everybody says you gotta follow rules

Music today is from the best non-punk band of the punk era, with one of their forgotten classics. Please enjoy it, however, if it doesn’t play where you are then I can only apologise but I don’t own the copyright to the track or the video. It’s a tonic for the troops…

I know I’ve said it before and I will say it again but politicians who lie when people know the truth are either really stupid or they couldn’t give a flying fuck about you and me, the common people, those without, living from pay check to pay check (pay day to pay day here in the UK). Biggest example is Theresa May, reported on the news ahead of the Commons Vote was that the EU will not now or at any other time re-open negotiations ahead of Brexit. She won the vote in the Commons to re-open negotiations.

What doesn’t she get? The other 27 countries don’t give a rat’s arse about us, they hope we sink then in another 5 years we’ll crawl back with our tails between our legs and ask to rejoin. The price of this will be a higher contribution and loss of our currency. We really need to end this farce now before it’s too late, she’s trying to save her own skin when the ship she is captaining has already sunk and she is in the water with no lifeboats around.

What is she trying to salvage from the wreckage of GB.com? This country is finished if we leave the EU without a deal that guarantees our survival today. Those who told you we survived before joining forgot to remind you that we still had a semblance of an Empire then, yes it was crumbling but we still clung on to it and the Commonwealth to survive. Today we don’t have that back stop. The Commonwealth don’t want to trade with us on favourable terms, they want us to pay them a decent price for their produce. Fair do’s no-one wants to sell everything at a loss or they would go out of business.

Remember when you were told we had to regain control of our borders? What benefit will that have when 95% of the population are out of work because all those companies who came here to get a foothold in Europe have left and moved to Denmark, Holland, Germany or France? The financial strength of London is in having so many international banks located there to trade with Europe, we leave they leave, simple. No one will want to come here so yes we will have control over our borders.

Who is going to pay for the Welfare State? Most people will be relying on the dole or pensions but this Government will offer tax incentives for people to come here and offer some jobs to the population, meaning those without will have even less. Jobs will not pay a decent living wage. We really have to end this madness and withdraw Article 50 before we crash and burn. I know it’s been said by many but if a hard border is forced splitting Ireland in two they will unify again into a Republic within Europe, the same as happened with German re-unification.

Scotland won’t stand for that since they also voted overwhelmingly for Remain. If Wales followed suit that would leave England alone in the world and forced to beg for re-admission to the EU. Our strength would have gone and if Scotland and Wales were, once more, welcomed back to the EU family they were forced to leave by the English how well would Europe want England back?

They would cripple the country with red tape and we would probably lose our veto, we would have to increase our commitment and accept the Euro as our currency. Gone would be the days where we could buy and sell items across Europe, decide who comes in and who leaves this country. Don’t kid yourselves, we cannot survive in the modern world without Europe but they will do very nicely, thank you, without us. That’s why there will be no do over for the Brexit deal. It was a take it or leave it deal and we chose to leave it so the only option left open to us is either a no deal Brexit or withdraw Article 50 and remain inside the EU.

On a less stressful note, if we can help another species when they get into difficulty, why can’t we help our own species out every day? I read of a woman who died on the New York subway after struggling with her babies stroller (buggy here in the UK) and no one helped her out. A few days ago a mother bear was crossing an icy river with 2 cubs when she got into difficulty and left her cubs to save herself. Some fishermen saw this and went to the rescue of the cubs, taking them out of the water and into their boat. They didn’t know whether they would be mauled for their actions when re-uniting the cubs with their mother but wanted to ensure she didn’t lose her cubs.

If those fishermen helped a bear to keep her cubs why didn’t anyone help that poor woman get her stroller up or down the subway stairs in New York? Don’t give me any bull shit about no one being around, New York subway is busy all day every day. Was it because she was a black woman? Or a poor woman? Or was it just that no one cared? I have always offered to help any woman on her own with a buggy up or down stairs. Even when she has been going in the opposite direction, that’s because I care about other people. I have even, on occasion, taken a buggy from a woman who was struggling and carried it myself for her. The only reward I wanted was to see her safely on her journey with her child.

I have walked women home late at night when they have told me they are going to be walking down a dark lane, across a dark park or anywhere without lights. The reason for doing this was only to keep them safe, I didn’t want to endanger them in any way, in fact if they hadn’t trusted me they wouldn’t have allowed me to walk them home. I always waited until they were safely through their front door before leaving to head for home myself. I believe in a fair society where everyone pays as much as they can for the benefit of all. Does that make me a bad person? I will let you decide.

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution

Music today is a different kind of tune in that it was a hit in the early 1970’s then it was used as a theme to a tv series in the 2000’s. Courtesy of Track Records, Phonogram Inc., and YouTube here is today’s video. Once again apologies if it doesn’t play where you are.

Today, I was reminded again that a lot of privileged white people can say the dumbest things and leave themselves wide open to criticism and being called racists. Can I make a suggestion to you, my dear reader? If there are a group of you discussing a situation and the only non-white calls you a racist don’t try to justify your comments but ask them what it is you said that makes them think that.

Racism knows no colour so similarly if you are non-white and a white person calls you a racist ask why they think that. It could be that they misunderstood what you were saying, or perhaps you misunderstood the meaning someone could take from your words. Either way, if you ask and they tell you then you have to bear that in mind and either say what you want to convey differently, or you can then argue with them about your meaning.

I see no need for racist comments, snide remarks or insults of any kind in the 21st century. However, there are more than enough bigots out there to go around without anyone adding fuel to the fire by trying to justify their comments when they have been called out as making racist remarks.

On a slightly different tack, if we all bleed when we are cut and that blood is red, doesn’t it make sense to think we are all related to the same species? Someone asked me why I feel there is only one race and we all belong to it, I answered that we are all human beings regardless of skin colour, who we choose to love or how we identify and they came back and told me I was a disgrace to my race. Can I ask how many human beings feel that I am a disgrace?

I really couldn’t give a flying one to how you identify, who you love, what colour skin is wrapped around your bones, muscles and sinews or how you choose to worship (nor who you choose to worship). These differences are what goes into our beings to keep things interesting. Also, if you speak a different language than me should I try and understand you? Only if you are speaking to me. If you and a friend (or group of friends) are talking then why should I understand what you are saying? Even if you are talking about me I would have no right to listen in to a private conversation. That being the case, if you speak to me and we don’t understand each other why not use sign language to convey our words?

There is always a way to communicate between human beings. If anyone tells you any different then tell them that they can go to hell as your conversation does not concern them. If they keep on being rude to you then report them to the police, security or someone near by. Most people will not stand idly by and let someone abuse another person. You have the right to speak to whoever you want to, using whatever language you speak. If you are visiting my country on holiday (or vacation) then I can’t expect you to speak English unless you have already learned it.

I know enough Spanish and French to get by when I visit those countries but am nowhere near fluent in either language. Doesn’t matter because I can usually make myself understood and get what I want. On occasion it is difficult but there is that opportunity to learn a new phrase to make the other person understand you. Anyway, I am going to go off to bed now so I will bid you a fond goodnight, please be nice to each other and let’s create the world we can all live in peacefully and safely.

Don’t give me that do-goody good bull shit

Music for this post is from a fantastic album released in 1973 by Pink Floyd. I was reminded of this track while pondering my existence and why people are so cruel to one another. As always the copyright is not owned by me but by Universal Music and Pink Floyd, video courtesy of YouTube and apologies if you cannot get it to work where you are.

The album in question (The Dark Side Of The Moon) I bought on vinyl in 1973, cassette in 1974 when the vinyl became unplayable, cd in 1993 when I lost the cassette and then I bought it again in 2003 (the 30th anniversary edition) and again in 2013 (the 40th anniversary). I was tempted to rebuy the vinyl version last year but the price was so prohibitive I decided to give it a miss. However, in 2023, if they release a Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition I will probably buy that.

I was tempted in 1974 to buy the album on vinyl after a concert in the live version, however, the bootlegger wanted twice as much as the studio album so I passed. Since in the 1970’s there were only two reasons people sold bootlegs on the street and one of them was to fund a drug habit, I didn’t want to pay over the odds for a dubious pressing. I owned the album on bootleg before my hard disk drive crashed without warning two weeks ago and now I am struggling to find the bootlegs again online. My broadband provider doesn’t believe in allowing any music to be shared online. Bootleggers never pay the artist anyway so why buy the album when it should be available to fans free of charge?

See the connection, it took a while to raise it’s head but it is here. In case you missed it, the record labels want to keep their revenue high by forcing people to stop sharing music. I have always shared music, creating cassette copies of my albums to give to others so they can hear for themselves what the music sounds like before they go and buy it (and potentially waste their money if they don’t like it). I have also borrowed cd’s from friends, cassettes before cd’s became the norm, and copied these onto cassette. When I got my first computer with a cd-rom drive I started copying cd’s onto cd’s.

Did this ever cost the record labels money? Of course not, because if I liked the album then I would go out and buy a legal copy as soon as I could. Money is only a problem if you don’t have any, those with money hate parting with it so they will vote for anyone who agrees to cut their taxes to the bone and force the country to accept austerity measures to fund this tax cut to the rich. Of course those who receive the tax cuts don’t feel the pinch of these austerity measures. As soon as someone comes along who says to them you have had it too easy for too long so we are going to tax your income above £1m (or $1m) at a higher rate so you keep less of that super income, they threaten to walk with their millions to somewhere which won’t tax them so highly.

As a planet, I think, the time has come to show the super rich that enough is enough. If everyone of the super rich agreed to pay tax on a sliding scale without avoiding paying any tax, tRump is the biggest example of that fraud that I can think of at the moment, then there would be enough money for countries to adopt a Welfare System similar to the one introduced into the UK in the 1940’s. However, it all boils down to money and as long as some Governments will allow the super rich to live there without paying their share of taxes into the countries coffers the rest of the world will continue to kow tow to these people.

I am not trying to be smart

Music for this post is from the Beatles extras on the 2018 remixed album The Beatles, copyright is owned by Apple Corps and Universal Music while the video is shown on YouTube and they (may well) have the copyright for that.

This is not going to be a long post as I only have a little to say today. I have been watching programs about the past and talking to people about the state of the world today and it seems that most of the ills in this world come from the United Kingdom and the manner we behaved when we discovered, settled and tried to wipe out the natives who were already there.

I believe that the Europeans who settled in America, Africa and Australia caused more pain and suffering by their actions than was justified. We also transported the Natives all around the planet, uprooting children and adults alike, to work as slaves in order to settle the new lands they found. Was this right, no. Was it legal, yes. We should always remember that laws can be passed to make anything legal, including the death and destruction of natives, Jews, Immigrants, families and children.

Just because we have people in control who want to destroy lives and families by passing laws which will make their genocide legal doesn’t make it right. We have to make sure that haters don’t win because they may be picking on immigrants and refugees today, but if we do nothing then tomorrow they will come for us.

Germans turned a blind eye in the 1930’s when their neighbours started disappearing. That led to more people disappearing from the neighbourhoods and finally they came for everyone left. This is happening again at the behest of Russian puppets who stood for election and then were elected to the highest offices in those countries. Look around, tRump was elected in 2016 using illegal and illegitimate funds from Russia. Brexit was voted for after lies told and extra money came from Russia. Now the truth is known about how much worse off we will be most people want to stop Brexit, before it is too late. Those in the pay of Russia don’t want a second referendum because they will lose it. They want to see the country pulled apart and the destruction of the United Kingdom into 4 individual countries (with at least 2 of these reverting back into Europe as they voted overwhelmingly for Bremain).

If our elected politicians refuse to represent those who elected them we have a duty to vote them out at the next election. That is true not only in America, when they go to the polls for their next President next year, but also in the UK and Australia the next time we go to the polls to elect a Prime Minister.

In the USA, as here in the UK, there is not really much choice between candidates since there are really only two parties who can reasonably expect to win in any election for their PM or their President. Our choice is between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn (neither of whom is an ideal candidate) in the USA it’s between tRump and the Democratic candidate, whoever that turns out to be.

People need to be aware of what their votes are for (or against). The Tories (no matter who leads them) stand firmly rooted in the well off, cutting taxes for the rich while leaving the poor screaming in hunger at the injustices they are forced to suffer. Labour, on the other hand, were (and are again) in favour of taxing people according to their ability to pay, creating a fair society for everyone.

I know that mine is only voice but there are others who share my views, we have to get behind the person who can make the changes in our respective countries, who won’t hide their head in the sand when faced with tough decisions, will do what is best for their country without fear, will also make the hard decisions to do what is best for the planet today and tomorrow. Those are the people we have a duty to get behind and work with to give us a chance of a tomorrow.

Friday Follies: Season 2, Week 4

Well, this made me smile anyway…

Take my heart and care

Music today is from the late great Marc Bolan and his second group, Tyrannosaurus Rex before they grew into T.Rex. Copyright isn’t owned by me so apologies if it doesn’t play where you are but that is down to YouTube, Universal Music and the other copyright owners.

I found a saying from a Native American which I wanted to share with you, however, I have been unable to upload it from my pictures. The quote is from Chief Seattle and it reads:

“The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

I take these wise words to mean that everyone of us is linked together (I have believed this from a very early age) and that whatever we do will come back to us (Karma). I have tried to live a good life, sometimes I have failed but I am human and we are born to make mistakes. If we learn the lessons well then these mistakes will not be repeated (if only I had learned mine from my first marriage, lol).

Anyone who is anyone knows that we are here for just a short time. Life is precious and shouldn’t be treated as anything different. Everyone living is born to die but we should not try to say when that time will come for anyone else. That’s what I believe and I feel that we do need to have guidelines (laws) to follow for the good of everyone. However, when those laws are unjust they should be questioned and changed. Not by one person but by society as a whole.

Terrorism, whether by a nation or a group of individuals, goes against the decency we should all feel for one another. Religion is a personal choice (as is atheism) so don’t try to force one religion or preach that all other religions are wrong. Any religion on this planet which proposes hatred, division and stands against any other religion has to be false. We should be allowed to practice whatever religion we choose, or even have no religion.

If we try to live our lives promoting good, honest, decent principles and teach our children not to hate (after all hatred is taught by those who hate and propogates itself). We should learn to tolerate others, everyone has something positive inside them, we need to bring that out and make our society bigger and better for everyone and not just the elite few who make money from the rest of us.

Enjoy your day and I hope the rest of it is fruitful, filled with love and you can see how blessed you are. You are beautiful and loved, worth spending time with and I am blessed because you are reading this.

They run and hide their heads

OK, music is from the Fabs again, having just watched the Donovan Leitch return to Rishikesh 50 years on. Copyright is owned by Universal Music, Apple Corps and the video can be found on YouTube. I really hope it plays ok where you are but apologies as always if it doesn’t.

I really had no intention of bothering anyone today writing was the last thing on my mind (another song springs to mind there). However, I thought I would let you know how boring it is with the US Government being closed. My laptop battery is no longer charging and I don’t know why. The power settings and battery troubleshooter are available online at, you guessed it, a US Government web site. Because of the shutdown I can’t access it however to find out if my battery needs replacing or if there is anything wrong with the power cord (it’s actually running of mains power as the battery is down to 8%.

Anyway, that’s my issue and grumble out of the way. Going back to the aforementioned documentary, Donovan went back to Rishikesh and was talking about his time at the Asheram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi where he and the Beatles (along with the Beach Boys, Mia Farrow and a few others) were learning Transcendental Meditation. They found peace there and the creative juices were let loose. Don helped John to write Julia and Dear Prudence, John and Paul helped Don to finish Hurdy Gurdy Man and a couple of other songs. George wrote a verse for Don’s Hurdy Gurdy Man which was never used on the record but found it’s way into concert performances.

This was a fascinating insight into the spiritual teachings the Fabs, Donovan and others came away from Rishikesh with. Don still practices meditation to this day with his lovely wife, Linda, who he married in 1970. She has been a constant in his life for the past 49 years.

I still haven’t got round to watching gimme some truth (the making of the Imagine album) so watch out for a review on here once I do get it watched. At the moment I am getting through the Vampire Diaries ahead of starting the Originals, I am also watching Midnight, Texas while it is on a break so I can catch up ready for it coming back.

I feel ready for bed so at this unreasonably early time of night (for me) I will bid you a fond adieu (another song springs to mind here) until the next time my dear reader.

Temperature’s rising, Fever is high

Music for this post is from John Lennon, copyright is owned by Universal Music Group, video courtesy of John Lennon Live In NYC. If you can’t view it where you are, apologies, however, I can’t control what videos are allowed where that is down to YouTube.com.

Today, I thought I would write a little about life here in the UK under Mrs May. A woman as stubborn as Thatch, as quick witted as tRump, as dangerous as a tiger and as stupid as they come. Now that the truth is out there for everyone to see hardly anyone still wants to see Brexit become a reality, so what does she do? Following the news that the Tories are ahead of everyone else in one poll she has said no to another referendum.

She really wants to see the UK broken up, without a deal Brexit will mean a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, yet that is what she is now pushing forward, a no deal Brexit in just over 2 months time. What does she think the Irish will do when they have to go through check points every time they want to visit family living in the Republic or Northern Ireland? They will demand a referendum on leaving the UK, this will unite Ireland again into one Republic, they will then be back in Europe the same as East Germany did when Germany was reunited.

When the people realise that we should never have left they will be begging to rejoin the EU but we will lose our right to have the pound and will have to take the Euro as our new currency. The team pushing for Brexit ahead of the 2016 referendum cheated, just like the GOP did when tRump was elected as POTUS that year. There will be only losers because without a market for British produce (not that there is much of it anyway) the prices will rocket, businesses will fold, more people will be out of work and not paying enough to ensure there are benefits for those who need them because the Tories won’t tax the rich to get what is needed and then the Welfare System will be left to rot while the NHS is dismantled to sell off the profitable parts and those who can afford health care will get it while those who can’t can go to hell.

If you think I’m making this up then wait and see, I won’t live long without my meds anyway so you won’t get an I told you so from me in 2025 when all this comes to pass but I am telling you all now. Thatch wanted to see a return to Victorian values, where only the wealthy had food, health care and could afford to stay in hospital. Successive governments, both Tory and New Labour, were striving for the same things. The only alternative is Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, he wants to renationalise the railways, protect the NHS and tax the wealthy to support it all.

If we don’t see a traditional Labour Government elected in 2020 then by 2025 it will be too late as most of the Labour voters will have died out by then. I was a strong supporter of communism (for a small number of people it can work but for a nation, even one as small as ours it can’t). I feel that the country I lived in as a boy was so much better than the world today. We had dreams for the future and had the sense to work on them collectively. It was a Tory PM who kept us out of the EU (or Common Market) when the idea was first floated in the 1950’s. It was a Tory PM who took us into the EU in 1973 following a referendum. I feel it is wrong to close our minds to the winds of change blowing across the planet. We cannot survive alone, we are too small, we don’t manufacture anything any longer (at least not for ourselves) apart from foreign companies who came here to get a foothold in Europe, once we leave so will they.

We cannot go on without some help from our neighbours and they won’t be willing if we charge their citizens to stay here and contribute to our GDP. They will retaliate by kicking out British citizens living in the EU, we need them more than they need us so don’t go kidding yourselves that it will be business as usual for any except the 1%ers.

Still once we all go cold turkey without Europe, we will realise we should never have left in the first place, maybe then someone like Jeremy Corbyn can be elected as PM in order to renegotiate our entry back into the EU, which by then could well have become a United States of Europe (although it’s only the French and Italians at the moment who want to see that come about).

When will the US wake up and see that division and hatred (these two have always gone hand in hand) is no longer a solution but a problem. In the 20th Century there were strong countries who kept parts of their population under the heel of the jack boot. Today, with Social Media that is much harder to pull off. There is a growing respect for each other regardless of skin colour, who we choose to love and live with, gender or anything else. We are beginning to realise we have more in common than our differences show. There is only one race, that’s why I laugh at the idiots who will maintain that the Whites are the chosen few. Christians worship a God who is no colour, his Son was born in Northern Africa and they think he is white? He is much more likely to be black since Europeans had only recently invaded that continent and they came from Rome.

More and more people are seeing through the hypocrisy, the lies, the hatred, the deceit and we are also seeing an upsurge of people telling the liars, cheats and haters that enough is enough. We don’t need walls, we don’t want walls, we don’t want borders. Everyone should be free to live wherever the hell they want to. If I’m being persecuted where I’m living let me move and go to the UK or the USA. I am young, I will work, I will pay taxes (unlike tRump who hasn’t paid any taxes in decades).

Give me a chance to live with you and together we can make a difference. I don’t care what religion you follow, whether it is right or wrong isn’t my place to judge. I don’t care who you love, same sex, another sex makes no never mind. I don’t care what gender you are, if you feel you are in the wrong skin then why shouldn’t you be allowed to change it and be true to who you are? After all don’t we care about others? If we don’t then we don’t care about ourselves either. Haters will continue to hate but if we prosecute them every time they break the law then we will win. Education isn’t the right of the rich it’s the right of every man woman and child to be taught right from wrong, how to be a better person and how to respect others and their property.

Whether you agree with me or not, I would love to hear your feedback on this issue, I can only give you my opinions because that’s who I am, I am not perfect, I don’t know what the future will bring but I do know that together we are strong, separate we are weak. How can I change anything if I don’t at least try. I have to start somewhere and that all started in the 1970’s with me. I had to change myself in order to become a better citizen, I realized that alone I couldn’t do much so I joined social events with like minded people. Together we did change opinions, we became much stronger people when we acted as one. I still believe that today if enough people want to make a change they can get things moving in the right direction.

No man’s an island and his castle isn’t home

Music today is from Jethro Tull (not the inventor of the seed planter) and I hope you enjoy it (apologies if it doesn’t play where you are). I don’t own the rights to this track, that would go to Chrysalis and Universal Music but thanks to YouTube for allowing me to embed it here.

Today, I want to let those of you know who shared my repulsion at the behaviour of the boss in my last post that I think it was fake. The person concerned, who I have been following for the last few months on Twitter just asked me to contribute to her legal costs and when I told her I have no income at all from anywhere at the moment her response was deafening in its swift reply. I have heard nothing from her since I told her I had asked for help for her on here.

I know that doesn’t mean it wasn’t based on truth but it makes you wonder how low people are prepared to go to get money out of someone worse off than them. Anyhoo, please forgive my impassioned plea for someone in Utah who could help pro bono. I may return to this tale again if I hear anything back from the lady(?) in question.

Nothing is as it seems today, I have just learned that the main exponents of Brexit in 2016, ahead of the referendum which they won, had broken the law and overspent on their campaign (funded by Russia no less). Seems that the rumours were true and Russia is trying to destabilise the West by any means available to it, none of them legal. This can only mean that they are planning a cyber attack again should anything go against them, such as tRump being impeached or Brexit failing to go ahead. Just what are they hoping to achieve by their actions in 2016?

Answers on the back of an unstamped elephant to the usual address please, along with name and address and you could win a life time membership to the Joe Bloggs Fan Club.

Another change of topic, if man is not an island and interacts with everyone he meets then what makes us think that our home is a castle? If you don’t know what I mean you can’t be British. The English have a saying that no man is an island (which I get) but they also have a saying that an Englishman’s home is his castle (that I don’t get). The only ones with castles in today’s England are those who can afford to buy them from the aristocracy. The aristocrats can’t afford the upkeep on their ancestral homes so have been selling them off for decades, those who can’t sell theirs have tried opening them up to the public but most people don’t want to visit an uninhabited castle, they would rather see palaces which are sometimes occupied.

I have visited a lot of places in my life, from Falkland Palace (in Falkland, Scotland not the Falkland Islands) to Buck House in London (some I’ve been inside, others not). Buck House is one I have only seen from the outside, I used to walk past there every morning on my way into the Old Admiralty Building at the end of the Mall. Falkland Palace I have been in while at school, I have also seen Hogwarts, full size it is only a model, and some of the rooms created by Warners. I have been in Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyrood House. Both were fantastic but for different reasons.

I also visited some famous places elsewhere in the world and still hope to visit more before my health fails completely. I have seen the wonders of Disneyland (California), Knotts Berry Farm (California), at Medieval Times I watched as knights jousted on horseback. I have wandered along the Strip in Las Vegas, walked miles from Columba Circle, through Central Park and down to Times Square. I have walked the French Quarter in New Orleans (but didn’t see any vampires there). I walked the city streets of Paris, went to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral and looked down onto the famous gargoyles and the Paris streets. Went to the Eiffel Tower but didn’t wait to go in as the queues were long. Visited the Louvre and, again, didn’t queue to go in. Ate in some of the local Parisiennes favourite restaurants (I know because they were devoid of tourists and the locals were all enjoying themselves.

On a more sombre note. my external hard drive where I was storing all my music and the drafts for my continuing story gave up the ghost last week and I have tried to salvage as many files as I could but, unfortunately, hardly anything was able to be salvaged. I am therefore going to have to restart Chapter 6 of my tale of growing up in Fife in the 1960’s. That is the extent of my news for this particular post, I welcome comments and you know how to tell me what you think, dear reader.

Appalling behaviour should never go unpunished.

No music to accompany this post, I am writing to ask if anyone in the USA knows of a counsel who will take a pro bono case for sexual harassment causing a job loss.

Someone I have been talking to on twitter lost her job on Monday this week for refusing to sleep with her boss. This behaviour is totally unacceptable but because he is wealthy and has threatened to bury her under litigation for the rest of her life she feels powerless to fight this.

She has a young child, no savings and is currently looking for another job. Just because tRump thinks he can get away with misogynistic behaviours the rest of the 1% in the US think it’s open season on women. We need to show them it isn’t, that this behaviour will no longer be tolerated and should never have been tried – EVER.

If you get back to me, I can pass the messages on to my friend and I really hope we can end people treating women like objects because “they can get away with it” or “it’s been that way forever”. Here and now I want to start doing something to change attitudes and court sentences for those who treat women with disrespect.

Thank you for listening.