Asocial Democracy

As the prospect of a Cameron government, ably supported by Nick Clegg's LibDems, looms ever larger - my sense of despondency grows deeper.

The anarchy of the banks and stockmarkets, gambling with peoples lives, this is the moving force behind our whole political system. The Tories, defenders of inherited wealth and tax avoidance, are their front-line supporters. The press, undemocratically supported by their advertisers, attempt to persuade you to support their propietors political interest. When, as a consumer or productive employee, were you ever asked whether the profits derived from your endeavours, and purchases, should be utilized to uphold the Tory press and indeed the self-same party by more direct, and even occasionally dubious means? The politicians are merely the mouthpiece, and innefective monitors, of the City's abusers. The true wealth creators, the working class, are overlooked by these fearless defenders of the pin-striped parasites.

In my younger (political) activist days the greatest scorn we could pour upon any prospective candidate was that they were "careerist"; these days the word careerist seems to be umbilically linked with the title politician. All the major parties vie to see who can do the most to maintain the status quo. Yes they'll offer a minor tweak here a deceptive twist there but all they can do is proffer a band-aid to their victims when what the whole system needs is major surgery. The prospect looms of a VAT increase whoever attains power, as if they don't realize that this will hit the most impoverished members of society the hardest!

Of Gardens Tweets and Banana Curry

A marked improvement in the weather has resulted in me spending much more time in the garden; a lot of necessary tidying up alongside new plantings and transplantings have been a component part of these open-air hours. Gardening aside, even more of the time has been spent simply observing avian, piscine and amphibian activity as well as watching flowers (both cultivated and natural varieties) grow. The gardening activity has in no small part been encouraged by the presence of ma belle amoureuse who has taken a few days leave (from her employment).These prolonged escapes, from the more cloistered hearth and home, account in part for the recent paucity of blog postings.

On top of these modest exertions I've even managed a few moderately brisk strolls around the neighbourhood; so far, much to my delight, I've even managed to avoid any relapse! After my familiar 10 - 11 hours of bedrest, having taken painkillers to deal with the routine painful spasms in the lower limbs whilst still abed, the days have passed quite smoothly.

I've always managed to squeeze in some time on the PC, on at least a daily basis, primarily to check e-mails and, follow through any links from those people that I follow on Twitter. Amazing how time consuming this latter activity can be but, I even manage to do a bit of tweeting of my own.

As ma belle has not been at work, it has made a pleasant change to do some cooking at lunchtime rather than in the evening. I even managed to devise a Banana & Green Pepper Curry on one of these occasions which turned out much better than I could have imagined.

The recipe (two servings) was roughly as follows:

3 large bananas, 1 medium sized onion, 1 medium sized green pepper, coriander powder (3 heaped teaspoons), cumin powder (1 level teaspoon), turmeric (l heaped teaspoon), tikka spices (1 heaped teaspoon), mixed herbs (1 level teaspoon), West Indian hot pepper sauce & extra virgin olive oil ( 2 tablespoons). Penne Pasta (7 oz)

Having peeled and sliced the bananas I added a generous dollop of hot pepper sauce (a kind of lazy marinade), left it to stand for ten minutes.

I preheated the spices in a frying pan, to release the aromas, before adding the olive oil and swiftly sauteed the onion (sliced into rings). After a couple of minutes throw in the sliced green pepper stirring all the time. Finally threw in the sliced banana and simmered for about seven minutes.

This unusual curry was served on a bed of wholegrain penne pasta.

Following that experimental cook, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, today we settled for a simple meal of yellowfin tuna steaks, served with new potatoes, broccoli, leeks and french beans.

As time is so pressing for us OAPs - I must apologize for this abrupt conclusion!

 

Avian Spectacular

As I stroll up the garden, the hedgerows vibrate with chatter from the thronging sparrows; I inadvertently disturb the starlings squabble as they take flight from their feeding station. And suddenly, I'm on alert, a coarse croaking crow cawed duet greets my ears. One can't fail to note a hint of aggression in their strident guttural call.

The lure of the ear swiftly draws the eyes attention to an impressive aerial display; my pulse races as I observe the avian activity. The corvines frantically pursue and dive-bomb an inquisitive red kite; the kite responds to their somewhat frenetic activity with a couple of (almost relaxed) beats of its wings as it seeks and rides an appropriate thermal, gaining altitude in an apparently effortless glide. I almost hear it mutter, "you had enough then!" to the exhausted crows.

Minutes later, my pulse continues to race with the excitement of the display. I feel truly blessed to have been an observer, on my own doorstep, of such a breathtaking spectacle.

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This morning, I posted some photos, Garden Flora - Up Close, on Mal's Picturebox.

Pessimism & Despondency - The Cameron Prospect

No matter what the polls say, promises of a hung parliament etc., I approach the forthcoming election with an intense sense of foreboding. Cameron in power is the essence of nightmares, a period of social divisiveness that will make the evils of the Thatcher years seem like a picnic. It was the Tories who destroyed our industrial base,  who doubled VAT thus penalizing the poorest in society, and who started the whole process of demutualizing and deregulation that led to the current economic crisis. It is the Tories who are most eager to cut back public spending whilst at the same time pumping more resources into our Offence Forces.

Sadly, elements of Thatcherite philosophy seem to run deep in the veins of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative leaders. All represent the interests of the middle and, in the case of the Tories, upper-middle classes. All pretend to proffer freedom of choice yet none of them offer to repeal Thatcher's anti Trade Union legislation, which denies a meaningful voice to the working class. In the end, my primary consideration before casting a vote is, who will best protect the interests of the weakest in society, both at home and overseas? All of them uphold a disreputable capitalist system, whilst attempting to ignore it's inherent contradictions, but perhaps a few of their representatives sincerely believe it is possible to redeem it!

At least the Lib Dems didn't support the Iraq war, which to me is the strongest point in their favour and, they even have the best potential Chancellor in Vince Cable, unlikely as the prospect of that coming to fruition is! Ultimately, my vote has to be cast whatever way helps to keep the Tories out of office. Fortunately our constituency has been very well represented by Phil Willis (Lib Dem), who is standing down this time, and whose successor as parliamentary candidate, Claire Kelley, has worked closely alongside Phil for a number of years. Until Phil took office a couple of elections ago, our constituency had always been solidly Tory and was noticeably unrepresented / underrepresented by our elected Tory poodle in parliament.

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P.S. the recovery, albeit fragile, is on it's way - don't let the Tories wreck it:

BBC News - UK economy set to outpace most G7 peers, says OECD

news.bbc.co.uk

The UK economy is forecast to outstrip its G7 peers in the second quarter of this year, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Easter Greetings

Spring Is Here

A couple of days ago, I posted four new photos ("rite of spring") on Mal's Picturebox. The frogs they would a-wooing go!

Now

Sometimes it's as if memories are more tangible than present reality. The memories I refer to, are those dating back to a time when socializing, travel, sensory overload could all be taken in my stride; the days when I could go to a concert, a gig, the theatre, cinema etc just on a whim, without first having to steel myself for the ordeal. I'm never sure whether clinging to these memories has any positive value as, they simply serve to throw into the spotlight my current more restricted existence. I suspect it's best to simply live in the present, maximise the opportunities afforded by spending time in the garden, dipping into a book as and when the necessary emotional stamina and concentration is available, listening to a CD, watching a DVD and, especially any time spent in the company of my beloved.

Today we went over to the garden centre at Otley, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, approx 15 - 20 mins either way, just about my ideal distance these days. A couple of garden vouchers, that we'd received for our wedding anniversary, went towards a pair of good quality shears, and although  tempted by many items, I only yielded to the temptation to buy a couple of alpine / perennial plants to refresh a rather outworn display in one of the stone planters. Inspired by the excursion, I got down to the necessary transplanting operation within a couple of minutes of arriving back home. Meanwhile ma belle set about a little more tidying up of one of the garden borders.

As we worked, a blackbird provided a beautifully mellifluous background melody; what more could one ask for! Yet there was more. My attention was constantly drawn to the pond, where the piscine inhabitants seemed to gleam in the newly clarified water, the underwater filter having been re-installed (by yours truly) a couple of days ago. Come to think of it, there's nothing more real than now! What's more, ignoring troublesome afflictions, I've never known a time of more contentment.

bipartisan politics!

On one side we have the Labour Party, funded to a considerable extent from the voluntary contributions paid by trade unionists. Opposing them we have the Tories, the Conservative Party, primarily funded by the bosses which, indirectly, means the involuntary contribution of those who are in the bosses workforce or paying customers of the boss. I don't believe that the workforce or the customers, who make the profits for the bosses, have ever been balloted to see if they would like the fruit of their efforts to be used to payroll the Tories.

The Labour party when in government, contrary to what the Tories would have us believe, not infrequently sides with the bosses against the unions. Somehow, presumably for historical reasons, the unions remain their loyal paymasters. These paymasters get short shrift.

The Conservatives retain total loyalty to their paymasters, the bosses, and given the chance do everything in their power to emasculate the unions. Sadly, Labour never seems to have any intention to repeal the Tories anti trade union legislation. The Conservatives, as their name suggests, are there to maintain the status quo, whereas Labour do at least attempt to rectify some of the gross inequalities in society.

Labour, under the Blairite banner of 'New Labour', inherited (and pursued further) Tory Thatcherite economic policies, which on a global scale led to the financial collapse.

The Tories now ask us to believe that under the banner of 'change' they can rectify the problems. Conservative = Change, a paradox if ever there was one!

Too tired to relax

After a couple of almost sleepless nights I have now managed, with the aid of pre-emptive painkillers, to get two successive relatively comfortable sleep enriched nights. Perhaps the "enriched" word is putting it a bit strong, even though theoretically it should prove a blessing.

Although that should have compensated for the preceding sleep-deprived nights, exhaustion seems to be the persistent companion to my waking hours. Ten minutes of magazine or web browsing, in fact anything other than idle inattentiveness, induces a state of heavily lidded eyes, and the consequent decision; do I allow myself to drift off into full snooze mode or do I resist the bodies apparent yearning?

I know that if I allow myself to catnap it will outstay its welcome, then there's a fair chance it will interfere with the later attempt to get a decent nights sleep. If I resist, I'll spend the next half-hour or more in a kind of shuddering wakefulness; it's so strange that the very flesh which so frequently overheats in cooler conditions now seems to shiver whilst the ambient temperature is considerably warmer.

Somehow, it seems as if tiredness militates against relaxation!

an unsought for exercise in sleep-deprivation

Well, I did manage to catch nearly an hours kip between 10.30pm and 2.30am, followed by briefly intermittent snatches of zzzzz before 4.00am. From that time onwards I lay abed, struggling to turn myself over now and again, accompanied by a selection of sounds emanating from the bedside radio. At approximately ten minute intervals, I found myself checking the clock assuming at least one and a half hours had passed. It seemed like a productive training course for anyone wishing to take up the post of full-time insomniac.

Whenever I moved the position of my arms, attempted to clear the mucus from my throat, or even tried some breathing exercises to aid relaxation, I was acutely reminded of the pain in my ribs. Between 7.30 and 10.15am, I almost caught myself napping, on one or two occasions, before becoming finally able to cast off the delusion that sleep was imminent.

By mid-afternoon, following a relaxing visit to Cafe Culture, sleep deprivation caught up with me. Stiff neck, bloated tum, wearily aching limbs (both upper and lower variety) and a general inability to cope with any sensory information whatsoever, eventually yielded to a relaxing snooze. I somehow suspect that it was my bodies unsubtle way of informing me that, in spite of my advancing years, I really do require more than three hours sleep in any 48 hour period. But, if that is the case, why is it currently so reluctant to grant me that luxury?