MAY 2013

FRIDAY 31^st MAY 2013
The news on Bridger is fair and reasonable. In my opinion it is unlikely he will ever reveal what happened to April Jones as that remains his only way of fooling himself he is in control of the situation in which he finds himself. He will doubtless reason that fellow prisoners will not actually murder him, however much they will try to "bash him up", because that would absolutely lose all hope of ever learning what happened to the little girl. Such is the nature of power players.
          Regarding discoveries of child pornography on Bridger's computer, it would appear that while he, to date, does not fit the "established" profile of paedophiles, it could simply be that he was caught at the first stage of entering that profile. May be other murders would have followed before he was caught, in which case, by then, he might well have fitted the "profile".
          In the days of Mary Whitehouse I was very anti any form of censorship. To have someone as clearly confused as she was (she thought George Eliot was a man!) and insisting that sex and violence should be treated as the same subject was horrific. She also had a proclivity to announce things she did not like as "disgusting" and "filfth" but never defined what it was that disgusted her.
          Doubtless inspired by Whitehouse, a local "Free" style church went for the sex shop across the road. This was a clear statement of an invigorated Puritanical campaign, as the sex shop was in the middle of a group of 17 establishments all catering for adult entertainment, within a quarter of a mile either side of the church, in that they could not sell some of their products to people below certain ages and were required to hold a licence to sell other products. Had the church succeeded with the sex shop, who else would they have gone for next? The pub; the betting shop; the off licence; or cigarettes? The internet however is a different matter. Children can access it freely and by default find what reasonably-minded (Man on Clapham omnibus) people would not want them to find.
         Here again we have problems. I am a bachelor and completely inexperienced in child matters but I have noticed news reports of late concentrating on young girls' legs and their skirt hems, rather than photographing the whole child in context. I suspect there has been some twaddle burbled about not showing children's faces without written parental consent of each child. Showing their legs, sock tops and skirt hems I would have thought even more provocative for those bordering upon the deranged.
          Regarding the internet, I would have thought it was a simple matter that nothing indecent of children should be there in the first place, full stop. Nudity certainly not, unless it is within the private circle of family and friends within which there is clear restriction control. It is important we do not lose the ability to promote the delightful wonderment of innocent childhood fun where everything can safely "go hang".
          That is another devastation Bridger has ravaged. In April's home area, the children are no longer allowed to play on the grass outside their own homes. I remember a time with kids of friends of mine with whom I used to stay and I was so enthralled with their frolicking fun and games I jotted down notes for an intended children's book. It became one of the half-dozen books I have started but never developed due to real work demands. Those two children are now mothers of two happy broods of kids. Seeing the family pictures of them at play reminds me of their childhood and perhaps I should endeavour to complete what I started thirty odd years ago.
         On the subject of "suitability' we have two interesting developments. A recent photograph of Syria's Assad showed him supposedly being interviewed by a woman. She appeared as a nun while he was in a western suit. The spacing of everything, including the length of the table separating them indicated it was deliberately staged to make it appear Syria was "modern" in approach. This would have rung true if the woman had also been in western dress and if they had been as close to one another in the manner that western TV presents such interviews. The space between and mannerisms indicated the woman was very much in a subordinated position and nowhere near the tyrannical challenge most western interviewers adopt. Another statement of false presentation.
          On another front we have a group of women in the UK beginning to take exception over top shelf magazines, called "lad's mags". They feel they should be able to enter a general shop without being confronted with such material. They have a point or two. One they do not intend, is that they emphasise the need for sex shops, to which top shelf magazines should be consigned. The danger is that they will then look at advertising, although I myself do wonder at some of the things advertisers thrust upon us etc. I think it would be more productive if these women spent their energies campaigning against the world's major religions, who blatantly advertise their determination to support male domination by their refusal to accept women priests. That remains the major affront to women, broadcasting the public acceptability of male domination on a daily public basis.

MONDAY 27^th MAY 2013
Reconnecting with the world following a Sjörgren’s Syndrome fatigue state
Good day folks. I remain somewhat in a quandary as to how much to share with the wider world that might be of interest to those inclined to visit and how much might be interpreted as simply an ego boost and thus simply a waste of space. It is the same quandary I felt when invited to join a group of, at that time, largely similarly thinking but diverse people, enjoined to thrust their views on the local town as to how the world should wag in our community. The result is that we all ended up on the town council, save for two seats and I twice ended up as mayor.
      Yet how can one complain about how the world is if one does not recognise that one's very existence is a statement that one is in and a part of the world. One has surely a duty to be involved and voice one's view, hopefully remembering one has twice as many ears as one's single mouth and between them resides a brain, supposedly co-ordinating the two with a capacity to reason, while not wishing to thrust a view beyond the wider merit of its argument, or its oneness amongst the many.
       In answer, I quote "Ubuntu" from the Bantu languages of South Africa: "I am because we all are." For more background go to my home page.
        I therefore persist in what has proven an erratic sequence of endeavour. I notice my last entry here was 30^th March 2013, the date I noted in my medical history that I sensed I was slipping into a state of permanent fatigue. Only yesterday, while watching the French Open, I learned that Venus Williams was fighting Sjörgren’s Syndrome. My own researches have not picked up any sites encouraging me to interact with others of the same plight but that she has gone public on her problem and as I have had many interactions with the much criticised UK NHS, currently experiencing many changes, I have felt I should share my experiences.
        So, hitting the nail on the head, I appear to be re-emerging from a period of such complete fatigue that I have spent days going back to bed after a morning bath due to complete exhaustion, getting up again for breakfast and going back to bed to rest etc, etc. Yes, I too have Sjörgren’s Syndrome so, I'm re-awaking and endeavouring to re-kindle what I started.
        The fatigue appears to be leaving me—I am currently fluctuating through phases of fatigue, extreme tiredness, mild tiredness back to heavy tiredness to near fatigue again and I have no idea for how long I will be able to operate as if I were still alive on this planet (no, I don't mean I'm dying, simply being lost to the world in complete exhaustion). At the moment I'm disinclined to do housework (though that could have a psychological explanation rather than lack of physical energy!) and have decided to get re-involved here, hopefully for a good length of time.  More, hopefully anon, as I will announce in my usual way, with flashes on Twitter and Facebook. Sorry Laura Robson lost out in the French Open but the sun is shining through my window and I wish you all a good day, after first referring you to my Sjögren's Syndrome Diary, My NHS experiences and my other new page on terrorism.