So we awoke yesterday to a temperature of 6° which has been the norm for the few days, but needless to say, it was raining again. In case this seems like the longest period of rain that anyone can remember, they would be right unless they were aged about 130. Researchers at the University of Reading recorded 25 straight days of rainfall at the start of the year – the lengthiest unbroken run since records began nearly 120 years ago. I suspected that a shift in the position of the jet stream may have something to do with this persistent spell of rain and my hunch proved to be correct. A southward shift in the jet stream frequently causes persistent rain, particularly in the UK and Europe, by acting as a ‘conveyor belt’ for low-pressure systems. This shift allows wetter, unstable air to travel directly over regions, often causing them to stall and creating prolonged wet, windy conditions. So there we have it but I suppose I have to thank my lucky stars that this did occur when I was pushing Meg up and down the Kidderminster Road in her wheelchair as last year the weather seemed reasonably dry. Sometimes, the Spanish used to experience ‘febrero loco’ or ‘mad February’ in which towards the end of the month there would be a spell of fine weather associated with a period of high pressure. As we might imagine on the political front, we are in an era of the Prime Minister trying to restore relationships with this fractured parliamentary party by making suggestions as to how the vetting procedures might be improved. Some may be tempted by the American experience where important positions have to be approved before a special oversight committee. But practically all of the members of the current Trump regime went through public hearings but although some outrageous things were revealed which indicated unsuitability for the post (e.g. the Defence Secretary was a ‘Fox News’ anchor man and had the most limited of low-ranking experience in the army) but the Republicans voted ‘en masse’ to approve of the posts in any case. So even this method of vetting has proved fallible and we shall have to wait and see what changes Keir Starmer is going to suggest. An interesting trial is due to open in a court in Los Angeles, later on in the day. The social media companies are collectively being accused addictive by design, a bit like tobacco and cigarettes were in the 1980s.They will face around 22 ‘bellwether’ lawsuits, i.e. test cases, with lawyers considering the testimonies of more than 1,500 people when launching the action. Of course, the action will not succeed given the power and influence of the social media companies who will deploy the argument that they are just publishing platforms and have no control over the content of what is actually posted on line (apart from rather ineffectual controls which are meant to protect children) I have no doubt that these concerns are also felt in the UK which is a why a proposal is under consideration for smart-phones to be banned for under 16’s. I have always found it amazing that what is called the Main Street Media staffed by well-trained journalists who are used to check and verify their stories before publication are at best, ignored or at worst, disbelieved. Meanwhile, at least some of the population are of the view hat anything they read on social media is probably correct and his allows for conspiracy theories and the likes of the anti-vaccination movements to flourish. Apart from sustained efforts by schools and parents to address this problem (which many do not) the tech companies will be always be one step ahead and this is even before we start to unleash the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) models. When I used to both research and to lecture on quality management issues, I was often frustrated to find that a group mind-set tended to dominate the algorithms used by the search companies such as Google. So in response to a search query such as ‘What are the arguments against Total Quality Management’ I would get responses such as ‘The arguments against Total utility management are misplaced due to …’ but I do concede that a similar query today gives a somewhat more nuanced response (perhaps under the impact of AI itself).
Yesterday was an unpredictable sort of day. I needed to get some items in the post today which I did as a matter of priority and then I went off to visit my dentist, not to receive a course of treatment but to query the cost of the treatments I received last Thursday. My son and I talked over the cost of the treatment I had received last Thursday which was basically one filling which required sone drilling and then what one might one call a renovation of some older fillings that required some attention but not replacement. My son and I consulted the internet to discover that there are three payment bands ranging from simple inspections to more complex interventions such as crowns and dentures for NHS dental work Basically, as the charges seemed so high I suspected that I had been charged at the Band 3 rate rather than the Band 2 rate and I telephoned them on Thursday afternoon to initiate a query but with the response that the dentist would be consulted and then they would get to me (which they did not) So today I turned up at the dentist with some NHS documentation explaining that I thought I may have been inadvertently overcharged and they agreed immediately giving me a refund of 75% of the bill. In other words I had been charged four times as much I should have been and so a refund was charged back onto my card. I am going to wait until later in the evening to check whether the refund has found its way back into my account where it is sorely needed to pay my central heating servicing bill. Finally, the domestic political news has been pretty remarkable today insofar as Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff resigned yesterday, his principal Communications Director resigned this morning and the Scottish Labour Leader, Anas Sarwar has publicly called for Keir Starmer to step down. Starmer is due to address the Parliamentary Labour party in the evening and the mood within the party may well determine whether the prime minister is forced out or lives to fight another day.