We’re a week into the New Year and already things are quite terrible. Here are a few lowlights:
- Israel killed 70 Palestinian children in 5 days. The silence of the international community is deafening.
- More than a dozen hospitals in the UK declared a critical incident as they were overwhelmed by patients sick with the flu. This was entirely predictable. Every winter for the past 10+ years has been a crisis for the NHS. This year flu is particularly bad, and vaccination rates are low. There is also a lot of RSV circulating. We need to stop pretending it will be fine next year, and plan for the realities of winter viruses hitting a health service which operates at 100% capacity on a quiet day.
- LA is on fire, the first manifestation of climate breakdown of 2025. But not the last.
- People are paying attention to the random outbursts of Elon Musk instead of addressing real issues, like a failure to tackle child sexual explotation, the majority of which is perpetrated by male family members. Research has found that group-based child sexual exploitation offenders, or so called grooming gangs, are most commonly white
- AfD in Germany, emboldened by other far Right groups, is spreading hate. Co-leader Alice Weidel stated that Hitler had “been wrongly framed as a fascist”.
I had planned to go on a hike, but I’ve only just got over my most recent virus of the season, and the weather was cold, wet and miserable so I decided not to risk it. It’s only a month until I climb Kilimanjaro and I’d really hoped to do more training! I sorted out all the kit I have accumulated and checked I could pack it all into my bags. I’ve embraced fleeces, dry sacks and warm socks and have even acquired a Gilet which it turns out is warm and comfortable. I associate the Gilet with horse-riding, wildlife-killing Tories, but they actually originated in the tilled fields of 15th-century France, “The peasants liked the button down vests because they kept the body warm while allowing full manoeuvrability of the arms”, so maybe I’m not a class traitor after all.
Not the look I am going for
I watched an excellent lunchtime talk by Dr Alan Desmond called ‘Meat, Gut Health and the Microbiome,’ held as part of The Wirral Hospital’s Vegauary events. I highly recommend listening to Alan, who is an international expert on gut health on his new and excellent podcast. The Telegraph got mad that the NHS is promoting Veganuary. Their reporting was characteristically reactionary and innacurate, but all publicity is good publicity, and it provided an opportunity for Viva!’s founder Juliet Gellatly to appear on GB News to make the case that the NHS would save millions of pounds if more people adopted plant-based diets, and that a dietary shift would help NHS trusts to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and protect wildlife.
I had a haircut and an eye test this week. I only go to hairdressers who offer gender neutral pricing, and I try and support local independent businesses. My last hairdresser moved their premises to a slightly less convenient location and got very busy so I struggled to get an appointment. This is almost entirely my fault as I cancelled my last appointment to go to a protest, and can only do evenings and weekends, but it meant I have been trying out other options. This new hairdresser, Brad, was recommended by a friend and was fantastic! He had many excellent opinions about my hair and about life. I will be returning for more.
My eye test was with an optician I’ve been with for a couple of years, and who was also a recommendation. I am very short sighted and I worry about my vision and whether it will last. I have to have special thinned lenses to prevent a jam jar effect, and even then can only have relatively chunky frames to accomodate my lenses. I spent years in high street chain opticians, not having a very good time. Cult Vision by contrast is a joy to visit. Panos is really friendly, shows real interest in my eyes, and gives great advice on glasses and contact lenses. Pricing is competitive and transparent and the frames are high quality and interesting. I particularly love the vintage range. I recommend finding an independent optician.
I watched the film The End of Medicine at an online streaming watch-along hosted by Plant Based Health Professionals UK. It is a sobering watch, exposing the links between global pandemics and antibiotic resistance, and our use of animals. Dr. Alice Brough, pig vet and whistleblower is the star, talking candidly about her participation in an industry that horrifically mistreats animals. Her testimony on the horrific conditions that are the norm, the over-reliance on antibiotics in animal feed, and the high rates of both death and euthanasia is stark. I hope this film finds a wide audience.
I received some nice messages from people I’d given Christmas gifts to. I shared my love of Golden Age Detective fiction, finding books with themes, characters or settings that I thought were appropriate for each person. I had read many of the gifted books but had to search out a few that I’ve not yet got to in order to cover themes as diverse as BBC radio, the WI, activism, canals, organ playing and poetry. I had some help completing my list from the members of the Shedunnit book club. It was really fun to plan, but I’m not sure how I’ll follow it next year!
I’m rewatching old episodes of Columbo. They are excellent.
drlj 