And nothing is forever
And nothing is forever….
Writing this listening to the new album by The Cure and shamelessly stealing their song title. It’s an immense collection of songs – from a band I’m usually fairly ambivalent about (aside from a couple of early singles and Pornogrophy obviously). Rounding off a great year for new music by long time favourite bands – following releases by The The, Nick Cave and Adrianne Lenker. Was also pleased to see that my tip for the top a couple of years ago Lime Garden have just ‘won’ Album of the year at my local independent record shop. So that’s your xmas present lists sorted. You are very welcome.
Went away last week so completely ignored work and mostly ignored world politics – rudely interrupted of course by that election victory. Still it did inspire me to finally deactivate my Twitter account after watching those two prancing around like a couple of demented eunuchs. Nothing is forever….. sensible government, decency, compassion etc. Let’s hope their self-interest and focus upon personal enrichment curtails some of their more sociopathic tendencies. One can but fear though for the futures of Palestine, Taiwan and the Ukraine.
Was in Portugal with old friends – we’ve known each collectively for around 35 years and would have called it a ‘lads’ trip in days gone by. But that would be daft given that now our merry troupe includes various replaced joints and a first grandparent. Feel very privileged to have maintained so many friendships throughout the years – we’ve literally grown up, raised families, built careers and started winding down together. Really though – a week in the sun, belly laughing for hours each day and no-one being allowed to get too cocky. What’s not to like.
We’re getting to the frenetic period work-wise as two projects we have committed to concluding by the end of the year start to loom large. Words like triangulation, iteration, synthesising of data and feedback are littering too many sentences. These couple of weeks always heighten / expose the different working patterns of myself and Kevin which we know ends up in a few weeks time taking a deep breath and a large sip and saying “that was a fun piece of work – together we make a good whole”. Think of us until then….
Still waiting to see how the budget plays out in terms of actual departmental spending plans – optimistically I hoping that with record numbers of drug related deaths and increasing levels of homelessness and rough sleeping that spend in these areas is maintained. Am also hopeful that the proposed increases in employers National Insurance becomes more nuanced in its application. With the vast majority of drug treatment services now provided under contract by the voluntary sector the increase as currently described will have a disproportionate impact on our sector – at just the wrong time.
Depressingly I read that the country’s only remaining family rehab unit is under threat of closure….. after significant reinvestment into treatment systems over the last couple of years there still has been no move on creating a seperate national framework for the provision of residential rehabilitation places. Around 1% of the treatment population access rehab annually – yet providers are left scrabbling for funding. Its worth emphasising again of course that we are talking here about placements for people dependent upon public resources for their treatment – as the traditional residential rehab market has been decimated there is a huge growth in private provision.
Good to see some of the detail published about the proposed ‘Assisted Dying’ bill published. Depressingly its trumpeted with ‘the worlds toughest safeguards’ (like that’s a good thing) which includes the requirement that two doctors and a judge ‘approve’ of the application. As far as I can tell our court systems are pretty blocked at the moment – so why would we want them interfering in medical matters of patient choice….. language like ‘when does it become a duty to die’ seems entirely misplaced and unnecessarily emotive. We are all going to die – this is really about maximising the opportunity to go with dignity and minimise unnecessary suffering. Opponets cite Canada as a reason not to allow this because numbers seeking assisted dying have steadily increased since legislation was passed allowing it. They now total 0.8% of all annual deaths. Less than 1 in 100.
I know its a start and I know I am lucky enough for this to be a purely theoretical question for me at this stage of my life – but it still feels too restrictive and condemns many to ongoing pain and suffering. But well done to Kim Leadbeater for taking it forward and for trying to make a difference.
Anyway I’m finishing writing this as the Cure album enters its closing song. Wasn’t expecting to talk about death quite so much – but I guess that has been influenced by the mournful beauty of the backing track.
