The weather, I am pleased to say, was turning slightly milder yesterday morning with a temperature when I awoke of 3° leading to a high of 5° later on in the day. There are no real plans for today apart from progressing our insurance claim after the leak which will surely go on for some time. In the meantime, we are making efforts to slowly dry the room out with a fan heater being on most of the time. Sky News is reporting this morning that The government will 'mainline AI into the veins' of the UK, with plans being unveiled today by Sir Keir Starmer. The prime minister is set to promise investment, jobs and economic growth due to a boom in the sector. It comes as his government battles against allegations they are mismanaging the economy and stymied growth with the budget last autumn. The government's announcement claims that, if AI is 'fully embraced', it could bring £47bn to the economy every year. And it says that £14bn is set to be invested by the private sector, bringing around 13,000 jobs. Those of us of a certain age and political generation may remember Harold Wilson's pledge to a Labour Party conference that a new Labour government would 'embrace the white hot heat of a technological revolution' but I do not remember it ever happening. Wilson was keen to promote the idea of being a moderniser as well as courting the votes of a newly emerging cadre of scientists and technologists. If the speech was rapturously received by Wilson's contemporaries, most historians have taken a rather more sceptical view. After winning the 1964 general election Wilson did keep his promise to establish a dedicated Ministry of (Education and) Science, but his government failed to deliver the scientific national renewal that the Scarborough speech had promised, and was in fact responsible for scrapping several high-profile technology projects. The big political story today is that even if Tulip Siddiq resigns, the damage may already be done to Sir Keir Starmer. Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq is coming under increasing pressure over the way she used properties that were reportedly gifted to her. She has denied any wrongdoing. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case which are being established as we write, the thought of a Labour MP being gifted or at least benefiting from several London based properties is not what most of the electorate feel is appropriate for an MP with socialist principles - if she were a Tory, of course, there would be no problem.
Currently, I am having problems getting food and drink inside Meg because of her difficulties in swallowing. From my reading, I realise that I need an onward reference to a SALT (Speech and Language Therapist) and so I got onto the nurses who specialise in Meg's condition to see if they could make an onward reference on my behalf. They informed me that only a GP can make on onward reference and so I contacted the surgery - but after the time that their appointments website had closed. I was informed that there were no appointment slots left for today and they could offer me next week - when I protested that a dementia patient could have choked to death in the meanwhile, I was offered the opportunity to use their website tomorrow which may then give me access to a GP who alone can make on onward referral which may be days if not weeks ahead. Of course, Monday is not a good day to contact the GP service and I was hoping that the specialist nurses could fast track me but it was not to be. In the meanwhile, at least I got some porridge inside Meg this morning which is an improvement on a couple of days ago. As the weather has improved, I had decided that I would wrap Meg up warmly and proceed into town. I gave up the unequal struggle to try to get an outer jacket onto Meg as her limbs are now so unresponsive and made do with a quite a thick heavy travel rug which I think was probably warmer in any event. Whilst in Waitrose, a couple of the staff commiserated with me about the loss of the cafeteria, as did a couple of other store regulars who recognised myself and Meg and expressed similar sentiments mourning the loss of the facility. I asked one of the staff with whom I get on very well about the cafeteria area and it looks as though they may use it as an expanded bakery area. Whilst in the store, we bought some packet soups of a flavour not available in Aldi and also some mousse confections which I know I can safely into Meg these days. On the way back home, though, we bumped into our Italian friend who gave me some good news. The French lady who lives down the road and is a near neighbour of our other friends down the road is certainly selling her house but not moving to be near to her daughter in Sandbach. Apparently she has decided to buy a flat within striking distance of Bromsgrove town centre about which I am delighted as it means we can still see each other when the occasion demands. Our Italian friend had had a bad accident in her car which was now written off by the insurance company and she has decided, I think very sensibly, not to bother with getting another car as she is over 80. She has worked out, and I totally agree, that you can get a tremendous volume of taxi rides instead of the expenses involved in running a car. I updated our friend on Meg's condition and, in the same way that I gave her a lot of emotional support when other own husband died about ten years ago now, she promised to reciprocate when the inevitable happens as it will in the months ahead. Whilst Meg is continuing to sleep, I have prepared a lunch of beef, broccoli and baked potatoes, But I have cut the meat into incredibly small cubes so that I can feed them so much more easily when I come to give Meg her meal later in the day.
© Mike Hart [2025]