How ridiculous!

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The leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church have formally warned adherents against taking up yoga. The practice, they say, is “completely incompatible” with the Christian faith. In a statement last week, the church’s Holy Synod (the Patriarch and the most senior bishops) cautioned that yoga is not “a kind of physical exercise”, but rather a “fundamental chapter of the religion of Hinduism”.

There has long been a debate – not just in Greece – over whether yoga is an intrinsically Hindu practice. Yoga is cited in Indian texts dating back 2,500 years, and some of the asanas, or yoga poses, retain their earlier spiritual associations and names. However, many yoga classes seem (are. Ed.) devoid of spiritual content. In 2015, a Californian court – asked to rule on the subject – concluded that if a person doing yoga doesn’t consider his or her actions to be religious, then they aren’t.

(My reaction): Quite.  I have never met anyone who goes to yoga for religious reasons, although I have to admit I don’t know many practicing Hindus.  Millions of people who practice yoga do so for flexibility and strength.  Period. Others find it offers peace of mind.  In any case, it is both healthy (mostly) and harmless.  Would the Holy Synod kindly leave us rational people alone?

The British quarantine

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“Even by its own increasingly chaotic standards, the mess into which the Government has got itself over its new quarantine rules takes some beating,” said The Times. The new regulations – which came into force this week – require travellers to Britain to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival. This is “the wrong policy at the wrong time”. A 14-day quarantine would have “made sense” at the start of the pandemic – but instead, over the past three months, Britain, almost alone in Europe, continued to allow new arrivals from anywhere in the world, including virus hot-spots such as China and Iran, without so much as a temperature check.

Now, at the very moment that outbreaks in many popular travel destinations have been brought under control, and restrictions are being lifted across Europe, the Government has finally imposed a quarantine of its own. It will heap further misery on British tour operators and airlines, and will deter much-needed foreign visitors from coming to Britain during the summer months.

Tough border controls are popular with voters. According to YouGov, eight out of ten members of the public support the proposed £1,000 fines for failure to self-isolate on arrival in the UK, with the highest backing (83%) found among the working-class voters who gave Boris Johnson his huge majority in December. So the measures appealed to a PM keen to “find some ‘good news’ to announce amid growing criticism of the Government’s response to the pandemic”.

But they have gone down like a lead balloon elsewhere.  The policy has enraged airlines (BA, Ryanair and easy-Jet are threatening legal action), frustrated travellers and upset lawmakers – including many Tory MPs fearful of the economic damage. Border officials say it is unenforceable: they will have no capacity to check whether addresses provided by travellers are genuine. The alternative is to bar only those from high-risk countries.  This would be politically tricky: it would anger the US and President Trump. Either way, it seems likely that, with so many ranged against it, the policy will be “watered down, if not scrapped”, in time “to salvage at least some of the summer holiday season”.   (The Week, 13 June 2020)

My comment:  If you only have a short vacation and fancy a trip to England you will enjoy little but the inside of an hotel room.

Almost every day we are asked whether we will be visiting London this summer, and we explain we don’t think it is safe (the air bit, especially).  Air travel and two week’s quarantine is enough of a deterrent, but the likelihood of further spikes in the virus as well persuades me to stay put. Neither the American nor the British government have proved themselves managerially capable of fighting the virus effectively. This comes as no surprise.  In the old days, when scientists would have had the last word, one could have trusted government.  Not now.  We are staying at at home.

 

 

What ever happened to Brexit?

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 The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has confirmed that no progress has been made in the almost five months since the UK formally left the bloc. Britain has until the end of June to request an extension of the transition period, which is due to expire in six months’ time, but the Government has repeatedly ruled this out. So despite the fact that coronavirus has triggered the worst recession in peacetime history, it seems ministers are happy to let UK firms also suffer the consequences of a messy no-deal scenario at the end of the year.

“Brexit ultras” have sought to make a no-deal exit sound less scary by rebadging it as an “Australian-style” outcome, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer, but don’t be fooled: it would be “no picnic on Bondi beach”. The CBI says Covid-19 has left firms with “almost zero” resilience to a chaotic EU split. The hardest-hit areas would likely be those where many people voted Tory for the first time in 2019. Nissan has warned that a no-deal outcome could lead to the closure of its Sunderland car plant. Before last year’s election, Boris Johnson boasted that he had an “oven-ready deal”, but the only thing coming from his kitchen “is the smell of something burning”.

A no-deal exit would certainly hurt, said Camilla Cavendish in the FT, but there’s no point extending the transition period for a year or two if it just “prolongs the paralysis”. While the “skinny FTA” (free trade agreement) sought by UK chief negotiator David Frost is more complicated than the deals struck by Canada or Japan with the EU, an agreement is achievable in six months if the two sides put their minds to it. At the moment, Brussels is the one being unreasonable. Its demand that the UK adopt EU state aid rules in perpetuity, overseen by a foreign court, “seems aggressive and unrealistic – not least when only a month ago, German judges challenged the principle of European Court of Justice supremacy”. The EU could show more flexibility on this issue, agreed Wolfgang Münchau in the same paper. But the UK, for its part, needs to accept that it can’t wriggle out of commitments it has already made regarding a level playing field in future trade with the EU. “The job to find a compromise will fall to the EU German presidency, which starts in July. It is still all to play for.”. (The Week, 13 June 2020)

My comment:  Brexit inflicts another blow to the stricken UK economy.  One journalist commented that it is akin to “putting an anchor around the neck of someone trying to climb out of a deep hole”.  O.K, so no one foresaw Covid 19 or the wreckage it would  cause.  But what you do when your back is against the wall and the future of your country is that of an offshore island with little to offer, is to “compromise“, a word seldom used by the exponents of Brexit .  This is a national emergency, but you wouldn’t know it if you read the British daily news. 

Start again!

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Democracy being sidelined in th US…….

Recent events have exposed the inadequacy of the US democratic checks and balances created over200 years ago.  What’s required is a second American revolution  – and a fresh constitutional convention that demolishes anachronisms like the electoral college, makes democracy work for all, and refocuses on constructive global engagement.  (Guardian Weekly 29 May 2020)

……… And in Britain a concentration of power……..

John Harris,  in The Guardian“

If there’s one thing this crisis has underlined, it’s the calamitous way in which power in Britain is concentrated at the top. Time and again, Downing Street has grandly issued edicts that just don’t match the reality on the ground.

Take the PM’s sudden switch from a “stay at home” to a “stay alert” policy. It had huge implications for transport and health systems; yet the leaders of Scotland and Wales were given no part in the decision (and so have stuck to their lockdowns), and mayors and council leaders in England were taken by surprise. “The first I knew of it,” Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes told me, “was when I saw it on TV.”

It’s the same with testing. It is councils that have the forensic knowledge required for post-test contact tracing; yet they’ve been bypassed. Instead, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has relied on a centralised system of call centres run by big private firms whose newly recruited staff have received cursory training. And on top of this policy neglect, councils are still being hit by cuts in central funding. This pandemic has shown that dispersal of power must now be a priority. “The old centralised game is over” (or should be).

My comment:  I see here a conundrum.  As a supporter of Epicurus I am expected to eschew politics and politicians.  But what happens when right wing governments, as in the US and the U.K, ignore the democratic process and dissenting voices, lying about everything in sight and leaving the average citizen powerless?  Is this a way of fostering peace of mind? (or simply peace?). And does ataraxia prevail when you have parties in power parcelling out key jobs to their chums for their own enrichment and for election funds?  Grubby corruption is not confined to Asian and African countries.

Time the rich helped out

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A rich opportunity

To The Daily Telegraph

Should the rich set an example when the nation’s debts soar? Stanley Baldwin, the first Tory leader to use the phrase “one nation”, thought so.

In a famous anonymous letter of June 1919, signed FST – he was financial secretary to the Treasury at the time – he announced that he was giving a fifth of his wealth, £120,000 (some £6.5m today) to help his debt-ridden country after the First World War. He added that “the wealthy classes have today an opportunity of service which is so vital at the present time”. He anticipated at least £1,000 million; no more than £500,000 was received.

Are the rich doing better today? It would be interesting to find out. Our wealthy PM and his well-heeled adviser could show the way, with the support of those who find they can spare millions for the Tories at election time.

Lord Lexden (Con), London. ( published in The Week, 6 June 2020)

My comment: Bezos, the richest man in the world, owns Amazon.  He deserves his wealth and success, but one might think it appropriate for him to give generously to charity in the present circumstances. The people who helped him to success are hurting at present.  Could he be giving anonymously or on the quiet?  I think we would know if he is.

If such people if cannot give from the heart, especially in a crisis, then they should be taxed at the same percentage as their secretaries.  Bezos could get so much goodwill and even encourage sales by being seen to give back to the society that made him.  (Some hope!)

Covid’s genetic link to dementia

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People who are genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s are more likely to be severely affected by the coronavirus, a new study has found. The researchers examined the DNA and medical records of almost 40,000 relatively young Britons (aged 48 to 60) and found that those with two copies of a faulty gene called APOE e4 were twice as likely to have a severe case of Covid-19 than those with a more common variant. One in 36 people of European ancestry are estimated to carry two copies of the gene, which previous research has found to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in old age by a factor of up to 14.

Several studies have shown that people with dementia are at a higher risk of severe Covid-19. “This study suggests this may not simply be due to the effects of dementia, advancing age or frailty, or exposure to the virus in care homes,” said Prof David Melzer, who led the team. It could be DNA. A separate study, which has not been peer-reviewed, found that 40% of residents of four care homes in London had the coronavirus, 60% of whom had either no symptoms or atypical symptoms.   (The Week, 6 June 2020)

My reaction: Where can I get checked for the APOEe4 gene?

Following on from yesterday……police budgets.

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Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments are facing unprecedented revenue shortfalls, forcing them to make tough decisions about their 2020-21 budgets. Stunningly, however, police departments across the country are not facing any budget cuts, with many actually receiving budget increases. As we observe police departments deploy tanks, riot gear, tear gas, rubber bullets, and thousands of officers at the same time doctors and nurses have no PPE, teachers have no school supplies, and civil service jobs are being cut, it’s critical to ask: is the continued militarization of our police really the best way to spend taxpayer money?(Alice Speri, The Patriotic Millionaires)

The Washington Post today comments on the amazement and confusion felt by policemen at the upswelling of general hostility towards them.  Had they more empathy towards the scores of citizens killed by the brutal behavior of a minority of the colleagues, they would not be surprised.

My comment:  A few years ago my wife and I returned home to find two policemen in our hall, the front door open. It seems we had not turned on the alarm correctly, and a supposed incursion was reported.  In fact, the policemen were polite and respectful, and I thanked them for checking on the house.  But that isn’t the point.  The point is that the sight of these two huge, armed men, looking threatening, filled me with fear for a moment.  The incident was harmless, but the point is that even I felt freaked out.

The  less one has to do with the police the better.  If I, an elderly white man, am fearful or apprehensive of armed police, how does a poor black man feel?  It shouldn’t be this way.  Of course, the unremarked horror is the prevalence of guns.  Control them and get some form of disarmament and you can have more civilized policing. Some hope!

Don’t defund the police; reduce what you spend on them!

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The phrase “defund the police” has quickly gained popularity in the past two weeks, but as this Washington Post piece explains, the term isn’t nearly as radical as it may sound. It isn’t a call to eliminate the police entirely – it is simply meant to draw attention to the outsized funds that police departments receive from state and local governments, often accounting for more than a third, and sometimes more than half, of an entire budget in normal times. In the middle of an unprecedented economic and health crisis, police departments are often the only government entity that aren’t seeing any budget cuts whatsoever.

Major American cities highlight the problem. In Los Angeles, for example, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new budget for 2020-21 proposes allocating 54% of city funds to the LAPD. New York City’s policing budget is $5 billion, more than the city spends on agencies for health, homeless services, housing, and youth development combined. Chicago spends 39% of its resources on policing, and has proposed increases this year.

You don’t have to agree with all the protests to see the issue here. Consider, instead, this question: are we really getting what we pay for with these massive policing budgets? If states and local governments are going to sacrifice public services for their police, it makes sense to ensure that they’re getting the optimal value for their citizens.

Overwhelmingly, however, evidence suggests that we are not. Thereis little or no evidence  that suggests more policing has a significant impact on crime, and plenty that shows it simply increases violent altercations between people of color and the police. So what actually does reduce crime?  Investing directly in public services like education, healthcare, transit, and community development – these have  proved to be the best way.

And we want more self-policing among the police, and more careful recruitment, weeding out the minority of racists and thugs using psychological testing, before they get their stun guns and uniforms!

Barbarism

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Horrific killing

Iran---Romina-Ashrafi_2.jpg

Iran’s President Rouhani has ordered his government to speed up new laws to increase the penalties for “honour killings”, following the murder of Romina Ashrafi (pictured), a 14-year-old girl who’d run away with her 29-year-old boyfriend. In a case that has appalled Iranians, Ashrafi’s father is suspected of beheading her with a sickle as she slept. Police had returned her to her family, although she’d warned them she’d face violent retribution. If convicted, her father faces a maximum term of ten years.  (Talesh, Iran) 

My reaction:  Ten years for beheading your daughter with a sickle?!  He deserves to be locked away for the rest of his life.   The best one can say is at least Rouhani is fighting an ancient cultural malady, entwined as it is in religion.  It is true to say that abusive, sick cultural habits that date back centuries became over time entwined with religious practice, and maybe this sort of thing cannot be blamed on the Moslem religion in so far as the Prophet, as far as I know, never advocated execution by sickle for disobedient daughters.  The problem is the culture, something being played out in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen – you name it – to this day.

Epicureanism is a relief to contemplate after these countries with cruel, abusive attitudes towards women.

A gene that keeps people skinny

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Scientists have identified what they claim is the first known “skinny gene” – raising the possibility of a new generation of drugs that will make it easier for people to stay thin.

Researchers analysed the genetic make-up of 47,102 Estonian adults and found that those who were metabolically healthy and thin tended to have unusual variants of a gene called ALK. “We all know these people: it’s around 1% of the population,” said Dr Josef Penninger, of the University of British Columbia, who led the study. “They can eat whatever they want. They don’t do squats all the time but they just don’t gain weight.”

In experiments on mice, they found that ALK seems to have an effect on nerve cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain, which plays a role in appetite regulation; this, in turn, affected how fat was stored in the body. The team then found that mice and fruit flies that had been stripped of the gene remained thin (or light in the case of the flies), even when reared on high-calorie diets. ALK inhibitors are already used in cancer treatments, and the researchers now plan to adapt such drugs to see if they can be used to stop people gaining weight. (The Week 6June 2020).

I am posting this to illustrate the importance of science, something shrugged off by far too many people.  Had the experts opinions been supported we would not have had this huge number of covid deaths.  Typical of the ignorance is the refusal to get flu and other preventative jabs. Some of it is pre-historic religious prejudice, some lack of education and understanding.  They put the health and lives of their own children at risk.  Shameful.

Millennials – the unluckiest generation

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(A bit long, but important.  How millennials can benefit from the ideas of Epicurus)

For young people leaving college since 2008 the prospects of a full-time job have been stressful, to say the least.  Now, during this crisis, more than ever. Their grand-parent’s generation enjoyed almost full employment for the majority of their working lives, final salary pensions, health benefits,  sick leave, and paid holiday entitlement.  No longer.  These benefits have evaporated, and in their place has emerged the short-term contract, which offers no security and few benefits.  Meanwhile all too many young people are saddled with large education debts that are hard to reduce, given the employment situation.

This is a fact, and we have to deal with the insecurity as best we can. The cards are in the hands of employers.  So here are some Epicurean recommendations:

–           Abandon the consumer society you have grown up with.  Things don’t matter, people do.  If everyone stopped buying unnecessary things the exploitation would eventually stop (and so would the economy; on the other hand we would have freedom from our rulers, the corporations).  That Maserati you dream of is a five minute sensation.  Once you have it it is part of the scenery and you will want to find something else to hanker after.  The whole, massive marketing effort by industry is aimed at getting you to keep spending. Try stopping!

–   As a corollary to the rejection of consumerism, pull in your horns and save money.  How will you live otherwise in old age (will there be any Social Security by then?), or in the event of unemployment.  Americans have a bad savings record because they have been encouraged by companies to spend every penny and more, and credit has been historically cheap.   Use that credit card sparingly.

–  You need to be flexible in what you do. The future job market may require you to acquire new skills and learn the ins and outs of several businesses and industries.

–  Espouse the idea of lifetime learning and self-education.  Not only will you be interested in a host of subjects, but you will be more interesting to your friends and more able to adapt to changes in work.  It is possible that the extremes of specialization could fade and the idea of the educated generalists return, able to connect the dots and adapt to new opportunities.  We are too specialized for our own good.

–   Try to abandon the concept of after-office/factory time as being “time off” work.  Work should be something we enjoy, yes (if possible) but we should regard it as something that takes up part of our life and regard time with friends and time pursuing our activities as “time on”.  Work should be “time off”. We work to eat and to have a roof over our heads; it is not the be-all and end-all of existence. Don’t be a slave to the clock.

–   Not withstanding the above, be proud of a job well done. You need to look after your own morale.  So while you are at work do that little more than is required of you.  It also helps when your job review comes up.

–  You have to have something else to live for, apart from work. Nietzsche said, “He    who has a “why” to live can bear almost any “how”.” Throughout life you have to have a reason to look forward and find something you enjoy outside work, even if it takes time to find that something. Watching sport doesn’t cut it.   Don’t worry if you can’t immediately find something that you love – Van Gogh had no idea what he wanted to do with himself.  He only sold one painting in his whole life and had about four careers.  But he didn’t mind –  he at last found his true vocation and pursued it.  School seldom discovers all your talents, and in most families parents seldom do either.  Actually, over the course of, say, fifty years you change, mature and recognize for yourself interests and abilities you never dreamed of when you were young.   You have a duty to yourself to experiment with all sorts of activities until you find something you are competent in and feel passionate about.

Everything I have mentioned above is consonant with an Epicurean life: the rejection of consumerism and reckless spending, the saving for old age and unemployment, the lifetime learning and acquisition of new skills, the pride in a job well done.  Most of all, Epicurus would want you to enjoy life, have many friends, use your brain and intelligence to discuss and debate, and to find by trial and error, if you can, that special interest or skill that excites you and makes life worth living. (Robert Hanrott)

 

 

Dismantling the nation’s publicly funded schools.

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It is common knowledge that the Education Department is run by a multi-millionaire devotee of scrapping everything to do with government if she has the power to do it.  This includes privatizing the public school system, and de facto making education even more of a distant prospect than ever for minorities.  By the way, she is apparently a devoted christian!  (which is relevant because of the curious definition of Christianity and  words of Jesus used by some – not all – christians.  I went to chapel while at school, every day of my life, so I am familiar with what Jesus actually preached).

In Tennessee parents and community member in Memphis and Nashville protested furiously when a voucher law was passed by a single vote, diverting taxpayers money to private schools.  It is no small deal:  in 2020-2021 it would divert $7,500 per student, or over $375 million over the first five years, to private schools and away from schools in Nashville and Memphis. The private schools are what they say they are – private. They are not held to the same educational standards as Tennessee public schools, as required by the state constitution, and most importantly in view of current events, are not bound by the same anti-discrimination statutes.

The creeping coup keeps creeping onward!

(The Humanist, May/June 2020)

The meaning of life in lockdown: an exchange of views

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To The Times ( London)

The most lamentable thing about the epidemic is the almost uncontested surrender to the idea that the only meaning of human life lies with preserving human life. In the name of “keeping people safe”, the moribund die alone and the dead are buried without proper ceremony.

Meanwhile, mothers give birth without husbands, children cannot learn and the futures of young people are suspended. In addition, new friendships are thwarted, potential lovers denied and the rituals of religious faith and remembrance are set aside. This seemingly produces not a hiccup of queasiness. Instead we are happy to accede to the state-sponsored notion that we are all profoundly heroic simply by virtue of taking measures to keep ourselves alive.

Jolyon Fenwick, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

To The Times  ( Reply to above)

Mr Fenwick’s argument is powerful and stirring but he unfairly castigates those of us whom he regards as meekly acceding to the lockdown measures. We are not doing so “to keep ourselves alive”, we are doing so to keep others alive.

Dr David Bogod, Nottingham.     ( Reported in The Week, 6 June 2020)

My comment: Here we go again.  I am astonished that some people are so self- centered that they cannot be bothered to wear masks to protect other people, and so uncaring that they flock out in thousands to seaside beaches, ignoring social distancing.  I support Dr. Bogod – the point is that you could be covid positive and not  know it.  It is humane and decent not to take that risk and infect others.  This is Epicurus 101.

Taking advantage of the crisis

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Foreign cities are taking advantage of the crisis to re- think their cities.  Mayors from Bogota to Budapest are exploiting the lack of parked cars by installing bike lanes in every likely spot.  Athens is widening its sidewalks, enlarging public squares and  banning traffic beneath the Acropolis. Melbourne is trying to put shopping , leisure and work within twenty minutes of the residents’ homes.  Paris is transforming itself so that everything in the center is just 15 minutes from the homes of all Parisians. New Zealand is discussing four day working weeks and other flexible working options

What are American cities doing, if anything? Washington DC, for instance, has a dismal public transport system, and can’t even bestir itself to renovate the  canal which should be an important public amenity, and which is becoming instead a sewer.

Businesses that used to be attractions may never reopen.  If cities are engines of economic growth then this is the moment for those with any vision to reimagine what feels like quite the opposite of an exciting metropolis .

A re- think is needed because there was a drift away from big cities happening before the virus arrived, not to mention the effects on office space of business-by-Zoom. Cities have to be made attractive to keep their populations and their businesses.  It is convenient to live in a busy city, rather than have to get into a car every time you want a bottle of milk.  But what happens when bottles of milk are no longer so available?  Cue for massive falls in house values, probably avoidable had we energetic and imaginative leaders.

P.S: We have just had local council elections, and it looks as if just such an energetic, young and imaginative candidate might have won. A drop in an ocean, but I voted for her in any case.

Deaths in care homes

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Across Europe coronavirus is shining a harsh light on how we, as societies, treat our most vulnerable groups. In Spain, the army found abandoned old people dead in their care home beds. In France a former minister said residents in some care establishments had been shut in their rooms for six weeks after family visits were banned.

Now academics have revealed that in Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium, an average of 50% of Covid-19 deaths are taking place in care homes. In the UK, which is predicted to have the worst coronavirus outcome in Europe, people who die with coronavirus symptoms in care homes are not even counted in the daily virus death tallies. But the estimates are shocking.

Is ageism the reason that care home staff are often the least trained and lowest paid, when their skills should make them among the most valued? Is the virus sweeping through these homes precisely because of low pay, lack of testing and protective equipment? And are older people’s rights better guaranteed in some parts of Europe than others?

As European governments edge towards easing restrictions, has quarantine been more tolerable in Europe’s more equal societies? (Katherine Butler, The Guardian)

My take:  I recently posted a piece on the resentment felt by young people for the baby boomers as a generation.  I happen to sympathise, but in sympathizing I can’t condone the attitude of some who apparently are reported to shrug and say, “The Covid 19 deaths are mainly among old boomers. Why should I care?”.  This may be apocryphal, but wouldn’t surprise me.

Actually, I have personal experience of a certain number of care homes near London, going back twenty years.  There is truly nothing new about the terrible conditions in some of these homes, and it has nothing to do with millennials and everything to do with local authorities doing their job for the elderly on the cheap, and drugging the inmates to keep them quiet. I had at the time an elderly relative with a serious lifelong health condition.  My wife and I decided under no circumstances to submit Mary to what looked like living death. It was a moral issue.

Care homes anger

Toronto, Canada

Canada has been shaken by a disturbing report detailing the conditions found in long-term care homes ravaged by Covid-19 in Ontario and Quebec. In Canada, around 80% of all Covid deaths – those of more than 6,000 residents – have been in care homes, a much higher proportion than in the US or Europe. Some 1,400 soldiers were deployed to homes last month to help cope with the crisis – and the military has now detailed what they found there: overwhelmed staff, unsanitary conditions and desperate patients whose cries for help were ignored for hours on end. The PM, Justin Trudeau, said Canada’s “failure” to protect its elderly has left him with feelings of “anger, of sadness, of grief”. As of Wednesday, the Covid-19 death toll in Canada stood at 7,395 (a rate of 196 per million of population, compared with 327 in the US).