Monday 11 October 2021 was "Freedom Day" in Greater Sydney. In our case it's Restriction Day since the new rules actually restrict some freedoms we had Sunday. A newspaper colleague commented: "It's a nightmare trying to keep up with these rules, which keep changing."
That's true. I only realised the impact of the new changes on 6 October and then spent days trying to clarify the rules and their implications for the community activities I was engaged in. After multiple emails and phone conversations plus a rule clarification at the weekend, I think that we have come to a landing point although ambiguities remain. While I think that my involvement was helpful to me and others, it also represented another set of lost days.
A friend commented how hard she had found it to concentrate on her PhD. I have found the same dragging effect on my writing. We both know that it shouldn't matter, we should be able to closet ourselves to focus on our work, but it has. Somehow, telling myself to start writing, to get on with it, doesn't work! Ah well, sad face.
I'm sure that we will do better. There has been some fascinating stuff happening.
4 comments:
Hi Jim
Hope you got through the tornado unscathed.
So sorry to see the damage.
Hi Sue. Quite unscathed although the animals went a bit berserk. Some heavy hail, but the main sweep went east from the UNE top campus in a line east, thus missing this place. A lot of damage to some of the UNE buildings.
Hy Jim - It was Abraham Lincoln who said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." With this in mind why are the Police playing a role in the current pandemic? It's a medical crisis not a law enforcement issue. In the western suburbs of Sydney where I live they are patrolling in helicopters on horseback on foot and in cars. They are intimidating the people they are supposed to protect. They are hanging around shopping malls questioning people about why they are there and where they come from. If the government wants to turn people against getting vaccinated they are going the right way about it. I don't see a role for the Police in any of this. I expect that long after this pandemic is over they will still have the same powers. They should be thoroughly ashamed of what they are doing. Regards Jimmy Kracka
Hi Jimmy. I am a little more relaxed than you about the police powers but then I don't live in Western Sydney where there was such strong reinforcement via police. As a general point, the use of police in this way does risk damage to the police's broader role. The police authority came from the health orders, so will change as those orders change.
Post a Comment