord Sumption's criticism of the lock down. As they'd just seen it on TV. However, when I'd asked them to read the very same Lord Sumption's criticism two months ago they wouldn't even hear me out amidst the mass hysteria. Looking at me like I was some type of "conspiracy loon" at the time. Now it's on TV suddenly it's validated and my pleas from weeks earlier are conveniently forgotten and completely erased from history.

Of course, it's great that the tide has turned a little. It's good that people are now beginning to hear the other side of the argument. It's so frustrating though, and doesn't bode well for any future reoccurrence of a situation like this. As again many will just follow the media line without thought.

Football Is Back

I actually watched some live football yesterday. Yes, the German Bundesliga is back. Albeit behind closed doors. I missed the first game but caught the later one, which was Eintracht Frankfurt vs Mönchengladbach. It was strangely reassuring seeing people actually play sport again. Obviously it's not quite the same without the crowd, but still, it's a step in the right direction. Two more games today now :) So thank you Germany.

Hopefully the Premier League will follow suit shortly.

How Much Would You Pay Me To Wear A Face Mask?

I've been thinking about the "wearing a mask" issue. I saw some footage of a woman in New York getting some quite heavy handed treatment from police for not wearing one earlier. It was not good to watch.

Normally in a free society we only force people to do things like this as an absolute last resort, and even then we should ideally only do it for the minimum amount of time and with the maximum amount of oversight. That's definitely not the case at the moment though.

In a free society there are a number of avenues we can exhaust before we even begin to think about going down the compulsion route. If we want another person to do something that they don't want to do we can:

• ask them - politely ideally :)
• try to persuade them, with appeals to emotion or reason
• give them incentives
• pay them outright

Those last two haven't even been mentioned as far as I'm aware so far. Whether it be in relation to masks or any of the other incursions into our daily liberties. Countries, even western countries, seem to be just jumping straight to compulsion.

Fortunately masks haven't became compulsory in the UK ..yet. If they do become required wearing though I'm thinking of using 'option 4' from the above list to challenge the idea. I need to work through my thinking though to make sure my argument is watertight. I don't want to go into battle on Twitter and leave myself wide open to attack :)

(What incredible art.

I think I might start selling these T-shirts)

I'm thinking it'll go a little like this.

Someone states masks should be compulsory. I then state that normally we exhaust the above options in a free society before we move to the force of law, then I ask;

"How much would you be prepared to pay me to wear a mask? Either directly yourself or through taxation."

I'm sure the initial reaction will be to dismiss the idea as ridiculous. I can then move on to state that if wearing masks in public is so effective then surely it's worth the money "..even if it just saves one life" - as they say. If they then state that it isn't worth the money I can then reply that it can't be that effective then, otherwise it would be deemed worth paying for. I can also then accuse them of weighing up the cost versus the risk - i.e. of putting a price on the "lives lost". Something they themselves constantly chastise other people for.

I'm also expecting the emotional type responses; "Why should YOU get paid to wear a mask?" or "Why are you being so selfish, wanting to profit from a crisis?". However, these are easy to knock back too. As I can just remind them that I personally don't think wearing a mask in public is beneficial. In fact, quite the opposite. So if they want me to do something that I don't want to do, nor believe is right, then the onus is on them to get me, and others like me, to acquiesce to their desires ..and that in a free society they should be doing that within the law. Not by trashing people's basic rights.

The one hole I can see so far is the problem with practically implementing such a system. They'd be entitled to say; "how would that even work? how would you make sure people were actually even wearing the mask?". So I'd need a nice easy system to make it practicable. A simple way would be if the government paid everyone 'x amount a week' for wearing a mask. Then anyone caught not wearing one in public would simply lose that pay. Anyone not wanting to wear a mask full stop could just not wear one and say "I don't care about the money".

The only minor problem here is that it would mean police and others checking the mask wearing would have to ask non-mask wearers for their details in order to cross them off the payment list so to speak. Which would be a minor civil infringement. However, it would at least be preferable to being stopped and fined or arrested for not wearing a mask under compulsion.

Such a payment system would obviously be a total waste of money (at least in my opinion), but that would be the point. If you think it has value then pay for it. If it doesn't have that much value then leave me alone and stop infringing my civil liberties.

Finally, there's also the added argument that the compulsory system costs money too. As with the example at the beginning, where it took a group of cops to deal with a single woman not wearing a mask. How much does it cost to enforce such a law, what with police, courts and paperwork, etc? Even if it's a small percentage of people refusing. So paying people to do it instead of forcing people would not be so different even in that regard. In fact, it would be interesting to see just how much you would need to pay people to get the number of people wearing one up to say 95% of the population. Or whatever number was desired.

I'm not going to say what my price is :)

The Great Leveller, Sort Of..

Was it yesterday or the day before that I was talking about "virtual" parliaments relegating politicians down to our level? It's getting so hard to keep track of time. I'm now not even sure how many weeks we are into lock down. Is there any point even checking?

Either way I've been watching numerous pundits on podcasts in a similar "virtual" situation, and by pundits this time I'm meaning the sort of people you often get working for think tanks, or writing for broadsheet newspapers. Some of whom I quite admire. However, they look so impotent sat in their front rooms or home offices speaking into their little mics. Just like regular YouTubers.

I can't help but think that it makes the whole country weaker. Everyone, even people that once had a bit of gravitas, sat relegated to their rooms grounded. With little control over the situation. They're too much like me, it's not right lol

Of course you could make the argument that this is a great leveller, and normally I would think that way. However, it's hardly level when there are a few at the top locking everyone else up. It's levelling the middle and upper-middle classes with everyone else, but the ever centralised decision-making class at the top are now even more unassailable.

We need our civil liberties back asap.

The Neil Ferguson model of austerity.

We're starting to see more conversations about how all this will be paid for now. This morning we're seeing claims that local councils will have to make 20% cuts to services due to the lock down unless the government steps in to fill that black hole too. You can never be sure how accurate these claims are of course, but common sense tells you the overall price has to be fairly hefty.

I don't want to start making outlandish claims about the carnage that will come; "Millions will die because of lock down austerity!" In a way you're just falling into the same hysteria that led to the outlandish coronavirus numbers. The Neil Ferguson model of austerity. So I'm trying to be measured. It does worry me when I look at what's happening though.

(I'm predicting 23.4 billion deaths)

We're mothballing entire high streets and other "non-essential" services, with people thinking we can just switch these things back on like a light switch when we do decide to reopen.

Reality generally doesn't work like that though. For example, if you take a house on a street. This is a common example we've all witnessed. If people move out and the place becomes empty for a while then the longer it remains empty the more the problems will rack up. If it's empty for a few weeks then it won't be too bad. If it's empty for six months then the problems become apparent. The garden becomes overgrown. Theft and vandalism take their toll - especially in a poorer area. The elements take their effect. Particularly so in the winter when pipes freeze over or damp on the walls gets out of hand as there's no one in the house using the central heating.

In short, if you don't have a human being in a property maintaining and guarding it then it slowly falls into ruin. Again, we've all seen the odd derelict, eyesore house on a road that no one wants to buy because it's simply not worth the cost to fix it up.

We're now in the process of doing that to entire high streets. The same effects will naturally take their toll ..and you can probably add to that the rats and mice that will now be having a party in many of these buildings. Most notably restaurants and other properties that may still have stores of food on the premises.

And that's if these businesses do actually survive this and return to fix the mess.

Back To Westminster

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he wants MPs to return to Westminster as soon as possible. This is good news. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Obviously many of the Labour Lock Downers are now stating how "dangerous" this is and that they should continue to "work from home". This inspires two thoughts in me. Firstly, the necessity for choice in all things regarding this lock down. Give everyone a choice. If you want to stay home, stay home. We'll make it easy for you to do that. However, do not stop other people from going out and getting on with their lives. I'd happily apply this to Westminster too. It'll soon illustrate what politicians and which system is most effective. The voters can then judge.

The second thing that occurs to me is this. If politicians are happy to relegate themselves to talking heads on a TV screen then they're perhaps setting in motion something that will radically change things for good ..and not to their personal benefit I would imagine. It takes quite a knack to be engaging on a TV screen. Just look at YouTube. It's not easy to stand out. So stripping back the gravitas that comes with speaking in a prestigious building. In front of an audience. Perhaps in a nicely tailored suit. Then you end up with a situation where politicians are visually on the same level as everyone else sat at home in front of their laptop.

I think back to the European elections last year when Carl Benjamin, aka Sargon of Akkad, stood as a UKIP candidate. He's an excellent YouTuber - not that I agree with everything he says of course. However, he's very good at what he does. He's engaging. That's why so many people watch him. So I would suspect that a few years of "virtual" parliament would then make it easier for people like him to get their foot in the door, were they to stand again.

In effect the disadvantage of "not looking like a serious politician" would be removed. As the politicians would now look more like you.

Orange Pip, Orange Tree

Today I'm just going to fire off a quick post. At the start of the lock down, when many people were talking about "growing their own food", I was inspired to plant a few orange seeds. I was literally just eating an orange, or satsuma type thing (absolutely no idea), and as I was removing the pips and reading about other people's food growing plans, I thought why not plant 'em.

So I got a few little jars, added some soil, and popped them in there. Completely in hope rather than expectation. Just to see what would happen, if anything. I didn't even bother looking up how to grow them, or even if they would grow. Again, I didn't even pay attention to what type of orange it was.

Anyhow, yesterday I noticed a little green shoot in one of the jars. Given that we had the announcement of a minor relaxation of the lock down just the night before I felt this was quite fitting. Symbolic maybe. This in turn then reminding me of the symbolism of Orange Trees. Particularly in regard William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution. The Orange Tree was actually used as a symbol after this event, being displayed on medals. With the Orange Tree often shown supplanting an Oak Tree - the symbol of the Stuart dynasty. Another great symbolic British image.

Thinking further upon that it then occurred to me that I should really learn a bit more about that period. So this morning I'm going to spend some time reading about the Bill of Rights 1689. Which I'll start doing straight after I've posted this.

(The little shoot)

(..and overshadowed by one of my

Spider Plants)

Time To Become Visionary

After the very mild loosening of the lock down restrictions announced yesterday I saw many people on the left threatening essentially strike action. Stating; "people can't go back to work, it's not safe enough! we must organise resistance". Being against the lock down my first response was to chastise them. However, that got me thinking. "Back to work" is never going to appeal to people on the left. It sounds too much like the status quo, and people on the left generally aren't happy with that. They want something better. Some progress.

This ain't anything new of course. It's the standard dichotomy in politics. Conservatives want to conserve. The left want revolutionary change. It's quite easy to forget this though when you find yourself entrenched on one side of an argument. As I've found myself on this lock down issue.

So I'm now thinking that as I continue my organic political schema I need to make sure I offer a vision. So that it isn't just simply a defence of our all important rights and freedoms. It'll be hard to marry both impulses though.

Labour Losing Muslims

Also, given that I'm planning on stealing left-leaning Labour voters it's perhaps worth mentioning this article I came across yesterday.

Over 100 mosques threaten to boycott Labour over Kashmir

Obviously I'm no expert on the Kashmir situation. So I have no real idea where the blame lies - it seems complicated. Perhaps I should buck my ideas up and actually do some research. Either way though I only share it as it looks like a harbinger of something I feared would happen were Labour to go the Starmer "centre ground" route. They've already lost a chunk of the working class vote thanks to Brexit - as per the election. Now with Starmer leader they're potentially disenfranchising the socialist Corbyn-left block. The Muslim and the black vote are the two other big block votes that Labour have always taken for granted.

I started worrying about the Muslim vote back in the summer of last year when we had the issue in Birmingham over the teaching of LGBT+ sex ed in schools. I remember watching Jess Philips argue quite assertively with some Muslim protesters and thinking at the time "this potentially will push Muslims away from Labour".

(Jess Philips debating protesters last May)

Of course, the saving grace back then was Corbyn, who has always been very publicly on the side of Muslims. So there wasn't an imminent danger of that back then. However, now he's gone it's a more real prospect. The question then is, where will this huge Muslim vote go if it does become estranged from Labour?

(My tweet from last year, pointing this out

- ignore the silly avatar and name xD)

I do think this is an important thing to consider though when it comes to the overall social cohesion of the UK. Excluding groups by simply taking them for granted, whether it be white working classes or Muslim voters, creates a huge groundswell for alternative parties. Ideally it will lead to good parties, but there's always the danger it can lead to problematic parties. For example, with the white working class vote you could give the Brexit Party as a good example, and the BNP as a bad example. The disenfranchisement can go in both directions.

The Message is Changing

Apparently this weekend we're moving away from "stay home" and towards "stay alert". Of course, the pro-lock down crowd are claiming it's incredibly irresponsible to do this. Whereas people like myself are complaining that it doesn't go far enough.

The colours are pretty ugly, no doubt for some desired psychological effect. Out of boredom, and a vague sense of patriotism, I changed the colours to something more British last night when I first saw it.

The way simply changing the colours changes the feel is quite fascinating really.

Also I saw someone share this on Twitter. From Sweden's public health authority. It's interesting as it also uses "arm's length" as a good rule of thumb for social distancing.

"There are currently no studies that show any exact limit for what distance is safe, but considering how the drip center spreads, a benchmark could be at least one arm's length distance."

Again, nature and common sense mean we're well designed to deal with these things.

Is the novelty wearing off now?

We've started to reach the point where a lot of normal people are getting sick of lock down. This has been curious to watch. For most people the lock down came pretty much out of the blue, so they've been on a different emotional trajectory to me. I had my little panic attack in the months leading up to the lock down, and have since moved to a stoic acceptance of the situation. Consequently my feelings are quite different to most other people's.

Over the last week I've noticed a definite change in people's attitudes however. I live in quite an earthy, working class area. So it's normally quite noisy, busy and chaotic. In the month or so after lock down was announced it was deafeningly quiet though. For the first two weeks in particular there seemed to be no one outside at all. Apart from the occasional dog walker, or family cycling in their little family group to get their hour of daily exercise. However, the last week has been quite different. It's starting to get noisy again. I can hear people outside. It's heading back to something approaching normality.

I'm now wondering if the novelty of lock down has began to wear off for a lot of people. This is quite important in regard any "second wave" and "second lock down" we may have. As if there's a novelty factor it will play into how people respond next time - i.e. they'll get bored of it more quickly next time.

It'll now be interesting to watch to see if the sleeping spirit of the "free nations" kicks back into overdrive. Or if we'll be slowly subsumed into a more eastern way of living.

Accelerated Arguments

Well I actually got a chapter finished last night. C'est super. If I can just keep this effort up for a few consecutive days I should be sailing.

As for today I've had another morning so far of mild arguments on Twitter over "lock down". Again, I don't really enjoy it. Plus it's annoying when you get another notification on your phone just as you think it's all over and you can get on to other things. However, I feel like I need to keep chipping away at the lock down mentality.

(A little image I shared on Twitter in the hope it

would reminds Scots of their ancient liberties)

It's actually slightly worrying how poor the pro-lock down proponents are at arguing their point. They seem to just shout out insults ("you want to end the lock down!! how selfish!! etc). Following which they then just tend to scurry off, unable to respond to any specific point. The issue of civil liberties in particular seems almost like a new concept to them. As if they'd never heard of the idea until you'd mentioned it. Which I guess shouldn't be surprising really given how little the media and politicians have discussed it.

"What? You want to leave the house and risk the lives of other people!! Just so you can go to the beach or see your friends!!"

When you then point out that you may choose to take even more precaution than the government recommends for all they know, and that the broader point is that it's the right of the individual to decide, not the right of the state, they seem thoroughly bamboozled.

I keep trying to make the comparison with sexual freedom;

"Just because I believe individuals should have the right to choose who they do or do not sleep with that doesn't mean I believe there's no risk to sex, or indeed that I think it's a good idea to risk your health by sleeping with lots of people. Still, in a free society it should be a personal choice, and people should be free to make their own decisions. Don't you agree?

...or do you want the state to govern this aspect of our lives too?"

By which point they usually slink off.

I keep hoping that I can get into a debate about why the Soviet Union failed and why the west succeeded, but it never even gets that far.

#FBPE

It reminds me quite a lot of the arguments I used to have with the #fbpe crowd. Though in a way it's much, much worse. At the start of that long battle it was actually quite difficult. After all there were good arguments on both sides, and intelligent people could make very good, intelligent arguments for remaining within the European Union. In fact, at the beginning it felt like something of a David and Goliath battle, with leavers in the role of David.

As the argument progressed though and the remain side began to lose. Predominantly because they lost the democratic battle, then proceeded to trash democracy and the population in general in frustration. That's when they started to get quite irrational and emotional; and the insults began flying. "Stupid; racist; gammon and so on."

By Christmas gone you may remember I was feeling guilty about even arguing with them. In a way their frustrations were only expected. It was a long, drawn out battle (still going on now it seems too) and when you invest so much time and emotion into something. Especially if you feel it's a just cause. Then it's highly unlikely you're simply going to let go and say "Oh, well". So I do have a lot of sympathy for people on the other side.

With the lock down debates though it feels like the pro-lock down side are already in the emotional final stages. It worries me a little as it can't be good for democracy. When you have governments wanting to lock down their populations, and a public emotional and frenzied then it's quite dangerous in my view. People demanding that their neighbours be arrested for visiting the beach or having a barbecue, with no logical underpinning or understanding of their now strongly held beliefs. Not even weighing things like civil liberty in the equation.

So I feel I have to at least try to keep popping these little bubbles of emotion. Though it may look something of a lost cause at the moment.

No Tetris Today ..so far anyway

I'm doing very well with my Tetris detox. Not a single game since yesterday's post 😇. My eyes are beginning to recover. I might finally get some work done.

Anyway, this afternoon I watched a few Yale lectures about disease. Very interesting. The one below in particular had especial resonance with today's situation. Well worth watching.

(Contagionism versus Anticontagionsim

- Yale Courses)

This whole event has really pushed me down a new avenue of interest. I would've never paid this much attention to diseases, and the science and history behind them, had it not been for all this. It's been a real crash course. Certainly one of the few positives to come out of this situation. I'm sure it's been the same for many people. I wonder what impact this will have on our wider society over the next few years as all these newly educated people start offering their opinions. Perhaps it might lead to some new health paradigms.

Tetris Eyes

I've been incredibly lazy over the last few days. I really need to get cracking and knuckle down a bit. The work of fiction has once again taken a back seat. At the rate I'm going I'll need about 5 years of lock down to get it finished. My main problem is that I've developed a mild addiction to the game Tetris. It's so easy to play casually whilst I'm listening to music or podcasts. Plus it's something to do to alleviate the boredom of being stuck inside endlessly.

(Boredom in Lock Down)

I've spent so much time looking at a screen playing it that my eyes end up positively aching by the time it gets round to doing anything worthwhile. If I had an ounce of self-discipline I'd do the worthwhile stuff before playing games, but it's too easy to put things off.

On the plus side I did get the other book updated. That was fairly easy actually. So that's one job out the way. I'm also starting to think about possibly doing a third non-fiction book. Though that will be a long way off if I do decide to do that.

As for lock down politics in general I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about things now. It's a relief to finally see more and more people come out on the anti-lock down side. There's also a gathering feeling that countries may be finally heading towards some kind of exit. I'm still expecting a long drawn out back and forth battle. Much like the Brexit saga. So I'm certainly not expecting us to instantly full-exit. In fact, even if we do come out in some way I'll still be constantly on "wave watch". As I'm sure we'll have "round 2" before the US election.

I also need to carry on with the "organic political party" idea I was toying with a week or so ago. Ain't gonna fix the world's problems sat playing Tetris for hours.

Are the blame games beginning?

I listened to an interview with Jacob Rees-Mogg earlier - it can be found here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5gvOlTlABI&t=0s

In it he seemed to be making the argument that the public wanted the lock down, and that the government were in lock step with public mood. There is a lot of truth in this to be fair. I witnessed it firsthand as I watched people demand that football games be called off, in spite of the fact that the green light had been given for them to go ahead.

However, in the interview no real mention was made of the media role, and I would argue that it was the media that largely drove public opinion.

Obviously I would argue that the lock down was wrong whatever the general public opinion was - if that can even truly be measured. You can't just suspend fundamental rights because of mob outrage. It's interesting to watch though. It seems like we're now reaching a point where people are trying to frame responsibility. Usually framing it away from themselves to some degree. Whether it be politicians, scientists and advisers, media or members of the public themselves. In a way this is good. It's certainly better than the government proudly championing such measures.

Reading some of the comments beneath the above interview, and also when it was shared on Twitter, it seems like the base Conservative support (or rather the Brexity-type people I should say) aren't too pleased. It seems they see it, like me (I guess I'm one of them really), as a civil liberty infringement; and something that should be reversed asap. Which seems to be quite different to the broader public mood. Much of whom still seem to be too sacred to even leave their own homes. So there's a balancing act politically speaking.

Personally I'd be more worried about losing the core support - though I guess I would say that. The general public mood will dissolve over time I would imagine. It's an emotional response to a crisis. Not a thinking one. However, the people providing criticism of the lock down tend to be making their arguments from first principles. Or at least arguments based around their core values. So this could shape where they place their hopes and support for years to come.