Dog owners are wearing body cams

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Dog walkers in a England have taken to wearing body cameras while taking their pets out for exercise amid growing fears over thefts. There has been a rise in dog snatching as demand for different breeds of dog skyrocketed during lockdown.

Amanda Knight, who runs a website for dog owners, told The Telegraph that she has been receiving emails from worried owners “two or three times a week”. The average price for puppies more than doubled between March and September 2020, according to the Pets4Homes website, while Dogs Lost, a missing pets website, reported a 170% rise in stolen dogs.

My comment:  without statistics I can only guess that the demand for puppies is led by young children, confined to the house, who think a puppy would be a welcome and cuddly distraction.

Well, yes, but who is going to walk the doggie? Children can nag all day, but the truth is that, after the initial excitement, it’s Dad who has to get up extra-early, walk the dog and maybe feed it before starting work.  Then all this phas to be repeated after a hard day’s work.  Mother sensibly keeps very quiet.

This isn’t social science – it comes from personal experience and from the heart!, (P.S: I loved our dogs, and they did make me exercise. But to the kids the dog was a nine day wonder, part of the moveable furniture).

Side-effects of the virus

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The coronavirus pandemic has fuelled an “unprecedented exodus” of migrant workers that has caused the UK population to plummet and may result in “profound” damage to London’s economy, according to a new study.

The Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence says that analysis of estimated labour figures suggests more than half a million non-UK-born people left in the year from September 2019, contributing to a total 1.3 million drop in the population. 

The study findings – which contradict official data – indicate that the population of London alone has fallen by 700,000, equivalent to around 8%. If this decline continues, “the medium to long-term implications for London will be profound”, the study authors warn.

My comment: Not to mention the cost and availability of offices and homes, as increasingly more people migrate to the Continent.

Humanitarian aid

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Around the world, one in every 33 people will need humanitarian aid, an increase of 40% from last year, according to the UN. More than half of countries who need international support to cope with coronavirus are already dealing with other crises. But despite this extreme need, aid budgets have been declining. In 2020, the UN reached 48% of its funding appeals, compared with 63% in 2019. Could coronavirus cause an overhaul in the aid sector? (Guardian 2/ 5/2021)

My comment:   By not helping the poorer countries we are contributing to potential instability and chaos in the future.  We not only have a moral duty to help the poor, homeless and ill-fed, but it is in our own interest to do so It is natural for Western countries, with easier access to vaccines, to vaccinate their own people first – but it does creates a moral dilemma.  I can’t see the United States ever vaccinating all its citizens, but the UK is handling the vaccinating very fast and well, thanks to the National Health Service (socialized medicine – shudder!!).  Britain at least should soon, therefore, send vaccines to the poor countries – free.  Aside from the goodwill created, it is the decent thing to do.

Obesity partly blamed for Covid deaths

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Britain’s high Covid-19 death rate is partly the result of obesity,  according to a report described by the World Health Organization as a “wake-up call”.

The World Obesity Federation’s report found that thousands of deaths in Britain could have been avoided if “negligent” governments had acted on the nation’s weight. In Britain 64% of adults are overweight(!)- including 28% who are obese – the fourth-highest in the world. (World Health Organisation).

My comment:  It‘s mostly about the size of food intake, amd it’s unhealthy nature.  Too much fast food, sugary snacks? Exercise would help, but it is the amount and nature of the food that matters most.

Basics of Epicureanism. ( Periodic re- stating of the principles)

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Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 B.C. It teaches that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity, freedom from fear (“ataraxia”) and absence from bodily pain (“aponia”). This combination of states is held to constitute happiness in its highest form, and so Epicureanism can be considered a form of Hedonism, although it differs in its conception of happiness as the absence of pain, and in its advocacy of a simple life.

Epicurus directed that this state of tranquillity could be obtained through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limiting of desires. Thus, pleasure was to be obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of “simple pleasures”, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on Asceticism. He counselled that “a cheerful poverty is an honourable state”.

He argued for moderation in all things, so that when eating, for example, one should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as indigestion or the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future. Likewise, sex could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the sexual partner, and Epicurus himself remained celibate. Even learning, culture and civilization were discouraged, as they could result in disturbing one’s peace of mind, except insofar as knowledge could help rid oneself of religious fears and superstitions, such as the fear of the gods and of death.

Generally speaking, Epicureans shunned politics as having no part in the quest for ataraxia and aponia, and likewise a potential source of unsatisfiable desires and frustration, which was to be avoided.

Like Democritus and Leucippus before him, Epicurus was an Atomist, believing that all matter, souls and gods are all comprised of atoms, and even thoughts are merely atoms swerving randomly.

Epicurus was one of the first to develop a notion of justice as a kind of social contract, an agreement “neither to harm nor be harmed”. He argued that laws and punishments in society are important so that individuals can be free to pursue happiness, and a just law is one that contributes to promoting human happiness. In some respects, this was an early contribution to the much later development of Liberalism and of Utilitarianism.