So, Greta has staged a comeback in the 'paragon of virtue' race for sainthood.  Out, last week, she has recorded an essay over 'ambient music' by the 1975 with the proceeds going to Extinction Rebellion, and it is every bit as nauseous as it sounds.  I heard it while driving to work on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show and was I thankful I hadn't eaten any breakfast that morning!

And Boris is the new PM! He seems to have got off to a good start with a very positive speech which highlighted just how long it's been since we heard anything positive about the future of the UK, and a very pleasant change from all the doom-merchants and naysayers. While I'm most definitely not a fan of the Tories, I'll give him the chance to prove his worth and hope that he does something positive for the ordinary working people.  I’ll support anyone who gives the ordinary man and woman on the street a fair deal.

The car is still in getting serviced but appears to have reached the end of the road, literally.  I expect to get the death certificate tomorrow. According to the mechanic, it might need an oil pump which would probably cost more than the car’s worth so it will probably be heading to that old scrap yard in the sky, or thereabouts.   I’ve already got my eye on a nice little Fiesta runabout so I’m hoping it can’t be fixed.

I’m all settled down again since London and will plan my next escape once the car is sorted.  There’s nothing like a reality check for bringing things back into proportion.  While it is nice to indulge in a few romantic daydreams about escaping and living the high life in London, I am, at the end of the day, a realist and time spent in the company of the older members of the family soon brings you back to earth.

My mother is from a family of nine, five sisters and four brothers and I love them all dearly.  These people are the foundations on which our family is built.  They lost their mother at the age of 43, when they were still in their childhood and teens.  The universe seems to have compensated them for it, by seeing them all into pension age but unfortunately, we lost two of them in the last five years.  My aunt Maybid (short for Mary Bridget) and my aunt Catherine, known to us all, as auntie Kate, or auntie Kaffleen, when we were younger. 

They range in age now from 70 to 84, and between them, are suffering from a variety of health problems.  Two have vascular dementia, a result of being smokers for most of their lives; others suffer with diabetes, lung problems and other lesser health issues.  It is sad to see these people who were the icons of my childhood and youth, age and decline.  Where once I looked up to them, I am now, literally, looking down, as time and illness, shrink them before my eyes.  None of them are at death’s door just yet but the doorway is within view.  It will be a strange day when they are all gone so I’m going to make the most of their company while they are still here.  Although, my uncle Andy who is the youngest, is in strapping health and should easily be around for another 15 years at least.  He is still working, albeit part-time, he never smoked except when he was nine and bought 10 cigarettes. He smoked them all and by becoming violently ill in the process, soon put an end to any desire to ever smoke again.  He was never much of a drinker either and hikes for miles every week, over bogs and mountains with the local hiking club. He’s a great story-teller and there is no greater pleasure than when they get together and talk about events from the past and the families and characters they knew growing up.

Talking about hiking, my sister finished the Camino last Monday and duly collected her certificate.  She stayed on in Spain for a week and her husband flew over to meet her at the end of the walk.  She is due home tonight and after all the heat of Spain, she’ll be welcomed back to the pouring rain of the cool north-west.

Going back to the previous post, on the question of forgiveness, part of why I find forgiveness difficult is because there is an arrogance about it. To say to someone 'I forgive you' seems to me to be rather self-righteous.  When Jesus was forgiving people in the Gospels he didn't say, 'I forgive you', he said 'you are forgiven' or 'go away and do not sin again'.  Don't worry, I'm not about to go off on a religious kick but there is a lot we can learn about ourselves and the nature of humanity from the stories in, not just the bible, but in other ancients writings like those of Lao Tzu. 

Lao Tzu was a Chinese philosopher who is credited with founding the system of Taoism. If I had to choose a religion, Taoism would be my first choice although there are a lot of similarities between Taoism and the teachings of Jesus. I'll have to check out what he says on forgiveness and come back to this.

In the meantime, I'm heading to England tomorrow for a long weekend and it's getting late and I have an early start in the morning.  I have a few outings lined up.  I'll be checking out the Van Gogh in Britain exhibition at Tate Britain on Monday and I'm dining out in Bel Canto on Saturday night which I'm really looking forward to. Fine food and opera all in one, should be fun!

And as to forgiveness, I'll leave that to 'God'.

I was feeling creative tonight, well it beats doing the ironing!  Just a little practice landscape to keep the creative juices flowing over the summer, although I'm beginning to think that is just a rumour! We've had 2 months of cold and wet in May and June, then 2 warm days and now it's wet again but slightly warmer!  

Here we go again! Another day, another incident and another opportunity for the Neo-liberal Fascists to display their 'liberal' principles in a virtue-signalling, social-media, feeding-frenzy of self-righteous indignation.  And who is the target this time? None other than Tory minister, Mark Field, suspended now from his job for 'assaulting' a 'climate change' protester.  Oh, the howls and screams of protest as they rabidly set out on another hysterical and media-fuelled witch hunt, to publicly disembowel the latest target for their ire. They won't be stopped until he has been hounded from his job, stripped of all human rights and banished to some dark corner of hell, to ponder the errors of his ways, dressed only in sackcloth and ashes and made to self-flagellate on a daily basis until he is allowed to return but only after making a humiliating public apology and being psychologically castrated!

I mean, the audacity of the man! To manhandle this weak and helpless woman, this victim of the patriarchy, a symbol for our times of all that is liberal, truly feminine, deep and meaningful, and not forgetting, all self-sacrificing, not just for the sake of women everywhere but for the entire eco-system of planet earth! What a gal!  Move over Greta! There's a new paragon of virtue in town!

And, would you believe it, before the screaming had died down, what should happen but none other than another rich, white, Tory male should find himself at the centre of another feminist storm when it was reported that his partner was heard to shout 'get off me' in the middle of a row, than the media feeding-frenzy found another target to aim their self-righteous indignation at! And who should it be but none other than the potential next Prime Minister himself, Mr Boris Johnson!   What a present to the Neo-liberals, two in one week! (I wonder, is there a sale on? I might be able to get my own patriarch that I can stomp all over with my self-righteous feminist principles!)  

Then, there was a story on Donegalonline about a National School in Wicklow that is going 'gender neutral' allowing boys to wear skirts and girls to wear trousers (with parental approval). They are also providing 'gender-neutral' toilets.  The insanity spreads, like a cancer, as the Neo-liberal fascists inculcate their anti-Trump, anti-Brexit, pro climate change, all-knowing, all-inclusive, immigrant loving, self-righteous, virtue-signalling on the rest of us!  

Let's not bother that 'gender neutral' clothing would be neither skirts nor trousers (so go figure that one out!)  and let's not bother with the realities of the psychology of a child's mind or the fact that most children have no idea what 'gender' even means, or that they operate at a level below full consciousness.  No, let’s keep indulging the stupidity, let’s not bother to challenge it publicly, lest we be seen and neanderthals, nazis, racists and homophobes.  Let's just keep our mouths shut and let the tyrannical 'liberal' emperors stomp over everything in their fine new clothes!

Another week, another election, and another drubbing for the powers that be. Theresa May is finally going, and not before time. Exaunt stage left please, Theresa, and do us all a favour and don’t dance again, at least not in public. My eyes can never unsee it! Dancing Queen? I don’t think so, more arthritic stork. In fairness, I have to say, it takes a special kind of talent to be even more useless than David Cameron. I’m sure she’ll find a use for it somewhere, maybe the European parliament…

Come to think of it, what do MEP’s actually do all day? They can’t bring in legislation, they don’t get to vote on leglislation, the commission allows them to look it over, so what do they actually do? Apart from long trips on the Brussels gravy train or shopping in their private shopping centre?  

I see Martina Anderson, the Sinn Fein MEP had a makeover and a few elocution lessons for the election campaign, they had her well-scrubbed up. You can take the girl out of the bog, but can you take the bog out of the girl? Well, they gave it a go, maybe there’s a beauty salon in the shopping centre? Of course she got elected, the sheep will vote for anything, if you wrap it in the flag of convenience.

On the Euro vote, the Brexit party wiped out the rest in the polls and of course, the arguments are still raging on line between remainers and leavers. Everyone claiming a majority, when the figures show, that the majority didn't even bother to turn out and vote. Turnout averaged 36% which is 15 points short of a majority of voters and a whole 64% short of how many could vote. Maybe it's time to set a threshold of 51% so that if those turnout figures aren't reached, then the vote is invalid. Or maybe, add None of the Above to the ballot paper and make voting compulsory. Then, at least, we would have a truer picture of what the people want.

Why people didn't bother to vote, is anybody's guess.  Maybe like me, they are sick of the sound of 'Brexit' or maybe, like me, they have lost all faith in any government institution to actually put the interests of the people before the interests of the party and their corporate friends...

Brexit isn't the only thing that I am sick of hearing about. I don't know about you but it seems to me that there is a massive pester-power campaign going on in the media. I don't have Sky TV, just Freeview, and there are about 5 or 6 subjects on telly at the present time, World War 2, the Royal family, Brexit, climate change, cooking and home makeovers of one kind or another and then there are the repeats, of repeats, of repeats!!  There is so little worth looking at, that the minute I hear 'climate change' or 'Brexit', I turn over but most nights I find myself turning off and watching YouTube. At least, it has some variety and provides an escape from the endless droning of brexit, climate change, WW2 royals, brexit, climate change, WW2 royals, brexit, climate change, WW2 royals....

What I feel is happening, is that this is part of some grand brain-washing scheme by the media (or the powers behind the politics) to wear us down until we sink into apathy and despair and just give up (if you don’t believe this could happen, watch Century of the Self). For whose benefit, I’m not entirely sure but I just get the feeling that in a boardroom/Bilderburg meeting somewhere, there are a group of, most probably men, (Rothschilds? Soros? Et al?) sitting back and having a great old laugh at the rest of us. 

Laughing at how easily we are manipulated and led around like fools in a merry dance, being played off one another until gradually we become worn down by the constant fighting, bitching and arguing but mostly by the sense of powerlessness that no matter who you vote for, what arguments you make, what evidence you present, the truth remains buried and/or distorted, the rich get richer, the poor stay poor and the government still gets in…

Standing back and looking at the overall picture in politics, here and around the world, it seems as if we are living in the age of neo-liberal fascism and God help you, if you stray from the narrative or question the ‘issues’. 

One of the big ones getting a lot of press at the moment is the transgender issue. Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve avoided this one for a while because I just don’t get it. I see these men saying they’re ‘in the wrong body’ and they don’t ‘feel like a man, they feel like a woman’, and I’m thinking, ’Well, I’m a woman and I have no idea what that even means?’ And there’s another thing, why do so many of them look like Jackie Collins circa 1977, all big hair, make-up and frocks?? What’s that about? I mean, I would like  to identify as the very spoiled daughter of a multi-millionaire who gets to jet- set around the world and generally have a high old time. But then I have to face reality so, sorry guys, but putting a frock on, mutilating your genitalia and calling yourself Barbara is not going to make you a ‘woman’ or female and vice-versa. A big part of this too, is that we have the medical knowledge to put in fake body parts and do this type of surgery whereas if you lived 100 years ago, it was ‘take yer ma’s frock off and get a grip!’ 

Then, there was another story on MSN about some singer who has come out as non-binary, whatever that means?? (I always thought binary was a computer language and so logic would dictate that non-binary would not be a computer language but there you go!!) Well, anyway, here’s my advice to him and anyone else who has a notion to share their thoughts on their gender identity, don’t, please, keep it to yourself. I don’t want to hear about it or listen to another over-indulged ego rambling on and personally, I don’t really give a shit! 

Part of the problem today, is that every stupid thought that goes through someone’s head is regarded as valid, especially when expressed by children and teenagers.  And with internet access, where everything is going on 24/7, there are no end of websites in which to indulge these whims and fancies.  By the way, when did we decide that children knew everything and should be allowed to decide everything and run the world? And why are we so afraid to upset them?? I always thought the job of a parent was to embarrass and harass your children at every possible opportunity, is that not how they build up some resilience before they have to deal with the real world?? Anyway, the reality is, that 99.9% of what runs through our heads on a daily basis is nothing less than garbage and should be ignored. This is actually good advice for your mental health and another one is 'don't believe a word they tell you'.  There is far too much indulgence of every stupid notion we have and in this age of ‘inclusion’, all expressions of such, are to be paraded publicly and then the entire world bent to accommodate those whims, no matter how ridiculous they are. 

And I blame celebrities for fuelling this nonsense, with the exception of that old Corrie stalwart of yesteryear, Jim McDonald.  In this time of neo-liberal fascism or if by chance we should start to lose the run of ourselves, begin listening to our own mental crap and taking it seriously, we would do well to remember his deep philosophical expressions and ask ourselves when these notions strike, not 'What would Jesus say?' but 'What would Jim McDonald say?'  And the answer would be ‘Would you ever catch yourself on, young fella/wee girl/ miscellaneous?’ A must for egos everywhere and the best advice you'll ever receive!

Oh, and don't forget tomorrow, vote early and vote often!

I just finished watching a lovely little film on Netflix.  It's in the children's section and it's based on the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery.  In the midst of all the protesting, death and general misery, this is a heart-warming and heartfelt little gem. I just loved it and will no doubt watch it again.  Highly recommended for children and adults alike.

Great to see the Grand Prix back but what is going on with Vettel???  He has grown a moustache over the winter break and it's awful!  Some people suit moustaches, like Freddie Mercury but some don't, like Seb.  He looks like a 70's porn star!  If anyone out there knows him (they say we're only 6 degrees of separation from anyone) tell him to shave!  Puuullleasseeee!

With the spring equinox, we're back in growing season.  I just spent this morning planting potatoes on the allotment.  We're off to a good start this year and have peas, garlic and broad beans already planted.  I'm still not up to full strength since the op so I have to be careful lifting and moving around.  But since we're doing the Charles Dowling, No Dig, the demands aren't too great. I also noticed when I was over there, how much better our soil looks compared to those around us.  There is definitely something in the 'feed the soil, not the plant' method, and we've only been at it for 10 months.

Then, I finished the short course, From Brexit to the Break-up of Britain. There are still a few others I might try over the summer, there are a few Forensic Psychology courses that look interesting and there is one on Art and the Mexican Revolution which also looks good.  

I always say if I had been born in America, I would have become a forensic psychologist.  When I was a teenager, I read a great book called The Michigan Murders, it was actually one of the first books I ever read.  I was fascinated by how the FBI Forensic Psychologists were able to profile and help catch the killer and I had a deep interest in the psychology of serial killers for many years.  I've read several books on the subject and used to buy a monthly magazine which detailed individual cases..  My interest may have been triggered by the fact that I was growing up in the middle of a conflict where there were many mentally, questionable individuals running about with guns!  I always felt that the 'Troubles' provided an outlet for those with psychopathic tendencies.  Psychology is a fascinating subject, delving into the psyche and finding out what shapes and drives us.  I must see if I can find the book again.

Is there anything left to believe in?  Is there anything of honesty and decency left in the world?  Has all the magic gone and not just gone, but gone rotten?  Politics is a cesspool where democracy and accountability have become nothing more than words in a propaganda war; the Catholic Church, a so-called Christian institution, a playground for paedophiles; the business world, whose rotten practices have led to the corruption of governments and the abuse and exploitation of millions; the world of entertainment, its rotten underbelly exposed with stories of rape and assault, not that it was really much of a surprise since the casting couch has been common knowledge for decades, probably since the beginning of Hollywood.  But, even the world of science, where logic and reason used to be the foundations of scientific truth, has been swallowed whole by the lie of ‘global-warming’. 

Now, Michael Jackson, who is again, the focus for allegations of sexual abuse, after the documentary last week which detailed the alleged grooming and sexual exploitation of Wade Robson and James Safechuck.

I loved Michael Jackson, I grew up with him and don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who he was.  My father never bought a record in his life and seldom had a good word to say about ‘pop stars’, but he bought Rockin’ Robin back in the day which I only found out when Michael Jackson died.  But we all loved him, especially back in the 1980’s, when he soared to global mega-stardom.  My children loved him, his movie Moonwalker was never off in my house.  My eldest boy wanted to be Michael Jackson; he wanted black skin and an afro hair-do.  I hope this isn’t racist - poor old Motsy, John Motson, who I thought had long since retired, got into a bit of bother recently because he said some footballer was ‘big, black and brave’.  He was condemned as a racist for saying ‘black’ but if someone says I’m white, is that racist? I mean, I am white!  This is like that nonsense back in the 80’s when the words of Baa, baa, black sheep were changed because it was deemed racist.  You get black sheep, that’s not racist it’s just a fecking sheep!  Then, Amber Rudd got into all that trouble for saying Diane Abbot was ‘coloured’.  What do you say in these days of fascistic political correctness, a person with a lower or higher percentage of melanin in their skin?? 

Anyway, back to MJ who managed to be both black and white!  That’s another thing, he was called a liar many times for claiming he had vitiligo and accused of skin bleaching.  The coroner’s report after he died, confirmed that he did have the condition and apparently, he used skin whitening creams to even out the discolouration. 

Anyway, getting back to the afro, as I pointed out to my son, there isn’t a perming lotion in the world that could curl his very thick, straight hair, much to his deep disappointment. He loved and still loves to dance, he danced like Michael Jackson and there is video footage, somewhere, of him doing his best Michael Jackson moves.   I never entered him into any moonwalk dance competitions, but in all honesty, if Michael Jackson had landed to my door, to take my sons to Neverland for a week or a weekend, I doubt if I would have refused.  We believed in the image of childlike innocence and made allowances for his strange behaviour because of his upbringing and life.  No-one has ever had a life like Michael Jackson’s and no-one, in the entire history of the world, has experienced that level of fame.

When the first allegations of abuse came out, I was unsure.  It seemed as if it was part of a plot by the boy’s father, to extort money out of Jackson, to make a movie and the doubts weren’t entirely dispelled when he decided to settle out of court.  When the next allegation was made, Jackson fought it in court and was acquitted.  I assumed the jury had more detail and knowledge about the truth of it all, than I did and it seemed that his reputation had been restored, at least for some.   Safechuck and Robson, spoke in defence of Michael Jackson in that case and Robson did again, in 2003, when he was in his 20’s. 

Years after both those cases, other facts have come to light.  Michael Jackson apparently didn’t want to settle the first case but his insurance company did it, out of fear of loss of revenue, in case, there was a protracted court case.  Jordi Chandler also refused to testify and a year after the settlement legally emancipated himself from his parents.  He also left the US in 2003 so that he couldn’t be called to give evidence in that trial. We can only speculate as to why.  He never reconciled with his father who committed suicide a few months after Michael Jackson’s death.  Again, we can only speculate as to why but apparently, no-one from his entire family attended his funeral.

Michael Jackson is no longer with us and is unable to defend himself.  So, until there is irrefutable proof, the questions will remain unanswered and people will, I’m sure, debate it for many years to come and believe who they choose to believe.  Watching the documentary made me think that, if the allegations were true, it appeared to me, to be behaviour that had been learned.  His sister LaToya had made allegations of sexual abuse against her father, many years ago and was publicly ostracized and condemned for it.  It was interesting to see old Joe Jackson sticking so closely to Michael during the Gavin Arvizo court case, considering their relationship wasn’t always that good.  LaToya also made a statement condemning Michael but later retracted it, saying it was made under duress from her husband.  She did apologise to Michael and the two were reconciled.

We have also heard in recent years, allegations of paedophile rings operating in the entertainment world and with the fame Jackson attained at such a young age, is it possible that he himself was a victim?  That is not to excuse his alleged behaviour in any way but, if true, it could provide an explanation for it. 

The allegations haven’t hurt his record sales, not that they will benefit Michael Jackson in any way.  I myself don’t know who to believe.  There is so much conflicting information online and in the media. I have trawled through hours of it but, to be honest, I still can’t wholly believe he was a paedophile.  He had an aura, an attraction that drew people to him, maybe I don’t really want to believe it.

Will I listen to his music again? Probably.  I have a Motown collection which has a lot of Jackson Five hits on it.  Human Nature is my favourite Michael Jackson song and I can’t imagine never listening to it again or any of his music, for that matter.  What difference will it make now, anyway?

At the end of his life, Michael Jackson was unrecognisable, compared to the happy, smiling boy who sang those wonderful songs, Ben, Rockin’ Robin and the great cover he did of the Smoky Robinson song, Who’s lovin you?  A pale shadow of the handsome young man from the 80’s who danced and moonwalked his way into our hearts and to stratospheric heights of fame and adulation.

The fame, the pressure, the lifestyle and the allegations all took their toll on him as he grew older, his features distorted beyond recognition by all the plastic surgery and he became more reclusive.  It seemed that he was headed towards a Howard Hughes like future, a rather sad and lonely end for someone who was idolised by millions. But then, as we have seen in recent years, many of our idols and institutions have been shown to have feet of clay.  Then again, who of us really knew him?  We knew the image, we knew where he came from, we all knew our version of him. But which one was the real one? Was he gay?  Was he straight?  Was he a paedophile? Predator or victim?  Would the real Michael Jackson please, stand up? 

Or was he just a sad man who was robbed of his childhood and never got over it: a lesson to us all on the perils of fame and money, and how destructive it can be, if not managed right.  There are no black or white answers at least, not enough to wholly convince me one way or the other so until then, I will hold a little piece of my heart for him and wonder in shades of grey.

I've been on a bit of a reading binge again. First up, Alan Cummings autobiography, Not My Father's Son. This was an interesting read and for anyone who doesn't know him, he played the role of Eli, in The Good Wife which is how I came to know him.  Alan's father was a bit of a psycho and he suffered badly from his bullying and abuse.  But in spite of all that, he got out and did very well for himself.  I won't say anything more about it, I don't like to give too much away but a good read and I would definitely recommend it.

On a similar theme, I was in the library 2 weeks ago and saw Operation Lighthouse by Luke and Ryan Hart.  I had heard them on the radio, the day before, talking about their lives and the book they had written.  Coincidentally, it was on the recommended display in the library when I went in to return the Alan Cummings autobiography so, I thought, I would give it a go.  

Luke and Ryan's father was also an abusive bully, controlling and manipulative.  He was never physically violent until he was completely murderous, and he shot and killed their mother and sister and then shot himself.  Their reason for writing the book was to show that while a relationship may not always be violent, it can still be abusive through the use of coercive control. Their father wanted to control every aspect of the lives of his family and did so through his bullying and demanding behaviour. They were also appalled at the sympathy shown to their father by the media after he murdered their mother and sister and how little sympathy was directed towards his victims.  I would highly recommend this, if for no other reason, than to open our eyes and minds to the quiet acceptance of abuse in society and the tendency towards victim blaming in the media.

Another, in the real lives genre, was Gavin Edward's biography of River Phoenix, Last Night at the Viper Room.  This tells the story of River Phoenix's life, from birth until his death, at aged 23.  Best known, in my house at least, for his role in Stand by Me, the Rob Reiner directed film, from the short story by Stephen King, The Body.  A favourite of my son's when they were growing up and one I still watch fairly regularly. 

River's parents were a couple of hippies who became part of the Children of God cult in the US and who travelled around and lived for several years in South America, preaching and recruiting on their behalf.  The leader of the Children of God cult, David Berg, advocated sexual relationships between children, and between children and adults.  River's parents parted company with them when they started prostituting women to attract more recruits but there is evidence in the book of River being introduced to sex at a very young age.

There is no doubt his death was a tragic loss. He was quite heavily into drugs and although, he had been clean for a couple of months while shooting what turned out to be his last film, the moment he got back to LA, he was straight back to the drugs.  How much of his drug use was a result of his upbringing, we can only guess at but the lack of education and involvement with the Children of God, I'm sure, played a part. 

I never knew that he was interested in music but it turned out that he was more interested in making music than movies, and there are some videos of him with his band, Aleka's Attic, on Youtube, if anyone is interested. Sadly, the talent he had, never got to play out into maturity, like so many before him. That's the thing about drugs, it only end one of two ways, you either stop or die.  But an excellent read and highly recommended as it also contains snippets about many of the other actors who came to prominence in the 1990's, like Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Leonardo Di Caprio.

No sooner than I call for a change in the political structure, than 7 MP's split from Labour with Chuka Umunna leading the charge.  In his statement, he said,"It is time we dumped this country's old-fashioned politics and created an alternative that does justice to who we are today and gives this country a politics fit for the here and now - the 21st Century," 

I wonder if he was reading my blog at the weekend??  While it would be nice to think that Chuka et al were just what I was looking for, I don't really have much confidence that they are the great hope for the future, I had in mind.  They are long on rhetoric but rather short on actual ideas and since they're all Blairite pro-Brexiteers, I don't envisage a startling and original manifesto being issued anytime soon.

But just in case they're looking for a few ideas to get them started here's a few of mine...

Complete re-structuring of the Government with a move towards issue-based politics.  This will take some time to set up but if it is done one issue at a time it is manageable.  I'm not sure how many politicians we would actually need but we may not need more than one or two for each county.  Changing to issue-based politics would also get rid of the need for general elections as we understand them now and instead, you would have a ballot paper with the issue on it instead and I envisage this working on a county by county basis and getting rid of the constituency model we have now.  So, if the country was to go to war, for example, it would be up to the people to make that decision.

Proportional representation would be used until the changeover was complete and anyone standing for election would have to have been a resident of that constituency for a minimum period of 2 years.  

Ministerial positions would then be advertised as jobs and given to the most qualified and experienced.  This would reduce the size of government further because all you really need is a leader and a good accountant to dish out the money.  

Overhaul the tax system to ensure everyone pays their fair share.  This would stop the rich and obscenely rich from paying nothing.  Devolve some tax powers to the counties with more of the tax raised staying within their areas.  Put the betting tax back on and stop gambling being advertised on TV.  

Fair employment legislation.  This would break up the 'old boy networks' that have reduced social mobility and would help to build a competency based society not one based on who you are and what your daddy owns. Get rid of the Honours system.

No public money for private schools and an overhaul of the public education system with parenting as part of the school curriculum along with philosophy and personal &social responsibility. This would get people thinking again and as parenting is a basic for the foundation of a good society, as good parenting produces good people (mostly), especially when they've been educated in their personal and social responsibilities.

No public money for the private sector unless they pay into the system,

All large companies to have worker's representatives on their boards.

Well, that's a few to get started on, I'll have to start fleshing things out now, you never know who could be reading and who knows, someone, somewhere might be interested in creating a real alternative, some day!  

I took my life in my hands and headed out on Friday night to see Atom Heart Floyd in the Balor Theatre, in Ballybofey.  I didn't realise at the time, I was taking a chance with my life by going.  Storm Eric was forecast, it was raining and a bit windy but nothing overly tempestuous.  However, by the time the show was over, Eric had arrived in full force.  Between the howling gale and the torrential rain, it was a treacherously slow drive home, much of the time on the wrong side or in the middle of the road, to avoid the pools of water.

Was it worth it?  Definitely!  A great time was had by all!

Atom Heart Floyd hail from the south of England so keep an eye out for them if you're a Floyd fan, they put on a good show and if they come back this way again, I'll definitely be there.

They started off with some early Floyd from the Sid Barrett era and finished the show with Comfortably Numb.  They had a large circular screen and throughout the show, there were mini films projected on to it featuring, among others, Sid Barrett and other surreal graphics and images.  During Brain Damage, from the Dark Side of the Moon album, they showed film of politicians from the 80's, Maggie Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev and a few other less notables.  While listening to the lyrics and watching the screen, I was struck with the thought that at one time these people were all giants on the political world stage, inspiring admiration and loathing in equal measure.  Now, practically all of them are dead.  

Considering the state of politics in the world at the moment, this was a comforting thought, because it made me realise that no matter how big they are politically or how much power they might wield, eventually, their time will pass, things will change and they too, will become a footnote in the history books or an image on a screen, reminding us of the past insanity of our 'leaders'. I can safely look back now to all the anti-Russian rhetoric of the 80's and the threat of nuclear war that hung over us like a cloud of lead and see that it was nothing more than egotistical grand-standing by idiots with too much power and not enough sense to realise the limits of their time on earth. They could have done so much good but most of them wasted it.  In a thousand years, who will even remember them?  So, if you're worried about Trump, Putin, Brexit or anything else in the world, political or otherwise, take comfort in the fact that it won't last forever or as Shakespeare so brilliantly put it - 

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.