We can now meet up with up to 6 friends out of doors, but how sad am I that I do not know that many people locally well enough in order to do that. My small network stretches far and wide, but not locally and even local links are not always available. One local friend for example is currently in the Czech Republic and another friend who has a birthday over Easter is still not comfortable to meet up. However, the wonderful weather means that I see whole bunches of people gathering together and enjoying each other's company and that increases my sense of aloneness.
My emergency dash up North, does mean contact with family and on going zoom gatherings however mean that in some ways more connections have taken place during the pandemic. However, the hope that I had finally sold my flat and was about to move has again been dashed as the person has pulled out.
Whenever I go out I love seeing all the birds and smells from the flowers wonderful and intense, but the rubbish every where is very depressing. Worse than it was when the rubbish locally inspired the name for this blog. I am pleased that Dan Walker on Breakfast TV had a little rant against it and of course many people on TV have commented on it recently, but it does not seem to shift behaviour. Nor does the appeal for us all to keep our lawns growing wild instead more and more people locally seem to be getting rid of their lawns all together and replacing them with either ghastly artificial lawns or bright yet barren looking stones. One of the joys of this area was the front gardens, so it is very sad to see more and more of them becoming sanctified homages to the motor engine, rather than to animal life, who continue to lose out as more and more of their homes are ripped up. A small victory, however, over winter I have grown a few tomatoes on my window ledge. Watching them grow has kept me and my lodger entertained. My intention was to put a photo of it up but my new phone still has many mysteries and one of them is how to transfer pictures onto this blog. (Several days later, have worked it out, please see tomatoes above)
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So whilst nothing much has been happening in my life, lots of very important things have been happening in society for example the Report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has been met with disbelief, by the many people who have experienced the institutional racism in this country as the main finding of the report according to the media is that the impact of race has been overstated statistically speaking. The report looked at whether the term BAME was useful. It is only recently that I have tuned into this weird expression, and it seems it is very unpopular, but for me the term race itself needs exploring much more, and this the report does recognise: Recognition of the differences between groups requires a new and more granular approach to data and how it is collected and used. Too much data continues to be collected at the level of the ‘big 5’ ethnicity classifications: White, Black, Asian, Mixed and Other, which in some instances merges together ethnic groups with vastly different experiences and outcomes. And the report does call for more precise language, which seems useful, but in the process, it seems to have not taken on board the very real impact of racism on people's life experiences. I made the same mistake when my son was targeted by his headmaster. I was aware that many of the black African students from Nigerian backgrounds had a good fit with the school and achieved well, whilst my mixed son, from a much more laid back British background didn't - I just trusted his intelligence would mean he would be fine - and in the end it actually meant he was very disadvantaged at schools by teachers who I realised too late were racist towards him. They judged him inappropriately. The same happened at his third primary school where the word attitude came up from teachers who did not even know him, he was saved by a school trip, where the teacher's got to know him a bit better, and on the whole they were okay with him, but not always. And the teacher's at his second school totally failed him when he was bullied, and whilst all this was long ago a recent meeting of the Blackvoice Letchworth, showed the same things are still happening and yet the report does not seem to address these experiences as fully as they could do.
Many people though feel that they are not being heard, victims of crime for example and it does now look as if Victims rights will be strengthened, but given the state of the criminal justice system, this may not be effective. I know for me, being defrauded was made worse by the response of the Criminal Justice System, they doubled the trauma, and the former Victim's Commissioner, has made it clear that is a common experience when dealing with the British justice system.
Sadly many young victims of abuse in school have also come forward giving voice to their horrid experiences on the website Everyone's Invited, but the former Crown Prosecutor Nazir Afzal has said again that the criminal system is not in a position to support these children, so he is concerned that they will be let down even more as they try and seek redress.
So the good news is people are expressing themselves, but the statutory responses may not always be useful and it does show how much trauma and pain is out there is shaping our lives.
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