After the all too brief relief felt at Boris Johnson’s expulsion and the disastrous tenure of Liz Truss, many of us might have thought in October 2022 that we’d get more a more principled premiership from Rishi Sunak. Who’d have thought that we’d actually get an even worse brand of dishonesty and private profiteering, butContinue reading “Friday 22 December 2023”
Tag Archives: Christmas
24 December
As happy a Christmas as possible to all readers! These are busy days for many but you may perhaps have time to peruse this mini blog post while basting that turkey or nut roast, when grabbing a crafty snifter while peeling those spuds, or during the post-lunch/dinner slump! Recently transport minister Mark Harper was trying,Continue reading “24 December”
Saturday 8 January 2022
Happy New Year to all readers, insofar as this is possible given the current worrying situation! The feeling in many quarters that things are out of control can rarely have been so pronounced. Since the last blog post in mid-December, the intertwined Covid and political situations have been a rollercoaster, and just when you thinkContinue reading “Saturday 8 January 2022”
Sunday 12 December
Various media outlets are now finally discussing the degree to which we can trust the Prime Minister, citing a plummeting in trust over recent months. The major theme of this blog has been the risks to public mental health when we can’t trust our leaders, who function as proxies for our early authority figures (egContinue reading “Sunday 12 December”
Sunday 5 December
How things can change in a week – ten days ago despite rising Covid cases some commentators and politicians were blithely alluding to Covid as being in the past: on UnHerd Andrew Lilico had said ‘Britain is remarkably well-placed as it emerges from the pandemic. Public health officials will of course continue to be concernedContinue reading “Sunday 5 December”
Sunday 21 November
There are almost no words for the shameful spectacle which has engulfed British politics during the last few weeks but which has its roots in the privilege and sense of entitlement nurtured over many years, particularly within the Conservative Party. This will be adding to public anxiety, already long exacerbated by the effects of pandemicContinue reading “Sunday 21 November”
Saturday 9 October
To hear politicians pontificating from their conference hall bubbles recently, you’d almost think there wasn’t a fuel and supply chain crisis surging through the rest of the country, the sticking plaster solutions clearly not working. The request for overseas drivers (some of whom have not minced words in their media about how badly they feltContinue reading “Saturday 9 October”
Sunday 20 December
With 586 Covid deaths registered on Friday and dire warnings of a new and highly contagious strain of the virus wreaking havoc in London and the South East (thought to be 62% of cases in London), the Prime Minister has now, after weeks of dithering, restricted Christmas relaxation of restrictions to one day in EnglandContinue reading “Sunday 20 December”
Saturday 12 December
Whereas just one of these would be more than enough to contend with, this week has seen ‘V-Day’ jingoism, Christmas and Brexit dominating the news agenda, some media outlets generally assuming that everyone has a fairly middle class lifestyle. A letter to the Daily Telegraph demonstrated this, quoting SAGE advice as to how to manageContinue reading “Saturday 12 December”
Saturday 5 December
Friday’s announcement of 504 new deaths and 16,298 new COVID cases must make us wonder whether lockdown has worked, although many believe it’s never been a ‘proper’ lockdown. This week Boris Johnson had his work cut out trying to quell the threatened rebellion to the post-lockdown restrictions regulations, Tory rebels demanding to see the evidenceContinue reading “Saturday 5 December”
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 