Chris Whiteside's Blog

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  ( Socrates )  

 

 

“I don’t think it is wise to link Scotland’s politics to those in the island of Ireland.” “I think it best to let the people north and south in that island find their way to a solution, without a Scottish opportunistic finger being pushed into that complex political pie.” (Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars , responding to suggestions that the SNP and Sinn Fein might make common cause, which even some wiser heads in the SNP described as “Not at all helpful.”  I am inclined to suspect that those Scots like Jim Sillars who are deeply concerned about any such idea may tend to include those who have paid rather more attention to this history of all parts of these islands including their own country than those who think it is a good idea for Scottish and Irish nationalists to make common cause. There were good reasons why Gerry Adams gave the present First Minister's predecessor a very dusty answer when he tried to suggest that both Ireland and Scotland were fellow victims of imperial...

As the first two episodes of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan MacGregor and Hayden Christian finally become available, there was only one possible choice of music to post on the blog today ...

I would like to repeat the huge thank you I published earlier to those who supported Marie Curie Cancer Care and Cancer Research UK by sponsoring my swim in Swimathon 2022 earlier this month.  Glad that at least one thing went right at the start of May 2022 - I completed the 5,000 metre challenge swim, 200 lengths of Copeland pool, in two hours, nine minutes and ten seconds. Between online donations and those who sponsored me in person we have now raised £340 plus about fifty pounds of Gift Aid from Rishi Sunak! You can see my Justgiving page - which is still open for donations if anyone is feeling generous - by following the link just below: Christopher Whiteside is fundraising for Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie & The Swimathon Foundation (justgiving.com)

This week Laura Castle was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of Leiland-James Corkill, a one-year-old boy who had been placed with her and her husband in a pre-adoption placement by Cumbria Council council. The council's executive director John Readman provided a public statement on behalf of the council last week, including an apology for Leiland-James’ death.  "Adoption should have been a new beginning for Leiland," he said. "That was cruelly taken away from him by the person who should have cared for him and kept him safe. "We are deeply sorry for Leiland's death, it should not have happened. "Our thoughts and sympathies are with his birth family and all those who knew this little boy. "Abuse of a child by adopters is almost unheard of and we are determined to do everything we can to prevent this happening again, here or anywhere else." The information that has come out through the trial was both shocking and distressing. I hop...

"The events detailed in Sue Gray’s report were wrong and should never have happened.  They’ve been investigated, a full and genuine apology has been given and it’s now time to move on.  We must focus on the challenges facing people today." (Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, chairman of the Conservative party) I suspect that there are people who will read that quote and ask "How can he defend the indefensible?" He isn't defending it, neither am I, and indeed nor is the PM. Anyone who thinks Oliver Dowden is defending what happened should perhaps be asked  "What part of ' Wrong and should never have happened'  don't you understand?" It was indeed wrong, and it certainly should never have happened. It was wrong in itself and it was a symptom of a culture of entitlement at the top of British society - including more than one political party, the civil service, the media and the elite in general - which needs to be challenged. There must be one rule for...

I was pleased to see that today the Chancellor unveiled a  Plan for a Stronger Economy, including more concrete action to help individuals and families deal with the cost of living crisis. £400 to every household - and unlike the previous plan, it will not have to be paid back. An additional £650 million paid directly into the bank accounts of 8 million of the worst-off households. (I presume there will be special arrangements for those who do not have bank accounts.)  Overall this takes to  £37 billion the package of support to help people with the cost of living as we grow our economy.   And yes, we have changed our mind on a windfall tax on energy. I don't apologise either for having concerns about the principle of windfall taxes in general, or for the fact that as the "perfect storm" of energy prices, impact of the pandemic, and of the war Ukraine has worsened at the same time that even some in the oil and gas industry, such as the chair of BP, have said they cou...

 

 

"We terrorise older people for the crime of not knowing how to download an App." Quote from a discussion on this morning's BBC Radio 4 today programme on how councils, railway stations and private companies make life extremely\ difficult for the non-tech savvy, many of whom are older people, if they fail to offer a range of ways to pay for or book services such as parking and effectively force people to use smartphone Apps or other automated services which can be extremely user-unfriendly, I didn't catch the name of the person who said this but he is 100% right. During the discussion Dame Esther Rantzen - not someone I always agree with but what she said this time is perhaps worth some consideration - suggested that the government should have a minister for older people, and the sort of rule that such a minister might try to introduce would be an exemption from prosecution for anyone over 55 who fails to make a payment when the only way they were offered to pay it wa...

  'If we have learned anything since the 2016 referendum, it is just how heaving the UK’s educated middle classes are with cranks, obsessives, fantasists, conspiracy theorists and downright crackpots.' ( Stephen Daisley on Twitter, responding to the suggestion that Union Flags hanging in Regent Street to mark the Queen's forthcoming Platinum Jubilee somehow has relevance to Nationalism which justifies a big headline about Nazi Germany.) Geoff Norcott commented on some of the same comments which inspired Stephen's tweet "Twitter needs to have an automatic pop-up saying: 'Are you *sure* you want to compare this to Nazi Germany?'"

 "He can have as many tank shells as he likes but if he's got no tanks to fire them that's a fat lot of good." Weapons expert  Hamish de Bretton-Gordon writing in the Express about the Russian army's logistical problems in Ukraine. His view is that Russia is running short of sophisticated munitions such as hypervelocity missiles; he thinks they still have lots of conventional artillery and tank shells but that Ukrainian forces have successfully knocked out a lot of Russia's tanks and some of their conventional artillery.)

 

 

Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, known professionally as Vangelis, composer of many brilliant pieces of music including the "Chariots of Fire" theme died this week. He will be missed but his music will, I suspect, remain to be played and remembered for a very long time. Rest in Peace 

  Lest my choice of the above quote be misunderstood, I wish to make crystal clear that it is offered purely for it's value as a thought, and is not to be misunderstood as a coded message about the person who originated it.

 

 

 

 "We have been reminded in the most brutal way why NATO is so important." ( Annalena Baerbock , German foreign minister, speaking at a NATO press conference just now)

 

  Slava Ukrayini! Congratulations to Ukraine on winning Eurovision 2022, and well done to Sam Ryder, the UK entrant, for an excellent performance and second place. (I gather he got more votes than the previous eleven UK entries put together.) I gather that the number of competition votes cast as a result of the votes from the public in each European country for Ukraine's entry, was 439 out of a possible 468. The largest number of votes cast by each country for the entry which had most votes from that country was twelve, the second largest was ten. To get 439 votes would have to mean that almost every other country gave them either 10 or 12. 

  (He was of course referring to the Republican and Democrat parties in the United States of America, but I suspect it would also be true of all the major parties here in the UK)

 

This week the government announced that   £2 billion of defence contracts have been awarded to support the third phase of our submarine nuclear deterrent programme   – ensuring the UK remains at the vanguard of global security while supporting tens of thousands of high-skilled jobs. Our Dreadnought Class of submarines will be crucial to maintaining and safeguarding our national security, with the nuclear deterrent protecting UK citizens from the most extreme threats every day. That is why the government has announced that over £2 billion of defence contracts have been awarded to begin the third major phase of the future submarine nuclear deterrent programme, building the largest submarines in Royal Navy history and supporting around 30,000 jobs across the UK. This investment will boost a key British industry for decades to come, protecting our national security and supporting high-skilled jobs.

The government has   announced the biggest change to renters law in a generation , improving the lives of renters by driving up standards in the sector and levelling up the country. Too many renters are living in damp, unsafe and cold homes, powerless to put it right, and under the threat of sudden eviction. That is why we announced our Renters Reform Bill, driving up quality for private renters by giving all renters the legal right to a safe and warm home, banning Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, and introducing regular, rigorous inspections and stronger powers to tackle failings by social housing landlords, delivering a New Deal for renters. This will end the injustice faced by too many renters and help level up communities and improve the life chances of people from across the country.

 

Northern Ireland needs a government to be formed at the Stormont Assembly. And it is clear that it will not get one unless progress is made to make the Northern Ireland trade protocol more workable. It was never going to be easy for Britain to leave the EU without either re-creating a highly undesirable border on the Island of Ireland or an equally undesirable one within the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea. Indeed, my concerns about the difficulty of doing this was one of the three main reasons I voted Remain. However, the majority of people voted Leave, and Britain has left the EU. Any deal to do so which had any chance of working was obviously going to have to involve a great deal of compromise, give and take - and to be brutally honest, probably more than a little fudging of the issues - on the part of the UK and Irish governments and the EU, to reflect the concerns of the various communities in Ireland. It is my impression that the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol which was part...

Today   the Prime Minister visited Finland and Sweden   to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and the security of Europe more broadly. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the risks posed to European security and the UK is leading the efforts to bolster our collective security. That is why the Prime Minister travelled to Finland and Sweden today, in a meeting of democratic nations to discuss Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and issues such as security which are of importance here and overseas – reiterating countries’ democratic capability to decide on things like NATO membership. We will do everything we can to support Ukraine and work with partners across Europe to defend our collection security.

  Being on the side of the majority is useful for a politician in a democratic country, but I can see that Marcus Aurelius had a point!

"I disagree with many policies of this government, but that doesn't mean I feel the need to disagree with everything. Like many I have become weary of the bad faith attacks, the inability to offer even a soupcon of credit for policy successes, the exhausting criticisms which do nothing for democracy and everything to inflame the cynicism which has become a democratic disease. The truth is that in the whole, and with only a few exceptions, ministers did their best in unenviable circumstances. And to think otherwise is not a reflection of them, but a truly devastating one of us." ( Matthew Syed , conclusion of an article in the Sunday Times at the weekend - see article posted yesterday evening for more detail and link.)

Sunday Times journalist Matthew Syed, who to the best of my knowledge is not a Conservative and certainly writes plenty of things I disagree with, wrote a very good piece in yesterday's paper about the stage of public debate as illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early stages of the pandemic one of my friends posted that whatever any government had done they would be attacked by the relatives of those who died for not having done enough, and by those who lost their jobs or businesses for having imposed restrictions which were too strict. This was to prove only too accurate. Certainly on social media (particularly Facebook but also the comments section of this blog) I found the government constantly under fire from two diametrically opposed directions: some who thought that the lockdowns and other restrictions on liberty should have come sooner and been even stricter, others who thought that those measures were far too strict and amounted to an assault on freedom. Most of t...

I did manage to complete the Swimathon 5,000 challenge yesterday by swimming 200 lengths of Copeland Pool in two hours, nine minutes and ten seconds. This was to raise money for two excellent causes: Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie Cancer Care. A huge thank-you to all the generous souls who have sponsored me or promised to do so - at the timer of writing there have been online sponsorship donations of £250 via my Justgiving page which the government will supplement with at least £25 of gift aid: three people have also promised to sponsor me when they next see me which should take the amount raised to help people living with cancer past £300. Here is a picture of my Swimathon 2022 swimming cap and the medal I was awarded for completing the 5,000m challenge. And here is the link to my Justgiving page: if any more kind souls would like to sponsor me and support these great causes I would be most grateful. Link to my Justgiving page: click here.

 

Yes, I know it's an advertising tactic, but I shall be interested to read what they have to say. The FT have made most of their online content about the war in Ukraine available at   War in Ukraine: free to read | Financial Times (ft.com) If any other major news outlet publishes content which is usually behind a paywall for free I will post a link on this blog to them too.

A lockdown performance by the choir of Oriel College of Haydn's motet "Insanae et vanae Curae"   The lyrics can loosely be translated thus:  ‘A crazed and raging passion invades our minds:  Again and again madness fills the heart, robbed of hope.  How does it profit you, O mortal man,  To seek for worldly success, if you take no thought of Heaven?  Yet if God is for you, all things are are on your side.'

"The evil has returned, Again!" Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that evil has returned to Ukraine as he gave an emotional address for VE Day, when Europe commemorates the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two. The life that soldiers fought for in that war came to an end on February 24th when Russian forces invaded, he said in a video message. "The evil has returned. Again!" Zelenskyy said. "In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose." But he added that he is convinced that Ukraine and its allies will win.

 

I will be taking part in Swimathon 2022 tomorrow to try to raise money for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie Cancer care. This will be the 29th consecutive year I have taken the 5,000 metre challenge: I will be trying to swim that distance by doing 200 lengths of Copeland pool tomorrow afternoon. I would be very grateful for anyone who is able to sponsor me or any other participant to raise money for these extremely good causes and make a difference to people living with cancer. You can do this via my justgiving page, which can be found by clicking on the link below: Christopher Whiteside is fundraising for Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie & The Swimathon Foundation (justgiving.com)

Following on from yesterday's music spot I was tempted to post the Boris Johnson spoof version of "Always look on the Bright Side of life" - not least because, like the version my friends used to sing at discos, it replaced "Bright side" with my surname. However, it had too many things in it which I would not want to appear to be supporting. However, instead here is a version with the original soundtrack but scenes from the war in Ukraine. Trigger warning - some of these images display a rather dark sense of humour and I would recommend that anyone who is very easily offended does not click on the above clip. 

 

Here is a link to the page with the details of the election results for the new Cumberland Council which will meet as a "shadow authority" over the next ten and a bit months and take office on 1st April 2023. Cumberland Council election - 5 May 2022 | Shadow Authority for Cumberland Council At that time the existing County and District councils in Cumbria will be abolished and their powers and duties assigned to the two new unitary councils.  Existing county and district councillors will continue to serve until then. I congratulate all those who were elected to the new councils and wish them well. I would also like to thank all those who voted for me.

There was a stage of my life when, whenever I went to a disco, my friends would always request this song, and loudly sing my surname instead of "bright side." It seems rather appropriate in the present circumstances ...

  "It's the economy, stupid" was one of three themes coined during the 1992 US Presidential election by Bill Clinton's election strategist James Carville to remind the campaign team of which issues to focus on. The quote is often wrongly attributed to Clinton himself. Yesterday and today have not been great days for the Conservatives in Cumbria or many other parts of the country. There were probably multiple causes for this: the so-called "partygate" issue did come up on the doorstep but I don't think it was the biggest problem for the Conservatives. There is little doubt in my mind that the main cause of the Conservatives' difficulties in these local elections has been the serious hit to living standards caused by the rise in the cost of living, particularly but not only the hikes in energy prices. These increases are by no means all the fault of the present UK government but we have a responsibility to help people to deal with them. The biggest le...

Polls are now open in local elections in the UK and will remain open until 10pm. In Northern Ireland, there are elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly: in England, Scotland and Wales there are elections to various local councils.  In Scotland and Wales there are elections for all local councils. In England there are elections to 146 principal councils (this means a County, City, District, Borough, or Unitary council) and about a thousand parish councils. These include the new unitary authorities which will replace Cumbria County Council and the six districts in Cumbria on 1st April next year. The new Cumberland Council will replace the existing authorities in the area currently covered by Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland, the new Westmorland and Furness council will replace the current councils in Barrow-in Furness, Eden, and South Lakeland. There are two other new unitary authorities in Somerset and West Yorkshire being elected for the first time. The creation of these four ne...

A thought for every election candidate today.  

"What's wonderful is seeing the same Labour supporters who demanded Boris should resign after eating a piece of cake suddenly - and without any sense of irony or self-awareness - screaming "it was only a curry...there are more important issues...can't you eat at work" etc..." (Dan Hodges on Twitter) I agree with Dan. There should be one law for everyone - and perhaps everyone in politics should look a bit harder at how well their own side has done at respecting it before yelling at their opponents.

"So this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause."  Line from Star Wars Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) spoken by Senator Padme Amidala, played by Natalie Portman. Today is often humorously described as Star Wars day (on the basis of the pun "May the 4th be with you.") But my quote today from one of the Star Wars films is anything but humorous.  Not everyone likes the Star Wars prequel trilogy - though it's far more popular than the sequel one - but in my humble opinion the three films, Episodes I to III, and the Clone wars series brilliantly depict the fall of a once-great democracy. A story which has far more relevance to our own day than I like, though this should be seen as a statement of warning of the threats we need to avoid rather than one of despair that we are on the same track as the Republic was in those films. Here is a Youtube essay on the subject by "Arkan the Amerikan" which I think is very powerful. (Warning - it lasts an...

It has also been announced today that   the Vaccine Taskforce Director General will head a newly formed Hormone Replacement Therapy Taskforce   to address issues in the supply chain, leaving no stone unturned to make sure women can access the HRT they need.  Women across the country rely heavily on HRT – and thanks to greater awareness around the menopause demand for HRT has risen by 38 per cent.  That is why the government has acted to appoint Madeline McTernan, Vaccine Taskforce Director General, to harness the lessons from the pandemic to head the newly formed HRT Taskforce, easing supply chain pressures and engaging with suppliers to improve the understanding of what is driving shortages.  This will ensure that HRT – which is a lifeline for many women across the country – is accessible to all women who need to access these vital services.

It has been announced today that   8,000 British troops will deploy across Europe this summer in planned exercises , demonstrating solidarity and strength with our NATO allies in one of the largest shared deployments since the Cold War. The security of Europe has never been more important – and it is only right we use our world class Armed Forces in a show of solidarity and strength with our allies against Russian aggression. That is why around 8,000 British troops will conduct a series of planned exercises across Europe this summer – including the deployment of 120 Warrior armoured fighting vehicles and launching Exercise Arrow aimed specifically at deterring Russian aggression – alongside our NATO allies and the Joint Expeditionary Force in a UK-led security coalition. Britain stands alongside our partners, combining our capabilities and shared values to promote peace and security across Europe, demonstrating our Army’s central role in deterring Russian aggression.

"We need to be more clear-eyed about the dangers posed by the enemies of the nation." "On the one hand, we might point to the metropolitan left, which harbours unrealistic ideas about immigration and asylum. There are perhaps a couple of billion people on the planet who would come here if they could, often fleeing sectarian conflict. If they were all allowed to come here in the name of compassion, the miracle in which they were seeking to partake would vanish. Nations without borders are not nations. I disagree with significant details of the Rwanda policy, but I am confident that offshoring of a more humane kind is the only coherent solution to the challenge of mass migration. Asylum and immigration offer huge benefits but only when they are controlled to ensure assimilation and consent. On the other hand are the super-rich who accrue wealth by taking advantage of the intricate tapestry of social obligations upon which nations depend, and then illegally offshore their t...

"It felt like Einstein was being harassed by an intelligent lettuce." Extract from a comment by "CD13" on the Political Betting website . Here is the full quote "I listened to a 'defence expert' who was a real expert on BBC recently. He was giving a very clear and concise explanation of the invasion, and the reasons it had bogged down. He was continually being interrupted by the interviewer with questions he'd just answered and irrelevant ones. She was reading from a crib sheet and not even listening to his answers. As soon as he reached an interesting point, she'd interrupt with a barmy question of her own. Just let him speak, I found my self saying. It felt like Einstein was being harassed by an intelligent lettuce. I thought the journalists had learned from the embarrassing debacle of some of the Covid press conferences. Obviously not."

Forty years today on 2nd May 1982, during the Falklands conflict, the Royal navy submarine HMS Conqueror fired three Mk VIII torpedoes at the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. Two of them hit the cruiser which sank with the loss of over three hundred lives. (The official Argentine death toll is 323 though it was often alleged by people on both sides of the subsequent controversy that the Argentine authorities understated the casualty figures and that the real number of deaths was higher, with figures up to 368 being quoted.) This action effectively took the Argentine navy, which up to that point had been a significant threat to the British task force, out of the war: Argentine surface and submarine naval forces retired to their territorial waters and made no further attempts to interfere in British operations to recover the Falkland Islands. This effectively doomed the Argentine garrison, though liberating the islands did not seem as easy or straightforward at the time as the sca...