Modest and quietly spoken, Nicola Lund is a Welshwoman who became motivated to change her career from school teacher to a writer activist. She is not afraid to stand up and be counted. Why? Because she watched changes she didn’t like in teaching, she saw events she didn’t like during lockdown, and she wanted to make a difference. Her article titles tell a big part of her story. They range from Smacking ban: Why the State must stop undermining parents, The Cruelty of Do Not Resuscitate and 20mph is just the start of the stranglehold on Wales to One victim of the war on small retailers. Perhaps we should also mention 'Grave new world of the Welsh' and 'Wales, land of fantasy.’
In this interview, Nicola shares some of the tough parts of her childhood, her drift into teaching, and later her growing awareness that lockdown brought unpleasant and oppressive restrictions. She was also deeply affected by her 88-year-old aunt’s time on a Covid–19 ward with a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) notice that was issued without her aunt's agreement. Her aunt was also given morphine, medication to which she is allergic. Luckily, she escaped Midazolam. A nurse was later to tell Nicola that during the Covid–19 alleged pandemic, “recommendations were made that would probably shock the public.”
Nicola challenged the NHS about their treatment of her aunt and the DNR, and she took the case to the Ombudsman. Progressing this complaint on her own was a challenge, but Nicola continued to press for answers and she learned a lot about how the NHS system worked, including that it is almost impossible to remove a DNR notice once it is recorded in a person’s medical records.
Her Covid–19 medical challenges were ultimately to lead Nicola to more awareness of questionable policy formation by the Welsh Government and to challenging that policy where she finds it. Join our interview to learn more.
Nicola’s written work can be found on Substack and at TCW.
Great work in challenging councils can be found on Council Watch.