Politics, n: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman

I feel profoundly grateful to those who died in the Great Wars, so that I can enjoy the freedoms which are mine. Since being a teenager, I have been very aware of their sacrifice, often shedding a tear or two on the eleventh of the eleventh. My Great Uncle Wheaton, serving in the Navy, survived a variety of sorties and exchanges in foreign waters, only to be killed by a mine as he arrived home to his heroes welcome at Portsmouth. Such a tragic waste of life.

The thing is, the tragedy isn't so much that Wheaton died trying to save his country - in a way that has been a noble and worthwhile pursuits since time immemorial. The real tragedy, I feel, is when those freedoms for which he fought are trodden under the foot of those who ought to know better. I, as a healthy, white, straight man, enjoy a delightful array of freedoms in the green and pleasant land: I can study what I like, read what I like, say what I like, wear what I like, drink what I like, drive what I like, do whatever job I like. Yet a child has no such rights, not even the right to live, it emerged yesterday.

The green is seems not so green and the pleasant not so pleasant now that the oafs in Westminster have rejected the cry for the sanctity of life. I know someone who has just had twins, born at 22 weeks, one of whom has survived and is now gaining strength after some worrying weeks in hospital. This is a living, breathing baby girl, as beautiful as she is tiny, and SHE HAS A RIGHT TO LIVE! To me, allowing the murder of babies at 24 weeks is a vile and criminal practice, one for which criminal penalties should apply, the same as it would for the murder of a person of any other age. In other countries, men and women of strength and cajones have stood against abortion and their countries have benefited from its abhorrence of this evil practice. In this country, however abortion has been culturally and politically embraced as an effective method of contraception. So much so that more than 60,000 infants are broken, scraped and vaccuumed into seeming oblivion.

Last night in the House of Commons, a vote was held and a proposed drop in termination date was rejected on the grounds that "there is no medical evidence to support the proposal". There was no medical evidence to suggest that murdering a million Jews in the concentration camps was morally repugnant, but when we hear about the idea, we just KNOW that it is wrong. To add insult to injury, the same buffoons that approved this, also gave the green light to "hybrid embryology" last week, whereby human genetic material is being mixed with animal in order to create hybrid embryos. So what can be done about it?

"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant." Helen Keller was right on the money there. We have become a society of non-thinkers, people who DO without first thinking about what they are doing or even why. What happens when your child reaches 5? You send them to school, right? Did you actually THINK through your child's educational options and arrive at the course of action you felt was best to help him or her to fulfill their unique potential? Or did you just send them to school because that's what everybody else does? Bingo.

The problem with living in a nation of sheep is that there inevitably come wolves in sheep's clothing. Enter Mr Abortion Law. Enter Mr Hybrid. How many people live in Britain? About 60 million. How many are of voting age? About 40 million. How many idiots sit in parliament? About 450, I think. Do you see where I'm going with this? How can they possibly hope to govern the country, unless they know the country they are dealing with? had they actually listened to any of the home-educating families that I know, they would never, ever have even considered rejecting this proposal, in fact they may have even outlawed abortion altogether. Had they bothered to consult with those families, they would realise what an impact their proposed new change to parents staying at home would have. So what is to be done about them?

Do you not realise the power of your own voice? Do you not realise that the things that are abhorrent to you are also abhorrent to a thousand other people around the country? This is the day and age where opinions matter, where voices really can be heard - where the voice of the people saying "You cheap, amoral morons! Stop this evil at once!" can resound in the ear of every politician, every local councillor, every decision-maker in every business. We have a right to breathe clean air, to drink clear water, to take walks in the beauties of this land, and unless we stop this silence, we will soon lose them. The first mistake would be to believe that politicians have the nation's interests at heart. The second is to do nothing to stop them.

WE are the nation, not THEM. I am not inciting you to violence, nor to extremism of any kind. I do this in the same spirit that Christ threw the money-changers from the Temple - I do it with vigor and urgency, because human rights are sacred and ought to be protected with every resource at our disposal. Even if that means laying down our lives like Uncle Wheaton did. Let whatever we sacrifice for the rights of our children, never go to waste like his did. I don't know how to do something about this. I hope that you and others who read this or who talk about it, will come up with the answers to that. perhaps you'd be good enough to share your ideas in the comments section, so that we can DO something. Winston Churchill, one of my all-time heroes, said the following: "All it would take for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing" So what are WE going to do? you and I. What are we going to do about it?

Community

I generally don't like it when someone starts to rant about a problem they are willing to offer no solution to. Having said that, I'll try my very best not to actually 'rant' about this - more sort of 'ponder all over my keyboard'!

I love it when old people talk about the war. I could quite happily sit there for hours and listen to them going on - and often have done - about rationing, Churchill's great speeches and the Blackout. But the bit that most fascinates me - I mean really, really draws me in - is this spirit of community which they all talk about. It doesn't seem to matter where in the country you were at the time of the war, the Brits were just struck by a feeling of 'togetherness'.

And here's where the ranty bit starts.... I don't think we've got that any more. I honestly don't know what happened to it, but it seems to have gone, faded away into the same oblivion that swallowed up home-gardening, beef dripping and 'make-do-or-mend'. Perhaps it fell victim to the post-war economic optimism that seduced America in the 50's: work harder so you can buy more 'stuff'. Perhaps we lost our sense of focus and got so carried away with the after-parties that we forgot those values and practices that brought us through the conflict in the first place.

Whatever the cause may prove to be, I'm starting to feel optimistic that it's not beyond repair. I rejoice - and I do use that word deliberately - to see events like the Bush Moot being organised again this year, where hundreds of wilderness lovers gather from around the globe to share their skills and crafts with each other. Academics such as Andy Munzer are using their influence to rekindle the flames of story-telling, sharing messages, morals and histories with future generations. I'm heartened to see the number of people doing extraordinary things to raise money and awareness for issues that would otherwise have gone unheard. Children in Need, for example, raised what I consider to be a staggering amount of money in their annual appeal last year, a total of £36million. (And bear in mind that this is all against a backdrop of credit-crunching and petrol pirates).

I feel really chuffed to see the astronomic growth of social networking sites such as Facebook.com, where communities of friends and strangers are able to share common interests, keep in touch in easy and entertaining ways, and build whole new communities, based not on geographical proximity, but on common interest and shared values. Add to this the enormous and wonderfully inspiring progeny of Linus Torvalds and the whole Open Source movement, and you really start to sense that community spirit only appears to be out for the count.

What is actually happening, is that borders, barriers and limitations are being torn down everywhere we look. I feel that it is culturally comparable to the Berlin Wall coming down. International communities are enhancing and complementing local, geographical ones. Data and culture sharing are becoming regular, everyday occurrences in so many people's lives. We are no longer merely citizens of the land we happen to live in today, but citizens of Planet Earth, connected to and interacting with millions of un-met compatriots, each of us concerned with and affected by the systematic rape and pillage of the earth's finite resources.

I feel that our generation owes a tremendous debt to our forebears, not only to continue their fight for freedom - and indeed to exercise and benefit from the freedoms for which they gave so much - but also to carry that torch of community spirit and 'togetherness' onwards. I'm reminded very much of the Olympic torch, being passed from one neighbour to another, year after year, its flame never being allowed to be blown out. Perhaps we would all do well to embrace the same concept: to burn as brightly in our own circles of influence as we can, and to teach others to do the same.

The Chooks of Hazzard

(Sorry, that was awful I know! I couldn't resist!!)

So here we are, another fortnight gone by, and time to clean out the hen-house again. Our neighbours on one side built a 6 foot fence the other week, so Linda and I decided to let the chickens be completely free-range, even when we're not in the garden to keep an eye on them. They've thrived since then, and the taste of their eggs is just exquisite.

But then of course, there's the 'other' stuff that comes out of that pipe... and that's not as pleasant to deal with!! When you read articles entitled "How to start with chickens", they reassuringly tell you that you'll ;just know' when they need to be cleaned out again. And oh boy, do you!! We have four females (hence the eggs.....) each coming up to six months old, and they certainly know how to poop!!

Go on, have a guess. Four hens, about the size of a curled up cat in your lap. I clean them out every two weeks. Be brave now - how much poop do I scoop out of their coop? (Now that was actually quite clever, and completely unintentional!!) A breakfast bowl? A side plate? Maybe even a dinner plate's worth? (I hasten to add that I don't actually use any of those receptacles, lest you should ever fear eating here again...)

Even if you had guessed a moderately-sized saucepan, you would still have been found wanting, for my little treasures produce two tightly packed buckets of poo every fortnight. Now bear in mind, there's wood shavings in there too, but by and large, the amount is indeed large!

So bearing in mind that there are only so many times a day you can eat eggs, no matter how good they are (and did I mention that they really are good?), I started to have a niggling fear that this might not be paying off - that it might still be cheaper to buy them from the shop. So I worked it out:


We get four eggs a day x 320 days a year (on average for this breed when kept free-range) = 1,280 = 106 dozen eggs.

Even as I write, Tesco will happily relieve you of £1.44 per half dozen = £152.64 per year

The hens cost me about £7 a month in feed, plus whatever gets left over from our plates, which we risk our lives to take out to them!! So that's £84 a year, plus about £15 a year in shavings. That makes the total cost of keeping them £99 per year.

So already we're saving in the region of £53 a year. BUT (or should I say BUTT) (Sorry about this...) Let's not forget the pure, unadulterated and beautifully potent chicken manure we (well, they, technically) produce. At around £4 a bucket-full, we save an additional £208 a year on first-rate plant grower.

So yes, on the financial side, the chickens definitely earn their keep. They also dig over anything I let them walk on, saving me hours in the garden, and fertilise it as they go! We throw less food waste away because they eat it all, and they are marvellous companions. There really is nothing quite like the feeling of wandering around bare-foot in your own Garden of Eden, to feel the tender pecking of a sharp beak against your bare flesh, then to discover that you've recoiled into a pile of what didn't make it to the litter tray!!

Yes, chickens are fantastic. So fantastic in fact, that one day I'm going to write a book about them, in which I solve everybody's dilemmas, allowing everyone in the whole world the unbridled, unrivalled joy of husbanding the most useful creatures the Lord ever made. Anyhow, it's about time I tucked them in for the night and read them a story. (Don't worry, I was kidding about the story part). Then again.......

My new blog

Hello there fans! I've started a new blog so that I can separate earthworms and children from poetry and fiction. I'd be REALLY grateful of any feedback and comments that you have on it - as you know, I'm just starting off, so I need all the guidance I can get my hands on. So what are you waiting for? Come over to the dark side today! (And don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed so that you get updates):

http://richardswriting.blogspot.com/

See you there soon!

Soliloquy from 'Romeo & juliet' (my version of...)

The universe, spectacularly aligned to seal my fate!
Pierced by longing, like a worm boring through a heart content,
now the dull throb of a once-sprained leg
which no hands can restore to vigour.

A hunger growing, cancerous, expanding,
replacing healthy tissue with emptiness -
nay, not inactive emptiness but active yearning,
searing longing for that which the Gods deny me!

Why I? The hail of each sore with life -
why this flesh so cursed and tortured must be?
What folly shall I have raised?
What immortal displeasure have I incurred,
that I must suffer and writhe in the agony of my remaining?

And why she?
Can Gods not be patient too,
but missing her, they invest their omnipotence in theiving souls
too soon from this world,
an angelic pilgrim torn from the bosom of natives,
who cry with arms raised, "Return her here!"

Why must she tatse the wine of untimely ends?
Why she, be so tortured and wanting of esteem
that such apothecary only solace could lend?
What cause, great Gods, be so urgent as her theft can fulfil,
while earth moans and souls die at her demise?

And less of Gods, yet what of I, my soul
or the ash that remains,
whose lifeless, greying mass no form entrusts?
Is life henceforth?
Can breath hold true, for seems me, there is less air tonight.
Was ever point or sense or cause
to wage the ongoing war of continuance,
when ere was joy and laughter sweet as birdsong,
now gives way to the thundering quietness of loneliness.

These lips I press once more 'gainst mine.
Erst pink as roses, now bilberry blue
and icicles on a face -
how swiftly life is sucked away through those fading eyes
as death takes on life breathing its silence
into once reverberating lung.

Sweet Juliet, in my heart already wife,
now distant, tragic torn from this scene,
make space for me where torment no longer grinds.
With wide arms greet me, with flowing hair as branches on a spring bough
welcome me,
sweet Juliet.

My steel so cold, uncaring here,
will bring me to you.
Arise, oh love of my heart,
take place again with your love,
as rising again from the flame,
love lives again
and in dying, love is born again
on wings of eternity -
on bright bounteous wings
together we at last shall fly!

Why I am so obsessed with self-sufficiency

Over the last couple of years, a large number of issues have raised their heads, and begged to be addressed. I think that as life goes on, we have a duty to ourselves to stop and think where we stand on them. I think it's all part of the getting to know ourselves process, in figuring out what we believe. So as part of that process, I thought I would spend a few moments spewing out random thoughts on the subject, in the hope that by the end, it would help me think things through to one or two logical conclusions.

First of all, I eat meat. I don't eat too much of it, but I do it eat it. I don't have a problem with that. I believe that I'm doctrinally solid on that point. However, I totally agree with the arguments put forward by PETA in their literature, and frankly I wouldn't go near any of those animals with a bargepole. I think that the kind of practices they are trying to outlaw are utterly barbaric, and that those who perpetrate them should be subjected to it themselves.

That said, I don't have a problem with the eating of meat, nor for that matter, the wearing of fur as clothing, or the use of that wonderful material leather. I believe as does Ray Mears that if an animal is going to give its life for us, then out of respect, we must make every single use of it that we can. I believe that properly raised animals and birds taste delicious, and that it is incumbent upon any eater of meat to get to know the process by which that animal has become your food, what breed it was, what it was fed etc. I would like to know that the meat on my plate had been dispatched humanely, that it was butchered with skill and respect, and that every possible use was made of its carcass, so that none of it went to waste. In reality, what I believe in is self-sufficiency, for this is the only real way to ensure the quality of the food we are eating.

Secondly, I am appalled by the short-termist thinking which "society" would lull us into when it comes to the way we grow our foods. Our entire future depends on how we use the soil today. In our obsession to produce more crops, faster we have forgotten that the quality of the soil = the quality of our food. We feed chemical pesticides to keep away the nasties, then have to add chemical fertilisers to make the soil work again. Then we grow the same crop on the same patch year after year because our customer pays well for it, every season robbing the earth of what precious little nutrients it has left. But what happens when the top-soil is all gone? What will we be able to grow when all of the nutrients have gone?

When it comes to growing top-quality crops, there is only one solution: and that is to do it nature's way. It means that we put all of the natural material back into the earth that we can in order to maintain a good quality soil. It also means rotating crops from field to field so that each crop leaves behind a different set of nutrients for the following crop to thrive on. This way, when our children's children plant their crops, their soil will be even better than ours through years of constant giving and enrichment.

Thirdly, and I suppose that this is really the icing on the cake, the only way that I can see for these things to happen is for people to rebuild their relationship with the soil! There is no taste quite like your first sip of cold elderflower cordial on a hot summer's day, when it was of your own making. No bite is more glorious than home-baked bread spread with your own strawberry jam. We have so long forgotten where our food even comes from, let alone how it is made. We buy on the appearance of the packaging and not on the quality of the produce inside. We've no idea of the seasons any more, because we have pap flown in from so many other countries all year round that we've lost the plot altogether.

For instance, when do elderflowers blossom? When are brambles ready for picking? When are sprouts at their best? When did you last go strawberry picking? Exactly. And I don't mean to point the finger at you - this is an epidemic that's riddling our society, our world.

We started off all being farmers, each tending his own small flock, each tilling his own piece of the earth to provide the needs of his family. Now personally, I'd like us all to go right back to those times, but I realise that that might be a bit tricky... As time went on, one person began to achieve a greater yield when it came to harvest time, just as another was able to raise fabulous pigs. Another produced baskets that no other could match, and another was skilled with an anvil and a bellows. On a small scale, such as existed between families in "the village", this kind of specialism was wonderful, and allowed each to look after his own immediate affairs, by trading with his neighbours.

And then that nasty metal stuff came into force... and everybody started to chase it, like it was the be-all and end-all of their lives. No longer did they do favours for each other, but instead, they delivered a product or service in exchange for a crisp note or a shiny coin. With that came the realisation that the potential to earn money was limited to the number of residents in the village, and the only way to increase that potential for money was to go where more people were. Hence the development of cities. Money, money, money. How quickly we have lost the plot, and how tragically. For with the love of money comes separation from the reality of our existence, of our own place in the balance of the earth. We rape the soil in the hope of a fast buck. We are happy to trap animals in tiny cages in order to test new make-up, because we insecure with who we really are inside. Interestingly enough, neither my wife, nor my mother, nor my sisters or my sisters-in-law wear make-up, and yet they are some of the most beautiful women in the world. I don't personally think that's a coincidence.

I fourthly believe that man has a tremendous responsibility to this earth and to all that lives in it. I believe that the commandment given to Adam to "tend the garden and make it fruitful" is as valid now as it was then. I believe that we must make the most of what we are given, make it bloom and blossom and fruit. There is none who cannot grow herbs on a windowsill, or tomatoes in a hanging basket by the door. If more land is given, then more should be produced: potatoes in barrels, chickens kept for eggs, fruit trees planted. When I see a typical urban garden, of a grass lawn surrounded by hardy perennials, I can't help but think of the parable of the three servants, and of the poor chap who buried his talent. What will we say when the Master returns? "Look Lord, I kept the grass really tidy!"

I hope that some of this makes sense to you. I hope you don't feel that you've been lectured to. This is why I feel so passionately about things like the Chicken Out campaign. Or using recycled paper. Or cloth nappies. Or organic fruit and veg. Because if we consume it, we have a stewardship over it - to know where it comes from, and to see that our desire to consume it does not leave the earth worse off.

So I do want to evangelise to you really, because I used to be a heathen and I've "seen the light"!! Please do change your lightbulbs over to energy savers. Please do grow some of your own veg. Please do cut up old sheets and use them as toilet wipes. Please do buy organic veg, free-range chicken and recycled paper. Because you and I are stewards. We have been given SOOOOO much. And where much is given, much is also required.

Thank you for listening.

Rant over ;)

What the world eats

Somebody on one of my organic gardening forums sent this link into the group. You have to take a look at it - it's amazing! It's really fascinating to see what people eat from all around the world, as well as how much (or little!) it costs them! What interested me most was to score them all for happiness and generally healthy looks - it makes sobering reading!!

So have a look - please let me know what you think as well!

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html