Day 31 (15 April) found us unable to put out a post. Apologies! A brief followup to Day 30: Not only did Donald Trump ignore WHO’s advice, he’s withdrawing all US funding for the organisation. Deflection on the grandest of scales! However, the Commander in Cheat has back-tracked on who makes the decisions. State’s governors do still have authority, it seems. My wife beat me in our daily putting competition on the fifth play-off hole!! That’s 14 games to 8.

So… Geneva, Thursday 16 April 2020

This morning, through the glorious dawn chorus of birdsong, we heard a plane taking off from Geneva’s airport. We rushed out with binoculars to see which airline was flying. Swiss International. We tried to imagine where it was going and how many people were on board. 

The number of countries are actively lifting lockdown measures or planning to do so in the very near future is growing. I estimate crunch time is three weeks away. We’ll know then whether the different versions of lockdown have served to prevent cases or simply delayed their inevitable occurrence.

Neighbouring France seems to be taking the most cautious approach by extending the lockdown to early May at least. The start of the Tour de France has been postponed to 29 August.

Most surprising is that Médecins Sans Frontières has started a programme for homeless people in Canada. Please tell me this is not a publicity stunt! 

Piling up her popularity points, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has imposed on herself and other ministers a pay-cut. The All Blacks rugby team have followed suit. 

I recognise graffiti and street art can be controversial. However, I admit to being a huge fan of Banksy. I have a book of the unidentified artist’s iconic work. In true Bansky style, the book’s cover cites a Metropolitan Police Spokesperson: “Thers’s no way you’re going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover!” Of course, the man who pointed out that “art” is an anagram of “rat” has made his own tribute to lockdown. I love the rat in the mirror counting the days!!

On Day 16 of this Diary, I observed that “the COVID-19 pandemic has rightly elevated health-care workers to a position in public perception of being necessary for national integrity. This position, up to now, has been the near-exclusive domain of the armed forces.” The last two weeks appear to validate this observation. Let’s stay with this theme of the burgeoning importance of health care.

In the 1950s when my father was practicing general practice in rural Norfolk, most of the population were vaccinated against small pox, diphtheria and tetanus. Because of improved living conditions, diseases such as tuberculosis and rheumatic fever were on the decline. The therapeutic drugs available to him were limited pretty much to digitalis, aspirin and morphine. Antibiotics were just arriving. The cost of administering the vaccines, the medicines and any hospital stay were covered by the young and revolutionary National Health Service. It was all free. In most other countries, still today, the patient pays (and is often ripped off.) The wealthier are healthier despite the 1946 WHO constitution promoting “the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being.” Every gain for this right has been hard won; COVID-19 might give it a major bump up the charts. From now on, health care will not just be an assured service for the citizens of wealthier countries; it will be widely acknowledged as a pillar of national integrity going hand-in-hand with national security. This broader view of the importance of health care is generating two welcome developments. First, care homes are coming to be seen as part of the overall health-care system and not just as long-term, entry-only storage facilities for old people. This had to happen at some point because of the increasing proportion of elderly people in every country’s population. Second, and at long last, there is mainstream and urgent reporting of the miserable state of health care in poor countries. COVID-19 has forced recognition that poor people’s lack of access to health care puts us all at risk and, as we are seeing, can precipitate a national economy’s flip into a catastrophic tail-spin.

Please find enclosed a picture of my childhood home. My father’s consulting room and dispensary were on the other side of the house.

PS…. I never could paint trees!

Geneva, Tuesday 14 April 2020

Golfers and non-golfers alike will find Rick Reilly’s exposé of Donald Trump’s behaviour on the golf course both amusing and horrifying. It is essential reading if you want to understand the three-plus years of bluster, lies and seemingly inexplicable statements and decisions of POTUS45 that we have, on a daily basis, come to expect.

The BBC’s North America editor, John Sopel, was present at Trump’s pandemic press briefing yesterday. Sopel described the President’s dialogue with the media as “combative” and the whole event as “the most dizzying, jaw dropping, eyeball popping I have ever attended.” And this most experienced journalist has, as he says, sat in on some corkers! Most astounding was Trump’s statement that “the President of the United States calls the shots” and that he has “total power” to lift restrictions overriding advice from public health experts and whatever decisions might be made at State level. 

It looks like we’re heading fast towards a pivotal phase in the playing out of this pandemic: how and when to lift the current restrictions on our lives so permitting a near-stalled economy to be revitalised without a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and accompanying deaths. China, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Austria, Poland and Japan have all eased some restrictive measures or are about to do so. World leaders are coming face to face with the difficulty of the balancing act they are caught up in. Tellingly, Japan’s Hokkaido – having been in a state of emergency before – had arrived at near zero cases. Restrictions were lifted and now there has been a rapid resurgence of cases and the island is back under a state of emergency. The World Health Organisation has yesterday recommended six criteria that should be fulfilled before a country can lift restrictions. Maybe only South Korea and New Zealand could fulfil these criteria at present. Most other countries will ignore the WHO’s advice. Mr Trump will belittle it maybe because of his self-declared natural abilities in the domain of public health. 

I wish we could put the USA aside in this story. But we can’t. First, in terms of numbers the USA currently holds top spot by far; second, as we are all well aware, what happens in the USA economy affects us all. It is clear that despite staggering and only just levelling figures for COVID-19 cases and deaths, their focus is very soon going to be on economic recovery. This could get messy. 

I really don’t want this Diary to be seen as an opportunity for yet more Trump-bashing. But…. how the USA plans to tiptoe through this policy minefield is far from clear. What is clear is that this tiptoeing will prove to be of world changing importance. From my perspective, it is unimaginable and knee-tremblingly scary that this is going to be decided upon and managed by a man who cheats at golf! 

I would have arrived in New Zealand today but for this pandemic. Here’s a pinnacle moment on a previous trip: finding a blue penguin on what must be one of the world’s wildest beaches.

Geneva, Monday 13 April 2020

We are now into our fifth week of lockdown. Whilst I am getting used to it, the background noise of anxiety is just a bit louder each day.

This morning was fine and clear. It seems as though everything turned green overnight. With this spell of unusually warm weather, the pariah kites (a sub-species of black kite – Milvus migrans) have arrived from Africa for their summer hols hereabouts. They’ll be wheeling overhead in great numbers for the next five months before heading south again.

Amid agitated craws and screeches, a newly arrived kite got into one the crows’ nests in the pine tree right in front of our balcony. We couldn’t see if it was able to grab a nestling but it was seen off by the crows with some vim. The same kite with three of his buddies circled over and around the tree for a good half hour afterwards while the crows flew back and forth making a great din. All this during our daily putting competition!

It seems that everyone has gone down the bread-making route. In our local Coop, there is plenty of bread but flour is now as rare as toilet paper was four weeks ago. 

Fortunately, our stocks are just sufficient to allow my wife to adventure into her first ciabatta. Delicious! All this while Boris the sourdough-starter bides his time in a quiet corner being lovingly fed and watered. The big moment of truth – when we find out if he has got what it takes to make one big sourdough bloomer – will come later this week assuming we can find the flour.

Another moment of truth looms. A number of countries, Spain for example, are moving towards relaxing their self isolation / social distancing measures in the next three weeks. Rest assured, the lifting will be in stages and we will all just have to wait and see whether or not each stage brings a resurgence of cases of COVD-19; if so, re-imposed restrictions are likely. Even though this is light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel stuff, it will be quite the balancing act for those making these decisions. As if to dampen our spirits, China announced today a new rise in cases due to their own nationals returning home. Mr Putin has admitted that Russia has a problem.

I should point out that, whilst I can’t stomach the man’s politics, I was very pleased to hear that the other Boris – the Prime Minister chappy – left hospital yesterday. A headless conservative party in government is a more frightening spectre than one with him in charge. Go, Boris! Back on that horse! After such glowing tributes to the care given to you by NHS staff, you’ll really have to fulfil your election promises to them now.

The putting: Not being as distracted as I was by the kite-crow kerfuffle, my wife beat me 1 – up. Just shows the importance of being able to concentrate! Overall, I’m still up 14 games to 7. At least two weeks to go, though!

Hoping you are all well, safe and calm.