No one who becomes a leader of a country is expected to know everything. What they are expected to know is when they are out of their depth and need help from experts.
In the UK, the leading universities – with regard to both the standard they offer and their longevity – are Oxford and Cambridge.
London University comprises a multitude of Colleges, each of which has its own particular speciality areas, and includes a number of hospital-based medical colleges. The constituent Colleges offer a London University degree, and when I graduated with a B.Sc. (Special) Mathematics in 1957, as well as an MRCS, it was following study at the Imperial College of Science and Technology (IC).
IC’s name was derived from the fact that it was the result of an amalgamation of the Royal College of Science (RCS), which covered the natural sciences – botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc – the Royal School of Mines (RSM) – offering geology, mineralogy, metallurgy, etc – and the City and Guild College (C&G) – for studies in all branches of engineering.
It offered no arts faculties, which were amply provided for by other Colleges of London University. It was also a hotbed of scientific research, recognised world-wide.
In 2007, the College detached itself from London University, having by then added medicine to its offerings, and is now the third ranked university in the UK, as well as having an extremely high international standing.
That is the College which offered definitive advice on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic which our Prime Minister is ignoring.
This excerpt from a biography is illuminating:
Morrison grew up in a devout Christian family in the beachside eastern suburbs of Sydney. His father was a police commissioner and independent politician who served 16 years on the local council as well as a tenure as the mayor of Waverly. Morrison’s political career began at age 9 distributing “how-to-vote” cards in support of his father. During his childhood Morrison also acted in television commercials. He attended the prestigious Sydney Boys High before matriculating at the University of New South Wales, where he studied economics and geography.
Recently, quite a few exposés of Morrison’s career have made it clear that his obvious levels of enthusiasm have not necessarily been matched by his level of success in the performance of his duties.
He has studied no sciences in depth – economics is often included among the arts since it has closer ties to philosophy than to physics, and regular use of graphs and statistical analysis is its most significant link to mathematics – and his religious background would seem to allow acceptance through belief of the unprovable, rather than certainty through evidential proof.
When my own children were in their teens and my marriage was breaking up, I spent 3 years working as an insurance representative with AMP, when it was still a Mutual Provident Society.
I was reluctant at that time to be both working and living with teenagers but needed to be back in the full-time workforce.
Annual conferences, teaching us to be better at creating business, taught me to recognise the hallmarks of a salesman, and when I resigned from AMP to go back to teaching, I was able to relax into encouraging others to enjoy increasing their knowledge in a subject I loved, rather than trying to persuade them to persuade themselves that they wanted what I had to offer and were willing to pay for it.
Scott Morrison is a salesman who is totally out of his depth, because he has no idea what his message should be.
He is no doubt relieved that this dreadful pandemic has come along, because he was running out of arguments against accepting that the climate emergency is for real.
We are now getting dictatorship by instalments. The very ad hoc way in which decisions are being made on the run makes it very clear that the whole approach has not received careful analysis but is being thrown together with minimal certainty that they will work.
In other words, it is reactive not proactive,
A typical anecdote of the consequences: in NSW, a couple, who live together, were travelling together in their car and were being fined by police for not self-distancing!
The fact that much of the decision-making centres around business, makes it crystal clear that people are a problem for Scotty from Marketing and Horizon Church. He is more familiar with preaching to the converted and we are an unruly bunch of heathens.
The other reason behind the regular press sessions announcing new or revised regulations – apart from the obvious narcissistic aspect of his nature – is that it prevents other issues of concern from sneaking through.
Why isn’t Christmas Island still being used for quarantine, apart from possibly the lack of seriously important medical facilities? Well – maybe the fact that the Biloela family are still sequestered there – out of sight is out of mind, so why draw attention to them? – and, most importantly, the incredible damage being done to two innocent little girls should not be allowed to distract from the main game of convincing Australia how well Scomo, in consort with Dutton, is managing a major crisis – or not!
The other issue needing to be kept out of discussion is, of course, global warming.
Temporarily, emissions are not increasing, but they will, once China, initially, and the rest of the developed and developing world, eventually, get over the virus and get the wheels of industry turning once more.
It is being ignored that we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to not only address the current global pandemic, but take a deep dive into thinking how to create a more caring, cohesive, less combative society once the urgency associated with this specific crisis is past.
While we do this, in isolation or in sharing ideas through the internet, please remember – only go out if it is really essential, practice keeping your distance while you are out, no hugging or kissing when you see a long-lost friend, wash your hands thoroughly and regularly, if you feel unwell, contact your doctor for advice, stay safe and sane and, if you cannot go out to work, use your time in as valuable a way as possible!
Best wishes till we come out at the other side!
I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:
“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”
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