Update 52

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I began this newsletter exactly 12 months ago, confirmed by the issue number of this update as 52 - a number that I never expected to reach. Twelve months ago I had just been told that I had a few weeks or possibly a couple of months to live. It was June 10th when Igor drove M and me to meet the neurologist Mark Silva for diagnosis confirmation. Since then you have been my inspiration, egging me to keep on writing about my evolving condition as well as my view of the world outside and I continue to enjoy sharing my reports and especially receiving your own reactions. After the shock of diagnosis we sought consolation that evening at Le Petit Coco, our preferred French bistro in Cheltenham and managed to celebrate Igor’s birthday in style.

Michelle called on Thursday and asked us to think about acquiring a wheel chair. They are rentable from the Red Cross and could make my mobility more flexible. While Joanna was visiting this week she did some online research and concluded that the chairs available from the Red Cross are probably too large and too heavy for our needs so we have agreed to purchase a lightweight model. It will arrive on Monday. We have also taken delivery this week of a narrow zimmer-style walking frame which makes it easier for me to move around the house. I enjoyed Joanna’s company this week and was able to benefit from not just her contribution to the practicalities of life but also from the irrepressible sense of fun she always brings with her.

I’ve been trying to find the right way to describe Boris Johnson’s period in office and I think I’ve cracked it: “the bonfire of decency” a period when everything that most of us thought we could take for granted was literally shredded by the one they named “the greased piglet”. A man with no redeeming features whatsoever. Let’s hope he never has a leadership role again, at least not in our country. A man whose only natural role is to be looked down upon by any decent thinking person.

For the second time Helen Whately has been appointed a health minister but sadly in the interim she has learned nothing. On Question Time she simply babbled uninformed nonsense about immigration - from her position of great ignorance she told the Archbishop of Canterbury that he didn’t know what he was talking about, which at least puts her amongst much better informed company than she usually keeps.

I very much want to find things to be positive about. I would like to be positive about our opposition parties but when I think about Kier Starmer or Ed Davey, it would take an awful amount of effort for me to come up with individuals who showed any less charismatic leadership. As for policies, well I did suggest that for starters Labour must propose the re nationalisation of the water industry - without even that paltry gesture then there can be no hope at all of a Labour government - Starmer must deliver bold moves that go with the people’s emotions, such as the revulsion at sewage on their beaches and river banks. Feel for them Kier, feel for them and show it.

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