Category Archives: Op-eds

This post deals with issues around death, so please do not read it if you would prefer not to.

Escher: Day and Night

It is so tempting to spend all the extra time watching box sets. I do spend most evenings these days doing just that, or catching up on Netflix and favourite TV programmes. With that in mind, don’t miss the National Theatre’s online premiere of One Man, Two Guvnors tonight at 7pm.

I do try to avoid sitting on the sofa during the day. That doesn’t mean I’m not looking at a screen, but it is usually at my desk with my laptop or Kindle. In fact, I start the daytime hours with Joe Wicks and end with Gareth Malone. However, I was looking around for something more intellectually challenging and came across the Gresham Lectures.

As its website explains:

Gresham College was founded in 1597 and has been providing free lectures within the City of London for over 400 years.

Today the College upholds its founding principle in maintaining the highest possible academic standards for all of our appointed Gresham Professors, Visiting Professors and visiting speakers. In recent years three additional Professorships have been added in Business, Environment and Information Technology.

The College’s 130 annual lectures and events are free and open to all.

Since the restrictions were put in place they have been live streaming some of the planned lectures. There are also over 2000 previous lectures to watch on a very wide range of subjects – it’s a real treasure trove.

Small local businesses are struggling, but some have come up with ingenious ways of keeping the income flowing whilst supporting the community. And that means we can continue to support local businesses while we are in isolation.

As I write I am expecting a delivery from a food wholesaler in South London, who would normally supply restaurants and pubs. At the weekend they started home deliveries, so I put in an order for some essentials to tide me over until the main supermarket delivery arrives next week.  They were offering a veg and fruit box, dairy, eggs plus an eclectic mix of catering packs. They didn’t ask for any money, so I realised that they had not yet implemented the transition from invoicing to taking payment in advance.

I phoned them on Monday and heard a message saying that they had been inundated with orders and would phone when the order was ready. Sure enough, yesterday a cheerful staff member phoned up, took my credit card details and told me it would be arriving today. If that works I will certainly place more orders, even if that does mean buying cheese by the kilo.

Just Google “Food wholesalers home delivery near me” to find local companies that you can contact.

Probably the most heartwarming example of an inventive business strategy came to my attention a few day ago, in the comments under one of these diaries. Gordon Lishman told me about Helen Tamblyn-Saville who runs a children’s bookshop in Retford, where she was our Parliamentary candidate last year. She is now inviting customers to “pay it forward“, by donating cash to provide books for local children and young people.

I was actually thinking of The Party, as in the Liberal Democrats, rather than the many Houseparty calls that are happening. My older grandson introduced us to the latter and is busy organising slightly chaotic family get-togethers each day.

There are three main tasks that I do these days for my local party, and am still doing through the crisis. Firstly, I send out a weekly newsletter to our members, registered supporters and non-member volunteers, and this has been more important than ever during the last few weeks. We are encouraging people to volunteer through the local initiatives and also offering contacts for people who need help.

Secondly, I am the organiser for my ward. The main task I have done in the current crisis is to set up a minivan list on Connect so our councillors can phone elderly people and offer help – there is a coronavirus script available.  The original idea was to drop the #viralkindness postcards through doors, hence a list rather than a virtual phone bank, although other wards have now set up phone banks. The councillors have been really pleased to find that almost everyone is being supported by neighbours and friends, but they have been able to link up people to the volunteer networks when needed.

Thirdly, I co-ordinate the approval and selection of Council candidates. We elect every four years, with the next elections in 2022. For the last year we have been asking new members if they are interested in standing for Council, and I have been following up with a chat over coffee. Although face-to-face meetings are obviously on hold, I am still having a few conversations with potential candidates by phone. Indeed, as lockdown becomes the new normal I may well invite expressions of interest again through the weekly newsletters.

It goes without saying that our first priority now must be to help in our communities, but there are limits to what we can do if we are in self-isolation. The government has suggested we use our time at home to develop our hobbies and learn new skills. Political campaigning is our hobby, so let’s do both and do some online party training.

Incredibly tidy book shelves

The nation now has a new pastime – snooping on the homes of reporters, politicians, experts and celebrities as they speak to us on TV, not to mention those of colleagues on business calls. We have seen into living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms, even garden sheds, that were never designed for mass viewing.

In the past it was intriguing to check the backgrounds of staged interviews. These were usually carried out in front of book shelves, where the subject had carefully chosen which books would catch our attention. Sometimes these included a eclectic selection of fiction and non-fiction titles designed to project a well-read cosmopolitan image. Sometimes the interviewee used the opportunity to promote books that they had written.

Then there were the politicians drinking tea in their kitchens, or standing by their front gates (usually with a wronged partner in tow) pretending to be normal citizens.

Joe Wicks’ living room, with its carefully placed objects on shelves in the alcoves, has been subjected to detailed scrutiny by his millions of viewers.  Last Friday he played along with the game by asking what had been changed. (Spoiler alert – it was the guitar).

But most of the backgrounds we are seeing in these strange times are far less contrived, and all the more fascinating for it.

There is a meme going around Facebook – post your favourite photo of the beach. So here is mine. Just say aaah…

I took it some years ago in Jamaica and there is quite a story behind it. My cousin was British High Commissioner in Jamaica and we went to visit him a couple of times while he was there. Most of the time we were based in Kingston, so we got a different perspective on the island from most holiday makers. But one weekend we all rented a house on the north coast and enjoyed the amazing white sand and warm turquoise sea.

As it happens that year I was Mayor of Kingston upon Thames, so I arranged a courtesy visit to the Mayor of Kingston, Jamaica, who welcomed me warmly and presented me with some Appleton Estate rum. That visit set off a chain of events which eventually led to something that happened last week.

Through the Mayor we arranged to visit some primary schools in some of the poorer areas of downtown Kingston. I was hugely impressed by what the teachers managed to achieve in very challenging circumstances. Educational funding only covered the most basic provision so all schools had to call on external support, usually from the parents. But in the most deprived areas parents simply could not afford to contribute. As a result schools were desperately short of text books and other resources.

Now you may not know, but for the last twenty years or so I have been making a living as an educational writer – mainly writing Computing text books for the 16 to 19 age range. I contacted my publisher Heinemann, who also have a Caribbean imprint, and asked if they had any ideas about how the need in Jamaican schools could be met. They told me that it was quite common for businesses and other bodies to sponsor books for schools – it gave them good publicity whilst doing good. What is more, the publisher offered an attractive deal for bulk purchases.

I don’t really bake. I love cooking meals but I haven’t made a cake or pastry for years. I have had a lifetime battle with my weight so I find it easier to avoid temptation by just not baking.

These days, like everyone else, I am trying to be very careful with the food in my cupboard, fridge and freezer, and I have time on my hands so I can try new recipes. Nothing is being wasted; oldish vegetables are being turned into soup rather than being thrown out. Sometimes my meals are like the invention challenge on MasterChef  – now what can I do with some pak choi, pineapple and parmesan cheese?

So when I found half a bag of flour, some muscovado sugar and half a jar of peanut butter in the cupboard I wondered what I could make with them that didn’t involve eggs (which I am keeping for omelettes). So I present to you peanut butter cookies. I sort of followed a recipe, adding in quite a lot of butter, and they actually taste good. I need to ration them out a bit so most of them have gone into the freezer for now.

Talking about food, I spotted this post on the BBC: Food wholesalers offer online orders to sell stock. Food wholesalers supply restaurants and pubs, but are now turning to home sales during the closures.

Ten days ago, when the world was a different place, I wrote about going for a walk on Box Hill. We were in voluntary self-isolation but without any symptoms, and it seemed safe to go for a drive and then a walk, well away from other people.

That was, in fact, the last time either of us left the house, apart from one hospital appointment. Days before lockdown was imposed on us all, we had decided to stay safe within our own boundaries.

Our son has been FaceTiming us each day, and yesterday he did so while he was out for his daily exercise with our two grandsons. They live in a village with some beautiful scenery within walking distance, and the two boys were keen to explore the woods with us in virtual tow. We loved it.

That was a simple way to share the countryside with people who are stuck at home, so do think about whether you can do the same for family or friends. Of course, it doesn’t have to be out in the country – anywhere other than inside a building would be a welcome change, even a walk around your garden if you have one. And if you can’t manage FaceTime or similar then take some photos and share them.

Virtual walks are mood boosting, but don’t do much for our fitness. I have never really enjoyed doing sports, or going to the gym, although I have tried. But I am concerned about keeping fit and active, so a couple of years ago I bought a Fitbit, simply to keep track of my step-rate. I have to admit that I don’t always reach the magical 10,000 and when I do the vibration on my wrist makes me jump. But at least it has kept me conscious of the fact that I needed to move and, crucially, encouraged me to go out for a walk every day.