Back to normal.

 Since 1 July last year - I have suffered the indignity of a catheter. If you have been fortunate enough - never to be  exposed to this indignity - count yourself lucky. The last 14 month have been the worse medically in my 83 years. I have had five infections and as a consequence - have had five lots of antibiotics. In addition - there is the added humiliation of every 12 weeks having a new catheter inserted. It’s also an extremely painful and unpleasant process - not something you would ever volunteer for. Just to put you in the picture - I have what it’s called an enlarged prostate and need an operation to reduce it’s size. Thankfully there is a treatment to reduce it and that is Laser treatment. I had the Laser operation on the 27th of July which went well. On Friday I went for an out patient appointment - to cut a long story short - I am 100% okay and ready to rock en roll’. Thank goodness for the NHS - all the staff were outstanding good and I told them so. I’am now recovering at home in Kent - from the last 14 months of trauma, pain and discomfort. I would say the next week is - convalescence time and getting back to normality, but its been the most terrible 14 months. 

The Hippie trail.

 Way back in the late 1960’s many young people - decided to go east to Afghanistan, it was known back then as the hippie trail - to a life of - sex, drugs and rock n roll. The final destination was Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan Some would stay there for only a few weeks and then go on to Kathmandu in Nepal. However, there was a large number who just stayed and stayed in Kabul, smoking dope, having sex and generally chillaxing. They got - marooned there for years and some never came back to their previous western lives. At that time in 1967 - I was working on a Kibbutz, called Erez in the northwest of the Negev desert about 60 miles from Tel Aviv to the south. I had gone there as a volunteer in the Six Day War - which stated in June of that year. Personally, I was having a great time, but didn’t join the legion of others going further east. Eventually I went to another Kibbutz, Ein Gedi, next to the Dead Sea. This was in the Judaea Desert and very close to the famous fortress of Masada. I decided to move further south to Eilat some 80 miles away. I worked there for a number of months in a beach bar in Eilat and had a wonderful time. I stayed to roughly the end of November and came back to London. I had had a fantastic and life enhancing experience for the best part of 6 months. I’am pleased I decided not to join the - hippie trail and go further east - perhaps I would never have come back to Blighty either? 

Mega-boats with 230 illegal migrants.

 We had this week the first of the - mega-boats crossing the English Channel with some 230 illegal - mainly males between 18 and 25. The government claims that the numbers crossing the Channel are lower, than they were before. However the British public - doesn’t swallow this nonsense. They are concerned only with the fact that illegally immigrants are still crossing the Channel and until that becomes zero - any protestation to the country will be dismissed. The government has got itself into a political pickle and - doesn’t know what to do to - stop the boats.They are made in China and provide the criminal gangs with a steady and regular income. 

Jason Arday, 41.

 The black academic at Jesus College, Cambridge was found - unresponsive at his flat in Battersea on Friday afternoon. The London Ambulance Service, contacted the Metropolitan police to inform them about Mr Arday being deceased. The police statement said - ‘the circumstances were not suspicious’. Mr Arday, was professor of the sociology of education at the college. He claimed there had been a - sustained campaign against his appointment in 2023. It was claimed his PhD was plagiarised, but the awarding university - John Moores University, in Liverpool, dismissed these accusations. How does this impact on the - place of black academics in British universities? Is this an expression of the - culture wars, in action? Universities are undergoing rapid changes, with the advent of AI rapidly coming down the track. Only recently Kent university and Greenwich universities decided to - merge into one mammoth institution in the next few years. Many other institutions will go bust - if they are not at the top of the pyramid. 

Unfortunately, those with a racist agenda, will see this as proof positive - black academics cannot be trusted and moreover should not occupy positions of authority and prestige in our universities. Moreover there was something of the lynch mob mentality about the way he was - hounded as if the KKK was alive and well and living in Cambridge. A very depressing and disturbing event as there was a - cascade of events, with a negative feedback loop. 

Given as mentioned above - the AI revolution will upturn many roles within universities and accordingly some academics will be made redundant. This has made the situation even more acute. As we know the Industrial Revolution started in this country in about 1760. Whole new ways of working were quickly established and people were displaced to other parts of the country - where the new jobs were. Are we about to witness a similar seismic change, not only here, but across the globe? The race in AI is very consequential - between China and America for the top position and will affect all our lives. 

Good quality friendships = good mental health.

 In an international survey of 204907 adults across 22 countries taken from a project The Global Flourishing Study, has just published their results in the Journal of Mental Health. They make rather sobering reading. We in the Uk don’t come out particularly well on the - friendship index, but not as badly as Japan - that was bottom of the 22 countries. Participants in the survey were asked to rank their friendships on a scale of zero to ten. What was discovered was the strong correlation between those people who had - good or excellent relationships did much better regarding their mental health. It was as if these relationships help - protected the individual from the vicissitudes of life. They acted as a sort of - buffer. In addition if the relationship were - of long standing the individual was able to exchange their individual experiences with each other. This was particularly salient as we get older - when parents start dying, or dealing with divorce or illness. These shared collective memories are a necessary and important part of growing older. Those unlucky to not have positive friendships - are at a serious disadvantage psychologically and physically. So look after your friendships as they will help you - live longer and healthier. 

The Clacton by-election.

 On Thursday, the good people of Clacton, went to the polling booths. Some 44,4% decided to vote and 63% decided to vote Reform Party and for Nigel Farage. Count Binface got 26.9% of the votes cast. So we will see Mr Farage, back in the House of Commons in September. In my opinion all the other political parties should - have completed in the race as this was the democratic process in action. 

Endemic loneliness in young men between the ages of 18-29.

In The Times today Sanchez Manning, the Social Affairs Correspondent - has read a very disturbing report by the Resolution Foundation. In it he discovered some very worrying statistics - about young people and especially young men. The lead author Parth Pandya said “screen time is the usual suspect in conversations about the rise of loneliness among young people. But spending time in paid work by themselves was the biggest drive of rising hours spent alone and the legacy of Covid - is a major contributor”. They didn’t increasingly - go into the office to meet colleagues and form friendships - but work alone all day. Unless this is addressed seriously by government and social policy advisors, then the future for many is extremely worrying”. Astonishingly “young people now are more likely to be alone and lonely, than older people”. However, young women do not escape completely, but they are generally not as lonely as their male counterparts.