Feature

From the front line…

Remember to wear your suit of {covid} armour, just in case!

BY JACQUELINE CURZON

With the PM and his Chancellor both having to self isolate, we are seeing first hand the nonsense of having people jabbed, but being treated as if they were not. True, numbers of deaths have risen, but these numbers are still low and besides no-one is fessing up if these figures include those already vaccinated. How we interpret statistics is very relevant. Children are obviously next in line for vaccinations, with Pfizer conducting trials for 5-11 year olds from September, extending it to 2-5 year olds by November. AstraZeneca are also conducting children’s trials, and the results of these are jointly expected by the end of the year. Neil Ferguson said that in the absence of (complete) vaccinations, ‘we are going to have very high numbers of cases in teenagers.’ The Office for National Statistics [ONS] have published research which indicates 60% of the public intend to continue wearing masks. So much for freedom then - with all its caveats, conditions and recommendations. Freedom, my foot! All of this has been exacerbated by confusing messages from travel operators, health providers and government officials. Forget Churchill’s V for Victory, it looks like an empty V in Valedictory. Dr Tom Wingfield, lecturer and consultant physician at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said “the UK public has lived with Covid-19 for over a year, and many now rightly feel equipped with sufficient knowledge to take public health matters into their own hands.” How on earth one is to consider a holiday with a sliding scale of colour categories, I can’t imagine? Maybe just cancel the holiday, although airlines are being very iffy about refunding flights, so one doesn’t want to get caught out there either. I’ve just been sent my next raft of hospital appointments, and true to expectations, I am instructed to attend wearing a mask. Elsewhere in the world, with escalating numbers of infections, masks are - once again - being made compulsory in Los Angeles County, pop. 10 million, as public health officials continue their struggle. In Africa, they recorded a 43% jump in covid deaths, along with shortages of oxygen and ICU beds. Matshidiso Mortimer, WHO regional director for Africa, remarked the ‘third wave pushes past a grim milestone as the death toll reaches 6 million.’

Ducking sideways just for a minute, I’ve composed a little ditty, inspired by our end of year Leavers’ show, Mary Poppins. You can hum along, to the tune of Supercalifragilistic: (key of Ab, for the acapella-enthusiasts out there) Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, say it like it is

Variants of viruses have got us in a tizz

Buy your masks and sanitizer, ‘though they’re such a pain

‘Coz once the experts reconvene, they’ll bring them back again.

It’s …. always Co r o n a v i r u S

Information overload, and now we’re in a mess

All these vaccination schemes have put us to the test

Around the globe there’s many folks think Pfizer is the best

Readers will know I love language, and hate the way it is being manipulated and hijacked by those with agendas. It is demonstrated by the following example: The Entomological Society of America has excelled itself in deferring to political correctness, by removing the word Gipsy from Gipsy Moth, in case the prefix offends anyone. Nothing is safe any more, and I wonder if the Oxford dictionary will be a slimmer, trimmer tome, when the naysayers and ‘tiptoe round the table’ brigade have done analysing, anaesthetising and watering down our language. And now for a quick question. Q/ When is a pay cut not a pay cut? This is not a late entry in this week’s Riddles & Squiggles, but in fact a serious question. A/ If you earn £1.36 million and give up a few hundred thousand. Perhaps that qualifies? You would of course know that Zoe Ball, the BBCs highest paid female, has volunteered to take a 28% pay cut, whilst Gary Lineker now earns £1.36 million after taking a £400,000 pay cut. Can any of us imagine being able to take such a salary reduction? I’d happily settle for the 400k as salary, as would most of you. Money, money, money. It’s what makes the world go round, so they say, but it’s causing embarrassment across the border, with police wanting to speak to Peter Murrell (husband of Ms Sturgeon) over missing campaign funds totalling £600,000. Money has hit the headlines closer to home, with a Russian billionaire having reached a settlement of £450 million with his ex-wife, six years after she turned down the same offer. Tatiana Akhmedova, who lives in London, was awarded a 41.5% share of husband Farkhad’s £1 billion fortune back in 2016, but having only received £5m, she sued him and their eldest son, Temur, accusing him of being his father’s “lieutenant” and actively assisting him. Ruling in Ms Akhmedova’s favour, Mrs Justice Knowles quoted Tolstoy, saying: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. With apologies to Tolstoy, the Akhmedov family is one of the unhappiest ever to have appeared in my courtroom.” Judges heard that Farkhad Akhmedov (65), had not “voluntarily” paid a penny of the divorce settlement - thought to be the biggest award of its kind made in the UK. Ms Akhmedova took legal action in a bid to trace and seize assets, in particular a £225 million superyacht. She involved Burford Capital to assist, but according to Farkhad, they received no monies from him, effectively reducing her settlement total. Earlier this year a London judge concluded that the ex-wife had been a victim of ‘schemes’ designed to put ‘every penny’ they had beyond her reach. As the couple were married in Russia, divorce and settlement proceedings could have been brought there, but it’s easy to figure why it was instead brought before a London Court, especially given they had lived in London with their two children. Russia is unfortunately not renowned for its transparency - legal, political or otherwise - and often the great bear has been known to toss the key of democracy away. For those of us without the superyacht, who are simply scrabbling away to pay bills, and keep our heads above water, £450 million in the bank would be a fairytale sum, putting us out of reach of the claws of poverty. Perhaps the Akhmedovas might disagree?

Sadly, another scooter death was recorded last week, when a teenager collided with a car in Bromley. The unnamed 16-year old was taken to hospital but died shortly after. The 20-year old driver of the car was arrested for causing death by dangerous driving and after providing a positive breath test. This despite a 20 mph speed limit in force across 20% of the

country, which if anything, could actually be a factor in accidents. You - as a driver - are busy checking your speed display or limiter, not focusing on driving and your surroundings, as you would if driving at 30 or 50 mph (subject to local guidance). On the connected topic of transport, it is heartening to hear that steam trains will resume service in Yorkshire, with the Flying Scotsman running between York and Carlisle. With our family all having enjoyed a variety of train heritage trips, it pains me to flag up a potential problem. The Environment Bill will allow our 180 ‘heritage’ steam railways only to import essential coal from Russia and Australia. Is it just me, or does anyone else think the costs of importing coal from far and wide to be unsustainable? Aside from the fact everything has been closed for 16 months, Jacqueline Curzon it’s a big ask for heritage/ charitable sites to PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY find additional funding. And finally, they say there is none more truly dedicated than a parent. With my twins moving on shortly to high school, the last remaining child in my primary flock will be my youngest daughter going into year 3. Now, if you thought 21 years of school runs qualified me for a [DPA] Devoted Parent Award, you’d be wrong. Guo Gangtang, though, may just be the most devoted parent in living memory. His son, Guo Xinzhen, was only 2 years old when he was abducted from outside his family home in 1997, after which he was then handed to people traffickers. Kidnapping and child trafficking were very common back in the 1980s, with the one-child law and the national preference for male children. Over the years Mr Gangtang has directly helped seven families find their missing loved ones, and provided clues which have found more than 100 others. From January to April 2021 authorities have rescued more than 700 missing or abducted children, some of whom had been missing for up to 30 years. Throughout all this, Guo kept up the search for his own child, a journey which took him 100,000s of kilometres travelling by motorbike, and which involved him fighting off robbers, sleeping under bridges and begging when he ran out of money. His story was immortalised in a film called Lost and Love, in which a Hong Kong actor, Andy Lau, plays the father looking for his child. Now, following an appeal for blood samples to identify missing children, Guo and Guo Jr found they were relatives, and have been reunited. Gangtang Jr said he bore no malice towards the adoptive family, who brought him up and sent him to university....’and they all lived happily after….’ (we hope).

Love and all that jazz

Jacqueline x