I live in a nation with gun controls, we still have guns.

Living in the UK, we have legal firearms here.  My job includes providing information on licences to the police who are responsible for the decision to issue them.  I have no issues with legal firearms being used for hunting and also for sport.  

I type this due to two videos recently released in the US about the lack of gun controls. 

 

In the UK, in 1996, following the mass shooting in a school, a ban on handguns was imposed. Before this, following a mass shooting in 1987, semi-automatic weapons had been banned. Since then, we have had incidents where the murder of more than one person has occurred, but these have been relatively rare, one example being, how Derrick Bird killed many innocent people, followed by the murderous rampage of Raoul Moat. But this was in 2010 and while mass murder has occurred since then on several occasions, firearms have not been used as frequently to kill as many as occurs in the USA. Gun crime exists here, but the rates are far lower than in nations like the USA, just like how the overall murder rate in the USA is higher than in other developed nations. 

 

The call in the USA by many is for assault weapons to be banned. Those who are against it cite the second amendment to the US constitution which allows the right to bear arms. But this was made in a time when a well trained person would take almost a minute to shoot three times. I have discussed this with my wife, and she is of the view that nothing will change in the USA. And to be fair, she may be right. Despite the murder of many young children in Sandy Hook, assault weapons are still legal, and this is probably due to the campaign contributions made by organisations like the NRA to protect the right of Americans to have assault rifles, though this has meant the continued murder of children in schools. Something that does not happen anywhere near as often outside the USA.

There is an argument for firearms to be used to defend schools in the USA, but they forget how Scot Peterson was the "Good Guy with a Gun" at the Parkland mass shooting affecting the Stoneman Douglas High School.

Others point to mental health being an issue, not guns, but we have mental health issues in the UK and other nations without mass shootings.  Also the party in the US associated with fighting against Gun Controls, has also worked to limit access to healthcare.

Thoughts and Prayers will not reduce the level of gun violence in the USA, action to bring in sensible gun controls will.

2021 War of the Worlds

Yesterday my wife started to paint our new garden structure.  The children and I helped, but I had got back very late from work on Friday night so needed to get some sleep especially as we were to meet with Isobel and Tony for a meal inside a restaurant.  

Yes, COVID numbers are increasing, and one of our members of staff has caught it despite being double vaccinated, but it was nice to meet face to face.  At the moment, I consider the nation in a window where things may get worse but we can still meet in relative safety until then.  So meeting up was great and much appreciated.  It was great to see them, and we plan on trips out to see others, but have yet to make those plans!

My wife today continued to pain our new outhouse while I was working from home.  Later, I finished watching this film, 2021 War of the Worlds, known abroad as Alien Conquest.  It was awful.  Without doubt, the worst film that I have watched this year, this including Left Behind, which I had watched earlier in the year.  A good thing about this film was that it had appropriate music to accompany the film, but that did not make for a terrible plot and awful acting.  The other good thing about the film is that it makes you appreciate other films and the talent that others have when it comes to acting and writing scripts.  

I cannot wait for the TV series to be shown that I had watched last year.

It is unfair to call Gina Coladangelo hopeless

"Clearly the social distancing rules are there for everyone and they are incredibly important and they are deadly serious, and the reason is that they are the means by which we have managed to get control of this virus," - Matt Hancock on how Neil Ferguson was right to resign over an affair which breached social distancing guidelines. 

There are arguments that Matt Hancock does not need to resign over his affair with Gina Coladangelo.  His actions were a betrayal of the trust his wife placed in him, but his affair is a personal matter.

Also, there are precedents, one where Priti Patel did not resign despite allegations of being a bully.  Another involves the Prime Minister himself when it came to the relationship he had with Jennifer Arcuri which he did not feel he needed to disclose.  And the most famous of breaches, was by Dominic Cummings when he drove miles to check his sight.

Let us face it, there are social distancing guidelines, this being a reason why the protests about the murder of Sarah Everard were broken up.  Matt Hancock is going to be seen by many as breaking them and this will be used as many that social distancing guidelines do not need to be followed, despite the pressure that the relaxation of them is causing the NHS, not just with COVID-19, but with other infections as well.

If Matt Hancock decides to follow the example of Professor Neil Ferguson, it will mean that there will be more pressure on others to do the same.

Bicester Village June 2021

My wife and I escaped for a day to shop.  Normally, this would be my idea of hell, but we have had so little time together alone, that this was paradise.  My daughter had gone for a sleep over at a friends yesterday so my son had to look after Leia.  It was an uneventful drive there, other than a fire on the opposite carriageway on the M40, though this had all been sorted out for our relaxing drive back.  

It was strange to shop and I actually found it hard to be in the fresh air with my mask on as when in the village, shoppers are asked to wear masks (though not everyone did once they got through the entrance).  

I actually would love to return with my wife again, so long as it was just the two of us.

Captain Hindsight takes Boris the bluffer to task

The leader of the opposition has taken the Prime Minister to task.  He has asked questions about why the UK has such high rates of the Delta variant of COVID-19, but the Prime Minister has refused to answer that.

Anyone with half a brain is aware that the UK should have put India on the red list sooner. Pakistan and Bangladesh were placed on the red list sooner, but cases were rising in India at the time.  While Boris and his inept cronies held out for a visit to India to secure a trade deal, cases continued to rise and the decision to cancel the trip was taken too late.  

If the Prime Minister had decided to act to secure our borders regarding India at the same time (or sooner after) the decision to ban travel from Pakistan and Bangladesh, we would have slowed the numbers of those infected with COVID-19, and we could have enjoyed 'Freedom Day' on the 21st of June.  

The delay to Freedom Day due to the delta variant of COVID

Freedom day has been delayed.  I understand the frustration of employers who were to have opened and now have had to change things as those who they employ, not counting how people have had issues with mental health due to all this.  But I think that this is the right decision.

A lot of people have talked about deaths being the reason, but due to the ages being affected by COVID now, it is more about stopping the NHS being overwhelmed with patients requiring oxygen rather than people dying.  Yes, there will be deaths, but I suspect that there will be a greater proportion of those in hospital needing oxygen as this is affecting younger people than before who have not been vaccinated, or have just had the one vaccine dose.  

Our local hospital over winter was so affected that they were only doing emergency operations at one point, and then stopped doing those, only doing life or death operations instead.  The children's ward had adults on oxygen on it, and radiology and staff were being redeployed to look after those on oxygen.  If we do not flatten the curve, we risk this being an issue again, and that means longer waiting lists for "routine" issues such as hip replacements, gall bladder operations and the like.  

Saying that, it may be that the government are being too hasty for this, but I would prefer a cautious approach rather than a careless one.  After all, if the government had placed India on the red list at the same time that Pakistan was placed on it, we would have less cases of the Delta variant circulating and we would have been able to have Freedom Day on the 21st as planned!

Last of all, a reminder;

1 - COVID kills.  I have treated people who survived as well as too many who died.  A nursing home I am involved in looking after has yet to become full again after COVID killed many of the residents there last year.

2 - Face masks save lives.  Not just by reducing the risk of spreading it if you have no symptoms, but as seen by those working in healthcare, face masks prevented many from catching this, including me, when caring for those with COVID.  Some have disagreed with me about this, but have yet to answer my questions as to why I did not catch it.

3 - Funeral homes were overwhelmed over the wave of infections seen in the last surge of infections.  I know as I had to visit a few.  One had issues coping despite the increased capacity that they had built.

4 - People with no symptoms can spread COVID, even if they have been tested.  We saw that with the super spreader event held by President Trump last year.

A family lunch (sort of)

Today, my wife and I went back to Mersea to see my brother.  Although my children loved meeting my brother yesterday we left them at home as my daughter had to revise and my son needed to look after Leia (David's dog did try to breed with her on Friday).  

It was a relaxing lunch, my brother is certainly different when my mother is not about.  The sun was amazing and I played a bit with David's dog when he tried to eat my toes.  He certainly is heavy and has a lot of momentum when he bounds into you!