Brave Whistleblower Chelsea Manning walks free at last

In fantastic news Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of giving classified government  material to WikiLeaks was released this morning from a Kansas military prison after serving a punishing, cruel seven years
Manning who was born  in  Oklahoma  to a Welsh mother spent part of her formative years in Pembrokeshire following her parents divorce. She attended Tasker Millward School and still has friends and family in the area. As well as her mother, she has aunts and other relatives in Wales who have been  campaigning  for her release since she was jailed. She also has many supporters in Ireland, where her granddad, Billy Fox emigrated from Dublin to Wales in 1948.
President Barak Obama had granted 29 year old Chelsea clemency on  his final days in office in January.
In 2010, the former military intelligence analyst, then known as Private First Class Bradley Manning, provided thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks, Manning was given a 35-year sentence by a court martial. A extraordinarily punitive punishment for a crime which brought direct physical harm to no one. Much to the contrary, Manning’s act had the highly beneficial effect of providing previously-concealed information to the public, which otherwise would have been kept under wraps.
Manning for many was  nothing less than an honourable whistleblower who felt compelled to tell the world about apparent US wrongdoing in its military conduct in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Working as a US intelligence analyst in Iraq, Manning began to see documents that convinced her that the US military was committing war crimes overseas and doing nothing to bring the perpetrators to justice. Worse, it may well have been deliberately covering up such conduct.
The best-known example was the attack by two US Apache helicopters on a group of civilians in the al-Amin al-Thaniyah district of Baghdad on July 12 2007.At least 12 people were killed,when US military conduct in Iraq was highly dubious, here was vivid cockpit video and audio laying bare the callous behaviour of the US pilots. Some of their cockpit commentary includes language like: “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards … nice. Nice. Good shootin’.”
Other documents including “after-action reports” describing US soldiers’ experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, proving that civilian deaths were far higher than officially acknowledged. The cables revealed damning evidence of official US lying, including dossiers on the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay proving that most of them had no significant role in terrorist operations.
Chelsea fulfilled her legal duty to report war crimes . She complied with her duty to obey lawful orders but also her duty to disobey unlawful orders. Enshrined in the U.S Army Subject Schedule No , 27 -1 is ' obligation to report all violations of the rule of war.'
Manning went to her chain of command and asked them to investigate  the Collateral Murder video and other "war  porn" but her superiors refused. Manning's revelations actually saved lives. After WikiLeaks published her documentation of Iraqi torture centres established by the United  States , the Iraqi Government refused Obama's request to extend immunity to U.S . soldiers who commit criminal and civil offenses there. As a result  Obama had to withdraw U.S forces from Iraq.
In a just world, Chelsea Manning wouldn’t have been jailed and tortured, but celebrated as a hero for alerting the public to the crimes of its government.
From July 2010 to April 2011, she was held under atrocious conditions at Quantico Marine brig in Virginia, much of that time stripped naked as a “security” measure. All told, Chelsea Manning spent nearly a year and a half in solitary confinement, 23 hours a day, a form of detention classified as torture by human rights groups
What happened to Manning as a result of her whistleblowing is well-known.The revelations over wrongdoing (including the Baghdad helicopter attack) went un-investigated, while Manning herself was court-martialled and given the longest sentence in US history for leaking information.
This low-ranking, twenty-something was punished in such a way as to send an unmistakable message to other would-be whistleblowers. .Ahead of Manning’s court martial in the summer of 2013, Edward Snowden had exposed a previously unknown global apparatus of surveillance being run by the US’s National Security Agency.If the US authorities couldn’t get Snowden (who was granted asylum in Russia), they could certainly punish Manning.
You might think the US military authorities wouldn’t stoop to vindictiveness when punishing one of their own, but you’d be wrong.During eight months of pre-trial solitary confinement at the US marine corps base Quantico in Virginia, Manning was kept in often cruel and degrading conditions confined in a windowless 12-feet-by-six-feet cell containing only a bed, a toilet and a sink
After putting Manning on suicide watch, the Quantico authorities subjected her to a regime of draconian and demeaning rules: clothing and glasses confiscated, required to observe strict verbal commands and replies, even at one point having to sleep and stand to attention completely naked.
In an Amnesty podcast pod cast from last year Manning said;
“The conditions in my cell were far beyond what is normally associated with solitary confinement. I needed permission to do anything in my cell. I was not allowed to move around the cell to exercise. I was not allowed to sit down with my back against the wall.”
It was all clearly designed to break Manning down ahead of her court martial, and the UN believed it was part of “an effort to coerce her into ‘co-operation’ with the authorities,” possibly to pressure her into implicating others.
Manning almost died as a result of her incarcernation , having to endure long stretches of solitary confinement and the systematic denial of health care, and relentless abuse, despite this she survived and continued to use her voice to speak out about human rights. To fight against the injustices she went on hunger strike. And clinged on to an unrelenting sense of compassion and justice despite all that she had to endure.
Activists  drew attention to her through actions and protest,  rallies were held throughout the world, ads were taken out in major papers, billboards were rented near her trial and prison,petitions signed
contingents marched in solidarity with Manning during pride parades around the world, and supporters packed the military court room, even as the court martial proceedings dragged on for months. These supporters, like myself must be overjoyed currently with the news that Chelsea is now free.
Last week Chelsea released a statement saying:"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea. I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine. Now, freedom is something that I will again experience with friends and loved ones after nearly seven years of bars and cement, of periods of solitary confinement, and of my health care and autonomy restricted, including through routinely forced haircuts. I am forever grateful to the people who kept me alive, President Obama, my legal team and countless supporters.
"I have watched the world change from inside prison walls and through the letters that I have received from veterans, trans young people, parents, politicians and artists. My spirits were lifted in dark times, reading of their support, sharing in their triumphs, and helping them through challenges of their own. I hope to take the lessons that I have learned, the love that I have been given, and the hope that I have to work toward making life better for others."
Now she is free at last , closing a painful chapter on what has been an extraordinary and thoroughly disturbing saga. 

Manning almost died as a result of her incarcernation , having to endure long stretches of solitary confinement and the systematic denial of health care, and relentless abuse, despite this she survived and continued to use her voice to speak out about human rights. To fight against the injustices she went on hunger strike. And clinged on to an unrelenting sense of compassion and justice despite all that she had to endure. Manning has kept in touch with her supporters and the outside world throughout her experience mainly through Twitter. Recently, she wrote of her pending release: “I want that indescribable feeling of connection with people and nature again, without razor wire or a visitation booth. I want to be able to hug my family and friends again. And swimming—I want to go swimming!”

With her freedom, she will be leaving behind the abuses of prison but also the life she built there. The family of other incarcerated people who kept her alive when she was cut off from the rest of the world.In February after her commutation, Chelsea wrote to her friends inside:
“I never would have made it without you. Not only did you teach me these important lessons, but you made sure I felt cared for. You were the people who helped me to deal with the trauma of my regular haircuts. You were the people who checked on me after I tried to end my life. You were the people that played fun games with me. Who wished me a Happy Birthday. We shared the holidays together. You were and will always be family.”

Ahead of Manning's release, Amnesty International called for an investigation into the potential human rights violations exposed by the soldier. 

The organization called for protections to be put in place to ensure safety for whistleblowers like Manning.  'While we celebrate her freedom, we will continue to call for an independent investigation into the potential human rights violations she exposed, and for protections to be put in place to ensure whistleblowers like Chelsea are never again subjected to such appalling treatment,' Margaret Huang, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, said: in a statement. 

Huang added: 'Chelsea's treatment is especially galling given that nobody has been held accountable for the alleged crimes that she brought to light. 

'The US authorities' vindictive treatment of Chelsea Manning after she exposed potential military wrongdoing is a sad reflection of the extremes those in power often go to in order to deter others from speaking out.' 

We should remain critical of a government  intent  on punishing and prosecuting someone who exposed war crimes , rather than those who commit them.Chelsea's brave whistleblowing exposed  the corruption of our governments and the brutality of our wars. Thanks to Chelsea we have a clearer picture of what needs to be done. We need whistleblowers like Chelsea more than we ever have before. We have lot to learn from her. We should celebrate the strength and heroism she has shown. After her release from her ruthless ordeal she will  need the continual support from her legions of admirers worldwide, I hope she continues to get the respect and healing that she deserves as she now takes her first steps to freedom, and  works to rebuild her life.

Ahead of Manning's release, a group of musicians released a compilation album with all proceeds to go to the former soldier as she starts a new life.' Hugs for Chelsea,' here's a link:

https://hugsforchelsea.bandcamp.com/album/hugs-for-chelsea-benefit-for-chelsea-manning

a digital album available for a $25 donation, featuring tracks by artists known for their left-wing activism including Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore. 

“Thank you for what you did for everyone, Chelsea. Stay strong a while longer!”   – Edward Snowden

Are You Experienced?

Experience, people say
Is the one and only way,
To learn the hardest facts of life
To hold joy and share the strife,
To fall down and get up again
To face the darkest days, not to surrender,
In the company of friends, sincere and dear
Beckoning us on to a future  near,
Over boulders, rocks and pebbles there
The sounds of the past still in the air,
The taste of tears, in the mists of time
Shades of answers that expand the mind,
Deep reflections from the dawns of yesterday
Out of cages leaping, flying free,
Solving problems, always looking
On trips that keeps us seeking,
Walking forwards into another space
Growing stronger in narcotic blissful kiss,

Fearless hallucinations of love released

Stumulating senses, sights and sounds, '

Lessons learned, feelings to augment
In world's expanse, memories not forgotten,

Following rippling tides and awakening  dawn

Every mistake you made keep get broken down,
Are we not all experienced in one way or the other
Allowing us to baptise now, in the name of tomorrow.

Robert Owen ( 14/5/1771 - 17/11/1858) - Pioneering Welsh Social Reformer

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Robert Owen who was born on 14/5/1771 in Newtown, Powys ,was a Welsh manufacturer who turned  into a social reformer, and became one of the most influential advocates and founders of utopian socialism and the co-operative movement.
His father had a small business as  a saddler and iron-monger, his mother came from one of the prosperous farming families. A bright and capable child, Robert was schooled at Newtown and then, at the age of 10, was articled to a draper in the town. In due course he moved to London to continue his trade and establish himself in the world.
This he managed to do with some alacrity. A move to the sprawling, manufacturing metropolis of Manchester saw Robert Owen installed as manager  of a cotton mill employing 500 people. He also became a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, which discussed the ideas of reformers and philosophers of the Enlightenment, and it was here that his ideas on social reform began to take shape. 
After a visit to Glasgow he fell in love with Caroline Dales, the daughter of a New Lanark mills proprietor called David Dale who he was friendly with. With the financial support of several businessmen from Manchester, in 1810 Owen purchased Dale's four textile factories in New Lanark for £60,000.After his subsequent marriage with Miss Dale in September 1799, he set up home there. Encouraged by his previous success in the management in Manchester,  he had already formed the idea of conducting New Lanark on higher principles with  an interest in helping the poor and put his profits into a series of radical experiments, having been appalled  by the inhuman working and living conditions of his century. 

New Lanark was the springboard from which Owen’s Socialism was launched, and sweeping changes began to take place in and around the local community. For many years the poor had been living in filthy, cramped conditions, and Owen set about enlarging the houses of his workforce. Up until this time, local residents frequently dumped their waste in the streets, but Owen reorganised refuse collection and even built new streets. To ensure health, he urged his workers to appoint a visiting committee, which maintained the standards of cleanliness and domestic economy.

He set out to  make his new cotton factory,  a cooperative factory community that focused more on the  well- being of the community than on profits. Owen set out to make New Lanark an experiment in philanthropic management from the outset. He believed that a person's character is formed by the effects of their environment. Owen was convinced that if he created the right environment, he could produce rational, good and humane people. He argued that people were naturally good but they were corrupted by the harsh way they were treated For his mill, he set up an infant school, a day care center  for working mothers, providing education and health care to children starting when they were three. Children did not have to work in the mill until they were  10, which was revolutionary at the time. He also set up a cooperative shop that provided high quality goods at  reasonable costs for the mill workers and their families. Owen believed that education and safe cooperative work conditions would promote a happy, healthy and productive community of workers. This would not only be good for the business, but for the entire community. Owen was also a strong opponent of physical punishment in schools and factories and immediately banned its use in New Lanark.The Mill became a successful model that prominent social reformers and industrialists visited.

                                    

                                           New Lanark Mills

He also found time to campaign and lecture on his view of social reform, writing his personal manifesto, A New View of Society in 1812-13. In 1816, he wrote: "I know that society may be formed to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little if any misery, and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundredfold."

Owen also toured the country making speeches on his experiments at New Lanark. He  published his speeches as pamphlets and sent free copies to influential people in Britain. In one two month period he spent £4,000 publicizing his activities. In his speeches, Owen argued that he was creating a "new moral world, a world from which the bitterness of divisive sectarian religion would be banished"

Owen was also a religious free thinker. He was critical of organised religion, such as the Church of England. He argued that religion tended to create prejudice in men, which was a barrier to peace and harmony.

“I was forced, through seeing the error of their foundation, to abandon all belief in every religion which had been taught to man. But my religious feelings were immediately replaced by the spirit of universal charity — not for a sect, or a party, or for a country or a colour — but for the human race, and with a real and ardent desire to do good.” Life of Robert Owen (1857)  his autobiography

Over the next few years Robert Owen developed political views that has resulted in him being described as the "father of socialism". In the Report to the County of Lanark (1821) suggested that in order to avoid fluctuations in the money supply as well as the payment of unjust wages, labour notes representing hours of work might become a superior form of exchange medium. This was the first time that Owen "proclaimed at length his belief that labour was the foundation of all value, a principle of immense importance to later socialist thought".

However in 1824,  he had become so disillusioned with Capitalism that he left for America. For five years, he attempted to establish a Socialist community at New Harmony in Indiana, but his efforts were in vain. He lost a fortune in the process.

When he returned  to England in 1829, Owen was surprised to discover that  a movement had sprung up in his name, the 'Owenites' who were engaged in laying foundations for the Co-operative Movement. "The New Society is to be based," explained the pioneers, " on the free association of producers in guilds and manufacturing societies strong enough to dispense  with employers and with  the exploitation of labour for private profit.

Max Beer, the author of A History of British Socialism (1919) has argued that the word "socialist" was used to describe Owen's followers: "Common to all Owenites was the criticism and disapproval of the capitalist or competitive system, as well as the sentiment that the United Kingdom was on the eve of adopting the new views. A boundless optimism prevaded the whole Owenite school, and it filled its adherents with the unshakable belief that the conversation of the nation to socialism was at hand, or but a question of a few years.

After many disputes with his partners, who were always more interested in profits than in Owen's version of ideal living, he resigned from New Lanark in 1828. Owen turned to the formation of co-operative villages, some of which were already being run on Owenite lines in Scotland, Ireland and Hampshire.Although these communities eventually failed, the communitarian tradition persisted in Victorian England and elsewhere. Following the failure of these co-operative villages he entered into the trade union field, and his road to the New Moral World he now saw through the organisation of the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, which within a few weeks of its formation in 1834 had enrolled more than one million members. This too collapsed in 1834, following the deportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and Owen continuously fought for their return to England.

During a visit to his hometown and birthplace  of Newtown, Wales on November 17th, 1858, he was suddenly taken ill. On his deathbed  he said: "I gave important truths to the world, and it was only for want of understanding that they were disregarded. I have been ahead of my time."

He subsequently died and was buried in a local church yard. The Co-operative Union placed a memorial tablet near his grave in 1902. In 1956 a memorial statue was erected with funds raised by the Labour and Co-operative Movement.
This visionary Welsh man's ideals  who pioneered the prioritisation of welfare over profit,  have continued to inspire many trade and cooperative movements ever since. Friedrich Engels described him as "a man of almost sublime, childlike character," who was, nevertheless, "one of the few born leaders of men." He added: Every social movement and real advance in England on behalf of the workers links with the name of Robert Owen."
Owenism  has since exerted a significant influence on various strands of British socialism, including Christian socialism, ethical socialism, guild socialism, Fabianism and  the socialist labour movement. Co-operative socialism was perceived by these organisations as a replacement for the unjust competitive capitalist system.

                                          Robert Owen, memorial statue, Newport, Powys.

The Palestinian Nakba: A time to remember

I am passionate about Palestine and openly critical of Israel and any Zionist movement.Occupation is indefensible and I never forget that. This year marks the 69th anniversary of the Nakba - "the Catastrophe" - when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes by Zionist forces. A society was dismembered and fragmented.
 On Monday, May 15th ,events will be held across the world including demonstrations, protests and conferences. We will commemorate 69 years of exile for the Palestinian people and  remember the dispossession and violent removal from their indigenous land and stand in solidarity with their ongoing struggle to return.
This interactive map, featured on the Guardian website, shows the extent of Palestine's changed landscape - hundreds of Arab villages and towns abandoned, attacked and de-populated throughout the aggressive and violent land-grabbing. This oppression of the Palestinian people, which began in 1948,some would say 1917, didn’t end in 1948. The Israeli Government’s theft and colonisation of Palestinian land and its military occupation continue to this day.
The Nakba, which translates as the catastrophe, was the beginning of the modern day situation in which the Palestinians find themselves living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, as second-class citizens within Israel or as exiles and refugees around the world.
Even the word 'Nakba' was banned by the Israeli Minister of Education in 2009, and was removed from school textbooks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayah said at the time that the word was tantamount to spreading propoganda against Israel. But the word Nakba is the term that about a fifth of Israel's population, the Palestinians use to describe this day.
This is the Palestines history, it is essential we should be allowed to talked about. It is it not wrong to question, when other regimes oppress, we question them too, we have a duty to criticise and condemn, when fundamental freedoms and rights are violated. Any state that acts aggressively is open to criticism. All human beings are entitled to human rights.
Today refugees are still waiting to have their homes and lands returned to them, after all these years, of living in camps, being displaced. Under daily occupation they are forced to daily endure the humiliation, demonisations, metered out to them Today illegal settlers and settlements still removing people from their homes, with seperation walls, humiliation and discrimination.Today the Palestinians world is still being stolen, as occupiers daily steal all that they possess, the tears of yesterday forge today's resistance .Israel to this day have refused to recognise the Palestinians right of return as expressed in the UN General Resolution 194, Article 11,
We must remember the Nakba of 1948, and  continue to campaign for a just solution so that Palestinians can enjoy the rights that we take for granted.
Today, there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees, defined as people displaced in 1948 and their descendants. A core Palestinian demand in peace negotiations is some kind of justice for these refugees, most commonly in the form of the "right of return" to the homes their families abandoned in 1948.

Israel can't accept the right of return without abandoning either its Jewish or democratic identity. Adding 7 million Arabs to Israel's population would make Jews a minority, Israel's total population is about 8 million, a number that includes the 1.5 million Arabs already there. So Israelis refuse to even consider including the right to return in any final status deal.

I acknowledge that there are many Israelis who have become increasingly aware of the Nakba, and the more they understand the more shameful side of their history, the more likelihood it is that another  catastrophe in this land can be prevented. Increasingly there are some who reject the notion that they were chosen to displace and cause suffering to others. They too will stand together with Palestinians in mourning .Many because of  deep emotion will not be able to accept this, because of their  daily witness to the ongoing oppression. I know deep down whose side I firmly support.

One  of the core problems in negotiations, then, and in moving forwards is how to find a way to get justice for the refugees that both the Israeli and Palestinian people can accept. Ideas proposed so far include financial compensation and limited resettlement in Israel, but no two leaders have ever agreed on the details of how these would work. And sadly the devastation continues as Israel and its colonial outposts in the West Bank continue to seize peoples lands, and consistently destroy what remains of Palestine , along with this peoples olive trees and wheat fields.
Many Palestinians still have a key on a chain around their necks. These are the keys to homes in Palestine which they were forced to abandon in 1948, 1967.1987, or at any time since.
This then is a narration without an end, until  oppression is vanished, human rights restored, Gaza and the West Bank reunited, after years of forced exile,  the right to return is this peoples  destiny,carrying the twin-promise of the liberation of the imagination, and of their land. We should also remember that the barriers to freedom are man made and can be removed.

In an attempt to understand the catastrophe, here is a  reading list of key books on the Israel-Palestine conflict, from Ghada Karmi, Mahmoud Darwish, Naji al-Ali, Ilan Pappe, Edward Said, Shlomo Sand, and more.

http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3210-nakba-day-reading-list?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=US+UTM+Nakba+Day+reading+list

On the 8th June British voters have the power to choose who represents them in parliament. This is also our chance to convince candidates to support Palestine.
http://palestinecampaign.iparlsetup.com/lob…/votepalestine17

Hitler finds out about Labour's Manifesto

As news comes in that many  people  actually back many of the policies in Labour's leaked Manifesto, because they've written down things people actually agree with  including nationalising the railways, building more houses and raising taxes on higher earners, I offer you this hilarious and absolutely brilliant video. Watch it till the end you wont regret it.
Please share and make June the end of May. Don't we all deserve a brighter future.

Relax with the Conservatives - Peter Cook

The BBC and their political editor  Laura Keunssbergu have been under  fire this week for blatant Pro Tory bias and propaganda. The BBC  are supposed to remain neutral and impartial  but the fact that they are doing this  during an actual election campaign  seems to be absolutely  incredible.  Ofcom has been inundated  with  complaints. Viewers contacted the watchdog about more than 60 BBC broadcasts in the last month – around twice the usual number. Around two thirds of the complaints were about ‘due impartiality’ and ‘bias’ on BBC News, and current affairs programmes like Newsnight and Question Time.
It seems we wont need to be hypnotised by the Tory's, the media is already doing this on there behalf. They are trying to fool the nation. Wake up, snap out of it, don't be fooled. The truth is the Government  is starving our NHS, a Government that has cut money from disabled people, with their conscious cruelty, despite their bluster, they simply do not care. Nor do they seem to want to shape a future that will benefit people socially and economically.

Don't let them continue to fail our country. Now more than ever we must defeat the Tory's ideological driven austerity, it is their heartless policies that we have to continue to be worried about. We have to stop them in their tracks, we have far to much to lose.
Meanwhile here's a timeless classic from the late great Peter Cook.

Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week 2017 is taking place this week, between Monday May 8 –  Sunday 14.  It tries  to  bring attention and awareness to how anxiety and Depression can impact our mental health.The event is coordinated by the Mental Health Foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ and this year’s theme is “Surviving or Thriving”. It’s no overstatement to say that Britain is living through a mental health crisis. From depression, to anxiety, to eating disorders, one in four of us will experience a mental health problem each year. Many of us increasingly experiencing daily life as a battle. Emotionally, our heads are only just above water.
I personally have a trusty black dog that  calls regularly that has  made me the open, understanding and compassionate person I am. I unfortunately  have no control , it just happens.It suddenly  creates sadness , fear, and all those turbulent feelings that drives one to self destruction , and nights with no sleep. I also  get so angst ridden that I cannot leave my house, let alone phone a GP to seek help, because I fear I will be judged and blamed somehow, embarrassed and ashamed for something I have no control over. A tendency to affix blame and leave me  feeling even more unworthy.
Mental illness scares us and shames us. Those who suffer are often, like me, ashamed to speak of it. Those who are lucky enough to be free of mental illness are terrified of it. When it comes to mental illness, we still don't quite get how it all works. Our treatments, while sometimes effective, often are not. And the symptoms, involving a fundamental breakdown of our perceived reality, are existentially terrifying. There is something almost random about physical illness, in how it comes upon us , a physical illness can strike anyone – and that is almost comforting. Were mental illness to fall into that same category, then it too could strike any of us, without warning. And that is terrifying.
But more than simple fear, mental illness brings out a judgmental streak that would be unthinkably grotesque when applied to physical illness. Imagine telling someone with a broken leg to "snap out of it." Imagine that a death by cancer was accompanied by the same smug headshaking that so often greets death by suicide. Mental illness is so qualitatively different that we feel it permissible to be judgmental. We might even go so far as to blame the sufferer. Because of the  stigma involved  it often leaves us much sicker.
It should be noted  that many  people believe that our Governments policies are actually fuelling the current  mental health crisis. Budget cuts to mental health services combined with no genuine support are driving  many people to the edge. As a result many young people and adults are left isolated facing long waiting lists for mental health therapies and diagnostic assessments. Prime Minister Maggie May herself said   "On my first day in Downing Street last July, I described shortfalls in mental health services as one of the burning injustices in our country.
Despite these gestures the Tories have not delivered on their promise to give mental health the same priority as physical health.They have not offered  no extra funding and have consistently raided mental health budgets over the last seven years. There are now over 6,000 fewer mental health nurses than in 2010. The number of psychiatrists employed by the NHS has fallen by  four percent since 2014 , with a 10 percent drop in those who specialise in children's mental health and a similar drop in those working with older adults. Seven years of Tory Government have left those with mental health problems without the support they need. The only thing that the Tories deliver are empty words and actions  that are shaping a society that does  not help to tackle the injustice of unequal treatment in mental health. Also because of how dire the times are getting: not only are benefit cuts driving people to think of killing themselves, but low wages and welfare sanctions are making people ill, shortening people's lives. For many insecurity  has become the way of  life. You simply can't trust May and co on mental health.
To add  to all of  this I  switched on the television the other night to find that  Theresa May was attempting to 'humanise' herself by appearing on the 'One Show' with her multi millionaire investment banker husband. So, just an average extremely rich couple who live in the very posh Berkshire village of Sonning, where the Georgian, Victorian and Tudor style houses go for anything from £800k to £1.6 million. Someone who definitely knows the effects of benefit cuts, loss of local public services and zero hours contracts on the working poor of Britain. Mrs very privileged.  I slept restlessly.Then I awoke to find she had revealed she wants to bring back fox hunting, overturning Labour’s 2004 ban. Their priorities could not be more clear: they’re a government for the few, not the many who want to keep blood sports in the history books. It seems that there are literally no depths of idiocy and cruelty that the Tories wont sink to in their efforts to restore this country to its backward depressing Victorian values. If this does not make you mad you have become conditioned and devoid of feeling, they simply have you under control.
Too often mental health is swept under the carpet and ignored ,either because of the stigma and taboo surrounding it , so we have to keep battling to destroy the negative attitudes and stereotypes that is directed towards people with mental health issues that disproportionately affect people living in poverty, those who are unemployed, people living in isolation and those who already face discrimination, so we also have to keep challenging policies that  exasperate these problems. In the meantime I will try to keep fighting and surviving, and hope that one day mental health  becomes  a genuine Government priority that would help reduce peoples pain and suffering. And who knows one day might come when I will become strong and stable.

If you need to talk to someone, the NHS mental health helpline page includes organisations you can call for help, such as Anxiety UK and Bipolar UK. or call The Samaritans on 116 123.

For a lover ( Poem for Jane Elizabeth Husband, 9/5/60 - 8/1/17 )

When there’s someone, one someone, who makes your days brighter, makes your joys greater, makes your heart lighter…Someone, one someone, you want to share with, do everything with, go everywhere. Someone, one someone you want to live for…You have something called love.”

- Kahlil Gibran

Today would have been my beloved's birthday, she would have turned 57 years young, nevertheless her spirit and magic I still feel on every sunrise,  in the early morn, after the moon has set , arriving every dawn, neither west, east, south or north, her petals following no borders,her footsteps still following rhythmic beats of the world, dancing freely, I still see her holding out her hands, in these days of confusion her words still clear, I tell myself she is free, where skies gleam and trees sway ,a drifting peaceful beauty.I offer to sweet Jane this poem.

For a Lover

Born in May like an exquisite flower
The joy she bought never surrendered,
Now in vast eternity, I am still caught
In my garden this light still shines,
Not forgotten, well attended
A passion that still has time to call,
Whispering through the trees
Releasing the memory of breath,
This great mystery who delivered kindness
In this world her love I  crave,
Because there was wisdom in her eyes
And so much laughter too,
She was faithful  true, lended strength
To let sadness flee and escape,
Though she  has gone far away
And her words are silent now,
I often wake from dreaming of  this angel form
Even while unceasing winds have blown,
With the knowledge that she bought me peace
And the greatest of all lifes' gifts- companionship,
Strong memories will always survive
The bonds of love cannot be measured,
Reaching out from  beyond final resting place
Ever so distant, yet so near and dear in heart,
I will wait  until its time to meet  again once more
For us to hold, share and love together,
On each birthday I will continue to celebrate
My special friend and lover who in poetry forever lives,
Whose passion and fire will never  fade
Still guiding and so close to me,
No matter how far  and out of reach
In galaxies of time, presence still, reverberates.
                                             
                                    

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

Some musical  respite. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan , originally released on the album  Bringing it all Back Home in March 1965.  Bob was a little ahead of the 'music video' trend when, on  this day May 8, 1965, he got the idea to make a short film of the song.He was filming what would become the documentary "Don't Look Back" when the idea hit him.
The short film that follows  features him standing in an alley next to London's Savoy Hotel , just accompanied by his friends Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth, flipping giant cue cards with the lyrics of the song on them.

The video, which many feel was one of the first "music videos," would become an iconic rock moment. The song sounded like nothing nobody had  heard before and  it utterly transformed Bob Dylan's career and the history of popular music along with it.
In 1963 Dylan had become one of  the leading figures in the folk revival, writing socially conscious anthems like "Blowin' in the Wind." As of his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, released in August 1964, he was becoming less interested in political material and more interested in songs with poetic, allusive imagery, but he was still playing them on an acoustic guitar or piano and his ever-present harmonica. In January 1965, however, Dylan went into the studio with a five-piece electric band -- two guitars, piano, bass, and drums . The first product of this effort was "Subterranean Homesick Blues," In four lengthy verses, with no real chorus (though the line "Look out, kid" appeared in the second part of every verse) and no mention of the title, Dylan delved into a free association of rhymes and catch phrases. This was Dylan’s first successful attempt to integrate the emotions of the Beat Generation which he had understood from Alan Ginsberg and others combining the thoughts of the moment with three minutes of everything that was happening in the world of the mid 1960s.
Like the Beat Generation poetry before it took a scatological approach to lyrics and rhyme, rejecting all that had gone before, linking the future to the past and back again, finding new models, new expressions, new ideas, even if no one knew what they meant.
The song contained depictions of a variety of characters including Johnny, "the man in the trench coat," "the man in the coon-skin cap in the big pen," Maggie, "girl by the whirlpool," and others, and, in the second parts of each verse, various pieces of cautionary advice for the kid, including everything from "Don't try No Doz" to "try to avoid the scandals." It wasn't a protest song in the way that some of Dylan's earlier songs had been, but the lyrics clearly expressed social discontent, with lines like "Twenty years of schoolin'/And they put you on the day shift." Dylan spat out the words in a staccato rhythm while the band rollicked along in a ramshackle manner.
The whole thing was oddly exhilarating, but "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was easily the strangest single Columbia Records had ever released. It was also a hit, at least a modest one, peaking just inside the Top 40, Dylan's first single to reach the charts. Rolling Stone magazine has it in the top 500 greatest songs of all time. A personal favourite of mine.
Here's Bob in London, 52 years ago today.

(As for those) in the basement
(Marijuana's) the medicine
(And those) on the pavement
(Burning down the false) government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's something you did
(Jah) knows when
But you're doing' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Looking' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talking' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doze"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch (those) plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

(You) get sick, (then) get well
Hang around an ink well
(Things fell), hard to tell
If anything is going' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write Braille
Get jailed, jump bail
(Don't stop, you don't) fail
Look out kid
You're going to get hit
By users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Looking' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parking' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
(Girls come) learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her (to please me)
Don't steal, don't (shop) lift
Twenty years of schooling'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
(You come out from the dark zone)
Light yourself a (fire torch)
Wear (your) sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't want to be a bum
(Get yourself a gun)
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

The History of Religion, From Magic Rocks to the Modern Day

Cartoonist Paul Kinsella takes us through the history of religion, one picture at a time:

Evolution is not a religion.

Evolution is a constantly observed, reviewed , and never disproved fact.

If this conflicts with your religious beliefs then I suggest you observe and review whatever it is you believe.

Evolution is backed by tangible evidence.

Your beliefs are not.

Does it really matter?

We are all designed to go.

Some of us  unfortunately never reach the " Growing up" stage.

Magic does indeed rock.

Better make the most of it.

By the way my imaginary friend is better than yours.

Footnote :-

The Irish blasphemy investigation into Stephen Fry continues a very dangerous trend of European countries using blasphemy laws to silence criticism of religion.
We cannot afford to let religious conservatives turn back the clock on decades of social progress.
Blasphemy laws make us all less free, and they suppress our ability to criticise unfair practices and to work for a fairer, more secular society where everyone is treated equally.