Drugs policies. Food for thought.

Last week I read about Portugal’s drug policy, which basically decriminalised drug use and set up very good clinics to help drug users. Here’s a link to an article about it. Today, I have been reading about Uruguay, where some chemists are legally selling marijuana, state-controlled, high quality marijuana, thus avoiding the problems of the adulterated stuff they sell on street corners. There are a few anomalies: medical marijuana is still illegal in Uruguay; purchasers have to be registered and so (a) tourists cannot buy the good quality stuff and (b) pushers still have a market; not many pharmacies are taking part yet as the banks have been putting pressure on them, threatening to close bank accounts if they sell the drug. But they are working on ironing out the wrinkles.

Two smallish countries are attacking the drugs problem in an innovative fashion. Time for others to think about it in a new way too?

Uruguay sounds like a very modern, forward-thinking country. In 1913 - yes that’s 1913 - a law was passed that said that women could separate from their husbands just by asking a court for permission. And it is still the only Latin American country apart from Cuba to have legalised abortion. Apparently part of the reason is a longstanding separation of church and state. There is no official Christmas Day on the state calendar; it is called Family Day. And Easter week is referred to as tourism week. There you go!

Here’s something else: every week in the Saturday Guardian there is a column which consists of readers’ responses to a question which was asked the previous week. This week people were offering advice in response to this question:

Should I try recipe meal kits? My partner and I work long hours, and I’m looking for a quick, healthier alternative to similarly priced takeaways.

Here is a link to the column, in case you would like to see all the replies.

In the meantime, here are a few examples:

“I've tried both Hello Fresh and Gousto, and am a big fan of the latter for its interesting recipes, tasty meals and clear instructions. (Though Gousto is the worse of the two for quantity of unnecessary packaging.) I tend to use them occasionally, but keep the recipe cards to make the same dishes again and again on my own, more cheaply and in larger batches that can be frozen or see us through a fewbusy weekdays. I'd suggest you try the same - not least because preparing the same (tasty) meal repeatedly sees you doing it considerably faster than getting to grips with a new recipe each week”

“They are a reasonable hands-on approach to cooking if you're not so confident. Having everything available, like in the TV demo, and ready measured is a relatively painless way to concentrate on the mechanics of cooking, like temperature, timing and when to stir. They do have more detailed instructions than any cook book would provide, and that's what some find useful. And there are places where having only just enough of all the ingredients is ideal, at a rented holiday cottage for instance.”

“But the cost should tell you it's a premium way of learning to cook or expanding your range. It shouldn't be your default meal choice; that's only a marginal improvement on ready meals. If you're cooking the same meal from the box for the third time, you're not making the most of the learning opportunity.”

Now, I know about these services in a roundabout, secondhand sort of fashion. Last time I visited my son and his wife, a number of their friends were talking about using these services while away on holiday in the UK. As a way of having all the ingredients you need for a good meal while in a self-catering holiday place it sounds ideal. And you get to keep the recipe cards! They were all pretty sensible about it and pooh-poohed the idea that it might be a solution to everyday catering needs.

Two partners working and meals to cook! A very “modern” problem, this one! Or is it? Haven’t almost all of my generation had the same thing to deal with? Most of us just cooked double amounts of whatever dish we were preparing, eating half and freezing the rest for future occasions. That way there was almost always something ready to defrost for those days when you both arrived home feeling too weary to start major cooking.

Don’t the younger generation have freezers?

Tempting!

Pope Francis seems on the whole to be a good bloke, trying to be as modest a pope as possible, maybe not as penniless as his namesake St Francis, but reducing papal grandeur as far as the system will let him. Now he wants to change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. Apparently he is not happy with the line that says “lead us not into temptation” because he believes that God does not lead people into temptation; that is the Devil’s work. We’re getting back into angels on the head of a pin territory here. Surely there are more important things to pontificate on!

An Anglican theologian has said, “In terms of church culture, people learn this prayer by heart as children. If you tweak the translation, you risk disrupting the pattern of communal prayer. You fiddle with it at your peril.” Which says something about how much people think about prayers as they say them. It also says something about the conservative nature of church establishments.

The French have adapted their version of the prayer so that it says “do not let us fall into temptation”. Very nice!

Nothing seems to have stopped Mr Trump from being led into temptation or from falling into temptation as regards declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. There is nothing quite like a bit of extra potential for conflict as Christmas approaches!

And Theresa May has given in to the temptation to accept a deal with the EU. Let’s see how things develop from there.

Royal family watchers have been having fun in recent days with the announcement of Harry’s engagement and the Queen’s imminent 70th wedding anniversary. (Two royal events for the price of one!) In one photo of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburg as a young couple that appeared in the media, I was struck by how much the young Philip looks like his grandson William. So Kate has advanced warning of what to expect as her royal husband grows older.

We have deliberately avoided watching the TV series, The Crown, which is starting a second series today. John Crace, in his “digested week” column in the Guardian, comments: “I can’t help wondering how the queen must feel at having her life picked over and being reminded of Prince Philip’s affairs. Though perhaps she thinks her life can’t get any more surreal than it already is.” Quite so!

Meanwhile, we have been escaping from all of these things by going off yesterday for a reunion meal with friends we have known for more than fifty years, and in one case more than sixty! How did that happen? It was an excellent fine winter’s day with blue sky and rather weak sunshine that did not manage to melt the thin snow and ice. It’s good job we did it yesterday, however, as today is much greyer and the snow is falling steadily.

We might have to fall into the temptation of sitting by the fire and reading the paper all day!

Trains and boats and planes ... well, anyway trains and trams!

I fear I may be turning into a grump! It’s all the fault of school kids on buses!

Today I spent a good part of the morning helping out my daughter by doing some touching-up of paintwork at her house. I then went on to the local Aldi store and stocked up with odds and ends they sell at good prices. Then I caught the bus home. All very efficiently done!

It started to go a little haywire when the bus arrived at Uppermill and was invaded by pupils from the local high school. For some odd reason they finish at a ridiculously early hour on a Wednesday. If they can be catching a bus before 2.00pm, they must finish at about 1.30. How is this possible? Whatever the answer to that question, the fact remains that masses of school kids got on the bus, pushing and shoving each other until they had somehow managed to accommodate themselves almost all standing as close as possible to the doors.

At the next stop several adults had to struggle through them in order to get off the bus. One elderly lady with a stick almost fell and had to be helped by a number of other adult passengers. By now there were empty seats in the rear section of the bus, not to mention a completely empty central aisle. However, at the stop after that, where one person alighted, the bus driver refused to allow anyone to get on, declaring that his bus was already too full. You can imagine the reaction of the high school pupils to this. The air was blue. Modern twelve- and thirteen-year-olds know words that I never heard when I was that age. Clearly that aspect of their education is working.

As the bus continued on its way I found it difficult to see exactly where we were on the route and so I stood up in order to have better view. As I edged my way forward, in order to be slightly closer to the door and thus able to avoid having to manoeuvre past too many adolescent bodies with my large bag of shopping, I explained to the young people that if they were to move down the bus and perhaps sit on the available seats or stand in the available aisle space then we might all be more comfortable. In response I received a lot of blank or even puzzled looks.

Obviously the only cool way to travel is standing crushed at the front of the bus. And the best spot of all is leaning against the driver’s cab, beyond the notice that says “NO STANDING PASSENGERS FORWARD OF THIS POINT”. I could almost have understood if the driver had been a good-looking young man - most of front space hoggers were young girls - but this was not the case. Amazing! 

Clearly public transport is not working well for me this week so far. Travelling to my daughter’s house this morning, I grew bored waiting for my usual bus and made the mistake of getting on a different one, but still one which went close to my destination. I knew that this bus went on a more roundabout route but I had not realised, or maybe I had perhaps forgotten, to what extent it did this. Back and forth it went through a hundred and one out of the way housing estates, visiting places which probably only see a bus once in a blue moon. I began to feel like an outside, an intruder, as one passenger after another got on, sometimes not even at a “proper” stop and greeted the driver like an old friend. This feeling was reinforced as they greeted other passengers by name. It was as if I had sneaked my way into a cult outing! It was quite a relief to get off the bus.

Even the trams yesterday were not without their little problems. On the way into Manchester my tram was held up at Victoria Station. Two passengers alighting there had stopped and indicated to the driver that there were two young men towards the rear of the second carriage semi-conscious with the drug Spice. The police were called and the young men were escorted off the tram. It’s a sad and strange aspect of the homelessness problem that you see numbers of young men lying, sitting, semi-standing, leaning against walls, completely oblivious of their surroundings, having taken enough of the drug to remove all awareness.

(Ironically in Frank Herbert’s science-fiction story “Dune”, spice is the name of a drug of a quite different kind: “In the series, the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe is melange, a drug that gives the user a longer life span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness; it can also unlock prescience in some humans, depending upon the dosage and the consumer's physiology. This prescience-enhancing property makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. Melange comes with a steep price, however: it is addictive, and withdrawal is fatal.” Thank you Wikipedia.)

During my return tram journey in the early evening yesterday the tram jerked to a halt. Passengers were thrown around but nobody was hurt. The driver apologised before setting off once more and, when we reached the next stop minutes later, popped put of his cab to check that all was well. In the evening gloom a car had pulled out in front of the tram and, realising what he had done, the driver had then come to a full stop right in front of the tram. Hence the emergency stop. All could have been worse.

Such are the trials and tribulations of public transport!

A little rant about things educational.

Theresa May is struggling with the Brexit talks, foiled by the DUP at the moment when she thought she had cracked it. If I were Theresa May, I would be asking the DUP to give the money back. I wonder if she ever wishes she had stuck to the Remain position that she held during the referendum. 

Not all is doom and gloom though. This report tells how English nine- and ten-year-olds have gone up to eighth place in international reading exams. We used to be in third place apparently and then slipped a long way down the ratings. But now we are on the way back up - hurray! - although still behind places like Finland.

It’s interesting to see the various ways groups of youngsters differ in their reading skills:-

“More than 319,000 students worldwide were tested in 2016 as part of the 2016 assessments. Girls scored higher than boys in 48 of the 50 countries – in the two other countries there was no significant difference between the genders.

Students who attended pre-school and whose parents regularly read with them at an early age had higher reading achievement. The study also recorded a decrease in parents’ positive attitudes to reading in 31 countries, while 17% of parents reported they did not like to read themselves.

The study also found that one in 4 students arrived at school hungry every day, and had an average reading achievement score 32 points lower than students who arrived at school never feeling hungry.”

Some of it is just plain common sense. I could have told them that children whose parents enjoy reading and, perhaps more importantly, whose parents read to them are more likely to be readers themselves. We read to our children and I am aware that all my grandchildren have been read to regularly, practically since birth, although with with differing results. I remember sitting on the floor in a bookshop with the oldest granddaughter when she was about three, surrounded by all the books she had gleefully taken from the shelves to have a look at. She still reads a fair amount now, although computer games take up some of her time. The second one reads books on the bus on her way to school. Their brother has had periods of being a fairly keen reader, although never as keen as his big sisters, but mostly prefers other pursuits. He does, however, enjoy reading stories to his tiny sister. Grandchild number four, three-year-old girl cousin of the ones already mentioned, has her own section of the family bookshelves and has long kept herself busy with her story books. The youngest member of the family, the one whose big brother reads to her, will already at 15 months old go and fetch a story book and nods her head in time to the rhythm of the rhyming stories. On the whole a success, I think!

The high school our teenage grandchildren attend has a policy that all pupils should have a book with them at all times, somethin that they read for pleasure. They are encouraged tonread i  soare miments, this does not, however, prevent the granddaughter who reads on the bus from being teased for the amount of time she spends with her nose in a book. Goodness knows why this should be. I have never really understood why reading is sometimes regarded as odd and boring!

I find it quite horrific that the report says one in four children arrive at school hungry every day. Of course, circumstances vary from one country to another but in the 21st century statistics like that should be disappearing. Of course children will not learn well if they are hungry!

The estimable Paul Mason writes about the social mobility that was evident when we oldies were growing up has largely faded away nowadays. Something has gone wrong with the system. Perhaps priorities need to be re-examined. Maybe if university vice chancellors were not paid such silly salaries, then some of the money could be ploughed back into improving other aspects of our education system. I am pretty sure that the rich will disagree with me - and don’t get me started on how much more they could contribute to our society - but really nobody needs £300,000 or £400,000 or more per year to live on. It’s all out if proportion!

Inequalities,

There is a story going around that Nigel Farage has stated that he will not be turning down his £73,000 a year pension from the EU. On the one hand you might think that a man who does not like the EU, who worked hard to get us put of the EU and is supposed to have become an MEP with just that purpose in mind might not want any more to do with the institution. On the other hand, it’s perhaps what you might expect from him.

He is apparently reported to have said that of course he is accepting the pension as he does not see why his family should suffer even more! What exactly has his family suffered, by the way, from the UK being in EU? And I think that we have to continue contributing to his EU pension even after we leave. Brilliant! I would like to opt out. Just as I would like to opt out of contributing to David Cameron’s Prime Ministerial pension. I am pretty sure neither of these gentlemen is short of a bob or two.

Meanwhile, for those of us who live in less exalted circles, I came across this:-

 “Hundreds of thousands of children and older people have been plunged into poverty in the past four years, according to a stark analysis laying bare the challenge to families trying to keep up with the cost of living in Britain. The research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found almost 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners in the UK were living in poverty last year compared with 2012-13, the first sustained increases in child and pensioner poverty for 20 years.
The foundation warned that decades of progress were at risk of being unravelled amid weak wage growth and rising inflation. The thinktank urged the government to unfreeze benefits, increase training for adult workers and to embark on a more ambitious house-building programme to provide affordable homes for struggling families.”

Phil and I are fortunate enough to be among the people who managed to retire with a reasonable work-related pension, nowhere near the Nigel Farage EU level but with more than enough to get by on and some left over to help out the offspring if necessary. We hear a lot about the Bank of Mum and Dad these days. However, the Bank of Mum and Dad only works if there are funds available and I think younger generations are finding it hard to set up those funds for when their turn to be the bankers comes around.

Here’s another story:

 “The Co-op will start selling food past its "best before" date for just 10p as it looks to tackle the issue of food waste. From Monday shoppers at 125 Co-op stores in East Anglia will be able to purchase "perfectly edible" items as part of a campaign to reduce the chain's impact on the environment. Items such as tinned goods and dried food which have a "best before" date, rather than "use by" dates, will be available for the reduced price as part of the scheme. The "best before" date is about quality, not safety, so the food is fine to eat beyond even though it has gone beyond its optimum.”

I have long argued that sell-by dates were a bit of an anomaly. Meat and fish and other produce that might cause you harm if eaten when they start to go off need a sell-by date but is it the case for fruit and veg? Recently I have bought apples at reduced prices because they have gone past their sell-by date and then had to keep them for a week while they ripen up to a truly edible condition. Similarly, avocado pears at their sell-by date are like rocks. And yet some people are still ruled by sell-by dates. Crazy world!

 And Aldi, a quite excellent store these days, has a scheme in place to deal with food left in the shops when they close at 4.00 pm on Christmas Eve. Organisations can contact Aldi,before December 8th and arrange to collect left-over food so that it can be distributed to the needy.

It’s all beginning to seem a little Dickensian!

Escapism!

Well, she’s committed now, that Megan Markle. Barely was the engagement announced than she was off on her first royal “engagement”, working the line and meeting the people. And people were picking out the best spots on the streets two hours before the happy couple were due to turn up. Oh boy, they must be desperate for something to go on in their lives!

But if the young lady wants to change her mind now, she’ll not just be breaking Harry’s heart but she’ll be disappointing a nation. I have often wondered how it feels to give up your free life to marry a prince, even if it might mean you are not so very rich. When the Duchess of Cambridge was a teenager and thought about a possible future with a husband and children, did she really plan on her children spending a lot of time with a nanny? Although I suppose it’s not that different from a working mum whose children spend a lot of time in nursery. And at least Kate doesn’t need to worry about childcare costs taking up 75% or more of her take-home pay. Anyway here is a link to another American’s opinion of marrying into royalty.

I suppose all this royal-watching gives people something to think about other than austerity and Brexit and people sleeping on the streets. Today comes the news that Alan Milburn, who chairs the governments’s social mobility commission, is resigning. What’s more, the other members of the commission are going with him. Milburn says the government is making lots of promises but not actually doing anything. Everyone is too busy with Brexit! Which is a mess that gets messier, and seemingly more expensive, by then day.

So I guess I’ll work on not worrying about it and concentrate on other, more trivial, stuff.

I came across this article about how we should be keeping more and more fruit in the fridge. This includes bananas, which I was always told go brown and soggy if you store them in the fridge! Soft fruits I can understand but they have to come out and be brought up to room temperature before you eat them. There’s nothing so disappointing as a chilled and tasteless strawberry, no matter how perfect its shape and colour.

But mostly I am ignoring this advice. Ye gods! There will be no room in my fridge for stuff that REALLY needs to be there.

The perils of tweeting or not tweeting!

I cannot say that I have ever been a fan of Taylor Swift. This is not from any great dislike of the young woman. Indeed, I am nor aware of even having listened to her sing, unless accidentally when I was out and about. No, I am just pretty much indifferent.

However, the Guardian seems to have printed an article about her, wondering why she has not tweeted anything about President Trump. I am afraid I have not read the article in full either but here is a link to it.

I only became aware of it when I came across some letters criticising the Guardian for printing the article. The paper was criticised for “wasting ”editorial space printing that story when more time and space should have been devoted to that instead of talking about the NHS. Here’s an excerpt from one of the letters:

 “In the article, you portrayed Swift as embodying the values of Trump because she: has written songs about her life; is adept in the use of social media; has the temerity not to give her music away for free on Spotify; wishes her biggest fans to get tickets to her concerts; has a friendship group from a similar social and ethnic background; and fails to explicitly condemn President Trump and all his works.”

Another letter writer pointed out that nobody expected Elvis to give his opinion about the Vietnam war. Indeed!  So why should Taylor Swift be expected to comment on today’s political situation?

Mind you, back in the day they tried to pin down Dylan and persuade him to express political views. After all, his songs seemed full of protest. But he wasn’t prepared to play ball.

Nowadays, of course, everyone is an expert. And yet it seems as if you are criticised if you tweet (especially if you retweet other people’s racist stuff - more somif you tweet the wrong Theresa May!) and also if you don’t.

 Once again I grow nostalgic for simpler times!