| Nothing much, although they have now announced a chunk of money to support charities. I wonder home much will filter through to mental health. The local mental health charities I do websites for, Cathja and Together As One, do a fantastic job with virtually no official support. Both offer somewhere welcoming for adults with mental health issues to go and feel welcome but both have had to shut due to Covid. That means that the people who used to use their drop in centres (Cathja barge near the London Apprentice and pavilion on Twickenham Green) are increasingly confined to a very restricted existence, perhaps in cramped bedsits. The opportunities for getting out of those claustrophobic conditions are increasingly limited, with so much recreational open space being closed off. Maybe the worst example round here is Osterley Park, a huge open space, never dangerously crowded, now behind locks to the detriment of everyone nearby. Shame on you, National Trust. When someone does go out, keeping to proper distancing, they are told they cannot go out for exercise twice a day (untrue, an invention by posh people with big gardens; there is no limit in the regulations for England). Then if it's a sunny day and they sit down to read, say, in one of the limited open spaces still open, 20 metres from anyone else, they will be told they are endangering lives (NOT!) and should get back to their little bedsits and rot. The people making up rules as they go along have not got the balance right. They should be tough on groups flouting distancing rules and on people sneaking across the country to holiday homes but should also get all that closed open space back in use. Morale and sunshine are really important to wellbeing. |