Not Coping

Fair warning: what follows is just a moan. There's no happy conclusion, nor is there a book listed at the end of the post. So maybe look away? I'm also well aware that this one is somewhat lacking in perspective. But it's my blog, so sometimes I'm going to post about me.

It's fair to say that I'm not coping with this new lockdown at all well. Whereas last time it at least happened just as we hit the Easter holidays, and also just as the weather turned really nice, this one suffers from lots of short days, dark nights, and pretty dire weather.

Additionally, I'm finding the closure of just about everything really hard to take. Not that I'd be inclined to go many places anyway... but there's a difference between choosing to not go somewhere and having nowhere to go in the first place.

Mostly, though, it's just the slog of routine that sucks - work all day, then deal with my list of tasks in the evening, then do it all again. And then at the weekend don't really do anything.

I'm missing people, both in the general and the specific. Basically, the third most meaningful relationship I've had in the "real world" this year has been with the checkout assistant at Tesco this week. And while she was perfectly nice, and somewhat amusing on the topic of the Christmas playlist, it's not really right.

I fin myself intensely frustrated by the lack of information - when will this end, and how will things look when that happens? When can I expect to receive the vaccine? And so on. And yet, I'm also well aware that the powers that be shouldn't be giving out that information. It's better they stay quiet until they have solid answers, because it's much better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Actually, that more or less sums up the situation entirely - much as I don't like it, they're mostly doing the right things now. It's right that I'm at the bottom of the queue for getting the vaccine, it's right that I should be avoiding people as much as possible.

And, as I said up top, relatively speaking we're almost certainly doing better than almost everyone, and much better than a great many people. I'm aware I should really be counting blessings rather than just moaning.

But that doesn't really help. Moaning into the void does, perhaps surprisingly. Though more than anything, what I really need is a problem that I can actually solve (and that will stay solved).

Anyway, if you've made it thus far, I commend your forbearance. Normal service will return soon. I hope.

Loss of a Mentor

Yesterday afternoon, shortly after I finished work for the week, I received an email informing me that my advisor of studies from my university days had passed on. On the one hand, this wasn't a huge surprise - it was twenty years ago, and his health had been in decline for some time. On the other hand, something like that always comes as a shock. TAW was somewhat unique amongst university lecturers in that he made a strong effort to remain in touch with his former students, and so his passing leaves another hole in the world.

Funnily enough though, it's sad but not a great tragedy. He had a long and happy life, he had a fulfilling career that he clearly enjoyed, and he touched a lot of lives in a very positive manner. We should all be so lucky.

Order of Preference

There is, yet again, some discussion of a second independence referendum and the circumstances under which it might happen. And, in the event that Westminster refuses permission for such a thing, whether the SNP should use an election as a proxy for such a referendum.

My strong preference is that this matter should be addressed with a referendum. People vote in elections for a variety of reasons, and consequently it is really hard to pin down a single cause for them voting a particular way. This is especially so in Scotland where the SNP are able to make a unique offer to the public that they can provide minimally competent governance (albeit even that just barely). The only alternate government is a Con/Lib/Lab unionist coalition, and given the vacuum of talent on offer even between those parties, that's a prospect that I find frankly terrifying. So giving people a choice between independence or a coalition of calamity isn't ideal.

Likewise, my strong preference is that such a referendum should occur with the underpinning of a Section 30 order. That puts to rest all doubts about the validity of it, means there will be no large-scale boycott, and should ensure that the result is respected.

However, we cannot allow Scottish democracy to exist at the whim of a Prime Minister who owes his position almost entirely due to English votes. (In the 2019 election even if 100% of the people of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted Labour, Boris would still be PM; conversely, had England been excluded from the vote, Ian Blackford would now be PM.)

Additionally, it needs to be understood by our politicians that a mandate is not permission to do something; it is an instruction to do that thing.

So, my preferred course of action is as follows:

In the first instance, the SNP (and Greens if they want) should run on a manifesto with a clear and unambiguous commitment: if they win a majority, either alone or together, they will hold a second independence referendum.

If they win a majority then they should apply one final time for a Section 30 order to hold that referendum. (Obviously, if they don't win a majority, the issue is moot.)

If they are denied the Section 30 order, they should proceed anyway - referendums in the UK are by default consultative anyway, so this should be possible. (Obviously, if they are granted the Section 30 order, the issue is moot.)

At this point, the UK government may allow the referendum to go ahead (in which case the issue is moot), or they may block it - either by winning a legal challenge using existing law or by using emergency legislation to explicitly and formally reserving the required power. (At the moment, there is some doubt as the issue has never actually been tested. What isn't in doubt is the UK government's ability to close any possible loophole.)

If the UK government do block the issue, then at that point I believe the SNP (and the Greens, if they want) should stand in every future election on a manifesto with a clear and unambiguous pledge: if they win a majority of the seats, that will be taken as a statement that the people of Scotland want independence, and they will seek to negotiate accordingly.

Sooner or later, it's likely they'll win that majority, at which point the people of Scotland will have had our say. After which, it is a matter for the diplomats.

That is a slower process than just using May's election to short-cut the process and going straight to the final step. However, I do think it is a necessary delay. (My view is that the SNP and the Greens should have started the process with the 2016 election, and we should already have done steps 1 and 2 by now, but they didn't and we haven't - the manifestoes weren't quite clear enough, and they chose not to press the issue when May and Boris said "no". But that's the past - we are where we are.)

The only issue with that approach is time - standing in 2021 on "we want a referendum" means that it will be 2026 before the next scheduled election. So either that means five more years of waiting or it means collapsing the parliament for an early election (which isn't ideal for several reasons). And, of course, in the meantime we're likely to see Holyrood gutted, if not shut down completely.

But I think those delays are necessary. If the current majority for independence is actually as solid as the polls indicate then they should remain solid as we work through the stages. If it isn't then perhaps we shouldn't be heading for independence anyway - something like that really does need to be the settled will of the majority, and not just a knee-jerk response to Boris, Brexit, or the balls-up of the pandemic response.

Inauguration Day

So, all being well, today is the day that Donald Trump ceases to be the sitting US President and Joe Biden is sworn in. We made it!

I must admit, though, that I'm going to feel a whole lot better once this day is over and done with - there's a horrible thought lurking in the back of my mind that if this were a season finale there would be one almighty plot twist coming up...

#4: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Merry Rise of Skywalker", by Ian Doescher

Experimental Cookery 2021: Roast Tikka Chicken

The first experimental cookery of 2021 comes from Jamie's "5 Ingredients" - a book that I've had for a while and like a great deal in theory, but haven't found much opportunity to actually use. This was one that he cooked in the accompanying show and that we've thought for a while that we'd like to try but have never quite gotten around to until now.

In terms of preparation it's actually hard to see how this could be any easier, although it is somewhat messy - roughly cut up a few things, rub the tikka paste on the chicken, and then cook. (I should note that I omitted the cauliflower from the dish - LC doesn't eat it and I can't, so there didn't seem much point.)

Once cooked, it was a simple matter of carving the bird and then eating. And it was about as good as we'd expected - nice spicy potatoes, nice chicken... basically, it was nice. I have no doubt that we'll have this again, though I'm not entirely sure when.

And that's about that, really. Except for one more note: Jamie said to cook for an hour, but I ignored that. Instead, I followed the guidance on the chicken itself, which said 40 mins per kilo plus 20 mins. Since the bird we had was a little larger than in the book, I figured that made sense.

#3: "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything", from Wizards of the Coast

Nadir

I really thought we'd reached rock bottom, and that finally we'd hit a point where something was so horrible and so obviously wrong that it was finally, truly indefensible. Specifically, I am referring to the most recent Free School Meals fiasco.

The principle was simple: since schools are closed, parents would instead be given help to feed their children. In some areas, this took the form of a voucher worth £15 a week, that could only be spent on appropriate items. In some others, it took the form of a box containing food.

Well, fair enough, I guess. I have opinions both about what the appropriate value of that top-up should be and also how it should be delivered, but I can appreciate that there are arguments to be made in other ways. I don't see supplying a box of food as being inherently problematic.

But that value of that food should equal the value of the food that can be purchased by the voucher. That is, the box should include £15 worth of food. (And since economies of scale should kick in, it should actually hold more than could easily be purchased at a supermarket for the money.)

Instead, it turns out that hundreds of people were receiving boxes containing £5 worth of food. And, worse, many of those were boxes intended for two weeks, not one - and so the shortfall wasn't even 'just' two-thirds of the value, but rather five sixths.

Once upon a time, that would have shocked and outraged me - how could someone do such a thing? How could the government sign off on a deal that allowed that to happen.

Unfortunately, my cynicism has reached a point where I can see the answer to that all too easily.

But I did at least think it would be seen as indefensible. How wrong I was. Even that, even the poorest children in our country being starved, was met with a multitude more than willing to cheer them on.

What a wretched little country we have become.

Transformers: Earthrise

I really enjoyed the first part of the "War for Cybertron" trilogy. If the very first series of the very first show was the perfect cartoon for the 8-year-old me, "War for Cybertron" was the perfect one for the 43-year-old me - darker and more mature, with much stronger grey areas, motivations, and factions. It's fair to say that it was a little slow, but I didn't mind that.

Unfortunately the second chapter, "Earthrise", just didn't live up to the first. It retained the slower pace of the series, but because the characters were largely separated throughout it missed much of what I found worthwhile about the first. Worse, where there were some interesting ideas, such as the inclusion of Scorponok and Sky Lynx, they just didn't seem to know how to deal with those, such that those characters seemed to be stuck in a loop - rather than having a coherent conversation they just repeated a handful of stock lines over and over.

The other feature of note in the series were the cameos: as mentioned we see Scorponok and Sky Lynx, but also Alpha Trion, Galvatron, and even such obscure characters as Doubledealer. All of which is cool, except that the show therefore suffers the same weakness as "The Force Awakens", "Ready Player One", and almost all of Disney's recent live-action remakes of their classic cartoons - it coasts along on the well-wishes generated by reminding us of something that used to be awesome, without actually having to be very good itself. Dig a little between the surface, though, and you find it's all just surface.

One last thing: although I remember Prime being all noble and self-sacrificing, and so forth, I don't actually remember him being utterly stupid. And so, while I can just about understand him agreeing an alliance with Megatron in desperate circumstances, and for the mutual good of all, I really can't see him doing so, suffering the inevitable sudden and unexpected betrayal, and then immediately doing exactly the same thing again.

And then the show ended.

I was, sad to say, bitterly disappointed with this second part of the trilogy. I will watch the third part when it becomes available, but my hopes have been thoroughly dashed now. How that third part turns out will determine my recommendation for this one - at present, I'm saying "avoid", but if part three is excellent then this may be necessary as a bridging episode.

#2: "Starsight", by Brandon Sanderson

Experimental Cookery 2020: Turkey Curry

Our second use for the leftover turkey was in curry form, using the guidance from Hugh's "Love Your Leftovers". This was also a quick and easy meal to put together, and was by far the more successful of the two. I would definitely have this again, subject to my caveat that I don't expect to do too many Christmas dinners to generate the leftovers to use.

Experimental Cookery 2020: Turkey and Ham Christmas Casserole

Despite the date of posting, this was made in 2020, hence the date above. The recipe comes from the Hairy Bikers "One Pot Wonders" book, which is rather a good one. As the name implies, it's a good way to get through some of the leftovers from Christmas dinner, of which we had plenty.

This was quick and easy to put together - a gentle reheating of the meat in some juice, then the addition of a topping assembled by food processor, and then bake.

Taste wise it was... well, it was okay I guess. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan - we have four portions in the freezer, and I'm contemplating just binning them. I have two main thoughts here. Firstly, there was just too much spinach in it - indeed, adding the spinach at all may have been a mistake. Secondly, as a result of making this up I've found I just don't like chestnuts, or at least not by themselves, so I would definitely be inclined to skip these in future.

Except that I don't expect to make this again, both because I don't expect to be doing too many Christmas dinners, and even if I did I would expect to use the leftovers for something else. A shame.

#1: "Sharpe's Siege", by Bernard Cornwell

Books of the Year 2020

As part of the end-of-year round-up, I can once again present a list of books read in the past year.

Here is the list:

1. "Lethal White", by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
2. "Dragon of Icespire Peak", from Wizards of the Coast
3. "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom
4. "Mythos", by Stephen Fry
5. "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant *
6. "The Stiehl Assassin", by Terry Brooks
7. "Sharpe's Rifles", by Bernard Cornwell
8. "Raw Spirit", by Iain Banks
9. "Fall on Your Knees", by Ann-Marie MacDonald *
10. "Firefly: Big Damn Hero", by James Lovegrove
11. "Sharpe's Havoc", by Bernard Cornwell
12. "Sharpe's Eagle", by Bernard Cornwell
13. "Heroes", by Stephen Fry
14. "The Stone Diaries", by Carol Shields *
15. "I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire", by P.N. Elrod **
16. "Sharpe's Gold", by Bernard Cornwell
17. "Further Tales of Little Grey Rabbit", by Denis Judd after Alison Uttley
18. "Skyward: Claim the Stars", by Brandon Sanderson
19. "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin", by P.N. Elrod **
20. "Eberron: Rising from the Last War", by Wizards of the Coast
21. "Sharpe's Battle", by Bernard Cornwell
22. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
23. "Centuries of Stories", edited by Wendy Cooling
24. "The Count of Monte Cristo", by Alexandre Dumas *
    
25. "Blindness", by Jose Saramago *
26. "Sword of Kings", by Bernard Cornwell
27. "Call for the Dead", by John Le Carré
28. "Sharpe's Company", by Bernard Cornwell
29. "50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know", by John Sutherland
30. "The Stone Angel", by Margaret Laurence *
31. "The Broken Sword", by Poul Anderson
32. "Sharpe's Sword", by Bernard Cornwell
33. "Carte Blanche", by Jeffery Deaver
34. "The Fall of Gondolin", by J.R.R. Tolkien
35. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith *
36. "Throne of the Crescent Moon", by Saladin Ahmed
37. "Sharpe's Skirmish", by Bernard Cornwell
38. "A Suitable Boy", by Vikram Seth *
39. "Firefly: The Magnificent Nine", by James Lovegrove
40. "Sharpe's Enemy", by Bernard Cornwell
41. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl * **
42. "The Testaments", by Margaret Atwood
43. "Ulysses", by James Joyce *
44. "Whispers Under Ground", by Ben Aaronovitch
45. "Sharpe's Honour", by Bernard Cornwell
46. "The Last Wish", by Andrzej Sapkowski
47. "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" by Roald Dahl **
48. "The Lies of Locke Lamora", by Scott Lynch
49. "Fifth Business", by Robertson Davies *
50. "Fire and Blood", by George R.R. Martin
51. "Fantastic Mr Fox", by Roald Dahl
52. "I Know This Much Is True", by Wally Lamb *
53. "The Sword Saint", by C.F. Iggulden
54. "Sharpe's Regiment", by Bernard Cornwell
55. "The Long Tomorrow", by Leigh Brackett
56. "Faeries", by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
57. "Icewind Dale - Rime of the Icemaiden", from Wizards of the Coast
58. "Sharpe's Christmas", by Bernard Cornwell
59. "The Celestine Prophecy", by James Redfield *
    
60. "A Christmas Carol and other Christmas writings", by Charles Dickens * **
61. "The Pillars of the Earth", by Ken Follett *
    

So that's 61 books. That includes 15 books from The List. There are only 3 RPG books, and 5 re-reads. There are 5 books for Funsize.

There are a few candidates for book of the year, with "The Testaments", "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", "Blindness" and "The Red Tent" all being very strong. But the win goes to "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith. I also need to give an honourable mention to the Sharpe series, which has been excellent throughout, without there being any stand-out novel that could take the title in its own right.

Sadly, there have also been some stinkers this year - "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin" and "Carte Blanche" were just a waste of time, and I just couldn't get into "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (though that may be my issue rather than Lynch's). "Ulysses" was just painful. But the runaway winner of worst book of the year is "The Celestine Prophecy", given its ability to make "The Da Vinci Code" look good.

And that's that. As I've mentioned, I'm not setting any formal goals for 2021, though I will keep track of my reading here. I would quite like to get Shakespeare read, and take a big bite out of the remaining books on The List, but we'll see how it goes.