So the USA has been dropping bombs on Iran. What a piece of news to wake up to on a Sunday morning! Mr Trump claims to have destroyed some main nuclear sites. Other reports, not main stream media as yet, say that the damage is not as serious as Mr Trump claims. Either way, it’s escalation!
Apparently UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said our government was aware of what was planned but did not take part. Probably for the best. However, Mr Starmer has stated that he supports the US action. Probably not for the best.
Maybe someone can persuade everyone to talk.
I also read that our government is spending £15b on revitalising our nuclear weapons. (It’s OK for us to have them, even if that’s not the case for Iran. Let’s hope we don’t fall out with Mr Trump and have him bomb our nuclear facilities.) David Cullen, a nuclear expert at the Basic thinktank, said this makes it possible for “the UK to maintain its position as a member of the nuclear club”. Hmm! The issue is partly one of skills: “The capability to deploy warheads atrophies if you don’t have warhead designers who have actually made a nuclear bomb,” he added.
Well, that’s all right then! And from the sound of things a lot of money is also being spent on security at places like Aldermaston - extra police, roof-top snipers and the like.
Of course, if you protest about any of this you might be arrested. There was a police raid on a Quaker meeting house recently because a group of young women, members of protest group Youth Demand, were meeting to talk about protests and the state of things. 20 uniformed police, some of them with tasers, forced their way in. Six young women were arrested. Laptops and phones were confiscated! And here’s a link to a report of a related incident where police broke into the supported housing where a 23 year old activist, a young man with diagnosed autism, was arrested, taken to the police station for questioning and held for several hours.
The Thought Police are busy these days and we’re a long way past the year 1984 and we don’t actually live in Oceania - it’s just beginning to look a little that way.
This morning I read two articles about growing up with discrimination in the UK. First there was Diane Abbott writing about the Windrush generation and the difficulties her parents had, struggling to buy a house - renting was difficult as landlords could refuse to accept black tenants - and renting rooms out to other families so that they could afford to pay the mortgage on the property they managed to buy. Then there is Adeel Akhtar talking about the difficulties of being an Asian actor. But he was sent to speech and drama classes because his parents believed they were elocution lessons that could teach him to “speak properly”. And he was a pupil at a fee-paying school. A different childhood but still facing discrimination.
On a completely different subject, here’s a photos of baby dolls ; Reborn dolls. It’s hard to tell properly from a photo but they certainly look convincingly realistic.
It seems they are all the rage in Brazil, not for little girls - they can cost between £200 and £2,500 - but for adult collectors. Some of these have posted videos on social media of themselves bathing the dolls, tucking them into bed, pushing them in prams, just as if they were real babies. Either these women are somewhat deranged or they are seeking their five minutes of fame as influencers of some kind. Some purchasers may be genuine doll-collectors; let’s not be too judgemental! Anyway, there have been proposals to ban them from receiving public healthcare (imagine the doctor’s reaction when you ask him/her treat your ”baby”) or to prohibit collectors from using them to claim priority in queues for public services (which seems a more likely thing).
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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