What the papers said in the week ending 27 June 2021
The distraction of European football has been welcomed by many, though we worry about the strain on players who are tired and exposed after a long season. Meanwhile some important issues still require answers:
The need to agree a responsible plan for the funding and delivery of social care has been recognised but action avoided for too long. Is it possible that there will be progress? Government postpones ‘do or die’ meeting on social care in England | Social care | The Guardian
- Social care to royal yacht: battle looms over UK spending priorities | Economic policy | The Guardian
- Social care plans to be announced by the end of 2021, Tories insist | Social care | The Guardian
Covid consequences:
Stories suggesting that covid and lockdowns have driven younger adults back to the parental home have been found to be untrue. It is already the case that 25% of people in their twenties and thirties are at home with parents. Covid has not changed this No increase in young adults living with parents after Covid, UK study finds | Housing | The Guardian
There are some odd bedfellows in the economics of the pandemic: demand for cardboard has escalated as so much is delivered to homes which do not recycle it. While some people are very poor, the number of super-rich has increased: UK online shopping boom fuels cardboard shortage as households hoard boxes | Packaging | The Guardian
We have identified ‘the vulnerable’ as people who require extra consideration and protection, but there is a more sinister alternative interpretation of the label During Covid, to be ‘vulnerable’ is to be told your life doesn’t matter | Frances Ryan | The Guardian
More cycling probably has advantages for health and the environment, but 2020 saw 140 fatal accidents for cyclists, compared with an expected 100. Cyclist fatalities on British roads rose by 40% in 2020, says DfT | Road safety | The Guardian
- This number is small compared with the 1750 deaths of people driving cars and similar
The wonders and apparent convenience of electronic money is threatening the demise of cash – and inconvenience those who are not electronically savvy or comfortable ‘You can’t pay cash here’: how our newly cashless society harms the most vulnerable | Money | The Guardian
- Sadly the machines sometimes get the wrong end of the printout – an instance came when Brighton Pier charged by date rather than value £2,104.18: tourists charged by date for rides on Brighton Palace Pier | Brighton | The Guardian
Climate and environment
On a global level we are warned that once certain changes occur, such as melting of glaciers, there is a knock-on to precipitate subsequent changes which will alter the environment we and our fellow fauna and flora live in: Guardian:IPCC report – focus on climate tipping points – Google Search
At more local levels, both Manchester and Bradford have plans to bring green and pleasant walks to inner city areas which have been neglected and forgotten: Park in the sky? Charity aims to revamp disused Manchester viaduct | The National Trust | The Guardian
Some politics:
There is irony and triumph in the siting of a blue plaque in memory of Paulette Wilson Plaque for Windrush campaigner unveiled at former office of Enoch Powell | Windrush scandal | The Guardian
There is alarm that greed rather than principle might lead to the loss of Channel 4 TV to the private, profit-making sector: Ministers will push to privatise Channel 4 in TV shake-up | Channel 4 | The Guardian
The poor performance of some white children in British schools is open to alternative explanations and use of language: Tory MPs accused of adding fuel to ‘culture war’ in education report | Education | The Guardian
- Tory lessons on class, privilege and poverty | Letters | The Guardian
- Equality of opportunity can offer much. The widening wealth gap between the richest and poorest is less than helpful.
Other matters:
Science looks to learn more about the past: Cosmic dawn: scientists hope to peer back in time to see birth of stars | Astronomy | The Guardian
A skull which had been hidden during the war has been rediscovered and has stories to tell of our ancestry Massive human head in Chinese well forces scientists to rethink evolution | Anthropology | The Guardian
Another find of unmarked graves at a former residential school in Canada: Canada discovers 751 unmarked graves at former residential school | Canada | The Guardian
A 9 year old trounces her elders to produce a world-beating marmalade Isle of Wight nine-year-old crowned World Marmalade Queen, taking double gold at 2021 Homemade Marmalade Awards (onthewight.com)
The obituary of Eric McGraw teaches us more about the lives of people in prison and what can be done to help them. Only part of the story of an extraordinary man insidetime & insideinformation – the weekly online National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees
Church matters:
A report on child abuse identifies the deference associated with people identified as having positions of trust in the church as a factor in luring vulnerable young people to be misused. The solution might be the abolition of titles such as ‘Reverend’ Church of England urged to drop the Revs to tackle deference problem | Anglicanism | The Guardian
A 37 year old teaching monk who had been defrocked attacked other clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church with acid: Greek Orthodox priest held after acid attack puts bishops in hospital | Greece | The Guardian
The Pope received a visit from a popular fantasy superhero: Spider-Man Drops By At The Vatican To See Pope Francis — Guardian Life — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News
The decline of church attendance has released some church buildings for alternative uses, including their conversion for residences of style: Homes for sale in former churches – in pictures | Money | The Guardian
David Jolley
