Yesterday was a long day, and did not deliver all that I hoped.
Let me be clear, I was treated quite brilliantly by staff who could not have been more helpful or caring. But, and there always seems to be a but about these things, what I learned as a result of the treatment was that this will be the first of potentially three such episodes, and I was warned that the chance that the pain will go away is, at present, quite low.
What I now understand is that my priority for the next week or two is to work out how to manage that, because it is so severe when it happens. There's also a need to get over the sheer fatigue this week, which is not helped by the hot weather.
That said, my head is full of ideas. When you can't do much, you have to work out what your priorities are. At this moment, and I admit that I may not be at my most objective, my sense is that spending a great deal of my time pointing out the failings of our current neoliberal politicians, including Andy Burnham, is not the most useful thing I can do. The existence of these failings is apparent to absolutely everyone, but the reality is that almost no one is talking about what we can do about them.
In that case, I feel I need to focus on where we can go from here, not on what has gone wrong. So, when I can find the energy, that is what I intend to do over the next few days, and beyond.
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You’ve spent 20 years attacking neoliberalism. How about spending the next 20 years attacking communism, the idea of taking private property without compensation. Every council in England is now infested with stealth communists which is the idea of taking private property and/or wealth off you slowly, doing it over less than the course of ones lifetime. It’s a new -ism which we haven’t seen before as far as I know but it’s embedded in every civic hall and I’m sick of it.
Double council tax because you’re providing accommodation for your company’s contractors, that’s about 4% a year of the property value in my patch, run that for 25 years and the house effectively belongs to the council.
Stop being a pratt is my suggestion to you.
Caring is not communism.
Nor is fair taxation.
And presumably you think it funny to post in the name of an SS officer.
I have noted two things recently that betray the age we live in.
1. The recent Bedford crash on the MML. Why has it taken so long to clear the wreckage (yes, it is potentially a crime scene and the HSE will be there too). Cranes to clear the damaged stock came by road. This was no Harrow & Wealdstone (1952). At one time the railway could clear up its own mess and reopen lines much more quickly than this as it had special rail borne tools to deal with it. I’m not being cruel or uncaring about the fatality or injuries, but talk about taking the long way round to solve a problem.
2. This morning coming into work along the River Derwent I noted how low the river was. But what was more interesting was the shallowness of the revealed river channels. The Derwent regularly floods with really disruptive and expensive consequences. No wonder! The amount of silt means that the shallowness of the river channels are contributing to the flooding. The City of Derby which is downstream of all of this is spending £95 million to defend the city from flooding. But how much would dredging the river regularly cost, or some other mitigation up stream?
So, having done the negative reflection for you, all I can say is that you have the answers already Richard. It is because of problems with management by accounting, austerity, with lobbying (the construction industry and others benefiting from poor management of rivers etc); an obsession with silo thinking (‘cost centres’ ) and the bottom line and NO appreciation of ‘flow’ (or if you like ‘thermo-dynamics’) – how things really work.
Sorry to hear that you are in pain – you are in my thoughts.
Thank you