We’re all sitting down more

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We’re frequently exhorted to get off our sofas and get active, but it seems such public health campaigns are not having enough impact.

A pan-European study has found that since 2002 people have tended only to become more sedentary. In 2002, just over 49% of Europeans displayed “sedentary behaviours” – meaning they spent more than four and a half hours a day sitting. However by 2017, that had crept up to 54.5%. Among British men, the change was more extreme. In 2002, 45.7% showed sedentary behaviours; by 2017 this had risen to 57.2%. Among women, the proportion rose from 42.4% to 49.4%.

“This negative lifestyle change presents a major risk factor in the development of many chronic diseases such as obesity, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, cancers, and even premature death,” report its authors, in the journal BMC Public Health. They speculate the rise could be down to longer commutes, more labour-saving devices, and the growth of screen-based recreation.   (The Week, 5 Sept 2020)

My comment:  My wife and I go forwalks outside every day.  We also have two flights of stairs which, because of the design of the house, means that we have to go up and down those stairs multiple times a day.  Homes with more than one storey are better for your health, but more tiring.  Problem: I enjoy drawing and water colors.   Result ? A lot of sitting.  Who am I to lecture?

Brexit blues

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Why on earth is Boris Johnson illegally revoking the EU withdrawal treaty which he himself so enthusiastically signed, claiming it gave Britain an “oven-ready” Brexit?

Polly Toynbee’s theory is that he is trying to shift the blame for the pain that would follow crashing out of the EU without a deal – on top of a pandemic-induced recession, the worst in 300 years.

Britain is, to put it mildly, under-prepared for leaving the single market and customs union in just four months’ time. As the Guardian reveals, traffic jams of 7000 trucks at UK ports  and two-day delays to enter the continent are just two expected effects of government policy. Who better to scapegoat for the chaos and catastrophe than Brussels?

It is also suggested that Johnson wants a freer hand post-Brexit to funnel state aid to industry in the “left-behind” English regions which voted for him but could be hammered by Brexit. Ireland is the collateral damage.  (Edited versión of an article by Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, 9/16/20)

My comment:  One of the things Tories desperately need to justify wrecking the country is a trade agreement with the United States.  They haven’t read the the news.  For a start Trump  reiterates his “America First” message ( e.g expect no favors, or prioritization from the US).  Secondly, if Biden wins the election he has a pile of work the height of Everest, and a trade deal with the UK must be near bottom in terms of the mountain.  In short, forgeddit!   I’m afraid Britain is about to become the basket case of Europe.

Rumination: I am a citizen of the US and the UK.  To lose one country is a misfortune.  To lose two simultaneously seems careless.

Dumb protests

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“Thousands of demonstrators – many of them carrying placards proclaiming Covid-19 to be a “hoax” or a “scam” – recently gathered in Trafalgar Square in London to protest against lockdown restrictions. Among the speakers was Piers Corbyn, the older brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was fined £10,000 for his part in organising the rally, in defiance of the new rules restricting public gatherings of more than 30 people. He described the rally as an “epic success”.”

(The Week, 5 Sept 2020)

My comment:   So what, for these crazy people, would not be a “ hoax” or a “scam”?   Maybe, several members of their own families on life support in hospital?  Or, more likely (since they are focused solely on their own convenience), catching covid 19  themselves and ending up on a ventilator?  Why do we give publicity to these deeply ignorant and selfish people?

For those of us influenced by the civilized and inclusive teachings of Epicurus, the advice of scientists is impartial and informed, and trashing it is totally self-defeating and socially toxic.

A second version of a poem called “Dawn”

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Dawn on an early March morning.
The still, silver surface of the sea
Merges softly with the morning mist,
Confounding the division between earth and sky.
A tropical sun peeps above the sea,
Likes what it sees, and hurries up,
Wreathed in purple, gold and white,
Catching the masthead of an anchored yacht
Swinging lazily in the warm and breathless air.

All else is misty grey and tranquil.
The creeping tide slackens with the flood,
And not an eddy, swell, or ripple —
Or the faintest gust or drift of breeze —
To break its placid and unruffled calm.

A sandpiper pecks along the water’s edge.
Here is someone with no leisure to reflect.
Then come the pelicans – – comic birds,
Ushering in the business of the day,
Quartering the waterfront for food
And skimming the shallow sea, their wings outstretched.

Soon men will rise and greet the day,
Their noise and clamour closing out the dawn.
Helicopters, generators, growling, grinding.
Cars and car horns, revving engines, gears,
Strimmers, mowers, arguments and slamming doors,
The cellphone tunes, inconsequential chatter.
Modern man cannot function without toys
That make a constant, reassuring noise.

For you who yearn for silence and for calm,
Join me in my morning meditation.
Rise before the sun; sit with me on the soft, soft sand.
Watch the light and shadow in the coconut palms,
The glint of livid sun on water.
Hear the rustle of the palm leaves.
Listen to the gentle lap of water, the wings of passing birds,
The mild plop of fish in the water,
The sea crab scuttling to its morning meal,
The tide as it inches in
Covering the sandbar and any hint of shallows.
Hear the distant sound of a bird calling its mate;
Listen to the silence and the sounds of dawn.

A punt is poled slowly, quietly near the reef.

Man has fished like this for centuries,

Seeking food, and peace, and solitude.

Timeless.  A special moment.  A memory.

(Robert Hanrott)

Q – Anon : patriots???

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“Are Republican leaders really willing to throw in their lot with demented conspiracy theorists? “The answer, for the moment, would seem to be yes. President Trump tacitly endorsed the far-right QAnon cult the other day, saying its followers were patriots who “love our country” and, more importantly, “like me very much”. When a reporter pointed out that QAnon followers believe Trump and a mysterious figure called “Q” are secretly saving the world from a satanic, “deep state” cabal of paedophiles who eat children, the president responded, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing? If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it”.  (taken partly from an article by Jonathan Zimmerman,  USA Today, and The Week, 5 September 2020)

My comment: This blog is intended, not to discuss party politics, but to rehearse what stance we might – or should – adopt towards trends,  events and cultural changes in the modern world, using the principles established by Epicurus.  But this “movement” has to be commented upon and labeled for what is is.

The issue of so-called QAnon is a no-brainer. Excuse me! “paedophiles”? “deep state cabal”?  “Eating children”?  “Communist controlled?” Have we really descended to this?  Did these people ever get any discipline or advice from their parents? Did they ever go to school, and if so, what on earth did they learn?  These peddlers of hatred and fantasy have no place in the modern world, and to give them a minutes-worth of credence is shameful, medieval and laughable – except it is not only dangerous but makes the rest of the world laugh at us. (Believe me!)