Today, after I had been jogging in the drizzle, the sun decided to come out. It’s hardly summery out there though, even though we’re at the end of May. There was a chill wind blowing when I went out to put stuff in the bin. Maybe it will manage to stay dry though. I need to get out and tidy the garden. What was a rather charming buttercup wilderness has turned into a tangle of straggly stalks as the taller species of buttercup have gone to seed. Now it’s just a mess.
Rather like the world at the moment.
In the wider world, the Labour party continues with its own Diane Abbott mess. Some people are protesting that she should be allowed to stand for election. Others, including Starmer, are declaring that she has never been banned from standing. And now there is talk of there having been a deal for her to retire from parliament which has now broken down, leading her to vow to stay on for “as long as it is possible”. After all, some old men are still trying to be president!
Apparently the investigation into Diane Abbott’s behaviour was finished in December. She then had to do an online antisemitism course. How very patronising and demeaning is that to a politician of her longstanding. It’s all a mess, leaving me wondering why they waited until the election was declared to announce her re-acceptance into the Labour fold. Did nobody foresee the brouhaha, surely detrimental to Labour, that would ensue?
Meanwhile, other hopefuls have indeed been told they have been deselected. For example, Faiza Shaheen, who had been Labour’s candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green, told BBC Two’s Newsnight she received an email telling her she had been deselected after the decision was first made public in the Times. Diane Abbott said on X in response to that news: “Appalling. Whose clever idea has it been to have a cull of left wingers?”
Well! Well! That should endear her to her leader, I don’t think. But surely we need some outspoken people, livening up the debates!
“A long time ago, when I worked in an office, we used to take lunch quite seriously. This meant getting up from our desks, walking on our legs, and eating with another human being for the purposes of chat. Sometimes this even happened outside, or at a restaurant. It seems absurd now. Who has the time to hang out in the middle of the day or drop $20 on a sandwich when you could be sitting at your desk, staring at the internet, grazing leftovers from a plastic container from home? (Or, if you’re already at home, let’s be honest, taking a nap.)”
I remember lunch hours. There was a time when they really were an hour, rather than 45 minutes, and on the last place I worked sometimes timetabled over so that you might find yourself teaching from 11.00 to 2.30, snatching a coffee beforehand and a late lunch afterwards. But back in the 1970s some of us used to sit and chat, do crosswords, even do our knitting during the lunch hour.
Ms Brockes concludes:
“There is, I’m sure, a case to be made that socialising, moving around, or taking your head out of work in the middle of the day is actively good for your output. (Not to mention your emotional and physical health.) Skipping your lunch hour feels like part of a larger bait-and-switch, on a continuum with zero-hours contracts, gig labour, no security, no benefits – all bad deals that were presented by employers as opportunities for us to enjoy greater freedom. You can, of course, take all the lunch break you want if you’re on your own clock. In which case, why take any lunch break at all?”
There you are!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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