I was blessed today when I came across this video. In our life, death is one of those things that as humans we really hate to think of and fear almost all or lives. I’ve written a few times about the pain and effects that loosing someone so special causes, and how different life is after such a dramatic event as the death of a loved one.

Some years ago now, mom and I had a discussion about organ donation, and to be totally honest, I was probably merely being polite when I agreed to do it with her. I never really stopped to think about the impact of how giving away a part of my life might impact on and give another human being the chance to live a longer, pain free and independent life. Recently as various things have happened around me, I’ve begun to try and mentally prepare myself for some of the things that I know lie before me, one of those being able to have the strength to say good bye. And if I am totally honest, I’m not ready to do that yet. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to.

No one wants to loose a loved one. But maybe there was some wisdom in my mothers decision to donate any organ that the doctors may use in granting a reprieve to another person. Even if that person was to never know me, or even speak to me, I think there is so much truth in the words of the main actor of this short film when she says that in deciding to donate their son’s heart it allowed them to move on. Part of him lives on and gives life to another, what better gift could come out of such pain, than the gift of life to another. And so I now sit back and begin to realise that yes, there is very defiantly a reason in my mothers wisdom, and something that I now am more acceptable of as I learn to accept that in life, giving is far more powerful than holding on to something that you cannot hold onto any more.

For there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another. This may well not be the same concept in the essence of laying down your life, but you give of the life force you have enjoyed on this earth as the sun sets on your innings and grant freedom of life to another. Have you got yourself a donor card? If not follow this link and register today. The life you live in another may well be as rich and blessed as the life you lived in your own body.

Its a sad fact, and I’ve noticed in so many people that I either know personally or talk to regularly, that we spend far too much of our lives worried about what other people think about us. There is a simple truth in life that once you learn to accept, living in your own space becomes so much easier, and that is this. You are you. You cannot change who you are. You cannot change other people, so why spend so much time and effort trying to change yourself?

What is this man talking about I hear you saying. Let me explain. Consider how you feel when someone calls you fat. Consider how you feel when someone tells you that you have a nice tan. Consider how you feel when your in the shower and find a lump. Consider how you react when your in a restaurant and see a naughty kid getting away with blue murder. I could go on listing a multitude of things. Society has an acceptable level of behaviour that we all adhear to in some way or another, and this is a good thing, until it starts to rule your life. Think for a moment…every one of us knows someone who’s on a diet!

Why are they on a diet? I’ll tell you this for free, its not because they genuinely want to be starving themselves eating horrible tasting dry salad. No way. It’s because they perceive that society considers them to be over weight.

What you don’t realise is that all a diet is doing is teaching your body to crave fat cells. When you come off the diet your body is like whoa hoo, thank you, I’ll absorb even more this time so next time you do such a stupid thing I’ll have pleanty in reserve. Do it enough times and you’ll be fatter than when you ever started.

Its the same with a Tan. Someone compliments your tan, and we smile feeling good about life. Your skin on the other hand is cursing you blind. We don’t stop to consider the effects on our body, lives and those around us in making some of these crazy decisions that make us more acceptable to the world.

Now if you stop and have a good think, you’ll know that the honest truth is that much of what you can point a finger at in other people, you’ll find in yourself too. We are all human for heavens sakes. Capable of being horribly wrong, always on the make, being selfish in many respects, stupid to a degree and smart just to balance out the scales a bit.

I am always amazed at the youth. How stupidly naive they are. They live in a world where once your over that hill, you are past it and don’t matter to their walk of life anymore, yet the truth of the matter is that they are headed for that exact same hill at 90 to the dozen. There is a sad factor in todays society that means for many of our tech savey teenagers today, by the time they reach my age, they’ll be sad lonely individuals who only know how to communicate freely online. This world has taught a whole generation to hide behind a screen and be whom ever they want to be, but stop! Think!

There is only one way to really be able to say, yes I enjoy my life and get all out of it that I want to get out of it. Learn to be yourself. Don’t make excuses for who you are, the way you look, the way you talk, the campness of your personality or the nature of your laugh. I’m told that the world cannot begin to love you until you learn to love yourself. Now that is not suggesting that you become a vain creep, like you see so many people thinking. No you are not perfect. Very far from it just like me. But you are human and you are beautiful all the same. Funny, irritating, sociable, loveable, hateable. All those things that we experiance in life are part of who you are, so stop trying to fit into a mould. Your not Lady Gaga, and hell no your not Justin Beiber either. They are who they are, and became famous being who they are not copying you! So get a grip, live a little, stop worrying what the world thinks and be yourself.

Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and having watched my father die of cancer, a disease i accept kills people of any age daily, it was extremely painful to watch him suffer so in the end. I can’t begin to tell you of the experience and emotions that you begin to feel as someone so dear to you waists away. In my fathers case, my memories of dad before that time were of a powerful, strong and very determined man. Stubborn yes, selfish…yes. He was a typical man in so very many ways, but he was my father, and he worked his whole life to give me every chance to be all I could be. To me, dad had always been there. Rarely did he stay home in bed on the sick. Never did he miss work with a hangover, nor did he ever let me down by failing to be there, running away when the going got tough or failing to provide for me. Admittedly I didn’t have everything I ever wanted, but I never went hungry, nor did I never feel unloved.

It is the most difficult thing in the world to watch someone of that status become totally incapable of doing anything by themselves. You watch the movies, shed the tears, and learn from others around you how dastardly death is to a patient with cancer, but until you live it yourself, nothing can prepare you for it. I was lucky in that my mother provided most of the close quater care, while I just managed the affairs and difficult things. I recall how towards the end just being in the same room as dad hurt, as I couldn’t stand to see him in such a way, and this in turn caused a different type of hurt, as I felt so guilty at shutting him out so. It still haunts me today that I found it so difficult to sit there and talk with him.

Truth be told, I was kind of relieved when he died, because it was such a strain to see him like that, and to feel so helpless. But I can honestly say, as I live the experience of Alzheimers today with my mother, that what my father suffered was little compared to the legend of dementia. Now that might sound completely wrong, and in many ways I can see the different points of view, but believe you me, when it comes to trying to live in a world that has no concept of dementia, no tolerance of people living with it, and a society all too willing to take advantage of and rogue people suffering with this illness, it makes life impossible for those of us in society that are honest, decent people.

My mother is the kindest, nicest, most gentle person in the world. We all love our mothers. They have a special bond with us, from the time they carry us in their womb till that day we spread our wings and leave the nest, we are their babies. For most of us, we share a strong personal relationship on some level with our mothers. Men are tough and can take the things that life throws at us, or so our mentality seems to lead us to believe, and so when like in my fathers case, cancer got him in the end, I guess in my own weird way of thinking, it was ok, because he was strong enough to deal with that. However, in the case of my mother, you have no idea how much it kills me to watch her daily unable to function as her memory slips away from her.

Today we went into Lloyds TSB. Now fair enough I understand that banks have procedures in place to protect their customers, but I can honestly say I left that building wanting to jump off a bridge today. There is nothing worse that sitting across the desk from a cold hearted woman who has no concept or idea of the frustration, pain and complete hopelessness of the situation when all you are asking is that they update your mothers address, and when she looks at your mother and asks her, “So what is it that you want to do today Mrs Strobel?” and your mother can only stare back at her with a blank expression, unable to exactly remember what it is she’s meant to be saying. As I sat in that room I just wanted to scream. I wanted to smash the table, rip the computer of the desk, and shake the woman who sat there telling me she was restricting my mothers account until we obtained an Enduring Power of Attorney to take over my mothers affairs. I mean who the hell is she to tell me that I must now manage my mothers affairs?

Granted its not her fault, its a system that is inflexible, uncomprehending and completely lacking understanding of what it feels like to be in these shoes. You can’t get angry at mom, as she cannot help being forgetful under pressure. You can’t really get angry at the individual for doing her job in accordance with the rules of the bank. It’s a horrible situation, as you can’t get anywhere with anyone. Every place that you speak to has a different set of rules. Every person that you deal with has a different level of compassion and understanding. You deal with one who’ll bend over backwards to help, shows empathy and real understanding for the predicament that you find yourself in. On the other hand, most people don’t give a shit. They have no time for your frustrations, no desire to want to get involved or offer support or understanding and only end up causing yet more distress and confusion.

I sat there this afternoon, cold, distressed and bursting from inside while a total stranger told me in front of my mother that my mother was now deemed incapable of managing her own affairs and it would be my duty as her carer to step up to the mark and take over from her. Do people not realise that just because someone suffers from dementia that they still have feelings? Do people not realise that their words are a two edged sword and cut deep into peoples emotional state? I left the building with tears streaming down my face, much the same as they are now. Not because I don’t know what she is saying is true. Not because I feel sorry for having to step up to the plate to fill these shoes. But distressed that my mother had to sit there and go through that. Its hard enough for her to deal with not being able to remember the stuff she so desperately wants and needs to remember. I felt so belittled and humiliated, not for me, but for my mother, and it is a whole new world of pain that I never knew could exist!

And so we plod along the road of forgetfulness, each day bringing with it a new crisis, each moment a new concern to have to try to deal with. In many ways you have to put your own life on hold, and that is not the easiest thing to do, especially in this day and age. Each day presents new challenges as slowly you try to cater for the new things that come along with the illnesses that mom faces, and lets be honest, at her age, there are a few, but before god, I swear, its the Alziemers that is the wort of the lot. The rest I could live with and work around, but memory is a precious thing and to loose it must be the most distressing thing in the world. On a calm day mom is still much her beautiful self, but on a bad day, shes a nervous wreck, frustrated, hurt, depressed and alone. No one really realises that for those people that are going through this whole nightmare, they are in essence alone. You can’t understand what they are going through. They have few people to talk to, and the grim reality is that it is much the same for those around the person who is ill.

So maybe this is why I have a jaded outlook on old age. I’d rather live wild and leave this world at 50, before it all goes south and I find myself going through the things I’ve watched the two most dear people in the world have to endure gracefully.

To be fair it’s a classic all American story of determination, sadness, hopelessness, with a happy ending, but I guess that it had to tell the story in a dramatically way in order to make it enjoyable to watch. In my own experience, dealing with illness, possible death and facing such unreal odds is no picnic and in some ways the feel good factor of the movie looses the impact of this as it tells the story.

The difficult, pedantic scientist who does things his way, to suit his time table, fighting the fight for his own reasons, but in so doing learning humanity and feelings along the way is heart warming and does touch the emotions. There are times in the film where you are very defiantly left feeling heart sour with tears in your eyes, and there are other times when you can’t help but chuckle as you are wowed by the bravery and steadfast belief of the kids in what their dad is doing.

It is extremely difficult to condense many years of a story into one short 90 minute film without losing the realism and profound effect that the subject matter has on people. Having said that, the team, actors and the director have done a pretty good job all the same. Brandon Fraser plays his part remarkably well, although in hindsight he is not the person I’d have chosen to play the role, as I am just not used to seeing him in this serious type of picture.

The two kids acting the parts of disabled kids were fantastic. I am not really sure if they were disabled kids or not, but either way they did their part proud, and you almost immediately build a kindred relationship with them, and want everything to work out for the best, even though at times you are really expecting the worst for them.

There are so many illnesses in the world, and so many you never hear of till they touch your life. It is amazing when you get to hear the stories of families and people that go through the tough times and fight the bravest of fights, it makes you feel good about life, the people that work so hard to do so much good for people’s lives, and it’s always good to reflect on the world and realise that no matter how bad it seems people out there have it worse and find a way through, so you can too. Defiantly one to watch.

The story told by the village teacher revolves around the Baron, the Steward, the Preacher and the Doctor. It tells of some strange goings on in the town, which start off with the Doctor being thrown from his horse when the horse runs into a wire trap, the Baron’s son being kidnapped and given the hiding of his life, and a retarded boy being attacked and having his eyes poked out it seems. Yet no one knows who’d done it.

Without really concentrating on any particular instance of the story, we are taken through a period of time in the life of these people in a very strange and seemingly arbitrary way. The Baron is having a hard time controlling a somewhat wayward wife who it turns out is in love with a man in Italy, the Pastor is a stern disciplinarian who’s children get some outrageously harsh punishments. The Doctor is screwing the midwife, whom he despises, and the teacher falls in love with a servant of the Baron, only to have his hopes of marriage dashed when the Baron fires her and the war breaks out.

I am not really sure what made me sit through the complete two hours of the film as it was remarkably boring, had no sense to it in any way possible, left you feeling very perplexed as to what the plot was, where the story was meant to take you and what on earth you’d remained so bored through the movie for. The film won an international film award, although I am buggered if I can understand why. Anyway, it’s certainly not one I’d recommend wasting your time watching. Not unless you really do want to waist two hours and be left feeling frustratingly confused as to why you did.

As an outsider, I have very defiantly been a loud and often vocal critic of Gordon Brown’s time and term in office. For three years, Gordon sat in a seat which he claimed not through a fair electoral process, but by appointment of a party whom had most certainly lost its way along the way. In that time, no other British Prime Minister has shown such a complete disregard to public opinion, the general feeling and mood of the people and the common decent thing to do when facing such appalling dislike by people on the whole.

Had the Labour Party had a little more of a back bone prior to the Election, I honestly believe that they would have had a very different turn out come polling day. Yes it is easy to sit and talk in terms of retrospect. It is easy to now play the devil’s advocate and say well if things had been a little different then yes the results would have been in Labour’s favour, but as a keen adversary of Gordon Brown’s politics I can quite comfortably sit here and say that I honestly believe that had Labour ousted the man earlier we’d still be watching a Labour Government set itself up for 5 years of power under new leadership.

Watching the deafness of Gordon Brown, and his inability to listen to the public at large, and for that matter those who had the gumption and bravery to risk a private whipping at the expense of their public calls to Mr Brown to step down as PM and Labour Leader, I have often felt ill at heart at watching his blatant disregard for the will of the people. From his monumental cock up with the 10p tax reform, to his underhanded dealing in taking us into the Euro Zone Treaty without the referendum he promised us, he completely shut himself off in his own little bubble where only Gordon knew what Gordon was doing.

It was common knowledge from early on when he had reshuffle after reshuffle in his cabinet to make way for people he’s upset or pissed off enough to resign, or anyone he suddenly decided spoke out just a little too close to the bone and was no longer an ally of Brown and someone he wanted to shut out. It was never a happy party or contented party and with so much in bickering and dark, quiet, hush hush deals taking place in the quiet halls of Whitehall, is it any wonder that the Labour party is where it is today?

You cannot bread trust among people when the very leader of the party of elected officials we have chosen to represent us the people do not trust the leader they work under themselves. You cannot expect a nation to fall in line as the ministers bullied into submission by over jealous chief whips in the corridors of Parliament have to fall in line in order to keep their jobs. Is it a democratic society when anyone who dared to speak out against Brown in government did so at the risk of their jobs? And let’s look back now at the road littered with careers of men and women who stood up to Gordon Brown. How on earth can a party with a leader with this kind of record pragmatically expect to wow the will of the people and pretend to have the best interests of the people at heart when out campaigning at the doors in their constituencies.

I’d shadow a private guess that if you sat down every single Labour MP, or their staff now that Gordon is gone, and asked them honestly what their view was, that you’d find a very different support for the man now in his absence. That is not to say that the party are eager to plant the dagger now his back has turned. Hell his party hated him from day one if the truth were to be told. Let’s not ask who was the best man for the job. Let’s not fudge the question nor the answer by looking to other reasons for why people tolerated Gordon Brown. The real truth as it comes to light in the cold light of day now, is that Gordon Brown was not just disliked internationally, but on a local scaled was despised by a great many people in power.

A vast amount of that contempt and hatred was stirred by Gordon’s inability to be humble and listen. It was Gordon’s way or the highway, and it didn’t matter who got trampled nor who got sidelined along the way. Right up to the end, when the public had their face firmly pressed up against the window screaming at the top of their voices, Gordon was unable and completely unwilling to accept that people were talking to him.

Even after the most humiliating defeat since the war, with well over 100 seats being stripped from them, and in excess of an additional 2 million votes leaving Labour this time around, Gordon still wanted to bully his way into No 10 for another six months. After their bullish insistence that the Leader of the Labour Party would not be chosen by the Lib Dem’s, he failed to realise that the people had just given him and his party the biggest two fingers in half a century. Of course the people and leaders of another party don’t choose the leader of a party, but they have a massive say in who they will and will not work with, and so a fairly rapid climbdown took effect as Gordon offered the Lib Dem’s a deal which still saw him in power for another six months. I was stunned at his arrogance as it continued to be the marking characteristic of a man who’d just shown his party how effective he was at inspiring people.

It’s unreal that the man honestly thought he could go on. The biggest turn out at the polls in a generation, a humiliating defeat for a party that romped home to victory thirteen years earlier, and a nation that were clearly saying get rid of Brown, and he assumed he still had grounds to call himself leader. Admittedly the Welsh and Scotts did not choose the Tories to lead in their neck of the woods, but let’s be honest, the Welsh and Scotts feel so hard done by the Tories after Margaret Thatcher closed their mines and took their jobs, that even if Gordon had a gun to their head while Labour MP’s poured molten tar down their throats the Celts would still vote Labour. Had there been another choice other than Labour and the Conservatives, with a real chance of being a party in power at Westminster I think you’d find that even the Celts would have given Gordon the good old heave ho.

It has been the most amazing election to watch. With one party saying that it’d never consider an alliance with another, and yet another saying that a Hung Parliament would force the parties to talk. It is ironic that the British politician who essentially is a member of the British public first and foremost, can be so out of touch with the general feeling in this country. We are the men and woman that make Britain work. We are the ones that pay taxes, read, listen and watch more closely today than ever before. We know far more about the economy and the state of affairs in the world than any of them give us credit for. We are brought up to speed faster, more comprehensibly and with far better understanding than at any other time before in the history of our world. It is about time that the power behind the wheels of government realise this fact, and begin to understand that we the people form an effective part of the process of government today. We know our mind and can deliver a verdict that will make it just as difficult for any of you to do your job, as it is for us to do the every day job of living and working under your yoke.

Lets be honest, when the Labour Party has its thinking cap on its a massive power for the will of the people in this country. What the party really needs to do now is step back and take heed of the message its just been given. We are not fools. We do not want idiots at the head of our government. We do not want spendthrift, power hungry people making decisions for us about the future for our children in this mighty land of ours. Listen to what we are saying and do what is right by the people and we’ll step in line behind you once more.

As I listened to the Brown departure on television this evening, I was saddened at his farewell. His bitter pill at the hands of the British Public was more than the man could stand. He paid tribute to the British Troops, and while I do not want to take anything from a National Defence Force I greatly respect, I did feel that once more Gordon completely missed a chance to rise up to the challenge and be a bigger man. Let’s just think about it. There is a far bigger group of people that were due consideration and mention. The British People themselves. Yes, while this is a very frustrating nation to live in at times, and it has some of the most troubling trends in social break down, crime and an uncertain future, the British People are what make this country work. In my own personal opinion, even though it was at their hands that defeat was handed to Gordon Brown on a plate, his biggest move would to have been humbly accept defeat, step aside and congratulate the British People for being the nation they are. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great nation all the same and it’s you and me that make it so.

The Labour party need to spend time getting to grass roots with the people. Take six months out and visit as many people in their homes as you possibly can. Spend fifteen minutes with each family and listen. Don’t talk, don’t even open your mouth but to introduce yourself, and listen, look and learn. You’ll know after you’ve visited 100 of us. You’ll know even more when you’ve visited 1000 of us, and but the time you’ve clocked up 1000000 of us you’ll be so in touch with the feeling of the people that your manifesto will spill off the tongues of common people as if it was written by us for us.

Re organise, re arrange your policy, recruit strong diligent people. Seek to find common ground with industry far more than commerce. Provide good sound and well thought out perks to attract the rich back to Britain. Get the health service sorted out with more staff and less managers. Put together a plan that makes Britain strong again, and we’ll put you in power for years to come. You’ve lost your way. Politics in Britain and to be fair the world over has lost sight of the fact that we are the power that elect you and it is for our greater good that you work.

This is no place for Robert Mugabe’s or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s type of politics. Vain, haughty men of power and prestige that think themselves better than the rest are a thing of yesterdays politics. We are not impressed by high class society anymore. We are not overwhelmed by people that appear to be of a better class than ourselves, and we most certainly are not won over by arrogance. Learn these lessons while you can, and be humble, profound, inspirational and have compassion. With these things you will win the support of not just a nation, but a generation. Let’s hope that after such a humiliation and defeat that the Labour party really wake up and listen to the will of the people of this remarkable land.

With absolutely no disrespect to Denmark, I’ve never really paid much attention to music out of the Scandinavian region, and didn’t even consider that they’d have an X Factor, but I am mildly surprised at the talent that I discovered, and stand totally corrected. Not only did I discover that the Danes can sing, one of the guys that made it right through to the Live Finals did so singing in a category that I class as my favourite genre of music.

Brit Indie Pop is now more widely regarded as Indie music per se and has possibly one of the widest followings in the younger generation of today’s trend setters. With the likes of Snow Patrol, The Killers, Keane, Feeder to name but a few, Indie music has a unique place in any live music fan’s heart. The joy of Indie music is that its better live, and has a dynamic catchiness that not many other groupings of music beats can boast.

Having admitted that it is my favourite core genre of music, I have to admit that I am particularly fussy about anyone who’d dare to copy or cover any proper indie song. Unfortunately a world of dodgy karaoke clubs, and Monday open mic nights, have lead me to have a intense dislike for an average voice torturing a perfectly great piece of music. So when I hear the beat of a classic song start in an X Factor audition, my face falls much the same as the panel of judges as I fear what is coming.

It was welcome relief then to find that Jesper Boesgaard a 16 year old fresh faced, young guy takes on the challenge of impressing me. Haha, check me out thinking like a judge! LOL. But quite simply it’s a pleasure to find someone who actually manages to make you stop and think, “whoa hang on, this guy is quite good!” Though he may look a little camp, (skinny jeans always makes a guy look camp!) the boy has a fantastic voice on him, and taking on a number of my all time favourite songs, by groups I adore, I have to say, Jesper won me over as one to watch in years to come.

So as he takes on the greats like Coldplay, U2, Muse and my current favourite all time song, Firefly by Owl City, sit back, smile and enjoy.

Let us consider for one moment the track record of the worst British and European Prime Minister for a quarter of a century in stark contrast with the mantra that he’s been steadfastly sticking too on his campaign trail as he’s tried to pull the wool over the electorates eyes.

It was on Gordon Brown’s watch that the Banks were deregulated and allowed to take power into their own hands in terms of self regulation, despite the cries of dismay from analysts both at home and abroad calling the move a fools folly. Well the lesson of time proved those people right, as fat cat bankers driven by greed cashed in on salaries I still fail to completely get my head around, and continue to do so, even after we’ve had the worst financial collapse in the history of the WORLD!

It is thanks to Gordon Brown that there is a National Hole the size of a black hole in our pensions provision in the UK. Our old people are expected to survive on something as ridiculous as £57 a week, while oil, gas, electricity, food, transport, and any other basic need for life in the UK has spiralled out of control. He claims to have the interests of the people at heart, yet he’s had 13 years to get the situation for the elderly sorted out, and he’s completely failed to do so! Are people BLIND?

We know that Gordon Brown has lied through his teeth about the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no way that he can effectively expect any of us to believe that he accepted and made provision for every request made by the armed forces upon going to war to pay for and provide the necessary equipment, when it is documented and proven that men and women went into the field without the kit he says he gave the defence forces the money for in the first place. I have read of cut after cut applied to defence expenditure in the last ten years, and seen the effect of an army ill prepared and under equipped being sent into harm’s way, and Gordon Brown has the audacity to stand and say he has the best interests of our Brave Soldiers at heart.

It was on Gordon Brown’s watch that the biggest scandal of British recent history erupted to show a broken, corrupt, and greedy political establishment feathering their own nests at the expense of tax payers across the country. You want to tell me he didn’t know that the system was corrupt and being abused? Hell he had to repay money himself. I tell you what, were it that any one of the working class people such as you or me caught lying, stealing and committing fraud in circumstances even half as doggy as these, we’d have been arrested and banged up so damn fast that we’d still be experiencing a dizzy spell. At no point between then and now has the PM come out and stood for clean, clear and necessary political reform to change the house to a clean, transparent and fair political establishment, because he knows that he’ll not only upset every single member of the house in doing so, but he’ll more than likely be fired the next day of announcing the move to do so. Instead he hides behind the pathetic finger pointing exercises that try to discredit anyone else who may be talking about strong and sensible leadership to fix a political infrastructure battered and bruised into a public mockery of representation of the people who elect these officials.

It was Gordon Brown that created more jobs in this current civil service than at any time ever before, and now has the horrible, daunting and sickly task of cutting these jobs, yet it won’t be him who will admit that these cuts have to be made. So all those jobs that the Labour Leaders talk about creating, well, hello Britain, the horrid reality is that they are all on their way out. And don’t for one moment assume that this won’t happen. The truth of the matter is that we are in a worse financial situation that Greece, we just haven’t been told this as yet. We’ve borrowed more money than ANY other country in the world for our size, and while yes we may be more buoyant and productive than say Greece, the simple truth is that it’s you and me who has to suffer to pay back Gordon Browns spending spree. The US borrowed to pay its way out of recession yes. But the US has huge and powerful Industrial, Agricultural and Financial expertise to draw from when repaying its debt. What do we have. Our manufacturing sector is in tatters. Our farmers are so badly beaten and mistreated by this government that farming is a thing of the past in the UK. Our gas is gone, and we are doing everything we can to chase the rich and powerful away from the UK with proposals of Rich man’s taxes.

I’ve never heard of such a stupid thing. The rich, like them or hate them, are the people that put money into our banking system, that in turn gives banks money to lend, that in turn allows businesses to start and grown, that in turn creates jobs, stability and infrastructure. If I were a rich man right now at this time in the UK, the first thing I’d be doing is looking to immigrate. I’m rich for god’s sakes, so it won’t hurt me to move to say Dubai, a place also in financial trouble, but desperate to attract the rich so that their money can prop up their banking system. Oh but the rich won’t want to move, I hear you think. Don’t be so bloody stupid. Do you think they’ll stay here and pay more tax? They’ll move off, and visit the UK as often as they like, they are RICH for god’s sakes. And when they are gone and the money is no longer there, who will the government tax next? Wake up people for crying out loud!

I read today that British Airways staff have refused the latest offer put on their plates. What a bunch of greedy idiots. The company made a substantial loss last year. It’s just had a 10 day grounding where the vast majority of its fleet couldn’t get off the ground try what they may. It is said to have cost the company £20 million a day. The company HAS to curb costs. But oh no, the union representing the staff will just be complete and utter irresponsible idiots and continue to force the company closer and closer towards administration. Hell wake up people. If a club the size of Portsmouth FC can go bust, do you honestly think something the size of BA can’t break at some point. Yes, your greed will force a company to close, and then what? Oh hell, we got so greedy we don’t have ANY job now! Well, for one, if that happens I say good for you. You deserve to be living a hopeless and joyless life. You have no idea what you’ve got. Your greed and self indulgence is staggering. There are people around the world who’d kill to have even a small proportion of what you have, and they’d be content and happy have having it too, but you? Nope, we just want more and more and more, no matter what the cost of our greed, regardless of the detriment to the company that gives you the chance to live this privileged life you lead. The Post Office is the same. And in weeks and months to come, and as the screw tightens, and we feel the pinch more and more, you’ll begin to see the effects of your greed, and the failure of Gordon Brown to do something while he could to help prevent this kind of exposure. Personally I don’t think that all the staff at BA are to blame, I have a suspicion it’s a core of Fat Cat politicians stirring up the trouble acting as if they have their Unions members best interests at heart, and I think that the staff at BA know this, but it’s the usual British fault of shutting up till it’s too late, and then we’ll just moan and whinge about what might have been if you’d only stood up for yourselves.

I watched the results unfold through the night last night, and as I did I listened to Gordon Brown give his speech on his re-election in his home constituency. As I did, I choked on the ego of a man manic for power, and completely blind to humility and the benefits of a measured approach to leadership. Gordon Brown is the most arrogant, pompous man I know. In his acceptance speech I was staggered to hear of all the wonderful things he’d done to fix Britain, yet it is in the worst condition today than it’s been since even after World War 2. If this is the Britain you so perfectly served and did so well in making it work, why have you just been dealt a 90 seat reverse in power Mr Brown. Is this perhaps not and endorsement of your useless inability to see beyond your nose. Perhaps to coin a very British expression, perhaps a visit to Specsavers would be of very beneficial use to both you and the British Public.

The hallmark of a great leader to humility in leadership. Not once did I hear you acknowledge that you have an outstanding team behind you that make all the victories you talk of happen. It is by their hard work and diligent support that you can say anything about success for your party as a whole, not you as an individual, as it seems you’d have the world believe. Not once have I heard you on your election campaign admit that together some of the most beneficial policies to come out of parliament have been through all the parties reaching a working consensus. No you’d have us believe it was all you Mr Brown. Yet in your eyes, you see us all as Bigots. The working class pastors boy, who is in fact so driven by your desire to be a toff that you have lost your way completely and become nothing but an opinionated, self righteous and bitter man.

The markings of a great man is the ability to charm and impress people. You are the laughing stock of Europe. Every member of the EU parliament look down on you as a leader not of the electorate of the UK, but a bully who barged your way to the top. This election goes to show that in the vast opinion of the British people we’d rather be shot of you than have to submit to another parliament run by a bumbling buffoon who can’t get it into that big muscle that everyone says you do have, that you just really don’t have what it takes to lead this country. There are people within your own party that can’t stand you. There are men and woman around you that would make far better leaders for us to vote for had you had the humility to give them a chance. Today’s results would have been a very different affair had one of the more sensible, charismatic and in touch leaders been allowed to run for office, but NO, your greed and power hungry mind could never allow anyone but the Brown succeed in power.

And so now the country is left in the worst possible condition as you begged for tactical voting in a campaign that sort to discredit anyone that was seen as a threat to Labour, rather than leading by example and being a decent and outstanding politician. This is the problem in the UK. Outstanding leadership is just something we don’t have. None of the leaders contesting the 2010 election stood out as a true, dynamic and inspirational leader. Not one of the policies outlined in manifesto’s, campaign promises or party lingo stood out and showed Britain how it was going to make our nation a better place.

The truth of the matter is this. We are fucked. We have some of the most difficult years ahead of us. As the world slowly collapses around us, and we draw to a close as a world power, we here in Britain are going to suffer, and it is as a result of poor leadership and poor choices as a nation that we find ourselves in this position. In the first chance for so many years, Britain failed to stand up for itself and elect substantive change in the politics of the day, and for this we will now suffer. Personally I didn’t believe that any one of the men running for office, deserved office. There was no fire and no substantial gain in voting for any one of them in particular. But I am sick and tired of being knee deep in shit, and life under Brown is no pick nick, so I’d hoped we’d see the man bow out gracefully and accept his days were over. But the arrogance that is Gordon Brown lives on, and I am astounded that in a time such as we live in, there is no serious direction in the people of this land. I could go on pulling the man and his failures of the last few years apart, but it only serves to depress us even more, so I’ll end off with this final thought.

Britain was once a great nation. Today it is a mess of confusion and disarray. This is the fault of its people, and the people we choose to lead us. So when you sit back and complain about the state of life here in the UK, give yourself a pat on the back, and realise that it’s our own fault we suffer so much.

First on the list then is a 2007 movie called Remember the Daze, a glimpse into the teenage wasteland of suburbia in 1999 that takes place over a 24 hour period. The teenagers who are featured in this film make their way through their last day of high school in the last year of the past millennium. It’s a mixed mish-mash of life from the point of view of a privileged well to do teenage group of friends who come together from all typical American outer city life styles.

From spoilt females screaming at their parents for being woken up, to wasted drugged up kids drinking, driving and having indiscriminate sex with anyone willing it seems to get on down and dirty the film seems to try and rush through as many of the things that kids in the last 20 years have had to get used to dealing with. The sad irony of the film is the realization of how fast the children of today are in a rush to grow up and do the things that adults do. The film does little to give a realistic view of the repercussions of societies dereliction of its moral values, and in many ways leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when you consider the real responsibilities that growing up throw at so many young kids way before they are ready to deal with nor handle such maturity.

Having said that, there are points in the film that you can chuckle at as they draw on your own experiences of growing up, and moments that bring poignancy to the subject matter as teenagers face life issues we are all familiar with. Perhaps not one of the more talked about or familiar names for films on the big screen circuit, I can understand why there has never been a massive media campaign for the film, as it leaves you wondering where it is going, where it’s taken you, and what you watched the whole 120 minutes for.

There was one beneficial side to Remember the Daze. The producer made use of some remarkable and brilliant indie music, and in watching the movie I was able to rekindle my love for one of my favourite UK Indie bands, Feeder.

All in all, it was a rather boring hour and a half, but in some ways worth watching all the same. If you’ve got nothing to do, are in a vegetative frame of mind and just want to watch some trivial mindless flow of images then it’s certainly worth wasting your time on. If however you’re not into teen angst and reprobates then give it a wide berth.

I found it very interesting to watch a purely open and very frank description of the state of Zimbabwe through the eyes of an independent foreign journalist working for Al Jazeera. Rageh Omaar cannot be said to have a vendeta against Zimbabwe, nor can it be said that the middle east has issue with Zimbabwe’s government who recently rubbed shoulders with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So it would be difficult for any of the hooded regime of Mugabe’s politburo to cry wolf, when it is not a report lead by western media nor can it be accused of being a white man’s point of view.

For most Zimbabwean’s I speak to, most would admit although it would be quietly behind closed doors that they have no quarrel with white people. Many would be happier to see white people more involved in economic practice in Zimbabwe. There is a general consensus that together we’d be stronger than apart. It is a sad thing that much of the world has come to realize that racism against the black man is counter productive and a thing of the past. For the majority of the world today we are just concerned about earning enough to survive, pay our mortgage, educate our children and live a fairly comfortable life. We have learnt over many years that a integrated society is far more beneficial to our state of play, productivity and general well being. We all have a part to play in society and our communities are better off when we learn to all get along. However, this is certainly not the case in Zimbabwe.

The colour of your skin is still a very relevant issue, regardless of how much poverty and destitution the country falls into. And so it is with mixed emotions that as a white Zimbabwean i watch the country slide into and out of the misery it finds itself. Part of me thinks that if this is the way they want it then let them get on with it, while part of me feels that Zimbabwe is my home, and there is no fairness to be caught on the other side of the coin suffering and struggling to survive. Mugabe would gladly through the blame for every ill in Zimbabwe at the feet of the white man, and this attitude rubs off on many of its people. However getting the chance to speak one on one with any Zimbabwean African they will tell you a totally different story, and these are the people that I feel sorry for.

So it is very interesting to me to see reports of the reality of Zimbabwe’s ill gotten gains going into the pockets of the corrupt villains that dare to call themselves leaders of Zimbabwe. Be what you may, your true colours will be known come judgement day, and on that day we’ll all stand before our ruler naked and penniless, accountable for our deeds. Take heed, your life in hell is just beginning men of Zimbabwe. Enjoy what you can while you can for eternity is a long hopeless life of misery and damnation for you and your kin.