Vaccination. Roundabouts. Flagwaving. Immigration/asylum seeking. Excessive dog-friendliness.,

 Amongst the old family stories there is the one about how I almost died of whooping cough and diphtheria when I was a baby. My grandmother is said to have saved my life on more than one occasion by helping me to breathe. One of those illnesses would have been enough but two at once was a bit excessive. Both those potentially baby-killing illnesses have not been common for a long time now in this country, largely because of vaccination. But now I read that a baby has recently died of whooping cough. Oddly enough the headline said that the mother had not been vaccinated. Reading on, I found that if pregnant women are vaccinated against whooping cough at the right time, ideally between 20 and 32 weeks, it passes protection to their baby in the womb so that they are protected from birth. That was not a thing when I was having babies. 

 

It seems that vaccine rates among pregnant women for whooping cough reached a peak of 76% in 2016 but fell to 59% by March last year. Since the deaths last year, vaccination rates among mothers recovered to 73%, but are still below the peak.

Vaccination as a whole is being questioned more and more. There was a big scare about the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) vaccine when our children were small. There were stories going round that it caused autism. I thought we had got over that scare but apparently vaccination rates  for primary school children were at the lowest levels for 15 years. Almost one in five children starting primary school this week in England are not fully protected from diseases including whooping cough, polio, tetanus and diphtheria. This puts the UK well below the World Health Organisations 95% threshold for herd immunity for all childhood vaccines. 

Influencers and their parenting methods have quite a lot to answer for!

There was time when small road junctions were just that: small road junctions. And then suddenly small roundabouts started appearing at these junctions, initially just a few here and there but now they are ubiquitous. I suppose it was a response to the increase in the number of cars on the roads and the need to control the flow of traffic. Anyway, there is one at a road junction not far from us and yesterday or the day before, driving past with my daughter and family we noticed that it has been painted with a rather crude flag of St George. This is happening all over the country, as is the sudden raising of flags, both the England flag and the Union Jack. It’s all become rather excessive!

I hear that J.D. Vance has criticised those who oppose this flag waving and flag painting. He thinks we should be proud of our flags just as they are in the USA. They do go in for a lot of flag waving over there. Someone commented that roundabout painting does not happen in Wales because it would be too difficult for anyone whom is not a talented artist to try to paint the Welsh flag with its red dragon. 

The immigration debate still rumbles on. It seems that the Church of England has joined in the debate, criticising reform UK’s proposed immigration policy.

And here is a link to an article about a successful immigration/ asylum story, looking back at Angela Merkel’s open door policy. Disturbingly, the article ends in this fashion: 

“A decade has passed since Somar’s journey. Today, the future for migrants – and of Europe itself – remains uncertain, as intolerance grows across the continent. In Germany, where Somar lives, the far-right and anti-migration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party came second in February’s federal elections, with more than 20% of the vote.

Meanwhile, fortified with barbed wire and systematic pushbacks, Europe continues to close itself off.”

Finally, on a lighter note, here’s a link to Tim Dowling writing about dog-friendly cinemas. Yes! Dog-friendly cinemas! Really, there seems to be no limit to what some dog owners need to do to include their dogs in their whole life! I have already ranted about dog-friendly cafes and restaurants, even dog-friendly supermarkets and shopping centres. But do dogs even like going to the cinema? The mind boggles! Well, mine does!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Mending broken hearts. Family blackberrying expedition. The cost of bottle of water. Opinions of media coverage of Reform UK.

 In fairy tales it is possible for people to die of a broken heart. I didn’t think this was possible in real life until I came across takotsubo cardiomyopathy, known as broken heart syndrome, which causes the heart muscle to change shape and suddenly weaken. It is usually triggered by severe emotional or physical stress, such as losing a loved one. People do actually die of it. Fortunately it seems that the world’s first randomised controlled trial for broken heart syndrome has found that 12 weeks of tailored cognitive behavioural therapy, or a heart recovery exercise programme involving swimming, cycling and aerobics, helped patients’ hearts recover.

There you go! Exercise can mend a broken heart! Some people just go for food! 

On the subject of food, we went out foraging again today. My daughter asked if she could drop the small people off at our house while she did some sorting out. Granddaughter Number Two came too. We proposed a blackberry picking expedition. Everyone joined in with enthusiasm, even Granddaughter Number Two despite the fact that she never ever eats fruit. It’s not so much the taste as the texture she dislikes. And this goes right back to her early childhood. 

We got home just as the rain set in. And then we made blackberry buns! All good! 

We have often complained at the price of wine, even a fairly modest bottle of wine, in English restaurants. According to this article, the latest thing is to sell customers highly priced bottle of water. It seems you can go for a £5 bottle of Crag, which comes from the Peak District, or Vidago, a mineral-rich water from a Portuguese spa town, which will cost you £19. Some people obviously have more money than sense. 

The controversy over asylum seekers’ hotels continues. Here’s an article about it. 

At the risk of repeating myself, here is a letter from a Dr Ian Flintoff of Oxford:

Nigel Farage and the small number of Reform MPs justifies, at most, a couple of column inches on the inside pages of the Guardian. Unfortunately, and with the finest of intentions, you and the rest of the media continue to make Farage into a towering national political figure. This is what happened with Donald Trump in America and, to an extent, with Boris Johnson. Do beware! Lavish and extensive promotion enables people to think that Nigel Farage is a true and worthy leader.

Dr Ian Flintoff

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Thoughts about summer and holidays. And some August silliness.,

 The blackberry brambles around here are still full of berries, despite my having set about them earlier this week. And I know of a few other people who have been out and about doing the same.

The poet Seamus Heaney understood blackberrying:

Late August, given heavy 

rain and sun for a full week, 

the blackberries would ripen.

At first, just one, 

a glossy purple clot 

among others, red, green, 

hard as a knot.

You ate that first one 

and its flesh was sweet 

like thickened wine.

Summer’s blood was in it 

leaving stains 

upon the tongue 

and lust for picking.

Quite so. I need to go out berry picking once again, maybe accompanied by some small assistants.

I read that on Tuesday, the Met Office said this summer would “almost certainly” be the UK’s warmest on record, the mean average temperature for the season stood at 16.13C, based on data up to 25 August. A good summer to spend in the Uk instead of rushing off to warmer climes.,

According to this article, the people of Greece cannot afford to holiday in their own country. But this letter suggests that it is not the case:

“Your article concludes that while foreign visitors can savour Greece’s natural beauty and other joys of their country, for Greeks such pleasures have become a bittersweet memory. We beg to differ, because the evidence points exactly to the opposite.

Every year the Greek statistical authority, Elstat, publishes its Survey on Qualitative Characteristics of Resident Tourists. The July 2025 edition presents comprehensive evidence that Greek residents’ trips and nights spent on trips for leisure, recreation and holidays have been rising since 2021. Both the number of trips and the total number of nights spent on vacations are at their peak for the past decade. The overwhelming majority (more than 85%) of Greeks’ vacations take place within Greece, and more than 70% occur in the summer months of June, July and August.

Further evidence demonstrating the increased ability of Greeks to take vacations is provided by Elstat’s annual Household Budget Survey. The latest edition shows that the category most closely related to vacations, “Restaurants, cafes and hotels”, presents the fastest rise among 12 sub-categories of expenditure; its share in total household expenditure is the highest of the past 16 years, and is now higher than before the crisis.

The numbers speak for themselves: with a remarkable economic recovery, reflected in rising employment and real incomes (as documented by Eurostat), Greeks are taking more and longer vacations, which they overwhelmingly spend in Greece. 

A number of Greeks, however, do have difficulties making ends meet, and raising their welfare standards is our government’s top priority. On that, we firmly believe we are on the right track. And the Greeks’ summer is alive and kicking. 
Omiros Tsapalos
Spokesperson, Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Finance”

I sometimes wonder if the British insistence on having holidays abroad is a peculiarity of our nation. It certainly wasn’t the case when I was a child. And then came the waves of mass tourism and cheap holidays. It would be interesting to see some statistics about here and other European countries., especially if we are going to keep having warmer summers.

Forecasters warn that the weather is due to change, just in time for children returning to school. I seem to remember though that we often had Indian summers when the autumn term started. 

Since August is supposed to be silly season, how about this: Donald Trump claims that in Europe we call him the President of Europe. He says he is honoured by the title… which nobody seems to rememebr giving him

.

I have already commented on the early onset of Christmas advertising. Here’s another I saw today for the royal National Lifeboat Institute: 

“Too early for Christmas cards? 🎄 Not when they’re on sale for as little as £2.50! Shop today and support RNLI lifesavers.”

 Mind you, I do know people who will already have bought their Christmas  cards!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Christmas is coming … already! Names in the news - Farage, Blair, Davey. Not having your cake and eating it.

It’s almost the end of August. Today I saw a notification from I ❤️ Manchester that said “Christmas returns to Albert Square this year - after 6 years”. (There has been extensive work going on at the town hall which has closed off Albert Square.) I’m also seeing pubs and restaurants informing us that they are now taking bookings for Christmas. I know this happens every year but it still seems shockingly early! I think it was Granddaughter Number Two who protested that “they could at least wait until we get Hallowe’en out of the way”. 

Traditionally August is a quiet month for political news, despite the conflicts continuing all over the world. Warmongers don’t take summer holidays but politicians do, whizzing off here and there, hoping that they won’t need to be called back home away from the beach (or the villa some rich person has loaned to them) for a crisis. This fact has prompted this article in the Guardian about the continued presence of Nigel Farage, who has cannily had press conferences early each week, thus ensuring his name being in the papers for most of the rest of the week. 

Here’s a letter commenting on that:

 “August has hitherto been known in political circles as the “silly season”? Now that Nigel Farage has taken (back) control of the agenda, I’m with the late Edna O’Brien: “August is a wicked month”.

Les Bright 

Exeter, Devon”

And here’s a related cartoon: 

Another name in the news this week has been Tony Blair, still a sort of golden boy pundit in the political world but to some of us a big disappointment, despite his acclaim as a peacemaker. Now he’s back in the peacemaker role, involved in discussions about the fate of Gaza when or if the war (killing) comes to an end. Here’s Michael Rosen’s comment on that: 

"So Mr Blair, what  are your qualifications for talking about Gaza?"

"I bombed Iraq."

"Fair enough."

Meanwhile here is Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey explaining why he plans to boycott a dinner for Trump at Buckingham Palace. He said the invitation to state banquets was “one of the great privileges of being the leader of my party” but on principle he’s turning it down. Will Nigel Farage be invited as the leader of his party? I wonder. Incidentally, there are currently 72 Liberal Democrat MPs in parliament as against 4 Reform UK MPs but we know who gets the most media coverage.

Here’s a cost of living item: 

“A “significant” jump in the cost of grocery staples such as eggs and butter is stoking food inflation, according to data pointing to a renewed cost of living squeeze.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said prices had risen at their fastest pace for 18 months, with food inflation hitting 4.2% this month. This was up from 4% in July and the highest reading since February 2024, according to its monthly shop price monitor.

The BRC chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said the rapid rise added to the pressure on people already struggling with the cost of living.

“Staples such as butter and eggs saw significant increases due to high demand, tightening supply, and increased labour costs,” she said.”

Here’s a letter to The Guardian in response:

Due to the rise in the prices of eggs, butter and chocolate (Report, 26 August), it seems I am no longer allowed to have my cake or eat it!

Stuart Harrington

Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset

Somehow a very British response. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Thinking about train travel and James Joyce. Also some people’s version of patriotism. And magic charms to affect the weather.

In our Italian conversation class at some point earlier this year we looked at information about the city of Trieste. (Our teacher sends us this sort of thing from time to time, giving a focus to the lesson.) One of our number showed off his knowledge by talking about the time the writer James Joyce spent in Trieste. Coincidentally, my scanning of the newspapers online this morning threw up this article about James Joyce’s travel from Dublin to Trieste by train. Caoilinne Hughes, invited to be writer in residence at the James Joyce Summer School in that city, decided to try reconstruct his journey in the modern age. This being the 21st century she tells us that her “journey got off to an eventful start when the Eurostar announced delays due to cable theft near Lille. Around 600 metres of copper cable were stolen overnight from the high-speed line.” It seems the modern age has extra hazards for would-be travellers. 

Here’s another thing I pulled from the morning’s look at the papers. Rafael Behr was writing about Nigel Farage - well, also about what Starmer should do to combat Farage - and wrote this: 

‘By any measure of success except parliamentary representation and ministerial offices held, he is the most significant leader of his generation.’

I found myself wondering what other “measures of success” he was referring to. Surely “parliamentary representation” (a handful of MPs) and “ministerial offices held (none) should be considered rather important. It seems to me that the media are determined to make a success of that man, or at least make him “significant”! 

Here’s a comment from letters to the Guardian newspaper on the flag-waving patriotism that Mr Farage seems to endorse: 

“Great to see the Saint George’s cross flying everywhere. It was first adopted by Richard Lionheart, king of England. During his reign he lived in France, barely visited England and didn’t speak a word of English. Saint George himself was a Roman soldier, born in Turkey and martyred for his Christian beliefs. Such multiculturalism makes you proud to be British.

Andrew Gould

Bosham, West Sussex”

Maybe Mr Farage bases his (lack of) commitment to his constituency on Richard Lionheart’s commitment to his country! 

Funnily enough I had had a conversation about Mr Farage in the coop store in Uppermill earlier in the morning. There was an elderly lady ahead of me in the queue, purchasing a newspaper with a headline about Mr Farage and his plans to arrange for mass-deportation of immigrants when he is prime minister! “There’s nothing but trouble everywhere,” she said, “and some people seem determined to stir it up!” So we had a little political chinwag as we waited to pay for our shopping. 

I had cycled to Uppermill as the weather seemed favourable. Indeed it was fine and sunny, although rain is forecast for later in the day. After I had done some washing I thought it looked as though the promised rain was about to arrive. Indeed one of the neighbours was in the process of taking her washing in. She must have been more organised washing-wise and had hung it out earlier. But then, I had got up and cycled to the market! Anyway, in view of the threatening clouds in the sky I decided to hand the washing indoors, a habit I have grown out of in recent weeks. 

Consequently, the cloud has thinned somewhat and the rain has still not arrived. The washing, however, will remain indoors, as a kind of charm to make it possible for us to go for a walk later without getting soaked. 

My daughter, on yet another mini holiday, this time to the Lake District, reports that they had torrential rain last night, but then, that’s what you usually expect to happen in the Lake District.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Out foraging. Some thoughts on re-watching The Godfather. And on immigration. And on killing journalists.

 I followed my own advice yesterday and went blackberrying, returning home with a large box of berries, which soon became blackberry pie and blackberry, apple and almond cake. 

We’ve not yet had the promised rain. Well, truth to tell, there was evidence of it having rained during the night but when I went out first thing it was fine and dry, with even a bit of sunshine from time to time. I say I went out ‘first thing’ but that is a bit of an exaggeration. We sat up late last night watching ‘The Godfather’ and as a result I got out of bed rather later than usual.

We’ve also recently watched several seasons of the American series ‘Yellowstone’ and after rewatching ‘The Godfather’ I found myself wondering to what extent ‘Yellowstone’ was based on or at least echoed ‘The Godfather’. John Dutton is something of a Don Corleone figure, having things done his way. Tom Hagen, the Godfather’s consigliere, is a kind of adopted son who has become a lawyer, just as Jamie Dutton is an adopted son who becomes the Dutton family’s lawyer. There’s even in each case a younger son who despite his best efforts is pulled back into the family business: Michael Corleone and Kayce Dutton. Just a thought! 

There’s been a lot of flag-waving over the last week or so at anti-immigration demonstrations. Mr Farage is not helping matters, egging people on to protest. I’m fairly sure that many of those who gathered outside various hotels used to house immigrants did not live near those hotels. I’m not sure how I would react if the pub next door, which does have rooms where walkers and other holidaymakers stay, suddenly filled with refugee families. I hope I would be as welcoming as the families in the film ‘Il Treno dei Bambini’, which tells of hungry children sent from 1946 post war, struggling Naples to spend some time in the more prosperous north of Italy being cared for and fed by left-wing families there.

Much of the problem, of course, is that the would-be immigrants are not processed fast enough. There is little chance of any level of integration while whole families spend months in crowded hotel rooms, unable to work and unable to resume a normal family life or to get to know the community where they are housed.

Here is a link to an article about an overcrowded asylum centre in Kent, where people are meant to spend days and end up spending months in dire conditions.

Meanwhile journalists are being killed in Gaza. I didn’t think there were any hospitals left to bomb but the IDF struck Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, the last functioning hospital in southern Gaza, not once but twice, killing medical aid teams and reporters who rushed in to help the victims of the first run.

“The IDF stated that ground forces fired a tank shell at the hospital because they thought a camera on site was being operated by Hamas to observe Israeli troops. The forces then fired another shell to ensure the camera was hit, which the IDF estimated hit the medical personnel who tried to treat those wounded from the first shelling. IDF Chief of Staff Zamir has ordered an initial inquiry "as soon as possible."

The IDF said it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such," and added that it acts to "mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible while maintaining the safety of IDF troops."

This is Mariam Abu Dagga, a photo-journalist, who, like most journalists working there, prepared her will despite being just 33 years old. She left behind two sets of instructions: to her colleagues, do not cry at her funeral; to her 13-year-old son, Ghaith, make her proud. 

And here’s a cartoon comment on the situation. 

And finally, here’s something from Michael Rosen:

Thank you Netanyahu,  

we'll remember the word 'mishap'.  

A word useful for such things 

as a matter of a lost key,  

or a trip over a doorstep  

but you've now used to wrap up  

blood, murder, loss and horror.   

If this is a mishap 

the mishap is you.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!