Category Archives: Op-eds

I have mentioned before that I have been starting most mornings with Joe Wicks. Given my age and general state of fitness, I haven’t been following the daily PE with Joe sessions, although a million other people have.

Instead I have been following his videos for seniors. Each of the five different workouts takes you through a 10 minute set of exercises, which can be varied to suit your capabilities.

I bought a Fitbit a couple of years ago to encourage me to get out for a walk each day. My daily step rate was never very high, reaching 8k or more on a good day. I achieved my highest rate ever of 23k  when I took the grandsons to Disneyland Paris last year. I have been alarmed to see that whilst in self-isolation I have rarely got above 4k.

Apart from a dance class I once attended at a health centre (and a long since abandoned involvement in fencing when I was at University), I have never really taken to exercise or sport, so following fitness videos is new for me. In fact, I am very surprised to find I actually look forward to them each morning.

Last week I wished Shakespeare a Happy Birthday with a photo of the pop-up Shakespeare’s Rose theatre in York in 2018. Friends in Kingston will know the significance of that picture, and it is not simply because York is my favourite city in the UK (and I went to University there).

Soon after I was elected to Kingston Council in 1997 I was asked to represent the Council on Kingston Theatre Trust. Our chair was the broadcaster David Jacobs, who was the Representative Deputy Lieutenant for the Borough and who took a keen interest in the cultural life of the area.

Our mission was to build a theatre in Kingston, and at that stage we were planning a traditional proscenium stage with a fly tower. St George’s plc was being encouraged to bring new life to the river front by building luxury flats and improving the access. The Council owned some of the land in the development parcel, which became a useful bargaining ploy. As part of the planning agreement St George’s was to construct the shell of a theatre, and we eventually got outline planning permission for it.

The Theatre Trust had applied to the Arts Council for capital funding and it was a huge blow when the application was refused. At one stage it looked as though the project would have to be shelved, but, in 1997, with Lib Dems in control, Council decided to go ahead with a feasibility study. The challenge was to see whether we could create a low budget “warehouse-style” theatre.

“A third of Covid-19 hospital patients die“. That is the stark headline in the Guardian today, echoed in other media.

But shouldn’t it read “Two thirds of Covid-19 hospital patients survive”? We rightly applaud the NHS workers at every opportunity, and we do so because they are saving lives.

People are only being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 when their lives are at risk. This is a vicious new disease that no-one knew anything about just four months ago, and yet everyone in the NHS, from the whole range of health care professionals to administrators and ancillary workers, are together contributing to a remarkable success rate in treatment.

Coronavirus and its fallout totally dominate the news at the moment. But we desperately need some good news – what else could explain the phenomenon that is Capt Tom? (Happy Birthday!).

We all need to know that catching Covid-19 is not a death sentence for the vast majority of people. Even in the most serious cases, where intensive care interventions are needed, most people recover. So why are we not being told this directly?

The cupboards that I have been clearing out have been a rich source of memories. I found a large biscuit tin full of marbles.  Some of the contents go back to my childhood and my sons added to them when they were small.

Children don’t play with marbles these days. However, I don’t do “Things were better in my days”.

Things were different, but largely worse for children when I grew up. Children were abused, legally, by the very people who should have been protecting them.

School was horrible. From the age of six we sat all day at our desks in silence. The first school I attended was in a Victorian red brick building. I just remember the Infants section as dark. Outside was a tiny playground, which was an uneven stretch of tarmac devoid of any play apparatus. The toilets were across the yard, and we called one of the cubicles the ‘fever toilet’ because it was filthy with broken pipes.

The building was completely inadequate. One day we arrived at school to be told we were moving to a new Infants school. We walked in a crocodile to the new site. Unfortunately our parents (schools didn’t work with parents at all in those days) had not been informed so apparently turned up at the old school to pick us up at the end of the day.

Simple everyday procedures can get a bit complicated when in self isolation, but we are discovering some new ways of doing things.

Like most people of my age I do take some medication; there is nothing serious to worry about but they do make my life more comfortable.  Our local medical centre houses two GP surgeries and a pharmacy, so every two months I email the pharmacy and ask them to request my repeat prescription. They then email back when it is ready for collection.

Fortunately, the pharmacy already offers a delivery service, so it was easy enough to ask them to deliver it this time. I do know that I could also call on the local Covid-19 volunteers to help if needed.

The surgery also holds a number of drop in clinics, including one for people who have hearing aids, as I do.  Every couple of months I turn up, and the technician replaces the silicone earpieces and gives me some more batteries. It is so much more convenient to do that locally instead of attending the hearing clinic at the hospital.

When I realised that I was almost out of batteries, I wondered how I would get replacements. I could, of course, have phoned the GP or the hospital audiology department and asked what I should do. But I really didn’t want to bother them, so just bought some online. I paid £15.99 for a pack of 60 which will keep me going for over a year.

The ring of Brodgar is a huge stone circle set in a most dramatic setting on Mainland Orkney. It lies on a narrow strip of land between two lakes – on one side is the saltwater Loch of Stenness that opens to the sea and on the other side is the freshwater Loch of Harray. They all sit in a vast bowl surrounded by green hills. No trees to be seen.

Nearby is one of the most astonishing archeological sites in the British Isles, known as the Ness of Brodgar. It was discovered very close to a farmhouse in 2002.

The first structure to be uncovered was the remains of a large rectangular building, similar to ones nearby at the Barnhouse Neolithic Village. As more buildings and artifacts were found it became clear that this was not a domestic site but a vast ceremonial centre that was first built around 3200BC, 200 years before Stonehenge. Many of the buildings had been given complex decorations and paving. In fact, over 800 pieces of stone incised with patterns and other markings have been found. Some stones had been painted with a reddish pigment, probably derived from local iron ores.

One of the structures is 25 by 20 metres and its external wall is 5 metres thick. It is thought to be a burial place. The site has also revealed a surrounding 4 metre thick stone wall – an extraordinary structure.

When we first visited the Neolithic village of Skara Brae, only a few miles from the Ness of Brodgar, we learnt that the buildings probably had roofs constructed from whalebone or driftwood, then covered with animal skins and turf. Nothing had survived of the roofing materials. But at the Ness, which was built around the same time, they discovered rectangular roof tiles.

I had a nightmare last night. I won’t go into details because people will start doing deep analyses of my psyche, but I can reveal that it left me with a strong sense of injustice. (It had nothing to do with James Corden, though). I don’t often have bad dreams and it is a long time since I have had an anxiety dream like this one.

I have been very fortunate in not having experienced any serious mental illness in my life. I did develop post-natal depression, and I reacted with stress when I found myself in a job I hated, so I have an inkling about how it must feel. However I have observed people I am close to with more severe bouts, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

But we cannot deny that many of us have heightened levels of fear and anxiety during lockdown, and we all need to monitor our own mental health and that of the people we live with. We need to develop coping strategies, to deal with the dark moments.

A recent analysis of diaries being kept by people in lockdown showed that a third felt they were not coping well. It seems older people, who may actually be more vulnerable, are cushioned financially and emotionally to a certain extent, whereas half of all the younger people reported a rise in anxiety and fear.