Author: Huw Edwards

Here to share views and discuss issues around the world going to hell in a handcart.

They go on strike and you say ‘that’s ok you’re all done’!

It’s rare for me to hear two rich and powerful people massage their egos, so much as when I had the  misfortune to listen to part of the Trump and Musk lowlights of Monday nights X interview. At one time it almost sounded like to the two men were tickling each other’s bellies in happiness and joy, while discussing the dismantling of workers rights in order to make more money from it for each other. Trump on musk over firing workers ‘You’re the Greatest!’.

If you believe that Trumps policies will be for your benefit as opposed to, the benefit of the rich and powerful that work hard to elect him then more fool you. The Ecological damage to your environment will be fierce as he deregulates environmental protections of habitats in order to guess what merely make a quick buck at the expense of the environment, and as for your rights as a citizen if they get in the way of him and his supports making money don’t think that you will have protection either.

A part of me wants Trump to be elected just to see what a shit show he makes of being in government the second time around, but that’s my dark and selfish side the other part hopes for the best and hopes that he loses in the election and a more progressive form of government is allowed to prevail. Its all up to US voters anyway so they will only be able to blame or congratulate each other on the outcome of their election and his next potential four years in government.  

Frank Turner – Be More Kind 

Fascist fighters and racist rioters

From hate speech and misinformation starting on the shores of social media on the internet across the globe, this has generated a movement of fascists and racists smashing like an unwelcome windswept violent storm onto the streets of cities across the UK.

With the stoning of mosques, places of worship and prayer or the attempt to set fire to hotels where immigrants sleep or await their applications of immigration to be processed or the setting fire to police vehicles on the streets to taunting, fighting and beating of emergency services on the streets. This is the ugly side of the political right and racism in the UK.

Where misinformation and hate speech and expression has resulted in an explosion of hate and wanton destruction from those in the right that think the rule of law does not apply to them and that a murderous intent to kill those that are not the same colour or creed as them is normal and to be encouraged.

It’s sickening and they are a minority of people but intend to do the maximum amount of damage and violence. It’s repulsive, it’s wrong and they deserve the full force of the law to be thrown at them and where ever this type of sickness and poison rises up it must be confronted and repelled. The Nazis burnt books in Hitler’s Germany and in Merseyside the fascists burned down a library this weekend and also tried to burn down hotels with refuge applicants in them.

I know a member of my family and a person I went to school with that would follow and support and continue to promote hate speech and misinformation on the internet to promote the far right and perpetuate hate speech to others.

It’s a sad state of affairs to say there really is no stopping what those individuals have said or will say and type. They constantly slide between a fine line of spouting hate speech, lies and misinformation and then boast about going to Facebook jail temporarily being banned from posting lies, hate and misinformation on social media posts. The very few people that I know on social media that would be excited or feel empowered by the last 6 days of hate and violence have either been relatively quite or not spoken out recently in social media posts that I have read or for all I know are already celebrating the fact their serving time in Facebook jail. There have now been over 400 arrests in the UK linked to the last 6 days of violence and protest with no signs of stopping just yet. Those that express hate as a form of patriotism are not patriots and any excuses to say that they are reacting to the murder of 3 young girls while at a dance studio last week in Southport which was an initial justification for the outpouring of lies and hate speech leading to egged on actions of violence and hate. Violence with a murderous intent is not grief. I have decided not to show any photos of the rioting in the UK as I do not wish to promote the mindless violence in any way that has been taking place.

U2 – Where The Streets Have No Name (Remastered)

Open Letter for Whole Truth Five

Dear Attorney General, Richard Hermer KC,

This week has seen one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history. On Thursday 18th July, five people were given the highest sentences for nonviolent protest this country has ever seen. They were on trial for holding a zoom call, calling on others to take action to raise the alarm about the greatest threat humanity has ever faced: the climate and nature crises.

These sentences were handed down just days after the new government’s policy of no new licensing for oil and gas infrastructure was announced. In a world of sound, evidence-based governance, none of this needed to happen. With prisons at breaking point and the new government acting urgently to address this, how can these sentences be seen as anything other than insanity? The sentences, ranging from 4 to 5 years, are higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault. 

The defendants were denied the right to explain to a jury why they took the action they did, making a mockery of the right to a fair trial, with the judge saying that the Crown Prosecution’s agreed facts on climate collapse – including that the world has gone beyond 1.5 degrees for 12 consecutive months – were “neither here nor there”. These five brave, defiant people, like all nonviolent protestors, are fulfilling a necessary service by alerting the nation to the grave risk we all face, as scientists in their droves express their fear that many of the Earth’s systems are already at breaking point.

Immediately after the verdict, the UN’s special rapporteur on environmental defenders issued an extraordinary statement: “Today marks a dark day for peaceful environmental protest, the protection of environmental defenders and indeed anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” 

According to the Office for National Statistics, 74% of people in the UK want urgent action on the climate crisis. Until a couple of weeks ago that majority was blocked by a Prime Minister who used climate – an existential threat – as a wedge issue in an election he lost. This new government has inherited a suite of recent legislation that conflicts with International Human Rights Law, and has put everyone’s right to peaceful protest at risk. The new government can address this now, as they have with fossil fuel licensing.

The world stands at a crossroads and so does our democracy. We write in support of Chris Packham and Dale Vince’s request for an urgent meeting with you, to be recorded so it is transparent to the public, to discuss the jailing of truth tellers and their silencing in court.

Sincerely, and with love for all humanity,

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-prison-for-protest?source=direct_link&


Sailing to Alderney on a tall ship called Queen Galadriel 

July 9th 2010 is  a date that comes up on my computer pictures timeline for a wonderful visit from Portsmouth to the Island of Alderney on a tall ship no less when I was 34 some 14 years ago now. 

Queen Galdriel – The Cirdan Sailing Trust
(https://www.cirdantrust.org/queen-galadriel)

Alderney is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is 3 miles long and 1+1⁄2 miles wide. The island’s area is 3 square miles, making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick.

Smb1001, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

I was staying in supported accommodation in Chepstow in South Wales at the time of the trip to Alderney, after having come out of a hospital stay, due to struggling with my mental health back then. Though I am pleased to say that that was the last time I spent time in hospital due to my mental health and had I not been staying in accommodation in Chepstow I would never have been invited to sail on the ship. 

I was well on the way to recovery when this trip to Alderney took place and it really was a great adventure and a real privilege to go there on the working tall ship. I have just spent the last two hours trying to work out the name of the charity that we sailed with and also the name of the boat. Which I am pleased to say I found out eventually.


It turns out the boat is called as already mentioned in the title the Queen Galadriel and was originally built in 1937 in Svenborg, Denmark and was named Else first after the Captain’s daughter. She traded as a cargo vessel around the coasts of Denmark and Norway, initially as a motor sailor but after 1956 under motor alone. In 1983, she was bought by The Cirdan Sailing Trust and went into service, renamed the Queen Galadriel. The Ciridan Saling trust still run her today and groups or individuals can still pay to go on trips with her. 

Back in 2010 the weather was stunning when we sailed out to Alderney, really hot, but with a cool breeze on the ship so you did not really feel the heat too much when sailing. Alderney was such a lovely place to visit also, with the beaches there being really special as well. 

The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues (High Quality)

Top Trumps, Politics Today in the USA

Top Trumps is a card game first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent’s card. A wide variety of different packs of Top Trumps has been published.

The US Supreme Court has played a real top card in favour of Trump this week with the ruling that former presidents are partially immune from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump and future and past presidents get absolute immunity for official acts carried out as a President.

For a country that lives and dies by the rule of law and power and prestige of its own democracy this is the law to end all laws. To say that one man a President of a county has immunity for official acts carried out is bizarre and surely in conflict with the US Constitution principles of governance.

Well Joe Biden is hated by a huge majority and seen as too old to govern again so it looks very much like your going to get Trumped for your next President.

I just hope he throws all his energy into making money out of the system at the expense of the social fabric of the state and showing off about how super he is and playing lots of golf, while he is President and does not do any serious long lasting damage to your constitution and country. The sooner he has departed from the office of president and this earth the better.

If he starts messing with the freedom of press in your country and the ability of truth to flow freely through your society purely for his own gains, ego and political positioning this will be deeply damaging to the state of play of US political institutions and players.

Chinese & Russian political powerbase’s must be expectant and celebrating a potential Trump victory. Trump will try to dismantle NATO and President Putin will continue to disarm and conquer  the Ukraine and China mght well be tempted to take over Taiwan.

The majority of citizens in all countries across the world will be hoping and praying that Trumps actions and inactions will not come back to haunt them.

Living in a country that is hopefully about to come out of some 14 years of Conservative incompetence in governance this week, it will feel more like relief than a celebration and a severely punished conservative party by the electorate, could end up seeing them becoming the third largest party in British politics rather than the largest.

Sadly the US democratic system is institutionally designed for just the worship or support of two parties and even if Trump seriously damages the support for Republicanism, this will likely be a short term problem for Republicans as there is no grass root movement to ever replace them nor is there the will of the people to see them gone.

Everything is not lost, though for one think he is not in power yet and if he comes to power he will also lose it again.

Coldplay – Everything’s Not Lost (Includes Hidden Track ‘Life Is For Living’)

Mind over Mutter!

To mutter to speak quietly and in a voice that is not easy to hear, often when you are anxious or complaining about something: He muttered to himself as he walked or I heard him mutter something.

A week from tonight our polling stations where people vote will be closing about now and the councils will begin the count to determine which MPs are local neighbourhoods, towns and cities decide to elect and send to parliament. When I was 18 I studied Public Policy at Southampton Institute, I had learning difficulties and it was the first place I got offered that offered a course I really wanted to study.

It involved the study of UK contemporary Politics, Economics, Sociology and Constitutional Law. The course gave me a good understanding of and an ability to interpret political views and issues, while  developing my own views and perspectives on politics too.

Sadly though due to a serious mental health issue and drug addiction I only lasted on the course for about 18 months then crashed and burned. But in that time and to this day it gave me a good understanding of learning – not just about the power of education the importance of politics and breaking down concepts and rebuilding them back up again in my mind. But also the addictive and damage nature of illegal drugs the limits and fragility of my mental health and mind.   

After some real life altering choices which I mainly had to force upon myself due to the sad truth of the fact that for me illegal hallucinogenic drugs and any forms of cannabis are just seriously damaging to my mental health and an absolute no go zone for me and my head. From the age of about 16 up to about the age of 25 I still did not realise or believe the damage that certain illegal drugs could do to me ,I just did not want to accept it. I don’t advocate abstention for everyone and think many forms of drugs should be licensed or legally controlled not simply banned. But just as an alcoholic should not touch a whisky, I should not touch hallucinogens or cannabis due to the impacts on my mental health and life.

I have a form of mental health condition which means I have been on a form of medication that prevents or dampens down hallucinations’ for over probably 20 years or more now. The form I am on at the moment works really well for me and keeps me balanced and well enough to hold down a job and function having only had a few blips in my mental health road over the years and managed to stay on track with my life, job and home.

When I occasionally have, for want of a better word had a mental hiccup I have had enough incite to know what was going on and to ask for help and hold on for dear life and look after myself and all I am and have as best as I could until things calmed down and imporved. But saying all that if I knew what triggered these mental health incidents then I can’t promise I would try to do those things that increase the risk of them not happening again.

You still must live your life because you are still alive you can’t completely block yourself of from the things that you fear or hurt you in the outside world. To experience life is to experience a range and spectrum of emotions and experiences some positive and sadly some at times negative. The only constant that seems to appear in life is change and those that best adapt and act on that change are the ones that tend to survive and thrive.

Amy Macdonald – This is the life

Aggressive apathy

Went out on the town tonight to meet with a friend and one thing that struck me with two men we met in the smoking area of the first pub was that we went into and met is that they started talking about politics, but in a very disparaging way they gave the impression that they have no belief in the importance of voting and the power of democracy. 

The fact that we have an election in parliament about to happen and that they boasted about their complete contempt for whoever has been elected in the past and also contempt for whoever will be elected in the future. Comments such as ‘they all bend the knee to the king’ and it’s all a waste of time ‘their all in it for themselves’, ‘they don’t represent the working man’.

Such negative views and contempt for UK democracy, I just don’t understand and sadly the older I get I choose not to challenge people face to face, that I don’t know (or trust), concerning their views and whether I agree with them. It did not feel like an appropriate place or time to challenge them. I feel sad for them and feel it’s a shame that they have the perspective that they do and I guess they have their reasons which I do not know.

Television broadcasters on TV love to ask members of the public for a variety of opinions on topics and politics is no different and when you hear people on TV interviewed about politics one of the views that sometimes tends to hit the TV is people saying they don’t care about politics, they are (politicians) all in it for themselves and nothing will change so there is no point in voting.

I do think such a view is again a sorry state of affairs to think and it’s hard to be critical while not being offensive to those views. Ultimately if you do nothing, boast of not thinking or having an opinion and say it’s all pointless then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy to you. If you detach yourself from the political views of others and those in power or have potential for power then you make your negative view your version of reality.

I feel like I am a citizen of the UK and not a subject – Subject is derived from the latin words, sub and jacio, and means one who is under the power of another; but a citizen is an unit of a mass of free people, who, collectively, possess sovereignty. Subjects look up to a master, but citizens are so far equal, that none have hereditary rights superior to others.

On Thursday July the 4th 2024 across the whole of the United Kingdom we the people, citizens of this country will walk into a polling station and vote by putting an X against a person’s name on a piece of paper, which will then ultimately impact on the choice of a nation as to whom will be elected as Prime Minister and govern the for the citizens of our country.  

Yes no one citizen elects the ruler or governor of this country (thank god, as that would be a dictatorship a little like Russia), but collectively we will make a decision as to who will govern the United Kingdom.  

Born in a Storm – Deacon Blue

Democracy the worst form of government, except for all other forms that have been tried!

I really enjoy trying to understand and paying attention to politics – even though it is perhaps normal or fashionable to express no interest or have no view. But for me politics does matters, democracy matters and having a view and interpretation matters.

When you have a political discussion with someone or listen to the views of others in the news it’s exceptionally rare to agree or not find disagreements or points to have further discussion upon and maybe the increased amount of disagreements and diversity of opinion is what some people love about politics and on the other hand the disagreements and diversity of opinions is what puts some people of politics!

I have so far in my life voted in 7 general elections have supported 2 political parties so far and might end up supporting a third party in the next general election. Considering how interested I am in politics and democracy I feel my actual input into the political and democratic system is very small.  

When I was 18 I was a member of the Liberal Democrats a smaller party in the UK that you could have summed up being a left leaning party that believes in personal liberty for individual and advocates a change to the voting system of the UK so as to see proportional representation and more people have their views represented in the house of commons and also believes in the funding of political institutions for the benefit of all. One of the things that put me off them is when they went into power with the Conservative party which resulted in from my perspective a considerable amount of damage to the UK, where as others can argue through majority rule the British people got what they asked and voted for with Brexit when we left the European Union and introduced Conservative policies to cuts in taxes and damage public services due to lack of vision, investment and resourcing.

I have never been a member of the Labour party but I have voted for them in a general election and been served by a local Labour MP called Ben Bradshaw he was culture minister in the last labour government well over 14 years ago and is now stepping down and making way for a new local MP at the next general election. So most elections in which I have voted for have been for the Labour candidates and this election I will likely give my vote to the green party candidate in Exeter. I have regularly voted for local city councillors that are members of the green party and fortuntly they were elected to stand in my local city council. I have been a paid up member of the green party now and respect and believe in the principles and points of view of the green party. So on the election I will be choosing to vote with my principles and vote green or vote to beat the conservative and vote Labour.

I am more of an anti-Conservative party voter than I am a pro one particular party voter, I am a member of the green party because I believe they are a progressive party with practical solutions on how to  invest in and protect our environment and have policies on the local, national and international level that reflect this. But mostly I am an anti-conservative voter, if the greens seek to protect the environment then the conservative party seek to damage the environment, society and people within my own community so as to benefit from that damage financially themselves and such policies and actions I find repulsive.

A conservative will often boast about what freedoms they give to you while they profit considerably at your expense when governing you. It is argued that we live in a capitalist society and it is the only way to live. But I do not think it is that simple I would argue we are consumers not capitalists. We produce goods and services to be consumed and that way of existence can be managed and governed to ensure that the system is safe for the environment and the citizens that live within in e.g. safe water to drink and safe places to work and live. A capitalist mere profit is king society does not care whether the water is safe it only cares whether it is profitable or whether your work or live is safe only whether it is profitable to the economy.  We should aspire to work towards a consumer led society not capitalistic profit at the price of everything else society it is damaging road to destruction of this planet and must be voted against and spoken out against at every opportunity.

Deacon Blue – Peace Jobs And Freedom

What is breaking Britain?            

Politics is often points of view, opinion and perception. If you are lucky it does not actually direct affect you or where you live, you can normally continue to go about your life, work and/or retirement without it actually interfering with anything other than your opinion of politicians and your own opinions and principles.

But unfortunately Britain is very much different now and not in a good way. There has been 3 Conservative Prime Ministers since the last general election in 2019. All have done well, for themselves, all believe they did well for themselves and all would not change a thing for themselves. But as for the rest of us there is very little to show for the time that they governed us. It’s hard to sum up just  how they have damaged this country while profiting from that act at the same time.

A small example on the local front around where I live is the potholes on the vast majority of roads around Devon and also along national county lanes across the whole of the UK. The holes in the road, damage cars, increase risks of accidents and are so common are now normal on rural roads here now. The difference in well run effective Ireland and cheap don’t fix it can’t fix it Britain is shameful. Councils across the whole country have had their finances squeezed across the country and cut back. So much so that it’s now normal to have a poor council that can’t pay for what it tries to deliver and councils going bankrupt because they can no longer balance the budgets set before them and by them.

What were once state supplied utilities and activities such as water suppliers and postal delivery services are now private companies. Many of the water companies have racked up debt in order to pump money to their share holders pockets at the expense of refusing to clean up our water supplies or rivers and coastal areas. There is an area called Brixton in Devon that is even suffering from an outbreak of cryptosporidium virus which is still an ongoing outbreak while they announce the increase dividends to their share holders.

If you can’t do the little things its then a question of by just how much are they screwing up the big things.

So an election has now been called for the 4th July 2024 and I hope the Conservative are heavily defeated this time in the UK, before they suck any more of the blood and marrow out of Britain!

Cassetteboy – Tory-Zero (Rishi’s Version)

Technological decluttering!

Or as hypno cat would put it “recycle your electricals”

Recycle Your Electricals: Hypnocat

Oh god don’t make me go back into that place, where the Amazon parcel cardboard lives along with the wrapping paper, old TV, computer screen, countless useless cables, plugs, installation CD’s (for things no longer even installed) and laptops dating back over 20 years – don’t make me go back there again. No, hypno cat, no! 

Ha Ha, it does not feel that bad though maybe it should! I am hopefully having a clear out towards the end of this month of some items all of which really do live in my flat rent free and everything. I’ve always tried to plan to recycle many of these items but I figure most are too old or broken to do anything useful with.

You can pay for the council to remove them or if valuable enough donate to a charity shop or if clapped out enough take to the nearest recycling centre. But you need a car to take them to the recycling centre which I don’t have! But I have asked a friend if he can hopefully assist me when I have some time off work and we should be able to sort most (hopefully as much as possible of it out then.

Prior to that day I need to try and do a bit of prep like seeing if the computers still switch on and if they do wipe their hard drives and google what else I might need to do to them, I also have a collection of mobile phone’s which a programme on BBC 1 called Antique Roadshow would be proud of not so much for how much they might be worth but for how old they are. I could free up quite a bit of cupboard and draw space if I can sort this lot all out this month.

I also have a bedroom with lots of no longer worn clothes and bedding that have not seen the light of day for a good few years, which I must also try and get sorted. Just thinking and typing how much stuff there is, is a little daunting, but I am counting on this being part of the process of sorting this stuff out.

I presently have a little Huawei P30 mobile phone, which has a matching tablet with it, for my day to day needs it works really well but the battery is not as good as it once was and sometimes I can’t get Wi-Fi for it, when other people are not having the same issues with their phone as me. One of the places where I can’t get mobile data or decent Wi-Fi is the office where I work, which is not great, I was all set to purchase a new Motorola phone this evening but resisted. I figure I have had my other phone for 4 years and it still works, so perhaps wait until I have had my recycling sort out of stuff at the end of the month and then perhaps treat myself to a new phone.

What’s that old phrase ‘if it’s not broken, nor stolen, still charges and takes updates don’t throw it away, well something like that!!!

Alas though some of this stuff has long passed its use by date and it’s just now a case of disposing of it responsibly and safely with Hypnocat!