Jewels In Time

The air is awash with ghosts
as another year turns dead
beyond the darkness of the world
time to lay it all to rest
let light call, beyond the fear and dread
poetry and song, dreams  that give peace of mind
as time rumbles on with uncertainty
the treasure of friendship will forever be kind
in our gardens flowers will flourish
memories not forsaken, delivering strength
beyond the politicians emptiness, that break us down
lets your ears and heart be immersed with music
that kisses the soul, and enlivens the tonque
remembering smiles that lifted us, be guided by love
we will continue to rise up, patch up the hurt
our words still ever so clear, solid under every morn
a beautiful resistance that keeps on calling
the taste of truth  will fill our bellies
as we ponder which paths to pursue
travelling on the haunted waves
let the wealth of our combined afflictions
soak up like a sponge, the living waters
generating channels that nurture sustenance
with earnest mischief in this game of chance
dancing undeterred with fervent belief.


( Blwyddyn Newydd Da / Happy New Year
Heddwch/Peace.)

Is It Time To Scrap the Dishonourable Honours System?

It's become increasingly clear to many that the honours system is anachronistic and filled with irrelevant cronyism that is constantly stained with controversy. Stretching right back to Norman times, honours were historically bestowed for wartime bravery or to monied aristocrats. In 1917 George V invented the Order of the British Empire to honour everyday citizens, particularly those in non-combative roles during World War One, honours for celebrities followed.
The British government’s website declares “the honours system recognises people who have made achievements in public life and have committed themselves to serving and helping Britain”. Those fit to receive a knighthood, MBE or OBE should also “have made life better for other people or be outstanding at what they do” https://www.gov.uk/honours
 Now, Queen's Honours are dished out twice a year - to approximately 3,000 people in total,  names from the world of showbiz, sport and politics have recently been announced  Though there are some worthy recipients,  more and more people  are becoming  disillusioned  with the current system as it is seen as  being used as a political pay off, and the list of those who have been awarded honours only to be exposed as being unworthy of anyones admiration keeps getting longer.
It is really hard  as hell to see how the  following qualified or see what they had done to deserve an award. Child abusers like Jimmy Saville and Liberal  politician Cyril Smith were both given  knighthoods by the Queen on the advice of the Uk Prime Minister, alongside rogue businessmen like Fred Goodwin and Philip Green, who went on to destroy their companies through their greed. The likes of cricketer  Geoffrey Boycott too  who was convicted of domestic abuse of his partner and now it's been announced that former leader of the Conservatives, architect of controversial Universal Credit  system and of  death and misery Iain Duncan Smith MP  is going to be given one too by Boris Johnson.  It was his reforms  and total incompetence at the DWP  that saw thousands of vulnerable and disabled people die, and cruelly suffer. The announcement has sparked a furious backlash, with a petition, entitled 'Iain Duncan Smith should not receive a Knighthood'   already having been signed by 150,000 people, in it he is labelled  as "responsible for some of the cruellest most extreme welfare reforms this country has ever seen"' https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-and-parliament-we-object-to-iain-duncan-smith-receiving-a-knighthood
Opposition parties said it "beggared belief" that someone whose policies had caused so much distress should be honorued in this way. Labour's Lisa Nandy said it was a "disgraceful decision by Boris Johnson to reward a legacy of cruelty and failure",
Writing on Twitter, she added, "This regime deliberately removed the safety net. It stripped people of their dignity. There is no honour in that."
The Labour MSP Neil Findlay has submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament calling for the honours system to be scrapped. His motion described the honours systemas "completely discredited" and Duncan Smiths knighthood "an award for services to the Tory party and nothing else."
Many critics see the whole honours system, including appointments to the bloated unelected House of Lords, as an affront to democracy. In his six years as Prime Minister David Cameron stuffed unelected cronies into the House of Lords at a faster rate than any Prime Minister in history. He thoroughly deserved his ‘Dodgy Dave’ nickname. He stuffed so many establishment insiders into the unelected upper house that the House of Lords is now the second biggest legislative chamber on earth, second only to the Chinese parliament. The fact a Chamber of 800 failed politicians, retired Bishops and Archbishops, assorted do-gooders from the professions and 92 Hereditary Peers, who are there because of birth right, have the ability to delay and amend laws is just unacceptable and  makes a mockery of ‘British democracy’.
There are thousands of incredible ordinary people who go through life caring for others,,that we should be grateful to, our healthcare professionals, our educators and those involved in voluntary organisations  who enrich our society, and many other deserving recipients who have done good work in their communities, who never appear on the radar of the political administrators who prepare honours lists, and .subsequently go without any kind of official reward. Thus the honours list is too narrow and  fails to recognize the achievements of many while rewarding a select few.
A number of well-known individuals have refused an honour for a variety of reasons, whether political, personal, or because they did not feel it was appropriate. For example Ken Loach the film director, is one of a very honourable group of individuals who have turned down a discreditable British bauble. He told the Radio Times in March 2001:
“It’s all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest.
“I turned down the OBE because it’s not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who’ve got it” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1217962.stm. and Benjamin Zephaniah, the celebrated black British poet, was similarly strident in 2003 when he referred to why he turned down a British Honour offered by war criminal PM Tony Blair:
“Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear the word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”
“My obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people. Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-Empire” https://web.archive.org/web/20100616162002/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/benjamin-zephaniah-declines-an-obe-in-protest-against-colonialism-737107.html.
Personally the distasteful honours system  is a shame on our country. greatly discredited, problematic,and  not fit for purpose, yet what is extraordinary, is the British public’s  continuing acceptance of it all, as 2019  draws to a close and 2020  approaches is it not time for us to consider that this outdated and ultimately archaic and devalued relic of our country’s colonial past,  be scrapped,  or at the very  least we could get rid of the life peerages and knighthoods, because they smack of elitism. and replace the current system  with a people's panel recognising and honouring only conspicuous public service and sacrifice and those that are  truly deserving. Remember to daily honour too all that you consider worthy, our mothers, the peacemakers and advocates of positive change, that truly make a difference to our lives.

Poem For My Mother, Sheila Rendle nee Todd- Jones ,8/2/33- 26/12/19)

Let me introduce you
to a beautiful presence
my dear mother Sheila
daughter of a violin playing miner
born in Ton Pentre, Cwm Rhondda,
who taught me to read and write
the joys of books and poetry
prompting me to question everything
listened  when things went awry
delivered often with glad assurance
asked for nothing in return
fierce, proud, defiant but gentle
wrapped  now strongly in hearts
that can never be taken or stolen
she opened windows, points of consciousness
allowed us to accept life's frustrations
gave us reasons to try and always dispense care
delivered the most important lesson of all
love that  keeps on  releasing
the weight and depths
that cannot be scaled
I bless her for all she gave
it has served me so well
my allegiance is forever
this my simple way of homage
in endless sky and eternal seas
when the wind blows wild
in  days and nights of silence
may she forever rest in peace.

Tis The Season Again

                                Peter Kropotkin 

It's come round again, the time of year when I usually feel like some kind of traitor, because I don't enter into the spirit of things. It's not that I'm a total misery guts, I like it if it snows, but that's about it,I just don't get this time of the year. There are the usual suspects, the seasonal fakery, the waste of paper, the misery that explodes , and the annual artificial need to guzzle and consume vast amounts, whilst people commodify and profiteer from our faked jollity. Santa the manufactured symbol that resides right next to the sick heart of capitalism and consumerism, christmas at the foodbank the new order of the day. Tolerating neighbours stupid light displays and crappy Christmas carols. Reflecting on life and loss in general. The list goes on and bloody on.
We sing about peace and good will, while people caught up in war zones, and  countries are fractured by division. Our natural  impulse is to give, share and support others, feelings of solidarity and mutual aid,  these qualities find their form in the midwinter festival that in this part of the world, is now known as Christmas.Today, as the tentacles of the capitalist market reach into every part of our lives, those feelings are commodified, as we are encouraged to pay for the convenience of expressing our feelings for our fellow beings through gift giving. We fret about our purchases, are they good enough? Will the person like them?
But, as well as this, people across the world think of those who have less and donate food, clothes, toys and money.It is worth remembering that these acts of solidarity are part of our nature, that the impulse towards mutual aid is not just a once in a year anomoly, that it was a deciding factor in our evolution and is something we need to nurture, that   Peter Kropotkin wrote in Mutual Aid, is a factor of evolution. that we need in order to survive. 
 Blessed Saturnalia, roast chestnuts underneath the pagan tree, ..... oh dear oh me.... But children love it I suppose , this shindig of excess.  Their  sun will rise anyway, rudolph will leave eat all the carrots and someone will have bamdoozled the sherry.
I suppose it is is a time when many do genuinely take  some time out  to celebrate their faith, fair enough , but the original meaning seems to have got lost a long time ago now. I also reflect at this time of the year, will think of dear friends, lovers, poets gone too soon, but won't get to deep, need to retain strength, Time also to consider those less well off, those who may  be alone at this time of year, those who may not even have a place to call home, others who have lost friends, family and loved ones, those too  who have become lost to a society that simply does not care. Remember the many organisations and services providing  comfort to those that need it most, people facing homelessness and benefit disruption over the festive season. For some, this time of the year is a time of immense difficulty, fear and uncertainty, people left in isolation, feeling alone, left cold, hungry and without support, in a downward spiral. People who feel they do not belong, who are discredited and denied their status as human beings.
Whatever you do, try  take it easy out there, and  hope  you have a good time, follow your dreams, your currents, each according to your need.  Stay positive and stay human.and I wish you a happy peaceful  new year. Hard times are approaching, we ain't seen nothing yet. Conservative compassion knows no boundaries. We don't have to take what our leaders want to deliver, we can still make a difference. as foodbanks continue to grow, the Tories should confront the poverty they helped create. For now if its your kind of thing merry Christmas, nadolig llawen,  hanukkah, solstice, Yuletide, Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or anything else you  care to celebrate.Reach out to those that need  help, to those too weak to look after or defend themselves. not just for the holidays, but the days and years ahead, Think I've said enough. Laters...... heddwch/peace

Santa Claus says Free  Palestine

David Roviks - Christmas Song

Banksy's Scar of Bethlehem

The  British street artist  Banksy has bought a sombre Christmas spirit to a hotel he founded in the West Bank  town of Bethlehem , with a nativity scene evoking the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.
It  marks the Bristol-based artist's first foray into the public spotlight having released a mural in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, a fortnight ago highlighting homelessness.
Dubbed the “Scar of Bethlehem,”' the artwork features a traditional nativity scene,  a miniature Jesus, Mary and Joseph under a rendition of Israel's concrete West Bank barrier punctured by bullet holes, the largest of which resembles a star over the manger. Three large wrapped presents sit at the forefront of the scene, while the words 'peace' and 'love' are graffiti tagged in English and French on the concrete,
The work is installed at Banksy’s Walled-Off Hotel,  which he opened in March 2017,where all rooms overlook a concrete section of the barrier built by Israel to cut off the occupied West Bank from Israeli territory,offering "the worst view in the world."and is filled with original Banksy artwork. The hotel also contains a small museum on the history of the separation barrier.

Hotel manager Wissam Salsaa called the work a "nativity scene," saying that "Banksy has his own contribution to Christmas.""It is a great way to bring up the story of Bethlehem, the Christmas story, in a different way -- to make people think more" of how Palestinians live in Bethlehem, Salsaa says. “Banksy is trying to remind the world that people of Bethlehem, where Christmas was started, are not celebrating Christmas like the rest of the world,” he said.

 "Christmas is known for the Star of Bethlehem, that led people to the birthplace of Jesus," said hotel manager Wisam Salsa. "You see there is a scar, there is a hole on the wall that marks the wall and the life in Bethlehem how it is today."
.Israel began building the separation barrier , in parts concrete, with other stretches consisting of fencing,in 2002 during the Palestinian uprising, or intifada. Built mostly inside the West Bank, Israel says it is necessary to prevent attacks, but Palestinians label it an apartheid wall,  a symbol of their ongoing oppression, separating them from Jerusalem. The Palestinians consider the barrier illegal and call it an Israeli land grab, noting that it has engulfed large chunks of the West Bank onto the Israeli “side.”  Aside from dominating the landscape, the barrier separates Bethlehem from much of the land owned by its people, and, crucially, it also severs it from Jerusalem. The structure, has been ruled illegal by the UN's International Court of Justice.'

Traditional Bethlehem Christmas festivities will take place this week at the church built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born. That  is being continually squeezed by Israeli encroachment and by the imposition of the winding separation barrier through its land. As the separation barrier expands, Bethlehem’s territory shrinks and shrinks. Its continued ability to exist as a viable town reduces every year. The impact of the occupation daily bringing its heavy burden.The Church of the Nativity is famously located in Bethlehem, but pigrims vising the birthplace of Jesus will also witness one of the striking ybols of Israeli occupation - the Apartheid Wall  Peoples journeys blocked by checkpoints and thirty foot high  slabs of concrete. Nothing calm, nothing bright.
A longtime critic of the occupation, the manger scene and hotel  are far from Banksy’s only West Bank imprint. as has also created a number of works in Bethlehem and on the separation barrier itself.
In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.
In 2005, he sprayed nine stenciled images at different locations along the eight-meter-high (27-foot) separation barrier.
They included a ladder on the wall, a little girl carried away by balloons and a window opening onto a peaceful mountain landscape. Banksy also is believed to have sneaked into the Gaza Strip to draw four murals there.
One was painted on a remaining piece of a building destroyed during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group and featured the Greek goddess Niobe cowering against the rubble of a destroyed house.
Palestinian graffiti artists, too, have made the separation wall a place of political and artistic expression.
Like elsewhere in the world, Banksy’s works in the occupied territory have become tourist attractions, in part due to him often ghosting in to create his works in the dead of night.
“Banksy is trying to be a voice for those that cannot speak,” Salsa said. "He “is creating a new model of resistance through art.”
For now I hope you have a peaceful holiday and a happy new year.



 Banksy art on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier in Abu Dis in 2005.
 

The Man Who Shouldn't be King (Trailer)

British politics has seen tumultuous changes over the past four years.  While the question of Brexit and who will govern for the next five years appears to have been largely settled, there remains a crisis of confidence in the political system.
The royals are no longer immune to effects of that crisis, with recent events in parliament exposing the Queen to criticism and prompting serious debate about royal powers.  And of course Prince Andrew continues to avoid proper scrutiny having plunged the monarchy into one of its most serious crises for more than 20 years.
January sees the official launch of The Man Who Shouldn't Be King.  You can watch the trailer below.
The Man Who Shouldn't  be King  is a powerful new documentary that spells out the risks of King Charles and why his failures are the failures of the monarchy. It. takes a critical look at Prince Charles, landowner, businessman, political operator and future  king.
He may turn out to be a nice old King, but I along with many others are hoping for a different future, when the people  of the land substitute him with a president as head of state. Prince Charles is another royal who keeps getting called “phony” for claiming he cared about the environment while exploiting natural resources more than the people he’s preaching to.

Former government minister and Parliament member Norman Baker recently published an expose called …And What Do You Do?: What The Royal Family Don’t Want You To Know that called into question some of Prince Charles’ biggest controversies. Baker accuses the future monarch of tax evasion, greed, private jet usage, fakery, and perhaps worst of all, of being completely oblivious to all of it because he’s so entitled.

But whether he realizes it or not, millennials are not in love with the monarchy like older generations were. A YouGov poll found that only 41 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds believe the monarchy should still exist.The British monarchy has been around so long that most people take its existence for granted. But in reality, the royal family is currently serving at the pleasure of the people. If Parliament decided to withdraw funding tomorrow, they could all fade into obscurity. Following Prince Andrew's involvement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, many critics are coming to the natural conclusion that the institution that is the monarchy no longer has use or relevance or  a place for the royals in the modern world at all,it's a perplexing obscenity that we have them,  and in the 21st Century should simply be confined to the dustbins of history.

 The Man  Who Shouldn't be King (Trailer)

Counting The Ring Of Years (A Poem For The Winter Solstice)

Counting the ring of years
on this the shortest day
every thousand years
a bird flickers past
and announces, all is not lost
reach out for another shore
quietly and slowly dive
snow flakes embrace the moon
finding the same root as us
breathe the air as needed.
.
Look to the stars for guidance,
as the evening navigates
be at peace among friends
there are places to escape
where enemies are not welcomed
upon every false dawn
break of day and sunrise
on lands full of ever changing patterns
we cling on with strings of thought
with our deeds, reach for tomorrow.

The earth still breathing
wonder at it's sacredness
among the storm clouds brewing
the taste of future days to behold
all in the end must come true
but  our words will not fail us
life's mystery, there now
runs silently beside us
reaching out,rejuvenating
let's us sing out, keep reaching.

As the tickets of time
still clutches firmly
the embrace of solidarity
inhaled and shared
beyond cruel winds
the rising tide of hopelessness
across the earth, scattered
far from the stains of cruelty
choose now gentle rejoicing
feelings that give mind strength.