Tracking Blood

I've just noticed that the National Blood Donation Service provide you with a track of your blood donation in their tank you email.

It would seem mine went to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, via the sorting centre in Filton.

Populism & Democracy

Try to find a definition of populism and you're hard pressed to differentiate between democracy and populism. Both are defined in terms of the will of the people.

The crucial difference, however, is the impact of consequences. 

In traditional democracy the will of the people is tempered by consequences. Populism, however, ignores consequences completely and attributes superior and unerring wisdom to the masses. 

Populism cynically exploits and mobilises the masses while weaponising consequence-free policy, which invariably leads to the failure of such populist governments when the consequences become apparent post implementation and there's a reaction from the electorate.

Both left and right can be guilty of populism in the battle for votes in the run up to an election.

Can you give me examples of populist policies in, say, the last 5 years?

Practical Concrete

It's more than a week now since the concrete pad for the garage was laid and it's now solid, yet not solid enough to put a car on - that'll take another 3 weeks, more for the motorhome, but I'm not going to risk it till the whole project is finished later in the year.

Plenty large enough for one car with the doors fully open in order to work on it. Getting a GT6 (or something similar) in there for a rebuild should be no problem.

I had to spend the week spraying the concrete 5 to 7 times a day to prevent cracking. It's apparently what you have to do to ensure a strong pad. Colin is going to construct a ramp at the entrance.

Before the concrete started to set, I got Colin, our tame builder and neighbour, to autograph it with a handprint, which I filled with gold resin when it had set. A bit splurgy, but I can sand it down when cured so as to delineate the print better. What you might call a golden handshake.

Given the positioning of the garage, we will now benefit from a secluded patio area at the front of the house, which will provide a bit of a micro-climate for Hay to grow some exotic plants.

Talking of garages, the Ford Galaxy I bought came with a towbar mount but no actual towbar, and I've been searching for a suitable replacement since I got the car. I wasn't bothered whether it was a detachable or a permanent swan-neck and it was almost impossible to determine what kind of mount was fitted without getting the car on a ramp. Even then, determining which detachable swan-neck should be used added to the complexity of sourcing a replacement.

I decided in the end to go for a permanent one and found one on eBay for good money - £29, which is a steal. I got a mate at the local garage to fit it and it transpired that the car had the fitting for a detachable.

It's important that I have a towbar, as my parking sensors aren't working for some reason, so having a buffer, especially in a motor as long as a Galaxy, is advantageous. Also, the only car in the family with a towbar for my trailer eas Hay's dad's car, and it's wearing having to use his car whenever I need to transport something. I tested the electrics for towing yesterday and it's all tckety-boo.

Hay has been driving the Chrysler Crossfire since Sunday, having ranged from Gloucester to Swindon and Weston Supermare and, I'm pleased to report, is ecstatic with it. She said it's just like driving her old Merc SLK, but better. That'll be the 3.2 litre engine. 

We're also colour coordinated now, as well as having, between us, the best combination in terms of enjoyment and practicality.

Snap

 I was watching Cockleshell Heroes over the weekend and thought; "If Jose Ferrer had no hair, he'd be the spitting image of Vin Diesel (aka Mark Sinclair)."

They even have similar voices. Diesel apparently doesn't know who his father is.

Cool Britannia

Did you notice that in the 90s everything was draped in Union Flags and the country resounded to Cool Britannia? YBAs, the resurgent pop scene, London becoming the epicentre of finance. The flag was associated with progress.

Switch to the 2020s and the flag has been dragged into the realm of reactionary, ultra-traditionalism and ultra-nationalism with little to back it up. It harks back to a glorious past and certain politicians wrap themselves in it in the vain hope of some of this glory rubbing off on them. Because of the way they use it, it just makes them look incredibly out of touch.

Rushed Defence

I am at a total loss to understand why Conservative MPs and their client journalists jump so quickly to defend Boris Johnson. The reason I say that is because there's only one thing Boris is reliable for, and that's being unreliable. They come out denying some statement he's accused of making, only for a video of him saying it surfacing about a week later, making those defending him look total tits.

The latest knee jerk defence against PartyGate is Starmer's BeerGate in Durham, a totally vacuous confection of outrage over something that was perfectly legal, only for an image of Boris to surface doing the same thing a week later, but in a pub, which was illegal. It's like a comedy script.

Michael Fabricant is one of the worst offenders. It would be a gift to the Labour Party if Fabricant was given airtime every day for the next 2 years - he just can't help rushing out crappy defences that are demolished within hours of him putting them online.

Oliver Dowden has gone an written a letter to Starmer complaining about a 'secret' pact between Labour and the LibDems to not stand against each other in council seats where one or the other has the best chance - a pact so secret that almost everyone knows about it. 

Dowden goes all over Twitter with this letter, attracting obvious comparisons between the Express and DM urging a similar pact between the Tories and UKIP at the last GE. There's also the fact that this is a tactical consequence of First Past the Post, which is favoured by the Tories. Doubtless they will now scream against FPTP and made some electoral changes, especially as they now have control of the 'independent' Electoral Commission.

Nadine Dorries made the mistake over the Bank Holiday of re-Tweeting a Daily Mail article about Starmer having a curry during lockdown. Unfortunately for her, the image of Starmer having a curry was tracked down to 2015 and the uncropped image included Frank Dobson, who died in 2019, before the pandemic. It was a manufactured story by Tory client journalists - and her spreading it is a double blow, as she's meant to be in charge of countering the spread of digital misinformation. 

Here's the image in the Daily Mail:

And here's the uncropped image with the deceased Frank Dobson:

Shakespearean Cats

Heard someone on the radio who had named their cat (or was it a dog?) Hamlet.

Got me to consider what Shakespearean characters the cats who infest our house would be.

Sir John Falstaff.

Lady Macbeth.

Henry IV Part 1.

Henry IV Part 2.

Part 1 and Part 2 are brothers.

Spreading Political Manure

I've noticed a concerted effort by Conservative MPs and apologists on Twitter over the last 24 hours to spread manure. Must be some elections around the corner.

1. It was not illegal to have an Angela Rayner at a constituency election event in Durham that was permitted under the rules. It may be illegal to have one an another event, but not this one in question.
2. Neither Starmer nor Rayner lied about Rayner's presence - the statement Rayner wasn't in Durham was made by Starmer's spokesperson, who wasn't even present - an understandable mistake, but not actionable. Not only did Starmer and Rayner not lie, they didn't lie in Parliament.
3. The police investigated the event and said no rules were broken. Those present had a break for a meal, as the hotel they were staying at did not serve food due to the lockdown restrictions. 
4. Contrary to popular perception among the Tory faithful, Durham police are not reinvestigating the case - it's open and shut. 
5. The country was not in lockdown on Starmer's birthday, when he is accused by the Tory apologists of receiving a cake. 
6. Boris, however, lies in Parliament on almost a daily basis, with no consequences.

If nothing else, the calls for Starmer to be reinvestigated and fined means that these defenders MUST agree that Boris flouted the rules (he was fined and accepted the fine) and should therefore, as a government minister, offer his resignation to himself, which he will neither offer nor accept, thereby setting a dangerous precedent for all MPs, including Labour MPs.

That's the problem with a constitution that's not codified - those lacking honesty and integrity can flout custom. When lack of honesty and integrity reaches to the top, that's the end of democracy.

I wrote a letter to my local Conservative MP a couple of weeks ago, asking three questions about his support for Johnson. I received back a long letter crafted by Tory Central Propaganda which didn't answer a single question. It was like a rerun of PMQs.

Ref the Conservative MP accused of watching porn in the Chamber - it seems such a stupid thing to do, especially when sandwiched between two female MPs (if you'll forgive the images that conjures up), that I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt until such time as he's investigated. If he was watching it on a website, then that's one thing; if he was sent a WhatsApp meme, then that's another thing entirely - inappropriate memes on WhatsApp abound. I mean, if Nadine Dorries, the Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and one of the brightest minds in government, doesn't know what a website it, what chance to other female MPs have?

However, he's gone and resigned and thus condemned himself, although, with local elections imminent, he may have been pressurised to do so, with the reward of a knighthood or peerage - stranger things have happened and rewards for failure are common under this PM.

He said, in the first incident, that he was looking at tractors - doubtless in support of Ukraine....

Smallpox Conundrum

Remember the query I had about having to notify the Blood Transfusion Serviceon the donor questionnaire whether I'd been in contact with someone having had a smallpox vaccination prior to donating blood? Well, here's the response I got:

"Many thanks for your enquiry regarding the smallpox question on the donor safety check form (DSC). 

"We agree that this question that needs to be removed. 

"There is an ongoing project in the background to revamp the DSC and this question already on the list. The process will take at least six months before a final version is agreed and a few more months for the new version to be printed and brought into use. 

"I hope this helps and thanks for bringing this to our attention. 

"Kind Regards 

"Senior Nurse Practitioner - Clinical Support Team "

So, it's essentially redundant.

Polyvinyl Resin

I performed a full-scale experimented with the polyester resin as an alternative to the epoxy resin I'd developed an allergy to, but it was inconclusive. The result on cloth is more like flacid oil cloth than anything substantial that has inherent structure and holds a shape. There's little weight to the result, so it won't hang and drape properly.

Added to that, the smell is overpowering - I had to remove the curing cloth from the house after complaints from Hay.

I performed the experiment on Monday afternoon and by Tuesday morning it was still quite pliable. 

I tried using the heat gun to make it drape, but to no avail - the heat simply made it more rubbery and less willing to drape. I did however touch the hot metal of the heat gun and managed to weld some polyester to my palm.

By yesterday it had reached a stage where it was reasonably hard, although nowhere near as hard as epoxy. I could try thickening the polyvinyl before applying it by leaving it for 15 or 20 minutes before spreading it and may give that a go at the next attempt..

It might simply be the low ratio of catalyst, which makes polyester mixing problematic (1.5-2%). I may try doubling or even tripling the amount of catalyst.

One noticeable difference between epoxy and polyvinyl is that the finish on the polyvinyl is much smoother, which may be because it takes such a long time to cure, enabling it to flow for longer..

I'll attempt to finish shaping the shades this weekend.