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The EU should not just stand and wait for the next country to jump ship; it should implement the desired reforms. For many people, both in and outside of the British isles, Britain is an outcast and, at least, a bit of a pariah. There is a sense amongst many that Britain has betrayed the aura of 'greatness' which they believed it had, and had become fascinated with. Britain leaving the European Union and precipitating a sense of national and international chaos and instability, is not what they had come to expect of this considered preeminent of nations; a model of nationhood which many countries aspire toward. And, there is now a danger of the international community 'lumping all of the British people together' and apply collective punishment to them. Ignoring the fact that the nation was divided nearly 50/50 per cent between those British people who wanted to leave the European Union, and those who wanted to stay. Indeed the nearly 50 per cent of Briton

Consider this: It would appear that millions of the British electorate - but definitely not the 16.14 millions who voted to remain - probably  with minds which had become clouded by their immediate fears and precarious living, have given way to their emotions and voted for Britain to leave the European Union. They had and probably are still hoping that this decision will lead Britain to utopia, but they cannot be sure of that. Indeed, following the now on-going adverse reaction and increased uncertainties after the decision to leave, the more prudent and hindsighted ones amongst the Brexiters might well be wondering - 'have we done the right thing?' or, 'what have we done.? It is, however, too late for hindsight. Arguably, the voters who voted to leave, did not sufficiently bothered themselves with the technicalities and the resources and renegotiation which would be needed to give effect to their wanting to leave the EU; like Judges who pass their judgement

This video is of a heron which  frequents this particular canal.  I am not sure if it is the same one which I previously encountered, as this one has some dark patches below its right shoulder, and, for whatever reason, it was less anxious and more tolerant of my presence. I have accompanied the video with a rather raspy and upbeat tune. Play it, if you will, and allow it to bring you some enjoyment. Hi, there, Said the Man to the Passing Heron!  Talking to Me, the Heron Seemed to Say!

The emotions of the elite are not different from those of the masses, nor are those of the rich different from those of the poor. As the perennial dictum goes, one person bleeds much the same as another, if you cut him/or her. What might be different is in the passion with which the poor and the rich, the elite and masses display their emotions, and the amount of time they might allocate to the different emotions. This raises the question as to whether their is any fundamental difference in their respective value to humanity, or, for the theists, their human-inspired 'decrees' of their gods? At an individual level, their is nothing to suggest that there is any difference between the life of a member of the masses and the life of a member of the elite, or that of the rich and of the poor. However, when looked at on a societal basis - which is probably the only context in which the lives of humans can be fully lived - there is some objective facts which would suggest tha

The British people, even the Brexiters, will be waking up this morning feeling a great sense of insecurity and anxiety.  This will probably become more acute after the British Stock Market opens and starts to feel the immediate and short term impact of the country's decision to leave the European Union. It is not that the Brexiters have won the Referendum by a large margin of the votes. They have won it with a reported 1.8 per cent margin, which means that roughly half of the 33 plus million votes, out of the 46 millon who were eligible to vote, voted to remain and the other half voted to leave. We will not know what would have been the outcome, had at least several millions of the 28 per cent of the electorate who did not vote, but who must now prosper or suffer misfortune as a result of this decision, did their civic duty and cast their votes.   It might have been that the decision would not have been different, as those who voted seemed to have been quite representative o

Yes, I do know that you are probably wondering how comes I am so good, no, let us not mince words, so brilliant, so accomplished, at this upside down feeding lark. No, I am not from Australia, but, I have been doing it for about 1 year or so now. This,  along with the added advantage of being blessed with a body which has been suitably evolved to provide me with the agility required of an animal that spends a lot of my time breezing through trees, fences, etc, make this feeding lark light work for me; although there are times when I do have this feeling of my food wanting to drop out, instead of dropping into my stomach.  I have been told that this has something to do with a phenomenon called 'gravity.' But, except for such occasional discomfort, I have now made this feeding station into 'a squirrel feeder', rather than a bird feeder, which is not to say I am depriving the birds of their feed, as they only occasionally use it, and, in any case, have another two f

Is Britain going to jump off the bridge? Consider this: Like life, nothing is without a cost. The price of life and death is mutually exclusive, in that the cost of the one is the other, with death being the price of life and life being the price of death, even if you we will not be able to experience the latter. beyond the point of dying. And this leads me to contemplate the fate which the Brexiters would subject the British people to; namely the probable loss of much of what they have accrued through their hard toil, in the hope of securing the 'bigger bone' which they can see reflected in the waters of the post-EU adventures of Britain. Let us hope that the majority of the British electorate do not forget the principles of charity and faith in the fraternity of the human race, and vote to drop the bone they have, and jump into the channel, only to find that bone they expected to retrieve, was no more than a reflection of that which they had before.

Who is 'Ma', you might be thinking? Well, Ma is a 96 year old woman who, all things being equal, is still going reasonably strongly, although, as you might expect, her legs are not what they used to be and her feet are not as nimbly as they had been in her much younger days, when getting to and from a to b, meant walking for miles under the baking hot Jamaican Sun. That, however, was in the past, and what I want to focus on now, is the few hours a close relative and I spent hanging out or, as you might prefer, just spending time with Ma. Ma, having had so far, a comparatively very long life, is what you might call a 'character', which, in her case, can be both a delightful trait and an annoying one. Fortunately for my close relative and me, it was the delightful trait or tendency which was mostly in play today.  So, the day began with me leaving home and, somewhat unexpectedly, getting caught up in the morning school rush hour, leading me to fear that I would not

It is only right that we should acknowledge the contribution others make in assisting our progress in realising our objectives. And so it is that I wish to acknowledge the contribution of a graphics animator, Karl Reid, in improving the presentation of this blog, which, I hope, readers will find pleasing.  I of certainly of the view that this young man's contribution has enhanced the visual and aestic quality of this blog. So, Karl, thanks for your contribution. And just in case reader of this blog wants to know, Karl is open to offers of from anybody wanting animation work to be done!

Will Britain opt to 'go it alone.? Those of us who would like to see Britain remaining in the European Union and fighting with other similar minded member states to reform it, are looking towards the Britain's EU Referendum vote on 23rd June 2020 with deep apprehension. The reason for this apprehension is the fear that a majority of the British electorate could vote the country out of the European Union, through a combination of malaise, xenophobia, racism, selfishness, and, yes, because of their genuine concern that, by doing so, voting 'no to continuing British membership', they will solve the problem of increasing immigration to Britain, more jobs for the less skilled or unskilled workforce, and less pressure on the country's National Health Service, housing and education infra-structure. And yet, the maths does not add up and even where they seem to do, the situation is not as clear cut as the Brexiters are claiming. They would like the electorate t

We all have prejudices which are set to influence our attitudes and actions when the external environmental circumstances are conducive to them being revealed, and the perceived threat is greater than than our commitment to 'I am not prejudices and I am not racist.' Live your life as well as you can and try to avoid becoming too possessive of 'this is ours'; remembering that each of us has only so much time up on the earth, before fading away as if we never existed. Work together for the good of all and not just us, which is too often at the expense of the 'them.'

The house in which Shaka was born and brought up In this part, Shaka recalls some of the more pleasurable and rewarding times he had at school in Hillside, even with the fear of being beaten constantly lurking in his consciousness or subconsciousness Notwithstanding his fear associated with being beaten by his teachers, on the whole Shaka’s recollection is that his school life was not very bad. He did not see himself as being popular at school, although he had some close friends, some of them looking to him to assist them with some subjects, and him looking to them to assist him with others. Shaka recalled that he liked doing arithmetic, but was not good at algebra. He liked doing essays, general knowledge, including learning about who were the head of state of the Commonwealth countries, reading and comprehension, and art and geology.  He recalled cutting coco stalk and dipping it into ink made from berries and making imprinted shapes on white sheets of paper. Sh

Consider this: The principle that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, would probably carry more weight, had it not been for the fact that not many of us expect or believe that terrible misfortune - such as being a political refugee or homeless migrant - will befall us, and we are therefore less likely to empathise with those experiencing such misfortune. Unless you are amongst the more unfortunate, live your appreciatively and endeavour to avoid speaking ill of them, especially if you are unable or have chosen not to assist them.

Another short video, combining a stirring old favourite song with a view of our garden. I find this very relaxing; hope it provides you with some. See what you make of it.

For many people, the mention of 'social worker' or 'social workers', will elicit a response of disdain or disgust. For others, it will be to remind them of someone who has helped them to get through a particularly difficult time in their.  For those who have not directly had involvement with 'the welfare services', it might conjure up reports and/or pictures 'those people who help to protect abused children', or 'are responsible for the death of abused children', or 'taking away people's children.'  Of course, although it might seem fair to assume that all social workers are motivated with a desire to help, the assumption still needs to be tested. For example, some social workers might be motivated to help vulnerable parents whom they see as victims, while other might be motivated to help the vulnerable children. All of which then raises questions about the how, why and whens, as well as priorities, if the worker is to be succ

This is a short video of a regularly visiting squirrel contentedly eating a piece of garlic bread. Not long after the video was taken, the squirrel hid the remainder of his meal in the greenery behind him, unaware to me. Minutes later I saw a Magpie making its way into the greenery, but had no idea what it was up to. That was until I saw it flew out shortly after, with the piece of garlic bread in its beak. It would appear that the Magpie had been watching the squirrel, only to rob it of its booty when its back was turned, as it were. Fortunately for these squirrels - about 3 regularly visit the garden - it has mastered feeding from the bird feeders and from bread thrown on the grass, so it is unlikely to go hungry.

What has been going on, I asked myself, why the media and the politicians have made so little reference to Mr Bernard Carter-Kenny, a 77 year old man who risked his life to try to save Jo Cox, and was badly injured in the process? Why no or so little reference to this man, whose heroism is not or only being grudgingly acknowledged? Is it that he and his family have asked that they be kept out of it, or is it that he and his life is not seen as being of equal value to that of tragic, but now lost Jo Cox? I struggle to comprehend the strange logic which has led to bumbling and opportunistic politicians and wolfish media ignoring this man, and failing to sing his praises. Is it that he would have made the 'news' more and gain mention from the politicians if he had died? Sadly, I suspect that that is so. Consequently, instead of dealing and focusing on the human tragedy which has befallen Mr Carter-Kenny and Jo Cox's family', the media and the politicians conspir

As the tasks we are required to perform become more challenging, so we have to develop our knowledge and skills bases, the meet them. Sunday's inaugural Baku Grand Prix, contrary to what had been anticipated, delivered a great race, with Mercedes' Nico Rosberg triumphing in a race which saw none of his challengers, including his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, coming close to giving him a fight for the lead in any of the laps.  In short, Rosberg, starting on Pole, delivered a master call race and results. It was to the relief of everybody - except probably those teams which might have based significant parts of their racing strategies on the likelihood of accidents and the intervention of the safety car. As it transpired, there was no need for either the Virtual Safety Car or the real thing. The race was safer and much less accident free than others on purpose built circuit. Well done, Baku, Azerbaizan! Unlike his team mate, Lewis Hamilton had a poor race, which was ch