Further downhill in leadership

When George W. Bush first campaigned for the presidency, I was surprised that he was considered electable but, sure enough, he was proved to be so. Perhaps a larger surprise was that he, also Liz Cheney, would later look relatively good, after Donald Trump came along.

A related story has unfolded in Britain. One could see how Jeremy Corbyn was elected to lead his party, consider whom he ran against. That flash of populism should have warned me that perhaps Boris Johnson might look electable, against his competition. And, indeed, we had the same succession of surprises: Johnson was actually elected, assembled a gaggle of the similarly worthless, now the prospect of Liz Truss might actually make us miss him.

For all the upset over Margaret Thatcher's legacy, far too little of it has seen reversal: Tony Blair seemed to buy into a fair bit of it, now Liz Truss seems to be doing her best Thatcher impersonation.

When I was maybe twenty years old or so, I'd sometimes get my hair cut by an older Danish man who would tell me how Britain had gone downhill in the many years since he had moved there. I would like to not be feeling the same. Perhaps we will indeed get to live north of the border and see how much of a consolation that is. In that regard, at least Scotland recently managed to deliver a small victory for women.

I would be counting down to the next General Election except for not being much more impressed by the Opposition. Perhaps something good will yet emerge from somewhere. I suppose I should see how Ed Davey thinks the current water infrastructure issues ought to be addressed, not that his party has traction where I live. Then again, at one time, David Cameron looked fresh-faced, full of inspiration and energy, and look what happened there.

A good day at work

New jobs are always an interesting challenge for me. For the job I took in moving to Scotland, I am eager to perform well but have been wrestling with a variety of technologies that are new to me and poorly documented. An additional impediment has been my working from Apple silicon instead of Linux x64.

Today I faced some sparse third-party documentation and used it to write and push some half-plausible code. This is most pleasing and feels like a turning point toward actual productivity. While I appreciate the faith shown by those who hired me, I do like to reassure them by tangible work product that they chose well.

Working nights from Metro Manila complicates the task a little but not too badly. Last night (afternoon) was unusually restless for me but, on finding myself rather awake, I simply got some work done. I didn't feel too bad after R. kindly let me sleep through to nearly 9pm before I started my workday properly.