Getting away from it all.....Hexham Constituency still follows me!!

I was on holiday last week - in Scotland. Very lucky with the weather. It was very noticeable that the local supermarket had a lot of empty shelves. This week that issue has been in the news more widely - the perfect storm of staff being off due to rising numbers of COVID infections, either because they are infected themselves or have been a close contact. Couple that with the general shortage of HGV drivers and you realise how precarious our food supply is. Despite that there were apples from Chile and avocados from Peru on offer in the supermarket! Does make you wonder if that's the best way to make a picnic in Scotland.

The "pindemic" is yet another new word we have to get used to. I know several people who have deleted the App for fear of being pinged. It's easy to be critical of the Govt and others for the handling of the pandemic. At the beginning, in retrospect, big mistakes were made but who would've done any better as the situation was "unprecedented"? Possibly true, but since then some glaring mistakes have been made. Not having more effective quarantine on people coming into the UK has been a big booboo. And the lack of proper, community based public health has been exposed. If you really should be self-isolating, rather than getting a "ping" which many are likely to ignore - it would be more effective if you got a call from your local Public Health team who explained in detail the time and place of your contact and the need for self-isolation. You should then get a visit the following day to check you are OK and have got everything you need for the period of self isolation. And you should not lose pay....... TBH it's all pretty basic public health which many countries have got in place and we just haven't. Of all the lessons learned form the pandemic the importance of proper investment in public health is a big one. Roll on the full public enquiry.

When I was away I did a lot of cycling in Scotland. Very good roads in Perthshire! I download stuff on BBC sounds to listen to (through one ear!) when cycling - I downloaded last weeks edition of "Any Questions" which is on Radio 4 on Fridays at 8pm and then repeated on Saturday afternoon immediately before "Any Answers" when the public have their say. As I set off on my cycle I started listening "Good evening from..... the church of St James and St Basil, Newcastle". Wow, I thought - I could've gone! I went to a live recording of Any Questions at Sunderland Uni a couple of years ago and it was very entertaining. As I listened the 4 panel members were introduced - Chi Onwurah (Labour MP in Newcastle) John Elliot (Local Businessman), Dame Nicola Stephenson (Head teacher) and .............our very own Guy Opperman. Blimey, I thought, here's me trying to have a break form local politics and it's following me around! Anyway, I listened as I was cycling along and it was quite entertaining. There was a good debate between the panelists on a number of the questions. Debate without rudeness which was refreshing. I'm going to listen to it again and do a blog on the answers as it might stimulate some discussion about the views of our current MP and how that fits into a strategy for a change!

Back to reality this week after the holiday. There's still so much going on - just this week the highlights have included the PM and Chancellor trying to wriggle out of self-isolation as clearly the rules don't apply to the elite! The last week of parliament saw a flurry of announcements. The latest twist in the Northern Ireland post-Brexit situation. What a mess! It's 100 years since Northern Ireland formed and peace is pretty precarious. If the situation deteriorates because of the border issue, the PM will be to blame as he negotiated a Brexit deal which made problems more or less inevitable. A softer Brexit with continuation of the customs union and single market might've been better all-round. Anyway, that opportunity has passed and let's hope something sensible is negotiated to keep the peace.

Did you see the Dominic Cummings interview? I need to watch it again as my jaw was on the floor for most of it and not sure I took it all in properly. The vote leave campaign plotted to oust Boris within a few days of the election! Boris nearly gave the Queen COVID! You couldn't make it up. In a funny way I liked some of his answers but you've got to wonder about the state of British politics when such clever, but probably a bit unbalanced, people seem to be able to get into such positions of influence. The old sayings about "bad people will run the place if the good people stay silent" or "you get the Government you deserve because you voted for it" came into my mind. As ever, all good material for those of us in Hexham Constituency who would like to see things done a bit differently. Enjoy the sun while it lasts - I haven't mentioned the floods in Germany and China as another sign of worrying effects of climate change, as I didn't want to finish on a down beat note. In 100 yeas time when the history of this era is studied, I think people will wonder why, with the planet on fire, people in the UK were eating avocados from Peru.