On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... Day 43

Day 43
(Tuesday, 28th April 2020)

Infections globally from the virus have now passed 3 million (according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. More than 211,000 have died ... let's take a moment ... that's 211,000 people, each with a with personality, with a name, with grieving families and friends. It may be small in proportion to the World's population, but that is irrelevant, frankly.  The UK's death toll now stands at 10% of that global total. Whilst Donald Trumpington continues to throw off the blame laid at his door by many sources for not responding to warnings of the threat of a serious global pandemic that have been sounding (from many reliable sources) for at least three years, not forgetting Bill Gates TED talk in 2015 that spoke of precisely this threat, he still insists on putting out statements like "we didn't know about this" and "how could we know". A total imbecile supported by imbeciles! 

In the mean time the UK government is not in the clear over their responses to warnings over a similar time frame. In fact it becomes evident that a serious investigation and multi-party report in 2016 warned of this threat. Very little reference to this work can be found on the internet. Hmmm! There is even a publication, under the umbrella of 'Global Priorities Project 2017', whose title is "Existential Risk Diplomacy and Governance" (https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Existential-Risks-2017-01-23.pdf). 

The remit of this very detailed report is basically to assess and rank the sources of risk of such threats to humanity by scope and severity. They look at risks that range from nuclear war, to volcanic eruptions and new virus pandemics. This has been going on for some time. Here's part of the index:
Examples of risks categorised according to scope and severity

1.1.1 Nuclear war 
1.1.2 Extreme climate change and geoengineering 
1.1.3 Engineered pandemics 
1.1.4 Artificial intelligence 
1.1.5 Global totalitarianism 
1.1.6 Natural processes 
1.1.7 Unknown unknowns

Anyway, I'll not go on about this. You can read the report if you need to understand more. All I wanted to do was point to a few things going on in the World that wouldn't normally get any attention. Speaking of which, the grass needs some attention, in that it needs cutting (Note: we don't 'mow the lawn' here, we cut the grass! If you were to take a walk on it, you'd understand!

Clemency Burton-Hill's choice of music for today is: Lay a Garland by Robert Lucas de Pearsall. This is sung for you by my favourite a cappella Octet, Voces8. The harmonies in this piece are sublime and and totally suited to the beautifully blended voices of this vocal ensemble. Three years ago, we had the pleasure of seeing Voces8 come to perform at the Bradfield Festival of Music, which, besides being just over the hill five miles from us, annually attracts musicians of considerable note, not only from around the UK but also internationally. 

As a footnote, de Pearsall (1795-1856) was "one of Bristol's most musical sons", most of whose work remained unpublished until after his death. Interestingly, he also wrote poetry and did translations of Goethe and Schiller. He also seemed to live after his time because of his interests in what was considered to be not in line, musically, with the Romantic freedoms of the time. He was a "compelling advocate", writes Burton-Hill, "of what he believed in". He was a fan of Renaissance polyphony and the early music of the Catholic and Anglican churches and their conventions such as plainsong.

'Lay a Garland' is an 1840 madrigal was based on a poem from The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, which was entered into the Stationers' Register on this day in 1619.

Lay a garland on her hearse

of dismal yew

Maidens, willow branches wear,

say she died true.

Her love was false, but she was firm.

Upon her buried body lie lightly, 

thou gentle earth.

However you may be affected by anything I've written here, do let me know by leaving a comment below or, if you prefer not to, talk to a loved one, a friend or someone you trust.