When I started blogging again in October I said I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not.
Three months down the line and I find myself thinking about this a lot.
I don't want to continue feeling trapped into safe, personal stories.
I don't like the labels of left and right attached to facts as they present themselves from government to us the people. It is not a solution to dismiss fact and shoot the messenger.
I see the country as failing, the future as bleak for Britain, for employers, for investors, for small businesses, for commerce, for all in the hospitality and retail business, a bleak future for pensioners, current and future, relying on state pensions. It is bleak for all of us. We won't die out because we carry on reproducing but we will live in a poorer state, a poorer economy in a poorer over-crowded country strapped by rules and regulations the likes of which we have never lived in before.
But one cannot say any of this without being labelled politically. They are facts that present themselves. They shouldn't be dismissed, written off, shoot the messenger, she's politically this or politically that. It is honesty of the facts, not left or right. It is a Britain with lies about heat pumps and Drax and migrants and welfare and a Britain of no more choice, a Britain of an NHS where people say they cannot see a doctor because he is not available face to face, it is two Norfolk cops shooting a man dead after a road traffic accident with each firing a bullet that never gets talked about because Trump isn't involved and Brexit can't be blamed. It is Britain. It is not being able to speak without fear of being locked up, reported and labelled. And it is never a label that is found that says caring about Britain, caring about people, caring about investment, caring about jobs, caring about the future, it is a label that says shut up.
It is Blair's Britain and his legacy in which we live. The Human Rights Act 1998 which dictates to us and ties us up in knots from hook handed clerics to migrants to deportations to Bulgarian gangs to Albanian gangs and to Richard Hermer to let it live on and on and on. It is what Brexit was supposed to get us out of but failed. The foundation for rules and regulations that spread fear to speak out that allow bombers in Manchester, knifers in Southport, rapists in Rotherham all of which were doing what they did because somebody somewhere was frightened of being called a racist for calling them out so nothing was done until it was too late to stop them.
I have seen H is for Hawk. A nice story with Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson very good. Will I continue to find safe subjects? No I don't think I can.
I don't think any subject is safe today. Regardless, I think we have to stand up for ourselves and set an example for future generations. History is being rewritten so we need to pass on our experiences to each other and hope that truth filters through to enough people. I wonder what King Charles makes of it all. He is very quiet whilst the world is on fire. I hope you have a good day Rachel. Sun is out so that makes a pleasant change from yesterday's grey gloom and rain! x
ReplyDeleteI always imagined that my personal topics were safe to blog about but maybe you are right and they aren't. Nobody is standing up for anybody, the good retreat and rest are experts on Trump. I regard King Charles as a bit of a prat. The sun is shining here and I am off out. x
DeleteI am not a political animal and am not qualified to make any insightful contributions to all the discussions, but I can see how it is all getting out of control and fear for the future.
ReplyDeleteI speak from a background of growing up in a small family business which was always struggling. I went into a career that forced me to study investment, investors, economics and politics to become qualified for it. I now see not only the small family businesses going under, the small retailers going under, the hospitality businesses going under, the pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés, but also big multinational companies sturggling with employment costs more than ever before. Apart from the economy we also now have the migration and over-crowding crisis and the booming welfare system that is tearing us apart and an NHS that cannot cope with the numbers.
DeleteYour blog posts are often an insight for me. You write of a different world, one that I only skim over in the news. Of course I like hearing about your cats, your massage, the films you see.
ReplyDeleteIt all makes for a most interesting read. I never know what I might find in any of your next post
Support here keeps me going. The less I read elsewhere the better, it keeps me fresh and free to think for myself and express myself here. Thanks Linda.
DeleteThank you for all your posts , l enjoy them all and was so pleased when you returned to blogging . I don’t usually comment as l am not the best at articulating my thoughts in writing , however everything you have written about the decline in Britain resonated with me so much it has prompted me to comment .l think you succinctly summarised the sad state of affairs we have today . It is sad that you that you feel you have to stay with safe subjects and admire that you express your feelings honestly xx.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen, whoever you are, wherever you are.
DeleteI’m a bit lost for words because I have not lived in the UK for many years and am therefore unable to comment constructively on your current situation. It sounds horrible, but I’m still glad to hear about it from you. I read blogs with my morning coffee and enjoy everyone’s ‘news’
ReplyDeleteEveryday life is much as usual but the decline is all around for those to see who haven't got their heads in the sand.
DeleteMuch of what you describe is experienced in other countries, too; for instance the unhealthy amount of rather unbalanced rules and regulations with no end in sight. Such a lot of what work should be about is simply not possible because much of our time at work is spent trying to understand and then deal with all the new regulations popping up all the time. How is it possible that so many people are looking for jobs, while at the same time every company and every business struggles to find staff?
ReplyDeleteFriedrich Merz has been coming up with some truly outrageous ideas to help the German economy out of its ongoing crisis. In March, my federal state of Germany (Baden-Württemberg) will elect a new government. It is impossible to predict the outcome, and even more difficult to know what to expect after that.
Our welfare system makes it a temptation to sign on for welfare for families rather than do menial jobs and earn the money themselves so that is what we have, many on welfare, no self-esteem. On the other side of the coin we have employers who have cut back on staff because of high costs involved in employing people. Staff cuts show right across the entire spectrum of work to us all. We wait longer to be served, longer on the phone, longer to find a member of staff to helf us, longer waits everywhere, more robots and machines. We have a Bulgarian gang stealing £53M in welfare payments from us in Britain serving short jail sentences, now free, and the leaders still in Britain out of jail and claiming benefits yet again. This is the embarrassment of being here in Britain. Bulgarians benefited from the £53M by receiving it in payments from our welfare office sent straight to their banks.
DeleteMerz made a very good, hard-hitting speech with many home truths for Germany and the EU.
If, as you told local alien above, support here is truly what keeps you going, let me be among the first to declare my support. You and I agree most of the time regarding topics on both sides of the Atlantic, but in times of agreement or disagreement what I like best about your blogging is its clarity. No obfuscation, no waffling, no mincing words.
ReplyDeleteYou have Bulgarian and Albanian gangs, we have Somalian and Mexican and Venezuelan gangs. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, or if it wouldn't, a rose is still a rose is still a rose is still a rose. I am not daft nor am I enjoying the effects of alcohol, I'm just stating what I think and appreciate that you do the same. Keep on keeping on, Rachel, you have an audience out here.
Thank you so much for this comment Bob, it means a great deal to me. Blogging can be a very lonely place which often leaves me guessing if my work is received or not either with embrace or shunning. I support President Trump and to those who fear wars let me offer to them that his foreign policies were recognised by the British Foreign Office as the best of presidents of recent times throughout his first term of office. I see what I see now that he does not reveal his full hand via X (twitter) as no world leader would do so. I see also that four presidents of the United States, including President Trump, have expressed an interest in taking Greenland. I see that it is not fashionable to express any knowledge of history and one does not gain any friends in doing so, on the contrary, one normally acquires enemies. Thank you again Bob.
DeleteI’ve never thought of you as someone who would ever pull her punches
ReplyDeleteThe only way I can hide is by not publishing.
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