Going back in the now

There's been so much noise in my Tumblr feed I struggled to filter it out with highly polarized political posts and that so I have been spending more time away from it, wrapped up walking through woodlands and that enjoying the company of birds, insects and mammals (and the odd Mamil crossing paths on two wheels).

As you may of gathered in England we are going back of sorts to staying mainly indoors to keep this Covid-19 under control and reduce the transmission rate that went a bit high last month so people where they can are being ask to work from home and to cut the number of contacts down to the bare minimum.

Schools, colleges and universities will be open for business and unlike last time most treatments will (in theory) be available from doctors and hospitals so it won't be as severe in some ways to what we had in March and April.

Another important difference is that the playgrounds and areas will be open with people requested not to play team games in them unlike last time so actually I can not only go through the park I can use the swings for instance which really matters for children.

It's hard enough to cope with this for adults and sometimes I think they ignore children's developmental and emotional needs in all this so being able to maintain routines that are fun, letting off steam matter hugely.

I'll be off now exploring nature, surround by leaves and acorns having fun in all this.

Grade F edition

This time is one some of us remember well, the anxiety, sleepness nights followed by that visit to school or phoning in the preinternet era as you wait to see how the exam grades you took in the late Spring and Summer  actually turned out.

They matter beyond just personal satisfaction as they factor into getting into work, going into the Sixth or a Sixth Form College and for for some University.

If 2020 has been a year like no other, children in the Fifth and Sixth were unable to take those exams as school shut on March 20th so you might of thought schools, examination bodies and the Dept For Education would of used that time to sort out how you might make "compensatory" awards based on the quality of work, any "mock exams" and practicals taken before.

Evidently not and not just here in England in SNP run Scotland, Labour led Wales and the DUP/SF Northern Ireland we've had essentially the same problems around trying in some way to moderate something that did not and could not be moderated resulting in many upto 40% of grades being reduced by eye watering amounts followed on different timescales by each government.

The palpable anger in England resulted in extraordinary scenes such as these children from Codsall Community College in South Staffordshire protesting outside the Education Minister's constituency headquarters in Codsall, just across the road and with good reason.

As a socially liberal conservative I felt it wasn't just a non starter but wholly unfair to attempt to judge a child's work by past results in exams that were not taken that featured others.

It would one thing to look at samples of graded work to see schools were grading roughly the same way for statistical consistency but to use a system that even when trailed by the exam regulator last year was known to produce gross errors is morally wrong.

In England that was reversed by Mid Monday afternoon but that still leaves the question about universities who've closed admittance who had children with provisional offers rejected on the basis of the flawed modified results left to sort out the mess to gain the place their efforts and abilities deserve.

Restrictions: can they be lifted?

Last week I talked about our emergency and this week it's been in the news so I'll talk a bit about it.

Sometimes it strikes me we've been going through a kind of update anxiety with this Coronavirus emergency like this week there was much speculation concerning what the four weekly review of the regulations would bring.

It's not that many of us wouldn't want an end to this thing - believe you me I do-  but there does seem to be a rush across the world to lift all the regulations and it was said on Wednesday that ours would stay in place for the next three weeks or so.

It's worth reminding ourselves as to why we have them as that underscores when they can go.

Take shops and other recreational places for instance, the concern was as we all go in, mingling with others we'd spread the virus to ourselves and staff so only the most Essential shops and that were allowed to open such as food stores and chemists.

It may be possible to reopen a few but in order for that at happen social distancing -maintaining a two metre gaps between you and others - needs to be possible so layouts would need to change and maybe a restricted entry so stores would not be packed.

This might work for  garden centres if they shut down cafes, places that serve food if the tables were wider apart with drinks being ordered at tables not by a bar for instance which potentially allows gastropubs to open for food.

Where this wouldn't work is barbers and hairdressers where people are closer and staff are very close to customers and pubs because we line up at bars next to each other being served face to face.

Transport was restricted because if we travel beyond our local areas, we do risk transmitting the virus in areas where it be less prevalent, places we visit encourage people to be very close to each other and public transportation with people sat next to each other in large numbers spreads it too.

Also bear in mind because of infection, there would be less drivers so journeys would need to be limited only to those who needed them like Key Workers and not tourists and sightseers.

That's one reason I personally feel it may take a while before that restriction is removed and testing measures are in place so we can better weed out those who have COVID-19 from those who might have a lesser infection, enabling more to return to work.

The two metre restriction may well stay a good while as it that of not being in the same space as people not in your household so gatherings of friends may well be off until Summer's End.

Large scale events are likely to remain restricted particularly if they are international in nature and that would apply to international travel until we have effective vaccines to minimize the risk of a second or third wave of infection.

That's why I wouldn't  get your hopes up for a quick ending of all the restrictions because they're necessary for now.