Genesis.

The LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.” Genesis 2.


Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church — for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5.

Failed to Challenge.

Personal comment on my previous post.

The people in the Church of Scotland
who brought to the attention of the Assembly the failings of the church toward Travelling families in Scotland, are to be commended, it is obvious that a lot of integrity and hard work went into their report.

There is two points I feel I need to comment on.

1. No Minister working alone can remove children from a family and send them abroad.
This is the work of a committee. To have a committee you must also have those who appoint the committee, structures need to be in place, not only in Scotland but also in Canada and in Australia. So this is the work of three committees and those who appointed them.

2. Report 9.2: The Churches’ attitudes to Travellers have often reflected the attitudes of society at large. However, although in the research for this report strenuous efforts were made to uncover specific instances of acts of institutional discrimination by Churches against Travellers, no evidence has been found. This is not to say that individual church members have not acted in discriminatory ways and that the Churches have failed to challenge them when they have done so.

I find it strange that the Church of Scotland has defended itself against institutional racism by giving a definitive definition of institutional racism.

Should the agents of an institution conduct the business of that institution
by applying racially motivated procedures and structures - yet remain unchallenged.
This is the definition of institutional racism.

MacPherson Report Precedent. 6.34:

The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.
It persists because of the failure of the organisation openly and adequately to recognise and address its existence and causes by policy, example and leadership. Without recognition and action to eliminate such racism it can prevail as part of the ethos or culture of the organisation. It is a corrosive disease.

The Second Reformation.

Link to Church of Scotland Report.

The Scotsman.
Kirk admits it persecuted Travellers.
Published on Friday 13 May 2011.

THE Church of Scotland is to admit its complicity in the persecution of Travellers and forcibly removing children from Travelling families and sending them abroad.

A report to be presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland next week is damning about the discrimination suffered by the Travelling community and the role that clergymen played.
The Scottish Churches Racial Justice Group (SCRJG) says Travellers have been "vilified" since medieval times and that it "deplores the churches' historic failure to stand alongside a minority group facing discrimination and even persecution".
The study says the Kirk was involved in social engineering through the segregation of children from mainstream society by setting up special schools for 'Tinkers' in Perthshire.
Ministers were also present when some youngsters were forcibly taken from their families and sent to Australia and Canada during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
The report makes a raft of recommendations and urges the government and local authorities to improve provisions for modern-day Travellers, respect their culture and protect them from further discrimination.
The ecumenical group wrote the report in response to a campaign by Travellers seeking acknowledgement of past injustices and it backs their call for recognition in law as a distinct ethnic group.
The authors said there was no evidence of institutional discrimination within the Church of Scotland and that historically churches reflected societal attitudes. However, they added that some members were guilty of discrimination and that churches had failed to challenge them.
The report will be presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which begins on Saturday.

It concludes: "SCRJG would like to invite churches in Scotland to give consideration to how they can work to challenge the pernicious evils of discrimination, prejudice and harassment that Travelling people in Scotland continue to experience and to accord them the same level of respect that every member of society is entitled to receive."
The findings were welcomed by human rights group Amnesty International but a spokeswoman for the Travelling community said the report fell short of an official apology.

Jess Smith, a poet and author who describes herself as a "Tinker", said ministers were heavily involved in the removal of children from Tinker families.

She added: "My late father, Charlie Reilly, was about seven or eight years old when he witnessed a woman in Logierait, Perthshire, having her three bairns taken from her by two policeman, a woman and a church minister whom he always called 'The Black Collar'.
"He said the woman was pleading with them to allow her to feed the bairns and throwing herself in front of the police. The woman was so distraught that she later drowned herself in the River Tummel.
"My father wrote a book which he could never get published, and he told us some terrible stories.
"John Watson, Scottish programme director for Amnesty International, said: "The Church of Scotland is to be commended for adopting the mature and responsible approach of addressing its past failings, as the first step towards a more positive role in the future."
The SCRJG report says Travellers have endured centuries of human rights violations. In 1533, King James V issued a decree banning Gypsies from Scotland saying they should "depart forth of this realme with their wifis, bairns and companies."

In 1838, the Church of Scotland set up a committee for the "Reformation of Gypsies" and during the 1930s special schools were set up, including Aldour Tinker School near Pitlochry.

Link to this story here.
Story by Billy Briggs - Link to his website.

Father.

Father

When our home
was Coll Earn lodge
in Auchterarder
I was five and Raymond was three
We would sit on the wall
and wave at the cars going by
Big black Vauxhalls covered in chrome
Wolsleys and Vanguards
an Austin A45 a Loadstar
Smiling people waved back
encouraging us
to wait for the next car
moving slowly down the back road
On my sixth birthday
my Father gave me
a little toy car
and I played
among the flowers he planted.

My Father died thirty years ago today.

Mini Van

This is the first van or car I owned a mini van about this colour.
I was 17 and it's top speed was 70. I painted the wheels gold, black and silver to make them look like sports road wheels. I had some gold paint left so there was only one thing to do with that - paint my boots gold. It did become fashionable later.

Mother.

Backtrack

and you were like a wounded doe tangled in barbed wire
and you were like a wounded doe tangled in barbed wire
and you were like a wounded doe tangled in barbed wire

and your big sad heartbreaking eyes knew I was a liar
and your big sad heartbreaking eyes knew I was a liar
and your big sad heartbreaking eyes knew I was a liar

and I would go for your medicine down to hell and back
and I would go for your medicine down to hell and back
and I would go for your medicine down to hell and back

and I would run like an athlete and the pavement was my track
and I would run like an athlete and the pavement was my track
and I would run like an athlete and the pavement was my track

and you would smile when you were troubled and you used to smile a lot
and you would smile when you were troubled and you used to smile a lot
and you would smile when you were troubled and you used to smile a lot

and you would wind your hair and you could put it in a knot
and you would wind your hair and you could put it in a knot
and you would wind your hair and you could put it in a knot

and you gathered all your worries and you placed them in my cot
and you gathered all your worries and you placed them in my cot
and you gathered all your worries and you placed them in my cot

and your trailer became filled with a cloud of white light
and your trailer became filled with a cloud of white light
and your trailer became filled with a cloud of white light

and you were called away in the middle of the night
and you were called away in the middle of the night
and you were called away in the middle of the night

and I have lived in your wake in it's depth and in it's height
and I have lived out each break from the morning of the night
and I have lived for the sake of the return of the light

My Mother died thirty years ago today.

Blind Man Driving

Blind man driving

Blind man driving
directions are helpful
he knows where
you explain the way

Destinations are easy
the mountain or the ocean
the chosen route
can lead astray

From the mountain
you can see the ocean
from the ocean
you can see the mountain

And in between
the shimmer of a car
another blind man driving
another family outing

Man for all Seasons.

Euro MP Richard Howitt.

Link to his interview in The Enquirer.

Link I find particularly harrowing.

Milk for the Road

Milk for the road

Subtle sickly sweet hypocrisies
turn them sour overnight
xenophobic by morning
Police and men from the council
demand that we move on
from their picturesque village
and neighbourly people
We are breaking the law
of aesthetic ambiance
causing the people
to become transmogrified
by our vicinity
to their cocoon
of acceptable association

This is one of the first poems I wrote.
It's about my family being moved on by police and council men
which was a regular occurrence.

What is truth?

For many people
If the personal delusion of who they think they are
were removed from them
then their personality would collapse
in a blithering heap of disorientation.

The truth of who we are is in how we are seen by God.
The truth is not in our own judgement or opinion or criterion or fantasy
the truth of who we are is what God sees when He looks at us.

By nature we compare ourselves with other people,
and by nature we need to find someone or something to be less than we are.
But at the end of the day it's all a human folly that can and has become an evil.
We are already witnesses to what can happen when the flaws in human nature become a political dogma legislated into law.
The beginning of knowing the truth is to see ourselves as a sinner in the sight of God.
This is the first photo in the album of seeing ourselves as God sees us.

Thou God seest me. Genesis 16:13.

Herrenvolk.

From the corner of my eye
I can almost see
in a recess of my mind
something dark is watching me
Moving in shadows
but not caused by light
emanating darkness

Held at the gate
by the keeper of the keys
kept in quarantine like a disease
Endlessly pacing
the confines of it's cell
Glaring defiantly
with the venom of hell

Here is
The accuser of my soul
the robber of my peace

Here is
The hand of iron
fashioned in a cross
fashioned to deceive

Here is
The God of racial supremacy
the master of the master race
the destroyer of worlds

And from you where can I flee
to the highest mountain or the deep blue sea
I will take you there with me.

Jackboot

As you get older you tend to see or have more of a handle on things as they are.
When you're younger you're full of ideals, you want to change the world.
Then one day you catch a glimpse in the mirror you don't like and realize this is the you that's just as bad as all the people you had wanted to save the world from.
Then you know you're not just the victim of all the bad stuff that goes on in the world you're also the perpetrator.
I suppose that's got something to do with the young being full of ideals and people who are a bit older receding into resignation.
Jesus said to his disciples - "you have more to learn but you cannot bear it all just now." I think some of what they could not bear was the truth about themselves in the sight of God.

Does this mean we should do nothing - No, we should still try but to me - not to change the world but to change one heart at a time beginning with our own.
What we need to find within ourselves is not the "good" but the "Jackbooted Goose-stepping Nazi." Subdue this part of ourselves first then the good will come.

Dale Farm Eviction - Wed 19th Oct 2011.

The Complicity of Silence.

The Stand

Dark times are coming
but do not despair
God has numbered every hair
a time will come when you will say
"I am glad I was there"

This is the Day
to live your Testimony
to express the cry within your soul
"Liberty" "Autonomy"
Arrayed against imposed control

Live a lifetime of Freedom
in this one gallant leap
Free in the air or Free in the deep
Face the Tyranny
Break the unholy allience
The brutality of evil men
The complicity of silence

Grasp the straws of Life
while you can
take the chance be your own man
Make The Stand
if only for a day
Live how you want to live
Say what you want to say.

I wrote this some years ago
I would like to dedicate it this morning
to the community of families living on Dale Farm
and also to those gathered to try and help them.

Time to Wake Up.

I believe that Britain is sleepwalking toward an evil act.

The forced eviction of a community of 86 families.
The destruction of their property.
100 children dragged out of school, just told to go with nowhere to go.
All pleas for an alternative site even at no expense to Basildon council refused,
and all other open spaces in their area blocked.

What are you doing about it?

Mr Justice Ouseley.

Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ruled that the Travellers delayed too long in challenging Basildon's decision to take direct action
against them, and said the council's actions were not disproportionate.

"The conclusion has been reached time and again that this is just the wrong site for Travellers," he said.

Lawyers for the Travellers argued that the council had failed to offer suitable alternative accommodation and to consider those vulnerable residents and children whose education would be disrupted by the eviction. But the judge said the planning system had always included a fair consideration of personal circumstances and that the residents must now leave voluntarily.

If distress and upset were caused by forcible eviction "it would be because of decisions made by the residents not to comply", he said.

The eviction would cause "considerable distress and disruption" but must go ahead "In my judgment the time has manifestly come for steps to enforce the law to be taken."
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 October 2011.

We have a Law.

"We have a law,
and according to that law he must die,
because he claimed to be the Son of God."

John 19:7.

The picture is of John Smith.
Who would have been Prime Minister in 1997,
but tragically died of a heart attack at age 55.

Mockin's Catchin'

Mockin's Catchin'

Is a saying I grew up with it was taught to me by my Parents
as a warning never to mock, make fun of or despise anyone.

Christ says the same thing in Matthew 7.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged,
and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Crosby Emergency.

By Mark Johnson, Crosby Herald.

Dale Farm travellers ‘look to’ Crosby. Oct 6th 2011.

SCORES of gypsies set to be evicted from Dale Farm in Essex could bring their caravan homes to Crosby, councillors believe.

Travellers have allegedly pinpointed the coastal park and Burbo Bank as possible locations to move to when they are eventually moved on.

The claims have apparently been made on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

An emergency meeting of worried councillors went ahead last week to look at ways to deter travellers from entering green spaces on Sefton’s coastline.

It was agreed that around £2,000 would be spent on wooden bollards to block any attempts to access.

Blundellsands councillor Paula Parry said: “We have had to get the bollards in very quickly.

“It was advertised on Twitter and Facebook that the gypsies might come here.”

The deterrents were installed immediately at the field entrance in Burbo Bank.

Cllr Peter Papworth said: “We had to do something in a hurry and it seemed sensible to do something because they said Crosby is a good site to go to.

“We’ve had wooden posts put in and they are about 2ft high.

“They will stop them entering the land.

“In the long run, getting the bollards in will be cheaper than trying to get rid of the gypsies if they were here.

“The decision had to be made in a hurry.”

Cllr Papworth added: “We’ve had gypsies here twice this year in Burbo Bank.

“The people of Blundellsands don’t want this to happen to their area again.

“We don’t wish gypsies any ill will but we just don’t want them to come here.

“We don’t want them in Waterloo either.

“We are looking at ways to stop them coming near the Lakeside too because we don’t want them there.”

Joseph Jones, chair of the Gypsy Council, said he thought speculation of a move north was not credible because the gypsies had firm ties in the south of England.

He did confirm that the Dale Farm gypsies had relatives living in the North West of England.

I found this story amusing so I thought I would share.
You can do a little mental exercise here -
If you replace the words Gypsy and Traveller with any other nationality, ethnic group or orientation it will give you an idea of just how marginalized Travelling People are.

Jean-Luc

What about a forced eviction with -no- relocation.

"Those people should move away" - Any suggestions as to where Mr Cameron?

PMQs - Something that bothers me about David Cameron's vocal support for the eviction
of the community of families living on Dale Farm, is that I found it to be small minded and unstatesmanlike for someone who holds the office of Prime Minister.

Evensong.

Careless Words.

They talk about them
like they are not there
they talk about them
like they do not hear
they talk about them
with a wink and a nod
as though everyone agrees
and everyone knows what they mean
when they say "traveller"

They make grandiose statements
career ending statements
hounded out of public office statements
if they made them about any other group
any other group in the world
apart from "travellers"

They would gladly load the cattle trucks
all that's lacking is a law
all that's lacking is the paper work
the corporate abdication of personal responsibility
and the police would obey the law
and the army would obey the law
they could muster an Einsatzgruppen in a day

And if you stand perfectly still
in this slip of the lip
you can feel humanity slip
you can feel the earth slip
toward oblivion.

Evensong.

Give up your Jews
Give up your Jews
Give up your Jews

And your Gypsies too

Give up your Colleagues
Give up your Neighbours
Give up your Friends

Give up them All
Give up Control
Give up your Soul

We have a Law...To make you Obey
We have a Law...To take you Away
We have a Law...To kill you Today

Law is Might...Wrong is Right
Dark is Light...Blind is Sight

No turning back at the Mississippi Turnpike

Now for Evensong.

Mad Cat Woman.

When a Government Minister makes a speech that includes the line
"The human rights act needs to go" and this is cheered by the crowd.
You don't know if you're listening to a Conservative party conference
or a Nuremberg Rally.

Definition of Racism

" Your culture is inferior to our culture
you must abandon your culture
you must accept and adapt to our culture
or we will persecute you "

Ed Miliband.

Link to Ed Miliband on Basildon Council.

The picture is of the McCarthy sisters
who represent the families in court.

In Pictures

Action Man

I've found this Link interesting.

Sorry Day.

Kevin Rudd on Law.



Tony Ball on Law.

Backing Basildon Council.

In the week leading up to the eviction on Dale Farm.

The British Broadcasting Corporation airs the most emotive and disparaging news story about Travelling People it is within it's ability to construct.

This story is based on personal testimony from events that allegedly happened in 2008 and in 2004. It is completely one sided with those being accused given no opportunity to answer the allegations.

The BBC present this story on it's main news instead of a United Nations press conference that was given the same day in which the Government and Basildon Council were accused of denying the people of Dale Farm the human rights that have previously been ratified by the Government.

Whether the story presented by the BBC is true or fully accurate or not, there is one thing it does prove - Endemic institutional racism against Travelling People.

It is my opinion that the people of Post-Blair Britain are not so easily taken in by cynically constructed emotive manipulative news as they might have been in the past.

There is a percentage of news stories and documentaries
which are specifically constructed
with the purpose of attempted social manipulation.

In The News.

BBC News on Travellers 14th September 2011.



Press TV News on Travellers 14th September 2011.



I find I can't help wondering why a story about one Traveller family accused of keeping slaves should break on the week running up to the eviction on Dale Farm.
And also why this news should take precedence over a UN press conference,
which was not shown on BBC news.
Even if this family were guilty (which I believe a court would have to decide) does that mean all Travellers should be denied human rights.
If that criteria was applied to other groups would it not mean that all Politicians should be sacked because some fiddled their expenses.

After 9 / 11.

Whenever we receive hurt from an individual from a group of people or from a situation it is also an opportunity to grow, to seek a personal growth in grace in forgiveness and in reconciliation.

There is also the easier option of succumbing to the darker side of human nature and growing in belligerent vengeful retribution.
A conservative estimate would be that America has killed 100 men women and children for every man woman and child killed at the world trade centre and there is also all the American, British and allied soldiers who have been killed.

It will end with all the protagonists around a table talking peace and patting each other on the back, while Mothers around the world will be patting down flowers on their loved ones graves.

Hobby Premium

This is the new 2012 Hobby Premium...Just poppin' out for a lottery lucky dip.

David Cameron.

The Government brought in laws that made it illegal for Travellers to stay anywhere in their caravans.

Then the Government told Travellers to buy their own land and make their own sites.

What the Government didn't tell Travellers was that it would be nigh impossible for them to be granted planning permission for their land and that in all fairness hundreds of Police and Bailiffs would swoop on them and forcibly evict them from their own land.

With it still being illegal for Travellers to stay anywhere in their caravans the people of Dale Farm have literally nowhere to go.

Travelling People pose as much danger to the fabric of British society as hill grazing sheep. All they want is somewhere to park a caravan.

BBC Sunday Morning Live 4 Sept 2011.

Basildon Council have stated that the forced eviction
of 86 Traveller families from land owned by them on Dale Farm
will begin on Monday the 19th of September 2011.

On Speyside

I've heard the auld folk tell a story
and bring to life the scene before me
how folk were wonderful' content
in a wagon or a humble tent
when life was all uncomplicated
and simple things were appreciated
With an enthusiastic glow
they unfold a time long ago
and I listen with joy and pride
of youthful days along Speyside
Near a grove in a field of green
beside a flowing purling stream
the Travelling families are gathered
their tents secured their horses tethered.

No land no house to call their own
being together they are at home
for a household is not brick and mortar
but husband wife and son and daughter
And in some Scottish highland shire
assembled at the common fire
warmed against the evening air
and happy everyone is there
the tobacco and the stories go round
and children sing with an angelic sound
Until beneath the starlit sky
they recede into a time gone by
and will not walk these roads again
but I will gladly go to them.

Scenes from a Marriage

I knew nothing of Ingmar Bergman's films until the last couple of weeks. A season of his films has been on Film 4. I recorded a few and watched this one last night. It was originally a TV series in Sweden. In the year it was shown the Scandinavian divorce rates almost doubled.
It's mostly about something I've thought and written about - The possibility of your life becoming a caricature of what is expected of you.

Candle in the Shadow.

Rowan Williams. Archbishop of Canterbury.

The government needs to know how afraid people are.

We are being committed to radical, long-term policies for which no one voted.

I can imagine a New Statesman reader looking at the contents of this issue and mentally supplying: "That's enough coalition ministers (Ed)." After all, the NS has never exactly been a platform for the establishment to explain itself. But it seems worth encouraging the present government to clarify what it is aiming for in two or three key areas, in the hope of sparking a livelier debate about where we are going - and perhaps even to discover what the left's big idea currently is.

The political debate in the UK at the moment feels pretty stuck. An idea whose roots are firmly in a particular strand of associational socialism has been adopted enthusiastically by the Conservatives. The widespread suspicion that this has been done for opportunistic or money-saving reasons allows many to dismiss what there is of a programme for "big society" initiatives; even the term has fast become painfully stale. But we are still waiting for a full and robust account of what the left would do differently and what a left-inspired version of localism might look like.

Digging a bit deeper, there are a good many on the left and right who sense that the tectonic plates of British - European? - politics are shifting. Managerial politics, attempting with shrinking success to negotiate life in the shadow of big finance, is not an attractive rallying point, whether it labels itself (New) Labour or Conservative. There is, in the middle of a lot of confusion, an increasingly audible plea for some basic thinking about democracy itself - and the urgency of this is underlined by what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa.

Incidentally, this casts some light on the bafflement and indignation that the present government is facing over its proposals for reform in health and education. With remarkable speed, we are being committed to radical, long-term policies for which no one voted. At the very least, there is an understandable anxiety about what democracy means in such a context. Not many people want government by plebiscite, certainly. But, for example, the comprehensive reworking of the Education Act 1944 that is now going forward might well be regarded as a proper matter for open probing in the context of election debates. The anxiety and anger have to do with the feeling that not enough has been exposed to proper public argument.

I don't think that the government's commitment to localism and devolved power is simply a cynical walking-away from the problem. But I do think that there is confusion about the means that have to be willed in order to achieve the end. If civil society organisations are going to have to pick up
responsibilities shed by government, the crucial questions are these. First, what services must have cast-iron guarantees of nationwide standards, parity and continuity? (Look at what is happening to youth services, surely a strategic priority.) Second, how, therefore, does national government underwrite these strategic "absolutes" so as to make sure that, even in a straitened financial climate, there is a continuing investment in the long term, a continuing response to what most would see as root issues: child poverty, poor literacy, the deficit in access to educational excellence, sustainable infrastructure in poorer communities (rural as well as urban), and so on? What is too important to be left to even the most resourceful localism?

Government badly needs to hear just how much plain fear there is around such questions at present. It isn't enough to respond with what sounds like a mixture of, "This is the last government's legacy," and, "We'd like to do more, but just wait until the economy recovers a bit." To acknowledge the reality of fear is not necessarily to collude with it. But not to recognise how pervasive it is risks making it worse. Equally, the task of opposition is not to collude in it, either, but to define some achievable alternatives. And, for that to happen, we need sharp-edged statements of where the disagreements lie.

The uncomfortable truth is that, while grass-roots initiatives and local mutualism are to be found flourishing in a great many places, they have been weakened by several decades of cultural fragmentation. The old syndicalist and co-operative traditions cannot be reinvented overnight and, in some areas, they have to be invented for the first time.

This is not helped by a quiet resurgence of the seductive language of "deserving" and "undeserving" poor, nor by the steady pressure to increase what look like punitive responses to alleged abuses of the system. If what is in view - as Iain Duncan Smith argues passionately on page 18 - is real empowerment for communities of marginal people, we need better communication about strategic imperatives, more positive messages about what cannot and will not be left to chance and - surely one of the most important things of all - a long-term education policy at every level that will deliver the critical tools for democratic involvement, not simply skills that serve the economy.

For someone like myself, there is an ironic satisfaction in the way several political thinkers today are quarrying theological traditions for ways forward. True, religious perspectives on these issues have often got bogged down in varieties of paternalism. But there is another theological strand to be retrieved that is not about "the poor" as objects of kindness but about the nature of sustainable community, seeing it as one in which what circulates - like the flow of blood - is the mutual creation of capacity, building the ability of the other person or group to become, in turn, a giver of life and responsibility. Perhaps surprisingly, this is what is at the heart of St Paul's ideas about community at its fullest; community, in his terms, as God wants to see it.

A democracy that would measure up to this sort of ideal - religious in its roots but not exclusive or confessional - would be one in which the central question about any policy would be: how far does it equip a person or group to engage generously and for the long term in building the resourcefulness and well-being of any other person or group, with the state seen as a "community of communities", to use a phrase popular among syndicalists of an earlier generation?

A democracy going beyond populism or majoritarianism but also beyond a Balkanised focus on the local that fixed in stone a variety of postcode lotteries; a democracy capable of real argument about shared needs and hopes and real generosity: any takers?

New Statesman 9th June 2011.

Julian Assange.

Sweater Life.

The past is History

The future is a Mystery

The present is a Gift

That's why it's not quite what we Wanted.

Tuesday 1st March 2011.

"Woof Woof"

Having reached an age now where I could get a dog and have it for life,
I've been trying to take stock of my life.
So far I haven't come up with much apart from an observation that none of us are fully aware or face up to our mortality. If we did it would make big changes in how we would live out our few remaining piddling years.

Dear Reader.

A family member has been ill
this has left me even more incapable
of getting my head around computers and blogging.

Thank you all for reading and for your generous and kind comments.