Middle Class Politics
I’ve heard it said that we begin our politics on the left, and as we grow older, move towards the right. In my usual manner, being a bit backward or occasionally upside down, I started off right wing and moved leftwards. To explain what I mean about the backward/upside down thing, I have been known […]
What makes you think?
Below is a list of the things that pass through my head on a regular basis. You might have others, if so, add them in the comments. What I am asking you to do, is sort them into order. Not of how important you think they are but of how often you estimate you have […]
Money – the Root of our Problems?
Have you heard the story of the couple who set out in their fancy car, their destination, Joytown? They left home without asking for advice about their route, and without a map. They drove for miles, at each junction choosing the road with the smoothest surface so as to protect their precious vehicle. When night […]
Intoxicated by Power
As a child, I attended many schools because my dad’s job had us on the move in almost every one of my primary school years. As a consequence, the main focus of my young life was to become accepted into new friendship groups, and in this pursuit, I learned behaviours that have taken me many […]
Feeling sad but determined
As you know if you read this blog, I am generally upbeat. I hope this comes across in my posts. Today, however, I feel sad, almost moved to tears by what is going on in the UK. I don’t want to call it My Country because I am not and never have been nationalistic. What […]
Why would they think this is what we want?
They say a society is judged by the way it treats its elderly… but should it not be measured by the way it treats all its vulnerable people, young and old? I am probably stating the ‘bleeding obvious’ when I say that many cut backs intended to increase efficiency, do precisely the reverse. The result is that we are […]
I should know better by now
Crikey, I haven’t written here at all this year. It’s not that nothing has happened, more that too many things have prevented me from putting text on screen. Today however I have been moved to write. Something happened that illustrates a) how bad I am at keeping my mouth (fingers) shut, and b) how little […]
Dear Hospital
During my last hectic visit to A & E in Stoke Mandeville I noticed boxes with slots on top, plastered with signs asking for feedback from people tired of waiting, in pain and worried. I believe there are similar ones in the cancer unit at Wycombe hospital but I didn’t spot them, being weighed down […]
The Scottish Problem
Is it me or is anyone else, who thinks themselves British-English, a little hurt by the apparent hatred many Scots seem to feel for us? I’ve always thought of myself as racially tolerant, and actually, perhaps this is the problem, I never thought of the Scots as a race. I thought they were one of […]
I’m wound up – again
Yes. Very. And of course when that happens I pick up my virtual pen and ramble. Today’s grouse is about the fact that the people who lead us don’t seem able to do the decent thing any more. Our council tax is to rise by 1.99%. This, according to the council, is the maximum it […]