We have so much more to do...

I haven't done one of these in a while. It isn't the fault of one government. This is the fault of many. This is systemic and abhorrent. To those who claim there is no austerity, that people are just lazy - and they know damn well who they are - you don't understand because you won't understand. You refuse to. And you obviously don't care. Because if you did, you wouldn't be allowing this to happen. This is a real and terrifying struggle for far too many people ... and we're the good guys? One of the most powerful, economically stable and rich countries in the world? And we treat our vulnerable, needy, poor and struggling citizens in the manner we do?

This is just one facet of the greed based society in which we live, where the trickle down economic principle is so obviously so wrong, where the strong tease the weak without actually, genuinely, having the strength to help. A system that champions banking bonuses over child poverty, that champions tax cuts over education, is hideously flawed.

I'm not saying that we have to pander to everyone regardless of how engaged they may be. This isn't a call to allow everyone to sit in their pants in front of a 50 inch screen watching Jeremy Kyle eating food they didn't work for in a house they don't have to pay for in a community they do nothing for! This isn't a call to let anyone and everyone do whatever they like regardless of their abilities, status, dreams and market orientated gullibility.

I am saying that our priorities as individuals, as communities, as a society, as a nation have to change. Teachers buying clothes and food for their students because the parents have nothing; food banks becoming a normal way of life for some; the despicable, unthinking, uncaring policy amendments which force those who are desperate to do better into worse conditions (welfare, benefits, social care, individual allowances) are not the way forward. They are a massive step backwards towards greater division, anger, hatred, fear, wealthy antipathy and poverty driven anarchy. And we promote and propagate this by continuing to allow our various governments to follow a path of greed-based, growth orientated, high profit driven policies that marginalise society solely in terms of haves and have nots.

Whatever your political persuasion, you cannot fail to see that, as a nation, we are failing our people. Across all walks of life. We cannot put profit over promise anymore. Those who have more have a responsibility to those who have less. Those who have less also have a responsibility within their own communities, but they can only fulfil that with opportunity to do so. How can you expect those who are now seen as being at the very bottom of society to strive for anything when they have nothing to start with? No hopes, no dreams, no education, no food, no clothes, no comfort at all. Everyone has a right to the same opportunities. How individuals use those opportunities is up to them. But we are failing the basic needs of our most vulnerable people.

This isn't to say that people should not be responsible for themselves. Of course we should. But we all need help sometimes and that's often dependent on where you sit in a society's hierarchy; whether that's filling in a tax form, completing a job application, submitting immigration status documentation, applying for benefits or whatever.

You'll have to forgive my anger when companies profit billions of pounds and complain that the tax burden is restricting their growth and limiting their ability to pay their shareholder dividends. Surely the very fact that they make such huge profits is testament to their strength and the promise of benefits to their communities and society in general. Please excuse my utter disgust when yet another sustainable development in energy production is shelved in favour of something damaging, short sighted and "cheap" ( not for future generations it bloody isn't!). And do forgive my sometimes expletive ridden polemics on the injustices of our system of governance where poverty and division are rife, rage is on the increase and we systematically rip funding from the public. Austerity is real. It's just not everyone is living it.

But God help you if you're poor, disabled, vulnerable, unwell, ill-educated, unskilled and unseen, regardless of how hard you try to work, or how much a part of your community you wish to be, because governments won't.

We need a real change. Not one of anarchy and division, but one of sense and understanding; a social outlook with liberal views in a conservative (as in not profligate) society. It's not a pipe dream. We just need more people to understand the global reality rather than our personal selfishness.

I am not a saint and I am not an evangelist. You can call me a hypocrite if you like but we should all have a look at ourselves before we start throwing stones at glass houses. And sometimes, just sometimes, I think we all need a nudge to remind us that we all have more to do, that we can all do a little bit more and that it matters that we do.

Thank you for reading this. It's a bit longer than I had intended.

Now read what inspired this post:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/01/teachers-buy-children-food-clothes-mattress-funerals-child-poverty?CMP=share_btn_fb

It's Tough Being Human - but we all are, so let's just get on with being Human

Recent events astonish me. I don't know how people think. Or why they think the way they do. I consider myself open to discussion, debate and conversation. Where the evidence and argument are strong enough I am perfectly prepared to change my mind. I am not wedded to an idea simply because I think it. And thinking something is VERY different to knowing it.

I might not agree with people but I try to understand why they think the way they do and trust that they have attempted to see why others think differently. But when opinion is touted as fact and supported by further opinion rather than fact, that option disappears.

I fear for our present and our future where discourse is based solely on the idea that someone should be vilified, shunned and shamed for not thinking like someone else, just because someone else said it, no matter that there is no attempt at understanding; where monsters in power shut down those who would question them with lies that ,by repetition and bombast, become truths; where fear is something to be championed not eradicated; where respect is based on power and violence rather than honour and trust; where belief overpowers evidence; where humans spit on other humans because it makes them feel better or liken them to cockroaches who should be blown out of the water if they try to escape horrors visited on them by other humans; where children are shot in their classrooms by other children.

We have so much to be proud of; arts and science and sport, community, knowledge, friendship, exploration, adventure, passion, truth, joy, diversity, experience, love. And yet we are bombarded by the opposite with such regularity and force, questioned and mistrusted for requiring explanation and clarity that it becomes difficult to even raise the issues without being insulted or threatened.

There are so many options to change this, but it requires governments, rulers, politicians, public figures, personalities, celebrities, employers, employees, teachers, students to accept a complete shift in the judgemental state of being to which we have all become accustomed and in which we are educated and employed.
It takes acts of kindness and a soft touch; it takes listening rather than telling; it takes a desire to learn and to experience.

We are not weaker by refusing to have guns or calling for truth or being accountable and taking responsibility for how we live our lives. We are not wrong to call someone out when they do something wrong; complaining about noisy neighbours, reporting criminal activity; impeaching those in power for their lies and deceit. We are stronger through our understanding and our passion for knowledge and community, our openness and unity because of our experiences than we can ever be by shutting ourselves away behind walls built on fear and misunderstanding; selfishness and restriction.

It's a shame people can't see that. It's a shame we are required to be pigeon-holed from birth; you're black, you're white, you're sporty, you're a scientist, you like maths, you're gay, you're disabled, you're an actor, you're a factory worker, you're a man, you're a woman. We are all these things, but first we are human. And we need other humans in order to survive.

Homelessness requires more than a helping hand

We can all only do what we, individually, can or are prepared to. However, whatever we feel, whether it be pity, compassion, guilt, fear, even shame for one's own situation compared to that of someone who is homeless - regardless of their reason for being so - means nothing to those who are in a position to genuinely do something worthwhile and positive. 

WE can band together as volunteers, fundraising and working at soup kitchens, opening our homes, offering beds, work, education, blankets, a friendly face and an open conversation. 

Shamefully, until those in power, those who are supposed to provide governance for their own people, especially those who need it most, see past their own feathered nests and beyond what might feather them further, we fight a losing battle. 

I am proud of the work that those who are able and prepared to do provide - God knows it is needed - but it appears impossible to make politicians aware of their responsibility, the shame they should feel for their lack of appropriate action, or indeed the compassion they should feel for their fellow humans, let alone their responsibility to the people they represent. 

Regardless of what an individual may have done for the country, whether it be in the armed forces, as a postal worker, suffering from mental illness or simply turfed out because the council couldn't or wouldn't pay the rent on a private property that wasn't fit to live in, everyone should be treated the same. 

As a human. 

But it should not be down to an individual giving money, or food, or shelter, warmth, comfort, a shoulder to lean on or an ear to bend. It is down to all of us, everyone en masse, represented by the forces of authority and governance. Yet, whether those forces be left or right leaning, socially minded or corporately monetised, they systematically let down or simply ignore those who need their help most - presumably because there's no immediate financial benefit or investment opportunity in it. 

When a government department weighs up the cost of death against budget and decides it is preferable to spending money, as appears to be the case across the benefits system (and that is not just down to the Conservatives, I imagine this has been a factor for a very long time! They just happen to be right at the blunt end), we need to change the manner in which we think about our people and our nation's traditional activities. 

When the most useful, dull, unspectacular causes die out because money is withdrawn from charitable trusts; when volunteers are relied upon to provide public services (manning and providing for drop in centres, food banks, after hours clinics, therapy groups) we need to reconsider where our educational and moral compass is really taking us. 

As individuals we are capable of so much, but as government has consistently shown us, from millions marching against the Iraq war to the rancid manner Health and Welfare are treated, their disgust of and contempt towards the people they govern needs not only to be challenged but called out and changed. And the only way I can see that happening is through education and understanding. 

That's not liberal, or socialist or conservative, that's just human. We all want a quick fix, but there isn't one. And it's going to be bloody hard to persuade those with everything that those with nothing deserve more.

Westminster Terror Attack, 22nd March, 2017 - How speculation breeds hate

The attack on 22nd March 2017 in London was horrific, a terrifying tragedy. But are we in danger of letting our greed to know what's going on affect our ability to understand it and work on it?

Our desire for information is a symptom of the 24 hour immediacy and availability of news. As a result we want more, faster. Since news happens in real time and events unfold in their own timeframe, our need for data forces us to fill in the gaps, fill the time until something else happens; build on what we know to be fact with information that might be associated to what is unfolding.

But this desire for information, the result of years of constant news and soundbite reportage, has created a dangerous precedent. The phrase “speculate to accumulate” has been lore since man first spent money on something that he planned would make more money. But we can change that now. The more modern version of this, applied to news and opinion forming is “speculate to breed hate”.

In the light of the Terror Attack on Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament on 22nd March, 2017, when new, factual information stopped coming in, the speculation started. A day later, with no information made public about the attacker, reports via the media suggest that the assailant was a known hate preacher – a hate preacher who, it has since been proved, is in jail for hate preaching! And yet people are still commenting on his speculated involvement.

The media appears to jump on such events with an obscene glee, turning a tragedy into an almost macabre circus with its sensationalist attitude and it does no good, nor does it report the events clearly and, ultimately, truthfully.

Commentators such as Katie Hopkins and Nigel Farage have been quick to jump in to further their own agendas, political or publicity seeking. Katie Hopkins lambasted the London Mayor Sadiq Khan for not making a public appearance, and decrying the actions of this evil man quickly enough, by calling him "Sadiq Can’t" in a tweet. She, of course, knows exactly why he didn’t or couldn’t respond, doesn’t she? Of course she does, because she was so quick to tell us absolutely nothing. Because she cannot know. Were there security issues involved? Was he advised not to by security forces? But why consider that when you’ve suddenly come up with a soundbite tweet to get you noticed? There was no mention of the time it took for the Prime Minister to release a statement. However, both the London Mayor and the PM have now done so and in an excellent, unequivocal manner.

Farage’s immediate comments on his radio programme on LBC, promoting The American President’s Travel Ban in light of the attack, make the immediate suggestion that the man was an immigrant. He might have been. It is also just as likely that he was born in Hackney. How would your travel ban work then? But just because he has brown skin and a beard doesn’t make him an immigrant. He might be. But until those facts have been released, who are you to deliberately generate hatred and feed the fire of fear? What do you hope to achieve by suggestion rather than fact? Certainly nothing good. It just fits an agenda along with the hate mongers from all areas of the community, whether Abu Hamsa wannabes or Tommy Robbins rage-spewers.

The screaming social media hounds have made their cases, too, leaping on scraps or information and ripping at them with their misdirected, misconstrued, misunderstood slavering; feeding on the inconsistencies, suppositions, speculation and opinion… and it is all hurtful. It doesn’t matter what side of a political or religious fence you lie, if your conviction is such that you cannot abide to listen, let alone understand someone else’s view if it doesn’t tie in with yours, you’re still a bigot. And bigotry allied to speculation and opinion without the full facts is utterly dangerous.
Our modern need for news, to be kept up to date with an immediacy that borders on obsession, forces this supposition and speculation as journalists, with or without agendas, attempt to break the next big link in the story’s chain of events. Sadly, all too often now it seems, at the expense of fact.

Considered journalism, cutting edge reporting, comment and consideration pay no heed to speculation except to report it as such. And to decry it.

The events on 22nd March 2017 are horrific. The pain and loss that the families involved have and will suffer are incalculable and we should rightly send them love and condolences, keeping them in our hearts and our thoughts. The bravery of our public servants, the police and emergency services should absolutely be applauded and supported. They are our heroes. But we do them all a dishonour to jump to conclusions about what has happened and I would hope that we are all aware of the dangers of doing so.

I write this with the available information at 10am on 23rd of March and am absolutely aware that the facts may change. If it is proved that the man who committed these terrible acts, murdering and maiming civilians and a police officer and attempting to threaten the seat of democracy in the capital of the United Kingdom, was indeed an extremist acting on a perverse mission of violence, then that information will be made public and we will deal with the repercussions then. But until that time, this act of terror was committed by an evil man for reasons as yet unknown. He did not act in the name of a religion or a minority, he did not state his grounds for this heinous act, he acted alone. His actions should not be fuel for hate amongst communities already creaking with division.

Don’t take the easy route. Do get the facts.

We are London. We are strong. We are aware. We are not afraid. Nervous, suspicious, angry.

But not afraid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**EDITED at 1600 - The attacker was British born and had previously been arrested for violence, although was not currently on the security service's radar - his last conviction was for possession of a knife in 2003. Inevitably Daesh have grabbed at the opportunity to be involved, claiming the now-named Khalid Masood as a so-called IS soldier. Yes, it does matter that facts are treated as a priority above opinion!

8 people have now been arrested in organised police operations from London to Birmingham.

Three people murdered by Masood have been named; PC Keith Palmer, Aysha Frade and Kurt Cochrane. 40 people from 11 countries were injured, 20 required hospital treatment and 7 remain critical. Our sympathy and condolences are with those grieving and injured.

Truth is a lie to those for whom it has no benefit

A different kind of call to action

To those saying we should give Trump and May et al a chance, I suggest not only caution but action.

We should not give leaders like May or Trump or Merkel, Tusk or Junkers, Putin or Erdogan "a chance" because they must be held responsible and answerable for their actions and we must keep them in check. They are their countries' leaders because, through democratic process rather than necessarily voting them in, their people put them there: it is our responsibility as citizens, national and global, to hold them to account as much as their responsibility as leaders. And when what they say leads to hatred and violence, fear and death then they must be stopped!

In a world which champions digitisation and information-overload we succumb to the simplification of ideas and ideology without considering the greater good. And it works for those who wish to maintain a hierarchy of corruption in their view of a status quo.

Greed begets greed and power begets power because those who want it will do anything to have it.

Those who lead us make decisions which affect us all, not just those who agree.

Those who claim to unite us divide us.

Those who claim to protect us put us in the most danger.

Those who claim to fight for us fight for themselves.

Those who disagree with us now hate us and apparently we are supposed to hate them.

Regardless of what you think or feel you are ignorant to others because those who don't feel the same think you don't have the ability to read and research and understand what they do.

Truth is in the eye of the beholder, or the mouth of the most vociferous, not in the dissembling of fact.

Truth is a lie to those for whom it has no benefit.

Fact is not truth, yet opinion has become fact and is seen as better than truth.

Fact is "alternative".

Post truth is fact.

We have so much information, processed and presented in so many ways we have simply created a distillation method that regurgitates fact in the way we want to see it because it fits our mindset.

No, we will not all see eye to eye, we will not agree on everything. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying.  Neither does it mean that you must automatically hate what you don't like. Do that and you accept division and fear and violence, prejudice and intolerance. That helps absolutely no one.

So contact your MPs and your local councillors with your concerns, join marches, sign petitions, join political parties and make your feelings and your voice heard through the democratic, diplomatic means we have at our disposal; not just by spouting on social media and getting angry because you don't like what someone just said. Present your argument, your case, your point of view with passion, by all means, but do it with a true understanding, supporting information and a desire for change and collaboration; not a bombardment of heavy handed insults and abuse.

The moment you just sit back and let it happen you capitulate and history has proven time and time again that it is beyond foolish to do so.

But, please, do not succumb to violence. Do not rise to anarchic fits of rage and rebellion.

But do not let up on your leaders. Their mandate is for their people, not just some of them. It will never please everyone, but their responsibility is not to the few.

Make your revolution passionate and heartfelt but peaceful and kind, open and democratic; a guide to understanding and benefit not a driven path to danger and destruction. Show your face and be proud of what you believe in. Be prepared to stand firm and calm in the face of insults and abuse.

MY - 2017

Bloody liberals, coming over here, considering everyone's issues, finding compromise...

Why is the word "liberal" being used as an insult, a derogatory term, a subject of ridicule and hate, especially with regard to Brexit and Trump?

If we were ever confused about the disconnected society that has developed since the last world war, Brexit and Trump, Syria and Somalia, Indonesia and China will, if nothing else, have served to pinpoint just how differently we think and act. If these extremes are genuinely representative of national and international ideologies, rather than individual opinion expressed vehemently but by comparatively few people, and fewer and fewer people are prepared to listen to each other with a view to finding negotiated compromise over issues that affect every single one of us, I would simply ask this:

Why are we so prepared to hate? Have we been conditioned to do so, or are we naturally predisposed to it? (probably deserves consideration on its own merit, that.)

I believe we are better than this, that we are capable of so much more, beyond the anger and bile, the vitriol and intolerance, the shaming and blaming, the alternate facts and post truths, the fear mongering and hate rhetoric.

All it really takes is a moment to stop and listen to views that are not our own. To consider why someone else might think differently; what their experiences may be. The more of us who are patient and capable of doing this, the better prepared we can be to develop a future where different views lead to debate rather than conflict, benefit rather than rage. That makes me a liberal.

Liberal - defined as:

• favourable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
• noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
• of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism, especially the freedom of the individual and governmental guarantees of individual rights and liberties.
• favourable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
• favouring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression.
• of or relating to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
• free from prejudice or bigotry.

I'm struggling to see why the word "liberal" is becoming such a bad thing, an insult, a curse. Being "liberal" is a good thing, surely; open to question, considerate of others but not weak or downtrodden, apathetic or permissive for the sake of it.

But that's how I'm wired, or conditioned, or otherwise created.

And I'm proud of it.

MY - Jan 2017

Working With What You've Got

Playing Long John Silver in the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre

production of Treasure Island - December 2016

The choices we make regarding work and career are based on a variety of individual premises: finance, passion, ambition, talent to name but a few. I just wanted to consider how what we know we can do can be both a benefit and a hindrance in developing a business opportunity.

Everyone has skills. They might be numerical, physical, creative, but whatever they are, once you start to promote yourself, they can both pigeon-hole you and open doors to a whole new range of opportunities. A lot of it depends on how you see your own talents. Within the industries in which I work, actors and voice artists are very quickly recognised for specific attributes: build, hair and eye colour, vocal quality, tone and depth; all "terminally" useful from a casting perspective, but it is easy to get bogged down personally in the mud of type-casting. That's wonderful if you are regularly getting work within that particular bracket or brand, but what do you do if that's not happening and yet you are still cast to type?

"Transferable skills" is a lovely sound bite, but recognising your own as transferable can often be daunting, especially if you're not a naturally self-promoting individual. It can be even harder if your skills are very personal (voice or body type), so developing not only a coping method for rejection but also a promotion strategy for your own specific areas of expertise is half the battle.

Deciding what your skills are can also be difficult, especially if you have been entrenched in a specific industry and even a dedicated facet within that industry for any length of time - and particularly if you no longer consider them, individually, as skills. Giving a presentation is a skill. Analysing data from a variety of media is a skill. Extrapolating patterns from diverse sources is a skill. Talking out loud is a skill. Writing informative and engaging copy is a skill.

But if you do it day in day out, it may not seem like it's much to shout about. Breaking down what you do into its component parts may seem like a bit of a chore, but it will help you see just how expert you have become within your role and give you an opportunity to explore what else you might be able to apply your skills to; combine them as a set; offer them as specifics.

Allowing yourself to enjoy the abilities that you have and seeing them as skills that are applicable and in demand is sometimes tough for us all. Letting yourself explore how they might enable you to develop them in a beneficial way for others, let alone your bank balance, could reveal a surprising layer of new opportunities. Working with what you've got requires you to know what it is, understand its value and believe in what you can do with it.

I'm not attempting to reinvent anything here, but I see, all too often, colleagues and friends refusing to acknowledge what they do; perhaps because they do not want to seem pushy or arrogant, or they simply do not recognise what they do as a skill as it has become a mundane element to their every day tasks. A simple look at how you function within your role, whether as a freelancer or within a company structure and regardless of your current level of confidence in it, might well give you pause for consideration of your own skill sets and just what you might be achieve with them.

You might surprise yourself. I hope you do. I know I did.

MY