Month: November 2020

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Priti Patel – The Tories Poster Girl for How to be a Bully!

Having moved to Peebles in 2002, ‘Stooriefit’ Bosco Santimano gives us his own take on what he feels is the hot topic of the day. This week it’s bullying and Boris Johnson’s support for his Home Secretary Priti Patel despite the conclusion of an inquiry into these allegations.

It beggars belief that anyone at the top always gets away scot-free no matter the severity of the crime, allegation or simply put, utter incompetence. Former top civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam who was permanent secretary at the Home office, had resigned amid bullying allegations by his former Boss and took his case to the employment tribunal claiming constructive dismissal. Sir Philip Rutnam also claimed that the Home Secretary orchestrated a vicious campaign against him. He went on to also add that he had heard many claims of Ms. Patel shouting and swearing, making unreasonable demands and belittling people while doing her job.

Ms. Patel is no stranger to controversy. During her position as a cabinet minister in Theresa May’s government, she was forced to quit after conducting a series of unofficial meetings  with the Israel government while holidaying in that country. As Home Secretary she even considered transferring asylum seekers to the British overseas territory of Ascension Island, an idea considered appalling, inhumane and a logistical nightmare! Due to public and internal pressure PM Boris Johnson setup an inquiry led by Sir Alex Allan to look into these allegations of bullying. Even though the inquiry conveniently found that Ms Patel had “not consistently met the high standards required by the ministerial code”, and “no evidence that she was aware of the impact of her behaviour”. Surprise! Surprise! Sir Allan in his report also mentioned that Ms. Patel did not always treat civil servants with “consideration and respect” and concluded that her approach on occasions “amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying in terms of the impact felt by individuals”. Am I the only one confused by this statement in his report? But Boris the dictator who is arbiter of the code, judged that Ms. Patel did not breach the rules. He continues to have “full confidence” in the Home Secretary and “considers this matter now closed”, according to a Government statement. But the killer move was not allowing the inquiry to interview Sir Philip Rutnam! The real reason why this investigation process was initiated in the first place. Sir Allan has resigned since Boris asked all his MP’s to support Priti Patel and refused to sack her.

Priti Patel was born in this country in 1972 and her parents were refugees who fled Uganda due to Idi Amin’s policy of ordering the expulsion of all Asians from the country within 90 days. Amin accused the minority Asian population of being disloyal to Ugandans, non-integration and undermining the local population. Sounds familiar? Yes! Its ironic that Ms. Patel chose to become a Tory MP, a party that despises asylum seekers and refugees. Under her very own party policies she and her family would be denied entry into the UK today.

So Boris has effectively rejected the findings of his own inquiry and in doing so set a precedent whereby a minister was going to stay in their post for the first time despite this damming report. What does this tell us about Boris the man? In simple terms; “One rule for us, and another for everyone else”.

Power corrupts, while absolute power, corrupts absolutely!

Published in The Peeblesshire News on Friday 27th November 2020.

 

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Disposable Face Masks the new Plastics!

This week Bosco Santimano founder and executive director of social enterprise You Can Cook, shares his thoughts on disposable face masks and the huge environmental impact on our planet!

Since the Covid-19 pandemic officially began in March this year in the UK, capitalists have taken advantage of the crisis to boost their profits along with Westminster Tory MP’s, who have given contracts to their mates and relatives in billions of pounds at the expense of the tax payer. During this pandemic the need for protective equipment has increased among the general public while also increasing plastic pollution. A research that was conducted by shopping comparison website, finder.com found that over half of the people surveyed were using single-use blue surgical face mask. If you take into account that each individual may use at least two masks a day, the UK could be sending as many as 55 million single use face masks to landfill every single day! If you want to understand what that actually means, it’s that we are using enough face masks that weigh the same weight as 100 cars per day. In March, the World Health Organisation estimated that 89 million additional disposable masks were needed globally per month in medical settings to combat COVID-19.

Disposable masks are the new plastic bags and the coronavirus pandemic is increasing the consumption of single-use masks, most of which are made from polypropylene, a form of plastic. Many environmentalist have warned that there is already a surge in disposable face masks and gloves floating like jellyfish across the Mediterranean along with the usual plastic litter of bags, cups and cans.  As much as 13 million tonnes of plastic goes into oceans each year and this estimate is based on a report called “The state of plastic: World Environment Day Outlook 2018” published in 2018 by the UN Environment programme. The report highlights why plastic is used so much (cheap, lightweight and easy to make), only a tiny fraction is recycled while 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into our oceans every year, harming biodiversity, economies and potentially our health. This paper sets out the latest thinking on how we can achieve this. It looks at what governments, businesses and individuals can do to check the runaway production and consumption of plastic.

Fast forward to November 2020 and this report findings has only got worse. If the global population adheres to a standard of one disposable face mask per day after lockdown ends, the pandemic could result in a monthly global consumption and waste of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves. As masks are likely to be part of our daily lives for the foreseeable future, we could do our bit to keep ourselves and other safe by reducing the use of plastic by following these simple steps; choosing reusable masks without disposable filters is a sensible way to help the environment and even keep costs down. Machine wash them regularly and carry a spare when out and about in case of damage to the one you are wearing. If you do need to use a disposable mask, take it home and put it into a bin with a lid. If this isn’t possible, place it in a proper public bin. Don’t put disposable masks in the recycling. They can get caught in specialist recycling equipment and can be a potential biohazard to waste workers and finally do not flush masks down the toilet.

Stay safe and let’s keep our environment clean and safe too!

Published in The Peeblesshire News on Friday 13th November 2020.