No. Probably the greatest word in the world, in any language

No! Probably the greatest word in the world, in any language. Many years ago, following a suicide attempt which ended my marriage and estranged me from my wife and daughter, I vowed never to do such a thing again. Like so many people who despair of life, my thinking was distorted, if not downright wrong. […]

When conformity means death, survival means non-conformity

I have the enormous privilege of being a transvestite, although this is the first time I have called it a privilege when for much of my life it has been painfully difficult. In these incredibly dark days of humanity, my alter ego, Joanna, has become a solace, a haven and an unexpected yet incredible ally. […]

Letter to Jeremy Corbyn – the Universal Credit debacle

Jeremy Corbyn MP House of Commons London, SW1A 0AA 16 November 2017 Dear Jeremy Corbyn, Thank you for reading out the letter from the GAP lettings agency in Lincolnshire in PMQs about the pre-emptive warning to tenants of coming evictions under Universal Credit. It is inevitable that many hundreds, more likely thousands, of evictions will […]

The way to waken a phoenix is not to call the fire brigade

I see a lot of comments about the sleeping masses, and great anger and bitterness about people who do nothing and allow the appalling situation we are in in this country to continue and many, of course, vote for it. I’ve had my moments and battles with this, so called, ‘apathy’, it is undeniably an […]

The unsung revolution

There are many people who cannot give praise, encouragement or a kind word. It’s almost as if they are regarded as sparse commodities that might run out. The point is that they are a give, a gift, from one person to another (or many others), they are the expression of an innate regard for the […]

Life should be treated with awe and respect, not penalised

A letter a day to number 10. No 1,228 Monday 12 October 2015. Dear Mr Cameron, Just in my area this past week a 15 year old said she wanted to end her life and a young married man with two children has taken his life and these are only the ones I know of. […]

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. Proverbs 26:11

A letter a day to number 10. No 1,100 Friday 29 May 2015. Dear Mr Cameron, Life is a funny old thing, from birth to grave it’s a kind of comedy of errors. A child’s first step comes from trial and error, as does language, using eating utensils, body control, in fact everything a child […]

Iain Duncan Smith back in charge of social deprivation

A letter a day to number 10. No 1,083 Tuesday 12 May 2015. Dear Mr Cameron, I see that Iain Duncan Smith is to stay in the DWP as the minister in charge of depriving people of the means of survival and dismantling the welfare state. The man is indefatigable and remorseless in targeting vulnerable […]

From social security to genocide

A letter a day to number 10. No 1,018 Wednesday 04 March 2015. Dear Mr Cameron, Since the US discredited insurance company UNUM entered the political arena in the UK in 1994 with their bogus use of the biopsychosocial model the nature of sickness and disability has been politicised, indeed weaponised, with those suffering from […]

Conservatives, the suicide party

A letter a day to number 10. No 938 Sunday 07 December 2014. Dear Mr Cameron, A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health by Australian scientists in 2013 found that the suicide rate in the country increased significantly when a Conservative government was in power. This was followed up by Dr […]