Horses and stable doors.

Omicron strain, SARS-cov2. "Don't panic Mr Mainwaring." Too late, mass panic is stirred into the brew by the press followed by politicians all trying to hang on to the electoral liferaft. If you listen carefully to what the scientists are reporting; the variant is apparently less dangerous to humans; it has not been demonstrated that existing vaccines are less efficacious, although it is possible; but, yes, it appears to be more transimissable within the human population. So, travel bans; no point already here. But use of face coverings and distancing in particular situations, sensible. Of course, if more help and assistance had been given to the financially less affluent countries by the more affluent ones with vaccine rollout then the virus could have been headed off at the pass, but that is never going to happen on the required scale. Rather like measures to reduce global warming. Here's a really good place to get the best gen on the SARS-cov2 virus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsnb

I'm delighted to have got my third jag the other day though. Somewhat sore arm, a bit tired for a day, a lot better than Covid for an old geezer.

And talking of liferafts. WTFIGO with Priti Patel, Boris and Macron. FFS this is not an issue that you cannot resolve. A bit of humanity, a good dose of common sense and some cooperation would kill the criminal trade, thus stop the risk taking and unnecessary dying in La Manche. Look at the evidence will you, a high proportion of these folk are really fleeing for their lives so stop political posturing and start helping = save lives.

Thanks to the brilliant RNLI more lives have not been lost.

Time for album of the year.

I love all those lists that come out around now. Much of the music listed is not for me but sometimes I unearth a treasure amongst the run-of-the-mill, and stuff I simply don't like. 6Music, Pitchfork, Paste and The Guardian usually have interesting lists. I'm not doing a list, unless two count a s a list.

In no particular order:

everything is in between - Pihka is My Name.

Joyful, infectious and dance-around-the-kitchen-whilst-cooking-the-tea essential.

As Days Get Dark - Arab Strap.

Dark indeed. The most political track has the tragedy of yesterday re-inforcing its relevance. The underbelly of Western human existence somehow has an uplifting beat.

A western and a horror.

Flicking through Netflix and The Harder They Fall came up. I'd heard of this and decided  to take a look. If you want to watch a "modern" western there are much, much better ones than this over-long piece of nonesense. I recommend Slow West and Dead Man. 

Slow West scene (sorry photographer would credit if I knew who took the image).

Slow West, well worth your time. The Harder They Fall, not so.

And now for the horror, or whatever it is supposed to be, Midsommar. One critic thought it was a comedy. If it is it isn't funny. Is it scary? No. However, if there are prizes for weird movie then, maybe. If it was music Stuart Maconie would play it. It is kind of mesmerising, like one of those drone pieces that go on forever. But it isn't about anything, there really is no point to this film, other than, I suppose, that the hopeless, birthday-forgetting boyfriend gets his comeuppance.

Photo by Gabor Kotschy.

I've not seen The Parasite, I might give that a watch later.

HS2

 

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/nature-and-climate-spared-government-cancels-hs2-eastern-leg-leeds

Wow, Johnson and the Tories do a good thing and large elements of the Left and some Greens are very pissed off. It is worth reading the original report by the Wildlife Trusts, here - https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/hs2-exorbitant-cost-nature

I have never supported HS2 because it has significant environmental costs for a country (England)  that has very depleted high quality habitat for wildlife. For example, HS2 would destroy 108 ancient woodlands, these are irreplaceable. Habitats that cannot be remade. Additionally, HS2 would fragment habitat making it much less viable. HS2 also has a social cost in lost housing and disruption to peoples' lives. It is arguable that the time for this project is already long past, the presumed climate benefits too late and delayed in arriving to effectively mitigate the climate costs of its construction.

The stated advantages all presume an economic model of continued growth and increasing wealth and prosperity for the people of England. It is true that whilst a limited number of the population would use HS2 it would increase overall rail capacity. So, the argument goes, there would be benefits for all. However, this argument presumes a willingness to shift freight carriage from road to rail. It is argued that the project would reduce the use of internal flights, which it would, but is there a cost/benefit balance as HS2 was only proposed to go as far north as Leeds and Manchester, and nowhere west. If it did kill off the internal airlines it would disadvantage a proportion of the population too.

Why not just travel less? A fraction of the financial cost of HS2 would provide reliable, high speed broadband for everyone in the UK. HS2 is mostly designed for the business community. A community that has learned to travel less of late. Why not a four day working week? It's been shown to work well, increase productivity and reduce travel. Why not more working from home, we've learned to do that recently also. 

As usual Keir Starmer's initial response was to try a bit of unconvincing political point scoring. I still cannot understand why the Labour Party (of which I was a member for quite a time, but a long, long time ago) chose KS to be their leader. I don't believe the party is misogynist but there were some very capable female candidates for the job. Labour has never elected a woman as leader. I digress.

I am pleased about today's decision, it will save a number of wonderful places from the chainsaw and the bulldozer.

Just don't get me started on that other love child of this element of the Left/Green community - nuclear power. Oh fuck! I've mentioned it now.... Bye-bye Minsmere? https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/casework/cases/sizewell-c/ I know, lets put a nuclear power station on low-lying land by the sea. Climate change, 3 degree rise, impacts, "Oh, it will be fine." 

No it won't. But you've already forgotten about that little problem over in Japan. Chernobyl No4, "Well, we're not like those incompetent Soviets..." (I'm old enought to remember the panic about that wee mishap.)

Toodle along to here -  https://www.floodmap.net/ and set the water level rise to 1metre, oops!

I'm being glib, but this is all scary as fuck.

The sea is not made of water.

 Sub-titled Life Between the Tides this book by Adam Nicolson is in turns frustrating and enlightening. I do recommend it but best to dip in occasionally I find. There are sections that are absorbing and revealing but there is a bit of a tendency to labour the point at times. This seems to me, and I haven't followed the references up, very well researched and understood. Elements of the book are so interesting, Chapter 1, Sandhopper for instance. But I got a bit lost in Prawn. Winkle on the other hand is a bit of a mixture, I was fascinated by the theory of fractual, that measuring things like coastline in more and more detail takes you further from an answer rather than closer. I was also very interested in the relationships between shore crabs, winkles and green algae. However, extending the idea of fractual more broadly and arguing Socratic theory left me a bit cold, I felt this was taking an interesting piece of information and stretching the argument a wee bit far. You might enjoy that, I didn't especially. It will take me time to read this book and no doubt I will revisit my favoured parts of it.

I enjoyed On the Marsh by Simon Barnes to start with. However, I'm a bit suspicious of someone who calls themselves a birder and then fails to record Common Gull on their patch for a considerable period of time. At least he was honest about the omission but I don't think you're a birder Simon, not in the sense I understand the term anyway (perhaps I'm being a tad elitist here?). The relationship Simon has with his son is beautifully and sympathetically told. However, let's get real, this is a very priviledged life, despite the repeated references to a lack of cash and a down on his luck kind of tone. In the end this irritated me and at the moment this is a book put down.

To be fair to both these authors I'm not a great book reader, more of a reference seeker. I use books rather than read them for enjoyment these days. Adam Nicolson's book is a work I will return to because it explores ideas and ecology deeply, there's no superficiality. It's not an easy read but it challenges the mind and contains real knowledge based on research, and whilst I was not always in tune with the way he explores ideas I can understand and respect the intelligence of the enterprise.

 

The Dig and Da 5 Bloods.

The Dig is a pseudo historical drama about the discovery of the Sutton Hoo hoard. I say pseudo because this is a tale where history is liberally sprinkled with fiction. Personally I don't mind this approach, it makes the film more interesting, more dramatic, and it makes some political points about sexuality, war and fear. The Guardian didn't especially like the insertion of some love interest in the plot but I think it adds something. Specifically, the call-up induced terror, the placing of your life into a much less controlable sphere. And the gay man needing to be married, in that time. The performances by Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes are especially good. If you want to find out more about Sutton Hoo, in the news recently, take a look at the superb NT website https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo Next time I'm that way I'll make a point of visiting.

Worth your time in a quiet, understated kind of a way.

I'm really not sure about Da 5 Bloods. Generally I like Spike Lee's films but this over-long saga is quite a mess. I liked it initially, indeed until about halfway through I was well engaged. The film raises all sorts of interesting questions and facts. Questions of race, greed and what it does, mental health, hate and family relationships. I didn't know that black American soldiers were used to take the highest risks during the Vietnam war, in a piece of military institutional racism. But, (spoiler alert) then the land mine incident occurs and it becomes a hideous shoot-up. (I don't really like too much to "happen" in films, not a fan of the "action" genre). The shoot up stuff, adds nothing, other than violence. Perhaps Lee is making a point about humanity not learning from the mistakes of the past and that male humans are intrinsically violent, I don't know. And then it has a flowery feel-good ending, corny and equally pointless. Maybe I didn't understand it but I won't be revisiting.

 Both these films are made by and available on Netflix.

More Tory sleight of hand.

 

Letter by Prof Graham Scott, on lowering the repayment threshold for student loans:

Under plans recently announced by the government, most of us will pay more tax from April 2022, but younger graduates – recently qualified nurses for example – will be particularly hard hit. Like the rest of us they will pay more in national insurance, but added to that the government wants to lower the salary threshold at which they start to repay their student loan, in effect changing the agreement they had signed up to when they took out the loan.

 

Currently, repayment starts when earnings reach £27,295 per year; the proposal is to lower that threshold to £21,000. That would mean that a recently qualified nurse would need to pay back as much as £400 extra each year from next year on student loan repayments alone, and it could take them the rest of their working life to clear the debt.

 

Remember, the government only awarded them a 3 percent pay rise this year – the increased loan payments and the increase in national insurance mean that increase will be lost at a time when living costs are spiralling.

 

The proposed changes are neither progressive nor fair. They hit the youngest and least able to pay in our society while the highest earners – or those able to draw upon the bank of mum and dad to clear their student loan – will be debt free in just a few years, having paid back far less. 

 

(These changes will occur in England only, not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, unless they decide to follow suit, where education policy is decided by the devolved administrations.)

 

 

I'm just amazed that anyone expects the Tories to behave any better than this, have a look here to appreciate the full glory of their instinctive money grabbing and lack of any scrupules.

 

https://www.facebook.com/GoodLawProject.org/

 

  https://www.facebook.com/ledbydonkeys/

The Intersection by Superflux.

 A possible future -

 Click the image for the link.

 Then click "Film" to the right.

What's the point of COP26 (2).

Unpopular, but possible for us in the 6th most affluent country in the world to change our behaviour, at every level - individual, community, organisation/business, government. Sacrifice a few things, or maybe quite a lot of things. At least change the way we do things. Elsewhere in the world it is not possible to change because climate change has already driven millions to the edge of starvation; the place where there are no choices just a slow, painful death.

The truth of it is that the rich (that's us) need to modify our behaviour the most. Not easy, but required.

What's the point of COP26?

It's got your attention. It applies pressure on the individuals, organisations and governments who must modify their activities. It might initiate sufficient change to restrict the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

Consider, and make a change. And then another.

I do like connections, an old favourite.

 

The Outlaws - BBC.

 Hey, I like this. It's funny and serious at the same time. It does that clever thing that Young Offenders does, makes you laugh and gets you thinking. If the rest of it is as good as episode one fab!

Another comedic wonder is the Goes Wrong Show, now into its second series, if you've missed it well worth a look, here's an episode that I like very much from the first series.

Woof, woof!

 Pure doggy joy!