Easing the Lockdown - Stupid Beyond Belief

I really cannot understand the stupidity of the government with the way it is going about easing the lockdown. It is to be expected that scientists will have differing opinions as 'when' is the right time. I was listening on the TV this morning (Saturday 30th May) and some scientists thought that we were rushing things; no doubt others disagree and at the end of the day the government has to make a political decision.

What I do not understand is and what beggars belief is the way that they make these announcements. It is right and proper that they give some days notice before shops and businesses (why not churches?) can open. They will need time to put in place the correct measures to ensure safety to staff and customers. But why or why do they need to announce ahead of time when restrictions on social gatherings are easing? Saying that the rules will change on Monday when the weekend before is forecast to be one of the hottest  of the year is asking for  trouble. What is going to change between now and Monday that will make it safe to gather in larger groups? People will think if it is safe on Monday it will be safe today - so they will flout the restrictions.The government is lurching about like a ship with a drunken sailor at the helm. I actually question whether there is anyone at the helm.

They obviously have no idea as to how people think and behave. If the government wants to change the rules on social gatherings on Monday then they announce it late Sunday night. I have no doubt that this weekend the TV screens and news bulletins will be full of people flouting the rules. This puts the police in an impossible situation, telling people off on Sunday for doing something that they are allowed to do the following day. Is there nobody with any common sense advising the government? It would appear not.

The Dominic Cummings Saga Continues

I am no supporter or fan of Dominic Cummings and I think he should resign or be sacked by Boris Johnson. However from various sources I believe that his son is autistic and from experience of friends who have autistic children they do present special challenges. It could well be that for this reason he and his wife felt that local friends and relatives were not suitable to care for their son and the need to travel to Durham.

It is to DCs credit that he did not use the autism as an excuse for the trip. So whilst there could well be a genuine need to go to Durham the excuse for the trip to Barnard Castle is, to quote his boss "piffle"! So he should go as he is now the story and this is hindering the country's recovery from CV-19.

What is totally unacceptable is the media circus outside his house. This appears to be the norm today, whenever someone is in the news for whatever reason the media think that they have a God given right to harry them at every available opportunity. If his son is autistic the poor lad must be terrified. So yes, Dominic Cummings should complain to his MP although rather ironically he is Jeremy Corbyn.

Dominic Cummings - written before "That" Press Conference

I thought that I would try and collate my thoughts on this sorry saga and separate the facts from the fiction. Not quite sure where this will lead but here goes.

Background 
1. DC does enjoy playing the "Mr Nasty Hardman" image, witness his disdain for the conventional in the way of dress and conduct. David Cameron famously described him as a "career psychopath". He does not suffer fools gladly and is also outspoken regarding senior politicians, examples are describing Nick Clegg's proposals on free school meals as "Dreamed up on the back of a cigarette packet", and David Davis as "thick as mince" and "lazy as a toad". This in itself is not a crime although perhaps goes someway to explain antipathy towards him.
2. In 2012, a senior female civil servant received a payout of £25,000 in a bullying case she took against Cummings and a senior member of Michael Gove's team, when Cummings was a special adviser at the Department for Education.
3. In August 2019 Cummings fired Sonia Khan, one of the Treasury's special advisors, without the permission or knowledge of Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid.
4. He has a great capacity for hardworking and attention to detail

CV-19 and the Trip To Durham
1. DC and his wife Mary Wakefield contracted symptoms of CV-19
2. The took a trip to Durham where DC's parent live to provide back-up childcare for their child whilst the parents recovered from the illness
3. Mary Wakefield wrote a New Statesman article on what their experiences were of recovering from CV-19; no mention of the trip to Durham.
4. A New Statesman interview with DC's parents mentions the death of his uncle on the day they travelled to Durham. No mention of need to provide childcare by his parents.
5. Article in Australian magazine mentions that DC's son is autistic - https://theweeflea.com/…/letter-from-australia-44-cumming…/…
6. DC's dad called the Durham Police
7. Other people have resigned or been censured for having broken lockdown rules - details of some of them can be found here https://www.itv.com/…/the-high-profile-figures-who-have-br…/

Speculation/Not proved
1. DC made two trips to Durham
2. DC made a trip to Barnard Castle some 30 miles away from Durham which would have been strictly against all guidelines
3. DC and/or his wife have some real dirt on Johnson that they have threatened to reveal if DC is sacked

Latest Information
1. Boris Johnson gives unstinting support to DC
2. Majority of UK press and some Tory MPs wanting DC's dismissal
3. Some of the members of SAGE have stated that Cummings actions have made enforcing the shutdown harder and sends out mixed messages - "Not Helpful" to say the least

Questions
Did Dominic Cummings really think that he could keep his trip to Durham secret?
Why has a simple timeline of Dominic Cummings movements not been issued - this would clear up all the speculation and rumour.

Thoughts on VE Day

My mum was inside this building which was flattened in an air raid early on in the Blitz. When they first found her body they thought that she was dead. Then they went back for a second look and recovered her.

Her legs were so badly broken that they wanted to amputate them, but she wouldn't let them. She spent the next three years in and out of hospital having multiple operations. She smelt so much, her legs were encased in plaster, that they allowed her to smoke to hide the smell.
She was able to walk again although she could only walk with made to measure shoes as her feet could not lie flat on the ground as her tendons had been shortened.
They said that she would never be able to have children, so she had me instead!

War is terrible, everyone slain or injured, on both sides of the conflict, is someone's loved son or daughter. Is someones mum or dad or sibling. Is a husband or wife.

We say we have not had war since, but look at what happened in the former Yugoslavia. What happened in the "troubles" in Ireland. What happens in every act of terrorism. What is happening today in parts of Africa, in parts of the Arab world. Have we learnt nothing?

Even today with Covid-19 the language used by all political parties verges on the violent rhetoric. Have the Tories made mistakes in the handling of the pandemic? Undoubtably. Would Labour have made the same mistakes? No - but they would have made their own different ones. We all err, we are all human. No one person or party knows all or has all the answers.

As we remember those that have fallen let our fitting tribute to them be a renewed desire and willingness to work together for the common good.

St Teresa of Calcutta said: “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

What SS Joseph & Swithun Parish is doing

We, that is the pastoral team of consisting of our PP, Assistant Priest, three deacons and pastoral assistant are busy doing our best to ensure that everyone in the parish database - 650+famillies has at least a phone call. Those that I used to take Holy Communion to I try to call every two /three days. We have Zoom Alpha, Zoom baptismal prep and zoom prayer groups, zoom bereavement group. We are doing our best to ensure nobody feels left out. No doubt there will be one or two that get missed, but we are doing what we can.
If there is anybody that we have missed and you feel we should contact please Message me with their details. God bless - Barry Mellish

And of course our priests are saying Mass each day and this is recorded and is posted up on Youtube channel SPUD 01

What sort of world do we want?

The sad news of the loss of 9000 jobs at Rolls Royce came through yesterday. Including their families that will be at least 30,000 people directly affected. If you include the loss of jobs in the supply chain to RR and the impact on the surrounding areas there will be at least 100,000 people severely impacted. What will they do?

Julia and I were talking about this and we both recall articles written in the sixties imagining a world where we did not have to work - mechanisation would replace people. Instead we would be able to concentrate on the "finer things of life" whatever they might be; the arts, leisure activities etc.

The question is have reached that point yet? We judge the success of countries and people purely in economic terms. Bigger is seen as better, we must work or we are seen as some kind of scrounger or weirdo. We must get a job to have the house, the car, the partner of our dreams. But is that what life is meant to be all about?

The communist system doesn't work, witness the USSR and some of the South American countries that have flirted with it. Unfettered capitalism doesn't work it just increases the divide between those that have and those that don't. The countries that emerged after years of colonial rule started out with such high hopes; yet in many of them the ruling class that emerged clung onto power and the money that passed through and became totally corrupt with massive accounts in offshore banks.

In many countries in the west we have a form of regulated capitalism that sort of works but still leaves many on the margins. Today, thanks to the Covid-19 lockdown many have been "enjoying" a slower pace of life. We are finding new ways of working. I like many others are getting fed up with the isolation, but not with the peace and quiet. Not hearing the roar of traffic or the overhead planes. Pollution levels are dropping and for once "we can see clearly now".

I don't have any answers just a nagging feeling that there must be a better way of doing things than we did. If we don't learn from our past mistakes then we will repeat them. The problem is that those in power are caught up in the CV-19 crisis and wondering what to do next. Nobody is taking a long term strategic view and I have probably been isolated too long!