Hi Mike. This weeks thoughts from me. Firstly I sensed that something was amiss with you last week and was concerned about your wellbeing, but you have cleared that up now. Secondly apologizing can be, for some, a very difficult thing to do. How many MP's say sorry for things or Heads of large Organisations. Saying sorry can help to maintain communications and facilitate a better dialogue, which can only be a good thing.
Secondly Google is full of misinformation and should have its content considered in detail and in an objective way. Health conditions tend to be one of the most noticeable. Also when I am doing a search for a particular product why does it always direct me to Amazon first and I may have to go through several pages to find what I am actually looking for.
On the issue of overpopulation and whether comments on this are racist. It took me several days of contemplation to work out what I thought. To me there is a glaring hole and I would say it should be more of a debate/discussion even if no definitive answer can be found. I note that this week's post does begin to go into the debate that I would enjoy. So I'll start the bidding. Let's start with the end of the Georgian era and the Victorian era in the UK. People has much larger families and extended families. During this time of great inequality there was the beginning of some social reforms which have been built on over time. If we ask the question of why families were so large then some of the answers lie within public health and the Public Health Act began to address this. We also have some improvements in health care so perinatal mortality rates decreased, maternal death rates began to fall. The introduction of Factory Acts and Educational Acts began improvements allowing a basic education for all children even though there were age limits built in. it was a start and things continued to improve. Larger families were probably a necessity for the poor as any contribution to the household income was a essential even if it meant children having to work in inhumane conditions. Fast forward now and we see that the demographics have changed significantly. There are fewer perinatal deaths, people are better educated, families generally have fewer children. There has been the development of contraception. Its crazy to think that abortion only became legal under certain circumstances in 1968, but women previously only had the option of illegal abortion which placed health risks at significant levels. With the advent of the NHS UK lives could be improved even further. I am not suggesting that things are perfect here but at least we are streets ahead of third world counties.
However if we look at third world countries they don't enjoy many of the benefits we currently have. Let me use Togo as a case example. When my daughter went to Togo for 3 months aged 18 on a government sponsored programme (we did have to put up some of the money ourselves). Her experience was very interesting and what she learned invaluable. She went to one of the towns that hadn't had volunteers before and was placed with a family who were paid to take care of her. They failed in that I'm afraid. Her volunteer work involved working long hours but one day they had a day off and some of the Togalese families took these 5 volunteers to the mountains my daughter was very sick that day and really suffering so one of the expectant mothers looked after her for the day. Her health deteriorated greatly overnight but the family responsible for her care did nothing and as she was unable to get to work the supervisor visited and she was admitted to the nearest hospital. She was diagnosed with severe malaria despite having her jabs. She got better after a couple of days but when she described the hospital the facilities were terrible, for example there was no indoor toilet for the patients they had to go out of the building and use a hole in the ground. The staff had a dilapidated loo which they said she could use. They were intrigued by this white woman as many in the town had never seen a white person. On discharge she was moved to a different family who treated her as one of the very close knit family members that they were. The mum is is still referred to as her other mother. Projects she was primarily engaged with was building water facilities and going to a women's prison. Here she discovered all the women bar one were there because they had stolen food, to feed their children so she taught them some skills, dress making for example, so they could be in a position to find employment upon release. Another thing of concern to her was that the majority of children's births were not recorded and without this they wouldn't be eligible for a state education. It cost £5 to register a birth and the only place this could be done was in the capital. The amount of money would seem insignificant to most of us but bearing in mind average earnings there, it was a lot of money, so she financially cleaned herself out getting as many children officially registered. A couple of months after she returned the expectant mother who had been so kind to her when she was unwell died during her labor. She had a son. So we raised funds to be send to him to secure his future and to have an education. £700 was what was all that was required to do this, to set him up for life. This can arguably become a contentious issue as could be viewed as voluntourism or being a white savior as many white people go to the Africa's for a short period of time so they can feel good about themselves. My daughter has a slightly cynical view on those who do this but we know she worked long hours, it wasn't a holiday and hopefully she achieved something good. The government under Theresa May stopped this scheme.
Moving on the discussion if the poorest countries could enjoy the same benefits as us then perhaps they might have smaller families, perinatal deaths could go down and life expectancy levels might increase.
Of course much of this is affected by the attitudes of those who hold the power in these respective countries and there willingness to develop and serve their populations. Finally I was appalled by our Tory government cutting International Aid. It was only a small amount offered in the first place but could make a difference to developing nations. How smug Sunak looked when announcing that International aid would be reinstated in 2023 during his last budget.
These were just a few thoughts and it doesn't necessarily end the debate and I am hungry to learn more or discover other arguments. I don't think I've really touched the surface on this one.
Finally, climate change which you mention. I attended a meeting recently on this subject. I'm afraid unless drastic action takes place throughout the world then we become ever closer to Armageddon. Perhaps we need a carrot and stick approach to this. I know I do the little I can and fully realise it's all a bit Tesco(but every little helps)! This week I met a very engaging man who is so into green matters and sustainability and through his enquiries and analysis of my behavior's in relation to this topic, he viewed that I did significantly better than most people and my green credential and carbon footprint were Ok. Sadly I had to get home and so I ended the conversation but I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I could have talked for hours. As for COP 26 who knows what it might achieve possibly more empty promises. However the world can't afford this.
Hi Mike. This weeks thoughts from me. Firstly I sensed that something was amiss with you last week and was concerned about your wellbeing, but you have cleared that up now. Secondly apologizing can be, for some, a very difficult thing to do. How many MP's say sorry for things or Heads of large Organisations. Saying sorry can help to maintain communications and facilitate a better dialogue, which can only be a good thing.
Secondly Google is full of misinformation and should have its content considered in detail and in an objective way. Health conditions tend to be one of the most noticeable. Also when I am doing a search for a particular product why does it always direct me to Amazon first and I may have to go through several pages to find what I am actually looking for.
On the issue of overpopulation and whether comments on this are racist. It took me several days of contemplation to work out what I thought. To me there is a glaring hole and I would say it should be more of a debate/discussion even if no definitive answer can be found. I note that this week's post does begin to go into the debate that I would enjoy. So I'll start the bidding. Let's start with the end of the Georgian era and the Victorian era in the UK. People has much larger families and extended families. During this time of great inequality there was the beginning of some social reforms which have been built on over time. If we ask the question of why families were so large then some of the answers lie within public health and the Public Health Act began to address this. We also have some improvements in health care so perinatal mortality rates decreased, maternal death rates began to fall. The introduction of Factory Acts and Educational Acts began improvements allowing a basic education for all children even though there were age limits built in. it was a start and things continued to improve. Larger families were probably a necessity for the poor as any contribution to the household income was a essential even if it meant children having to work in inhumane conditions. Fast forward now and we see that the demographics have changed significantly. There are fewer perinatal deaths, people are better educated, families generally have fewer children. There has been the development of contraception. Its crazy to think that abortion only became legal under certain circumstances in 1968, but women previously only had the option of illegal abortion which placed health risks at significant levels. With the advent of the NHS UK lives could be improved even further. I am not suggesting that things are perfect here but at least we are streets ahead of third world counties.
However if we look at third world countries they don't enjoy many of the benefits we currently have. Let me use Togo as a case example. When my daughter went to Togo for 3 months aged 18 on a government sponsored programme (we did have to put up some of the money ourselves). Her experience was very interesting and what she learned invaluable. She went to one of the towns that hadn't had volunteers before and was placed with a family who were paid to take care of her. They failed in that I'm afraid. Her volunteer work involved working long hours but one day they had a day off and some of the Togalese families took these 5 volunteers to the mountains my daughter was very sick that day and really suffering so one of the expectant mothers looked after her for the day. Her health deteriorated greatly overnight but the family responsible for her care did nothing and as she was unable to get to work the supervisor visited and she was admitted to the nearest hospital. She was diagnosed with severe malaria despite having her jabs. She got better after a couple of days but when she described the hospital the facilities were terrible, for example there was no indoor toilet for the patients they had to go out of the building and use a hole in the ground. The staff had a dilapidated loo which they said she could use. They were intrigued by this white woman as many in the town had never seen a white person. On discharge she was moved to a different family who treated her as one of the very close knit family members that they were. The mum is is still referred to as her other mother. Projects she was primarily engaged with was building water facilities and going to a women's prison. Here she discovered all the women bar one were there because they had stolen food, to feed their children so she taught them some skills, dress making for example, so they could be in a position to find employment upon release. Another thing of concern to her was that the majority of children's births were not recorded and without this they wouldn't be eligible for a state education. It cost £5 to register a birth and the only place this could be done was in the capital. The amount of money would seem insignificant to most of us but bearing in mind average earnings there, it was a lot of money, so she financially cleaned herself out getting as many children officially registered. A couple of months after she returned the expectant mother who had been so kind to her when she was unwell died during her labor. She had a son. So we raised funds to be send to him to secure his future and to have an education. £700 was what was all that was required to do this, to set him up for life. This can arguably become a contentious issue as could be viewed as voluntourism or being a white savior as many white people go to the Africa's for a short period of time so they can feel good about themselves. My daughter has a slightly cynical view on those who do this but we know she worked long hours, it wasn't a holiday and hopefully she achieved something good. The government under Theresa May stopped this scheme.
Moving on the discussion if the poorest countries could enjoy the same benefits as us then perhaps they might have smaller families, perinatal deaths could go down and life expectancy levels might increase.
Of course much of this is affected by the attitudes of those who hold the power in these respective countries and there willingness to develop and serve their populations. Finally I was appalled by our Tory government cutting International Aid. It was only a small amount offered in the first place but could make a difference to developing nations. How smug Sunak looked when announcing that International aid would be reinstated in 2023 during his last budget.
These were just a few thoughts and it doesn't necessarily end the debate and I am hungry to learn more or discover other arguments. I don't think I've really touched the surface on this one.
Finally, climate change which you mention. I attended a meeting recently on this subject. I'm afraid unless drastic action takes place throughout the world then we become ever closer to Armageddon. Perhaps we need a carrot and stick approach to this. I know I do the little I can and fully realise it's all a bit Tesco(but every little helps)! This week I met a very engaging man who is so into green matters and sustainability and through his enquiries and analysis of my behavior's in relation to this topic, he viewed that I did significantly better than most people and my green credential and carbon footprint were Ok. Sadly I had to get home and so I ended the conversation but I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I could have talked for hours. As for COP 26 who knows what it might achieve possibly more empty promises. However the world can't afford this.
Better stop now as I have gone on a bit!