Travels of a Fish Nut

Almost 18 months ago I wrote about the uselessness of the British government when it came to their advice regarding masks. At the time we had seen some of the highest rates of coronavirus infection and death in the world - 303,110 confirmed cases and 42,589 deaths - and yet were in the process of reopening non-essential shops and services. Since then we have gone through a further two lockdowns and have had, to date (21/11/21),  9,845,492 confirmed cases and 166,730 deaths . In the last seven days over 1,000 people have died of coronavirus. Those numbers are shameful. Every single one of them represents a failure of our government to protect us. And a huge part of that failure is due to their woefully inadequate messaging and inability to follow the science. When I wrote my original post I avoided discussing the research around coronavirus. Mostly this was because it was irrelevant to the piece but partly it was because I'm not a virologist or epidemiologist and didn't feel ...

"There were protests around the world after the filmed murder of George Floyd, whilst being arrested in America. All Black Lives Bristol organised a protest against police brutality and racial inequality. On 7 June 2020, an estimated 10,000 people gathered in Bristol. Protestors pulled down a statue of Edward Colston, graffitied it and threw it into the harbour. Four days later, Bristol City Council retrieved it. Museum conservators stabilised the condition and preserved the graffiti... This temporary display is the start of a conversation, not a complete exhibition. we want to hear your views to help decide what happens to the statue next. Let's sketch out a plan for Bristol's future. All voices will be heard." These are the words that greet visitors to the new consultative display on the statue of Edward Colston (1636 – 1721). It is a small display, tucked away in the corner of one of the galleries upstairs at M Shed. It is signposted by floor markings, and the numb...

The Black Lives Matters protests have reached Bristol. This isn't a surprise given Bristol's history. Bristol's wealth is built on slavery . It was one of the cities settled by the Windrush generation, leading it to become a focal point for anti-racial discrimination protests in the 1960s. And it has done a pretty poor job of addressing this history in any meaningful way. A particular cause for consternation has been the immortalising of Edward Colston. Colston (1636 – 1721), built his fortune through the slave trade. While there is no evidence that Colston directly traded slaves, he received huge dividends as a member of the Royal African Company which had a monopoly on trade between England and Africa. However, his involvement can't be dismissed as simply being a shareholder who had little or no idea of the details of company operations. Colston quickly rose to be a member of the board and was Deputy Governor (the most senior executive position) for a year from 1...

Emmeline Pankhurst is a pretty important person. Through her leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union she was instrumental in getting British women the vote. 2018 is the centenary of women's suffrage (although it was only partial, being granted only to women over 30 with property or husbands with property; full suffrage only came in 1920 1928*) and the celebrations have brought renewed attention on the women who fought for their (our) political representation.  Emmeline is memorialised in a statue that stands in Victoria Tower Gardens, right by the Houses of Parliament. I stopped by to pay my respects when I was there in July. Emmeline Pankhurst statue It's right by the entrance and pretty hard to miss when you enter the park from the Houses of Parliament end. So I was surprised and quite indignant when I read a few months ago that a non-profit organisation proposed to move the statue . According to the article, they originally wanted to move it to...

(I had planned on writing a post on immigration and something more detailed for my last post on the referendum but time has run out). [Previous posts are found here: 1 , 2 and 3 ] The referendum is only a couple of days away. The polls are too close for comfort so there's truly no way of knowing what the future holds. On Friday we could be heaving a starting to steer the country back on course or ploughing into uncharted waters. Only time will tell.

[Click here for part 1 and here for part 2 ] Things are hotting up in the run-up to the referendum as the official campaigns have been chosen by the Electoral Commission . Britain Stronger in Europe is organising the ‘Stay’ campaign while Vote Leave have been designated the official ‘Leave’ campaign. Vote Leave has written a ‘Case’ for leaving. It’s a 36-page PDF document that paints a picture of a bright and rosy future if only we’d do the sensible thing and leave the sinking ship that is the EU.

[Part 1 can be found here ] Almost two months ago I left the UK and, via a short (but fantastic) stop in Bangkok, I landed almost half way round the world in Australia to start a PhD. Before I left I went to a couple of foreign exchange places. Both offered an exchange rate that gave me almost exactly $2 to the £ (so ‘almost exactly’ that I got $200 for £100). Less than two months later that same £100 will get me a measly $187. Now, you could argue that the Australian dollar is just doing really well, but given that there's a bit of a slump due to the (temporary) collapse of the mining industry, this seems like wishful thinking. In fact the reason for the change is not an increase in the value of the AUD, but the decrease in value of the GPB. The slump gained significant momentum when Boris Johnson backed Brexit and there is no sign of things improving.

[This has become much longer than I expected so I’ve decided to break this up into two posts. Probably two posts. . . . Hopefully just two posts . . . We’ll see. . . ] The EU referendum election is coming up on 23rd June. I don’t think it comes as any great surprise to hear that I’ll be voting to stay in, but I thought it might be worth taking some time to explain exactly why I not only feel that we should stay in, but why I feel extremely passionately that this is the best thing for the UK.

So it's all over. I've delivered over 3,000 leaflets and my feet are still recovering, I've spoken to a lot of people and I've even had people say they'll vote for me! How many, I'll find out tomorrow (well, later today by the time this gets posted). It's been interesting and I've learned a lot. There's a great deal I'd do differently if/when I run again but I'm just really pleased that I've actually done it. I've stood as a candidate for the county council! My name's been on an official ballot paper!!

I restarted this blog just over a year ago with a rant about how the government was failing the country. I can’t remember what was the straw that broke the camel’s back and forced me to putting technological pen to paper. I think it was reading about the phenomenal amount of money wasted on a badger cull that seemed doomed to failure whilst the government was cutting funding to much more needed services. I’ve done quite a bit of complaining since then – about the cuts to the Disabled Students Allowance that was ‘backed up’ by an appalling misuse of irrelevant statistics; about the  demonisation of immigrants ; and about cuts to benefits and the excessive demands made of those on unemployment benefit .

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, made a speech today. The Telegraph had the scoop, and what they report suggests that Mr Smith has gone insane. The BBC article after the speech does little to change my mind.  The Telegraph reports that he believes that, ‘[t]he economy will never fully recover unless families on benefits return to work’

Mark Harper may or may not be a name your familiar with. If you have heard of him, it’s probably due to his resignation in February of this year following the discovery that his cleaner was an illegal immigrant. This would be embarrassing for any MP, but excruciating for the Minister of State for Immigration, famed for his tough stance on illegal immigrants, which culminated in his ill-fated “ In the UK Illegally? Go Home or Face Arrest ” vans which were scrapped almost immediately after causing massive controversy and failing in their aims.

A couple of months ago I wrote about the government's announcement regarding the Disabled Student's allowance, or DSA. I was horrified at the changes, which were not so much modifications as a massive gutting of the funding provided to disabled students. I was particularly incensed over their plans to stop funding laptops for disabled students, plans which were 'supported' through the use of what can only be described as dodgy statistics; statistics that look supportive at first glance but are actually completely irrelevant.

I seem to have stopped posting as suddenly as I’d restarted. I went on holiday to Budapest for a long weekend which was amazing and much needed., and life’s been taking up my time in between. But I’m back, for now, and I want to talk about something that’s political but also personal to each and every one of us. Be aware, I’m talking about death and dying.

In a few weeks’ time voters around the UK will go to the polls to vote for the MEPs they wish to represent them in the European Parliament for the next 5 years. Despite the highly publicised debates between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg , voters still seem unclear exactly what they’re voting for. A poll taken a couple of weeks after the second debate showed a level of apathy among voters that hasn’t been seen since the Police and Crime Commissioner elections . Only 16% knew when the elections are being held, and only 7% could name any of their MEPs or even knew how many MEPs the UK currently has. I can’t criticise because I didn’t know any better so I thought it about time I educate myself and maybe do my part to help improve these figures by explaining a bit about the European Parliament and the voting process.

UKIP are a strange beast. They seem to court scandal, whether it’s over expenses , claims of sexism and racism , or renouncing their own manifesto and even their own members . Yet despite all this they are on a roll, having regularly trounced the LibDems in polls for almost a year. In the recent debates over the place of the UK in the European Union the consensus was that Farage won , despite (or maybe because) it seemed to be more about the personalities of the two debaters than any arguments they presented.

I was never particularly interested in politics, it just wasn't a big thing in our house. As a teenager I think I leaned slightly to the left though I'd never have been able to explain why. It's embarrassing to admit, but it wasn't even British politics that I first became interested in, it was American. I became a fan of The West Wing and it was through Josh and Toby and CJ that I learned about the political process. I know the show was idealised (certainly no real life Republican seems as accommodating and rational as those on the show) but I was hooked. I watched the results of the Bush/Gore election and a few years later I saw Stephen Colbert do what no political analyst or journalist seemed capable of doing and take Bush to task for the failure of his presidency. US politics was incredibly interesting and incredibly important. They were the world's last superpower and what they did affected everyone. The UK political scene paled in comparison.

A couple of days ago the Rt Hon. David Willetts MP (Minister for Universities and Science) announced his changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The DSA is a grant given to disabled students to help cover costs that arise as a direct result of their disability. It's an excellent scheme and for many it can, and has, make the difference between success and failure. These 'changes', more accurately termed 'cuts', are far-reaching and devastating. 

I've been away from this blog for a long time and it's strange to think about what's driven me back to it. It's not exciting adventures or silly mishaps or even cool fish. It's the government. Before I get going I should say I will be trying, if I can get momentum, to post more here and those posts will be better sourced than this one which is going to have no links, no references, nothing but the words that I need to get out right now. I hate this government. This government is destroying our country and everything that made it great. They're destroying the NHS by stealth. Privatising small portions so we won't notice until, like an infection, it's spread so far that removing it would kill the whole thing. They're destroying our schools. Allowing academies to flourish while cutting funding to local authorities and forcing struggling schools to be converted, whether the students, staff or parents want it or not. These academies don't have t...