5 AUGUST 2021
FEATURE 21
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From the front line… If we feel unsafe in hospital, we may not go there when really necessary.
BY JACQUELINE CURZON Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, has agreed to pay first year recruits $110,000 after Gen-Z graduates complained they were suffering from pandemic burnout, working up to 100 hours a week. Their pay jump of $24,000 does not include bonuses. Morgan Stanley announced last week they would pay their junior analysts $100,000, a raise of $15,000. The FT reported that Goldman senior staff said this starter salary was ‘setting a dangerous precedent.’ Hmm, I know it’s not at all similar, but our NHS staff are looking for an uplift. Anyone in the investment industry care to invest in them? Up north the SNP are pressing for a four day week for civil servants after a survey found comprehensive support for this. Well, who wouldn’t want a shorter working week for the same money? This could bring the Scottish economy to an all-time low, with a projected £2 billion cost. Mr Johnson announced he is going to Scotland for a wee break, in his effort to strengthen the Union. A counter invitation was then made by Ms Sturgeon, inviting him for showdown talks in Edinburgh, as part of her drive to relaunch IndyRef2. The SNP draft agenda for their conference leaked plans to persuade Scots that separation was ‘essential’ to their recovery from covid. Now that’s a bit rich, we bankroll their furlough programme and she says breaking up the Union is vital. Okay, I have a little solution for that Nicola, just repay what you took from central government. If she honestly can’t deal with Scotland’s epidemic drug problems, massive unemployment and a failing economy, I would suggest she wholly divert her focus to severing ties with the UK, as she is doing. When the PM arrived last time at her Bute House residence, he was greeted with a hail of boos from a congregation of fully paid-up Nationalists. Presumably La Sturgeon will not be issuing a similar invite to the ‘hecklers’… we wait and watch. The flooding in western Europe reached a critical point, with exponential numbers still missing. We have experienced heavy flooding here in the UK as well, although on a lesser scale. More than 22,000 volunteers, military and emergency service personnel were working across the North Rhine Westphalia, where at least 46 have been confirmed dead, with 117 deaths in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and dozens of people still missing. With a coronavirus calamity just receding into the distance, it’s distressing to witness yet another disaster on our neighbour’s doorstep. German opposition parties have called for Horst Seehofer, the Interior Minister, to resign, following his (mis)handling of the disaster. In the district of Ahrweiler, council leader Jürgen Pföhler was castigated for ignoring several Category 5 alerts and having failed to issue
Jacqueline Curzon PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY
an evacuation order, despite e-mails warning him the River Ahr had swollen to flood level. Thus his delay of 12 hours cost the lives of 12 care home residents who drowned in the subsequent flood. A total of 135 people have now drowned in the Ahr Valley, which was the worst area hit by flooding, and the worst disaster since 1962. I reported some while back, issues of trans-women being placed on women only wards, and it’s back in the news once again. Hospital trusts have issued guidance saying that male-born sex offenders who self identify as female, can be placed on female only wards. Hey, I get they don’t want to be on male wards, because they are likely to be vulnerable there, a potential target for male abuse. The problem with placing them on female wards is that whilst they feel safe, they put all the women on their adopted ward at risk. The hospitals surely have a duty to protect the female-born inpatients on those wards: the young, the vulnerable and the elderly. Medical staff have warned that this ‘guidance’ puts them in breach of their code of conduct, leaving the most vulnerable at risk. Imagine your Great-Auntie Dot (78) is on that ward, she’s had a neurological accident, can’t speak or write and Ms Once-was-a-man [or still-isa-man] is one bed away. He might also be a predator, she wouldn’t know, but his 12 o’clock shadow and prominent Adam’s apple puts the fear of G-d into her, especially as they have shared bathrooms and s/he seems physically quite strong. Now, I don’t think a trans-man would pose the same level of perceived threat to other men. Perhaps it’s a simple matter of anatomic difference or perceived vulnerability. Dr Jane Hamlin, president of the Beaumont Society (a trans support group) said, ‘if anyone starts off with an assumption that a trans person is a (potential) sex offender, that is discrimination and transphobia.’ Baroness Nicholson, chair of Children and Women First, spoke up for the rights of women, saying
that by ‘manipulating and distorting’ equality laws the NHS was denying women the right to ‘dignity and privacy’ in their treatment. The Daily Telegraph has sifted through 20 Hospital Trust policies and reports the following: a number of trusts will order medics to call police and report a hate crime if patients do not accept another’s gender identity; another adds that treatment may be withheld from the aggressor; another said patients will be admitted based on the gender they identify at on admission and NOT based on physical characteristics or the person proving they have legally changed their gender or name. Wow. So you can still be Mr Adrian Duke, but state on arrival you identify as a female {Ms Adrienne Duke}, and hey presto, you’re in the woman’s ward. This is nonsense. I remember being on a mixed children’s ward a lifetime ago, and feeling unsettled with a couple of boys/ young men who walked around, shall we say, incompletely dressed: I was not happy. Given that most violence is male-on-male, and most sexual violence or predatory behaviour is male-on-female, it would be sensible for the health department to get its act together. I would not happily use a unisex toilet in public spaces, not because I hate or dislike men, but because in an environment such as this, I would feel extremely vulnerable, and frankly, its not worth the risk. Similarly with changing rooms. What the solution is I simply don’t know, when the rights of the ‘very few’ are put ahead of the rights of the ‘many.’ Skipping nicely over to the Olympics, trans athlete Laurel Hubbard (43) took part in the women’s weightlifting. She did not win a medal, but by her inclusion in the games, de facto she put another (biological) woman out of the competition. Is it fair that Laurel, who was a man until her 30s, and having gone through male puberty with an adult male’s muscle mass and bone density, competed against ladies half her age? And still she couldn’t beat them? Why - when you want to be a woman - choose a sport where strength rather than skill is the arbiter of feminine success ? Laurel failed to win a medal, but could beat younger females because of her biological advantage. No such swing for trans-men would work this way, I doubt. Book fans will be interested to hear that Sarah Ferguson’s recent foray into adult fiction has been somewhat a flop. But then, stepping into Mills & Boon waters was never going to be an easy ride. ‘Her Heart for a Compass’ will be taking a back seat to my latest reading material - ‘Cause of Death’ (Dr Geoffrey Garrett), which is a truly fascinating account of forensic medicine, from a Home Office pathologist’s viewpoint. On my desk also lies Clinical Cases, co-authored by Dr Andrew Solomon, a parent in our community. It is a truly fascinating read. Sarah might be counselled to stick with writing Budgie the Helicopter sequels, as
children generally are less discerning. The Army has decided that female soldiers will no longer be obligated to have their long hair in a bun. Instead they may have ponytails, plaits and cornrows. When I was a member of the Officer Training Corps back in 1988 the rule was definitely ‘hair up.’ Now they might have another problem - male recruits citing inequality by not being allowed long hair, trans women demanding equality or lastly, a harassment or assault suit levied against those who yank their ponytails etc. Yup, I see that one coming. And finally, Warrant Officer Eric Carter (101) has died, the last surviving pilot who flew RAF Hurricane fighters that operated with the Russians to defend the Arctic port of Murmansk. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, PM Winston Churchill promised assistance and on July 12 1941 an Anglo-Soviet agreement was signed in Moscow. Carter - who had joined the RAF in 1940 - was on leave when he was recalled and sent to join 84 Squadron. Together with 134 Squadron they made up number 151 Wing and were deployed as the 1st example of British aid to the Russians. The Wing was deployed to the naval airfield at Vaenga, 10 miles from Murmansk, the Russian port closest to the Germans advancing front line. With 550 men and 15 (crated) Hurricanes, they made up the principal cargo of the 1st Arctic Convoy, sailing on the former Union Castle liner Llanstephan Castle bound for Archangel. Thereafter they were flown to Vaenga where they joined 24 more Hurricanes. Their primary role was to provide defence for the crucial port and also to escort Soviet bombers on raids over Finnmark and northern Norway. Carter flew patrols, trained Russian pilots and engaged Messerschmitt aircraft on a number of occasions. Later he said, ‘I took potshots at several Messerschmitts but couldn’t claim any kills.’ However to his credit he did train up Boris Safonov, fighter ace and ‘Hero of the Soviet Union.’ He left the Army in 1946 and after studying for a degree in electrical engineering, became an engineer for Associated Electrical Industries, where he continued to support the 151 Wing association and received numerous anniversary medals from the Russians. He visited Russia in the 1990s with his fellow veterans, including a visit to Moscow when the Queen was making a state visit. In 2013 he joined his surviving colleagues at 10 Downing street when the then Prime Minister David Cameron presented them with the Arctic Star. A year later he received the Russian Ushakov medal in a ceremony at the Russian Embassy. That’s it for now. We’re having a paper break next week. Keep safe. Love Jacqueline x
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