Quote

 

Vic Rolfe

To:letters.editor@ft.com

 

Sat, 16 May at 03:49

 

 

Hi Roula,

 

With reference to the Editorial Board article: "'Sweden chooses a third way on coronavirus," which was published the 14th of May:

 

 

I feel compelled to raise a very strong objection to the following statement: (After having read that Sweden has kept large parts of its economy open): "It has conducted a vast experiment - some might say gamble - with it's population."

 

The fact that copycat lock-downs rapidly became the norm, as governments around the world went into full-on panic mode, doesn't make Sweden's more carefully considered and, as it happens, hitherto normal approach, a "vast experiment".

 

As far as I am aware, at no time in history prior to the coronavirus pandemic, has a democratic government ever tried anything like the unprecedented mass experiment of locking down their entire population and trying to slow their own economy to a virtual halt in an attempt to bring a viral outbreak under control?

 

 

Just in case you should decide to publish my letter, please do feel free to edit as necessary - as long as you maintain the essence of my point.

 

Thank you - and keep up the generally high quality reporting and opinion pieces that I have been accustomed to with the ft over the last 45 years!

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Vic Rolfe

 

(Currently onboard a ship in the UAE after a full two months of quarantine - and I still can't get off!)

 

Here's the lyrics to the Led Zeppelin song, the title of which I stole for my blog!

Ramble On - from Led Zep II

Led Zeppelin - Ramble On Lyrics

Courtesy of azlyrics.com

Quote

Leaves are falling all around,
It's time I was on my way.
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay.

But now it's time for me to go.
The autumn moon lights my way.
For now I smell the rain,
And with it pain,
And it's headed my way.

Sometimes I grow so tired,
But I know about one thing I got to do

Ramble on,
And now's the time, the time is now to sing my song.
I'm goin' 'round the world, I got to find my girl,
On my way.
I've been this way ten years to the day,
Ramble on,
Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

Got no time for spreadin' roots,
The time has come to be gone.
And though our health we drank a thousand times,
It's time to ramble on

Ramble on,
And now's the time, the time is now to sing my song.
I'm goin' 'round the world, I got to find my girl,
On my way.
I've been this way ten years to the day,
I gotta ramble on,
I gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

I tell you no lie

Mine's a tale that can't be told,
My freedom I hold, dear.
How years ago in days of old,
When magic filled the air.

Just in the darkest depths of Mordor
I met a girl so fair.
But Gollum and the evil one
Crept up and slipped away with her, her, her, her, her, yeah.

I ain't nothing I can do no

I guess I'll keep on rambling.
I'm gonna sing my song.
I gotta find my baby.
I'm gonna ramble on, sing my song.
Gonna work my way, going round the world,
Baby, baby
Ramble on baby
Do do do do do my baby
Ramble on baby
Do do do do do my baby

I can't stop this feelin' in my heart
Every time I think of you I think us apart

I gotta keep searchin' for my baby.
I gotta keep a-searchin' for my baby.

I can't find

my bluebird!
I listen to my bluebird sing,
But I, I can't find my bluebird!

I keep rambling.
I keep rambling.

 

Before you shoot me, please note the quotation marks!

So who did say that?

During a recent email rant with a friend of mine, over not being able to get off a ship in the UAE, having already spent four weeks in quarantine - and despite the fact that Emirates are providing a limited number of repatriation flights to the UK - I mentioned to him that nothing had changed since the 1966 seaman's strike. We are still treated like the "scum of the earth..."

I remember, when I first started sailing at the tender young age of 16 years old, in 1974, being told by one 'hairy-arsed seaman,' that Harold Wilson was the one who had said: "Seamen are the scum of the earth."

My friend is at lot better than me, at British history of the 20th century. He informed me that he was not so sure about being able to attribute such a statement to Harold Wilson?

I then done a quick Google search, and, to be honest, I couldn't find any reference to Harold Wilson ever having made such an outrageous remark. What I did find, was this:

From Jim Dyer of Newport, in the South Wales Argus, in an article dated 27th September 2016 and titled:

NOW AND THEN: The Seaman’s Union on Ruperra Street, Newport:

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/14753223.now-and-then-the-seamans-union-on-ruperra-street-newport/

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Some ships rationed your fresh water so they could carry more cargo. And it did not help, when some titled lady from London told the press merchant seaman they are the scum of the earth. Who did she think brought her goodies home through torpedo infested waters? Donald Duck?

So, OK, it wasn't Harold Wilson then, after all... But, as we always say, at sea:

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!"

Hopefully, I will be proven totally wrong and we can all get back to "normal" before too long?!

In the meantime, I have enabled "Guest Posting," just in case anyone wants to make a comment. (Just check-out the "Guidelines" link in the main navigation bar, on a laptop - or that little "hamburger" thing on your cellphone, for more info. on posting as a Guest.)

Here's my take on covid-19...

The best that I can say about it, is that this is the biggest fiasco in the entire history of the human race.

Needless to say, anyone can "prove'" their own point of view by trawling through the literature and scientific papers that fit their point of view. Here's an article that happens to fit mine:

(Whether or not you agree with the main points presented, I do think that this article does make some very valid points that are, at least, worthy of some further discussion?)

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/