Rachael McKelvey

• So that was Christmas, what have I done?
• Covid data to end in new year
• Trumps Tax returns
• Warmest year on record and technically a white Christmas
• Going gluten free and staying gluten free?

So that was Christmas, what have I done?
Do you reflect on the years just gone, have you reflected on 2022? I have always previously thought I did, but this year by taking some time to reflect and answer some specific hard questions I realised I’ve never really done it before, on any level, personal or career.

We are not all created equally and I find free writing really hard, but specific questions that I have to wonder what you mean by asking that, they get my pen flowing. It was a really powerful exercise that made me realise that some things have had bigger impacts than I thought and those I thought did have the biggest impact did not.

It also made me look back at everything last year, my diary and all my photos, the good and the bad and what really struck me was how there was always something good going on, somethings I’d forgotten.

Covid data to end in new year
The Government plan to stop publishing its Covid R rate, hospitalisation, and death projection modelling later this month deeming it “no longer necessary” thanks to better outcomes from the virus because of the vaccines.

This just makes me think about data, I hope the modelling continues behind the scenes and it is simply the publishing that stops and if it’s only the publishing that stops then I hope it doesn’t stop scrutinising and re-examining its findings for errors, for bias, for assumptions. The best data sets are those that are visible, that pass the kick test, that can be used to replicate the same hypothesis over and over again.

Warmest year on record and technically a white Christmas
The Met Office declared 2022 to be the warmest year since records began in 1884 and despite the frost and snow defrosting at this end of the country long before Christmas arrived – did anyone else suddenly feel less festive? It was officially (technically) a white Christmas in the UK.

The Met Office confirmed a white Christmas for the UK after sleet was reported in Loch Glascarnoch in Scotland and Lough Fea in Northern Ireland.

Head of the Met Office National Climate Information Service Dr Mark McCarthy stated that “The warm year is in line with the genuine impacts we expect as a result of human-induced climate change,”.

Trumps Tax Returns
Six years of Trumps tax returns have been released by House Democrats, revealing he declared no table income in 2015 and 2020 and nominal taxable income in 2016 and 2017 so paid little to no federal taxes 4 out of 6 years but he paid more in foreign taxes than federal taxes in the first year of his presidency. Trumps comment on this? It “once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises”.

Hate the player not the game.

What’s your one thing that’s really two different things?
Following on from my one thing that’s really two different things about going gluten free and staying gluten free…Well I am going gluten reduced and hopefully staying gluten reduced. I’m not coeliac but I do have a condition that is greatly improved by removing gluten and I have concluded that for 2023 my life is basically just going to be a series of (pseudo)science experiments, what works stays, what does not goes.

In a world where everything good has gluten (and milk powder) in it, I am attempting to work out when it affects me the most and I think it’s in the evening, I think my ability to tolerate gluten and not fall asleep is best in the mornings and dips after about 3pm, so where I can make some easy substitutions in the rest of the day, its just a no after 3pm, which means I can still eat an almond croissant without having to be £10 for two from really expensive bakery. This is not a lie. Two almond croissants, £10.

Current watch: Suits – It’s Christmas and I just wanted some easy watching & apparently my other half hasn’t ever seen it. HOW? American (Filmed in Canada) legal drama is my jam, add in an eidetic memory and a gloriously ambitious, neurotic and talented staff, just a winner. It’s been lovely to revisit a series that I really loved so much at the time and to see its actually aged well.

Current read: Santa Grint (The Time Police) by Jodi Taylor – Taylor usually puts out a short story at Christmas, which is typically less than 100 pages and is just perfect to excuse yourself on Christmas day and curl up somewhere quiet and enjoy. I highly recommend all of Jodi’s work (I must ration my reading of them as I never not want to have one in hand). St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research investigate major historical events in contemporary time, but there are Time Police and this year they threw a Christmas Party!

Most impactful listen: Sweet Bobby from Tortoise Media – I became OBSESSED with the search for the world’s most sophisticated catfisher, and this was inhaled in two sessions with 8 hours sleep in between. I think reporter and host Alexi Mostrous makes a great point about the reception of this investigation with the younger generation and the older. I met my partner online so I get it.