Energy bills

One of my children appears to think that energy bills are something we can ignore. I did ask them if they wanted my to get them Truth Social so that they could read the words of Trump directly, but they declined. Needless to say, they said all the right things about how they feel Trump is wrong about Global Warming and how action is needed about Climate Change, but let us see it change begins at home. I need to get them to appreciate the issues with fuel poverty that are present now, and will worsen this winter.  

To be fair to Liz Truss, she has acted on this, though in a manner that benefits the energy companies, not the tax payer.  When I say acted, I mean stopping things from getting much worse, though things are going to still be bad for far too many people.

A Bridge to Crimea

The bridge connecting Russia to Crimea has been rendered inoperable. There is no doubt that was an act by Ukraine. While Russia considers this an act of terrorism, the bridge connecting Russia to Russian occupied Crimea was constructed without Ukrainian permission and is a legitimate military target. I just hope that they can ensure that it is not used at all! 

Family

I have been to visit my mother. The children made a choice not to go over the issues with Leia from before, though my mother now says that she did not let Leia off the lead and instead put the lead down for 30 seconds.  Not sure what she meant by that though.  She did get to see Leia though whom she has missed as well.

We did visit my in-laws as it is around the birthday of my father-in-law.  Have watched Strictly as well.  It is good to see Tony Adams improve, loved his dance, even with the Arnold Rimmer sock suspenders!  Hopefully Arsenal will perform better tomorrow.  

Jesus was an undocumented child refugee. Should he have been deported?

I want failed asylum seekers to be quicky deported to Rwanda and I want anyone who crosses the channel illegally to be deported, but there is a caveat. I also want safe, speedy and legal routes for refugees to come here first. 

I have treated asylum seekers. Too many have no safe and legal route to come here and thanks to government cuts, the waits to process their applications, be they here or in the nation they flee from, take too long. I am not going to say that all the cases should be taken in as some of the stories, in my view, do not justify asylum here, but loads do. We have a speedy safe and legal route for refugees from Ukraine, many of whom were in a safe country before coming here), we can and should have one for those seeking asylum from other nations such as Afghanistan and others. I do not want a system where Jesus (who was an undocumented child refugee when his parents fled the Massacre Of The Innocents) would have been deported to Rwanda, if he was able to overcome the barriers to get here!

The argument that we cannot afford to take them in, from a government who wishes to help the rich to get richer when others are getting poorer is wrong.  Worse, it is an argument that is designed to spread hatred and division while distracting from the real reasons that we have increasing levels of poverty and hardship.

If we can get a speedy safe and legal framework to take in refugees from Ukraine, there is no reason why we cannot have one for refugees from other, non-white, nations.

Safeguarding democracy

Earlier this month, or possibly last month, I had a discussion with my daughter about trying to safeguard democracy.  She thought that I was being melodramatic when I mentioned that Hitler was democratically elected. I forgot to mention that Putin was elected in a system far fairer than is present in Russia now.

Democracy is only as safe as we allow it to be.

Ambulance waiting times

On Friday, I tried to arrange an ambulance for a patient who was in pain following a fracture to their back. I was initially told that the wait for the ambulance would be 28 hours but later was told there was no ambulance that could be sent out.

This never happened in 2010 when the Tories took over the NHS, this is down to the way they have mismanaged it. 

Leia is two

Our dog is now aged two. My daughter bought her a present, which Leia loved, but the rest of us just spent time with her. My wife however was not present over most of the weekend so missed the actual birthday, and Leia woke up outside our home on her big day. 

 

On that topic, I am not sure what is going to happen with my mother and the children. She had rung up yesterday asking if the kids would speak to her, but they have been quite busy. She did say that she was sorry she upset them, but when I talked about her letting Leia off the lead in an area where she may not have been able to get her back, she snapped at me and hung up. It may be that when I next see her, I will need to go alone, but I will see if the kids are happy to visit her later this month.