I tell you that I love you but you do not hear
If you hear you do not listen yet I know not why
If I have offended you please do not jeer
For all I do is try and try and try
I strive with my soul all my sinews reach
Grasping at straws and begging your kiss
Yet you walk alone along a desolate beach
Fooling yourself that my heart you do not miss
I look to the sky to search for a clue
To how I might get beyond your deep frown
For this one thing I can say I know to be true
My love without you in life I should drown.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Touch my love
I think away the daylight hours
With thoughts of you and me entwined.
Our hearts will always be as one,
And our love is mighty,strong and proud.
Were it not for mountains in our way,
We'd be together in every way
Until the pass has cleared from snow,
When spring arises and we both know
That our path together shall be as one,
To contemplate else shall be defeat.
And our flowers can be undivided
To the point of mass excitement,
We are always one you and I
For we have a love that cannot die.
So remember when tonight you sleep
In your dreams you and I shall meet,
For my darling there is only you
And my heart pounds in symphony
Of beggars, Lords, Dukes and Kings.
Come cry ye all ring our bell,
Make our souls come forth and yell,
To seek our peace with each other's heart.
And never ever shall we part.
With thoughts of you and me entwined.
Our hearts will always be as one,
And our love is mighty,strong and proud.
Were it not for mountains in our way,
We'd be together in every way
Until the pass has cleared from snow,
When spring arises and we both know
That our path together shall be as one,
To contemplate else shall be defeat.
And our flowers can be undivided
To the point of mass excitement,
We are always one you and I
For we have a love that cannot die.
So remember when tonight you sleep
In your dreams you and I shall meet,
For my darling there is only you
And my heart pounds in symphony
Of beggars, Lords, Dukes and Kings.
Come cry ye all ring our bell,
Make our souls come forth and yell,
To seek our peace with each other's heart.
And never ever shall we part.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Othello at Euro 2012
Stan Collymore wrote a reflective piece today in the Sunday Press regarding the dangers facing English fan's travelling to Ukraine and Poland for Euro 2012.
His thoughts that there was an awful lot of scaremongering going on in the press gave good argument to the contrary point portrayed in the Panorama documentary. And I am sure that he is right. We suffer more racism in this country than we like to believe. There may be an African-American President in the White House but we in the United Kingdom are a generation at least away from seeing Dr Martin Luther King's I have a Dream speech coming true here. In the land of supposed tolerance we often see the opposite reality.
Is there racism in Poland and Ukraine? Yes probably. Is it as bad as it is shown? Probably not.
I can reflect upon an incident that tool place when I was a student studying at Liverpool University in the early 1980s. Another student was mugged in Sefton Park and was surprised that it had happened. The bicycle that the student rode was valued at about twice the amount earned in an average month's wage in the area. When he was confronted by a group of locals he was wearing a Varsity scarf and some nifty threads. When the locals taunted him, not very nice I know, he responded by saying how rich he was and that he would have a long and impressive career whereas they would be in the gutter, even less nice. He was really surprised when he was left sitting on his bum watching the mob walk away with his cycle to the comment "Looks like you'll be walking then on your impressive career"
Really that is the secret. If you go wandering off the beaten track and flaunting something in front of those who are not appreciating what you are saying or doing then things will lead to trouble. Predominantly I don't believe that the people of Ukraine or Poland are any more racist that the people of the United Kingdom but I'm also sure that there will be a minority just looking for trouble.
And should we allow those to have the headlines? Absolutely not. It may sell some papers but really come on now, Othello at Euro 2012 that would be a sure a tragedy as we are seeing in the cities of the UK.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Shot to the Heart
So folks I've not given you my thoughts from the edge for a while probably because I've been concentrating on other challenges not least of all my own health which for those who follow me on twitter will know has been somewhat challenging over the past few weeks.
Well one story caught my eye today and in many ways it is an old chestnut of mine. The Death Penalty.
Many of you will know that a British woman along with four others, three British and one Indian, have been arrested in Bali on suspicion of importing narcotics. As a result of this there has been a media feeding frenzy over the statement from the authorities that if she is convicted she will receive The Death Penalty.
Now those of you who know me know my objections to Capital Punishment. In a civilised society there is no room for the ultimate sanction of the state. And I think there lies the point, do we live in a civilised society? Is the human race truly civilised? How can we call ourselves civilised if we support the taking of life in such a sanitised way.
I know people will say that she was a drug runner bringing misery to many people and I understand that point of view particularly if you or a child of yours has been trapped in the wanton destruction of addiction however please take time to look at the alternate view. The person who took the drugs generally did so of their own free will in the first place.
Drug taking, one of the great four taboos in society, is as old as civilisation itself. The law of supply and demand will therefor always run out over the law of the land. Surely it is now a time for a rethink on drugs. This lady was probably fully aware of the consequences of taking drugs into a country like Indonesia that has a zero tolerance policy yet if she did do it the threat of execution obviously did not deter her. In fact Capital Punishment has never stopped the crimes it set out to deter. What would probably have prevented this from happening was if there was no financial gain to be made.
And that ultimately is how we stop drugs barons. Cut of their money supply not their heads. For it is the greed that drives on people when they talk about supplying drugs not the drugs.
Is this radical, in a way yes but in a way no. We know that the number of Dutch residents who are taking drugs have dropped in recent years yet the number of addicts in Holland has risen. The figures are deceiving for the reason for the increase of addicts in Holland is due to the foreign nationals not the indigenous population.
You cannot deal with a problem if you cannot see a problem and with drugs much of it goes on in the twilight world out of sight and therefor out of mind.
Let us stop this nonsense now, let us wash our dirty drugs linen in public and let us rethink the whole strategy of the war on drugs, before your child becomes the next one in this situation.
Well one story caught my eye today and in many ways it is an old chestnut of mine. The Death Penalty.
Many of you will know that a British woman along with four others, three British and one Indian, have been arrested in Bali on suspicion of importing narcotics. As a result of this there has been a media feeding frenzy over the statement from the authorities that if she is convicted she will receive The Death Penalty.
Now those of you who know me know my objections to Capital Punishment. In a civilised society there is no room for the ultimate sanction of the state. And I think there lies the point, do we live in a civilised society? Is the human race truly civilised? How can we call ourselves civilised if we support the taking of life in such a sanitised way.
I know people will say that she was a drug runner bringing misery to many people and I understand that point of view particularly if you or a child of yours has been trapped in the wanton destruction of addiction however please take time to look at the alternate view. The person who took the drugs generally did so of their own free will in the first place.
Drug taking, one of the great four taboos in society, is as old as civilisation itself. The law of supply and demand will therefor always run out over the law of the land. Surely it is now a time for a rethink on drugs. This lady was probably fully aware of the consequences of taking drugs into a country like Indonesia that has a zero tolerance policy yet if she did do it the threat of execution obviously did not deter her. In fact Capital Punishment has never stopped the crimes it set out to deter. What would probably have prevented this from happening was if there was no financial gain to be made.
And that ultimately is how we stop drugs barons. Cut of their money supply not their heads. For it is the greed that drives on people when they talk about supplying drugs not the drugs.
Is this radical, in a way yes but in a way no. We know that the number of Dutch residents who are taking drugs have dropped in recent years yet the number of addicts in Holland has risen. The figures are deceiving for the reason for the increase of addicts in Holland is due to the foreign nationals not the indigenous population.
You cannot deal with a problem if you cannot see a problem and with drugs much of it goes on in the twilight world out of sight and therefor out of mind.
Let us stop this nonsense now, let us wash our dirty drugs linen in public and let us rethink the whole strategy of the war on drugs, before your child becomes the next one in this situation.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Turn again Dick Whittington
The local elections are over, the race for the Mayor of London is over, people have voted in our great cities for mayors and those decisions are over.
So what is the vision of the future?
And there lies the challenge. A pathetic turn out at the polls yet again says more about the disillusionment of the electorate with the political class than it does about the democracy of Great Britain. And by doing so the British public have in effect legitimised a system and Government that is sending this country back to the Victorian era.
Welfare
It is the mark of any civilised society that we look after the poorest, frailest and most in need of support. Instead of this happening what we are seeing are families being forced to relocate, disabled people being thrown into isolation and the elderly left to the kindness of charities and the food parcel. This tells me that we are one step away from the workhouse again and if Tony Nicholson is given the right to get a doctor to end his life we are one step away from euthanasia of those who cannot defend their own rights. Didn't we fight a war to stop that sort of thing happening or have those in power so easily forgotten this?
Education
Education is a right, education is a must but it is not about literacy and numeracy and a set of opinionated tests that say nothing about the ability of child but all about the ability of a school to get children to exhibit Pavlovian responses from their students. What happened to the idea of expression. I am a scientist, Physical, Medical and now Psychological sciences have dominated my life, but look around and see children who have no concept of aesthetics. I see adults who have not read a book since school but can tell you exactly how Plato or Socrates work because of their life experiences. Experiences that have developed because their teachers motivated them with passion to learn. I worry that that is being destroyed by the want to drive scores and grades and I worry that the present system drives the life out of the teaching profession.
Sport
I look at the Barcelona players after being defeated by Chelsea and I saw men, not boys. To a man they stayed on the pitch and shook hands with their opponents they were honourable in defeat and sportsmanlike in their demeanour. I look at premiership players earning £100000 a week moaning to referees when they get booked and batsmen refusing to walk when they are clearly out and I think this is not how I played and it is not how I want my children to play. It is how we lose as well as as we win that is important. The game must always be bigger than the individual
Society
Alcohol, drugs, gambling, sexism, racism and inequality. They're all there in abundance and whilst we should seek to include the positive and exclude the negative we only ever play lip service to the things that we would not talk about in polite conversation. We are a society that firmly believes in a Look after thyself first rather than Love thy neighbour attitude. In this we exclude great wedges of our society. Instead of educating people about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and gambling we sweep the challenges under the table. Instead of educating about inequality and promoting tolerance we still stay entrenched in a them and us attitude. We are still a system of class not a system of equality.
So what of the future?
We need leaders who will include, not exclude. We need leaders with empathy for all not support for corrupt practice. We need educators not invigilators.
WE NEED INSPIRATION, PASSION, ENLIGHTENMENT AND COMPASSION
And we need it......................................NOW!
So what is the vision of the future?
And there lies the challenge. A pathetic turn out at the polls yet again says more about the disillusionment of the electorate with the political class than it does about the democracy of Great Britain. And by doing so the British public have in effect legitimised a system and Government that is sending this country back to the Victorian era.
Welfare
It is the mark of any civilised society that we look after the poorest, frailest and most in need of support. Instead of this happening what we are seeing are families being forced to relocate, disabled people being thrown into isolation and the elderly left to the kindness of charities and the food parcel. This tells me that we are one step away from the workhouse again and if Tony Nicholson is given the right to get a doctor to end his life we are one step away from euthanasia of those who cannot defend their own rights. Didn't we fight a war to stop that sort of thing happening or have those in power so easily forgotten this?
Education
Education is a right, education is a must but it is not about literacy and numeracy and a set of opinionated tests that say nothing about the ability of child but all about the ability of a school to get children to exhibit Pavlovian responses from their students. What happened to the idea of expression. I am a scientist, Physical, Medical and now Psychological sciences have dominated my life, but look around and see children who have no concept of aesthetics. I see adults who have not read a book since school but can tell you exactly how Plato or Socrates work because of their life experiences. Experiences that have developed because their teachers motivated them with passion to learn. I worry that that is being destroyed by the want to drive scores and grades and I worry that the present system drives the life out of the teaching profession.
Sport
I look at the Barcelona players after being defeated by Chelsea and I saw men, not boys. To a man they stayed on the pitch and shook hands with their opponents they were honourable in defeat and sportsmanlike in their demeanour. I look at premiership players earning £100000 a week moaning to referees when they get booked and batsmen refusing to walk when they are clearly out and I think this is not how I played and it is not how I want my children to play. It is how we lose as well as as we win that is important. The game must always be bigger than the individual
Society
Alcohol, drugs, gambling, sexism, racism and inequality. They're all there in abundance and whilst we should seek to include the positive and exclude the negative we only ever play lip service to the things that we would not talk about in polite conversation. We are a society that firmly believes in a Look after thyself first rather than Love thy neighbour attitude. In this we exclude great wedges of our society. Instead of educating people about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and gambling we sweep the challenges under the table. Instead of educating about inequality and promoting tolerance we still stay entrenched in a them and us attitude. We are still a system of class not a system of equality.
So what of the future?
We need leaders who will include, not exclude. We need leaders with empathy for all not support for corrupt practice. We need educators not invigilators.
WE NEED INSPIRATION, PASSION, ENLIGHTENMENT AND COMPASSION
And we need it......................................NOW!
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Hungry for it?
Now over the years I've seen a lot of films. I've seen the good, the bad and the darn right terrible but when I went to see The Hunger Games I think I saw one of the more disturbing.
It is not a new nor brilliant concept in my opinion. In many ways it is no different from Lord of the Flies, A Clockwork Orange, Death Race or The Running Man. It is well crafted though and challenges a society that has somewhat changed in recent years especially in relation to children.
It is disturbing because I went with my 11 year old son who came out and there was little or no reaction. No reaction either from all the other children that were also watching, well perhaps there was the odd 'she killed them good remark' but that was about it. And I have to ask the question why?
As a psychologist I am aware of dissociation of events however if this is the case here it would seem to be a class dissociation of the whole of the pre-teen generation. Are our children becoming Piggy? or Droogs? Is violence acceptable now or has it always been but it seems more real now?
I think I need more time to reflect upon my observations but I really wanted to start the debate as I am concerned for our future. In our educational system we seek to destroy spontaneity not release it. Our want to control is almost second nature but we are not born wanting to control we develop that urge so does our society drive us towards that control?
To be continued..........................
To be continued..........................
Friday, 27 April 2012
Humility
I have been thinking a lot recently about life, and death and all that lies in between. 11 years ago today I was in a maternity suite in Oxford waiting for my son to be born. I knew he was a boy as I'd been reading ultrasound scans for longer than I could remember. I knew he might not live as he'd been turned due to a wrong presentation and there was a serious risk of cord compression. So there I sat, once again in the John Radcliffe, once again in theatre greens, and I waited.
Years before I had been fortunate enough to deliver my first son. A flu crisis had left the local hospital in Trowbridge with one midwife and three deliveries almost simultaneous deliveries. The midwife said to me you know how to deliver a baby don't you? I said I knew the theory but had never actually done it to which came the reply, 'Well tonight my son you get to practice'
Of all the training I have had over the years nothing quite gets you ready for the amazing sight of a head starting to emerge from a mother. It is totally and utterly awesome and I still find pregnant women so powerfully beautiful, probably because of the incredible thing they are doing.
It made me think of how wonderfully blessed we are when we create life. It reminds me constantly of how insignificant yet unique we are and it inspires me to be the very best that I can be.
But more than anything it humbles me
And today with the gluttony and the greed and the selfishness that I see in this I'm alright Jack world that we live in I think it is so good that there are things powerful enough to do this. As I gaze down upon my sleeping son hoping that we will spend many birthdays together I think to myself how lucky and blessed I am.
Happy Birthday my beautiful son, live long, stay healthy, seek wisdom and above all show grace, kindness and humility in your path through life. And remember you are loved infinitely.
Years before I had been fortunate enough to deliver my first son. A flu crisis had left the local hospital in Trowbridge with one midwife and three deliveries almost simultaneous deliveries. The midwife said to me you know how to deliver a baby don't you? I said I knew the theory but had never actually done it to which came the reply, 'Well tonight my son you get to practice'
Of all the training I have had over the years nothing quite gets you ready for the amazing sight of a head starting to emerge from a mother. It is totally and utterly awesome and I still find pregnant women so powerfully beautiful, probably because of the incredible thing they are doing.
It made me think of how wonderfully blessed we are when we create life. It reminds me constantly of how insignificant yet unique we are and it inspires me to be the very best that I can be.
But more than anything it humbles me
And today with the gluttony and the greed and the selfishness that I see in this I'm alright Jack world that we live in I think it is so good that there are things powerful enough to do this. As I gaze down upon my sleeping son hoping that we will spend many birthdays together I think to myself how lucky and blessed I am.
Happy Birthday my beautiful son, live long, stay healthy, seek wisdom and above all show grace, kindness and humility in your path through life. And remember you are loved infinitely.
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