Thursday 30 November 2017

Yesterday was hell, still searching for heaven


Yesterday I searched for something
some hope I guess, but could not find it,
what  else was  bloody needed
so I begged ,prayed and pleaded,
mind in array, how could I actually tell
no answers came all seemed like hell,
as politicians pillaged and clouds turned dark
left their truly horrible inedible mark,
I searched for solutions ever so far away
but lacked religion a God that could rearrange,
found some power on the streets instead
friends like me still hungry for change,
fighting, struggling for an end to this mess
releasing  thoughts of another world instead,
as this planet whirled on the path of destruction
searching for that elusive place called heaven,
a place where we could all find salvation
a kinder place that can't be broken or stolen.


This can now also be found now here :- https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/yesterday-was-hell-still-searching-for-heaven-by-dave-rendle/

Some musical respite :Celt Islam ft.Masala - Revolution Inside Me


All the best, hope you feel it to, its the things we can't change that should worry us the most, stop a while  reflect on what is right, build and build, move all obstacles in sight, to let things simply be can just become a haunting echo.

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Desolation can be completed.


Hungry bellied
magnetic undulations of the wind,
our flowers are growing again as winter approaches
freedom has no ending, inside or outside,
whisked in the air ,a force beyond control
in all our wildness, the whiff of escapes radiant smile,
the animating power of expression
manifestations of delight in unknown,
open wounds can be closed by time itself
in moments of kindness, generate warmth,
where surge of spirit is keenly felt
remorse, regret can be abandoned,
distance can be covered without recall
with compassion  and love on our lips,
desolation can be completed.

Tuesday 28 November 2017

William Blake: Radical Visionary (28/11/1757 - 12/8/1827)

,
William Blake was a British, poet, painter, engraver, visionary who was born in the Soho district of London on November 28, 1757, to  religious dissenting parents, James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Considered eccentric, if not mad, in his own day,he is now highly regarded as a seminal figure of the romantic age, and for his expressiveness and creativity, as well as the philosophical and mystical undercurrents that reside within his work
How the hell he's only got a fleeting mention here on this blog over the years cannot fathom because long have I admired  and found inspiration from his life and work.
Two of his six siblings died in infancy, and from an early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions, at four he saw God “put his head to the window”; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with angels .These visions would have a lasting impact on the art and writings that he created.
His parents observed that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed with James Basire, (because art school proved to costly),who was official engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. He sent Blake to draw the tombs and monuments at Westminster Abbey, a task which brought him to his lifelong love of Gothic art. After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal Academy.of Arts school of Design .where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780,
In 1782, he married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher. Blake taught her to read and to write, and also instructed her in draftsmanship. He also helped her to experience visions as he did. Catherine believed absolutely in her husbands visions and genius , and supported him in everything he did. She would help  him print the illuminated poetry for which he best remembered today; the couple had no children. He was faithful to her despite writing about sexual energy and polygamy and their marriage remained a close and devoted one until his death.
In 1784 he set up a printshop with a friend and former fellow apprentice, James Parker, but this venture failed after several years. For the remainder of his life, Blake made a meager living as an engraver and illustrator for books and magazines. In addition to his wife, Blake also began training his younger brother Robert in drawing, painting, and engraving. Robert fell ill during the winter of 1787 and succumbed, probably to consumption. As Robert died, Blake saw his brother’s spirit rise up through the ceiling, “clapping its hands for joy.” He believed that Robert’s spirit continued to visit him and later claimed that in a dream Robert taught him the printing method that he used in Songs of Innocence and other “illuminated” works.
Blake’s first printed work, Poetical Sketches (1783), is a collection of apprentice verse, mostly imitating classical models. The poems protest against war, tyranny, and King George III’s treatment of the American colonies. The poem below To Autumn is taken from it. He published his most popular collection, Songs of Innocence, in 1789 and followed it, in 1794, with Songs of Experience. Some readers interpret Songs of Innocence in a straightforward fashion, considering it primarily a children’s book, but others have found hints at parody or critique in its seemingly naive and simple lyrics. Both books of Songs were printed in an illustrated format reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts. The text and illustrations were printed from copper plates, and each picture was finished by hand in watercolors.


Blake was a bold rebel and nonconformist all his life in both his thought and art who was once arrested on a trumped up charge of sedition. A man  who hated tyranny and celebrated liberty and was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions and openly wore the red revolutionary bonnet in the streets. He espoused savage anarchy and also peace and love and was also an anti monarchist who found it necessary to protest conformity and war in his lifelong struggle for individualism.
He was associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day, such as Thomas Paine, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. In defiance of 18th-century neoclassical conventions, he valued imagination over reason in the creation of both his poetry and images, asserting that ideal forms should be constructed not from observations of nature but from inner visions. He declared in one poem, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s.” Works such as “The French Revolution” (1791), “America, a Prophecy” (1793), “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” (1793), and “Europe, a Prophecy” (1794) express his opposition to the English monarchy, and to 18th-century political and social tyranny in general. Theological tyranny is the subject of The Book of Urizen (1794). In the prose work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), he satirized oppressive authority in church and state.He abhorred the way in which Christians looked up to a God enthroned in heaven, a view which offered a model for a hierarchical human politics, which subordinated the majority to a (supposedly) superior elite. He also criticised the dominant philosophy of his day which believed that a narrow view of sense experience could help us to understand everything that there was to be known, including God. Blake's own visionary experiences showed him that rationalism ignored important dimensions of human life which would enable people to hope, to look for change, and to rely on more than that which their senses told them.
Despite his famously radical politics and vehement rejection of much of the social establishment about him, he has since been affectionately adopted by a wide British public as a kind of patron saint. I believe it is precisely because of his politics and anti-establishment views that people feel so much affection for Blake.
While his poetry seemed to focus on the darker aspects of emotion, the texts still adhered to the characteristics typical of the Romantic Period.  Blake, like many Romantics of his time, wanted to forge a new path for himself, idealize the individual, feeling over reason, importance of nature and imagination, and removal from corrupt limiting societies.
In 1800 Blake moved to the seacoast town of Felpham, where he lived and worked until 1803 under the patronage of William Hayley. He taught himself Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian, so that he could read classical works in their original language. In Felpham he experienced profound spiritual insights that prepared him for his mature work, the great visionary epics written and etched between about 1804 and 1820. Milton (1804-08), Vala, or The Four Zoas (1797; rewritten after 1800), and Jerusalem (1804-20)  They envision a new and higher kind of innocence, the human spirit triumphant over reason.
Blake believed that his poetry could be read and understood by common people, but he was determined not to sacrifice his vision in order to become popular. Blake’s final years, though spent in great poverty and periods of depression because of critical and public failure as an artist, he was cheered by the admiring friendship of a group of younger artists who called themselves “the Ancients.” In 1818 he met John Linnell, a young artist who helped him financially and also helped to create new interest in his work. It was Linnell who, in 1825, commissioned him to design illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy.His engraving The Ancient of Days,was popular enough to generate commissions for reproductions. To our good fortune, Blake was happy to create several copies of his favorite engraving, at least a baker’s dozen and each one of them unique, the last of which was completed only a few weeks before his death in 1827 from gallstones.


In 1827, the last year of his life, Blake wrote to a friend about those Englishmen who despised “Republican Art” and who, after the French Revolution, thought they were in a “happy state of agreement to which I for One do not agree”. It is amazing that he appears to have retained his radicalism and confidence in humanity. He wrote in The Everlasting Gospel:

Thou art a Man, God is no more
Thy own humanity learn to adore”

On the actual day of his death, he drew one last portrait of his beloved wife, and died a few hours later. However Catherine believed that her husband's spirit remained with her. She continued to sell copies of his illuminated works and paintings, but would not agree to a sale before 'consulting Mr Blake.' On the day that she died, she cheerfully called out to her husband, as if they were in the sae room, that she was coming to him.
William Blake is buried in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, City Road, Finsbury, London, England. This cemetery was originally the 'Dissenters' graveyard. There is no church attached to the cemetery and the ground is unconsecrated.  Here Catherine  too was buried four years later among other notable figures of dissent like Daniel Defoe and John Bunyan. A grave marker now stands near to where they were buried.


His works have since been used by people rebelling against a wide range of issues, such as war, conformity, and almost every kind of repression. In the present day among our own progressive idylls we can be like Blake and continue to dream of heaven on Earth, building the new Jerusalem, the new moral world and a restored Albion of free and equal imaginations.
I conclude with this set  of four seasonal poems written by Blake, aptly titled   "To Spring,” and “To Summer.” 'To Autumn" "To Winter" these seasonal invocations can be read alone, but Blake also intended them to interconnect. The personas of the seasons can be read as counterparts to Blake’s spirits: Tharmas (most like spring), Orc (most like summer), Los (most like autumn), and Urizen (most like winter).In the poem  Blake hints at the promise of future growth. Within the harvest are the seeds for future crops. As Autumn flies over the bleak hills to make way for Winter, he leaves behind “his golden load”: an abundance of food, seeds for the Spring, and a feeling of joyous celebration, reflecting his particular view of human nature.

To Spring

 O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down
Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!

The hills tell each other, and the listening
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turned
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth,
And let thy holy feet visit our clime.

Come o'er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumed garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our love-sick land that mourns for thee.

 O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languished head,
Whose modest tresses were bound up for thee.

To Summer
 
O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.

Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o’er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy vallies, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:

Our vallies love the Summer in his pride.
Our bards are fam’d who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.


 To Autumn

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stainèd
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of
Morning, and Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.

The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.“
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

To Winter

 O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs,
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.'
He hears me not, but o'er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain'd, sheathèd
In ribbèd steel; I dare not lift mine eyes,
For he hath rear'd his sceptre o'er the world.

Lo! now the direful monster, whose 1000 skin clings
To his strong bones, strides o'er the groaning rocks:
He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.

He takes his seat upon the cliffs,--the mariner
Cries in vain. Poor little wretch, that deal'st
With storms!--till heaven smiles, and the monster
Is driv'n yelling to his caves beneath mount Hecla.

The following  two sites contain useful material and links about William Blake :-

http://www.betatesters.com/penn/blake.htm

http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/blake/

I strongly recommend the following books too :-

William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books (reproductions from the Blake Trust, with introduction by David Bindman, Thames & Hudson, W.W. Norton & Co., 2001)

The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake (ed. David Erdman, with commentary by Harold Bloom, revised edition, Anchor, 1997)

William Blake : Visionary Anarchist - Peter Marshall , Freedom Press

In the following video, author, poet  Iain Sinclair gives an inside look to the history behind Blake’s radical works.





Another Royal wedding announced, lets not get too distracted :Welfare not fanfare


The nation woke up yesterday to the news that Prince Harry and the American actress Megan Markhle were engaged after a whirlwind romance. It is always  nice to hear of couples falling in love, but before we get carried away, lets not forget that the last Royal Wedding cost the taxpayer a whopping £20-39 million for security alone. This one i'm sure is going to be a truly extravagent opulent affair too  at at time when millions of peoples benefits are being frozen for another year,being pushed into poverty, cannot afford to eat and are forced to resort to using food banks in order to survive.
We are supposed to be living  in an age of austerity where the poorest among us have to make sacrifice after sacrifice,  yet Prince Harry and his relations  are still able live out their lives in royal palaces, surrounded by servants and all their vestiges of privilege.
Somehow in the 21st Century they are still celebrated as being somehow more superior than mere commoners, who  living through hard times have to struggle every day simply to make ends meet, and somehow express gratitude to the royals for lording it over them.
Harry's dad Charles, it has been reported is likely to pick up most of the bill for what is said to be a Spring 2018 wedding and reception, even if custom dictates otherwise, but where does he get his money from, mostly from the Duchy and Cornwall estate, where he does not have to pay corporation tax or capital gains tax, and  effectively this  royal tax dodger gets the rest of his money from the British taxpayer, so not really going to cost him a penny. 
Who knows it all might actually lead  to a shift in direction, good old harry boy might choose to give up his Royal privileges and entitlements and choose to live with his future wife as an ordinary person, now  if that happened, I would actually applaud and truly consider that to be a noble thing. In the meantime however please forgive me for my lack of enthusiasm for the royal wedding that has just been announced, I am not a complete killjoy, I hope even as a committed republican that their love lasts , and they  have a nice time together, but I simply don't think their  wedding should come to the cost of ordinary people across the land, while many are facing such hardship. The news  I would prefer to see is  how the Tories are going to address inequality and anger over austerity after seven years of austerity and cuts instead.
I really do believe that we  should all be paying more attention  to things like the diastrous roll out of universal credit, the poverty that is facing many at the present time, instead of focussing on what seems to me, call me a cynic, to be a classic distraction excercise, when the hardest hit are paying the price for the excesses of a few. So I say instead  welfare not fanfare and Tories out for Christmas, now that is something I truly would celebrate.
At end of day the British monarchy, despite its great wealth, and long traditions based on elitism, has little  real power now, there is a rise in people who have simply had enough, and want to seek to transform society for the better, and would actually like to see the end of the monarchy, this tired old institution once for all. Here is a link to  Republic, the anti-monarchy campaign group for an elected head of state, who at least had the tenacity to issue a one worded statement : "Congratulations."

https://www.republic.org.uk/


Monday 27 November 2017

Travelling light


I trust never knowing
But  Love keeps floating,
Besides dreams ever flowing
Tideless waves of time growing,
Sparks of reality,that rekindle fire
Releasing the thirst of desire,
Not empty figments of imagination
Mind staying free, still burning bright,
Finding courage not despair
No good will be found there;
Clinging on am  still afloat
Travelling light, gaze remains fixed,
Carried by powerful forces
Flowing onwards, gaining momentum,
While nature awakens, freedom echoes
Waiting only for a new tomorrow.

Sunday 26 November 2017

I never spoke up


We must keep speaking out for all those currently under attack, we know that  disabled people face prejudice and hatred on a daily basis. In a recent survey, 4% of disabled people said they had been physically attacked and 16% of disabled people had had people act aggressively or in a hostile way towards them. We also know that hardly anyone ever reports such crimes to the police.
Meanwhile our Government  which we should all be ashamed off  are carrying on with policies and cuts that are taking away support to those that need it most . Insane immoral policies  that are pushing many to the brink, as the Government plunges to new depths. Lets not forget that over 10,000 sick and disabled people have already died as a direct result of the Governments welfare reforms. The tories will not  stop they are simply out of control, the suffering they continue to cause is immeasurable,  after the disabled and the unemployed  now they are coming for the doctors,the nurses, firefighters, domestic abuse workers,rape crisis centres, childrens centres etc etc
This is how it works they will take away peoples support, break peoples will for resistance, leave people broken without the means to fight back. So together we must stop them in their tracks.If we never speak out against  their cruelty and injustice , then we are all just as bad.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Animals have no emotions or feelings according to British Government!

                   
                                        Photo by wildlife photographer Richard Bowler    
   
Animals apparently have no feelings or emotions according to  Michael Gove and 312 Members of Parliament , who voted in favour of  rejecting a clause this week that would have enshrined into UK law the recognition that animals are sentient, an admission currently covered by EU law.
Green MP Caroline Lucas submitted the clause as part of the EU withdrawal bill. Some 80% of animal welfare legislation currently comes from the EU but after March 2019 European law will no longer apply in the UK.
The move has been criticised by animal rights activists, who say the vote undermines environment secretary Michael Gove’s pledge to prioritise animal rights during Brexit. One of the arguments put forward by the Government during the debate was that animal sentience is covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006.The RSPCA, however, said this is not the case; the term sentience or sentient being doesn’t appear once in that Act, and, the animal welfare charity said, doesn’t cover all animals.
The majority of animal welfare legislation comes from the EU. The UK Government is tasked with adopting EU laws directly after March 2019 but has now dismissed animal sentience.
Prominent wildlife photographer Richard Bowler  also disagrees, and in  a Facebook post, which has already been shared hundreds of times, Bowler says: “MP’s have voted and in their wisdom, animals can no longer feel pain or emotions.
“It really beggars belief that in this day and age, this shower of a government no longer recognises animals as sentient beings. None of them could have had a pet dog, greet them when they come home.“But it’s not just domestic animals that show love and affection.”
Bowler posted the above photo of a fox in a heartfelt plea to his Facebook audience:
"So MP's have voted and in their wisdom, animals can no longer feel pain or emotions. It really beggars belief that in this day and age, this shower of a government no longer recognises animals as sentient beings. None of them could have had a pet dog, greet them when they come home. But it's not just domestic animals that show love and affection. The photograph shows Rosie and how she greets me, every time I visit her. Are you telling me there's no emotion there, what you can...'t see is the wagging tail and the squeals of excitement as well. All three foxes I care for have built a bond with Maddy our terrier, she is greeted in exactly the same way. It's not hard to imagine that if bonds like this can be formed inter species, that the same bonds can be formed between a dog fox and a vixen and their cubs. In fact so called pest controllers use this to their advantage, after shooting the vixen they will often wait, knowing the dog fox will show up, to mourn if you like. Anyone who's seen elephant documentaries when families visit the bones of their dead can not fail to see that there are emotions going on there. Science is showing more and more animal intelligence and emotions and yet our government has yet again ignored it. There can only be one reason to deny animal sentient status, and that is to exploit them.Here's a link to an article about it
https://www.farminguk.com/…/MPs-vote-to-reject-inclusion-of… 

He continued:
“The photograph shows Rosie and how she greets me, every time I visit her. Are you telling me there’s no emotion there, what you can’t see is the wagging tale and the squeals of excitement as well.
“All three foxes I care for have built a bond with Maddy our terrier, she is greeted in exactly the same way. It’s not hard to imagine that if bonds like this can be formed inter species, that the same bonds can be formed between a dog fox and a vixen and their cubs.
“In fact so called pest controllers use this to their advantage, after shooting the vixen they will often wait, knowing the dog fox will show up, to mourn if you like. Anyone who’s seen elephant documentaries when families visit the bones of their dead can not fail to see that there are emotions going on there.
“Science is showing more and more animal intelligence and emotions and yet our government has yet again ignored it. There can only be one reason to deny animal sentient status, and that is to exploit them.”

Thousands have since signed a petition on campaigning website 38 degrees urging the Tories to reverse this decision.
It states: “Animals have long held the status of being sentient beings in the UK, through legislation created in the EU.
“This means they are recognised as being capable of feeling emotions such as joy and compassion, but also fear, suffering and terror.
“The vote in parliament, narrowly won by the government, removes this status from all animals in the UK, and is a massive blow for the welfare of wildlife, pets and livestock alike.”
One signatory said: “Anyone who has had a pet or worked with livestock clearly understand that these animals are sentient and deserve the best standards of welfare.”
Another commented: “It is inconceivable to deny animals recognition of their completely obvious sentience. This must be repealed.”
However it does not really come as to much a surprise though, because  it is a well known fact that  the Tories themselves that have proven time and time again to be devoid of any compassion to humans let alone animals. But serves to remind us  of how short sighted and heartless they all bloody are.
These by the way are MPs who voted down legislation on animals feeilning pain and emotion as part of Brexit Bill . https://www.indy100.com/article/animal-rights-vote-mps-list-eu-brexit-voted-animals-not-feel-no-emotions-313-conservative-party-tory-8068691

Monday 20 November 2017

If you've bought any of these 11 things, you've helped fund the Tories


Here are eleven  well-known brands and products where shareholders of the company - or the company itself - has donated to the Tories, the party of the few, the rich and the privileged in this country.
They aren't the biggest donors by any means , fat cat donors, bankers , business tycoons are also pumping loads of cash into the Tory Party war chest. As the tories continue to court wealthy donors and businesses meanwhile ordinary people everyday are finding life increasingly more difficult to manage, facing challenging times.. Buying the following 11 things means you have sent money to the Conservatives. If you don't support the Tories and have inadvertantly bought any of the following, please reconsider your habits, stop helping the Tories out, their certainly not helping us out.

1. Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Ginster Pies



The popular pies are owned by Samworth Brothers Ltd.
Director Mark Samworth has donated £585,000 to the Tories since 2010. Additionally, Samworth Brothers Ltd, the company itself, donated £32,000 to the party in 2002 and 2003.
Life President of the company, David Samworth, has donated just over £26,000.
In total, Samworth and those involved in the company have donated nearly £650,000 to the Tories.
Think about that next time you sit down alone and microwave yourself a depressingly limp cornish pasty.

2. Next clothing and accessories




Next CEO lord Wolfson has donated more than £400,000 to the tories since 2006. He was made a Conservative party peer by David Cameron in 2010.
Next made record £695m profits last year and is facing a trade union campaign by the GMB trade union to pay a living wage to staff.

3. Autotrader magazine



Autotrader is owned by Apax the private equity firm run by Tory Donor Adrian Beercroft, after it was bought from the owners of the Guardian newspaper through a controversial offshore deal in the Cayman Islands.
Beecroft, who has donated £593,000 to the Tories, wrote a notorious report for Downing Street recommending that a string of workers rights be scrapped so bosses can sack workers at will.

4. The Wombles


Mike Batt wrote six Wombles albums between 1973 and 1978. Batt has donated £112,500 to the Tories since 2001. If you've bought any Womble music (who hasn't) or listened to "Remember You're a Womble" in order to remind yourself that you're a Womble, you have inadvertently given money to the tories.

5. Woking football club



Owned by Surrey businessman Chris Ingram. He's donated nearly £175,000 to the tories since 2008. So if you support Woking you also support the Tories

6. Warbutons



This well-known bakery gave the Tories a £25,000 donation in the run up to the 2010 election, after David Cameron held a press conference at the firm's Bolton HQ and was pictured in front of a wall of Warburtons loaves.

7.Crombie coats




Owned by former Tory vice-chairman Alan Lewis, who has donated £246,000 to the Conservative Party. Part of Crombie's parent company Hartley Investment Trust is owned offshore on the Isle of Man. Most people I see wearing a Crombie I avoid anyway because I have suspicions their probably Tories.

8. Soreen Meat Loaf


Soreen is also owned by Samworth Brothers who donated £650,000 to the Conservatives. The search continues for a non-politically aligned malt-loaf.

9. Lycamobile



lycamobile is a virtual phone network set up in 2006. They sell international Sim cards to consumers who want to make international phone calls /
The company donated a massive £827,562 to the Tory party between 2011 and December 2015..


10. Bet Fair




Bet Fair founder and shareholder Edward Wray has donated just under £210,000 to the tories since 2010. If you've ever gambled using Betfair and lost, your loss has been the Tories gain.

11.Karl Liegerfield clothes



If you've ever bought any Karl Lagerfeld clothes  you have inadvertently donated to the Tories. The label is also owned by Apax, who have donated £593,000 to the Tories.Not the 81 year old fashion designer, but the fashion label itself.

This data was found by the Mirror, who drew their data from the Electoral Commission and Searchthemoney


Wednesday 15 November 2017

DWP hang your heads in shame


For those unable to read images, it says:

‘I’m a doctor. This is a real conversation I had with the Job Centre:

“Hi, I don’t think Miss X is well enough to come to your appointment…”

“It’s a term of her benefits that she has to come.”

“I know, but I don’t think she’s well enough. Can you rearrange it?”

“So she came to your appointment?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then she can come to ours.”

“But she’s not well and I’m her doctor.”

“And she wants benefits and so she has to come here.”

“So you’re saying that she has to either jeopardise her health by coming to your meeting, or not receive any money.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel guilty you’re speaking to the wrong person.”‘

Just to add perspective to this dialogue, it might be useful to remember that a woman was afraid to leave a DWP meeting while she was having a heart attack because she thought she would be sanctioned off-benefit.

This sad state of affairs currently happening in a supposed civilised country, and completely legal too, we need a change in government as soon as possible to put and end this shameful policy. It is simply outrageous that some people are actually punished simply for being ill.


Image Black triangle campign

Saturday 11 November 2017

Lest we forget


repost from last year

Millions of Britons will observe  two minutes of silence this weekend as the nation marks Armistice  Day and Rememberance Sunday and pay respect to those killed in war.
The Peace Pledge Union  though wants to promote the idea that there are better ways to resolve conflict than through war and violence. They also want to curb the attitude towards commemoration of war, which painrs the picture that war is noble and worth celebrating. They promote the idea of wearing a white poppy around the same time you would wear the red poppy, for Armistice Day and Rememberance Sundayaround November 11 each year with a committment to peace and a refusal to celebrate or glamourise war itself:
http://www.ppu.org.uk/.
Remembrance Day was originally intended to remind us of the futility of war. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month which marked the time the Armistice was signed at the end of WWI, or, as it was known at the time, The Great War, the war to end all wars. Such was  the scale of death and suffering between 1914-18 it was believed to be inconceivable that nations would again engage in such wasteful and destructive confrontation. In fact, The Great War instead turned out to be  the opening chapter of the most destructive and murderous century in the history of the human race. War became mechanized, industrial, and all consuming. No longer did armies simply face each other across a battlefield in ordered rows to slog it out until one side was victorious, entire cities and nations would be left in ruins and generation after generation of young men would be wiped out of existence. 
 Let is all remember what we do not seem to learn, that it is Politicians that send men and women to die, to go to war, so  that they can try and win unwinnable battles for them. We should remember never to be intimidated by the media which sees the wearing of a red poppy as a definition of loyalty. Let us acknowledge all those people looking for alternative ways of marking and remembering the  dead, working for peace, day by day.
Let us remind ourselves how the wearing or not wearing of the poppy has been used to shame people who make the conscious decision not to wear one, or how to criticise, is to be bandied a traitor, as we are told  told time and again  that soldiers died for our freedoms. Lets not forget  either the families of the wounded or dead who are left abandoned, and the many ex servicemen who are left homeless to fend for themselves.
It's time to expose the hypocrites who sanction wars, arms sales and state repression while wearing a red poppy and uttering platitudes on this Day.
Let us fall silent to mourn the loss of ordinary men  and women who have died when they need not have. Let us fall silent  in  the hope that remembering  will prevent the tragedies of war and  and loss and work towards a time when it does not happen again. Let us fall silent to recognise and commemorate the victims of all wars, such as civilians killed in the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima, Baghdad, Kabul, etc.
Let us reclaim the poppy as a symbol of peace not as a symbol of war.This is why I choose to wear a white poppy only, for peace and try to remember the dead of all sides, both military and civilian.The white poppy pays tributes to victims of all wars, including those which are still ongoing.War is mass murder, and we should remember  the  politicians of all sides that  should be held responsible and tried for murder. Lest we forget. Heddwch/Peace.

Also

" Peace cannot be kept  by force, it can only be achieved by understanding. You cannot subjegate a nation forcibly unless you wipe out every man, woman and child. Unless you wish to use drastic measures, you must find a way of settling your disputes without resort to arms."

- Albert Einstein ( from Militant Pacifist, 1931)


Futility - Wilfred Owen 

Move him into the sun -
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds, -
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved - still warm - too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

Friday 10 November 2017

Lowkey – The Redistribution of Power (Live in London, 2017)


Love this, absolutely awesone, Lowkey performs an acapella of ' The Redistrution of Power.' at his headline show at the Coronet in London. We need a massive radical redistribution of powerthat could help societies current disenchantment. We have nothing to lose and all to gain.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Looking for answers



I've been listing my A to Zeds
from Alpha to Zion,
sometimes it all adds up
life gets better, start understanding,
but often things will arrive that confuse
as I try to remember to resurge, rejoice,.
the sound of  blues arrives in my head
I escape the chorus, and return to bed,
darkness envelopes, the sky gets a little lost
makes the near seem so very far away,
still seek familiar faces, swimming with light
resist a world full of cruel injustice,
remember all those still struggling
as world spins, political corruption exposed,
somehow some hope floods within
answers seeking, keep on arriving.

Saturday 4 November 2017

Anais Nin - Restless heart




Said this before, but having a break from blogging, looking for some inspiration... be back sooner than  later in all probability, in the meantime some thoughts from the inimitable Anais Nin. Thanks to all who have listened. Keep on keeping on, solidarity.

" You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book, or take a trip, and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable:first, restlessness. The second symptom ( when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death) :absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them from death. Some never awaken. "






...

Thursday 2 November 2017

100th Anniversary of Balfour Declaration, a time for reflection not celebration.


                                                Lord Arthur James Balfour

The 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration marks one of Great Britain's betrayals. A shameful part of history that I have written about many times before. It refers to a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour to Walter Rothschild 2nd Baron Rothschild for the supporters of the Zionist cause which had no legal authority where the indigenous Palestinians at the time of the letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the creation of  Israel in 1948.
This cursed declaration is considered to be the first political recognition of the Zionist aims by a foreign government. It meant that those who had no ownership (Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national homeland on a established country Palestine with no moral or legal framework to do so.


Rothschild replied to Balfour's letter saying that 'the British government has opened up, by their message. a prospct of safety and comfort to large masses of prople who are in need of it.' But it also opened up the prospect and reality of abject misery for millions of Palestinians who certainly did not deserve it.
The letter made it clear that the British government backed the establishment of a 'national home for the Jewish people; in Palestine. Three years later, in 1920, Britain was mandated to implement the resolution through the League of Nations.
However Palestinians were not represented in the discussions that led to the declaration, nor were they cited by name in the letter. Indeed, they were defined by what they are not ("non-Jewish"), which set the pattern for their " invisibility " in later official discussions about their future.The letter marks a pivotal moment in the history of Palestine, laying the groundwork for the eventual loss of their land, years of dispossession, conflict and displacement affecting millions of Palestnian lives and their subsequent occupaton with ramifications that are so clearly felt today..
The Palestinian conflict does not begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this declaration. It is necessary that we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people, expelled from their ancestral homeland to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this present day. The continuing seperation of the prople of the West Bank and the open prison that is Gaza.
The content of the declaration seems no less distant or downright baffling. The prominent Jewish intellectual Arthur Koestler, repeating a frequent mantra, would call it “one the most improbable political documents of all time,” in which “one nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third.” The fact that it included no explicit rationale for itself has also fuelled the suspicion that its authors had darker motives. After all, it was issued in the name of the largest empire in history, the Balfour Declaration is considered to be by many one of the greatest mistakes in our imperial history.
Palestinian leaders over the years have strongly urged British officials to apologise and diavow the Declaration as well as acknowledge their responsibility in the plight of the Palestinian people. The British government has refued. The writer Arundhati Roy was right to describe the Palestine tragedy as one of " imperial Britain's festering, blood-drenched gifts to the modern world.' It is also a product of a history of racism and empire that extended across most of the West. On this centennial of the Balfour Declaration, reflection on this shared culpability should serve as a reminder of the responsibility for the political action that comes with it.
Israeli officials say it is right to celebrate the centenary, and have accused those demanding and seeking an apology of being antisemitic.But I reject that and believe the British government politicians should apologise unreservedly for having turned a blind eye to Israel's breaches of international law, offences against humanitarian law which has seen the massacre of Palestinians. Because of this tainted promise, Britain bares responsibility for setting the stage for the conflict that currently exists and the legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression that exists to this day.
In pursuit of justice this ocassion  could be marked by a long adherence to the rules of international law, with an immediate apology from the Government of Great Britain. This task would take courage but is urgent.Millions of Palestinians are still marooned in refugee camps. West Bank citizens have endured 50 years of military occupation and Palestinian homes are continuing to be destroyed and replaced by thousands of new Israeli settlements.
Ahead of the 100th anniversary pro-Palestinian groups launched the following petition
 https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/184398  
calling on the British government  to crap plans to celebrate. They argued Prime Minister Theresa May should instead use the occasion to issue an apology. Responding to the petition in April this year, the Foreign Office said: “The Balfour Declaration is an historic statement for which Her Majesty’s Government does not intend to apologize. We are proud of our role in creating the State of Israel. The task now is to encourage moves towards peace.”
It is really sad to witness Theresa May's blinkered ability to further shame the British people by ingulging in overt celebrations on the occasion of the centenary of the signing. She has also said the declaration was a "source of great pride" for Great Britain. Surely Theresa May and her cabinet cannot be simply unaware of the 100 year suffering this infamous agreement has caused.
Well done to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn  though who has refused to attend Balour Centenary Celebration dinner that is taking place, I believe he is right to avoid it. He's not snubbing Israel per say, but a celebratory dinner that is exremely controversial  and inflammatory to celebrate this .to the  Palestinians it would be seen as celebrating their ethnic cleansing, the continuing denial of a viable Palestinian State, and the fact  that 2017 also marks the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and other Arab land and Israel’s refusal to end this, any celebration would be a complete mockery to the Palestinian peoples collective memory and a continuing violation of their rights..
Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), says British Jews should feel proud of the UK’s role in the creation of Israel, today a key regional trade and security partner. But it is worth pointing out that that all British Jews consider the declaration worth  celebrating. For instance Jews for Justice for Palestinians, offered the following perspective.The group’s parliamentary and diplomatic liaison officer, Arthur Goodman, says the government’s response to the Balfour apology petition is a skew on British history.
In reality the British government shouldn’t be particularly proud because, more than the Balfour Declaration itself, the way they ran it, in the Mandate, was very detrimental to the Palestinians,” he said.“If it had been to create a homeland on an equal basis with the already existing indigenous population, that would have been different. But that’s not what the British Mandate did. They created a state for the Zionists, who were Jews, and they excluded the possibility of the Palestinians having a state or having an equal part in a binational state.”
What would an apology actually achieve?
“Very little. In fact, if that’s all the government did, but didn’t actually help the Palestinians create a state, then it would just make Palestinians and Arabs even more convinced that the British government, among others, was being very hypocritical,” said Goodman.
“I think the correct response would be not to celebrate it, not to mark it, except to say that it’s now time for Israel to accept that it already has 78 percent of British Mandate Palestine and that should be enough for it. And the other 22 percent, i.e. the Occupied Territories, rightly belong to the Palestinians.”
 I do aknowledge though that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what he did not own to those that were not entitled to it.With Israel currently entrenching its military occupation of Palestine and senior politicians articulating there rejection of a Palestinian state, Britain should not be inflaming the situation ny marking Balfour in the way that they are, which will create barriers to the ongoing peace process.100 years after Balfour it is more than time for Britain to now apologise for this declaration that has caused so much pain, a  the time for reflection , not celebration, for us to consider on the profoundly negative consequences of the declaration by the colonial actions of Great Britain, and its continuing global consequences and think about the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people that my country owes a moral responsibility to.
Despite the consequences  of Balfour the Palestinians commitment to fight for freedom also remains unchanged, and neither Balfour nor all of Britain's foreign secretaries since then have managed to break the will  of the Palestinian nation.Let us also remember that the leaders of Israel were never satified with what they eventually got in 1948. They unfortunately set their sights much wider. And to this day carry out policies of expansion and domination in acts of provocation. Until measures  are made by Israel to improve the standard of living and bring economic prosperity to the Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Bringing some chord of social justice, and reconition of the Palestinians identity and stolen land given back to them. and an end to their continuing use of apartheid practices, their will be no peace. This is Balfours tragic legacy.




Wednesday 1 November 2017

Some thoughts on National Stress Awareness Day


Stress effects us all , both in the workplace and in our everyday lives.Day in day out, ad-nfinitum.
Today however  is National Stress Awareness Day and this year’s theme is Speak Up and Speak Out. This years theme  about communicating stress,is personally quite important, as someone who has own bouts, troughs of real lows too,  who realises though that communicating effectively can be extremely difficult during stressful times. Whether that communication is to let loved ones or colleagues know that you are stressed, or simply to communicate about everyday things, people often feel worried about speaking out about being under stress. There is a perceived stigma attached to being stressed as people believe it will leave them with less influence at work, or in general social outlets can leave many people feeling isolated and  left with  believe that they cannot cope.
That is why this National Stress Awareness Day, it is important to think about Speaking Up and Speaking Out. Being able to communicate more often and more effectively will allow you to more efficiently manage stressful situations and help others deal with it, too.Lets not forget that stress is a fact of modern life, that for many us have come to fear, a force that calls when often we are not coping very well, when internal and external pressures become to great, often we see it  as a sign of weakness or an indication of mental illness.Can spark thoughts of anxiety, fear, guilt, anger and depression.Times that people often, simply forget to reach out for a  little further help..
Apart from the daily onslaught of capitalism that brings about a great deal of stress, that we daily are forced  to cope with  there are some simple ways to cope sometimes with it all. Even while alone. Personally I have learnt that eating well and regularly is a good idea, but often simply unable to because of lack of money to do so, I try to walk though somewhere, a form of taking oneself out, then resting, sleep has proven to be effective, but not too much of it. Exercing is good, so I  tend to potter about in the garden, it helps release  inner endorphins, socialising is good too, though obviouly be careful who you hang with. Hands of friendship very important, but can not always be in reach, so distract by listening to music, currentlly stereo releasing somehealing waves,  reading a good book helps too, I personally should learn to avoid using social media in periods of anxiety ,since there not always the best of places to frequent when trying to actually avoid the stresses of the world.
The truth is that there is no lasting individual solutions to the problems of stess. Human happiness, wellbeing can only be fully realized in a society free of exploitation, oppression and confusion, so best try and keep going, try not to give up, reach out to those hands that can help make the process a whole lot easier. Remember the global capitalist system is in crisis too, but  continuing to inflict great stress and pain, we are sadly all , currently caught up in this, axious with fears for the future. We are living in age of anxiety. Many of us are tired, and on the edge, but we much keep reaching out I guess, challenging, trying to find a better way, finding new possibilities, keep on keeping on, spurred on by the direction of hope and change. The power of love helps immensley too. But when stress gets to debilitating and there seem to be no other ways a doctor should be out there, but I acknowledge in days like these not that easy to get hold of one, in times of immediacy. But there is help out there. Another world too. You can also go I guess to the National Stress Awareness  Day website to download tips for stress-free living... but only tips, Im still  finding ways to overcome, keep looking for distraction,  trying to speak up , and speak out, while I can manage to do so. And there will all ways be more glad times, just cling on and wait and see, take your own time , follow your own mountains and journeys, try and find any form of love that helps. But really I simply have not got a clue, trust me when I say i'm no expert. But good luck

https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/national-stress-awareness-day-2017/

Here is a link to a list of helplines that could also be of use:

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/mental-health-helplines.aspx