The General Election

It's been a thin month for posts. It's the usual thing: so many photos taken on the mid-month holiday to Somerset and Dorset (it sounds like an old railway line!) that editing them - a task not yet finished - has entirely crowded out blogging. And my next trip to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is only sixteen days away, after my 72nd birthday celebrations. 

As much as I love my photography, I've missed composing blog posts on things that draw my attention. So here's one that I'm squeezing in before June is done with. 

It's about the obvious subject - the General Election in a few days' time. 

Readers will scarcely be surprised that I remain supportive of the Conservatives, even though they most definitely do not deserve it. But it's the party whose approach chimes best with my own general way of thinking. I don't mean that all their policies are good ones. Some of them are plainly wrong. But I'm comfortable with much of what the Conservatives stand for. Of course I'm not happy about the seemingly endless errors, missed chances, delays in putting things right, and scandalous revelations. It so reminds me of the last months of the Conservative government in 1997: a time of sleaze, and a 'couldn't-care-less' attitude that justly earned them a drubbing at the ballot box. Besides, Tony Blair was unstoppable at the time, and New Labour looked like a very attractive (and much-needed) New Broom. I actually voted Labour in 1997, though never before or since. 

The present incumbents seem less guilty than their predecessors in 1997; but clearly the current government is tired, and has run out of vision and great ideas. The country is calling time. Another New Broom seems appropriate and overdue. 

All this said, I intend to cast my vote in the Conservative direction. Why? To save the Labour Party from itself. 

Suppose (as is quite possible) Labour achieve that 'landslide victory' and end up with, say, a 200 majority in the House of Commons. Labour's Far Left will feel their time has truly come. It's easy to anticipate that the moderate (i.e. quasi-conservative) right wing of the party will be quickly challenged and swept aside. In a twinkling, reasonable Sir Keir Starmer will be undermined and deposed, and his disciples with him. In will come a bunch of hard-line people, who will pursue old-fashioned doctrinaire policies with no effective opposition. Money and resources will be wasted on saving industries that have had their day, and vital planet-saving efforts will be dropped.

I want no hand in bringing that about. 

It would in any case weigh heavily on my conscience to be a renegade and vote Labour merely because the Conservatives had run out of steam. My father (a lifelong Conservative voter) would advise me against it, if I could ask him. I still respect his point of view on such things.

But it would also be a serious mistake, one that no responsible citizen should contemplate, to hand Labour an unassailable majority. That wouldn't be good for any party in power. They need an effective opposition. So I will give the Conservatives my vote.  

I hope that once it is out of office the Conservative party will face up to its many shortcomings and discard the people who have been stupid, selfish, heartless, wayward, dishonest, untalented and out of touch. After that purge, I want to see fresh faces, keen minds, and much better ideas. One day, after Labour have made their own mess of things, the Conservatives will be voted back again. They need to get ready for that return. A five-year break now, in 2024, may therefore be no bad thing. 

And the Reform Party? They may have some thrust at the moment, but I consider the Far Right attitudes of their activists to be poisonous. I would be fearful for my wellbeing if Reform got into power. Having dealt ruthlessly with those they wish to outlaw, they might next turn against unproductive pensioners, or anyone who is a drain on the super-expensive NHS. 

And the Liberal Democrats? I usually give them my vote in local District Council elections. But as regards a General Election, I haven't forgotten that they were against Brexit. (I voted for Brexit solely on the sovereignty issue: I did not want to see Britain absorbed into a homogenous United States of Europe. I wanted to see this country run its own affairs, as it did until the early 1970s, and remain distinct and special) It's hard to forgive the the LibDems for being anti-Brexit. 

Besides, they have greatly annoyed me recently. The local candidate has been bombarding me almost daily with pamphlets through my front door. It's so irritating. Then yesterday there were repeated phone calls from a central London number, which I ignored at first. But I did eventually phone back, to be told that these calls were made 'on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party' and that yet another call would be made to me shortly. Oh no! What for? Was it some hired agency wanting to know which way I was going to vote? This persistent badgering made me seethe. I blocked the number. The LibDems definitely won't get my vote now.

The Greens? One day, maybe. But I think the immediate priority is to keep the likely Labour majority after 4th July within bounds, so they will be limited to passing legislation that most will regard as sensible, and not extreme. 

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Seeing Dr Michael Mosley

It was a shock to hear last week that Michael Mosley had gone missing while on holiday on a Greek island. You don't expect things like that to happen to household-name TV personalities. 

I didn't like the sound of it. Although very health-conscious, as you'd expect a trained doctor to be, he was nevertheless aged 67, and as likely as any man in late middle age to lose his footing in the rocky terrain that we saw on our screens. One isn't so steady afoot as when one was younger! I knew from my own experience on rocky beaches and headlands in this country how easy it can be to slip or trip, then lose one's balance, and take a tumble. I've slithered backwards onto hard rock (April 2016, when I was aged nearly 64), and I've also taken a header first onto stony ground and then into the middle of a gorse bush (September 2020 when aged 68). Both experiences hurt, but I didn't come to lasting harm. However, I might so easily have been a hospital case. It's made me very wary of clambering about on rocky outcrops. 

And Michael Mosley faced other risks. It was an exceptionally hot day. There was the possibility of heat exhaustion, or the sun's glare leading to a debilitating eye condition. Nor was he carrying his mobile phone, for GPS, or in case of an emergency. He was however wearing sunglasses and a cap, and had an umbrella for use as a parasol. So in his own judgement, he may have felt adequately equipped for a hot tramp, with a cool rest at the end of it. He must certainly have been fitter and healthier than most 67 year olds. And he had that adventurous itch to explore, and find out for himself.  

As I write, the coroner's report is still awaited, but we know his rocky walk ended tragically. I feel so sorry for his wife and family. And sad for a likeable man whose TV programmes and appearances I enjoyed and learned from. 

I saw him in 2020 at an event where I would normally have had the opportunity for a few words. Except that it was a coronavirus year, and I had instead to observe him being interviewed about his life and books from a distance. 

This was at an evening event during the Appledore Book Festival in North Devon, on 19th September 2020. It was the last year I attended the Festival. I'd been coming to it each year from 2012, excepting only 2013, and in later years I'd paid for 'Friend of the ABF' status, which not gave one access to Friend-only lunches and parties, but priority as regards booking event tickets. Usually I'd spend over £100 to see a dozen or so authors discussing their latest book. But in 2020, in compliance with social distancing rules, all events were held in a field that you drove your car into, and viewed the event from. You got a marked-out square to park on, just large enough to place a few chairs around the car, if you were a family or a group and wanted to sit out in the open air. 

The problem for me with this drive-in arrangement was the cost of attending events. Tickets were priced for the car: say £30. If there were four people in the car, the cost per person was reasonable. If (as in my case) there was only the driver, £30 was expensive. So I bought tickets for only three events: Iain Dale, the LBC presenter; Jeremy Vine of BBC Radio 2 fame; and Dr Michael Mosley. 

This shot below (taken in daytime) shows the view from my car Fiona. The author was interviewed on the small covered 'stage' (centre left), simultaneously videoed, and then a greatly-enlarged picture was shown in real time on that big screen, accompanied by excellent sound. I could hoick myself up on the door sill to get a slightly better view. (Bear in mind that I was using a wide-angle lens, and so the interview and the screen were in reality very much closer)

This was how it was on the evening I saw Michael Mosley. It was a little chilly, so I stayed inside Fiona:

Michael Mosley was being interviewed by Jeremy Vine (who was also a patron of the Book Festival). I zoomed in on the big screen and took some shots. I used spot metering on the screen, to get the exposure correct. The two men were relaxed with each other, and I remember that it was most entertaining, with Michael Mosley discussing his two new books on sleeping and coronavirus, giving plenty of easy-to-follow tips to the audience and telling plenty of anecdotes.

Pre-pandemic, there would afterwards have been a book-signing session. On those occasions there was the chance of being really close to the author, and of saying something to him or her. But not in 2020. One just drove away. So I didn't actually speak with the man. A pity.

And now, less than four years later, look what has happened. At least I have these photos as my personal souvenir of someone I liked and respected.

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A question of night vision sensitivity

I left my last post with the final design of my new fitness watch face not quite decided. It has an OLED display. I favoured green and red hands on a black background, and wondered whether there was a solid optical reason for this instinctive preference.

Indeed there was. I did a little research into the best lit-up colours to use at night, and it was most illuminating.

To recap a bit: I need to be able to see what the time is at a glance, at night, without glasses on. I want the watch face for this to be perfectly usable in daytime too. It's always possible to set up at least two watch faces on the watch, a light one for day and a dark one for night, as I did with my Fitbit Versa 3. But it's less faff if I stick to one face for all occasions. For use at night, an analogue watch face is best, as one can then judge the time simply from the angle the short hour hand makes with the long minute hand, and it doesn't matter if these hands are a little out of focus. It does help, however, if the hour and minute hands look bright in very dim light. This is where choosing the right colour comes in.

My researches took me to astronomical websites, and to discussions on which kind of illumination has the least detrimental effect on one's night vision. No star-gazer wants to be rendered blind to dim stars if a torch or other night-light is switched on. The discussions strayed into military and air force practice. 

It turns out that, for a very long time, low-intensity red light has been used for night-time illumination, as red has the least effect on the receptors in the human eye. In other words, the human eye isn't very sensitive to red light. But that insensitivity means that low-intensity red light is not ideal for seeing details with any clarity. Stepping up the intensity to make those details clear is not a good solution, as it makes the red too bright, and night vision is gone. You can get around this problem by using green light instead. Green isn't as good as red for preserving night vision, but it reveals detail even at low intensity.

The colour to be avoided is blue. Human eyes are very sensitive to blue, and blue illumination will destroy night vision. This is why doing late-evening things on blue-rich phone screens is discouraged, as it over-stimulates one's eyes, and therefore the brain. Also why cars with super-bright blue headlights seem so dazzling.

This is the watch face I've now adopted:

The green hour and minute hands really stand out in all lighting conditions, but especially in darkness. If I wake up at four o'clock with sleepy eyes and no glasses on, I can easily see what the time is, and still fall asleep again with no difficulty. 

As related above, there is some science behind my being drawn to using green and red on this watch face. But it's also striking how often red and green are dominant colours in the meals I make for myself. I must find red and green a vibrant and exciting combination of colours. For instance, in these meals:

It's as if my new watch were a dinner plate!

And in the wider world, red or green (or both) are often used where unmistakable visibility at a distance really matters. Traffic lights, railway signals, warning lights on tall structures, lane-marking studs on motorways, flashing lights on channel-marking buoys at sea, all come to mind.