September  2020

The simplest thing is to say Autumn is coming!

Weather: Any hopes of an Indian Summer have, I fear, been dashed (almost!). For the first week the temperatures remained in the very low 20’s with a mixture of sunny intervals, occasional bright sunshine and solid cloud. Week two saw the temperatures rise to the upper mid 20’s but the same mix of sunny intervals, occasional bright sunshine and solid cloud. And then came week three and suddenly the temperatures went above 30 and it was HOT. Halfway through week four, the temperatures dropped away and suddenly the thought of swimming in the sea was but a distant memory. The 23rd saw cloud and on-and-off-rain throughout the day and so it continued the rest of the week but getting colder, down to 12degrees by the 26th and so it continued to the end of the month.

Nature: This was the month for harvesting final produce and clearing away the beans and other remnants. Dahlias in full bloom still dominated even though there was still a lot of colour in the garden. Red berries abound on the thorn tree (a sign of a bad impending winter?). Beneath the oak tree a carpet of acorns appeared by the third week and when cleared away, a week later another carpet appeared. It has been the most fruitful year for that tree ever. By the end of the month, as we travel around, there are signs of the leaves of bushes and some trees starting to turn yellow and brown. As the month has continued, especially as the weather turned, it became a month for clearing up. Bird life has reduced but there are still the remaining robin, a couple of occasional blackbirds, lots of sparrows (despite their dearth a couple of years ago) and the occasional family of great tits, long tailed tits and gold finches briefly turning up. Although still looking lush with the bout of sunshine and the predominant rain, it is definitely looking towards the seasonal shutdown that Autumn heralds.  

Nationally: The main news in September is still mostly about Covid-19 effects and control, but now Brexit has hit the headlines it features as the second ‘big issue’, with a few other miscellaneous news items occurring:

a) Pandemic

1 Sept -   schools start going back, most for first time in six months

6 Sept -  almost 3,000 people in the UK test positive for coronavirus, a 50% increase in a single day and the highest daily total since  

11 Sept – the R number escalates to between 1.0 and 1.2 for the first time since March

12 Sept – recorded cases of COVID-19 exceed 3,000 for the second day in a row.

14 Sept - the new "rule of six" law comes into force. In England, unless one of the exceptions applies, such as team sports, sailing, angling, shooting, etc., the law provides authority to limit the number of persons in a gathering to no more than six.

18 Sept – with the R number now at 1.1 to 1.4 and cases rising around the country among all age groups, Prime Minister Boris Johnson states the UK is "now seeing a second wave" of COVID-19.

21 Sept – the Joint Biosecurity Centre recommends that the COVID-19 alert level for the UK should be increased to Level 4, meaning that transmission of the virus is "high or rising exponentially".

22 Sept - Michael Gove recommends that employees should work from home if able to do so.

24 Sept - the UK records 6,634 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily figure since mass testing began.

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b) Brexit

8 Sept – controversy over the government’s reported plans to make changes to the Brexit withdrawal agreement with suggestions that the then unpublished Internal Market Bill could "break international law" in a "very specific and limited way”.

9 Sept - the Internal Market Bill is presented to Parliament by the Government

14 Sept - the Internal Market Bill clears its second reading in the Commons by 340 votes to 263

29 Sept – MPs give their final backing to the Internal Market Bill, by 340 votes to 256 (now goes to the Lords)

c) Misc.

4 Sept -  construction work officially begins on the HS2 high-speed rail network

5 Sept – Extinction Rebellion activists block access to three printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch, delaying the publication of several national newspapers

6 Sept -  a major incident is declared in Birmingham, with parts of the city centre cordoned off, after one man is killed and seven people are injured in a series of stabbings. A 27-year-old male suspect is arrested the following day

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