THE WEEK TO DATE
From Facebook commments.

Tuesday 29^th May 2018
Illness is part of life’s experience… or the soul’s experience? As our time draws to its close we can review the play our life has drafted, as a critic will review his notes of the performance he has just experienced. There is the script; the characters, as themselves and as they respond to the other characters with which they interact; the manner of their interactions, for what reasons, in the context of their position and understanding of the view point the author has given them?
            The critic has to make instantaneous decisions to meet his editor’s deadline; we can take our time in our deliberation but to what end? Three score years and ten is the allotted span: growing up, working and… reviewing? I know several personally who never made seventy. I have relatives who might reasonably be expected to make their centuries.
            I must have reviewed my life a few times but at this period of writing they do not immediately come to mind. The motivation now is health. How will I play out my last phase? Will it be played out under the direction of autonomous state intervention, by default of liquidating my life’s acquisitions, until there is little under my control, if I am in control of anything? Thus, the present phase, assessing a moving and undefined target and making preparation for how my wishes, in terms of today’s understanding, may be interpreted in an age with which I have no knowledge.
            So, today, what has happened? Minutiae from a convoluted weekend, resulting today in a trip to the dump, via a couple of charities which showed no interest in 2,500 DL window, non window and 500 A5 pocket envelopes, as I had expected but I thought I would ask before throwing them. I too had got tired of sticking Sellotape to seal them, the self glue having degenerated, such was their age; such was the accumulative effect of digital communication finally being acknowledged. My stationery now increases in quality and consideration for the rare occasion it is relevant.
            Waitrose car park was overfull. Extraordinary, it was mid morning Tuesday, so I had to park initially on the High Street. That too had changed, requiring registration entry on a keyboard unrelated to querty, throwing one completely. Then it failed to produce the supposed print out so I had to write a note on my windscreen to that effect, presuming that as it had accepted my coin it had recorded my electronic entry for the parking warden to check on their hand machine.
            En route for the High Street I had to pass Waitrose’s exit route from which a car crossed my path presuming it had right of way. Clearly, as I was in a public car park and it was exiting from a private car park, I had priority. Fortunately I usually drive assuming everyone else is a complete idiot, too often I am right!

Monday 28^th May 2018
Good after-noon world, one P Such Esq reporting in. The advantage of a laptop is that it carries its own power supply. Only now as I switch on do I realise that the local problem is more serious than I thought. No broadband. No telephone, as I have just discovered pursuing the “no broadband” scenario but the traffic lights were working and so was Waitrose, although they could have their own back up system. How much would it cost to have my own backup system beyond simply having a laptop? Can’t even have a cup of tea, electric ignition for gas and fortunately it is summer so heating not affected, that’s gas with electric ignition and electric timer. However, it is summer, no cooling fan; no fridge; no freezer. Didn’t think of that when shopping, I had expected it to be back on by the time I got back. Lunch… salad but new potatoes can’t be boiled nor can chips be fried. Have a lunch out: it will be crowded, it’s a Bank Holiday; queues, no air conditioning. No thanks.
            Haven’t had treacle for a long time, which I realised some while back and added in a fresh tin for a treat for some future moment as now. A sandwich of cheese or meat might have been more sensible/practical but some time back Waitrose stopped supplying thin cut sliced loaves, so I only had thick slices for toast—and no electricity!
            The ease with which modern civilisation Is suddenly brought down. Because of the state of chaos I am currently in I have plenty to do without power but for a moment, pause. How vulnerable really are we?  We take so much for granted, as religionists would say, we spend our lives taking God for granted. God, why is that concept always perceived as a man? To procreate we need two equals, so is spirit asexual or bisexual? Asexual is too neutral, cannot perceive of the complexity of relations following female and male proclivities. Bisexual is far more rational. I have encountered both in spirit communications, also those who have experienced both entities in the flesh and, rarely, spirits seemingly fully embodied of both sexes while seeming sexless, yet complete.
            Multisexuality is the modern talk. In what ways does spirituality interact with the biochemical of the physical body? Which instigates the awareness and therefore the predominance and therefore ultimate control?
            This unknown, but comfortably presumed temporary problem, will be sorted before the freezer completely defrosts and the fridge food equally unaffected, one assumes. What do the dispossessed in the Middle East presume in their bereftness? Where is there a glimmer of expectation for them?
            They think on God a lot, they cannot be accused of forgetting God, yet where is he? Where is the sign of understanding in the western world that looks like addressing the problem from a sound basis, which would best seem to be by the west going in wholeheartedly to re-organise but is that not the source of the Palestine problem, the west sorting out their affairs for them?
            Just how vulnerable is our modern society? It is time for tea and there is still not any power, no telephone, no broadband, no knowledge of just what has gone wrong. Time to think seriously about God again?
            It is now six hours since EDF first failed to provide electricity. What the hell has happened? In the mean time I have discovered a print out of yet another book I had forgotten I had started and seems to be substantial. Must look at that again. Also discovered amongst it, research papers for two other works. Wonder where the rest is?
            After all that I may have contributed. Desperate that things were not happening
I did my own thorough check and discovered the mains failure had taken the mains input switch with it. Maybe this is a safety check with the new system as a safety prevention of damage from a sudden surge when power comes back on. It's never happened before. Well, it shows how rarely EDF cuts us off, the previous supplier seemed to do it almost every three months. Time moves on and one takes normal life as staid and expected… as one does with God. Interesting.

Saturday 26^th May 2018 new tin.
A young man was very determined to express his displeasure on Facebook's bowing to the EU's diktat. Interesting.
      1. As his mother I thought your were an EU supporter and it could do no wrong, apparently then it can!?
      2. You, young man, I will be sorry to lose your interaction on Facebook. I understand your view completely but the real argument is the generality of the age of consent, which means the age at which a young person can be expected to have acquired a sufficient diversity of education and therefore knowledge of life as to accept responsibility for their actions. In English law one is responsible at 10 for criminality, the Catholic church uses 13 as an age at which a child can take responsibility for their soul. At 16 in the UK one may marry with parental consent otherwise 18, for most things.
      I quote from a citizen's advisory page. "Children are among the most vulnerable members of society. The law of the state protects children until they are deemed to be able to interact in society as adults. For this reason children are treated differently from adults by the criminal justice system. The law which deals with children found in breach of the criminal law is contained in the Children Act, 2001 which was amended by the Criminal Justice Act 2006, the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 and other acts."
      This is the bed of the argument over the UK and the EU, does a balance of seniority have authority to commit a younger grouping to their future? That has always been the case by simple fact of life. Should the younger balance, immature in experience of life, run society? Refer to Shakespeare's seven ages of man.
     Remember that 21 was the original "age of consent" and before then 25. It is arguable that society's progression is that we are maturing earlier and earlier, therein lies another debate!

Tuesday 22^nd May 2018
What arrant twaddle. Religionists must learn their place. Deal with the realities of life then worry about theories. Can't recall now the conversation to which that related.
      'Morning world. Ups and downs over the previous few days. Does this morning herald a change in readiness for the weekend? Reminds me of that advert for lady's convenience pads. My life will not be run by my health's diktats but with things like driving safety for others, as well as one's self, must over-ride. One may feel "safe" to drive but how would one's body respond to avert a sudden unexpected incident? That must determine.
     Had a meeting yesterday over coffee and cake with my solicitor, or solicitor that was as he was clearing out and selling his property following retirement. We discussed the way the world had changed since we first met. I had parked my car in a friend's garden and walked up Raven's Lane, named after a chap not the bird, so singular apostrophe but the council does not understand so no apostrophe!
     I knew that way as a series of houses and cottages, one side becoming offices, then demolished and becoming remodelled period houses. Originally private houses which a local firm had acquired, turned into offices, then the firm was acquired by a bigger international firm, which sold to a larger entity and the buildings remodelled as houses of their original period.
     So with us. We had covered the larger part of our life's cycle, reviewed the advantages/disadvantages of changes through that period and concluded that we were probably better off then than now... to an extent. The entanglement was diverse. There was no "best" time but our lives seemed to have encompassed a good period of history, for that we had much to be grateful. The key is that we had learned, would be better leaving than when we came in and perhaps be more enhanced than when we left from where we came and to where we expect to return! Interesting morning.

Tuesday 22^nd May 2018
As I have written previously, Creation is a state of continual change through time. Fortunately (though compounded with ill health) until yesterday I had not attended a funeral for some while. The crematorium has changed significantly since my first, deeply emotional family visit nearly half a century ago. Grounds have matured and been further developed, an additional chapel added, parking improved. Attitudes collectively have become more diverse and more honest, arguably meaningful.
     The undertaker was a traditionalist and has son and grandson involved which adds to potential longevity, too many private practitioners are passing into the hands of multi-site nationals, not so meaningful. His vehicle collection is typical of a "traditionalist" as he calls himself, all of them Rolls Royces. In my younger days the only time the average person rode in a Rolls was when they were in a coffin. In those days large ambulances were built on chassis powered by Daimler engines.
The celebrant was not a Humanist as I had thought but simply a civil functionary. I quote the most emotive passage from the funeral service, which shows the way times they are a'changing.
Afterglow
by Helen Lowrie Marshall
“I’d like the memory of me
to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve,
to dry before the sun
of happy memories
that I leave when life is done.”

The man without habits and routine seems to be routinely waking way around 06:00. This merely worsens his condition as he tires easily so is even less reliable in the evening. My grandmother slipped into this mode of living, cat napping through the day. Perhaps it is a symbol of that stage in life. Damn.
            I attended a funeral yesterday on which I previously reported that his widow had asked for no black. I wonder how many thought of their socks and shoes, although there may have been a fine line of black in my multi-coloured underpants. My socks and shoes were green and I wore navy blue shorts.
            I had a conversation with a friend who volunteered he had been brought up a Christian but was now an agnostic. I replied that I decried the diversity of religions proclaiming their diverse beliefs in spirit while denying its common universality. There seems as much diversity of opinion in the spirit world as here. This is not the blog in which to devolve such conversations, save to observe I have spoken to several relatives since they had 'passed over', through a medium I trusted and was quietly content that death, in principle was a simple transition which should not be interfered with or countered by ill health.

Sunday 20^th May 2018
Overloading again! However a blockage came free and suddenly diverse things came to light. Following an Oxford University report we have only 4 close friends. Six billion mobile calls made by 35 million people determined four levels of closeness based on the number of times people phoned one another. The innermost layer contained 4.1 people with whom we spend 40% of our time.The 2nd layer had another 7, the third 18 and the fourth nearly 100. Professor Dunbar of evolutionary psychology said, "to have more close friends would require brain power we did not possess." Trouble is I don't have the tag, telling me when printed. Still, an interesting question.

Saturday 19^th May 2018
What utter codswallop. Best of British is universality. The EU is small-minded, panicked at our Commonwealth world view which it is determined to crush and the elementary common sense of sound management, recognising that reality is best handled by flexibility, adaptability and malleability as is real life, not the EU's rules and regulations to meet their wilful determination to ensure those who pay their bills do not interfere with the arrogance of the Commission wilfully incurring them.
     Life is a harmony of diversity and individualism.

Good morning world. Was not intending to watch tv until nearer the wedding but found myself enjoying my new chair just after breakfast and stayed transfixed. The diversity of "normal" people and the wonderful display of fashion is superb. Such a diversity of colour, contrasts of individuality, particularly morning suits without top hats. I remember attending a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and left my hat in my car until I got to the palace and realised. I debated going back for it but they let me in regardless. Everyone else was of course wearing one! Here, such a diversity within conformity and a sense of "open house", I sense this is a truly national participation.

Just a quickie. In state of complete chaos. One ancient, collapsed but expensive and still beyond repair chair, manufacturer bought out and new acquirer seems more interested in the name than the company's history and past customers, departs. Replacement arrives, more compact, arguably mechanically better (only just working in) and consequently came in far more easily than I had feared, the old going out without the difficulty I had envisaged with which my brother-in-law and I had struggled (mostly him) getting in. Deliverers were running late so I was prompted to empty a cupboard, in case it had to be moved when in fact the chaps worked very competently and all over and done with in minutes. Now I have to clear the chaos. Several things discovered I did not realise I possessed, so rather than being deflated, I'm gee'd up to start seriously the major "clear out" that's been in the offing for some time. As someone once said, when they left a tent to have a pee, “I may be some time”, I am suddenly crashed out with fatigue.

I asked for a recipe, so I'll share it wider. Here's the Slinger Recipe from the bottom up: Hash browns (potatoes), two hamburger or sausage patties, two poached eggs, chili con carne, shredded cheddar, diced onions. The hot sauce is optional, but I highly recommend it. I prefer a bagel (buttered) to toast, but that is also your choice. You will be pleasantly surprised, honest!

Wednesday 16^th May 2018
Can't now think as to what my immediate reaction was "yes" BUT I've already donated my body to science, they won't accept if organs have been removed (quite apart from some cancers and other diseases etc) to cover which contingencies you still have to prepare a funeral.

Of serious concern. Why are we in the EU mess but because of the stupidity of our own politicians of both parties who do not understand basic management. Not the same politicians today but the same stupidity of thought still rampant in both parties.

The same applies to automatic cars! Yesterday was a lovely late spring day and I toured the country lanes enjoying the scenery, switching in automatic cruise, which I rarely do unless on a dual carriageway. Potentially very dangerous.

Interesting, requires thinking on. Is this another traditional indoctrination, "blood is thicker than water". Does it derive from male arrogance perpetuating control, especially in inheritance? I think it was to do with inheritance and who was actually family. What is a family, as defined by emotional relationships?

An interesting interaction. "War might simply be an inevitable consequence of individual intelligence and agency." "An intelligent species with an awareness of it’s choices and the responsibility of free agency can liberate itself from the need to respond from a place of aggression and violence."
What we seem to be debating is the social nature of diverse individuals. What is the point of individuality if we do not express it yet in so expressing it, why violence versus harmony? Does individuality defy harmony or is conformity an incitement to individual expression, creating conflict?

Monday 14^th May 2018
Just sharing. You are busy in the office and the scheduled fire safety check rings. Rule is you drop everything and carry through the procedure. At home I monthly check all safety procedures, check batteries on alarms, turn all water off then on to ensure stop cocks don't seize. Who walks round their car before getting in to check for deflated tyres? On my laptop, internet loses connection and suddenly I don't know the procedures, then, as I frustratedly go through everything I notice a little grey symbol that ought to be solid black. Switch that off and back on and suddenly I'm alive again. I know I know it all... or did when I originally set it all up and suddenly, a mental blank. Routine check procedures are a damned nuisance but regular checking always worth while.

So you think there is a God? By implication you are an atheist, so why thank him? Your school does not necessarily imply your parent's faith but it is a sure bet. No wonder you don't believe what they tried to indoctrinate into you, no one who thinks ever would. The only rationale was the Quakers' rethink, which basic good sense religions generally have wilfully refuted. Unfortunately, it was badly presented. I've had a better Facebook presentation of those facts. What was amazing was the failure to be fully open with spirituality. Leave concepts of God alone, deal with the spirituality that is the depth of the collective whole and requires no definition, it is simply "to be" felt, experienced and to which one should simply open oneself up. Love to all.

Sunday 13^th May 2018
From Facebook this past week
Morning world. Summer last week, autumn this morning! The trees are vividly different in their shades of green, helping their different shapes to stand out and there is a light mist gathered in the further valley. Heating has switched in and a disturbed night means I am already "end of day" tired. Aah well, plough on!

Sadness, a former work colleague has moved on but funeral notice says "no black please", just as I asked for my late father, "be not despondent in your attire, it is the celebration of a life". Slowly we make progress but he was not that older than I, if at all, that lends an air of despondency but that is the reality of life, as is death... of the body of which my sister wrote, "I will be moving house soon, don't know when..." that is all it is, moving house, new horizons, new knowledge and new awareness.

Rather than starting afresh, since you raise issues which I understand, I'll contribute "off" your contribution. What is education but creating the instinct to question and through questioning validating? Does society educate? I submit it indoctrinates: from which inculcation original thoughts are denounced; countered, in fear of contradicting the status quo; empathising with that which does seem so challenging, is denounced.
      Education should teach us who we are, as people and as part of society and therein what society is. At that very early age we lose the acceptance of balance between the individual; the individual in society and the objectivity of difference.

In another issue I complimented the Quaker annual meeting as avoiding religion's historical mistakes, obdurately refusing to acknowledge that creation is a state of continual change through time.
Civil social intercourse works similarly: it has difficulty coping with new ideas and assimilating change. Each new generation is indoctrinated into "the way things are" and change difference discouraged.
            What I forgot to mention, is that fear often leads to aggression as a form of self-defence. Is it a lack of knowing ourselves properly that causes us to be afraid of what is different in a familiar context?

Wednesday 9^th May 2018
You are falling into the trap the EU makes: rights over responsibilities. Responsibility, properly carried out, bestows rights.

There are moments when a picture catches a whole waterfall of time. Many could still be alive, having borne children, those children recognising relatives. I remember, smaller in area but that could have been a picture of girls in Clunbury's bindery, when I knew it thirty years later, or Cooper's lower works.

After-noon world. How can one be positive and depressed? During the last few days I have been completely washed out. It is fatigue, due to one or other medical condition. My mind is alert, my eyes questionable, my body supine. With Classic fm on my headphones I settled into a chair as best I could (a new electric motored (two of them) riser/recliner to replace my forty years old one, inherited from my mother, causing me to be accustomed to them and therefore requiring a replacement when it became irreparable); a good quality fixed upright for visitors (I do have them) make do for now, all that's available to me until my new one arrives, save for dining chairs but not what I really want right now.
     I settled own to update on my accumulated unread magazines, such as "Mac Format", "Which?"; and, by-passing my last glancing reminder reading, "Living with Fatigue" [published by Multiple Sclerosis Trust] not that I have MS but fatigue is fatigue, however caused by whatever.
     I then unearth some files I had put aside a month or so back, as a start to my thorough clear out of a life time's accumulation of files. Suddenly, I am in a different world, such is the value of keeping things. Letters from companies, not knowingly written to a teenage boy, of which I became aware when actually working in London. It is not just the content, the styleog language and grammar, it is the style and design of the letterheads, their addresses, reliving the period of their founding a century or so before. Carefully put back in the filing cabinet, too precious archival material to wade through without a clear head thinking meaningfully: not my ability right now.

Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting event, held at Friends House, London on 4 - 7 May 2018
"To Friends around the world:
Loving greetings from Britain Yearly Meeting 2018, gathered in glorious sunshine in and around London from 4 to 7 May. We have rejoiced in the voice and witness of Friends of all ages. Our diversity has been enriched by over 40 Friends and visitors from around the globe, with whom we have shared stories. We have experienced different traditions of worship, created art, sung, and danced together.
      The sequence of annual Yearly Meetings in Britain has been unbroken for 350 years. This year our focus has been to discern whether we are led to revise our book of discipline, which we adopted as ‘Quaker faith & practice’ in 1994. This follows four years of work by our Revision Preparation Group, and study of Quaker faith & practice by many Friends and local meetings. Periodic revision of the book of discipline is an essential part of our witness, recalling the past and looking to the future.
        Encouraged by the voices of younger Friends among us, we have united joyfully, to embark on a Spirit-led process of revision from much-loved foundations. We know that this will take time and energy. We are clear that we have the resources to undertake this, while continuing our witness in the wider world
         Many voices, experiences and identities are missing from our current book. Since the last revision, our Quaker community and the world around us have changed. We need a book of discipline that reflects more closely who we are now, and explains how and why we do what we do.
          At each session, we have heard readings from books of discipline from other times or other yearly meetings. A passage from ‘Living Adventurously’, Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting, resonated with the ministry and our desire to see each other truly:
          'Africans have a greeting that means ‘I see you.’… Seeing a person, in that salutation, means what is called eyeball to eyeball contact; recognising the presence of a person… someone as alive and as self-aware and as vulnerable as you are. I see you' 
(Guy Butler, 1994).
           This process of revision may become a renewal and transformation of who we are. Some of our younger children have asked: ‘What do we want to be? How would we like the world to be?’ We need to be bold and creative in our vision. As we heard in the Swarthmore Lecture, given by Chris Alton, ‘We must imagine this future, for if we cannot imagine it, we cannot speak it into existence.’
           In listening to one another we have been both inspired and challenged by our religious diversity. Viewed from a distance, our Quaker community may seem like a single body. Up close, it sparkles in its infinite variety. Diversity in our beliefs and language is a richness, not a flaw.
            We each choose our own words, and together our stories make a whole. We are not only individuals, but also part of a church. We want the language of our book to be accessible, and also to reflect the wealth of our tradition, and of our experiences today.
            Making space to reflect our religious diversity may be painful. We should not shy away from expressing who we are. We accept our vulnerability. We need to be tender with one another, balancing truth in one hand and love in the other. By listening open-heartedly to one another, we will hear where words come from.
           Change brings both excitement and apprehension. We have faith that our Quaker processes will help us follow the leadings of God, and take us where we need to be.
           “And the end of words is to bring men to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter” 
(Isaac Penington, Quaker faith & practice 27.27)

Friday 4^th May 2018
“Steady as she goes” seems the local election report. Personal observation? Last year’s General election was “not too extreme”, that was the hold on the Conservatives. Now the message is “May’s right in principle, don’t lose your nerve!”

Thursday 3^rd May 2018
Good after-noon world, one P Such Esq. reporting in, possibly slightly tipsy. He was shopping in Waitrose and saw "London Cup" by Sipsmith. He'd been needing a replacement gin but had been nobly holding off, it wasn't essential but he likes a choice of options when in the mood for a snifter. London cup he was unfamiliar with but the idea of pouring gin over lashings of ice in a large glass appealed to his imagination and he suddenly realised how much he was missing his Sipsmith original gin. Their London Cup was their London Dry Gin, rested with Earl Grey tea, lemon verbena and borage both the last being good for inflammation of the joints of which he is regularly suffering, so clearly medicinal. Best served to three parts lemonade or ginger ale and garnished with a lemon wheel. Aah. Misread it, I thought it was three times gin to the lemonade. Never mind it tastes right! 'evening all!

As Marianne Krout knows (she's in Australia, I'm UK, another gain from Fb), autoimmune problems cause erraticism in how one is from day to day and often from hour to hour. Scheduling comes with contradictions "it depends upon the day/hour if but I certainly intend...".
Several unrelated matters can raise excitement and a new view on a new day, while the same diversity can produce exactly the opposite inclination/ability "to do". The balance of interaction seems unrelated: emotional, physical, psychological; what interactive balance determines how one actually "is"?
      That is my perennial problem, I am rarely sure of how I actually "am" at any one time, let alone how I will be two hours hence!
Today we have a classic "May day" and I am reasonably energised. Over the last few days all three aspects mentioned above have been interacting in diverse ways causing some personal turmoil, so I am "at one" with those thrown by TSB's, Cambridge Analytica's, NHS's breast screening, Easily's (my preferred site server) upgrade problems. One's "controlled" environment is suddenly "out of my control". That's the problem of autoimmune diseases. Think then on Syrian etc refugee problems. It is not the way any of us are designed to live.

Monday 1^st May 2018
Phew! Hectic morning! A grey day but not a dull day. Perverse? It is the light. There is a certain tinge of sulphur in light which I remember when the valley used to be filled with train smoke. That "murk" enhances the distinction of the varied greens, highlighting the diversity of their individual shapes when, in later summer, they will meld into a conforming, less diverse green, presenting a "barrier" of colour across my mid-valley view.

Morning world. Going to bed last night there was no question May was going to open with March weather. This morning the sun is shining brightly and I seem to be "with it" so what was intended yesterday will now be done a day late but it will get done. I've been aware of "half a day's energy" for some time but it seems this is deteriorating into alternate days, needing a day's rest from day to day is disturbing.

[woman thrown out of BFI autistic]. May be, was also in The Guardian. To be fair, my awareness has only been acquired very late in life by circumstance though I hope my response then would simply have been embarrassment. Society, as a collective whole, still has a lot to learn and its lack of knowledge derives from lack of experience and the overhang of a society in which openness and honesty were to be shrouded from "outside" eyes out of embarrassment.
     Retrospectively the BFI has responded resonsibly and seem to have set a precedent. WELL DONE!

The article judges on the basis of accepted assumptions defining the case. We should start with responsibility. Alfie Evans is a minor and the responsibility for his welfare is first his parents of whom it is expected will be guided by "conventional" wisdom. When they feel they should contest that "wisdom", the state, as lawful authority intervenes and all law must be interpreted objectively. Objectivity and emotion are often in conflict but to prefer emotion over objectivity is irrational, it is the mistake religion historically makes, placing its presumptions contrary to reality. These cases are not helped by the intervention of religious or emotional prejudices, they require calm objective deliberation.

First make sure the prisons work, until then there is no point in them. The fault starts with the home and parents and they need access to the basics of social needs.

Potter's wheel is back! Well not quite. BBC has been down sliding for yonks, misconnections between programme links etc now a complete breakdown, "we'll play some music in the mean time", which was never played, reconnection failed twice. Finally we are going again! Collectively, as a nation, we seem to be falling down, such is the damage this preoccupation with the EU has caused us, we have forgotten how to do things and are dong them appallingly badly.

PARLIAMENTARY WORK AHEAD

Boundary clarification. How many seats and what preferred size of constituency population?

Proportional representation. Which system?

House of Lords? Should it be elected or appointed and upon what classification? Originally based on the realities of the day: Spiritual; Legal; Defence; land ownership; hereditary entitlement.

Today? Spiritual but across the faiths (define), including pure secularism/humanitarianism (all appointed/elected by their respective churches); Legal, as is; Political (variable by proven worth, such as past ministers or retired professional senior civil servants and limited party nominations); representatives of Capital, Financial Services, Labour (all either retired or active, appointed or elected by their respective accredited bodies); Education (ditto precedents stated); Health (ditto); Other?

The whole re-viewable by a statutory committee reporting with recommendations to parliament on a ten yearly basis to cover relevance of classifications in the then current world. Modus operandi as at present.