Life goes on

EPTEMBER is around the corner and before too long it’ll be the end of 2026, another year of drought and Ukraine war.

Life goes on and on. We’ve always had some sort of conflict somewhere (Cold War is not kinetic, but it impacts psychology). People need to find a way to keep healthy and happy, then move on from one task to the next.

Today it is “market day” and definitely too rainy to visit the birds at the park (in the afternoon as we hoped). Manchester United has a match it must win at 4:30PM.

ROSS distortion of facts is possible when the media is not functioning.

It tells us stories like “jobs replaced by AI”.

It says that layoffs are something to do with “AI”, not a failing economy.

It sometimes tells us that people who oppose datacentres aren’t really concerned but are just gullible.

When the media does not function only the liars stand to gain.

ne need not be a “conspiracy buff” to claim there may be imminent threat from Russia because even national broadcasters and mainstream media talk about it [1, 2]. “Russia always attacks,” a friend tells me, “it’s only ever a matter of when…”

The average person here (whatever “average” means) is busy with his/her daily struggles and won’t pay too much attention to world affairs. It’s weekend here, so many people just watch football^*. They cheer for “their team”. Looking further ahead, however, we have various issues like climate collapse and conflict over resources.

Just because it’s rainy again doesn’t mean climate change didn’t destroy crops (agriculture is food). Just because we don’t have direct conflict right now doesn’t mean we don’t spend billions arming Ukraine. This makes everybody poorer.

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^* Top 4 at the moment (PL) is all northwest and northeast England:

Hours ago:

reenland was a warning sign. The US is not committed to the protection of Europe, it’s an ongoing threat to it.

In recent hours I was curating many links about the current confrontation with Russia and some reports about Germany and the UK, not just Baltic states, in relation to the war in Ukraine. It seems like growing risk of direct conflict (not just passing arms and other resources to Ukraine) means evolving mindsets are overdue. It’s not like Russia has a lot going for it, except nukes, but it can still impact daily lives for all Europeans. Suppose an undersea cable got cut every day or a Russian (sometimes Iranian-made) armed drone entered Poland and Germany every day. Suppose EU citizens were expected to spend hours in bomb shelters.

The world is not in a “good place” right now.

This is 2026

do not use social control media, so I cannot be “doomscrolling”, but looking at reputable sites today it looks like NATO-Russia rations are worst than ever, Ukraine says Russia might commence another ground invasion, and even the UK faces growing provocations by Russia, hence the higher perceived risk. That’s based on BBC, The Times, and other large publishers.

“The Cabinet Office campaign will encourage households to prepare for emergencies lasting several days,” a lesser known site says.

A friend has meanwhile explained to me that “1) Russia’s secondary export is petrochemicals, the primary export is propaganda; 2) its GDP is like Italy’s and has been near but not at a breaking point for years; 3) it has not yet drafted the provinces; 4) it is already spread exceedingly thin militarily, but is making progress into converting fully over to a wartime economy; 5) it’s never as strong as it looks but nor is it as weak as it looks (see #1)”

We’re quite well prepared for crisis, but if one’s neighbours are ill-prepared, then it can developed into trouble quite fast.

Further south of Russia there is “one *big* problem,” the friend explained, “especially for S Korea, is if N Korea is paid to establish
large scale manufacturing of munitions, then once there are no external buyers they can simply use it up themselves against S Korea…”

“Data centers are part of the CCP’s attack on the defense of Europe, e.g. “Norwegian company says TikTok data centre is limiting energy for manufacturing Ukraine ammunition”. The Grauniad wrongly spins the problem as one of “cat videos” but those are just the carrier signal for the real payload: destructive propaganda such as car-burning yobs who drive the wrong way down the highways…”

“Propaganda requires a carrier signal to trap people’s attention and provide a false sense of value so that they are paying attention when the real payload is transmitted. The payload can be 1 out of 20 or fewer, as long as the other 19 or so keep the targets engaged and receptive. [Because] psychological warfare = sociology + marketing (basically, at least when getting the targets hooked)…”

Time to get back to pen and paper?

e all have moments like these, irrespective of our age (though age can impact frequency, severity and so on). Let’s be honest with ourselves, as this is quite common: We enter some room, sometimes the kitchen, and then we forget some of the tasks or the sole task.

It happened to me yesterday. I knew I wanted to get something from the fridge, but could not recall what. Turns out, it wasn’t food. It was a filter agent for the water of the fish and also for the shells/snails.

I remembered or recalled this only a day later because the same observations (or needs) rekindled that same memory and obvious desire, based on a necessity.

Sometimes I wonder if I should carry a notepad and pen with me. Besides, I need to make a list of things to buy too (I used to do this with a piece of paper), e.g. also some dishwashing gel and decent high-capacity backpack. We also need to find more bottles of the thing/s for the fish and some seeds for the birds. “Sweepy” seems to have just laid eggs, so we must assume she feeds chicks somewhere and must therefore be fed as long as she has appetite.

I think I’ll eventually, perhaps some time very soon, get back to carrying paper and pen; it’s the only way to avoid forgetting things I want to do, say, and so on.

Mobile phone? No, thanks. Overkill.

“The freedom of immobility” is what Mr. Self has just called it. “Smartphones advertise themselves as “mobile,” yet that actually translates to “inescapable.” You’re expected to answer emails on the train and handle text messages while out to dinner. A corded phone, by contrast, physically ties you to a wall. That coiled plastic cord isn’t a leash; it’s a built-in boundary that protects your peace. When you leave the house, the phone remains behind. You become unreachable, untrackable, and present in the real world.”

A pen and paper do not “talk to you”, they are there to aid the brain by offloading lists or thoughts.

It’s now open!

OME months ago major overhaul began in the area shown in the above article – an historically significant structure that underwent very significant changes since around January (I’m way too young to have any fond memories of it or to have taken train journeys from it). I wrote about it in relation to the Banksy exhibition and today there was a grilling event, with pleasant-smelling smoke coming out of the building.

More importantly, the coffee shop has opened to everyone.

“A new coffee shop is set to open in the former Mayfield station ticket office,” says the above.

There are still more trees left to be planted near the pavement, but it is overall work well executed. They took one of the ugliest corners of Manchester and turned it into a gem. We saw it gradually, in slow motion so to speak, turning from dust to gold.