14 January 2021

Diary of a Corbynista

A Corbynista in The White House?

by Don Urquhart

6 January

Clinicians should advise patients that the Government has plans in place to ensure a continued supply of medicines to patients from the moment we leave the EU. Patients will not need to and should not seek to store additional medicines at home.

So Matt Hancock to NHS clinicians back in 2018.

This will come as news to the 42 people whose epilepsy is controlled by use of Bedrolite which can no longer be provided by the Dutch supplier as a result of Brexit.

7 January

One of the feathers his supporters stick in Johnson’s cap is that his trade deal will not lead to price increases.

Morrisons must have another explanation for their communication about my shopping basket:

Gourmet Mon Petit Duo Meat Menu 6x50g has increased from £1.50 to £2.00

Gourmet Mon Petit Duck, Chkn and Turkey, 6 x 50 g has increased from £1.50 to £2.00

Morrisons Merlot Wine, 75cl has increased from £4.25 to £4.50

BOTTLE GREEN DRINKS CO Elderflower Cordial 500ml (PACK OF 1) has increased from £2.50 to £3.25

Whatever the reason it looks like inflation to me and my cats.

8 January

This diary is criticised for being negative at a time when we all need to be positive for the common good.

It’s a very Trumpian view of things.  The outgoing President proclaims Make America Great Again and expects people to buy the line that supporting him as President is the way to achieve this.

Johnson has tried the Trump approach here.  He tells us how great are his achievements and our opportunities and receives assent from 40% of voters.  The best you can say about him is that he is not yet as big a disaster as Trump.

Now that Biden has the 2 Georgia senate seats he has more chance of pursuing a progressive policy.  One commentator explained this as increasing Corporation Tax and Income Tax on high earners.  So a Corbynista in The White House.

9 January

Emma Gill in The Manchester Evening News confirms what I have been hearing from teachers.

‘It’s a shambles’: Row over key worker school places as parents accused of taking spaces to avoid home learning

It seems also that some companies are abusing the system:

Businesses are writing letters for their staff telling them they are ‘key workers’ because they want them at work.

At any event, the Government has again put out a policy which will increase the infection level.  They have to be crystal clear about what a key worker is and be prepared to prosecute employers who game the system.

10 January

I am not always a fan of Guardian Columnist Owen Jones but he has created a film of the UK response to Covid-19 which needs preserving.  In the months and years to come the government propaganda machine will tell us what a heroic job they did to pull us through. Owen Jones’ work is evidence that the reverse is the case.

11 January

Yvonne was tutoring the children of a couple in Crouch End who were working at home.  Then they reported that they could send their kids to school because their employer had told them they were key workers.  They make films for the BBC.  And they are still working at home.

12 January

Sir Keir Starmer made a keynote speech yesterday.  We all have to pull together, the Tories have screwed up; they should support families and businesses.  As far as I know there is no British equivalent to the idiom “As American as Motherhood and Apple Pie”, but hopefully you will get my drift.  Meanwhile the media are talking him up as a Labour leader who can command respect.  I am pretty sure this means that as with Blair they can pat him on the head and put him in their pockets.