Happy Friday!

Links this week are in no particular order because the government is horrible and everything they do is terrible.

Right to buy put homes in the hands of landlords. Rehashing it will do the same. 

I was the first firefighter into Grenfell Tower. Little has changed, and it could happen again. I think I’ve said this before, I know of David Badillo, he’s friends on facebook with cousins and people I went to school, he sometimes pops up on ‘people you might know’ on Facebook. It’s easy to see Grenfell as only happening to immigrants, but people who live in council housing used to be respected, now they are just seen as spongers to be ignored, as the Grenfell inquiry has and is showing. It’s not just a Tory problem, it’s a middle class problem. Now the political classes have ripped up all the protections and respect for the working class, they’re coming for the middle class. Even if you don’t care that 71 people died because the council and housing authorities were more concerned about something being pretty instead of safe, you should be outraged, because don’t you think they’re not coming for you.

Right in front of our eyes, Britain’s entire political order is being demolished

It’s no wonder a new Scottish IndyRef is in the works: the status quo is unsustainable. I’ve said for a while now, that this incarnation of the Conservative and Unionist Party, is going to lead to the break up of the Union. I’m not Scottish but if I were and asked now, well an independent Scotland couldn’t do any worse than the Tories have done. I think it’s going to be a toss about whether Northern Ireland or Scotland go first but I think we’ll probably see the break up of the Union in my lifetime.

Ministers want Britain to be more like Netflix: debt-ridden and fast losing fans

From the government that achieves next to nothing, it’s the Rwanda flight to nowhere

Smart meters are not just ‘dumb’ but a scandalous waste of money. I have refused to have smart meters installed because I had to minute meetings in a previous role, where these things were discussed. To this I would also add if I have a smart meter from one supplier and change to another, assuming the meter doesn’t go dumb, what would happen if it broke down? My understanding is that I would be liable for the cost of replacing it as my new supplier wouldn’t as they didn’t fit it. Despite the impression that energy companies tell you, unless you sign a contract with them, you don’t have to have one and that might change in future years, but it hasn’t yet, so I’m staying with the ones the flat came with.

Britain is already in the grip of a deep malaise – what happens when zero growth bites?

I’m sick of daft Tory ideas to reinvigorate Britain, so I’ve come up with a few of my own

The government is picking a fight with reality with its NI protocol bill

Poverty leaves scars for life – I’m still scared of strangers at the door and bills through the letterbox. We really need to think about the lasting impacts of poverty on physical and emotional health and the impact it has going forward.

UK food price rises could hit 15% over summer, report says. This is why people are worried

Doctors warn against over-medicalising menopause after UK criticism. GP’s yet again defending themselves instead of listening to what women are telling them. Which is that we need to be listened to when we say something is intolerable for us. Some women can ride out the symptoms, good for them, most women endure the symptoms because they can’t get their GP’s to listen to them when they say they are struggling to cope. I have dealt with my doctor not taking me seriously because of my weight (asthma is not reflux). However, over menopause, they were brilliant,  I saw a doctor when I was 43 about menopause symptoms and she was great and walked me through options. At that point, we decided that I would do a couple of other things to see if they helped. They did, but last year, I decided that I’d like to try HRT so we did that.  The biggest issue at the moment is getting it, they will only issue in 2 month chunks and review often, combined with a shortage, I ended up coming off for a month. One of the worst things about being a woman, is that society glosses over your issues, this feels like GP’s are trying to do the same and I will be listened to on this. I know what I can cope with and my symptoms of menopause (No, hot flushes but every month before a period, I got what felt like a fever, my migraines got worse and flooding was also a thing – having to fake my mother falling over, so I could leave the office, without having to tell my male boss that I needed to go home because I’d run through 3 pairs of underwear and the black trousers I was wearing had bloodstains on them) where not things I was or am prepared to go through because it’s ‘natural’.

I’m nearly 60. Here’s what I’ve learned about growing old so far. Number 8 has been me since I was about 35

Finally, I got Covid. Give me chicken soup, Marmite and drugs. I really enjoy knowing what people crave when they are sick. (Boiled Chicken and Hot Orange Squash over here!)