THE NHS IS FACING A TRIPLE WHAMMY - FUELLED BY TORY UNDERFUNDING SINCE 2010

 I will let the SKWAWKBOX do the talking on this blogpost:

'Leading doctors have warned that the NHS is facing a 'triple whammy' after years of underfunding that threatens the very integrity of our health service - and that the coronavirus pandemic is only one part of the problem.

A NHS crisis that has been made by misgovernment at Westminster over the last ten years

BMA chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul told the BBC that chronic underfunding had weakened the health service so badly that even without the COVID-19 crisis it would be in trouble:

Honorary BMA vice-president Dr Kailash Chand agreed, adding that the NHS is 100,000 staff short of its

THE JAGO STONE STORY GATHERS MORE PACE IN SEPTEMBER 2020 - PART TWO - THANK YOU, DEIDRA AND BELINDA

Following hard on the heels of yesterday's blog-post, here are two more Jago Stone stories, complete with images, that have come my way in recent days through the medium of cyberspace. 

On Saturday, 19 September 2020, Deidra Messenger in the USA left this comment on my blog-post that referenced the twelve 5-star reviews for my biography on Amazon:

'Wow - this is a definite blast from the past. Dad was stationed at Heyford from 1975-79. We lived way off base in Buckinghamshire, in the tiny village of Ludgershall. I am not sure how it came about but it was the done thing to have a Jago Stone watercolor of your house. We had two done - a street view and one from the back gardens. We still have them. I remember being intrigued by an artist drawing pictures of our house. I overheard Dad talking to Mom about Jago's past - something about stealing from churches. Now I think about it, that is probably why Mom didn't let me stand around for too long watching him work.'

On Tuesday, 22 September, 2020, Deidra added to her story:

'I was 11 years old and very intrigued with the idea of an artist in the back garden. My mother had to rescue him several times from my inquisitiveness. He made an impression on my young mind. He was wearing a white shirt and a red bandana (cravat?) the first day. If I remember correctly, a denim shirt on the second day. My dad invited him in for lunch on the second day and while he accepted lunch, he chose to eat outside as 'it's too lovely to be inside'.

I suppose now the cynic in me figures he may have chosen to do this to remain completely blameless in case something were to come up 'missing'.

He thought my sandwich of peanut butter and jelly sounded unique, but revolting. And he explained the basics of perspective to me (very simply) - at least until my mother hollered at me to 'leave the poor man alone'.'

A brilliantly detailed memory - many thanks, Deidra! In our correspondence, Deidra explained that her mom still had both pictures but was in a different state and two hours away. Somehow, I was gifted images of both pictures the same day. Here is the first, the front of the house from across the street:

Burborough Farm, Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire - Specially painted for the Messenger family
- Jago Stone (1976)

And here is the second image that I received through cyberspace, showing the back of the house from

THE JAGO STONE STORY GATHERS MORE PACE IN SEPTEMBER 2020 - PART ONE - THANK YOU, SUE AND LESLIE

 Here I am, 21,000 words into the next literary venture: 'Dying to Know', and still the Jago Stone stories and pictures arrive through cyberspace. Long may this continue!

On Sunday, 13 September 2020, Sue Stiff from the UK made contact again, saying:

'As promised the two I have. The first is faded as my father-in-law kept it near a window. That is dated 1984 and is in Drayton near Abingdon. The second one is my house in Clifton, Oxfordshire and dated August 1983.'

(To be updated) - Jago Stone (1984) 

Sue had been in contact previously, leaving a comment on another post. Thank you, Sue, for these two images of Jago's artwork.

(to be updated) - Jago Stone (1983) 

On Friday, 18 September 2020, Leslie Petty McCarlie from the USA left this Facebook message: 

'I remember as a child chatting with him as he painted our home. He was such a delightful man. He had

KEIR STARMER'S LEADERSHIP OF THE LABOUR PARTY - DID 56 PER CENT OF THE MEMBERSHIP GET IT RIGHT?

Earlier this year, Keir Starmer trounced the other two candidates in the Labour leadership election. He secured 225,135 votes, 56% of the electorate. Rebecca Long Bailey, the runner-up - my socialist choice - only got 117,598 votes, 28% of the electorate. Did the nearly quarter-million Labour members who voted for him get it right?  How many are having second thoughts?

Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long Bailey, Keir Starmer - the final three candidates in the Labour leadership election

Here's a link to a blogpost from me last month. I was reacting to what Keir Starmer had said and done. See what you make of it: 

 http://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2020/08/staying-in-labour-party-so-i-can-vote.html

SKWAWKBOX gives good leads. Here is a most interesting list they published on Sunday, 13

JOHNSON AND HANCOCK - LESSONS FOR ALL OF US

 Two short videos that encapsulate so much that's wrong with this horror-show of misgovernment are on offer in this blog-post. How can you resist?!?

No comment

PM makes reference to Vallance and Whitty's press conference last night - then ignores Vallance's number for new daily infections and quotes much lower one

(Tuesday, 22 September 2020)

 Boris Johnson's new coronavirus measures have been rightly derided as an inadequate sham - leaving schools, workplaces and indoor hospitality open but telling pubs and restaurants to close an hour early will not make a meaningful scratch on the rise in new infections, let alone reverse exponential growth.

But even in his speech to launch them, Johnson couldn't make it even a minute and a half into his speech before he was misleading - to put it kindly - again:

Even though his Chief Scientific Adviser has now acknowledged that the number of daily new infections is far higher than the government's meaningless official figure - a constant con at the best of times - and even

JAGO STONE (1928-88) - A REMARKABLE ENGLISH ARTIST - SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATES

     Following what has become my usual practice, here are selected contents from my September Mailchimp newsletter about Jago Stone, featuring new images and stories, updates on my biography of the artist (published in March 2020 in the UK and in June 2020 in the USA), and news of my latest literary venture: 'Dying to Know':

'SEPTEMBER 2020 - UPDATES ON MY LATEST LITERARY VENTURE: 'DYING TO KNOW' - AND THE LATEST JAGO STORIES AND IMAGES FROM CYBERSPACE

Let me start by expressing my thanks to Pat Michas from the USA who has played a significant part in all the Jago news that follows.

On August 16, a couple of weeks ago, I shared a post about the importance of bees. Pat Michas - who features in my biography of Jago with her partner, Jim, and children, Alex, Nick and Chris - posted this comment:

'Make sure to plant flowers that attract the bees, Rob. 

I’ve spoken with my friend and he has allowed me to give you his email. His name is Alfred Scaraglino. He was stationed in the U.K. at the same time we were there. He is the owner of one of Jago's pallet knife oil paintings. I believe he has a few Watercolors as well. He was at the US base in Cambridge. We used to visit back and forth on the weekends and holidays. Our children were about the same age. The four of us socialized many times with Rowland and Jago. At first we thought they were a couple. Then he brought over Sioned and her boy and then later Mary from Australia. I believe he lived with both of them for a while. We have some pictures of a party that Rowland and Jago gave at Leam House. A Masquerade party. I may have one or two of Jago. Anyway I regress. 

BTW loved the watercolor you just posted ['Garden Cottage, Turweston' - Jago Stone (1982)]. He really did improve in the later years, more detail and color.'

How exciting was that message! To cut to the quick, Alfred did make contact with me and I am very grateful to him that I can now reveal this palette-knife painting, dated 1977 (the latest date of a Jago palette-knife I know): 

The Gate - Jago Stone (1977)

Here is close-up of the title and signing and date:

Detail from the Jago Stone palette-knife

Here is another work from Alfred's collection (again many thanks for permission to reproduce this image) Jago's watercolour of the house in which Alfred and his partner, Ethna, lived whilst stationed in the UK. The main focal

OMG - IS THIS GOVERNMENT FOR REAL?

We are lurching from one crisis to another. This is serious misgovernment. Read the writing on the wall, courtesy of SWAWKBOX.

 

New cases also continue to exceed 3,000 even though government's testing system has imploded, masking the true scale of the second wave

(Wednesday, 16 September 2020)

The rise in hospital admissions for COVID-19 complications has become one of the few ways of assessing the growth of the 'second wave', as government's coronavirus catastrophe continues to mushroom.

The implosion - and quite probably deliberate withholding, with people being offered tests in unrealistic locations even when local centres are available - of the largely privatised testing system means that a huge proportion of people with suspected infections cannot now obtain tests and are therefore not reflected in figures that still exceed three thousand a day.

And hospitalisations for coronavirus have just reached a 77-day high. That high has been

ANOTHER JAGO STONE MEMORY FROM CHILDHOOD - AND A VERY EARLY WATERCOLOUR

 Jago Stone was released from HM prison at Blundeston in the summer of 1967. He emerged through those prison gates as a redeemed man, his war with society over. He had found salvation through his artistic skills; Jago had won a national art prize and become the very model of the rehabilitated ex-con. His thieving days were over. From now on, he would earn an honest income by painting images of the homes that in the past he might have considered burgling. 

In August 2017, Hana Geraghty left a Facebook message on the Jago Stone: A Biography page that my web designer, Steve McIntosh, had set up. She explained that she had picked up a small painting by Jago Stone and wanted to know a little more about it. That story is told in my biography (p.151-2) and I will return to it later in this blog-post - but for the moment it serves as an introduction to this tale that came my way through cyberspace on the last day of August, last month.

David Hall sent me this email:  

 Good afternoon Rob,

I came across a small advertisement in the Autumn edition of This England magazine for your book, The Remarkable life of Jago Stone, which immediately aroused a memory.
In September 1967 I was a 13 year old boy living in the village of Overstone in Northamptonshire. I can clearly remember one day, most likely a Saturday or Sunday as my father was at home, a young dark haired bearded guy riding a Lambretta scooter, knocking the door and asking if we would be interested in a water colour "sketch" of our house, a fairly ordinary modern detached house in Sywell Road.
My father agreed and the guy got to work producing firstly a sketch in a black artist's pen, to which he added water colour to complete the picture for what I can only assume to have been an attractive price.
The picture was framed and hung in my parents'# house and later in my mother's bungalow until she passed away in 2007. Since then it has been in our office and when I read about your book, I immediately went to the office and to the picture of our house, named "Vazon" and which clearly shows the signature of Jago Stone, September 1967.
I guess the picture isn't worth a lot in monetary terms, but at least now feel that we own some serious piece of art.
I will be ordering your book and look forward to learning more about Jago Stone, who briefly touched my life some 53 years ago.
I will send you a photo of the picture.
Regards,

David 

Wow! - the magic of being the researcher and author-turned-detective. Very soon, David had said I could use his name and story and the image of "Vazon" in a blog-post. Thank you, David!

Here is "Vazon":

Vazon - Jago Stone (September 1967)

I love it. There is a freshness and vitality about such a picture. And you see it again in the image of "Sheldon" which is the name of the house that Jago had painted a month earlier - the picture that Hana Geraghty had told me about. After we made contact, it became clear that Hana's watercolour by Jago of

HOW TO MISMANAGE A PANDEMIC - THE MADNESS OF PURSUING HERD IMMUNITY

 This has been quite a week -and it's not quite over. The Tories under Johnson and Cummings continue their appalling misgovernment of this country. I am exploring the theme of misgovernment, along with much else, as I write my third book: 'Dying to Know' - my pandemic journal as a hill runner. More on that, another time. For now, thanks to SKWAWKBOX, the latest updates on what's going wrong:

'At least 620 schools now infected with coronavirus as official daily infection count passes 3,500 and government data page still in chaos

(Saturday, 12 September 2020)

In reality, number of infections believed to be at least double

The number of schools known to be affected by coronavirus infections passed* 620 yesterday - up 119 on the the previous day, a increase in its rate of growth of more than 43% in a single day.

But the public will still struggle to discern this from the government's official data page, whose charts continue to show conflicting and outdated information weeks after this was exposed by SKWAWKBOX.

At the same time, more parents are coming forward to say that they have been denied testing for their sick children - while even the sickest and most vulnerable children are being denied home tests and offered

'THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF JAGO STONE - ONCE A BURGLAR, ALWAYS AN ARTIST' by ROB DONOVAN

In these pandemic times, nearly all book sales are through online retailers such as Amazon. The high street is facing an existential crisis. As an author, I would love the readers of my biography of Jago Stone to take that extra step, if they have savoured their time with my book, and post a review. My publisher, Unicorn PG, is encouraging its authors to get as many online reviews as possible and to get their books highlighted on social media by friends and family as this really is the only route to the market at the moment. 

Please, if you can help in the marketing of the book in any way, it would be very appreciated. The first print run of Jago's biography is 1,000 copies - and we still have some way to go to clear the warehouse. We're doing well enough in the circumstances but efforts such as mine now can make a difference - how much of a difference depends on you. 

Many thanks in advance for any more reviews that may now appear matching those below. All these are important and much appreciated.

Finally in this introduction, the link to online retailers for any reader who has not got his or her own copy - or wants to buy now a present for a birthday or for Christmas, for a friend or family member:

http://www.robdonovan-author.co.uk/JagoStone-Biography.html      

Kenneth Griffith and Jago Stone - Notley Arms, Exmouth - 1969

My biography of Jago Stone now has eleven 5-star reviews on Amazon in the UK and ten in the USA. 

To celebrate here is a medley of those reviews with a range of Jago Stone's artwork:

This one is from David and carries the title: A Fascinating Read. It was posted on 11 June 2020.

"This is a wonderful book. It slowly reveals the layers of a man. From a difficult upbringing, he became a criminal, an artist, a story teller and a show man. Someone who lived a carefree lifestyle because that's the direction society helped point him towards. If you don't fit in anywhere, you make your own space.

The book is unusually written too. almost like a detective story as you follow in the author's footsteps as

HOW TO SPREAD A VIRUS THE TORY WAY - JUST SO YOU KNOW

 Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Are we in trouble now. There was always something inevitable about this but now it has happened, prepare. The number of infections will continue to climb. This virus - Covid-19 - has so much to feed on.

Mind you, the MSM (mainstream media) are downplaying it. Page 10 on the inside of the 'i', this morning, under the headline '3,000 new cases of Covid-19 in UK are 'concerning'. Yesterday's figure of 2,988 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK was an increase of almost 1,200 on the previous day. And this is a Sunday when figures are typically lower, due to delays in reporting. Birmingham experienced the largest rise but there was a broad increase across the country.

Mostly young people so far - and everyone a carrier of a potentially lethal disease. Four weeks down the line, the trouble will really begin.

Here's what has been happening - the news comes from SKWAWKBOX:

Number of cases rockets, even compared to recent sharp upturn, as Tories continue to pursue 'herd immunity'

The number of new coronavirus cases in the UK has shot up - even compared to the recent sharp increases seen since hospitality venues and schools reopened - reaching its highest level since 1 May, a period of 129 days:

As the SKWAWKBOX exclusively revealed yesterday, public health experts have been expecting the infection rate to soar, based on international scenarios showing new cases taking off within weeks of indoor hospitality venues re-opening - and the government expects the 'R' rate and infection numbers to climb still

THE BEST PRIME MINISTER WE NEVER HAD - JEREMY CORBYN TOPS THE POLL

 

on Breaking: even Murdoch poll finds Corbyn best PM UK never had

A poll by Rupert Murdoch’s Times Radio has found Jeremy Corbyn is the best Prime Minister the UK never had, ahead of stars of the Labour movement such as Tony Benn and John Smith as well as an array of Tory also-rans

Corbyn beat the late Charles Kennedy, winning 57.7% of the vote in the final round.

Even the Murdoch media can’t fully obscure what the UK lost when voters fell for 5 years of media smears and centrist sabotage on Brexit last December – or even earlier, when right-wing MPs and staff prevented a Corbyn-led government in 2017.

Thousands of people would be alive today who instead were