False starts to the day. Privacy matters.

I had great hopes for today when I first woke up and saw that “rosy-fingered dawn” appeared to be in the sky - pale blue with pinkish clouds! I should have realised that red (or pinkish) sky in the morning does not really bode well. The pink had disappeared from the sky by the time I was up and out and running. I did see some sunshine but it didn’t last long. And before long we were back to dull grey and damp - not actually raining but still soggy! So it goes.

Our prime minister has apparently been interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg and has refused to say whether his family has private health insurance and uses private health care. It’s his own business, he maintains, and has nothing to do with his governments policies. I rather fail to see why anybody would expect a Conservative to set an example by using the NHS.  A member of the Labour party would be a different matter. 

Either way, they should not pretend to be what they are not, and I am not persuaded that either group really has the man in the street firmly in mind. 

It seems Mr Sunak has agreed that they might talk to nurses’ unions about pay but only for next year, not for this year. It strikes me that it’s a fat lot of use declaring that your door is always open if it slams firmly shut on what matters right now.   

Thinking about ideas and policies, here’s a little something from today’s press:

“Childcare is back in the news, thanks to Liz Truss lamenting Rishi Sunak’s decision to dump her childcare proposals - including the scrapping of staff-child ratios for nurseries. But there are deeper reasons for childcare’s increasing role in our policy debates. Rising female employment requires more childcare and a Conservative party nervous about relying on older voters occasionally turns to a childcare policy offer for the squeezed middle aged. After all, subsidising childcare is more manageable than buying every angry millennial a house.’

That’s my underlining of the last sentence, by the way. And it’s all about seeming to do something, after all.

Also, I’m growing heartily sick of hearing about “Spare”. I’ve had enough of William and Harry and I don’t want to know anything at all about their sibling rivalry. Maybe they should be thinking about making discretion one of their New Year’s Resolutions. 

I’ve been thinking about those resolutions as it’s one of the things on the list for discussion at tomorrow’s first zoom Italian conversation class of the new session. I think I’m going for rewatching all the old films and music concerts we have on DVD and relistening to the old music we have on vinyl. It’s no good their just sitting there doing nothing but take up space. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!