Cock-eyed Hell

 Can someone just switch everything off and back on again? Maybe the three pin reset (as my Dad used to call it) would work. It just feels like everything is broken.

Whether you like Liz Truss or not (clue: no one likes Liz Truss) it has to be agreed that her premiership is nothing short of a disaster. I don’t see how anyone’s mental health could survive what she is going through. When your friends stand up and say, “She is not under a desk,” you know you’re screwed. Looking like a hostage with wide blinking eyes she showed the BBC political reporter some paintings and said ‘deliver’ more often than the Post Office. The attempt to look calm and in control failed. It failed so badly that when the beeb went onto the street for vox pops someone said, “What the cock-eyed hell is going on?” The markets are temporarily calmed as a misogynist in a shiny suit appears to take over and people comment that a ‘grown up’ is in charge. Remember though, that this grown up couldn’t work a hand bell and was a fierce advocate for austerity.

The last thing we need now is even less spending on public services.

I made a visit to a GP surgery yesterday - a very rare event and although I was just accompanying someone I came away deeply fearful for anyone who works in the NHS right now. The system has broken and it is people who are taking the brunt of the anger. Receptionists with tears in their eyes as they tell people that they are not allowed to give them an appointment, pharmacists with a sudden seven-fold increase in their work, doctors who look so ill themselves they can barely stand upright. And anything these people miss or don’t have time for can lead to a death.

Post pandemic, how can the government’s answer be to cut the funding? It’s not even as though the defence budget could take a temporary hit. There’s a war between Russia and Ukraine that we are supporting. What about education, or social care or the environment? Nope. These are all broken too. 

Especially the environment. 

Acorns are falling off trees without their hats. I don’t know if this is significant but it feels like a worry. When I looked up into my favourite oak tree and saw the hats still on the tree I said to myself, “What the cock-eyed hell is this?”