Since October 4th, at least one child has been killed and 10 injured daily by Israel in Lebanon. Fifty children were killed in Northern Gaza yesterday. Gaza’s children are not merely ‘collateral’ which would be horrific enough, but are targets of genocide, of erasure, of extermination. The Palestinian people have been so completely dehumanised that the world continues to stand by, spectators to the horror show. I sent more money to Osama and his family in Khan Younis, but they need much more than I can give. Osama is one of 8 siblings. His youngest sister Haya is just 11 years old. She has been robbed of her childhood. His father Sobhi has diabetes, and a deep foot ulcer, as well as heart disease. They cannot afford the escalating price of medications and there is no functioning health service.
It is too awful.
There was some hope this week as Barclays divested from Elbit systems after a direct action campaign. Until recently, Barclays owned over 16,000 shares in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, worth over $3,400,000. For over a year, Palestine Action activists have targeted Barclays premises, smashing branch windows and spraying them in blood-red paint. This has put Barclays sites out of operation for weeks, raising the costs associated with dealing with Elbit. Palestine Action’s broader campaign against Elbit systems and its’ financial and industrial partners aims to make the cost of dealing in genocide, occupation, and apartheid exceed the potential to profit from it.
The CEOs of these corporations have no conscience, but hit their bottom line and they act.
I carved a Halloween pumpkin, choosing Shell, surely one of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, as my muse. I was inspired by the art of Darren Cullen whose Museum of Neoliberalism recently closed. I hope he finds new premises soon.
Rachel Reeves MP presented The Budget on Thursday. I have been told repeatedly that I should be excited by the fact that we have a woman chancellor. Feminism in action, apparently. Having listened to the Origin Story two-part episode on the sufragettes this week, I truly appreciate the women who sacrificed so much to get the vote, enabling women to access positions of political power today. The post of Chancellor has existed for 800 years and has been held by a man for 800 of those years. No longer.
But I have always wanted more from feminism than window dressing. A photo-op of a woman holding the famous red briefcase is simply not enough. The point of women having power is that they use that power to improve the lives of all women. And I fear that this budget falls far short of this aspiration.
There was some good news in the budget, with some long overdue capital funding for the NHS, a rise in the living wage and an increase in taxes on private jets, but overall it was a disappointment. This was an opportunity to right the wrongs of a decade of austerity, and accelerate equal pay, flexible working arrangements and affordable childcare. It was an opportunity to invest in health, education and social care. Investment in public services results in future economic benefits just as investment in roads and buildings does. Mary-Ann Stephens, director of the Women’s Budget Group has suggested that the Chancellor review her fiscal rules to allow for borrowing to invest in this type of social as well as physical infrastructure. She has also pointed out that because wealth is disproportionately concentrated in the hands of men, an increase in taxation on wealth to invest in public services is a transfer from better off men to poorer women. This budget’s plans for taxation on extreme wealth is weak. The government keeps talking about the ‘hard choices’ it is making. And yet it has announced an increase in defence expenditure, but no money to lift 250,000 children out of poverty. These are not hard choices, they are just wrong. A group of independent and Green MPs have called on the government to:
- introduce wealth taxes
- abolish the two-child benefit cap and stop attacking welfare recipients
- reverse cuts to winter fuel
- restore the £2 bus cap
- invest in a Green New Deal
I can’t see how anyone could disagree with these modest proposals. Child poverty, mass hunger and homelessness are not inevitable. Labour is choosing to perpetuate inequality and hardship.
I recently trained as a Digital Champion and hope to volunteer soon to support people to access digital services. I see so many people struggling to navigate healthcare systems, council services, tax assessments, housing applications, and immigration services, as more and more of our lives occur online. A smartphone should not be an entry requirement to participate in society, but in our dystopian reality this is increasingly necessary. This week I joined a training session on supporting people to apply for e-visas. The Home Office has stopped issuing biometric residence cards and permits, and is instead requiring people to apply for an online eVisa. Almost all existing physical residence permits have an expiry date of 31 December 2024 even when people’s permission to enter and remain in the UK extends beyond that date, or is indefinite. This is a very short window for people to apply and there are significant concerns about this hostile environment cliff-edge. The rollout of the transfer programme is already severely behind schedule, so millions of people with valid leave to enter and remain in the UK do not yet have an eVisa. This is the Hostile Environment working as intended, create a climate of fear, hostility and insecurity.
To apply for an eVisa a person needs a smart phone (an iPhone 7 or newer model or an android phone that can make contactless payments). They also need tech skills to take photos and scan documents, and an understanding of all the necessary documentation. The system has not been co-designed with the people who will need to use it. I was shocked at just how little support is being offered to a group that faces so many barriers – language, cultural and economic. It is clear that urgent mitigation measures are needed to avoid a disaster from 1 January 2025 where people will lose jobs, job opportunities, housing, benefits and more. I hope our local support sessions, run in libraries (an undervalued cultural and community asset) can at least help a few people.
It was World Vegan Day on Friday. My friend and fellow Plant Based Health Professional Shireen and I ran a stall in the hospital atrium giving out free snacks and information on living compassionately. We tempted people over with vegan pumpkin spiced cookies and two types of energy balls as well as a few accidentally vegan sweets. We had some great conversations about the benefits of plant-based eating and the ethical basis for living well without exploiting sentient beings.
I worked the weekend. I had a great team and we treated lots of different medical problems. It was interesting and enjoyable. I looked after a young person with severe food poisoning and an acute kidney injury who thought that the KFC they had consumed couldn’t possibly have been the culprit. I recommended they search ‘Where do KFC chickens come from?‘. I am confident they changed their mind.
I found out that bananas are used as a measure of radioactivity (the banana equivalent dose). And apparently I should be using retinol and a jade roller on my face to rejuvanate my tired and ageing skin! I could find very little data on the efficacy of skin rollers, although the principle of massage seems to have a rational basis. A systematic review of over the counter retinol products found several negative trials, and those that were positive were heavily flawed. I won’t be rushing to change my skincare regime just yet.
I made 1 Christmas present, and bought several. The list is still long. I ate several mince pies. Just 52 sleeps to go.
drlj 