Would you believe, I’ve run out of time to write this today but, if I hadn’t … Well, it would most certainly have been an uplifting post. After all, 2022 is turning out to be a cracker!
Ist April; April Fools’ Day. Hands up who ever, really, had fun with that? Not me, for one. I’ve just googled its origin but there are many variations each too long to entertain when one hasn’t got the time! One thing I would have written about, though – which is far from humorous – is the rocketing energy prices which come into play today. Actually, come to think of it, the figures are so unbelievable, we have all been had? In which case, the choice of date is telling … Attempting to take my gas meter reading yesterday, I had to wrestle a rose bush which dominates the air space above the flower bed in which the meter is buried. Why, you may ask? No longer surprised at the complete lack of logic which abounds, I would reply – in a tone denoting my resignation – ‘It just is.’. Scratched and in disarray, I retrieved the elusive five digits. Those pertaining to the electricity meter, meanwhile, only required the removal of furniture and a magnifying glass! Job done. Or, maybe not. Attempting to log into my Scottish Power account, the website was down. Well, of course it was. Some hours later – on trying again – I was rewarded with three different tariff proposals, each with a monthly direct debit in excess of £500! I mean, seriously?! What is this? April Fools’ Day? Never funny, I can only breathe a sigh of relief – for now – that I am on a fixed tariff until the end of 2022. After all, like Scarlett, I’ll think about it tomorrow and, who knows, Hollywood may have bought the rights to my best-selling, definitely warrants a screen of some sort, book by then …
If I had had the time to write today, I would also have mentioned the controversy surrounding transgender cyclist Emily Bridges who, following Wednesday’s ruling by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), is not permitted to compete in tomorrow’s National Omnium Championships in her first women’s event. My thoughts? Need you ask? I have just learned that British Cycling transgender regulations – who knew? – require riders to have had testosterone levels below five nanomoles (that must have been taken from Mork & Mindy?) per litre for a 12-month period prior to competition. Apparently, Ms/Mr Bridges has attained said level but still lacks the required number of international ranking points to confirm ‘her’ eligibility for international events. Phew! Complicated, or what – or just non-sensical. Emily Bridges was born a man. ‘She’ has the physique and strength of a man and, in fact, she won a men’s points race in Glasgow only last month. End of. Transgender women cannot – and should not be permitted to – compete against biological women in sport. The disparity in physique is, inevitably, too great and any such competition could never be fair. Actually, while on the subject of transgender women, neither should they be permitted to use women’s changing rooms or bathrooms – potentially putting biological women in danger – nor should they be incarcerated in women’s prisons. This is not inclusivity; it is madness!
If only I had had enough time to write about the fact that Glasgow and its SNP-run council have had the audacity – nay the arrogance and the downright ignorance – to suggest that the statue of the world-renowned explorer, David Livingstone, may be in jeopardy:
‘A monument to Livingstone has been pinpointed as one of eight in the city celebrating figures “with connections to Atlantic slavery” because he was employed in a mill, which used cotton from the West Indies, to finance his university education.’
Daniel Sanderson, Explorer and abolitionist, David Livingstone, condemned by council for ‘links to slavery’. The Telegraph, 29th March, 2022.
Breathe! Slowly, calmly … David Livingstone? The explorer about whom every child is (no doubt, ‘was’, now) taught at school. His adventures in Africa, discovering Victoria Falls? The guy is a legend and, what’s more, he used the money he earned from working at that mill in Blantyre to study medicine! He travelled to Africa as a missionary, not only enthralling those at home with dispatches and drawings, but highlighting – and condemning – the barbaric practice of slavery. To call this statue into question, ever, is not only unacceptable but ridiculous! There is no justification but, then, the same could be said of all accusations by the ‘woke’ minority. Turn the spotlight on them and it will reveal nothing more than a pathetic group of inward-looking, unhappy people fuelled by grievance and a victim culture which has neither any concept of history nor the ability to afford context to the past. Unfortunately, for now, the Tyranny of Tolerance prevails but sense dictates that it will be short-lived. After all, history is invaluable. It is in the past; it cannot be changed and it should never be erased but it is all that we have from which to learn …
Would I have mentioned the report aka the atrocities of the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust? The fact that their penny-pinching ‘maternity care’ – a business focused on cost-cutting – resulted in the deaths of, or irreparable damage to, 300 healthy babies? Part of the wonderful NHS we pay for and yet nobody can get an appointment to see his/her GP face-to-face. Worse, there are, now, adverts on Scottish television telling one to go online with one’s symptoms and await direction – to one’s pharmacist! Let’s remind ourselves of a GP’s salary, most of whom earn in excess of £100,000 … My father was a Consultant Psychiatrist who took early retirement in 1987, unable to tolerate the direction of the NHS. For him, it was always a vocation, not a job. He cared about each and every one of his patients and saw each and every one of them himself. His best friend was our local GP, on-call 24/7 because he cared. Home visits, weekends, he was at the end of a phone. What the hell happened to this world? I would turn the clock back in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t we all?
Harry Styles was on Radio 2, this morning, with Zoe Ball. His new single is called ‘As It Was’ …
‘In this world, it’s just us
You know it’s not the same as it was …’
Writing from the heart, Harry Styles is an old soul with an affinity and respect for the past. May he go forth and multiply!
This is Trish, signing off. Apologies but no time …
