My first jab...

I’ve finally become a Covid-19 statistic… in a good way. This morning I drove to the Askham Bar park & ride facility, on the outskirts of York, to join the line of oldsters queuing up for what a sign announced would be my 'vaccination journey'. “Join the blue queue”, a woman with a clipboard said, “not the red queue. That’s for voluntary euthenasia”…

Women in the Church

Breaking with tradition, Pope Francis has appointed Frenchwoman Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary of the synod of bishops, the first woman to hold the post and have voting rights. According to Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the synod, “With the nomination of Sister Nathalie Becquart… a door has opened”. A door has opened? That’s a rather disingenuous comment, since the Catholic Church has, for centuries, kept this particular door shut, locked, bolted, barred and barricaded… and women firmly in their place…

Intensive care...

There’s a powerful article, in today’s Guardian, about the conditions inside an intensive care unit, written by a doctor, Rachel Clarke, who works there. It’s chastening to read about the human dramas behind the daily-updated statistics. As if the workload of these frontline medics wasn’t onerous enough already, they now have new adversaries: people who not only believe that Covid is a hoax, but are prepared to turn up at hospitals - with their banners and slogans and conspiracy theories - and harangue the staff. 

As Dr Clarke notes, “For the crime of asserting on social media that Covid is real and deadly, I earn daily abuse from a vitriolic minority. I’ve been called Hitler, Shipman, Satan and Mengele for insisting on Twitter that our hospitals aren’t empty”. And yet, when covid-deniers and anti-vaxxers get sick, they’ll receive the same treatment and care from the staff at our NHS hospitals. 

I finally have a couple of dates for my 2021 year planner, getting my first jab on Monday and my second on April 27. Hooray!

Licenced yesterday: St Mary's Church in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire…

Wetwang again...

I've done well with my small portfolio of Wetwang images. We never seem to tire of funny place names, as my friends in Penistone and Scunthorpe can confirm (in a sane world, these two northern towns would be twinned). This shot was licenced today...

Malignant Narcissism...

Psychologists have been concerned for years about Donald Trump’s fitness to govern. However, within the profession, it is considered unethical to give diagnoses without having met and assessed an individual, which is why Trump has been allowed - even encouraged - to create mayhem throughout his disastrous four-year presidency.

Malignant Narcissism is a combination of three mental illnesses - Anti-social Personality Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder - plus the enjoyment of inflicting pain. More akin to delusional schizophrenia, Malignant Narcissism represents - according to the doctor, Erich Fromm, who coined the term - “the most severe pathology and the root of the most vicious destructiveness”. Having escaped from Nazi Germany during the war, Fromm used the term to describe Adolf Hitler.

Though there’s nothing ‘official’ about diagnosing a man’s mental disorders from a distance, it’s chilling to see how many boxes Trump ticks (and it could be argued that he ticks them all)…

 

Beamish...

Licensed today: visitors at Beamish Museum, 'the living museum of the North'... 

Impeachment 2.0

The second impeachment of Donald J Trump starts today, with the House impeachment managers filing a brief outlining their arguments for his conviction. “The nation will indeed remember January 6, 2021 - and President Trump’s singular responsibility for that tragedy. It is impossible to imagine the events of January 6 occurring without President Trump creating a powder keg, striking a match, and then seeking personal advantage from the ensuing havoc”.

The storming of the Capitol was watched live on TV by millions of people around the world. Not that this will sway Senate Republicans. According to Princeton University historian, Julian Zelizer, “Most already have their answer. Trump could offer no defense or he could go on the floor to read lines from the Joker movie; they would still vote to acquit”…