Don't mention the L word

 Hi All,

"I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you : plans to give you hope to the future" Jeremiah 29:11

Don't mention the 'L' word. It causes all sorts of strife and calls to disobey the law or sometimes conspiracy theories, from libertarians of the right (who usually put law and order and obeying the laws as fundamental to them). Or it generates the kind of belief that we will have to remain in this cocoon forever as a really jolly socialist experiment and watching the pub industry go down in flames is worth it to attack the corporate world who were paying their people the minimum wage (well now they're on the dole, earning a lot less, but hey that's just a stat in the road to revolution). 

Then we have the doctors and nurses of the NHS, working and taking on the stress and  traumas of life on covid wards, while other parts of the NHS could be shut down. There's no clap for them anymore. They're just another part of the political football. People say 'well nightingale hospitals aren't being used' : the problem is you can't just clone thousands of more doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants as if they were Sontarans or Jem'Hadar. 

The patients on those wards are seemingly forgotten 'it's just flu', 'they're all old people' , 'they would have died anyway' ,  forgetting that they're not all old people and that if you would have 'died anyway' what is the point in any medical practice at all? It must be terrifying watching people treat you with a tube in your mouth and on a ventilator, while they all wear space suits, as if you'd been kidnapped by aliens and not being able to die with your family there. Teachers -another part of the political football. The Union of the nations- another part of the political football that gives one of them a daily pulpit to preach independence.  Then there are those who are stuck on their own, isolated, vulnerable, lonely without the comfort of companionship or seeing anyone from day to day. This crisis brings with it misery and intolerance and no ability to see how we can get out of this in the traditional stoic British way. 

"For I the L-rd your G-d, hold your right hand :It is I who say 'fear not I am the one who helps you"

Isaiah :  41: 13

So here we are in another national lockdown, which in many ways we have been for two weeks anyway, and which was probably predictable with or without this worse strain of the Cv19, with most pubs across the country shut before this announcement. The only difference being schools and I think gyms. It's going to be another challenge with the lack of social bubbles and visiting - especially in a community such as mine, which is, when I come to think about it, a community in the sense of being a part and mixing, or maybe it's me as I'm just someone who can speak to anyone. That was and still is tough to bear. 

There's nothing we can really do now, except to bunker down as if it as a storm and then come out and survey the damage later on and wait for the vaccine to be rolled out among the population. Until then we have at least the furlough scheme to keep people in their jobs and whatever the left says, I'm not sure exactly how much more red ink they'd put onto HM Treasury's ledger.

And of course you will have ME and the team here to entertain you everyday for the next couple of weeks!