Just because someone sounds like they know what they are talking about it doesn’t necessarily mean they do. This is especially true of anyone spotlighted in the media. Protect yourself from being sucked down the ever increasing rabbit holes by learning how to think critically,discern fact from fiction,truth from half truth and what bullshit smells like.
Being disabled
is like climbing a mountain
without a summit
My mental health is
like an overgrown garden
tangled,choked with weeds
Anxiety is
an erupting volcano
spewing out chaos
Depression is a
prowling wolf preying upon
sick and wounded souls
One conversation
lead to starting another
and asking for help
Always carry a pack of tissues with you, toilet paper is never guaranteed.
Many goldfinches as they dance about the trees are truly charming
fat cat on a mat so pointedly ignoring staff who displeased him
labrador looney is normal apparently for a labrador
evil recliner invites me to sleep wrecking nana naps and snooze
fast foods and lap foods fun foods for Saturday night breaks from adult foods
few movie remakes are needed or better than the original
thank you Gilbert for Australia's greatest gift the rotary line
Now Reggie was a rooster
with feathers like burnished brass.
He hated all and everyone
and lived to kick some ass.
He’d strut about the chicken run
harassing all the others.
Rumour had it as a chick
he’d eaten all his brothers.
One day the farmer’s wife appeared
intent on gathering eggs.
It was hot. She wore shorts,
revealing ample legs.
Reggie,so just like a male,
could not resist temptation.
He started running at the bait
without pause or contemplation.
For actions always, always beg
an opposite reaction.
If he had known what was to come
he might have paused a fraction.
I don’t know if chickens laugh
or if they can guffaw,
but, at the sight of flying Wife
the whole farm paused in awe.
Reggie struck hard from behind
and well above the knee.
She went screaming through the air
and wasn’t screaming ‘wheeeeeeeeeee…..’
Wife landed in a blooded heap.
Reggie knew he’d gone too far.
She limped away cursing him
and left the hen run door ajar.
The afternoon was deadly still,
the farmyard, eerie, hushed,
knowing this his only chance
to freedom Reggie rushed.
‘That sodding cock has got to go!’
‘I don’ t care how you do it,
and when he’s really good and dead
I intend to stew it!’
‘Ring his neck, chop off his head,
throw him in the river,
but bring his body back to me,
the cat can eat his liver.’
‘Yes dear.’ Farmer quietly agreed
while tending to her bleeding.
He knew better than to laugh
till safely outside weeding.
That evening as she stayed in side,
her injuries were resting,
Farmer checked on all the hens
and found them happy, nesting.
Without the bolshy cock about
peace on the run descended.
Not a one was missing him?
Reggie was offended.
More to the point
outside the safety of the locks
Reggie was a sitting duck
for any passing fox.
That was the big dog’s thinking
as he trotted up the lane.
The security of the run
had always been his bane.
The scent of Reggie in the air
so far, so out of place,
the thought of chicken for his tea,
put a smile on Reynard’s face.
He spent so many nights,
skulking round the yard,
finding Reg was easy stuff
catching him was hard.
Reggie slept high up in a tree
in the middle of the farm.
It gave him just the vantage point
to keep him free from harm.
He knew about the hungry fox,
the cats and weasels too.
He knew that they all fancied him,
as a meal, he would do.
Reggie, in his psycho way
feared none of them, not he.
‘ I know who would always win
in a fight ‘twixt them and me.’
Then came the fateful, moonless night,
Reynard’s chance to try his luck.
It never did occur to him
his plans could come unstuck.
A pallet had been left
leant against the trunk,
it made a perfect ladder
and fox up that ladder slunk.
As Fox began to climb
and up the tree did rise,
Reggie leapt down, spurs outstretched,
and caught the fox between the eyes.
Poor Fox hit dirt
with Reggie still on top,
he didn’t fancy supper now,
he just wanted Reg to stop.
Reggie had his dander up,
he was going for the kill.
The fox was shocked, stunned, confused
and felt a little ill.
Reynard got up off the floor
he knew that he should fight
,but, choose instead to bolt and run
after such a fright.
He started running in a daze,
Reggie clung onto his neck,
it’s not easy hanging on
while you also claw and peck.
With in the house the dogs did bark,
a face was at the window,
Farmer peered into the night
in hopes he’d see the show.
They’d heard the fox and rooster too
as they battled in the gloom.
In bed Wife just smiled and sighed
at the thought of Reggie’s doom.
That morning all about the farm
were traces of the battle;
the smell of fox, broken pots,
upturned feed for cattle.
There was no body to be found,
no corpse he could deliver
Wife was really just as pleased,
though her cat missed out on liver.
On the farm was happiness
for about an hour or so,
then every one froze in place
as the cock began to crow.
Bedraggled but not beaten
he came strutting down the drive.
With horror everyone could see
that damned bird was alive.
His feathers were somewhat askew,
he was extremely battered,
but, Fox was never coming back,
to Reg that’s all that mattered.
He stopped in front of them
and they just stood and stared.
Reg flapped his wings, crowed three times
then turned to them and glared.
The tension, as they say,
you could cut it with a knife.
There was hatred in his tiny heart
especially for Wife.
Reggie planned to take revenge
on everyone who wronged him,
but, being just a flashy chook
he was really rather dim.
BAM!
A single shot,
A puff of smoke.
A gentle shower of feathers.
Reggie had ignored the rule
on which fate will never budge,
Never underestimate
a woman with a grudge.
Say what you mean, mean what you say. It won’t half bugger people up.
No means no, not maybe, could be, might etc.
No is a complete sentence
It’s not easy waking up this morning and not feeling the disappointment and heartbreak of the results of the Euro 2020 final. Italy 3 England 2 after penalties. Where England has come from just a few years ago to where they arrived last night gives hope for the future goals and aspirations of English football. Unless you are one of two groups of people who’s arrogance makes it okay inside their heads to behave as they have.
First are the armchair experts and sideline pundits who know exactly ‘what went wrong’ for England. These same people who said the team were no hopers who wouldn’t make it out of the group stage do not recognise the achievement of a young side. There is no thoughtful reflection on what went right and what can be built on like defeating old rivals Germany and winning their group. For them losing negates everything that has gone before. There is a call to sack Gareth Southgate because he’s a crap manager. It’s obvious he doesn’t know what he’s doing, why didn’t he change the system they were playing with sooner, why didn’t he bring Grealish on, why didn’t he this why didn’t he that, it’s what I would have done if I was the manager.
Those players should be ashamed of themselves for not winning. Of course if they were playing they would never have missed a penalty, mind you if they were playing the game would never of gone to penalties because they would have beaten the Italians blindfolded. It’s not like Italy are all that good are they. It’s not like Bonucci and Chiellini are part of one of if not the best defence in world football.
So say the people who have done nothing in but know everything about top level football.
The other group are philistines, without intellect, education or even basic human decency. A group so uninformed and unencumbered by sagacity they are not even aware that in the 21st century their behaviour is at the very least unacceptable and quite possibly criminal. These are of course the trolls who have denounced players like Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka but not because they didn’t play well, to the best of their effort or ability. No it’s obvious to these utter excrement stains on the pants of humanity that it’s Rashford et al’s fault because of the colour of their skin and their ethnic heritage. These are the sorts of idiots so lacking in social grace they can’t understand why the F.A. ,and the majority of other fans, want them to stop booing when the other country’s national anthem is played or why the F.A. were fined for ,among their other actions during the Denmark semi final, some dolt shining a laser pen at Kaspar Schmeichel.
It would have been glorious if England had won last night, if they lifted the trophy as European Cup winners. It didn’t happen, that is the game and the only thing that matters is the result on the night. England fans, the true fans, are used to dashed hopes but we don’t try to scapegoat players because of the colour of their skin or where their parents came from. We may be opinionated and free expressing our concerns but we know we don’t truly understand what goes into wearing those 3 lions and playing for England. So like a true England fan I will dust my bruised feelings off, take pride in the effort and skill it took to get to the final and look forward to the World Cup in 2022.
Occasionally you’ll hear people voicing or agreeing with the the idea that anyone in their 60s or older should be stopped from voting. I first heard it from a person complaining that Brexit was the fault of old people voting leave and it was all right for them because they wouldn’t have to live with the consequences of their actions. A stance that assumes that anyone 60 or over who voted leave on 23 June 2016 would be dead on or shortly after 31 January 2020, negates the vote of those 60 and over who voted Remain and smacks of sour grapes because Leave won.
Now I hear this idea aired in general political talk. The theory appears to be based on 3 misconceptions; all older people are doddering fools unplugged from the realities of and who don’t understand the issues of modern life, they vote the wrong way (not the way the speaker voted) and are going to be dead soon anyway.
It is a theory that exposes the disconnect happening in the minds of people who claim to believe in equality and a fairer society but don’t know what that really means.
A 90 year old today would have seen and been part of the world battling and defeating an attempt to create a world wide fascist dictatorship. For them it was the end of empire and the beginning of commonwealth. They are the generation that voted for a post war Labour government and became the guinea pigs for the great socialist experiment including nationalisation of industry and the creation of the NHS.
Someone in their 80s would have been a child when South Africa began it’s decades long pursuit of apartheid policy and lived to see it’s demise 46 years later. They would have been a first hand witness to or more poignantly could have been a member of the Windrush Generation. They would have been a teenager when a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat because she was black.
People in their 70s would have seen the passing of the first Race Relations Act. As the second wave of feminist activism began they may have read Betty Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique’ questioning the idea that women could only be happy as wives and mothers while the first contraceptive pills became available, if only to married women. To them the strike at the Ford Dagenham plant in 1968 is not just a cute idea for a film and musical but the engine for change that brought about the Equal Pay Act of 1970 that made separate pay scales based on gender illegal.
Today someone in their 60s is still working, semi retired or just retired. Their youth would have been filled with the budding ideals of equality in housing, education, employment, provision of service and opportunity as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and Race Relations Act 1976 came into law. They will also remember the work to rule strikes, three day week, brown outs, black outs and ultimately the Winter of Discontent and the the rise of Margaret Thatcher.
This attack does a great disservice to the generations who have seen more upheaval and change in society and civil rights than the people who voice this opinion can comprehend. They watched as the Iron Curtain came down, learned Civil Defence drills in the case of nuclear attack then watched as the Iron Curtain raised again. These are the generations where homosexuality was decriminalised and abortion was legalised.
Throughout the decades these are the people who witnessed, feared, voted, marched and campaigned against the old order in hopes of creating a fairer world. They are the men and women who appear in those old photographs in flared trousers and headbands at protests and pickets. They are also the bright youths decamping to the Isle of Wight and a field in the middle of Somerset for the new phenomenon of the music festival, when Glastonbury was part of the counterculture revolution.
In 2018 we celebrated 100 years since women in the United Kingdom won the right to vote. It would take two more years in America and fifty four for Switzerland to catch up as the last European country to give women voting rights in 1972.
You only have to look at the pictures of the lines of people in 1994 waiting to vote in the first free elections in South Africa after the fall of Apartheid to see what it means to finally have a right that has been denied to you. In Australia the indigenous people were disallowed the vote or had their right to vote restricted until the mid 20th century. The Inuit of Canada were disenfranchised until 1950 and it wasn’t till the 1960s that the First Nations People could vote freely without fear of losing their status as native people.
Now, as we feel like we can pat ourselves on the back for gaining some traction on political discrimination based on racism and sexism a new prejudice rears it’s ugly head, ageism. It’s as if some people need to create a group to target,a bullseye for their bigotry. If nothing else they should consider some of the people they suggest should have the right to vote taken away; Joan Bakewell, John Simpson, Professor Robert Winston, Professor Mary Beard, Karl Jenkins, Nigel Kennedy, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian McKellan and a man considered to be a national treasure David Attenborough.
It is hard to believe that in the 21st century in a country that exported the idea of parliamentary democracy around the world there are still people who don’t understand the basic principle of Universal Suffrage. That a citizen should be free to vote regardless of gender, income, employment status, property ownership, colour, ethnicity, political or religious belief and this civil right should not be withheld on the whim of bigots.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
People will say the most ridiculous things, out loud, because it sounded so good inside their head. That and they are applauded by the echo chamber of people they surround themselves with. Nothing will bugger them up quicker than being confronted with a counter argument to whatever stupidity they have just allowed to escape out of their mouth.
‘Let me get this straight, you think anyone over 60 should not be allowed to vote because you think they will vote the ‘wrong’ way which is to say they won’t vote the way you think they should ? Do you actually understand how democracy works and have you ever heard of ageism?’
‘Seriously, you think any man who accused of rape should be automatically found guilty and have to prove he didn’t do it because no woman would ever make a false accusation? May I give you a list of names starting with Jemma Beale and Laura Hood’
The responses will range from them trying to justify what they’ve said, claiming that isn’t what they said/meant to screaming insults at you and running away to their ‘safe space’. If they say something like ‘I don’t have to explain my myself to you’ the response is ‘Don’t have to or simply can’t?’
There is this false narrative that we should keep the peace and try not to offend. Why? Why should people be allowed to spout any inane crap they fancy and go unchallenged because they shouldn’t get their feefees hurt?
Be brave, challenge the stupid and the reasoning behind it, watch their world crumble.
Jo Woodward 