Sweet and Sour News?

I believe one significant occasion took place this week which had, to my mind, split the nation between the most devout among Royalists from those who favour Republicanism. And I reckon these two groups represent the more extreme margins of our society, very much like far-right and far-left wings of the political chicken. And the wider zone in the middle, the moderates, whose opinions are diverse enough, yet not to fall into extremity.

As such, I try to imagine a scenario that might have happened if I were to visit my parents this coming Sunday for lunch (that is tomorrow from the time of writing.) Dad, seated at the head of the table and still dominating it despite his age of 95 years. I would be sitting at the opposite end, facing him, whilst Mum sat to my left and my wife on the opposite side, to my right.

Halfway through the meal, I would ask him:

Dad, how do you feel about the Duke of Edinburgh walking unaided into King Edward VII Hospital and all the publicity? 

Prince Philip in his younger days.

It would have been quite likely that he would have given a sneering expression and maybe look towards me as if his eldest son was a little addle-headed. And then proceed to answer my question by asking: 

"Why should this man be given immediate access to a private hospital on a doctor's recommendation after a few days feeling unwell, while at the same time, there are thousands of cancer and cardiac patients left out in the cold, many with symptoms remaining undiagnosed, while many others had their scheduled operations cancelled and others died needlessly due to further cancellations?"

Such an answer delivered in the form of a counter-question would have been well in keeping with my father. Both he and Mum were Labour-supporting Republicans, and therefore, having a greater concern for the welfare of ordinary people than for the privileged members of the Royal Family or for the aristocratic world.

Poor Dad! I guess that he never had a proper understanding of English love for Royalty. How willing the crowds were in standing in the pouring rain to watch the floating pageantry pass by - as the Queen sailed along the River Thames in celebration of her 2012 Diamond Jubilee. The cold, wet June weather compromising her physical comfort enough to make her look miserable as she stood with stoicism under a flimsy-looking shelter erected over the boat, The Spirit of Chartwell, while at the same time, her husband, who was also on board, picks up a bladder-infecting bug. Oh, the irony of all this! Too bad that June 3rd, 2012 was the first wet day after a fairly long spell of warm Spring sunshine.

And so, the sight would draw in a crowd of devoted subjects to both banks of the river. And despite the huge numbers - a newspaper journalist was rather shocked to see all the spectators were white and British - "The Sea of White" - as he referred to them. Although we've watched it on TV in the comfort of our home, I knew my late father well enough not to be interested in the event at all.

As Prince Philip - just a few months from becoming a centenarian - remains in hospital, really, I have absolutely no issues with him. It's my view that throughout the whole of his life, the Duke served the country very well, with full devotion to his wife. Therefore I wish him a speedy recovery and still be with us when he celebrates his 100th birthday in June. As for the Queen, I think she had done a magnificent job in servitude, her loyalty to her duty has made her be without any reproach. 

But it's the system, the height of international importance behind the huge flotilla in the Thames during a cold, wet June day that had motivated many around the globe to turn on their TVs. The crowds of English people lining the banks of the river, whose shivering bodies covered with goose-pimples under a layer of sodden clothing, the forest of umbrellas, and perhaps the imaging of a hot coffee beside a roaring fireside, had failed to quell any excitement as the flotilla slowly sailed past. What is it about the British? I may ask. Indeed, I fail to recall any other country in the world putting on a show as spectacular as this Diamond Jubilee pageantry. With the Duke's bladder suffering an infection, he was quickly rushed into the private hospital to receive treatment with antibiotics. 

However, news of the Duke's admission into hospital just this week had aroused some unease among Republicans and even moderate Monarchists alike, as I read in a forum trailing a Daily Mail article on this issue. And the reason behind their discontent was that due to the high admission rate of Covid-19 patients into NHS care, there is a large number of non-Covid patients with cancer or heart problems who are at high risk of neglect, either by their GPs not around to diagnose their symptoms, or having their operations cancelled, with others not getting any treatment at all, and therefore they had already died.

And here's my point. During the Jubilee celebrations, when Prince Philip picked up an infection, he was dealt with straight away. The same applied to this week. After feeling unwell, he was immediately admitted as a non-Covid patient.  

The start of the Diamond Jubilee flotilla.*

And I speak from experience. In 2015, I had to have an aorta valve replaced, thus open-heart surgery. But had I, for some reason, suffered a serious delay and died, the terrible distress my wife would have suffered is beyond anyone's guess. Due to her neurological disability, she most likely would have either spend the rest of her life in care or with another family - unless fortunate enough to eventually remarry.

However, in more recent years, my beloved was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, not only was her illness discovered in good time but all stages of her treatment were completed in time before the pandemic struck. That means her mastectomy, her chemotherapy and her radiotherapy all came and went smoothly without any unnecessary delays. Just in time too. Her radiotherapy ended just before the March 2020 lockdown.

It was while she was an inpatient at Frimley Park Hospital, one Sunday, when Paul, one of my closest friends, said to me that had we lived a hundred years earlier, then I would have to watch my wife's cancer worsen, suffer intense pain and then die, with no known treatment available. So powerful was the statement, that I felt emotionally crushed, from which it took days for me to recover. 

I transferred such a thought to the present. What if Alex, suffering intensely in pain, had received one letter or phone call of one cancellation after another from the NHS, along with a stream of apologies and an explanation of inability to care due to a large influx of Covid patients? Then she dies, and I had to arrange a funeral. Then, just before her funeral, news comes in that Prince Philip, at 99 years old, felt slightly unwell and a doctor recommends a visit straightaway to a private hospital. Yes, how would I feel then? And how would any relative feel after the loss of a loved one to cancer, simply because no treatment was available, due to all hospital beds are taken up by Covid patients?

For me, it's the system itself and not the people in it. I have no desire to wish anyone ill, whether a VIP or not. And here's the crunch. VIP means Very Important People. Or, in other words, the lives of some people are more worthy to receive attention and be treated than the lives of others. This cultural idiosyncrasy, in itself, can wind me up tightly, especially on the issue of life or death, but for others, it's something akin to honour and therefore have all rights for respect.

That was the sour news. Now for the sweet news.

The rate of Coronavirus infections is falling, and quite rapidly, too. And thanks to the vaccine rollout, further falls in the hospitalisation and deaths. Alex had the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine three weeks before I was offered the Oxford Astra-Zeneca jab. But we're both immunised, at least for now. A second jab will be on its way three months after.

Lately, it's been my desire to pray and ask God not to take account for the sin of this nation and for the rest of the world, but to show mercy, even if it means we Christians act as priests to intercede to God on the nation's behalf, just as the prophet Daniel did for Israel and for Jerusalem, in the Old Testament of the Bible (Daniel 9:1-19.) This is one of two of the greatest prayers, in my opinion, which is found in the Bible, the other being Abraham's, recorded in Genesis 18:16-33. Both are intercessory, the pleading to God for mercy to a sinful nation or city for both God's glory and for the righteous living within.

I sincerely believe that Christians across the land have prayed on behalf of the UK for mercy and now their prayers are beginning to be heard. The vaccine rollout seems to be gaining success, with target numbers met. Who knows, it may not be too long before my beloved wife will be called up to receive the next stage of her cancer treatment, to rebuild her breast. Meanwhile, my cardiac consultations and monitoring can resume on a face-to-face meeting rather than through those wretched telephone calls with which I can't even self-diagnose properly due to lack of training.

And the ending of this present lockdown. Something, I think, many are looking forward to. At least I am. But according to recent polls, especially on the YouGov website where I actually partook. To them, a large percentage of the British population feels it's too early to be released from lockdown. I find this unwillingness to regain their freedom quite astonishing, as many seem to lack faith or confidence in the vaccine. Yet it takes all to make a world - anti-vaxxers, anti-masks, anti-lockdowns, anti-this or anti-that - all making their own noise but getting nowhere. Why not simply plead to God for mercy and trust in His goodness?

 Buckingham Palace during the Diamond Jubilee

As I wrote above, I have no animosity towards Prince Philip being called in for observations and treatment. Nor do I have any issue with any member of the Royal Family. Perhaps much of this is due to the signing of the Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede, on June 15th, 1215. This agreement has taken absolute power away from the Monarch and bestowed all authority on Parliament, hence the beginning of democracy. It was quite likely that King John was a miserable weasel, abusing his power and therefore disliked by the people. I thank God that our Monarch is nothing like King John.

As for Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, I wish him a speedy recovery and to see his 100th birthday.

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*Attempts to include a picture of The Spirit of Chartwell was blocked for security reasons.

Crushing Unfairness?

If there is a person I would be tempted to envy, or feel a jealous compulsion, it could be for a certain Mrs Slade, Vice Chancellor of Bath University. The fact that there is one person above her, the Chancellor, a rather posh way of describing a college Principal, or if you like, a posh name for a headteacher, has given me the impression that the professor in second place in the boardroom is relieved of much of the responsibility of leading a major institution, for a post I most likely wouldn't say "No" to either. That is, she is granted £42,000 of taxpayers money each year to jet around the world to encourage foreign students to come into the UK to graduate at the historic city of Bath, famed for its natural hot springs, the remains of a Roman leisure centre and spa, and the modern Pump Room where the Spring water can be sampled. But what can either give me the gripes, or allow me to sit back and contemplate with a cheesy smile, is that £42,000 is almost four times my annual income as a self-employed window cleaner.

But it is the semantics which I find rather amusing. What she is claiming is Expense Allowances. This is the same as the scandalous expense allowances claimed by Members of Parliament over the years until someone blew the whistle in 2009, by leaking to a newspaper. This resulted in the rise of public anger and the following resignations of up to thirty MP's, including ours who sat at our Constituency. But where the issue of semantics comes in is that the taxpayers revenue is claimed by the likes of Mrs Slade and among MP's is known as Expense Allowances, which sounds perfectly legitimate, while someone like myself who is temporary out of work due to incapacity, what I claim (or attempting to claim) is Benefits, quite a different term which has a contemptuous air of scrounger, or even courting the possibility of being criminalised as a Benefit cheat. The fact is, benefit cheats of a noteworthy proportion of dishonesty are so rare, that when one is caught, he or she makes it into the national press, maybe even on TV bulletins or documentaries.

Never mind that Mrs Slade has to jet around the world to promote Bath University to potential foreign students, and causing me to wonder why there is such a shortage of British-born candidates - the point is why such differences in terminology over something which is essentially the same, yet reflect two entirely different cultures. Another example of this idiosyncratic wording is the difference between salary, earned by all white-collar office staff, and wages, earned by blue-collar, or manual workers. Aren't they both exactly the same sort of thing - money earned by satisfying an employer? Maybe we as a society is beginning to realise this semantic inconsistency by greater use of the universal term Income.

There are times when I don't know whether to laugh or cry, throw a tantrum or show pity. Thinking about all this brings me back to Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, when thousands of entirely white British lined the banks of the Thames to watch the procession of boats sail down the river, which, according to one BBC journalist, the lack of presence of the ethnic minority shows that they don't see Her Maj as their queen. However, the pageantry was magnificent, yet ended with this choir of singers standing on the platform of one of the ships, getting thoroughly drenched in the torrential rain as they sang to the world their praises to the Queen.

Such British stoicism was, I think, was broadcast to the whole world. As was the wedding of the monarch's grandson, Prince William to Catherine Middleton just a year earlier. Then the birth of their son George was broadcast to the world as well. This has got me to ponder whether most on the global population know the names of members of the British Royal Family, yet here is some questions which only you as the reader may understand what I'm trying to say here, and they are:-
Does Spain have a monarch, and if so, who is he?
Who is the present royal couple of the Netherlands?
Who is the head of Saudi Arabia?
If Morocco has a King, who is he?
Easy wasn't it? Of course you knew all the answers! Footage of such foreign royal pageantry are thrown onto our screens fairly frequently, are they not? Maybe not as far as I remember. So what makes this nation so unique, so special? What is it about the UK which prompt not only us Brits to drop on our knees in adoration, but expect the rest of the world to follow suit? How is it that, I believe, the majority of Europe and the United States can rattle off not only the name of our Queen, but most if not all, her family members as well?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-monarchist at all, although I'm far from being a devout royalist. I know for sure that throughout the past six decades the Queen had done a magnificent job, and wholeheartedly kept to her duties. But what amazes me is that whenever an event or anniversary comes round, the pageantry which accompanies these times are grand enough for worldwide broadcast. Little wonder that overseas, as far as I can recall, we hear very little of King Felipe VI of Spain, King Willem and Queen Maxima Alexander of the Netherlands, or for that matter, Mohammed VI of Morocco, or King Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia. Then of course, how can I forget to mention that Prince Charles, along with his sons William, his wife Catherine and Harry all have university degrees? And that after attending a top public school such as Eton.

Ah, education! The higher the education level, the better prospect of a higher income, a more fulfilled life - which leads to greater social respect. And as I recently discussed with my wife, if I had a high income profession, and then had to take three months off work due to a cardiac operation, I would have had no need to even think about benefits. In fact, I tend to see State handouts as somewhat demoralising. But the reason why they are necessary is because of a comparatively low income. Actually, what I normally earn from my business has always been adequate enough not only to to pay every bill, but enough to support both of us, as my wife does not work. On top of this, we were able to fly out to a foreign destination (mostly Greek islands) nearly every year, and overall, live quite comfortably. However, with Alex's mobility recently limited, our inability to travel abroad allowed me to save, and just as well, as the forthcoming cardiac procedure was not foreseen until a year later. I am one of the luckier ones. The processing of temporary benefits is a long, tedious saga of telephone calls, Internet search, form-filling and interviews. With no money coming in yet until the Doctor's certificate has been processed (which as been over a week since I sent it off) - I am fortunate enough to live off on what I already accumulated over the past months to ride over the crisis adequately.

And this, I believe, is where our English language differentiates between Expense Allowances and Benefits. Where the former sounds like something not only legitimate, but also honourable, yet there seems to be something degrading, ugly even, about benefits. Such a term, although still legitimate, still carries with it a sense of being a scrounger, workshy, one without a conscience finding delight in sponging off the State, to have hard-working taxpayers contributing to my welfare. But having said all that, it is a wonderful system to have in place for cases such as myself to hit upon a crisis, and meant to be a temporary cover until I return to work again.

Neither the Queen nor any member of the Royal Family will ever claim benefits. Neither will Members of Parliament will ever feel the need to claim benefits either, although I'm sure they will bicker on about expense allowances, as they still do to this day. Then I doubt that the vast majority of degree-holding professionals would ever feel the need to walk into the welfare office either, but some such as Mrs Slade, can travel the world, live a life of luxury among the cream of society on expense allowance, sustained by the taxpayer, therefore exactly like benefits, but carrying a posher name - while in the meantime, I struggle and wait endlessly for a positive response from the benefit office, while at the same time I perceive myself as a scrounger, and perhaps there are many out there who would see me in exactly the same way - a sponger - I can't help believing that life is grossly unfair.

Living in a country of which culture honours the rich, the well educated, the successful entrepreneur, as well as adoring the monarch to the state of being the national saviour - but holding contempt for someone who can't work for various reasons - does not reflect a Christ-like spirit, in my opinion. Reading the whole of the Bible, and particularly the Old Testament books of Exodus through to Deuteronomy, laws respecting the poor are emphasised, along with the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, and in the Acts of the Apostles. For someone who is wealthy, he has a wonderful opportunity to show benevolence to those who are struggling to make ends meet. Here I would like to quote the case of John D. Rockfeller:-

A hard-driving businessman, this American oil tycoon became the nation's first billionaire. He drove his workers so hard in order to make every profit possible, that he was hated by all who worked for him. However, as he grew richer his health began to wane, and by the age of fifty three, he could only eat crackers and milk. He looked so old that everyone thought that he could not live to see his next birthday. Then one night he had a vision. He realised that he would not take a single cent of his wealth into the next world. That's when he decided to give away his wealth to all those in need by pouring his money into the Rockfeller Foundation he had formed. As a result, universities, hospitals, missionaries, and millions of underprivileged people benefited, along with funds to deal with the greatest scourge which plagued the South - hookworm.

I believe that, despite its bad image, the welfare system is an act of compassion and mercy towards the needy. The only difference is that it comes from taxpayers, who are generally not keen to see their earnings go towards the needy, hence our present Government's commitment to reduce welfare and encourage the needy to find work, a policy which has become so detrimental to the physically incapacitated that a number of those with mobility limitations have committed suicide. Not because it was against their will to have a job, but rather because many firms and businesses did not want to employ them, leaving them in a dire financial situation, so according to one Tory newspaper journalist.

It is a tragic that over the decades, our nation had broadcast our adoration of the monarchy to the rest of the world, have maintained a class system which looks up to the wealthy, the well educated, and to the professionals with respect, showering them with praise, while allegorically giving the poor and needy, as well as the physically disabled a kick in the backside. Hence our Ministers does practically nothing to stem the culture of banker's bonuses, which can add up to a million pounds, while we see the rise of the food banks, possibly as a consequence of benefit cuts made to those who need them.

Yes, I'm proud to be British.