My alarm rang this morning. I snoozed it. It rang again. I snoozed it again. Eventually I switched it off. I lay in bed and listened to the rain on the skylight windows and decided I wasn’t going anywhere for a while. So I spent some time having a chat on Messenger with a friend at the other end of the country. Finally I got up and showered and dressed and organised breakfast. And that was most of the morning out of the way!
Skimming social media and the news online, I see that the world in general is as grey as the day. Here are some statistics:
In 2005-06 2,884 people received a minimum of three days emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbanks. The numbers have risen steadily since then. In 2006-07 the number was more than four times bigger: 9,174. By 2009-10 it was 40,898. In 2014-15 it tipped over into a million +, with a total of 1,091, 282. And 2022-23 sees a total of 2,986,203.
There’s something wrong there!
And yet, we’re still frantically buying stuff for Christmas. According to this article the spending started earlier than usual this year. “Many retailers have reported an uptick in early sales of Christmas gifts and accessories. John Lewis said spending on Christmas items was up by 10% year-on-year in October and that people began “shopping in earnest” on 10 November.”
One explanation is that people are spreading the spending load over a longer period but personally I find it rather weird there are people who begin buying christmas gifts in August! Another suggestion isn’t that Black Friday came a week earlier than usual this year (it all depends on how the days and dates are distributed throughout November) and consequently people began bargain hunting a week ahead of their usual time scale.
There are warnings that those like me who are still waiting for inspiration to strike as we approach the middle of December will find that shops have run out of Christmas goods, or at least Christmas bargains. My experience tells me that they might well be selling swimsuits and beach-ware by the time Santa gets on his sleigh.
Further afield the US vetoed the UN Council’s appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza - apparently on the grounds that it would allow Hamas to “prepare for the next war” as it is, the US spokesman said, well known that Hamas will never accept a Two State Solution. Will Israel accept a Two State Solution is a question that needs to asked as well. And in the meantime the Biden administration is reported tomhave asked Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells for Israel’s Merkoba tanks.
The UK representative abstained from voting. Sitting on the fence?
And a Guardian update earlier this morning tells us this:
"Gaza’s health ministry... is reporting Saturday that another 71 have been killed in Israeli strikes on the region, with 160 injured people arriving at Al Aqsa hospital in the past day.
In Khan Younis, 62 dead and another 99 wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital, the ministry said."
(Guardian update 08:40)
Journalists are mostly not allowed into Israel but they are being killed in this war:
“More journalists have been killed during Israel’s war with Hamas than in any other conflict in more than 30 years, a leading organisation representing journalists worldwide said. In its annual count of media worker deaths, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said 94 journalists had been killed so far this year and almost 400 others had been imprisoned.”
We need a bit of cheers. Granddaughter Number Four, age 7, yesterday received the Headteacher’s Award for being a nice person: polite, cheerful, helpful, considerate and kind to all her classmates. That’ll have to do for the time being,
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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