Emergency Service Vehicles_Coventry Transport Museum_Hales Street_Coventry_May13 (Photo credit: Ian Halsey)

I drove from Coatbridge to Manchester airport today. I’m taking my wife and two friends to Lourdes on a short pilgrimage for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The official advice was “Do not travel!”.

We put our trust in the Lord who calmed the stormy sea and went anyway. We were fine, but the storms have caused problems for many travellers.

The emergency services have turned out, time and time again to rescue those in difficulty. When I arrived at the hotel I saw the news on television. The government have decided that people will have to work till 69 before they can retire. I tried to imagine a fireman in his late sixties turning up at a road traffic accident to disentangle the wreckage and save lives.

What are the chances of him saving anybody? Does anybody care? You might if you are the one trapped. Do you think the politicians think through the policies they implement? They say we are living longer, and we are. Of course that is a result of the social policy we have followed since 1945. Now, with Austerity, we are facing malnutrition and ill health. Perhaps the idea is to make sure fewer people manage to collect a pension.

What a disgrace. The people who claimed to be thinking of future generations are robbing the yet unborn.