Goals update eleven

One. I’ve started dabbling with my most complete script again, but time is tight right now.

Two. I’m still jogging around three times a week, but haven’t got beyond week six of the 5K programme. If I feel up to it, I’ll have another go at the third run later this week to try and push on to week seven of the programme.

Three. My weight today was 109.4kg, which is 0.3kg higher than last week. I did go over 110kg when I came back from holiday in late August, but mostly it’s been between 109-110kg. I haven’t got back into full on intermittent fasting, instead I’ve been doing calorie restricted and time restricted eating on certain days. Although I’ve been holding it down, I’ve noticed that more sugar and booze is creeping back in to my diet, something that won’t be helped by a wedding I’m going to next week. I need to set myself up for another round of intermittent fasting, ideally before the end of September or bad habits will cement themselves again.

Four. Been doing quite a bit of work in DAX. I’d been hoping to order the new edition of the definitive guide published by Microsoft, but it’s currently out of stock in the UK.

Five. I’ve had a few more bits of DIY recently, like sorting out the loft hatch. However, my wife is now pushing me to make a start on the garage door before the weather gets too poor.

Six. I borrowed a book on Python from the library last weekend, but I haven’t had any time to work with it yet.

Seven. Nothing.

12 Rules for Life: a review

More than two years on from the Chimp Paradox I’ve read my second self-help book, or my second sort of self-help book, as I suspect Jordan B. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is also atypical of the genre.

Like others with an interest in contemporary politics I’ve come across Peterson online and found him an intriguing character; my interest piqued by the hysterical overreaction of certain sections of the left leaning commentariat to even his most mundane pronouncements. I’ve seen him denounced as a dangerous ideologue and a hard-left bigot on the back of fairly innocuous, if distinctly untrendy, comments. Having now read three hundred plus pages of his work I’ve still yet to see any proper evidence legitimising such ad-hominem attacks, but I do understand why they are dished out in bad faith.

In summary the book is a series of didactic lessons spun from a mixture of philosophy and anecdotes that entreat the reader to accept the human life experience as fundamentally challenging and to work towards becoming better individuals. It’s very much about brutal self-honesty, recognising our failings and trying to find small but realistic ways of improving ourselves and more importantly the world around us. Peterson has a fundamentally socially conservative, anti-authoritarian worldview which is grounded in Christianity with a smattering of eastern and classic western philosophy. But he’s not trying to convert anyone, his call to something higher works just as well for atheists; it’s finding our personal meaning that counts, not finding god.

Is it an interesting and thought-provoking book? Yes. Is it profound? Not for me personally, but then I have a fairly individualistic, liberal-conservative outlook to begin with. Peterson is an intelligent man for sure, and there are some genuine bombs of insight dropped from time to time, but I don’t think he’s a great writer. At times the pedagogical mix of high philosophy and homespun wisdom comes across a little patronising, and though the arguments are intellectually well constructed they are just a bit too laboured at times. A tighter editor could probably have whittled away twenty five percent of the verbage without losing the messages.

So how about those ad-hominem insults, well it’s clear that his worldview runs counter to modish post-modern/nihilistic philosophies, and his strong moral backbone will be incongruous to those who prefer cultural and moral relativism. Once upon a time those holding the views he criticises might have fronted up to the challenge, but today the noisier sections of the commentariat tend to be hyper-sensitive and overly emotive when challenged, measured disagreement being replaced with hysterically overblown insults; he’s ‘hard right’, he’s ‘a bigot’, he’s ‘a misogynist’. 

Such screeching bad faith serves a double purpose. Firstly, it bypasses the need for coherent counterarguments, such as would require a decent level intellectual of horsepower. Secondly, the spray of logical fallacy demonstrates how ‘right-on’ the critic is, which at least signals virtue to the similarly minded who also lack the intellect to address the arguments head on. I can’t help but feel that if he was less white and leaned towards a religion that isn’t Christianity the same critics would offer him free pass to hold genuinely unpleasant views.

Peterson stands bravely and unapologetically in opposition to popular grievance narratives of oppression and victimhood, so it’s no surprise that he rattles the nerves of those hooked on such junk, whilst those who make a living peddling them sense threat from a man with a popular platform calmly dismantling their business models.   

Claims of misogyny seem to stem from Peterson’s warnings around the unwanted side effects of emasculating men with supposedly ‘progressive’ social engineering campaigns. It’s stretching to more than the absurd to find hatred of women in such views, though it’s true some of his best advice is probably more useful to young men looking to find purpose in life. What he does well, unforgivably well for his critics, is raise tough questions around how the biological characteristics developed over hundreds of thousands of years clash with fashionable modern concepts of ‘gender as a social construct’ (especially in the context of the identity politics industry). For Peterson it isn’t about the patriarchy versus the matriarchy, it’s about evolution and that definitely matters to the happiness of both men and women.

Some criticism stems from his use of the loaded term ‘Cultural Marxism’ to describe the pernicious effects of critical theory in academia. This can be arcane stuff; it’s certainly highly charged for those who both peddle and oppose such ideology. I think he’s probably right about the toxic affects of such charlatanry on post-modern philosophy, but the terminology is problematic. Many of those promoting what he refers to as ‘Culturally Marxist’ views probably don’t consider themselves part of that tradition even if they are heavily influenced by such woo, whilst for some grievance professionals it’s a pseudoscience they don’t really need even if it is convenient to their scam, whereas the genuine Marxists would probably reject such identification as too lightweight even if the workings are familiar. Better care should have been taken with terminology.

Ultimately, it’s a useful volume for people of all genders, sexes, cultures, creeds and ethnicities who are looking for a way beyond the cesspit of victimhood narratives and moral and cultural relativism. Such people have nothing to lose, as the only people who ever gain from such narratives are those who make a professional living selling them. If your willing to be honest with yourself and take small, positive steps to make yourself better, then Peterson can probably help.

Goals update ten

One. Nothing, and I’m getting a bit conscious I’m not taking advantage of the time I could spend on it.

Two. I’m stuck on week six - run two of the programme, which I’ve repeated three or four times now. It’s two ten-minute jogs, with a three-minute walk in the middle.  I did attempt run three a couple of weeks ago, a straight through twenty-five-minute run, but I screwed up my rhythm, went to quick too early and blew up after about eight minutes. The current run is still a reasonable workout, especially compared to where I was three months ago, but to do run three I need be in the right mood and quickly find a good rhythm. I’ve found that settling into a comfortable pace can really make or break a run, and I find it easier on fast days when I feel lighter. My longest run to date was a straight through twenty minute one at the end of programme week five, but it was a real struggle and I’m not sure I’ve got enough miles under my belt yet to go longer. Main thing is I keep repeating my current run until I feel the momentum is there.

Three. I’ve been doing a mixture of intermittent fasting and time restricted eating for about seven weeks now, and my weight was down to 109.3kg this morning. I’m roughly 7kg lighter than when I started and its noticeable in the fit of my clothes. I recorded 111.3kg on the hospital scales on the 30^th July, which was within my target of 111-112kg, and got a positive remark from the locum consultant. The weight loss has started to tail off, but I know I’ve been gradually relaxing my discipline. I always knew it’d be hard to stick to such a rigorous plan for a long time, so I’m going to try and stabilise for a few weeks. I’ll still be keeping an eye on what I eat and drink, but I’m not going to be as strict. I’m away camping next week, then it’s the annual Challenge Cup Final jolly, so keeping a strict diet would be very difficult. So, I’m just going to try and avoid ballooning over the next two weeks, then I’ll start stricter intermediate fasting again when I go back to work the last week in August, and aim to do it for about four weeks up until a friend’s wedding on the 20^th September.

Four. I’ve been doing some DAX work, but it’s still pretty simple formulas. I’m going to look at ordering the new essential guide when I get back to work in a couple of weeks.

Five. I’ve done a few bits and pieces on the DIY front, and finally got around to measuring up the side door of the garage earlier this week. If I get chance before we go camping next week I’ll have a scan around B&Q and Wickes to price up the materials I need. I’ll also do my usual YouTube research on how to put it all together. With a bit of luck, I might get it done over the bank holiday weekend.

Six. Nothing.

Seven. Nothing.

Healthier You Update

Been a bit too busy for blogging lately, but I did get a positive response from East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group about my complaint. I received a call from the diabetes prevention programme manager who apologised for the way my referral was handled, he admitted there had been ‘resource issues with the provider’ (although he didn’t name Ingeus by name) and that I wasn’t the only working person who’d had difficulties. Apparently, there is a new provider coming in shortly to provide a more flexible service including an online programme for those who cannot get to appointments during the day. He’s going to put my name forward as one of the first to be referred to this, so I await further news.

Thoughts on the Fast 800 Diet

Having picked up Michael Mosley’s Fast 800 book a couple of months back I finally got around to reading it at the end of June. I’ve been toying with trying intermittent fasting for a while now, so this was kind of research. The approach centres on fasting, basically reducing calorific consumption down to 800 calories a day, with some additional elements of time restricted eating, basically eating within a certain ‘window’ of time each day to promote ketosis.

The recommended plan is a period of rapid weight loss (the Fast 800) by consuming just 800 calories a day for between two weeks and two months, followed by a less restrictive regime of intermittent fasting, whereby you fast a few days per week, and eat normally but healthily on the other days (the 5:2 diet). However, it accepts that sticking to Fast 800 for several weeks may not be practical or even advisable for everyone, so there is a degree of flexibility. Slower, but less intense weight loss options that are recommended include just doing the 5:2 or adding additional fast days without going the full Fast 800.

I decided that the full Fast 800 was unlikely to work for me, the severity of the restriction would be difficult to maintain, particularly at weekends. But fasting a few days a week, and doing time restricted eating on non-fast days was probably manageable. So, for the past two weeks I’ve been fasting around 3 to 3 and a half days per week. Basically, I’ve been fasting on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, keeping my calories down to around 800. On Friday’s I’ve been fasting up until the evening but not sticking to 800 calorie limit (although still consuming less than a normal day). On Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday I try to consume all meals within an eight-hour window, typically noon till 8pm, although I have drunk the odd beer after this time. I chose these days because I’m in the office Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday which helps restrict potential for snacking or large meals, whereas Wednesdays and the weekend have more temptations. 

   

So far, it’s gone pretty well, during the early fast days I did feel tired in the afternoons, and occasionally light headed (‘keto flu’ apparently), but it has gotten easier. I do feel mildly hungry for most of the day, but not as bad as I thought I might. The results are also encouraging, before I started I was weighing (on my scales) between 116.2kg and 116.8kg, this morning I was down to 113.0kg. I suspect the rate of loss will taper off, but if I can get town to between 111kg and 112kg for my next consultant appointment on 30^th July I will be happy. After that I’ll consider moving to 5:2 plus time restricted healthy eating as a possible long-term pattern. It will also help that we’re going to attempt to change our diet as a whole family, so out with sweets and highly refined carbs and in with more complex carbs and fibre.

Goals update nine

One. Nothing.

Two. Things are going well, I'm now on week four of the new programme and running for longer than I'm walking. Last night I managed a total of sixteen minutes of jogging, in two three minute bursts and two five minute bursts. A combination of growing stamina and sense of pacing are the key. A couple of months ago I struggled with a minute and a half of jogging, now I can manage five.

Three. My weight has been bouncing around all over the place. Two weeks ago I weighed in at 115.8kg on my home scales, only to weigh in at 115.2kg on the GP scales three hours later. Last week I was 116.8kg at home despite feeling I hadn't done anything to warrant the rise. I finally got round to reading Michael Mosley's 'Fast 800' book which I picked up a couple of months back, so I'm now giving intermittent fasting a shot, but I'll try and write something more about that later this week. At my annual health review last week my blood sugar levels were stable, and my cholesterol had improved slightly, the only worrying thing was that my eGFR came back at 23 which is lowest yet. I'll be having another test in about three weeks so I'll have a better view by the end of the month when I see the consultant again.

Four. Some light DAX work as part of a solution I'm prototyping in Azure Analysis Services.

Five. My wife and I discussed replacing the garage door in the next couple of months, but we've decided to leave the electrical supply for at least a year till we replace the decking in the garden. But I've got a list of other jobs I'm working my way through at the moment, so not had much time to plan this work in.

Six. Nothing.

Seven. Nothing.

Ingeus and Healthier You: a total shower of shit

In my last few posts I’ve mentioned all is not well with my referral to ‘Healthier You’ the not so early intervention diabetes programme. I’ve written before about the shambolic performance from Ingeus, the outsourced provider delivering the programme in my area, but having given it the benefit of the doubt several times I found thing only ever got worse.

A short summary of events: in late 2017 my GP referred me to this programme, he thought it would be helpful given my health issues and weight management difficulties. I didn’t hear anything for several months, I mentioned this to the practice nurse during a routine appointment, she did a little digging and uncovered I’d been rejected. But Ingeus hadn’t bothered to inform me, and nobody at the surgery had picked up on it. So, she helpfully got the referral raised again, a month or so later I got the letter inviting me to join and a few weeks later a phone call to arrange times.

According to the bumf, the programme would be delivered as group sessions around two hours long, starting with four weeks of weekly sessions and then nine months of monthly sessions. Sounded like a clinically charged-up version of Weight Watchers. The first advisor offered me sessions on a Tuesday afternoon, but I had to decline as they were nowhere near work and taking thirteen half days off was a bit of a stretch. But it was okay, they would find me an evening session, after all there will be loads of people like me who work during the day, people who could benefit from early intervention but find appointments during the day a challenge.

About eight months goes by without word, then I get a second call offering me a later afternoon slot, a little bit further away. I decline again, tell the advisor I’m waiting for an evening slot, they tell me they class late afternoon as an evening slot. I tell them it’s still not helpful as I need an actual evening slot, they confirm they can see this from my previous contact. I’m told they’ll have another go at finding me a genuine evening slot and someone will get back to me in a few weeks. 

Two months later a third advisor calls and admits that evening slots don’t exist and they think it’s best if I’m discharged from the programme so my GP can try to find something more appropriate. We have a slightly awkward conversation where he tactfully acknowledges the programme isn’t designed to support people who work during the day, without presenting this as a bit of a fuck up.

A few weeks after that I get a gratuitously inappropriate letter from Ingeus, packed with glib platitudes about how serious diabetes is, and expressing how sorry it is I’ve decided to leave the programme. What the fuck! 

Now, maybe the warning signs were always there, the failure to communicate the initial rejection, the extended wait for the non-existent evening slots being pretty clear indicators. But, perhaps the biggest warning sign was in the promotional bumf, the brochure is plastered with a diverse range of stock photos, but go to the patient case studies on the website and they are overwhelmingly older people, the type who are likely to be retired or semi-retired, not so much in the way of people who work full time and have young families to juggle.

I decided to complain to NHS England, firstly about the piss poor communications which meant it took a year and a half to get to the point where Ingeus, grudgingly, admitted it wasn’t able to support people who work during the day, and secondly about the stupidity of commissioning delivery from a provider unable to support a large chunk of the population for whom an early intervention programme could bring major benefits. Unfortunately, NHS England claims it didn’t commission the programme, which was a surprising given its website says it did (here and here). Maybe the NHS website has been hacked with fake news?

So now I’ve raised the same complaint with East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group. I sent the letter over a week ago and haven’t heard anything back yet. I don’t have high expectations. I’m betting on a letter with some waffle about budgets being tight, brushing over why a small portion of it couldn’t be put towards people who need evening appointments, especially given the long-term cost saving to the NHS from doing early intervention properly. Or perhaps it’s deliberate, and it was always intended as early intervention for older people, but Ingeus just forgot to mention this when put together communications material?

However, I’ll end on a positive note. I had my annual check-up last week and my blood sugar levels are stable, even if they are still in the pre-diabetes range. I also have an appointment lined up next week with the diabetes lead nurse to discuss possible ways forward.

Goals update eight

One. Didn’t hear anything back from Rusty Quill about my entry, but I wasn’t really expecting to given the number of entries they’ll have received. I’m trying to find some time to polish up my first script so I can get the ball rolling again.

Two. I’ve been keeping up the runs, and my stamina is definitely increasing. The decision to switch to the ‘Couch to 5k’ app from Public Health England was a good move, I’ve done the week one run four times and next week I’ll try week two for the first time.

Three. No real change in my weight, 116.2kg this week. I was supposed to have my annual medical review this coming Wednesday, but the lab at East Surrey Hospital fucked up the urine test, so it had to be moved back a week. The GP surgery called me on Friday afternoon to tell me the lab had refused to process my urine sample because the bottle was incorrectly labelled, there was no further information about what that actually meant, but it sounds like total bollocks. Not only do I remember completing the label on the bottle, but I sealed it in the sample bag which had a handy printout from the GP attached. Somehow they knew what the sample was, what it was for, who had ordered it, who it was from, and even knew when it was submitted because I had a blood test done at same time, but they couldn’t process my piss because some detail they already had available in front of them was apparently missing from the bottle. Fortunately, they did process the blood, so those labels must have been acceptable!

Four. I’ve started a DAX training course from Pluralsight, and next week I’ll be using it anger on my current project.

Five. The garage has had a bit of a tidy out, I did a couple of dump runs this morning. But there’s other stuff I need to do before I attempt to replace the door.

Six. Nothing.

Seven. Nothing.  

Goals update seven

One. I’ve written a new story and submitted it to Rusty Quill’s 'Rusty Fears 2' competition. I doubt it will win, as there’s likely to be a lot of high-quality competition, but having a deadline forced me to complete the story. I’m not normally a fan of writing to a brief, but the theme was wide enough to allow me to interpret it in my own way. The bonus is that I can fit it into the mythical ‘universe’ I’m creating with some of my other stories.

Two. I’ve been pretty good recently, doing three runs most weeks. I can feel my stamina increasing, although I’ve been sticking to the week one programme. This week I’m going to shuffle thing up a bit by trying out a the ‘Couch to 5k’ app from Public Health England. I’m also going to try adding some strength exercises into the mix, which will hopefully move things along a bit.

Three. My weight has been bouncing around between 115.5kg and 116.5kg lately, with a lot of it seeming to be down to how big a meal I had the night before the weigh in. My referral to the ‘Healthier You’ programme has turned into a complete clusterfuck, but I’ll write a proper post about that. I have picked up a book on the 5:2 diet by Michael Mosley, but I haven’t had chance to read it yet.

Four. I’ve been doing some training on Azure Analysis Services as part of a project at work, there’ll be some DAX training as part of that.

Five. Nothing on the garage, I need to start doing some planning to replace the side door. But I’ve got a list of other DIY things to do this weekend.

Six. Nothing.

Seven. Nothing.  

Goals update six

No updates recently as I spent a good chunk of April on holiday in Florida, followed by Easter and a busy week or two when I went back to work.

One. Nothing recently, no time.

Two. I didn't do much for most of April as I was away. This past week or so I've been making attempts to get back into the swing of things. Post-Florida I picked up a cold, but it’s almost shifted now, and my stamina is slowly rebuilding.

Three. The holiday in Florida, followed by Easter celebrations back home pushed me up to 117kg. It wasn't so much that I binged on holiday, I was just a bit lax, a couple too many beers and cheeseburgers. I'm trying to get things back on track with more controlled eating habits, but it doesn't help there's a shitload of chocolate and sweets in the house at the moment. My next consultant appointment has been rescheduled again, from late May to late July, so I’ve got a bit of time, and I really want to be down to 113/114kg by then. Given this is the second postponement it did leave me wondering about how much intelligence goes into delaying appointments. And on the subject of delays; I had a phone call from 'Healthier You' before I went away, which I'll write about separately, but it’s fair to say it wasn't particularly helpful.

Four. Nothing.

Five. Nothing on the garage, but a number of other DIY tasks have cropped up. My wife and I bought a new divan style bed for our daughter from Ikea. It was a mission putting it together, it being incredibly heavy due to all the built-in storage. I also replaced another light switch in the bedroom, confirming my suspicion that the builder selected the shitist switches possible when he did the extension. 

Six. Nothing.

Seven. Nothing.

The coveting of Warlingham Village School

A long, off-topic post, but one I think offers some insight. I should make clear these are personal observations based on information in the public domain, conversations I’ve been exposed to and stuff I learned during my time in local politics. I have no dog in this fight beyond my former associations, that and a shit outcome will be a daily inconvenience. 

About six months ago Surrey County Council (SCC) floated the idea of demolishing a local primary school, Warlingham Village School. Rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and a bedrock of the community for over a century, generations of locals have sent their kids there, so predictably a backlash ensued.

The rationale is that the school is oversubscribed and the current site is difficult to redevelop. SCC would ‘relocate’ it to a new build on the opposite side of the village. The proposed site being a recreation ground on Limpsfield Road currently designated green belt. This would deliver the new school places SCC claim are needed to meet future local demand. It took about thirty seconds for locals to notice some glaring problems with this narrative. 

Firstly, the claim about local demand for places is dubious. The existing school is oversubscribed, but SCC have failed to demonstrate this is a significant issue as there are at least five other primary schools within two miles. So, there’s little evidence of an overall shortage of places in the local vicinity. In fact, another primary school, Hamsey Green, on the side of the village SCC is proposing to relocate to, has confirmed it is currently undersubscribed. 

The claim the current school site cannot be redeveloped has also not been proven. Nobody is claiming it would be easy, but how much effort has been put into assessing it? Besides, Hamsey Green School has confirmed it is able to expand its intake without difficulty, there just isn’t sufficient demand for the places it already has. 

So where is SCC seeing this demand? Probably not in Warlingham! Other parts of Tandridge District may have shortages, particularly the southern parts on the other side of the M25. But, this proposal is of little benefit to those areas. My understanding is that the oversubscription at Warlingham Village primarily affects applications from outside the local area. The school at Hamsey Green, being on the London border, actually takes a lot of pupils from the neighbouring London Borough of Croydon, and the new site is likely to be similar given it’s geographically more accessible to Croydon than other parts of Surrey. 

Which brings us to another problem; traffic. Unless Hamsey Green gets the chop (which would make the whole exercise pointless), filling the additional surplus means places means transporting kids in to the village via its busiest road. The geography means public transport links to Croydon are far better than to neighbouring parts of Surrey, suggesting more cars entering the village on the school run each day if SCC really wants to address real shortages. 

A reasonable summary of affairs is that SCC wants to demolish a much loved, successful, local school, to generate what appears to be a massive oversupply of school places. Whilst the location of the proposed site means it will probably benefit kids from Croydon rather than resolving issues in other parts of Surrey! 

Why would anybody from SCC’s education department come up with such a plan? Obviously, they didn’t! The whole thing is euphemistically referred to as ‘a developer led initiative’, and is driven by opportunities in the local political landscape. 

Firstly, SCC is skint, really, really, skint and although Warlingham Village School is operated by the GLF academy chain, the land it sits on is owned by SCC and it would be worth a small fortune developed as housing. Parents opposing the scheme also believe the developers have designs on a big parcel of green belt land right behind it which would be worth even more, if weren’t for a pesky school in the way. 

Secondly, now is the best chance in years for developers to rip the Limpsfield Road recreation ground out of the green belt, and reap the windfall profits that would bring. Tandridge District Council (TDC), the local planning authority, is in the final stages of adopting a new local plan. It’s pretty much accepted that some green belt, which covers around 94% of the district, will be sacrificed to government pressure to pour concrete. (I could write pages about the Conservative Party’s sleazy relations with developers, about the wheezes used to force overdevelopment, about the economics of externalised costs and windfall profits, and about local plans and nimbys, but this post is already too long!) What matters is that releasing land from the green belt equals massive windfall profits to the lucky developer. 

In late 2016 TDC put out a 'call for sites' to owners of green belt who wanted it assessed for potential development under the proposed local plan. Lots of pastures, playing fields and golf courses were submitted; including some land banked precisely in hope of such opportunity. The proposed school site was lucky enough to be selected in 'Category 2: Green Belt Sites within an Area for Further Investigation'. This doesn’t mean the site will be released, it is still green belt, but it made it a much softer target. (And it appears the developer is pretty much treating this particular jackpot as a banker, which could be simple overconfidence or a sign of something more fetid). 

Developing green belt requires 'exceptional circumstances' be demonstrated, a somewhat ambiguous designation in planning law that basically sets the bar above any general merit of a scheme. The opportunity to make windfall profits is not an exceptional circumstance, nor is a general demand for housing. Exceptional circumstances are when there is no other way of delivering a demonstrated need, where all reasonable alternatives have been explored and ruled out. 

A confirmed ‘need’ for more school places is probably as good a stab at ‘exceptional circumstances’ as can be found in this case; ‘somebody needs to think of the children’! That said, to swing it the decision-making process will need to avoid looking too closely at the basis for local need, and then ignore the more obvious alternatives I've already hinted at. However, from previous experience, the ‘presumption in favour of development’ may well bend to routes in planning law that bypass any such ground truth. I’ve also no doubt that some in that process can be incentivised, by one means or another, to turn a blind eye to inconvenient facts (I won't exactly be shocked if local hearsay that the deal has already been stitched up turns out to be true). 

A remit of the new local plan is addressing infrastructure needs, and school places could fall under this. Although I don’t believe there is any specific local requirement identified, nor any prescription that a supply of new places should be located where they are genuinely needed. As far as local authority box ticking is concerned, building a school in an area where it’s not needed, is probably just as good as building one where it really is needed. A new school could be lauded as a great achievement by SCC even as a glut of excess places are filled by kids from Croydon and the problem for Surrey kids remains unresolved (by law SCC cannot bar London kids from taking them). 

For the developer of the Limpsfield Road site the advantages are obvious. Without the school it would probably take much longer to get the site out of the green belt, but once out it can develop the rest of the site for residential use. Outright residential development would probably be more lucrative, and would mitigate the overdevelopment squeeze that comes as standard with such schemes, but the need to fit in a school pretty much makes overdevelopment on the rest of the site inevitable. To make matters worse it’s been suggested it will be given over to yet more of the ‘later living’ retirement hutches that are increasingly scabbing over the village, changing its character for the worse (I could do another post on this disease; its economic drivers and implications for the local community). 

Proper residential development, homes for local families as opposed to retirement communities, would probably the second-best outcome for the local community, the best outcome being retaining the recreation ground. However, a similar site exists close by, the former Shelton Leisure ground. It’s in the same category but is likely to be released for development first. It has the advantage of being land banked several years ago when the business folded, by securing the perimeter and preventing its use, the owners have a much stronger case for claiming it’s redundant as a recreation ground and should be concreted at the first available opportunity. There's a whole schtick now being pushed by developer shills to 'reimagine' these types of sites as 'low grade' green belt or 'scrub land' fit only for concreting (pushing the Overton window in the direction of windfall profits).

For SCC the objective appears to be to cash in the current school site, tap into capital funding sources for new school places, and cut a mutually beneficial deal with the developer of the Limpsfield Road site in return for the ‘exceptional circumstances’ needed to kick start the whole programme. This plan is even more lucrative if the parcel of green belt behind the school is part of the package. (Although, if the green belt behind the school is a viable target for development it begs the question of why the school itself cannot expand on to it?) 

I’m sure over the next few months there will be plenty of charlatans advocating for the SCC and the developer, claiming how demolishing a community asset, concreting green belt and choking the village with additional traffic is just what the community needs, but any credible assessment needs to highlight the distorting incentive of windfall on such claims. Would a developer give over a brownfield site in Warlingham for such a development? Unlikely! Would SCC normally build a new school in an area which already has a surplus of places and much easier alternatives? Not a chance! 

Goals update five

I've been a little slack with updates lately; other stuff getting in the way. One. I've done some editing work on my most complete script, but I'm disappointed with my own lack of effort. I also took a detour to the 'hobbies event' at the local church hall on Saturday in the hope of making contacts with one of the local drama groups, unfortunately the Operatic Society was the closest thing to what I'm looking for. Two. Recently it's been one or two jogs per week. I've dropped down to the 'week one' programme, which is challenging enough to get my heart pumping. It's sounds like an excuse, but there are only so many slots each week I can fit these runs in, and lately I've been out of routine. Three. This week I weighed in at 114.9kg. It crept up a bit following a trip up north to see the folks over half-term, but I've given up chocolate and sweets for Lent so hopefully that will help get me back on track. Four. Nothing DAX related, but I have been doing more work with Power BI and SQL Server, the latter being a little bit frustrating, partly because I'm used to the Oracle 'dialect' of SQL and the Microsoft version is a little different, and partly because SQL Server seems far less adept at casting and converting between different data types. Still, I'm doing stuff in Azure and it's more interesting than mundane work in Business Objects. Five. I've not done anything on my garage project, but I've had other DIY tasks to keep me busy. I fitted a new flush mechanism to the toilet in the main bathroom, resolving an intermittent fault which would cause it to keep running after being flushed. The problem had been going on for a while, but became more pertinent when we moved to a water meter last year. I was supposed to put together a new storage box for the garden, but the 'heavy duty' box my wife ordered via a Woucher deal turned out to be a flimsy piece of shit that had already begun breaking up in transit (the delivery driver throwing it over didn't help). So she's going through the hassle of getting the company that mis-sold it to come and collect it again. This weekend I'll be getting a real heavy duty box from B&Q. Six. Did a bit of work in Python this week, just a simple script to do some merging, renaming and reorganising of CSV files but it's been quite handy with a project I'm working on. Seven. Not a chance! But, I've got a £10 Waterstones voucher left from Christmas and I'm wondering whether to look for a simple primer I can read over the Easter holidays. I've already picked up a copy of Peter Frankopan's 'The Silk Roads' for this break, so it maybe better to balance that with something a little lighter?

Goals update four

Nothing much to report. Weighed in at 114.9kg, pretty much as expected. Only managed one run as weather and personal circumstances ate in to my available time. I have some time off over the next couple of weeks, so hopefully will have some progress to report.

Goals update three

One. Nothing to report. Just too busy.

Two. Only one run again. We were hit by snow and ice which made running pretty difficult. I’m going to make a fresh start on the ‘week two’ programme tomorrow.

Three. I weighed in at 114.8kg. I suspect I’ll have gone back up again this week though.

Four. Busy on other projects, but focus should shift back to Power BI in next week or so.

Five. Nothing to report. I’ve got a bunch of jobs to sort this weekend.

Six. Nothing to report.

Seven. Nothing to report.

Goals update two

One. My acoustic foam looks good, but the fabric cube is a bit too big, so I’ll pick up another one in the next week or so. I haven’t had chance to do any proper testing yet though.

Two. Unfortunately, I only got one run done due to family commitments impinging on my Friday and Sunday slots. I did the first run of the ‘week two’ programme again, and I’ll probably stick to that again tomorrow (provided the snow melts so I can get out). I don’t think moving up to the ‘week three’ programme is viable at this stage.

Three. Weight unchanged, I’ve starting moved towards a new diet, but so far it’s been a case of trying to moderate rather than restrict.

Four. More proof of concept work with Power BI, but nothing DAX related.

Five. Nothing to report. On the DIY front I had to patch up the winter cover on the rabbit hutch after a fox decided to try and get in. Fortunately, the rabbits were unharmed.  

Six. Nothing to report.

Seven. Nothing to report.

Goals update one

One. I’ve ordered some acoustic foam panels to complete my homemade ‘recording cube’.

Two. I dusted off the Run 5K app and did the three ‘week one’ programme sessions last week, and the first session of ‘week two’ yesterday. The sessions are a mix of walks interspersed with bursts of running (jogging really). It was tough, I hit the wall a few times, especially with the first session of ‘week two’ as the split between walking and running stepped up. I may need to repeat week one again. One thing I did learn quickly was wearing decent footwear is important, the first two sessions I used beat up old trainers and ended up with heel pain, so they went in the bin and I swapped them out with a new pair of running trainers.

Three. My first proper weight-in post-Christmas put me at 116.3kg, then 15.5kg yesterday. That’s pretty good seeing as I haven’t really made much of an effort to diet as I finish off all the leftover chocolates from Christmas. The coming week should be more telling.

Four. I’ve been doing some proof of concept work with Power BI at work, so I watched a few videos relating to DAX but there is surprisingly little available free-to-view. Even the paid for training materials I have access to through work are pretty weak on anything but the most basic DAX. A new edition of the ‘definitive’ guide from Microsoft is published in a few weeks, so I’ll probably just pony up for that.

Five. Nothing to report on the garage, but I did install the new kitchen blind.

Six. Nothing to report.

Seven. Nothing to report.

Personal Goals for 2019

Following my post on New Year’s Eve I've made a list of some things I want to achieve in 2019, these are not resolutions, they are a mixed bag of goals, some with clear personal or professional benefits, others that will make life easier in the long term, and a couple which are vanity projects that I hope will bring a little self-actualisation.

I doubt I will achieve all of them, the top two I really do want to get over the line, but if I make positive progress towards most of them I will be happy; the lower down the list the greater the risk I won’t get the time. Unlike a list of resolutions this set of goals is definitely achievable providing life doesn’t get too crazy; but the reality of a busy family, personal and professional life means there’s usually a spanner or two ready to drop into the works at any moment.

One. Release at least one episode from my podcast project. I’ve been around the edges of this for nearly two years, with one script close to final draft, and several other stories at various stages from concept to rough draft. I have the key equipment and software I need, and have learned the production basics, although I could do with a few inexpensive additions. If needed I’m prepared to drop my desire to get one of the local am-dram groups provide the voices and instead use friends and family.

Two. Run 5K. Over a year ago I downloaded a running app designed to get me from someone who struggles to run any distance to running 5k. I even made some progress, but then my work/life circumstances changed and finding time for a run a couple of evening a week became challenging. I’m going to make an effort to get this back on track.

Three. Get my weight down to 108kg. This kind of follows on from number two. For most of the past year I’ve been around 115kg (Xmas and New Year indulgence have pushed that to 117kg but I think that is a blip), but in late 2017 I was getting as low as 112kg. With sensible eating (no fad diets) and more exercise (see two) I want to get down to 108kg by the end of the year.

Four. Learn DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). The direction of travel in my professional career is towards greater use of Microsoft tools e.g. Power BI and Azure, whereas my comfort zone is Oracle BI and data warehouse. I’m already pretty competent with Excel formulas, so add in my existing SQL skills and I should be able to pick this up without too many headaches.

Five. Replace side door to the garage and run in a basic electrical supply. Nine years ago, when we moved to our current home, I nailed shut side door of the garage. It was rotten and the lock was broken, since then all access has been via the main door, which is a bit of a pain. Also, the archaic power supply had long since been disconnected meaning temporary extension cables from the house whenever I want to use it as a workshop. The plan was to resolve this situation, but there was also a huge list of more significant projects. Now, the big things are largely complete, so there’s a chance I could get around to this. As it happens, in the intervening years, I’ve picked up the tools and DIY skills to make a reasonable stab at this, which wasn’t so likely at the outset. The caveat here is that depending on outstanding quotes, I may need repaint the outside of the house this summer, and there’s a list of smaller jobs which always seems to grow by two tasks for every one removed (install new kitchen blind, replace cracked light switch, fix flush mechanism on main toilet, new loft hatch, slow leak on boiler…)!

Six. Learn Python (or R). I’ve dabbled with the Python programming language for several years, doing the odd piece of work ‘monkey see, monkey do’ without ever properly learning it. I’ve also done a bit of exploration with R too, although without any practical application. I’d like to get to grips properly with one of them, Python probably being the more useful to me, but it’s debatable I’ll have the cognitive bandwidth to do on top of mastering other new tools and technologies that will be more salient in my professional life.  

Seven. Learn Latin. This is a long-term vanity project. I made a start at it a few years ago using the Memrise application, but like lots of other things it got shoved to the side. It’s doubtful I’ll get around to it, but I’ll throw it in anyway.

Over the coming months I’ll add updates about how I get on with these seven goals.

Looking forward, looking back...redux

I had my latest visit to the consultant on 18th December. Nothing much to report. My weight was c.114.5kg, pretty much same as three months earlier, and my stats were the same. It was slightly disappointing that the results of my Hep B screen hadn't come through given it was done at same time as my regular bloods. So, I'll be doing that again next time out. Given the stability the consultant suggested we move to longer intervals between appointments, originally we did every 4 months, then in last couple of years it became 3 months, so we're going to go back to 4 months with a view to moving to 6 months if nothing changes.

Unfortunately that does mean my next appointment falls in the middle of a planned holiday to Florida, so it's going to have to be moved. And whilst I'm doing that I need to sort out some specialist travel insurance, I do have travel insurance as part of my banking package, but it doesn't cover CKD related issues due to it being a pre-existing condition. Whilst the chances of a CKD related incident are pretty low, the notorious cost of US healthcare makes it better to be safe than sorry. Whilst spending Christmas up North I was down the local with my Dad and brother when I saw a fundraising poster for the son of a regular, this guy suffered serious head injuries whilst quad biking overseas with no travel insurance, it took major effort to get him home and to pay for his ongoing needs.

Talking of Christmas, I've been doing my best to moderate my eating and drinking, although it's not been easy. I returned from my parents weighed down by nut related chocolates. Before Christmas my wife told me she'd seen some oversized Reeces peanut butter cups, but she'd wouldn't buy me any as they were excessive (she doesn't like them anyway), I chided her for being selfish and hey ho I end up with a packet in my stocking. Eachcup is a whole 2lb in weight, I love Reeces, but the thought of eating almost a kilo of peanut butter chocolate makes me feel sick, I'm going to have to cut them into 4 and eat a piece a day. It doesn't end there, I got a pile of Toffifees and a Reeces selection box too.

Last year we did Christmas at home with my wife's family, and New Year with mine up North, so as usual we rotated this time out. Tonight we're having friends over for dinner, and I'm contemplating getting in a mini keg of bitter, whilst tomorrow will be Christmas Day Mk2, where we repeat the 25th December only with my wife's family. I'm not a big one for roast dinners, but Christmas dinner is usually a bit better mainly due to the lovely sprouts and pigs in blankets, but still it's going to be calorific.

Looking back at my post from exactly a year ago today is a mixed bag. My weight is kicking around 2kg up from where it was at that point, and the 'Healthier You' programme has yet to put on a clinic I can get to, on the other hand I had the all clear from my vasectomy and my CKD has been stable. Away from health issues, I've now done almost a year in my new position, worked on some interesting projects and picked up some new skills along the way. My podcast project has pretty much stalled due to lack of time, and I've gotten no better at posting updates on my blogs. Overall it has to count as a good year, I may not have made all the progress I wanted, but I've not gone backwards; let’s hope 2019 brings new impetus.  

Update: the Reeces cups were not 2lb each they were 1/2 pound each, but still plenty sickly and best eaten a quarter of a cup at a time. 

The not so early intervention programme

Diabetes is back in the news, so seems a good time to finally write that piece about my own experiences with pre-diabetes.

Early summer 2016 my GP warned me a HbA1c test result indicated I was (just) in the prediabetic range. Then in late 2017 he put me forward for a new early intervention programme called 'Healthier You'. A perfectly sensible referral given my medical history, my weight issues, my CKD etc... Unfortunately in mid 2017 another HbA1c test (just) dropped me out of the prediabetes range, the weight issues and the CKD were obviously still there. However, whoever assessed the referral saw the new result and rejected me on an arbitrary line in the sand, more unfortunately they didn't bother to tell me.

In Spring 2018 another HbA1c test result put me back in prediabetic range, everthing else staying the same. I tell the practice nurse 'I'm waiting to be contacted by an early intervention programme', she checks the computer and finds the rejection letter I never got and flags itback to the GP who raises the referal again.

A month or so goes by, making it about six months from the original referral and I'm finally contacted. The advisor offers me a place on a series of clinics running in nearby Caterham, unfortunately these are in the middle of the afternoon, when I'm at work in London. It's an hour and fifteen minutes travel in each direction between the office and the venue, so if I want to attend I need to book an afternoon off work for each appointment. I told the advisor this was no good as I don't work locally, she told me I could go on the waiting list for an evening clinic, that was four or five months ago and I've still to hear anything back.

My own researches suggest that 'Healthier You' is actually the name of two NHS backed diabetes prevention programmes. The programme offered by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust is delivered by a service provider called Igneus, but the version of the programme offered in the location where I work is delivered by ICS Health & Wellbeing, so it's not a case of swapping to a more convenient location.

It's been almost a year since the initial referral, so I am starting to wonder if I will ever get a place, my suspicion is the programme is essentially designed for people who don't work, or who only work part-time, taking multiple afternoons off work isn't really a helpful strategy for people like myself. Commercial 'Fat Fighters' style weight loss clubs tend to offer a variety of convenient time slots and locations to maximise effectiveness, it would be nice to think an NHS diabetes prevention programme would take a lesson from this, but public 'services' are not always known for their focus on the end user.

Not dead...

Very busy lately, so no time for blogging. I had my latest appointment with the consultant about a month ago and my numbers were stable. My weight was just under 115kg about the same as three months before, and around where I've been stuck for probably six months.

As far as I'm aware I'm still on the waiting list for the evening instances of the 'Healthier You' pre-diabetes clinic, I'll eventually get round to blogging about that malarky.

I had my final Hep B vaccination shots a couple of weeks ago (I got a last minute appointment and they threw in a flu jab as a bonus), so now I need to have a screening done with my next set of bloods in December.