Twitteretter

This is apparently a new phenomenon, caused by the increase in the use of web meeting tools, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. It appears that the plastic surgery and aesthetic enhancement industries have seen a rise in their activity as a result. The rationale (it is hard to use this word in this context, but I use it in its explanation, rather than rationality, meaning) of this phenomenon goes as follows: Many people are having regular web meetings, in which they spend a lot of time staring at their own faces on screen. And many are, apparently, unhappy with their looks, which is driving them to resort to interventions in an attempt, in many cases ill fated, to improve them. This is something fascinating about modern humans. We may have good reason to improve our body and mind, which we can do ourselves with a bit of effort and determination, but many choose to, instead, have someone try to improve their face, forgetting it is, according to St Jerome, the mirror of their sou...

It seems the UK is coming to the end of its winter lockdown, with schools opening to students last week, after over two months of confinement, and restaurants and pubs able to open their outdoor facilities on the 12 th of April. I have found myself, in light of these news, as excited and looking forward to a humble pint with friends in the local pub’s beer garden as I would have been, pre-pandemic, to a two week long haul trip to an exotic location. This is an incredible moderation of expectations, a recalibration of excitement which, if able to be maintained, is doubtless a recipe for enhanced happiness in our society. If the effect is lasting, and we find equal pleasure in simple, everyday pursuits as we used to seek in expensive, once or twice a year extravaganzas, we will have a lot to thank coronavirus for, a rehabilitation of sorts, a last minute rescue from a pandemic of unsustainable consumerism and baseline boredom. Oh, man, I cannot wait for that garden pint, I hope it’s sun...

One thing we are all missing during the lockdown is experiences. We have become a society which punctuates a generally grey, monotonous existence, with exhilarating experiences organised by a thriving industry. Long haul trips, city breaks, spa weekends, adrenaline chasing adventures and cultural events. This rainbow of colour has now been replaced by the monotonous repetition of the lockdown, for most, every day the same as the one before and the one that follows, which many are struggling with. This brings into focus what might be a fundamental problem with our so called normal existence, the greyness of the days between the punctuations. We only have one life, as far as we know, and accepting that daily irrelevance and making do with the occasional bright spot is a surrender of sorts, giving in to the demands life places upon us, instead of placing demands on it. Don’t get me wrong, experiences are great, but everyday needs be an experience, the punctuations should be just variety L...

I’m quite enjoying my lockdown hair. Normally, I am quite traditional and unadventurous, when it comes to hair. Not because that is necessarily my personality, but because my responsibility in the companies that employ me kind of demands it. Tidy, unassuming and inconspicuous. Pretty much the same thing since I entered the workplace. Not too much of a bore so long as you are not too obsessed with self image, I guess. But lockdown has come along and I have the perfect excuse to let my hair express itself, run amok, unrestrained. The consequence is that it looks completely different everyday, just at the time when every day looks the same, an interesting contrast. The big question, of course, is what to do when lockdown is over and we carefully return to normal activity. This question, the whole of society is grappling with. What lockdown developed habits and customs to allow to survive normality? For me, my lower carbon footprint is one, free hair may be another. What are yours? Length:...

An announcement of new lockdown restrictions yesterday by the UK government in light of a novel coronavirus strain which is out of control in the London and South East area was immediately followed, predictably but still disappointingly, by news of full trains and jammed roads, as many in the capital tossed themselves to the four winds, in direct contravention of the advice, abandoning the about to be locked down area for others less restricted. With them, they will take the virus. Given the current prevalence in London, an average of at least two people in each one of those carriages would have been infected, and now many more will take the new strain to their extended families and friends all over the UK. Society and democracy are based on a balance between citizen freedom and civic responsibility. When we demand the first but relinquish the second, we abandon democracy and functioning society for dysfunctional individualism with ultimately dire consequences we are about to witness...

I went out in town yesterday, food shopping, one of the few activities available in UK during the just finished second lockdown. The streets were full, to the brim. People everywhere, long queues to enter the shops and cafés. This is not surprising, considering that yesterday was the first Saturday after the end of the lockdown and therefore the first full day of unrestricted consumer freedom. I was surprised, however, by my reaction to it. Seeing these agglomerations made me uneasy. My love of buzzing streets and activity flurries seems to have been replaced by a mild case of enochlophobia, not consciously elicited by my rational mind, but primally subconscious. This is just temporary, I expect. But it highlights how quickly we, humans, adapt. How rapidly our expectation and understanding of what is normal changes. This, of course, works both ways. I expect that, after a few weeks of resumed activity, normality will be restored to my perception in line to its restoration to society...

The second lockdown is over. Vaccines are arriving, to rescue peace of mind and way of life. The future, for the first time in months, looks bright, as illustrated by the furious, exuberant, wide eyed growth in stock values. Where the first lockdown provided opportunity for reflection, reassessment and self-discovery, the second gave us only boredom, frustration and a clear will to regain normality, whatever that may mean. Some things have changed forever and some processes, already underway, have accelerated. Our way of life, post pandemic, will not be quite the same as before, but the nature and magnitude of the changes is yet to be seen. Like all catharses, this one brought pain and opportunity. It showed us the power of international cooperation, data sharing, global consortia, of (most) citizen responsibility and our quasi unlimited capacity to adapt. These may all be abandoned, now the challenge may be receding, to return to old ways. But maybe, just maybe, we’ve learnt something...

Oh, how relieved I felt the day I learnt that coronavirus is a part time virus. It turns out that a curfew, at a certain time in the evening, say 9.00, or 10.00 pm, depending on whether you live in France or UK, protects citizens from infection. Go to a pub, bar or restaurant by all means, so long as you leave by that time, no harm will befall you. Unlikely as it may seem, coronavirus is not that different in custom, even if it is in size, to other legendary foes of humanity, the vampire, the werewolf, or the immigrant shift worker. Like them, it cowers in daylight, leaving the run of the streets to us, humans, only coming out, with devilish intent, to hunt the foolhardy as the sun sets and the shadows conquer our cities. Then, rush home, lock your doors and windows, follow the advice of Bram Stoker, of Clemence Housman, of Nigel Farage. Let the monster, which not yet has its bard, roam the dark streets in vain so that, having failed to find its prey, it dwindles, slowly, into oblivion...

We are seeing a return to potential lockdowns as many countries are confronting the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere, the return to schools and colleges and the progressive reopening of economic activities. Most governments seem intent in using the same playbook applied last spring, when the virus caught them unawares. The last six months should have been a time in which society could prepare to control the pandemic without lockdown but, alas, we seem to be in a very similar situation to that in March. Businesses and institutions which have implemented better measures to prevent spread of the virus will be locked down, just on the basis of their postcode, in the same way as those who have not. This is a disincentive to implement effective controls, as, in the advent of a second wave, these effective controls will not prevent compulsory closure. General lockdown was understandable first time round, but a complete failure this time...

A recently published study by Columbia University seems to demonstrate, statistically, that having visited restaurants is the one activity that correlates to increased coronavirus infection. Those who ate out had a higher chance of becoming infected, whilst other activities had no statistically relevant impact. This is hardly surprising when you watch unmasked waiters breathing over the food that many customers are going to eat in a single evening. A waiter, infectious and asymptomatic for 2 weeks, can easily infect over 300 people. The study is so far being ignored by policy makers, especially in UK, where the government are encouraging citizens to visit restaurants with the ‘ Eat out to help out’ campaign. The message is clear, our contribution as consumers is more important than our survival as humans, at least to those that govern us and who we entrust with our safety. I feel for restaurants but surely masking waiters would not be too high a price to pay for that consumer effort?...

There was once upon a time a radio programme called Desert Island. I think it may have preceded Desert Island Discs. Its construct was to invite a famous or popular person, often from the arts, but also from other paths of public life, and ask what they would choose to take with them if they had to go to a desert island. I think it was 3 things. This allowed the guests to talk passionately about their favourite books, artworks, music, etc., and allowed the audience to learn interesting things and get to know this personality better. It was a good program and its narrative device really worked. I wonder how far it would have got if every second guest had chosen toilet paper, pasta and flour, which, in the light of stock shortages during coronavirus lockdown, are the favourite things for most humans. How long can you wax lyrical about each of these objects whilst still hoping to keep your audience entertained? John Cleese or Douglas Adams may have made a go of it, but not many others Len...

It’s interesting to draw similes between history events which may, at first sight, look very different, but may also have extremely informative and curious commonalities. The coronavirus pandemic has given us some clues as to how important ideas may be spread in the World, raising hopes that we can, even as individuals, increase our impact on global problems such as inequality or global warming. After all, patient 1 managed to start a pandemic. I’ll write about this separately, but this thought led me to the simile between early Christianity and coronavirus. As an ideology, early Christianity was thought highly dangerous by the roman establishment and had an R>1. The Romans tried to flatten the curve, their version of ‘Stay at home, save the NHS’ was ‘Crucify Christians, save the status quo’ (methodology was more brutal in those days). Alas, the attempt to flatten the curve eventually failed, there were several waves and, when emperor Constantine contracted Christianity, the game wa...

A petition was started, a few days ago, to see Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s closest advisor in the UK government, fired for flouting lockdown rules. It reached nearly a million signatures in 3 days. This is staggering for something not that important, particularly when you consider that petitions relating to much more globally important issues such as climate change action languish on much lower numbers. The secret to the success of the Cummings petition is that it is driven by anger and hate, the two strongest emotions driving human decisions, as the Brexit vote and the elections of Trump and Bolsonaro taught us. Cummings is easy to hate, arrogant, aloof and weird looking. And so the petition rides on. We need to change focus from these basic feelings to hope, aspiration and rational self preservation, to devote energy to important issues. An eventual Cummings sacking would satisfy petitioners, but would make no real difference, not even to his influence over the Prime Minister L...

Most countries in the World have been fairly orthodox in their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Not surprising, as one expects epidemiology experts to issue similar guidance independently of nationality, and sensible governments to follow it. The downside of such cohesive response is that we have to rely on experts to tell us what might have happened should we not have responded. And we all know how much credence many in our populations give expert opinion these days. However, one government has stepped up to the breach, risking the wellbeing of its people to provide such valuable experimental benchmark. Belarus. Whilst the rest of the World locks itself down at home, the Belarusians congregate in the streets, in the height of the pandemic, to watch thousands of soldiers marching through their cities. This is irresponsible and highly dangerous for their people. It will, however, provide a benchmark for the rest of the World of what the pandemic might behave like without lockdown...

For someone who casts a critical eye on social injustice, the UK lockdown easing is the gift that keeps on giving. Concerned with policies which prioritise the interest of the wealthy above that of others, I have already posted on unsafe return to work and on cleaners and nannies entering households when friends and lovers cannot. Today I turn to schools. Cabinet ministers state that going back to school is completely safe, this is by definition false. Nothing in life is and, even if referring exclusively to the context of coronavirus, the more social contact, the greater chance of infection. At the same time, Eton school announces lessons will resume in September due to health concerns. A number of the cabinet are Old Etonians and it seems they deem the safety of their own as more important and worth preserving than that of others. Not surprising, I know. The double standard is obvious at the ‘we do not care’ level. It has been for a while, with the connivance of the working classes L...

I’ve now spent several days trying to understand the UK's so called guidance for lockdown exit. It is not easy. One of the main conclusions I can draw, which I referred to in a previous post, is that we are exiting to the benefit of the upper social classes, as it could be in no other way in the UK. The most glaring example, in addition to the expectation that workers will return to work when their employers may not have had time to implement good protection measures, is cleaners and nannies being encouraged to go back to work. You cannot visit your girlfriend/boyfriend and go into their house, but your nanny can on a daily basis, as can your cleaner. I can only imagine the cabinet’s sympathy for the predicament of those deprived of these services. Their return may pose significant infection risks, as clearly nannies will not be able to keep social distance, but it’s a price worth paying to spare the wealthy from having to continue to look after their children or clean their bathro...

As a society, we have had no choice but to control coronavirus through lockdown and social distancing. Our technological capabilities have made huge differences, I will post separately on this, but not enough to avoid having to ask citizens to make great social sacrifices and having to put many of our businesses at risk of failure. The UK lockdown easing measures unveiled recently have taken the former demand to a new extreme. Many measures were announced, but one really caught my eye: you can now see your girlfriend if she lives in a different household, keeping a distance of 2 metres. I really have to wonder how many behavioural psychologists had to be consulted to find one who thought this might be viable. The government is most likely over asking in the expectation of under delivery, but this policy really does not look like it has a chance to be successfully followed, never mind enforced. This masochist exercise in temptation looks more like a psychology study than a public policy...

Rugby is one of my passions, and I miss it at the moment. I take both an escapist and analytical interest in it, as the coach of a fairly successful school team and a keen veteran player. So, at times, I feel a bit of void. No rugby to watch, analyse or play. This is alleviated by my visits to the supermarket, which are peppered with examples of exquisite rugby technique. Old ladies showing deft sidesteps (off either foot!) when you intercept their line of travel or come within tackling distance. They would make any first class backline proud. Determined shoppers who hold their line and plough through, scattering others all over the shop (sic), fiery aggression in their eyes. Any forward pack with designs on domination would not hesitate to throw them onto the field. And the playmakers, the most interesting of all, as is the case on the real pitch, surveying the whole shop for space, before choosing their line. When will it be on TV, so that I can watch from the comfort of my own home?...

I have noticed that the public’s interest in coronavirus news is dwindling. This is hardly surprising, it has been an information onslaught. Everything else has retired into a discreet second plane, with coronavirus issues, be it lockdown, PPE, ICU admissions or economic impact, dominating the agenda. It taints all aspects of life. The news, printed and broadcast. Our shopping expeditions. Our WhatsApp groups and Twitter threads. Our exercise. And this has been going on for weeks. No wonder our sensibility to it is dulling and our interest fading. I, like many, cannot wait for a more normal situation where life becomes multi issue again. And then I thought of the World War generations. They would have experienced the same, but for 4 and 6 years respectively. The constant hammering of the same issue into their perception, the inability of anything else to rise above it, the dull, repetitive, unrelenting cacophony of different news which are really the same. Tough times. Tough people Len...

Many countries in Europe, including the UK, are starting to exit the lockdown. As cannot be otherwise, despite what post-marxist neoliberalism tells us, the risks and consequences of the exit are distributed unequally throughout society. Curiously, risk of infection is distributed more or less inversely proportionally to wealth. Immediate return to work is expected of those who cannot work remotely. In the UK, with 48 hours notice and without time for employers to take appropriate measures. No PPE is recommended, just make your own. Most white collar workers can still work from home, but blue collar workers are confronted with a sudden return to work with no protection. Their employers need them back, whatever the risk. And on they march, into the midst of the storm, to discharge their duties stripped of guarantees of workplace safety that were, until the pandemic, unnegotiable. The infection consequences will be known in a few weeks, social consequences are obvious already Length: 989...