Unless we change

The feast of St Paul's Conversion today. As a fan of his teaching and often contentious passionate  evangelism. "Woe is me if I do not proclaim the Gospel" and "By the grace of God I am what I am." are two of my favourite phrases of his. I felt sad not to be able to be at the Eucharist on his fiesta, but I did remember him anyway.

Overnight and all day the temperature has hovered around zero, with sunshine and some cloud, and little wind. Another good day to be outdoors enjoying fresh air and exercise. After breakfast this morning, as happens several times a week, a scam call from someone claiming to represent Microsoft, who knew my name, to inform me of an internet security compromise. It's tiresome, and predictable. Often we pick up and listen without responding, so the scanner thinks the line is open to an answering machine without a message. Fifteen seconds and the call is cut. Today, I was in a good mood and felt like trying out a new scam baiting response.

"Hello Mr Kimber, I'm calling from Microsoft about your account."

"Ah, you work for Microsoft too!" 

A hesitant silence and then again 

"Er - I'm calling about your Microsoft account."

"Yes, but which department department are you, what's your identity code? I'm with cyber fraud."

Click.

I rang my sister June to share the joke with her. 

"When I realise it's a scam call, I say 'This is Balham police station.'" she said. On the ball at 86.

Just after lunch we commonly get robo calls about Amazon Prime accounts. No interaction so we just let the call continue until it times out. I feel sorry for the poor people who deceive themselves into thinking they are working for a legitimate enterprise when they are cold calling using stolen data.

I went to the Co-op for a few grocery items later on. I queued a short while to get in, and several people came out empty handed. I picked up what I needed and when I reached the till was told "Cash payments only the payment network's down nationally." I stopped carrying cash many months ago, and we've been discouraged from using it because of covid contamination. And this happens, showing how vulnerable we are when our super snazzy technology doesn't work. I went back home and got some cash from Clare then returned for my shopping. 

Funny, in the old days a grocer would write a bill, and you'd be trusted to return later and pay, but very few stores will offer that kind of account rendering any more. The admin is too complex and inefficient in our cost conscious modern world. We appreciate our convenient cashless transactions, but have lost a fall-back alternative. Society today doesn't run on personal trust in the way it used to, and we're so much poorer for that. After lunch I went and drew some cash from the bank. Who knows when electronic pay systems will fall over again?

The government enthuses daily about the vaccination rate, while expressing concern about the numbers being infected and warning that lockdown will need to go on longer than promised. Boris' lightweight cheerleader optimism is being gradually supplanted by a healthier realism. Measures are being mooted about far stricter quarantine for people travelling into Britain from countries where new covid variants are spreading like wildfire. Border control, it seems to me has all along been more aspirational than rigorous, like track and trace, not to mention ubiquitous virus testing. 

Interesting, now that the rigour of post brexit trade border control is becoming evident, the greater is the price UK businesses have to pay. The cost of living will rise, as a result of reclaiming freedom from EU 'control' in the name of old fashioned libertarian ideals, the same ideals that presumed all Brits would behave decently, common sense and courtesy and abide by anti covid restrictions. The price paid is seen in the highest excess death rate in the world. 

The more that's understood about the covid virus, and how to master it, the more it seems to me that scientific confidence is being moderated by scientific caution. Victory is far from assured, as a result of the scale of human poverty and the impoverishment of the planet due to pollution, global warming and bio-diversity loss - factors working in favour of the virus adapting and becoming even more persistent. If nature continues to turn against humankind as a species, we're headed towards extinction. Maybe only when the global population is decimated will the impact of humans on the biosphere will be reduced enough to enable the biosphere to recover its stability and health. A terrible thought. Nevertheless, I am still in a good mood, not despairing, because we are such a creative and adaptive species. But it really is a matter of 'change or die' now as it was for the Hebrew poets and prophets two and a half millennia ago. I think St Paul would agree.