It wouldn’t be possible to write
a blog this week without first acknowledging my support for the folk in Ukraine
and the impossible situation they now find themselves in. Likewise, I stand
with all those who have rightly condemned Putin for leading his country into
war, and threatening not only the rest of Europe, but the rest of the world
too. Long term readers of this blog will know I have a great affection for all
things Eastern European. Although I have never actually been to Ukraine, for
many years I have visited and undertaken joint research with many colleagues
who live and work in the surrounding countries – Finland, Romania, Lithuania,
Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. I have also
been to Russia twice. Wherever I have visited I have always felt welcomed, safe
and privileged to work with so many others interested in improving nurse
education, research and practice.
Last Friday, my fellow blogger
@RoyLilley posted a poignant and significant blog in which he reminded us of
the need to be aware of those folk in the NHS who may need someone to be there
for them right now. He described the NHS as the United Nations of care, which I
thought was a brilliant description. He also noted that of the 1.35 million
people working in the NHS, about 33,000 of these come from those countries I
listed above. Read his blog here – his words are important.
Probably a great deal more
important than mine this week. My week’s notes (stories I have read that piqued
my interest) appear, in hindsight, to be far more trivial. For example, a
stretch of road between Cardigan and Aberystwyth in Wales (somewhere I also
know very well) has just been resurfaced using 107,00 recycled used nappies.
Three billion used nappies are disposed of each year in the UK. They can take
up to 500 years to break down in landfill sites. I think this initiative is an
ingenious sustainability idea. There were other surprises too.
The John Lewis Partnership announced
that it will be dropping the ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ promise – it was
a price promise that was first made in 1925. It was a sign of trust for the
brand, but of course it was a promise made before online shopping became so
popular. Sadly, it is also a reflection of the ever-increasing cost of living we
are all now beginning to feel the impact of. Last week, Unilever said the price
of Marmite, Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream would
all rise in this year. Likewise, Nestle are set to increase the price of its goods,
so your Cheerios, Smarties and pet food will all cost more. However, there was
a rise of a different sort reported by Reckitt Benckiser. Sales of Durex condoms,
KY Lubricants, and strangely, Veet hair removal cream were all up massively
since the start of the pandemic.
And let’s not forget the anticipated
rise in energy costs, council tax, national insurance all of which have fuelled
rapidly increasing rates of inflation. The ever-increasing costs (and shortages)
of raw materials, and available labour, continue to add to these problems. Despite
being exhorted to ‘Live with Covid’, the pandemic has not gone away. It was
against this rather depressing backcloth of an almost perfect economic storm
that I turned to J last week and asked her if we should move to Finland.
I don’t think the question had
anything to do with the fact we were just finishing off a bottle of leftover
Christmas mulled wine (we all have to make economies now), but possibly more to
do with a set of rather rose-tinted memories on my part of the wonderful times I
have spent there. At one time I would travel across to Finland two or three times
a year to teach anthropology and medical sociology to nursing students doing
their nursing degrees in English. Fun times, with lots of fond memories of the
people who over time became my friends. However, J, who has never been to Finland
wasn’t convinced. ‘Why would we want to go and live there?’ she asked; a
reasonable question I thought. Well, I said, they have forests, a great health
and social care system, no homelessness, forests, saunas, snow, everyone speaks
English, and they like to eat a lot of fish (as does J). They also have the youngest
Prime Minister in the world, Sanna Marin, aged just 36. Brushing aside this
last fact, J also pointed out they had a long land border with Russia. With
mulled wine-fuelled courage I said, whilst the Finns didn’t like the Russians, it
was in part due to their history. Finland was part of the former Russian Empire
between 1809-1917.
In the 21st Century, no
one living in Finland really expects a return to Russian rule. Yesterday, the
UK media was full of stories of the threats being made by Putin towards both
Finland and Sweden. Witnessing what is happening in Ukraine today, those
threats feel very real indeed. So, I guess we won’t be moving to Finland
anytime soon – Apologies Mikko, Leena, and Heikki. But back to that sense of
helplessness mentioned above – well there are a
number of web sites providing information on some practical things you might choose to do in supporting folk in Ukraine. https://www.rescue.org/article/how-can-i-help-ukraine * https://time.com/6151353/how-to-help-ukraine-people/ *
I’m keeping all those women, men
and children in the Ukraine in my prayers and thoughts, and likewise, those
brave folk in Russia who have taken to the streets to express their feelings
about the invasion – ‘net voine’ (‘no to war’). In war, nobody
wins. So, we should also think about those Russian soldiers who find themselves
in a place that they (and nobody else other than Putin) wanted to be. Net
Voine.
* The name of this land, Україна, is prophetic in a very profound way. The single name of this special country is Ukraine, and in Ukrainian (and also in Russian), it is spoken with a cry.
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