Oh dear, I recently read that there are all sorts of increased health risks for children of older fathers. The title may be overplaying it but there is definitely enough material here to make me look more closely at my child.
The article I read in Psychology Today written by Paul Raeburn, who has written extensively on the effects of older fathers on their children, asserts that there are lots of areas to be concerned about.
Allegedly research shows that in a child of a father over 40 there is a sixfold increase in the chance of autism while that increases to ninefold for fathers over 50.
This 'Advanced Paternal Age' has links to all sorts of birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, water on the brain, dwarfism and miscarriage. Now we can add another to the list which includes higher instance in prostrate cancer in boys of older fathers, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. That's 'Decreased Intellectual Capacity'.
I am worried enough as it is when it comes to my own intelligence but to think that my older fathering has diminished my poor boy's chances of a decent IQ is actually quite hard to take. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that the child can 'catch up' later and fulfil its intellectual potential.
Presumably that catch up is as a result of the decreased period that the child is under the father's parentage as people as old as me will die earlier than younger parents. At last, an advantage of being older on top of an earlier inheritance.
In all seriousness, this is a concern. Particularly in the context of our search for a suitable first school for the might, it has now biased my thinking to giving our boy the best education we can afford.
Bang goes the concept of Early Retirement. Any retirement is looking a decreasingly likely option.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
School Time?
My son, Scott, is just 14 months old and it's fair to say that of the many things on his mind right now, school is not one of them. Frankly, until this weekend, it wasn't on mine either.
My wife had been hit by a case of 'Bad-Mother-itis' after someone had asked her if she had put Scott's name down for a school yet. Both of us looked at one another and frowned. He's only 14 months old for goodness sake. However, in a sharp lesson we found that many parents are putting their child's name down at a school almost as soon as he or she is born such is the competition for places at good schools these days.
So in the blind panic that knee jerk reactions can cause, we found ourselves attending the Open Day of the nearby Prep School, York House near Croxley Green. Actually, it's near nowhere as it is a school set in its own grounds and sports a long drive down to an old redbrick building with a clock tower that looks like the set of 'Tom Brown Schooldays'.
Why, when we have several other schools to see (most of which are not private), did we choose to look at the most expensive Prep School in Hertfordshire first (OK, I am guessing here but I reassure myself that if there is another more expensive then I will be shocked), I don't know?
First of all we were late. Then I felt under dressed in jeans and a jumper. I felt even my swanky car looked cheap. But when we crossed the threshold we were met by both Head and Deputy Head Master who both shook us warmly by the hand just hard enough to see if they could hear the coins jangle in my pocket and I was reminded that these places are not just schools, they are businesses. We passed the first test and were passed onto a well groomed Asian pupil called Hassan to show us around. I work with many young people who are intelligent and good at the their jobs but who lack some diction. This kid was just 13 and he had better elocution that most company executives.
Hassan had more badges on his blue blazer than an experienced Morris Dancer which were for every sport conceivable. As we looked around the fantastic buildings and Kindergarten, he casually asked me if I played cricket. First, the assumption that I still played rankled a little. Then when I smugly said I used to play for a local league team, he asked 'Which county'?
County!? I was a bit part player for Hemel Hempstead but was proud of my minor achievements. Thank God he didn't ask me about rugby. In reply to all this he pointed to a spotty young kid in the other room and said he played for Middlesex. I suddenly realised how pathetically inadequate my life had been.
I also realised, as I surveyed each superbly equipped classroom and spoke to every toothy teacher, that a young child could get no better start in their life educationally to spend as much as 10 years at this place.
This taught me two things: 1) We had made a tragic mistake by coming to see York House first. It now muddles our thinking and sets unrealistic expectations for any other school we see. I mean, I can't think that a Primary School in our area will not only not have its own swimming pool but it certainly will not be able to have Kayak lessons in there. The only upside was that Scott slept most of the tour and so I reason that what he didn't see, he won't miss. 2) If we were to send our as yet unborn child and Scott to such a school for all of 10 years then we will have paid as much in fees as our current mortgage. Yes, it's that much.
By quirk of fate, I went to a Prep School as my father worked mainly abroad on assignments for BP who then paid the lion share of fees for any UK schooling as mostly boarding was required. I went to Craig-y-Nos school in Uplands, Swansea which has since relocated to the Gower Peninsula and was recently attended by my nephew, Matthew. When I went there it was a converted townhouse and was run by a Headmaster with a stutter called Ernie Walters and its only sporting prowess was cricket. We won the Under 11 Swansea District Cup but I missed the Final at St Helens because I finished term early to visit my parents somewhere abroad. My point here, was that Prep schools have moved on.
The problem I have with York House, apart from the potential drain on income, is that Prep Schools are usually a pre-cursor to a full private education. I subsequently attended Christ College, Brecon which is a fantastic school if you like rugby but this was only because my parents were abroad so much of the time. Scott will hopefully have us close at hand and so I don't envisage a need for boarding school or private school for that matter.
The problem maybe catchment areas. I don't know enough about local secondary schools around us but I know that Watford Grammar has a superb reputation while Verulam in St Albans is the feeder school to my old rugby club, Old Verulamium - and that's good enough for me. But we are not in the catchment area for either and I can't see ourselves moving into St Albans and sacrificing the peace and quiet of our current location for the hubbub of the City Centre and no parking or garden. The dogs would never forgive me.
But then, there was the Science lesson. As we entered the Kindergarten to look around its excellent facilities, we saw a group of boys led by a balding teacher who was conducting a science lesson in the yard. He had a foot pump and an inverted pop bottle a third filled with water with a rubber hose its neck connecting it to the pump and a boy was taking his turn to hold it in place as air was pumped in. As the teacher told the pupils that pressure was building and the molecules were gaining more energy, that energy had to have somewhere to go. And he was right. The bottle left its launchpad via the thrust of the ejecting water being forced out by the pressurised air. The child underneath was soaked. That experiment alone could have sold the whole place a thousand times over.
Who would have thought that the thought of schools for a 14 month old who can't even talk yet let alone read would cause such panic and hysteria?
As one parent put it to me over the weekend, this is just the start.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
My wife had been hit by a case of 'Bad-Mother-itis' after someone had asked her if she had put Scott's name down for a school yet. Both of us looked at one another and frowned. He's only 14 months old for goodness sake. However, in a sharp lesson we found that many parents are putting their child's name down at a school almost as soon as he or she is born such is the competition for places at good schools these days.
So in the blind panic that knee jerk reactions can cause, we found ourselves attending the Open Day of the nearby Prep School, York House near Croxley Green. Actually, it's near nowhere as it is a school set in its own grounds and sports a long drive down to an old redbrick building with a clock tower that looks like the set of 'Tom Brown Schooldays'.
Why, when we have several other schools to see (most of which are not private), did we choose to look at the most expensive Prep School in Hertfordshire first (OK, I am guessing here but I reassure myself that if there is another more expensive then I will be shocked), I don't know?
First of all we were late. Then I felt under dressed in jeans and a jumper. I felt even my swanky car looked cheap. But when we crossed the threshold we were met by both Head and Deputy Head Master who both shook us warmly by the hand just hard enough to see if they could hear the coins jangle in my pocket and I was reminded that these places are not just schools, they are businesses. We passed the first test and were passed onto a well groomed Asian pupil called Hassan to show us around. I work with many young people who are intelligent and good at the their jobs but who lack some diction. This kid was just 13 and he had better elocution that most company executives.
Hassan had more badges on his blue blazer than an experienced Morris Dancer which were for every sport conceivable. As we looked around the fantastic buildings and Kindergarten, he casually asked me if I played cricket. First, the assumption that I still played rankled a little. Then when I smugly said I used to play for a local league team, he asked 'Which county'?
County!? I was a bit part player for Hemel Hempstead but was proud of my minor achievements. Thank God he didn't ask me about rugby. In reply to all this he pointed to a spotty young kid in the other room and said he played for Middlesex. I suddenly realised how pathetically inadequate my life had been.
I also realised, as I surveyed each superbly equipped classroom and spoke to every toothy teacher, that a young child could get no better start in their life educationally to spend as much as 10 years at this place.
This taught me two things: 1) We had made a tragic mistake by coming to see York House first. It now muddles our thinking and sets unrealistic expectations for any other school we see. I mean, I can't think that a Primary School in our area will not only not have its own swimming pool but it certainly will not be able to have Kayak lessons in there. The only upside was that Scott slept most of the tour and so I reason that what he didn't see, he won't miss. 2) If we were to send our as yet unborn child and Scott to such a school for all of 10 years then we will have paid as much in fees as our current mortgage. Yes, it's that much.
By quirk of fate, I went to a Prep School as my father worked mainly abroad on assignments for BP who then paid the lion share of fees for any UK schooling as mostly boarding was required. I went to Craig-y-Nos school in Uplands, Swansea which has since relocated to the Gower Peninsula and was recently attended by my nephew, Matthew. When I went there it was a converted townhouse and was run by a Headmaster with a stutter called Ernie Walters and its only sporting prowess was cricket. We won the Under 11 Swansea District Cup but I missed the Final at St Helens because I finished term early to visit my parents somewhere abroad. My point here, was that Prep schools have moved on.
The problem I have with York House, apart from the potential drain on income, is that Prep Schools are usually a pre-cursor to a full private education. I subsequently attended Christ College, Brecon which is a fantastic school if you like rugby but this was only because my parents were abroad so much of the time. Scott will hopefully have us close at hand and so I don't envisage a need for boarding school or private school for that matter.
The problem maybe catchment areas. I don't know enough about local secondary schools around us but I know that Watford Grammar has a superb reputation while Verulam in St Albans is the feeder school to my old rugby club, Old Verulamium - and that's good enough for me. But we are not in the catchment area for either and I can't see ourselves moving into St Albans and sacrificing the peace and quiet of our current location for the hubbub of the City Centre and no parking or garden. The dogs would never forgive me.
But then, there was the Science lesson. As we entered the Kindergarten to look around its excellent facilities, we saw a group of boys led by a balding teacher who was conducting a science lesson in the yard. He had a foot pump and an inverted pop bottle a third filled with water with a rubber hose its neck connecting it to the pump and a boy was taking his turn to hold it in place as air was pumped in. As the teacher told the pupils that pressure was building and the molecules were gaining more energy, that energy had to have somewhere to go. And he was right. The bottle left its launchpad via the thrust of the ejecting water being forced out by the pressurised air. The child underneath was soaked. That experiment alone could have sold the whole place a thousand times over.
Who would have thought that the thought of schools for a 14 month old who can't even talk yet let alone read would cause such panic and hysteria?
As one parent put it to me over the weekend, this is just the start.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 12 May 2011
The Sum of all Fears
Following on from some of my thoughts yesterday, what could be worse than losing a young child?
I may be thoughtless here but I heard on the radio today that the little girl that was caught in the cross fire of a London shooting a few weeks ago is said to be recovering but it is now confirmed that the bullet paralysed her and she will never walk again.
Hearing that moved me to tears as I drove the car. I can't think of anything worse than a child being maimed at such a young age and having to face the rest of their life in a wheelchair. The child's name is Thusha Kamaleswaran and she was shot in the chest in a shop in Stockwell in March.
In another radio snippet, there was a story about criminals and victims facing one another in order to get some kind of closure for the victim while the criminal can rightly feel remorse for the crime they committed. Admittedly this was related to burglary but the aim was to justify not sending the criminal to jail as most burglaries are committed by young people and therefore they might shape up without having to go to prison and mix with hardened criminals.
In principal, I don't disagree with the latter. But of the six people so far arrested for the attempted murder of Thusha, only one is not a teenager, and he's just 20. The rest are 17-19 and there is one suspect aged 14.
I am not sure of my point here. But if I were the parent of little Thusha I am sure that forgiving would be far from my mind and I tend to forgive most things easily.
There is an argument, however, for terrorists and murderers to have to confront the enormity of their actions. Bin Laden will never have to face up to that and in the minds of his followers he's up there with his gaggle of virgins right now, whooping it up. That's a victory to him and his cause. If only he could have stood and faced the loved ones of those who died in 9/11 and allowed them the opportunity to stare him in the eye or ask him where in all the Koran does it say that you murder innocent people to perform Jihad? Perhaps it would have given some semblance of closure but maybe, just maybe, Bin Laden himself might have seen how totally absurd his actions were.
I digress. The fact is that for no good reason, a small child aged just 5 has to now face the prospect of living all her life at the most extreme disadvantage.
I cannot even start to contemplate how I would feel if this little girl were my daughter. But I know how I feel about the people who shot her.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I may be thoughtless here but I heard on the radio today that the little girl that was caught in the cross fire of a London shooting a few weeks ago is said to be recovering but it is now confirmed that the bullet paralysed her and she will never walk again.
Hearing that moved me to tears as I drove the car. I can't think of anything worse than a child being maimed at such a young age and having to face the rest of their life in a wheelchair. The child's name is Thusha Kamaleswaran and she was shot in the chest in a shop in Stockwell in March.
In another radio snippet, there was a story about criminals and victims facing one another in order to get some kind of closure for the victim while the criminal can rightly feel remorse for the crime they committed. Admittedly this was related to burglary but the aim was to justify not sending the criminal to jail as most burglaries are committed by young people and therefore they might shape up without having to go to prison and mix with hardened criminals.
In principal, I don't disagree with the latter. But of the six people so far arrested for the attempted murder of Thusha, only one is not a teenager, and he's just 20. The rest are 17-19 and there is one suspect aged 14.
I am not sure of my point here. But if I were the parent of little Thusha I am sure that forgiving would be far from my mind and I tend to forgive most things easily.
There is an argument, however, for terrorists and murderers to have to confront the enormity of their actions. Bin Laden will never have to face up to that and in the minds of his followers he's up there with his gaggle of virgins right now, whooping it up. That's a victory to him and his cause. If only he could have stood and faced the loved ones of those who died in 9/11 and allowed them the opportunity to stare him in the eye or ask him where in all the Koran does it say that you murder innocent people to perform Jihad? Perhaps it would have given some semblance of closure but maybe, just maybe, Bin Laden himself might have seen how totally absurd his actions were.
I digress. The fact is that for no good reason, a small child aged just 5 has to now face the prospect of living all her life at the most extreme disadvantage.
I cannot even start to contemplate how I would feel if this little girl were my daughter. But I know how I feel about the people who shot her.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
In This Day and Age?
Did you know that each one of us in Britain is on average caught on CCTV at least 70 times a day? And did you know that as long ago as 2006 there was over 1 CCTV camera for every 14 people in Britain - well above the average for any developed country in the world?
Shocking to know in some respects. All the more shocking is that people still commit crimes despite the presence of so many cameras. Perhaps not very many of these cameras are actually looking for serious crime - many are looking for petty offenders like people over staying at a car park or for what we are putting in our bins (I kid you not).
Why do I mention this? Well, it is alleged in a village not far from us there has been two instances of a single grey car attempting to snatch a young child. In both instances the target was a young girl but from descriptions it appears to be the same car. If there are so many cameras about it is a wonder that these people try to commit such crimes, knowing that their number plate can not only be filmed but recognised too and matched against databases.
It sends a shudder down the spine of any parent, no matter what age. The overwhelming urge to protect a child and ensure it suffers no hardship at the hands of evil people comes to the fore at such times and it makes you wonder just what you would do if someone attempted to abduct your own child.
Topically, I see that a book by Kate McCann is available and is being serialised in one of the dailies. I have lost track as to when Kate and Gerry's daughter, Madeleine, was allegedly abducted in Portugal but again this brings back evocative memories of a very disturbing time - and it felt terrible even though we had yet to become parents.
But what was equally disturbing was the McCann's apparent demeanour and specifically the rather odd and indifferent behaviour by the mother, Kate. I read a very interesting Sunday Times article at the time written by a psychologist and it explained that the reason why so many people seemed to distrust her version of events on that fateful night as she and her husband revelled at a nearby restaurant was because she seemed so unmotherly, pristinely turned out and calm. More recently, the full series of questions that were put to her when she was designated as an 'arguedo' or suspect in Portugal, were published and she chose to answer only one of all the questions, most of which were really quite straightforward and pertinent to little Madeleine's disappearance. That the family refused to go back to Portugal to re-enact the events of the night was more perplexing as experience has shown such reconstructions often serve to jog memories and create new leads.
I suppose the primal fear for my child in me rages against any would-be wrong doer. I cannot fathom what it would be like to lose our wee one but I am certain that I would not be out at my usual restaurants or playing tennis for a long while after.
I used to be against all these security cameras but if they save just a few lives, they get my vote.
Just turn them away from petty crime and focus on real crimes.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Shocking to know in some respects. All the more shocking is that people still commit crimes despite the presence of so many cameras. Perhaps not very many of these cameras are actually looking for serious crime - many are looking for petty offenders like people over staying at a car park or for what we are putting in our bins (I kid you not).
Why do I mention this? Well, it is alleged in a village not far from us there has been two instances of a single grey car attempting to snatch a young child. In both instances the target was a young girl but from descriptions it appears to be the same car. If there are so many cameras about it is a wonder that these people try to commit such crimes, knowing that their number plate can not only be filmed but recognised too and matched against databases.
It sends a shudder down the spine of any parent, no matter what age. The overwhelming urge to protect a child and ensure it suffers no hardship at the hands of evil people comes to the fore at such times and it makes you wonder just what you would do if someone attempted to abduct your own child.
Topically, I see that a book by Kate McCann is available and is being serialised in one of the dailies. I have lost track as to when Kate and Gerry's daughter, Madeleine, was allegedly abducted in Portugal but again this brings back evocative memories of a very disturbing time - and it felt terrible even though we had yet to become parents.
But what was equally disturbing was the McCann's apparent demeanour and specifically the rather odd and indifferent behaviour by the mother, Kate. I read a very interesting Sunday Times article at the time written by a psychologist and it explained that the reason why so many people seemed to distrust her version of events on that fateful night as she and her husband revelled at a nearby restaurant was because she seemed so unmotherly, pristinely turned out and calm. More recently, the full series of questions that were put to her when she was designated as an 'arguedo' or suspect in Portugal, were published and she chose to answer only one of all the questions, most of which were really quite straightforward and pertinent to little Madeleine's disappearance. That the family refused to go back to Portugal to re-enact the events of the night was more perplexing as experience has shown such reconstructions often serve to jog memories and create new leads.
I suppose the primal fear for my child in me rages against any would-be wrong doer. I cannot fathom what it would be like to lose our wee one but I am certain that I would not be out at my usual restaurants or playing tennis for a long while after.
I used to be against all these security cameras but if they save just a few lives, they get my vote.
Just turn them away from petty crime and focus on real crimes.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Friday, 18 March 2011
To MMR or Not?
Yesterday was a big day. Dad was in the doghouse for not being able to attend Scott's MMR jab but, with or without him, the jab went ahead with a full booster too.
This was after twice postponing the jab as Scott was not in chipper health on both of the previous two appointments, which we were told was essential. The wee one was very brave and took his injections stoically and with little fuss. Afterwards he was his usual self and we then attended our eldest's nephew's 18th birthday do. Scott was the life and soul of the party, crawling around persistently and making everyone smile with his antics. He even fell asleep on the way home which augured for a normal evening.
That's where reality and the hopeful fiction of 'he may show a few symptoms' differed. He had a most unrestful night. Having gone to sleep at around 9pm, which was late for him, he was awake again before we went to bed, then again at midnight, and every hour after. At around 2.30pm, after administration of Calpol and it's ibuprofen equivalent, we sat playing with him on the bed sipping cups of tea. That's how awake he was.
We did get him back to sleep but he was up at 7am prompt and is slightly grumpy and weary - just like his dad. This is all bad enough but then there is the MMR furore to deal with.
MMR has got a very dodgy history. In Japan, having the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine together, or MMR, has been banned and they are now done separately.
It all started when the MMR vaccine was mandated in 1994 for all children. Since then, unequivocally, there has been a spike in the instances of autism diagnoses. Many of the diagnoses occurred just months after the administration of the MMR jab - so was there a connection?
The situation was not helped when a gastroenterologist (Dr. Andrew Wakefield) made some pretty profound claims in the Lancet where he proposed from his study of MMR immunisation, bowel disease and autism that there was an interaction between the viruses (as they are administered live in the MMR serum) which could 1) have an impact on a child's immune system, 2) lead to persistent infection in the gastrointestinal tract and 3) lead, in the long run, to possible brain damage and autism.
He caused a massive scare. Since, he has left his post after it was discovered his work was 'fatally flawed'. The fact that all the patients he did his study on already had gastrointestinal illness made his subjects non-random anyway but that group sampled was ridiculously small too. From that, no real conclusion could be made despite the fact that the measles virus was found in the gut in all cases.
The controversy remains. Our goddaughter had quite serious bowel illness when she was young - I have no idea if this was on or around when she had her MMR jab. But all parents question most things in relation to their child's safety and this is a very hot issue.
We have made the plunge and we are watching our little one like a hawk. We expected him to show symptoms of illness - they say for up to two weeks - but we had not expected him to be so 'rough' so soon after the jab.
The household is on high alert.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This was after twice postponing the jab as Scott was not in chipper health on both of the previous two appointments, which we were told was essential. The wee one was very brave and took his injections stoically and with little fuss. Afterwards he was his usual self and we then attended our eldest's nephew's 18th birthday do. Scott was the life and soul of the party, crawling around persistently and making everyone smile with his antics. He even fell asleep on the way home which augured for a normal evening.
That's where reality and the hopeful fiction of 'he may show a few symptoms' differed. He had a most unrestful night. Having gone to sleep at around 9pm, which was late for him, he was awake again before we went to bed, then again at midnight, and every hour after. At around 2.30pm, after administration of Calpol and it's ibuprofen equivalent, we sat playing with him on the bed sipping cups of tea. That's how awake he was.
We did get him back to sleep but he was up at 7am prompt and is slightly grumpy and weary - just like his dad. This is all bad enough but then there is the MMR furore to deal with.
MMR has got a very dodgy history. In Japan, having the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine together, or MMR, has been banned and they are now done separately.
It all started when the MMR vaccine was mandated in 1994 for all children. Since then, unequivocally, there has been a spike in the instances of autism diagnoses. Many of the diagnoses occurred just months after the administration of the MMR jab - so was there a connection?
The situation was not helped when a gastroenterologist (Dr. Andrew Wakefield) made some pretty profound claims in the Lancet where he proposed from his study of MMR immunisation, bowel disease and autism that there was an interaction between the viruses (as they are administered live in the MMR serum) which could 1) have an impact on a child's immune system, 2) lead to persistent infection in the gastrointestinal tract and 3) lead, in the long run, to possible brain damage and autism.
He caused a massive scare. Since, he has left his post after it was discovered his work was 'fatally flawed'. The fact that all the patients he did his study on already had gastrointestinal illness made his subjects non-random anyway but that group sampled was ridiculously small too. From that, no real conclusion could be made despite the fact that the measles virus was found in the gut in all cases.
The controversy remains. Our goddaughter had quite serious bowel illness when she was young - I have no idea if this was on or around when she had her MMR jab. But all parents question most things in relation to their child's safety and this is a very hot issue.
We have made the plunge and we are watching our little one like a hawk. We expected him to show symptoms of illness - they say for up to two weeks - but we had not expected him to be so 'rough' so soon after the jab.
The household is on high alert.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, 14 March 2011
Catch Up
The last few weeks have been a real roller coaster. The sense of anticipation of a new addition to the family in July has been overshadowed by wee Scott having dreadful sleep patterns which were first caused by a bug he had. Since catching the bug, he has got into a routine of waking more frequently and then asking for his mum rather than dad and so the burden of nighttime care has been evenly split. This means that both mum and dad get very interrupted sleep and we are both exhausted in the day times.
Just when I thought my lot was bad, though, I see the terrible scenes in Japan and the ongoing effects of the earthquake and Tsunami and I can see that our hardship is nothing compared to that of those affected by this terrible natural disaster. In fact, put into context, we wake up to see our lovely son, refreshed from 'sleep' and his sunny smile just makes all that tiredness seem very worthwhile.
The fact is, I often think our lot is bad but there is plenty that goes on in the world where people have unbearable suffering for many reasons which makes our little homeward issues absolutely trivial. In fact, we should be thankful we have such things to worry about, and for the most part, we are.
However, here's an interesting thing. The Consultant who delivered our baby and will deliver our second also, has more skill in his little finger than most people will accumulate in a lifetime. If he had applied that incredible skill to pressing buttons on a computer and working in the City, he would have been far better off. In fact, it would have taken his accumulated pay from before the time of the Battle of Hastings to have earned as much as Bob Diamond did just this year. And Diamond is the man who almost bankrupted his company and needed to go to the Middle East and sell shares at knock down prices to keep his bank from going out of business. In most business circles, that would be abject failure given the kind of money he risked for his shareholders by bad business practice but instead his rises again to fill his pockets. If our Consultant had made just a minor slip up or failure, he would never be able to practice his craft again in his lifetime, by comparison. Fred Goodwin did and he walked away with - well you know the story.
That would be the difference between responsibility and accountability.
Today in Sandei, Japan, the likes of our Consultant and his medical colleagues will be the most valuable people in the world and the likes of Bob Diamond will be looking to limit their losses and then make a handsome profit on the plight of the people there.
That's how wrong we have got the whole thing and that's enough to drive people who get expert help, from brilliant people who care, absolutely crackers.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Just when I thought my lot was bad, though, I see the terrible scenes in Japan and the ongoing effects of the earthquake and Tsunami and I can see that our hardship is nothing compared to that of those affected by this terrible natural disaster. In fact, put into context, we wake up to see our lovely son, refreshed from 'sleep' and his sunny smile just makes all that tiredness seem very worthwhile.
The fact is, I often think our lot is bad but there is plenty that goes on in the world where people have unbearable suffering for many reasons which makes our little homeward issues absolutely trivial. In fact, we should be thankful we have such things to worry about, and for the most part, we are.
However, here's an interesting thing. The Consultant who delivered our baby and will deliver our second also, has more skill in his little finger than most people will accumulate in a lifetime. If he had applied that incredible skill to pressing buttons on a computer and working in the City, he would have been far better off. In fact, it would have taken his accumulated pay from before the time of the Battle of Hastings to have earned as much as Bob Diamond did just this year. And Diamond is the man who almost bankrupted his company and needed to go to the Middle East and sell shares at knock down prices to keep his bank from going out of business. In most business circles, that would be abject failure given the kind of money he risked for his shareholders by bad business practice but instead his rises again to fill his pockets. If our Consultant had made just a minor slip up or failure, he would never be able to practice his craft again in his lifetime, by comparison. Fred Goodwin did and he walked away with - well you know the story.
That would be the difference between responsibility and accountability.
Today in Sandei, Japan, the likes of our Consultant and his medical colleagues will be the most valuable people in the world and the likes of Bob Diamond will be looking to limit their losses and then make a handsome profit on the plight of the people there.
That's how wrong we have got the whole thing and that's enough to drive people who get expert help, from brilliant people who care, absolutely crackers.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Feeling Rough
I have been a bear with a sore head lately. Poor Scott has had really poor sleep lately and has developed a trend to waking up about 1am and then bawling his eyes out so that he has to sleep with mum and both of us are on tenterhooks as he lies between us. This then can last several hours or even the whole night. While we have tried to alternate responsibility, we are both shattered and it leads to unnecessarily frayed tempers, which is pretty unusual for me.
This morning, I felt a bit better until I read Barclays Bank paid just £113m in Corporation Tax last year when the bonus pool was £3.4bn. I mean, how stupid are we, really? Why do we put up with such nonsense and allow fat and happy people to take advantage of our lives, our money, our tax and our prospects for work when all they do is lie, cheat and make money out of thin air then lose?
You see, that's an example of daft angst for no reason other than tiredness.
But here's the bright side. On Thursday, Scott was one year old and he loved his day with family. My brother and he wife travelled all the way from wales to see him while we we inundated with my wife's family for the evening and cake cutting. Scott was in his element, surrounded by all the people he loves and he loved all his presents.
Today, we have a wider party and some 30 people will be coming including y elder sister and husband on their way through to Heathrow for a holiday and folks from near and far too. We have hit Costco and frankly the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment could turn up and we would still have leftovers. I raided Sainsburys for beer, wine and soft drinks last night as well and let's hope there is a thirst amongst guests or we ill be drinking until Christmas.
This has been the best part. As I speak, he is delightfully playing in his Playpen with his new toys while mum gets some rest with little lump growing at a grand old rate.
Suddenly, I fell better. And that's been the pattern of things. s that normal? I have no idea.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This morning, I felt a bit better until I read Barclays Bank paid just £113m in Corporation Tax last year when the bonus pool was £3.4bn. I mean, how stupid are we, really? Why do we put up with such nonsense and allow fat and happy people to take advantage of our lives, our money, our tax and our prospects for work when all they do is lie, cheat and make money out of thin air then lose?
You see, that's an example of daft angst for no reason other than tiredness.
But here's the bright side. On Thursday, Scott was one year old and he loved his day with family. My brother and he wife travelled all the way from wales to see him while we we inundated with my wife's family for the evening and cake cutting. Scott was in his element, surrounded by all the people he loves and he loved all his presents.
Today, we have a wider party and some 30 people will be coming including y elder sister and husband on their way through to Heathrow for a holiday and folks from near and far too. We have hit Costco and frankly the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment could turn up and we would still have leftovers. I raided Sainsburys for beer, wine and soft drinks last night as well and let's hope there is a thirst amongst guests or we ill be drinking until Christmas.
This has been the best part. As I speak, he is delightfully playing in his Playpen with his new toys while mum gets some rest with little lump growing at a grand old rate.
Suddenly, I fell better. And that's been the pattern of things. s that normal? I have no idea.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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