Coronavirus diary, Friday 8 May

Celebration and Thanks 

Churchill on VE Day, 1945

VE Day. The 75th anniversary of victory in Europe. Sunrise bedecked with union jacks. Most of the residents here are old enough to remember, sad and proud. We have veterans, two on my table. One, a hundred, served with Montgomery in the North Africa campaign, another with the RAF overseas and a third whose plane  was blown up in the Malta siege. All are in wheelchairs, reluctant to talk about their experiences. 

Bob's father in law, second from right, at a Penarth VE Day street party

My contribution to victory was negligible. Called up six months before VE Day. I had not finished my Intelligence Corps training and later an injury at a battle camp cut short what might have been a useful, interesting army career.

How ironical that today we are striving for another war victory -against the pandemic  that is killing millions of people. This time countries are fighting a common enemy. We we are all hoping that we will celebrate CV Day soon.

Bob claps the carers and the NHS

Another cause for celebration and thanks last evening with the now traditional Thursday clapathon. The whole Sunrise Cardiff team of more than 40 carers and staff were on parade in front of our building.  We joined them, wearing tee shirts with THANKS. 
After the clapping we had dancing by the Sunrise team. It was a  memorable evening of fun and laughter.

Sunrise carers on Thursday at 8pm

A brilliant idea. Well done, Sunrise!

Coronavirus diary, Thursday 7 May

Local government

Britain will never be the same again. We will never return to  normal life, ended abruptly by the pandemic three months ago. Change is inevitable. 

In the past, wars and disasters led us to believe lessons would be learned, hopes raised, only for them to be dashed, promises forgotten. This time the road ahead will be more tortuous. Our government has more power than ever, with the Prime Minister a reluctant dictator. Necessary and acceptable in these extreme circumstances but not to be tolerated for long.Where do we go from here? Will lessons be learned? 

The answer, I believe, is for less control by central government and a wider distribution of power and responsibilities. Delays, mistakes and uncertainty have highlighted the shortcomings and dangers of bureaucracy which we have come to accept, but it goes beyond that. The inequality of life in different parts of Britain, the affluence of the south and the poverty of the north, for example. 
Hopes and promises cannot be fulfilled if we continue on the same path. 

City Hall, Cardiff: local government the key

The key is to return power and responsibility to the people through local government, our town halls. For decades, successive governments have been systematically dismantling our councils,  starving them of funds, diminishing their responsibilities. Proud cities like Liverpool and Birmingham, by innovation and boldness, made us one of the most advanced nations, creating great wealth for the country.  This has been stifled, councils made almost irrelevant. 

'The Welsh Swindon': Caerphilly loco works, 1963

For nearly 50 years as reporter and officer I have recognised the importance of local government. Caerphilly, for example, led the country in the early 1960s with bold projects - first housing association, first supermarket in Wales and buying the massive Caerphilly locomotive works to create an industrial estate. And spending more of the permitted sixpenny rate on arts and entertainment than any other council. I admire Japan and Germany for their local government. Their governor and oberbürgermeister were in charge for many years, giving strong leadership, re-elected time after time. 

In Britain, councils, whatever their size, know their communities and can serve them well.  They should be in the forefront of the desperately needed reorganisation of  our fragmented and patently inefficient social care service. Local government is the way forward.

Coronavirus diary, Tuesday 5 May

Mind the Gap

'Mind the gap', the traditional warning to rail passengers, has a new meaning these days. Not to avoid falling on the track but to keep a safe distance from other passengers. It is part of the government's 'draft guidance' to encourage workers back to factories and offices to save Britain's crippled economy. But many are reluctant to do so, fearing that keeping a safe distance at work is impossible.

Back to the trains. The idea is to use perhaps only one third or even less seats, meaning trains running at 15 percent capacity. Other suggestions include staggering shifts, hours and days, all very difficult and hugely expensive. The government, rather harshly, I think, is telling employers it is their responsibility to make working safe.They have been ordered to make a detailed risk assessment and tell employees about their new working conditions  The government has even threatened them with fines and criminal proceedings if they fail to do so. The companies protest, maintaining they have been given too little notice of the easing of restrictions and now too much advice not instructions. 

Brompton Bikes are providing bikes for NHS workers

Another memorable government order, forty years ago, was Employment Secretary Norman Tebbit - now Baron Tebbit -telling unemployed workers to 'get on your bike' and look for a job. The order is back again, to lock-downed workers - probably one of the most practical suggestions - already being encouraged by free bike hiring in some parts of the country. Will cycling become an everyday way of getting around in Britain as in Dutch cities like Amsterdam? 

Amsterdam: cycling for all

Coronavirus diary, Monday 4 May

Pills and Potions

The race is on to find and manufacture a drug to win the battle against coronavirus. It is a frantic, yet controlled controlled contest. Competition is fierce, the world holding its breath. The renowned Oxford research team is lying third in the first stage - human testing -  with the USA leading. It is fiercely competitive but not for the pharmaceutical industry's main aim. Discovering  a new drug can make a fortune.This time it is an international team effort, undertaken for the mutual good.

From time immemorial humans have been seeking remedies. China, Egypt, India and Greece are among the countries with an ages-old health heritage. In Olympian mythology the snake was a god with healing power - today it is a hospital emblem. 

Leeches, another revered medication from the past, are used today, plants have always been ingredients in healing.

The late eighteenth century saw the days of the pseudo, cowboy doctors. They travelled the west peddling their wares from wagons and tents, using barkers and entertainers to drum up customers. They offered hope to sufferers, with cheap and easy remedies and miracle cures, magic potions. Snake oil panaceas, useless and dangerous. Even Europe had their pedlars. The first patented medications were opium and alcohol based. They did not heal but at least made the patients feel better, for a while. 

These days, alternative medicine containing ingredients used for centuries is trusted by millions. Intensive research is the road to finding not a pill or potion, but a life saving new drug. It is a race against time with countless lives at stake. Victory over the deadly pandemic cannot come soon enough.

Coronavirus diary, Sunday 3 May

Vital statistics

I have never been interested in statistics or statisticians and little idea of the value of the profession, until now. They have moved from the background to the forefront of the anti- coronavirus campaign. Now we are inundated daily with numbers, figures and projections. It is one of the government's main sources of advice  in making crucial decisions that affect us all. 

Today's figures are anything but reassuring - in the UK the 621 deaths reported yesterday takes the death total over 28,000. In Wales, with 10,155 confirmed cases, 44 deaths were reported yesterday bringing the total to almost 1,000.

Mark Drakeford: a more optimistic note

Statistics show the poorest parts of the country are the hardest hit. Cardiff has the highest death rate in Wales, the Canton area heading the list. Affluent areas including Cyncoed where I live are faring better. It does not make us feel all that much safer, though. Wales's First Minister, Mark Drakeford, strikes a more optimistic note suggesting 'we have come over the peak' and that there  may be some easing of restrictions, perhaps in the next week or two. Some children, he says, may be able to go back to school in June, allowing their parents to resume work. No promises, too risky.

I am surprised today to hear in intimate detail the Prime Minister's experience of 10 days in hospital, described in an exclusive interview in the Sun on Sunday newspaper. It is no doubt a heartfelt expression of his relief and unstinted praise for the doctors and nurses who saved his life. He describes his experience as 'scary,' worrying rather than reassuring for us who fear having to go through his frightening and vividly description. He even reveals that contingency plans were being made to 'break the news' to the public if he died. Typical of the sensationalistic Sun, the front page carried huge headlines, DOCS WERE READY FOR ME TO DIE. This is the 'tell all' age for our media, allowing them to publish news no matter how personal or intimate. I think this is going too far.

Coronavirus diary, Saturday 2 May

Comprehensive plan

So Prime Minister Johnson is going to reveal his comprehensive plan to lead us into the sunlight from the black tunnel or across the desert to the verdant oasis or wherever the latest idiom might be. I think he knows what his advisers think, but, a comprehensive plan? I have my doubts. 

Don't tell them, Monty....

Would General Montgomery have revealed to the media and the public his battle plan for Alamein a week in advance, his strategy for the campaign and tactics for the battle? 

Our Health Minister, General Matt Hancock, promised 100,000 tests a day. Would Beaverbrook, the wartime  minister for aircraft production, have revealed that we were building 1,000 Spitfires and Hurricanes a month for the Battle of Britain? What do you think? I am sceptical. There are too many ifs and buts. We don't know the unknowns, as they say these days. And round figures, those thousands? - sounds suspicious, too easy to conjure up.

If pigs could fly...

Even the Times has its doubts. While Its main leader column (NB: paywall) hails General Hancock's astonishing achievement its cartoonist shares my doubts over the figures, illustrating it with flying pigs. 

Let us take some comfort, though. Promises can be well intentioned and provide relief and hope in dark days but I would prefer to wait a little longer and see real action and, perhaps, an indication of victory in this, our war against Covid-9.

I am back to my blog after swift action by Sunrise. Carers called the doctor and after one dose of some magic pills I am ambidextrous again and at my 'typewriter'.

Coronavirus diary, Friday 1 May

As a care home resident, it is strange and discomforting for me to hear today that the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing and residential care homes is overtaking that in hospitals. Of the 1,016 deaths recorded in Wales by 25 April, nearly 200 were in homes. In Cardiff homes it was 40%. Until now the homes toll has not been reported and it has been a shock although there have been constant complaints that homes are being ignored and left dangerously short of protective equipment equipment. 

In Sunrise, so far, we have been fortunate in seeing little difference in our comfortable life although today our carers and all the staff started wearing masks. We were told individually that there were no symptoms and it was a precautionary measure. We are monitored regularly with temperature and other checks. Residents who prefer to stay in their rooms can do so. We still enjoy our daily programme of events and can go for a supervised walk in the gardens. 

Our carers are multi-national and multi-talented. Their skills include hairdressing and nail health, making up for the absence of visiting professionals. They are also helping the events organising team taking services, organising quizzes, gardening and flower arranging. After long shifts they go home, no doubt having their own concerns for their families. It is reassuring that, whatever happens, we know we could not be having better care. 

The nation says happy birthday. Photo: Ocean Outdoors/PA

A story to cheer Britain today: the 100th birthday of Captain Tom Moore, who set out to raise £1,000 for the NHS by walking his garden and has ended up with over £32 million. Congratulations have been pouring in: 160,000 cards from all over the world, messages from the royal family and the prime minister broadcasting from 10 Downing Street. Captain Tom, made an honorary colonel by his regiment in his garden, was eloquent in his thanks. An amazing man and an amazing achievement.