Baited breath

He said that, she said the opposite

People scowl

Cats and dogs growl

It’s all “their” fault

They cause guilt

We want more money

For billionaires…. Funny

Why care for others?

Let’s be selfish, like brothers

Cain and Abel?

It comes down to a pottage mess

And everyone feels duress

But we wait with baited breath

In hope there will be no deaths.

An end to conflict

Restore your peace.

Let’s be friends!

Not exactly

Do you practice religion?

I was bought up as a Christian, and I still believe in some of the ideas behind it, kindness, helping others, charity.

But I’m not exactly religious, I think that we should love one another, turn the other cheek, try and show compassion and consideration. What missing in my world view is the need for a reward either on earth or in whatever heaven people believe in. I feel like needing that means that you are being bribed, in a way, to be good? I think people should care about everyone else. Maybe accepting a bit less if it means others can be looked after or ‘saved’. Life is hard enough without selfishness….

So my answer is that I don’t practice religion, but I try to live by some of its rules. I am as hypocritical as the next person though as I don’t follow all the ideals of Christianity. For instance there are commandments like not eating shellfish. Perhaps in the past that was more important because they might be tainted and dangerous to eat in hot weather? There are lots of other rules I don’t follow, like not eating meat on Friday. But in the end surely we must not be tied up in strange rules but consider others and show we care?

I would say I am an agnostic, not sure what I believe in, not an atheist and totally irreligious. The universe is such a vast place that something might exist. But whatever it is would be so large that I would be like a gnat to be swatted by it. But if ‘it’ is infinite, perhaps it has infinite knowledge and understanding too?

Jumper time

Wearing a jumper tonight. But I think I’m lucky, I have the money to buy a jumper. I can afford to put the heating up if I want. I have a roof over my head that hasn’t been damaged by the weather or fire or flooding. I have shops nearby I can go to, and a library I could visit if I want to stay warm. The world is a strange place. I am in a situation that a large percentage of the world would love to be in. But eighty men have more money between them than half the world’s population (about four billion). And now the UK government has given tax cuts to the richest here. In fact if you earn less than £100,000 a year you will be worse off.

Does fairness exist in the world? Yes, but not enough to go round. People are mostly uncaring, or worse still, selfish. So if you can, think of someone worse off than you, and try and help if you can. You could do that by physically or mentally helping, or even voting for monetary or environmental benefits.

Trickle down

Cartoon by @cartoonralph, from an original idea by leftwinguk-f.b

Trickle down economics, the latest big idea of our UK government. Lift the cap on bankers bonuses, reduce taxes for the rich, reduce national insurance that will affect the tax burden more on the richest than the poorest (if you don’t earn enough to pay tax or NI in the first place cuts won’t affect you, you get zero benefit). Cut corporation tax for the richest. Our Prime minister, Liz Truss, says she wants to increase productivity whilst previously calling UK workers lazy and saying people must work if they can (in a gig economy). She says she doesn’t mind being unpopular! They have reduced the income if the poorest people on benefits. We are the sixth richest country in the UK and yet we have thousands of foodbanks where people have to depend on donated food. This idea is madness.