Site update, masks (again) and the beautiful game
I have been checking out Squarespace again as the costs for WordPress were too high to make the site worthwhile and I have been on quite a journey. A short and brutal journey, but one which threw up a few surprises.
Squarespace (v7.1) is not easy to understand when setting up a new website and is practically unusable when trying to move content over from a site with content already online. The developers appear to have attempted to make things easier by dispensing with the traditional template method and the end result is a system that requires hunting around to find solution to the point that you would be better off hiring a Squarespace developer to do the work for you. Maybe that is the intention. Who knows?
Anyway, after trying 4 or 5 times I gave up and decided to have another look at WordPress and to have a chat with the support team. After some debate and confusion with how they explained things I opted to downgrade my plan which effectively brings the hosting down to below $100 per year. It is a squeeze with the amount of content on McGST, but I will be removing older content and it should be enough for one more year.
I know (I know I know I know!) that my mind keeps changing, but strangely it was Joanne who persuaded me to keep it going, and because she enjoys doing the podcasts. What my beloved wants she gets, within reason, and so it will continue for now, but with no intention to do anything in particular with it. The comments will be disabled and I will no longer accept emails via the site. Articles and episodes will appear from time to time and that will be it for now.
I am stopping contact through the site (changing my email address as well) because of the feedback when writing about politics and Covid. It isn’t feedback really, it’s just abuse and I do not have the time to look at stuff like that. And on this subject I have to raise the bizarre situation we are in currently in within the UK. A few days ago the NHS was awarded the George Cross ‘for its work during the pandemic’. The medal, rarely given to organisations, recognises extraordinary acts of bravery in saving lives.
A few days after that our Prime Minister is going to fully open up the country and allow people to travel and mingle freely, and to take ‘personal responsibility’. The government has stated that they expect personal and corporate responsibility to be used when wearing masks on public transport and in enclosed spaces etc. Presumably this means that the government will take no responsibility at all?
I will predict now that the NHS will fall within 2 months and likely as badly as in the first and second waves of Covid. With 2,500 hospitalisations expected per day the NHS workers will be pushed beyond the limit that they are already pushed to. The waiting list for operations and other treatment is currently above 5 million and that will rise further, and that will then go back on the NHS again. I know for certain that parts of the NHS are really struggling to cope currently and that many people are off with stress, and that presumably mistakes are being made, but don’t worry at least they have the George Cross from the same government which is now throwing them under the bus again.
I cannot see how the NHS can be saved at this time after 10 years of under-funding and a part of me wonders if this is some kind of plan to privatise it when it is deemed not fit for purpose. You could argue that this would never happen because any government that tried this would be voted out fairly sharply. But think again- Trump, Brexit etc. These are not rational times.
As I write this England are 1:0 up against Italy in the Euro 2020 (it’s a year late because of Covid) final and I have been reminded over the past few weeks why football really is the beautiful game.
Despite my concerns about the inevitable Covid surge because of the crowds and some of the booing and violence, it really is a sight to behold. No sport on earth does what football does and even though I support Scotland I do want England to win. Yes, the English will go on and on and on about it for decades until they win another tournament and it will be kind of unbearable, but this is football and it is good for the soul no matter who you support.