sjhoward.co.uk » 2025

Facts are sacred

284 words posted by Simon on 8 January 2025

It was covid that drove me off Facebook, but it perhaps wasn’t until nearly five years later that it left my mind entirely.

Wendy and I were writing Christmas cards last month, and I—perhaps not fully embracing the Christmas spirit—commented that it was a risky business, as some of the families we were wishing well might have divorced in the years since we last spoke.

‘No, they definitely haven’t,’ said Wendy. ‘I’m friends with them on Facebook.’

It simply hadn’t entered my mind that there might still be a social media connection between us. Facebook is no longer in my thoughts.

And yet yesterday’s news that its founder has chosen to remove fact-checkers caught my attention. I was even more surprised to see the company had changed its ’hateful content policy’ to permit ‘allegations of mental illness … based on gender or sexual orientation’, among many other unpleasant changes.

It baffles me that this makes for an attractive proposition. If I were seeking information, I wouldn’t choose to do so on a website that is explicitly designed to make it easier to spread misinformation. If I wanted to socialise, I wouldn’t do so in a place where people are free to hurl around stigmatising accusations of psychiatric illness. And if I wanted to advertise, I wouldn’t do so on a platform where my ads would appear alongside any of this vitriolic effluent.

But… I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority, and it’s not like my objections have any meaningful impact anyway given that I don’t use it in the first place.

It was CP Scott who said that ‘comment is free, but facts are sacred’. It seems nothing is sacred at Facebook.

This post was filed under: News and Comment, Facebook.

Wallington clocktower

190 words posted by Simon on 7 January 2025

This is the clocktower at Wallington. Wallington is one of a number of North East National Trust properties—perhaps most of them—with which I have strange mental associations, having worked on a ward named after it. But that needn’t detain us today.

Today’s scintilla of curiosity is found in the National Trust’s insistence, in signage and even on their website, that the thing pictured above is the ‘clocktower’—one word—not the ‘clock tower’, as I’d have written it. So let’s crack open the Oxford English Dictionary and see what’s going on there.

Except… there’s not much to say. ‘Clock tower’ is only listed as two words, with one example where it has been hyphenated. ‘Clocktower’ doesn’t appear. And in it’s National Heritage List for England Grade 1 entry, the structure is referred to as the ‘Clock Tower Gate’

So why the insistence on ‘clocktower’? I think it might be because they are often using it—perhaps even in all the examples I’ve seen—as part of a compound phrase, like ‘clocktower cafe’. This seems like a reasonable bit of linguistic tidying which even I can forgive… even if it’s not absolutely correct.

This post was filed under: Photos, National Trust, Oxford English Dictionary.

Choice and value

421 words posted by Simon on 6 January 2025

In 2008, about £1 in every £25 spent in a UK supermarket was spent in Lidl or Aldi. Today, it’s closer to £1 in every £5. These discounters have seen enormous growth, driven by a complex web of interacting underlying forces.

What is undeniable is that shoppers have traded choice for value. An average Lidl or Aldi branch carries 7,500 different products compared with 30,000 at your average Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Many people would rather pay less than have more product choice.

The big supermarkets, meanwhile, have tried all sorts of strategies to bridge the gap—attempting to offer full ranges while squeezing costs. It hasn’t really worked, hence their loss of market share.

You can’t have choice and value: they’re mutually exclusive, because choice begets inefficiency and waste.

Sixteen years ago, I wrote:

Gordon Brown has a fascinating plan for the NHS: Increase patient choice, whilst simultaneously driving the cost of healthcare down to deliver better ‘value for money’. The plan is fascinating primarily because its two aims are utterly contradictory.

Yesterday, Wes Streeting told the BBC that he wants to:

make the NHS easier and more convenient to use, to give patients more choice, to get rid of the waste and inefficiency we see in the NHS.

It’s hard to grasp what’s hard to grasp. Choice requires oversupply, which is—by definition—inefficient.

I suspect what Streeting intends to do is allow patients to choose between location and speed, in an effort to spread demand. If you don’t mind travelling a little further, you might get seen quicker. There is a logical efficiency argument to that, and the process already exists in the NHS, but is perhaps under-promoted.

The problem is that it’s bad for the population’s health. Julian Tudor Hart proposed the Inverse Care Law decades ago, describing how the geographical areas of greatest medical need have the poorest supply of medical care. These populations also tend to be the least mobile, and therefore the least able to travel to shortcut the waiting lists.

Therefore, in the name of efficiency, one might well end up filling the available capacity with the most mobile and least needy patients. This might move the needle on the Government’s pledge to cut waiting lists, but it will exacerbate health inequalities.

What I haven’t quite figured out yet is whether this approach is intended to provide political cover for bolder moves to tackle inequalities, or whether this is the only game in town. Either seems plausible. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

This post was filed under: Health, News and Comment, Politics, Wes Streeting.

Big old tree

2 words posted by Simon on 5 January 2025

This post was filed under: Photos.

Hotel room art

76 words posted by Simon on 4 January 2025

Hotel room art is often very boring, and never moreso than in a Travelodge or Premier Inn, who seem to buy identical pictures by the tonne.

I enjoy it when hotels try something bolder—even, as in this example, when it’s not quite to my taste. This particular hotel room was painted and furnished in millennial grey, which always gives me slight ‘institution’ vibes. This very bold choice did a lot to offset that impression.

This post was filed under: Art, Travel, Hotel room art, Hotels.

‘Caledonian Road’ by Andrew O’Hagan

280 words posted by Simon on 3 January 2025

This novel had been much-recommended—but I will admit that I approached it with a degree of reticence given that it extends to 656 pages, and my edition weighs just shy of a kilogram. Reading shouldn’t be this much of a workout.

The novel is set over the course of a year, beginning in the spring of 2021. The main character is Campbell Flynn, a wealthy and privileged academic art historian who is also a sort of public intellectual, appearing on Newsnight and the like to pontificate on all sorts. The heart of the story is about the impact on his life of one of his students, Milo Manghasa.

Campbell grew up in working-class Glasgow; but an Oxbridge degree, a move to London and a marriage into an aristocratic family perhaps softened his zeal for truly left-wing reform. Outspoken Milo, who has a fierce intellect, lives his left-wing views—which beguiles Campbell, even as he doesn’t quite understand what’s happening.

This book has been called ‘Dickensian’ for its ‘state of the nation’ portrayal of Britain. Like Dickens, it has a sprawling cast list which I slightly struggled to keep up with; but also like Dickens, the quality of the writing kept me steaming on through regardless.

It doesn’t, however, have the humour of Dickens, and I missed that element. There are witty and biting turns of phrase, but no real comic relief. There were also no real twists or turns in the story—this was a novel of slow, relentless destruction, which contributed to its heaviness.

All of which is to say… I really enjoyed this, and I’m glad I stuck with it, but I’m not sure it earned its length.

This post was filed under: What I've Been Reading, Andrew O’Hagan.

Wicker reindeer

46 words posted by Simon on 2 January 2025

Wendy reckons that this Christmas has been the Christmas of wicker reindeer… though neither of us are really sure why they’ve been so prolific.

I was reminded recently that male reindeer shed their antlers in winter—so, I guess, wicker reindeer are almost exclusively female.

This post was filed under: Photos.

My 2024 in 24 numbers

1,722 words posted by Simon on 1 January 2025

In 2023 and 2024, I used my New Year’s Day post to count things… so let’s kick off 2025 in the time-honoured tradition. Here are 24 numbers about my life in 2024, in descending numerical order, with a few comparisons to previous years.

Wendy and I took 2,343 photos

▲ 666 vs 2023 / ▲ 604 vs 2022

I didn’t anticipate this turning out to be the highest number on my 2024 list! Averaging more than six photos per day would have seemed insane only a few years ago – a roll of film wouldn’t last a week – and yet here we are. Wendy has been made an effort to take more photos in 2024, so that may have contributed to this remarkable increase.

I walked 2,214 miles

▲ 35 vs 2023 / ▲ 212 vs 2022

I walked more in 2024 than the previous year, though the bulk was still attributable to walking to and from work. I regularly count my blessings for having the ability to do that: it’s possibly more important for my psychological health than for my legs’ health, in all honesty. It worked out at an average of about 14,400 steps per day.

My car drove 1,524 miles

▼ 1,152 vs 2023 / ▼ 307 vs 2022

I didn’t drive much in 2024, with my figure nearly halved from 2023. In fact, it’s probably too little to reasonably justify owning a car. And yes, I feel very smug at having walked further than I drove in 2024.

I sent 435 personal emails

▲ 52 vs 2023 / ▲ 54 vs 2022

Every year, I’m surprised by how high this number is. 2024’s figure was higher than ever. I don’t really know what I’m doing sending that many emails.

I published 366 blog posts

▲ 1 vs 2023 / ▲ 293 vs 2022

In 2023, I set myself the goal of publishing something every day, as a sort of celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the first post on this blog. I met that goal and continued it into 2024, scoring one extra day as a result of the leap year. I haven’t yet made up my mind as to whether to continue into 2025.

I took my blood pressure 310 times

▲ 180 vs 2023 / ▲ 150 vs 2022

Look, I know this seems excessive, but I have an excuse: I struggled a bit with my blood pressure in 2024 and had to increase my antihypertensive dose, so I’ve been trying to monitor it daily. I promise it’s not just obsessive.

My tumble dryer completed 214 cycles

▲ 21 vs 2023 / ▲ 23 vs 2022

My sole reason for counting this is that the machine does it anyway: I don’t really know what it means. I do know that the final load of the year is currently waiting to be taken out of the dryer while I’m procrastinating by writing a blog post.

I used public transport on 166 days

★ New count for 2024

I’m lucky to live somewhere with decent public transport. I used the bus on 85 days, the Metro on 81, the train on 24, a plane on 22, a ferry on 6, the London Underground on 5, a taxi on 3, a hired e-scooter on 3, and a tram and a coach on one day each. Those don’t sum to 166 because I often use multiple modes in a single day.

I would have guessed that I used the bus far more than the Metro, so I’m surprised by how similar those tallies appear to be.

I used 97 single-use paper cups for hot drinks

▲ 9 vs 2023 / ▲ 62 vs 2022

Well, this is an unhappy trend: I surpassed my 2023 total despite regularly carrying my HuskeeCup. In 2023, I whinged that 52% of the times I’d used a paper cup it was because the seller had used one even though I was drinking in the venue. This makes me mad, but only applies to 40% of this year’s paper cup use, so I need to take some personal responsibility here. I’ll try harder in 2025.

I used 75 stamps

▲ 2 vs 2023

People say that the art of sending letters is dead, yet I sent 75 things that Royal Mail classed as letters in 2024 by sticking on a stamp and placing them in a postbox. Almost all of those stamps have been ‘special edition’ ones to avoid the ugly barcodes. Wendy and I used 2022 Wallace and Gromit stamps for our Christmas cards this year, bought long before we realised that a new animation would be the BBC’s Christmas centrepiece this year.

I swam 65 miles

▼ 26 vs 2023 / ▲ 4 vs 2022

Oof, this is down a lot for 2024. My only excuse is that my pool closed for a big chunk of the year after its mechanical moving bottom broke: but this probably also reflects some reluctance to move my own bottom. I still averaged more than a mile a week, though, which must surely be alright-ish?

I placed 60 Deliveroo orders

▲ 33 vs 2023 / ▼ 62 vs 2022

This is quite a chunky increase… but surely roughly one Deliveroo per week isn’t too terrible in the grand scheme of things?

I read and reviewed 42 books

▼ 4 vs 2023 / ▼ 24 vs 2022

I read less than usual in 2023 and felt it. In 2024, I read still fewer books, but I really didn’t felt it. I think this is partly because I read longer books than usual, so the overall time I’ve spent reading has probably reduced less than the headline number implies.

I drove a car on 40 days

★ New count for 2024

Previously, I’ve counted the number of day my car has been driven: 79 in 2023 and 73 in 2022. I had a car insurance gadget that did the counting, you see. For 2024, I just counted the number of days that I drove any car. I drove exactly two cars, mine and Wendy’s, and clearly not very much. It may well have worked out cheaper to hire a car for 40 days than the cost of the insurance and maintenance of my own car.

I took 28 flights

▲ 17 vs 2023 / ▲ 11 vs 2022

Last year, I said this might creep up again, but that I couldn’t ever see myself getting up to the 29 flights I took in 2019… flygskam is real. I didn’t do such a good job of re-routing myself onto ground transportation in 2024, and I’m afraid to admit that I’ve already got four flights booked for 2025. There are no good excuses.

I borrowed 28 library books

▲ 1 vs 2023 / ▼ 7 vs 2022

I think this works out to a pretty good proportion of the books I read. Thanks as always to Newcastle City Library and the London Library, from where I borrow from most frequently, though there are at least five other libraries that I occasionally borrow from. I’m very fortunate to be so well-supplied.

I made 27 personal phone calls

▼ 5 vs 2023 / ▼ 23 vs 2022

As previously, I only counted actual telephone calls in this total, whereas most of my personal ‘calls’ are via FaceTime or WhatsApp. It feels to me like the traditional phone call is becoming a thing of the past, so I’m not surprised to see that this number is continuing to shrink year-on-year.

I was driven in a car on 27 days

★ New count for 2024

I’d rather be a passenger than a driver, and I managed that on 27 days in 2024. I decided to count this as I thought that only presenting the number of days on which I drove gave a misleading impression of the extent to which I’m still reliant on cars.

I spent 20 nights in hotels

▼ 16 vs 2023 / ▼ 7 vs 2022

I’ve was away in hotels for fewer nights than usual in 2024, both for leisure and work purposes. Despite the dramatic decline, I hadn’t really noticed. I think I’ve probably spent more nights staying with relatives in 2024 than previous years, but that’s not something I currently count.

I placed 16 Amazon orders

▼ 124 vs 2023 / ▼ 210 vs 2022

This time in 2023, I resolved to give Amazon less of my business: their ethical practices were, as Mary Muffet from The Heart’s Invisible Furies would say, ‘not my standard at all’. It’s taken me a couple of years to almost edge them out of my life. The main advantage has been to feel like I’m supporting a lot of smaller, more worthy businesses. The main disadvantage has been my mum’s complaints about me not renewing Amazon Prime: she used to use my subscription for her own deliveries.

I visited 5 countries

▼ 1 vs 2022 / ⧓ No change vs 2022

As previously, I’m counting the UK in this total. None of the visited countries were new to me again in 2024, which is a shame, and none of them were Italy, which is almost a bigger shame.

In previous conversations, Wendy has said that I ought only to count countries in which I’ve overnighted, in which case this year’s total is actually four. My rule, though, is that I can count countries in which I’ve dined while both stationary and not in an airport (a meal on moving transport doesn’t count).

You can take your pick.

I wore 5 new pairs of shoes

▲ 2 vs 2023 / ▼ 1 vs 2022

One of them was a Christmas present from Wendy, and therefore a remarkably late addition to this count.

I made 4 blood donations

⧓ No change vs 2023 / ⧓ No change vs 2022

Because I donate every twelve weeks, it’s sometimes possible to squeeze five donations into a calendar year if the dates align… but they didn’t in 2024.

I cycled 0 miles

⧓ No change vs 2023 / ⧓ No change vs 2022

I’m no cyclist: I don’t own a bike and haven’t borrowed one since 2021. I have, however, ridden 3.8 miles on hired e-scooters this year, which was a bit of a novelty.

This post was filed under: Counting.