General Update
General Update
I'm not sure what I want this blog to be about, if anything in particular, but I do know that I want a blog to gather thoughts and post things on. Somewhere that is mine and somewhere that is not social media. I'm sure it will naturally gather into topics and categories that I'm interested in over time if that is what I want to happen.
The key point right now is to start publishing and where better to start than with the lockdown.
So why not start with a general update on current events and then to discuss where I'm at with that. Trouble is there is so much to think about right now.
In order of magnitude, the issues I'm thinking about goes a bit like this :-
Covid-19 < UK Government < Brexit < Society < Climate Change
Covid-19
Obviously, this is the clear and present issue with the world. The pandemic. Until a vaccine is created (and maybe not even after that) the threat will hang over the world and affect everything everyone does, whether they like it or not.
UK Government
The Boris Johnson government gets less popular by the day from its handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Public distrust surged with the Dominic Cummings scandal, but there were no resignations. Scientist are now showing that up to 20,000 deaths could have been avoided if the lockdown had taken place a week earlier. There is a lack of transparency, and democracy (already just in name only in the UK) has been weakened further. However, they have a large majority and will rule for another 4 years. Only a Tory rebellion will bring the Johnson government down. Maybe that will happen if the polls continue in their downward trajectory.
There is clear pressure for another Scottish Independence referendum with the SNP seeking a mandate from the people in elections next year. However, the UK government are unlikely to permit another referendum to take place.
Brexit
People think Brexit is done, but the trade deal with the EU hasn't been completed and has a "no-going back" deadline of the end of June. Without that trade deal, we face the same no-deal chaos we avoided last year, but with added Covid-19 nightmare on top. Prepare to stockpile.
Society
I can help wonder where society and western civilisation is going. Maybe the European countries will survive this, but certainly in the UK and the US, the right wing populist movement is getting stronger and more extreme. At the same time, there is push back against it, witness #blacklivesmatter and the protests around the world about it. With the US election in November, I don't think Trump will be going without some sort of conflict.
Climate Change
Perhaps forgotten about due to the Covid-19 crisis, but the biggest issue of all is climate change. It is not going away and time is running out fast. I had hope of a new normal taking effect with the lockdown bringing in changes around travel, more cycling and less car journeys, home working, local shopping, and less plane travel. But all I see if people wanting to get back to what they've been doing all their lives. What they've been doing has been detrimental to the environment that supports humanity. I wonder if the wakeup call will come soon enough or it'll be too late.