Political Mainly

  “ I believe that the war on drugs is a tragically misplaced use of resources – an immoral venture that produces far more suffering than it alleviates. David Harsanyi. Last week the home secretary Suella Braverman tweeted about new proposals to target organised crime, and I quote. “ We cannot let criminal gangs profit from devastation. Great work is being done to tackle organised crime, including by @GMPolice. And I've announced a national crackdown. Take out the gangs; stop the drugs, violence and antisocial behaviour. We have been here before, it's like every home secretary is so arrogant that they think they are the one who through being tough on crime and criminality that they can end crime and criminality, even Margaret Thatcher, the most hard faced PM to ever haunt No 10 had a crack at it and failed, but as history shows, this approach is nothing more than posturing, in the 50 odd years since the 1971 misuse of drugs act was introduced, the...

  At the time of writing this the Prime Minister of the UK is Rishi Sunak, whose parents are Tanzanian and Kenyan, who happens to be the richest man to ever occupy Number 10 Downing street, for many he is an example of what the son of immigrants can achieve with the right education and the right motivation, he has after all reached the highest office in the land, but how is that possible in a conservative party that has been moving evermore right wing for over a decade. We tend to associate political parties that are further to the right as the least welcoming to ethnic minorities, we have seen in the past far right political groups such as The National Front, The BNP, and EDL having an agenda based around Immigration, and more recently UKIP have had the same strong views on Immigration, but because of their anti EU stance, and making immigration just one part of their manifesto, they seemed to negate the risk of any serious accusations of racism on an organisational level, ...

  A few years ago, I was on a train from Birmingham to Leeds, it was around 5:30, surprisingly not particularly busy for rush hour, There were enough seats and it was as chilled a vibe as could be for a rush hour service, across the aisle and a seat in front of me were a bunch of young people laughing and drinking and generally having a good time not in an obnoxious way, but just with enough merriment for the other passengers to notice how much fun they were having. I would say they were university students, they were about that age and not the usual piss heads that you would expect from, well me when I was that age. A woman sat across the aisle from them leaned across and asked them “what are you celebrating” one of the group, a big lad in a rugby shirt, gulped down the swig of canned G&T and without missing a beat replied “Just being young”. To this day, I have not heard a more perfect answer to a question, why shouldn't you celebrate being young? Youth is the greatest g...

  I want to be clear from the off that I have nothing against the band members of The 1975, I think they are very talented musicians that do something not many bands can do, Originality, when you hear The 1975, you know what you are listening to, haunting vocals and an other worldly instrumental arrangement that can transport the listener to another place. But still I will skip them on spotify if they are in a playlist, so what is the problem? In a nutshell its me, I am the problem, you see when you listen to music, no mater if it's Vivaldi's Four seasons, Even flow by Pearl Jam, or the Chronic by Dr Dre, great music is not about technical ability, great writing or any of that stuff, what makes a great piece of music is the way it makes you feel. The music we listen to is a part of who we are, because its n expression of our emotions, When I have a bad day, and I have the anger building up in me, a little slipknot is the pressure valve, I can go nuts for a few minuets, and...

  Around 25 years ago, I made a new years resolution, one that I have stuck to ever since, During one of my many periods of self assessment and efforts to change, I decided that I would not be making new years resolutions ever again, and that if I wanted to change, I should just do so, and not wait for numbers to change on a calendar to do so, and for 25 years I have stuck to it, sort of, I haven't made any new years resolutions in all that time, but then again, my life has been pretty stagnant in all that time. Change for people who have normal brains, is just a matter of making up their mind to do so, and having the fortitude to keep on keeping on, but when you're like me, with ADHD (diagnosis pending) and the constant distractions of modern life are just too much to resist, sticking to a plan is harder than it should be, especially because I forget dates very easily, unless it has something to do with something I am hyper fixated on, so forgetting when I started a new pla...

  On Monday the 19 th of september 2022, Her Majesty Queen Elizibeth II, was laid to rest her years of service, sacrifice, and duty at an end and reunited in peace with her husband Prince Philip. The world watched as the pomp and ceremony, and the Great British public saying goodbye to our longest reighning monarch, and a constant in our lives since 1952. In the weeks after her death, King Charles III took the throne, visibly irritable, and at times lashing out, I get it, I lost my mother in march of 2020, and my father just over a year later in 2021, and there may have been times that I was less than kind and patient, and that was without the glare of the worlds spotlight on me. But while King Charles III took the throne, and William became Prince of Wales, Heir-apparent to the throne, the british tabloids started to obsessively critque everything that Meghan did and didn't do during the funeral. Even the common act of wiping away a single tear bought out a barage of gam...

  Under the Dickensian Tories, that see food banks as a solution to poverty, and believe that if you can't afford to heat your home or stock the fridge, that you should work more hours or get a better job, its no surprise that their big idea to bring about an end to trade union action, is to outlaw industrial action. With strikes set to happen over the Christmas period, by the RMT, NHS, Civil servants, and postal workers (so far), Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces increasing pressure to bring in anti strike action laws, and basically remove the teeth of this particular tiger. Some senior ministers are busying themselves trying to find ways to tighten anti strike legislation, one minister said to the financial times “if the Christmas eve strike goes ahead, we need to crack on with the anti-strike laws early in the mew year”. We already have some of the most restrictive trade union laws in Europe, but the Tories will Tory, they have never been on the side of working people, their s...