Mask wearing again. Empty gestures? Advertising. Speaking your mind.

So mandatory mask-wearing comes into force today. On the way back from my run this morning I popped into the local coop store:- about half the customers wore masks, me included, no staff wore masks. Cashiers were behind screens, as they have been for ages now but other staff were just wandering around the small premises unprotected. Bonkers! But a consequence of mixed messages.

Our great leader Johnson has been to Scotland, supposedly to boost our unitedness. There he had his photo taken holding two enormous lobsters or something similar which struck me as ofd as he won’t take a knee because he doesn’t like empty gestures. However he will clap for carers and the NHS but not give them a pay rise. More mixed messages!

Junk food ads are to be banned before 9.00 pm. Word is out that despite the Tories’ dislike for the nanny state Mr Johnson realised that his weight was a factor in his suffering from coronavirus. Does this mean he is susceptible to advertising for junk food and cannot resist sending for something tasty but bad for you from MacDo or Burger King? Will such adverts also be banned from the end of bus shelters? What about adverts for gambling? I have no idea whether such adverts appear before the 9. 

Here are a couple of things, sort of related to each other.

First of all J K Rowling:- “A news website aimed at British schoolchildren has agreed to pay an unsubstantiated amount after it implied that JK Rowling’s comments on gender caused harm to trans people. The Day, which is recommended by the Department for Education and is designed to prompt teenagers to discuss current affairs, faced legal action from the Harry Potter author after publishing an article entitled: “Potterheads cancel Rowling after trans tweet”.
In the article, which some schools issued as homework, children were told that Rowling had objected to the use of the expression “people who menstruate” in place of “women”. It also referenced objections to Rowling’s recent comments from Harry Potter actors such as Daniel Radcliffe.”

And then there is Jenni Murray back in 2017:- “Off the airwaves, she courted controversy in 2017 with an article in the Sunday Times magazine in which she questioned the claims of transgender women to be considered “real women”. The article was headlined: “Jenni Murray: be trans, be proud – but don’t call yourself a real woman.” She wrote: “I know that in writing this article I am entering into the most controversial and, at times, vicious, vulgar and threatening debate of our day. I’m diving headfirst into deep and dangerous waters.” The response was swift, with the campaigns director of Stonewall condemning her views as hurtful. She was then forced to pull out of an Oxford University talk following a backlash over her comments.”


So it’s not just me who finds it all a bit disturbing.

That’s all. I am posting late, having been out adventuring with some grandchildren.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.