Monday, 12 April 2010
Are my ears deceiving me ...
... or did I really just hear that Jim Devine, the Labour MP on over 60 grand, is entitled to legal aid to fight the charges of fraud after he was accused of diddling the taxpayer with his expenses? He is entitled to it? How can that be? And worse, he's actually claiming it? I'm stunned. Don't know what else to say, I really don't!
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Grand Nationalists get saddled up
Ach what a shame. The Labour Party thought they'd come up with a great poster for the election. How they must hate us pesky nationalists for pipping them at the post on the day they launched it by unveiling ours an hour earlier.
I thought I'd leave it till today when half the country's getting excited about some horse race at Aintree - and the other's half's campaigning against it.
It's all to play for as they say but it's certainly no two horse race. Yes it's true, the SNP cannot win across the whole of the UK (but only because we don't have candidates in other countries) and Angus Robertson will not be Prime Minister of the UK. But what we can do is elect a substantial group of SNP MPs who will speak up for Scotland at every opportunity and who could get substantial concessions for us in a hung parliament situation. That has got to be better than where we are now but oh how it grates on me that we should have to think in terms of "concessions". The sooner our Independence referendum gets under starter's orders, the better.
Friday, 9 April 2010
Bullying is not funny
I was sad to read this story about Frankie Boyle making fun of people with Down's Syndrome during a live show. I would definitely count myself as a fan of his and it's his near the knuckle comments that most people find funniest - he says the things you just wouldn't dare to. But you have to draw the line somewhere and laughing at someone because they have a disability is where I would draw it. I saw Billy Connolly last year in Glasgow and had a similar experience to the woman in this story. Obviously it was more personal for her because her wee girl has Down's Syndrome but I, too, noticed that just about everyone else was laughing when Billy Connolly impersonated the way someone who'd had polio might walk.
It didn't make me feel obliged to laugh but I definitely felt self conscious about the fact that I wasn't laughing although I did wonder how many of the audience were laughing out of obligation.
I felt like standing up and telling him that rather a large section of the audience that night had disabilities and they'd paid bloody good money to get in to see him. I have a feeling Frankie Boyle will reconsider where Billy Connolly would just stick two fingers up to anyone who complained - at least I hope so.
It's not illegal to say these things, nor should it be. And we can agree or disagree as to the rights and wrongs. For me though the most important thing is that it's just not funny. What is funny about someone struggling to get out of work with one leg shorter than the other in case they get crushed in the rush (Billy C talking about guys in the shipyards)? What would make you laugh about someone with Down's Syndrome "talking funny"?
I don't get it. Do you? Are you one of these people who laughs because everyone else does? I understand and it can be hard especially when it's your friends but I honestly think that we all have to be true to ourselves and do what we believe to be right, not what everyone else is doing. It's a slippery slope and for people with disabilities sometimes this attitude of "it's only a laugh" results in serious bullying and we've heard recently about people who've taken their own lives because of it.
If I were Frankie Boyle I'd be apologising, admitting it's not really funny and speaking out against people who bully people with disabilities. We can all make mistakes and people who can own up to them gets loads more respect than people who pick on others because of something outwith their control.
It didn't make me feel obliged to laugh but I definitely felt self conscious about the fact that I wasn't laughing although I did wonder how many of the audience were laughing out of obligation.
I felt like standing up and telling him that rather a large section of the audience that night had disabilities and they'd paid bloody good money to get in to see him. I have a feeling Frankie Boyle will reconsider where Billy Connolly would just stick two fingers up to anyone who complained - at least I hope so.
It's not illegal to say these things, nor should it be. And we can agree or disagree as to the rights and wrongs. For me though the most important thing is that it's just not funny. What is funny about someone struggling to get out of work with one leg shorter than the other in case they get crushed in the rush (Billy C talking about guys in the shipyards)? What would make you laugh about someone with Down's Syndrome "talking funny"?
I don't get it. Do you? Are you one of these people who laughs because everyone else does? I understand and it can be hard especially when it's your friends but I honestly think that we all have to be true to ourselves and do what we believe to be right, not what everyone else is doing. It's a slippery slope and for people with disabilities sometimes this attitude of "it's only a laugh" results in serious bullying and we've heard recently about people who've taken their own lives because of it.
If I were Frankie Boyle I'd be apologising, admitting it's not really funny and speaking out against people who bully people with disabilities. We can all make mistakes and people who can own up to them gets loads more respect than people who pick on others because of something outwith their control.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Are all Tories called George?
Just watched David Cameron emerge from Tory Central to a cheering crowd and as he's doing the glad handing thing he says to one guy "how are you George?" and explains to Samantha ("one of our candidates"). Then he shakes the hand of the next guy and says "not far from home eh George?" and then the next guy "good to see you George"! Hilarious. Either they're all called George or he's doing the fake sincerity "you're all my buddies cos I'm such a nice guy" act. Hmmm, I wonder which it could be.
Perhaps one of his lines in his soapbox style speech which he's making right now, provides us with the answer. "We say to young men, yes we will give you training but if you don't take the training or the job we offer you, you can't continue on benefits." Note the singular. Now I don't believe it's healthy for someone to continually knock back work but ONE offer? Take it or leave it? They infuriate me and anyone who claims (as happened recently) that I'd like to see a Tory victory because it will bring Independence around a lot quicker, doesn't know me at all.
I don't see a great deal of difference between Labour and the Tories these days and that is one of the saddest things ever to happen in British politics. However, the fact that the Labour Party has lurched to the right in the way that it has, only gives the Tories the impetus to go even further to the right when / if they get into power. I don't see much chance of it being anything other than a Tory victory and we really need to make sure we have as many SNP MPs elected as possible because in all of this, Scotland will be forgotten. SNP MPs won't let that happen - you can say what you like about the SNP but nobody will deny that they will always put Scotland's interests first.
Perhaps one of his lines in his soapbox style speech which he's making right now, provides us with the answer. "We say to young men, yes we will give you training but if you don't take the training or the job we offer you, you can't continue on benefits." Note the singular. Now I don't believe it's healthy for someone to continually knock back work but ONE offer? Take it or leave it? They infuriate me and anyone who claims (as happened recently) that I'd like to see a Tory victory because it will bring Independence around a lot quicker, doesn't know me at all.
I don't see a great deal of difference between Labour and the Tories these days and that is one of the saddest things ever to happen in British politics. However, the fact that the Labour Party has lurched to the right in the way that it has, only gives the Tories the impetus to go even further to the right when / if they get into power. I don't see much chance of it being anything other than a Tory victory and we really need to make sure we have as many SNP MPs elected as possible because in all of this, Scotland will be forgotten. SNP MPs won't let that happen - you can say what you like about the SNP but nobody will deny that they will always put Scotland's interests first.
Adios Christie
Anyone who has read this and my other blogs regularly over the last 4 years will feel that they know my niece Christie (pictured) fairly well. She has long become used to "strangers" asking her how she got on with this or that and now reads my blog herself so that she's not surprised in future.
Anyway, Christie is now 17. In fact she'll be 18 on Sunday. And her plan was to apply for a place at Edinburgh Uni to study Mandarin but to defer until 2011. So she's done that and she'll know in July if she's been successful. The reason for deferring was to give her time in France or Spain to consolidate her understanding of European languages. Very sensible idea but with the global recession it didn't quite work out that way.
However, the great news is that last week a job she'd applied for finally came through and tomorrow morning, she sets off on her own to start a new life in Murcia in the South East of Spain.
It's great news and very exciting for her. But of course, we'll all miss her terribly. In fact she's not even away yet and I'm feeling like there's something missing so who knows how her mum, dad and brother will be feeling. It's all happened so suddenly but it's definitely a good move for her. And thanks to Google Earth I can sit of an evening outside her apartment making sure she gets home safely - stalker aunt!!
So this afternoon is the big farewell and I'm sure everyone will be telling her how proud we are of her for having the courage to go out into the world by herself at such a young age. To feel the fear and do it anyway is the sign of a true warrior. The best bit for me however was shortly after she'd told me she had the job. She sent me a text saying "I can still vote in the General Election can't I? I have to make sure I get my vote."! That's my girl!
Exclusive to Indygal
I can exclusively reveal today - in complete confidence you understand - that Gordon Brown will visit the queen later and then ... wait for it ... he'll call a General Election on .... 6 May! So don't forget that you heard the news here first!!
Always here with breaking news :-)
Always here with breaking news :-)
Monday, 5 April 2010
A tale of two cousins
As promised many months ago, I am going to tell you about my cousin and her battle with alcohol addiction. She's happy for me to do it but she doesn't want me to use her real name which is a shame because it's a nice name and I always wished, as a child, that I could have had that name instead of my one syllable Anne!
Maybe it was just because I looked up to her that I wanted her name. Clarissa was 3 years older than me and very trendy. No, I can't call her Clarissa, she'll kill me and besides, she's way too cool to be a Clarissa. OK so Jemima ... Right! Enough silliness, this is a serious story. We'll call her Susan. Susan was (and is) 3 years older than me. So when I was an impressionable 13 year old she was 16 and the last word in sophistication. She had a fringe like Chrissie Hynde, knew how to apply eyeliner and was far more worldly than me.
I won't tell you the entire story or we'd be here all night but when Susan was 16 she met her boyfriend Clarence (you can guess my opinion of him from the pseudonym!) and some time later discovered she was pregnant. They got married when she was 17 and were happy to do so. Soon were the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. He had a number of disabilities but despite her age, she just got on with the job of caring for him and did as most mothers do, fell madly in love with her baby boy.
Their joy was to be short lived and at the age of only *four and a half months, their baby son died. They were heartbroken and their lives soon spiralled out of control. Susan tried to cope and did her best to overlook the insensitive comments of the insensitive minority - "you only had him for 4 and a half months so you'll be fine"; "ach you're young, you'll have plenty more"; "it's been 2 months, why are you still crying?" - because most people were trying to help.
Her husband couldn't face up to it, turned to drugs and in no time was addicted to heroin. He'd been violent to her when his baby son was alive but now it escalated. So at the age of 17, she was married to a violent drug addicted husband and had suffered the worst bereavement anyone can suffer. She turned to alcohol. It helped but of course it didn't help. I don't know when Susan became an alcoholic, I can only tell you for sure when she had her last drink and that was nearly 5 years ago.
She's 46 now so she would have been 41 when she last drank alcohol. But that means for at least 25 years, it was a huge part of her life. I listen to the argument against minimum pricing of alcohol that people who are addicted won't care about the cost and to a certain extent, I agree. Susan would have had almost no choice when she was drinking. You could have doubled the price and she would still have had to get it somehow. So although minimum pricing might force an alcoholic to think about their lifestyle and to address their problems a bit sooner, in the way that many people (myself included) finally got round to stopping smoking when it became so difficult to find somewhere to do it, for many who are addicted, it won't make a massive difference.
But surely what we're trying to do is tackle the problems early on. And that's one area where it WILL make a difference. Susan had her first drink at the age of 14. A completely dim-witted aunt used to slip her a vodka any time she was visiting. She never asked for it so the stupidity of that is completely beyond me. The aunt wouldn't have cared much about minimum pricing. But had alcohol not been so readily available and so pocket money cheap, would Susan have bothered going on to drink with her pals at that age when her aunt wasn't there to fund it? I seriously doubt it. When you're that age, you have pocket money and it can only go so far. She spent it on magazines, make up, records and cheap alcohol. If she'd had to give up the make up in order to fund the alcohol, trust me she wouldn't have done it!
And when the baby died and her husband became completely lost to her, had it not been for her already proven easy access to alcohol (for 'easy' read 'CHEAP'), it would never have occurred to her that it might provide an answer. She would have grieved of course she would, I imagine she'll grieve for him all of her life, but she would have gone through a natural grieving process instead of one that chemically masked the necessary stages of grief. And she would have been spared the decades of pain that inevitably accompanied alcohol addiction.
Many times she tried to stop. Sometimes she did but it never lasted. Until now.
I will be honest and I'm sure she knows this although I've never actually said it to her. There were times when I avoided her. I cared about her and I wanted her to be well but I didn't know how to help and when someone's drinking in that way (as she knows because she's also witnessed it first hand) you can love them but hate their behaviour. I rarely felt angry with her. She was always a really good person, that was obvious. I also knew she had never wanted her life to turn out like that. And I was aware that despite not having a problem with alcohol myself, I would find it hard never to drink again so I knew it was an awful lot harder for someone who was addicted. But it really is torture sometimes when you're watching someone do that to themselves.
This blog piece was not actually supposed to be a pitch for minimum pricing although I believe it would have made such a difference to her life. The reason for writing is to try and give hope to anyone out there who is having problems with their drinking or for anyone watching someone they care about seemingly drink themselves to death, that it can all change.
As I say Susan stopped drinking nearly 5 years ago. Maybe she'll write a piece for the blog about that. Since stopping her life has not exactly been stress free but she has faced all of her problems and conquered them - sober! I'm amazed by her strength. It took more than 4 years for her to feel ready to work again and she was so nervous when she started applying for jobs. But she finally had some self confidence and she took the plunge and eventually she was successful.
She started work for the first time in years, full of trepidation but excitement too. I was so angry when she started to tell me about the way she was being treated in her new job. Petty people picking away at her self esteem, not giving her the chance to adjust, behaving, in short, like school bullies! I feared for her then. I was scared she would start drinking again. She didn't. She tried to work round them and when that didn't work, after much thought she handed in her notice. A real shame but she'd worked too hard on getting herself well to risk it all for them. The first major test and although it didn't work out the way she wanted it to, she dealt with it - sober!
Her mum has been very ill for months now and she's the only one who lives near enough to look after her. It's been unbelievably stressful for her - her mum has some physical ailments and is in her 80s but she's also got Alzheimers which is confusing, hurtful and distressing in the extreme. And I know she has been feeling the strain a lot recently. And yet, she's dealt with all of that almost completely single handedly and again, sober.
I could tell you more about the damage that alcohol did to Susan but I'm really hoping she'll do that when she's got a bit more free time on her hands. Incidentally her mum's getting the right help now and Susan is hoping to go to Uni this year so things are moving in the right direction. I just want to emphasise how important it is that we help people who are struggling with alcohol problems. I want to keep campaigning for minimum pricing per unit of alcohol so that pocket money prices disappear and kids can enjoy their childhood and spend their pocket money on other things.
And I want to say how proud I am of my cousin "Susan". As a teenager I looked up to her. Now I am in awe of her strength and determination. Today is a particularly relevant day to be writing this because her cousin who was also an alcoholic, died a year ago today, devastating his family. He didn't die of alcoholism but had he not been an alcoholic he would still be here. He tried to overcome it but in the end, he just couldn't do it. So I stand in admiration of the fact that she's stronger than the lot of us put together. And we are all very thankful for that.
When I think of her these days, the word alcoholic is not the first word to spring to mind. I think of her as the intelligent, funny, caring and competitive (when playing Scrabble or Countdown!) person that she is. And she's still got a modern day Chrissie Hynde fringe so that, alone, makes her well worth a mention on the blog!
Maybe it was just because I looked up to her that I wanted her name. Clarissa was 3 years older than me and very trendy. No, I can't call her Clarissa, she'll kill me and besides, she's way too cool to be a Clarissa. OK so Jemima ... Right! Enough silliness, this is a serious story. We'll call her Susan. Susan was (and is) 3 years older than me. So when I was an impressionable 13 year old she was 16 and the last word in sophistication. She had a fringe like Chrissie Hynde, knew how to apply eyeliner and was far more worldly than me.
I won't tell you the entire story or we'd be here all night but when Susan was 16 she met her boyfriend Clarence (you can guess my opinion of him from the pseudonym!) and some time later discovered she was pregnant. They got married when she was 17 and were happy to do so. Soon were the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. He had a number of disabilities but despite her age, she just got on with the job of caring for him and did as most mothers do, fell madly in love with her baby boy.
Their joy was to be short lived and at the age of only *four and a half months, their baby son died. They were heartbroken and their lives soon spiralled out of control. Susan tried to cope and did her best to overlook the insensitive comments of the insensitive minority - "you only had him for 4 and a half months so you'll be fine"; "ach you're young, you'll have plenty more"; "it's been 2 months, why are you still crying?" - because most people were trying to help.
Her husband couldn't face up to it, turned to drugs and in no time was addicted to heroin. He'd been violent to her when his baby son was alive but now it escalated. So at the age of 17, she was married to a violent drug addicted husband and had suffered the worst bereavement anyone can suffer. She turned to alcohol. It helped but of course it didn't help. I don't know when Susan became an alcoholic, I can only tell you for sure when she had her last drink and that was nearly 5 years ago.
She's 46 now so she would have been 41 when she last drank alcohol. But that means for at least 25 years, it was a huge part of her life. I listen to the argument against minimum pricing of alcohol that people who are addicted won't care about the cost and to a certain extent, I agree. Susan would have had almost no choice when she was drinking. You could have doubled the price and she would still have had to get it somehow. So although minimum pricing might force an alcoholic to think about their lifestyle and to address their problems a bit sooner, in the way that many people (myself included) finally got round to stopping smoking when it became so difficult to find somewhere to do it, for many who are addicted, it won't make a massive difference.
But surely what we're trying to do is tackle the problems early on. And that's one area where it WILL make a difference. Susan had her first drink at the age of 14. A completely dim-witted aunt used to slip her a vodka any time she was visiting. She never asked for it so the stupidity of that is completely beyond me. The aunt wouldn't have cared much about minimum pricing. But had alcohol not been so readily available and so pocket money cheap, would Susan have bothered going on to drink with her pals at that age when her aunt wasn't there to fund it? I seriously doubt it. When you're that age, you have pocket money and it can only go so far. She spent it on magazines, make up, records and cheap alcohol. If she'd had to give up the make up in order to fund the alcohol, trust me she wouldn't have done it!
And when the baby died and her husband became completely lost to her, had it not been for her already proven easy access to alcohol (for 'easy' read 'CHEAP'), it would never have occurred to her that it might provide an answer. She would have grieved of course she would, I imagine she'll grieve for him all of her life, but she would have gone through a natural grieving process instead of one that chemically masked the necessary stages of grief. And she would have been spared the decades of pain that inevitably accompanied alcohol addiction.
Many times she tried to stop. Sometimes she did but it never lasted. Until now.
I will be honest and I'm sure she knows this although I've never actually said it to her. There were times when I avoided her. I cared about her and I wanted her to be well but I didn't know how to help and when someone's drinking in that way (as she knows because she's also witnessed it first hand) you can love them but hate their behaviour. I rarely felt angry with her. She was always a really good person, that was obvious. I also knew she had never wanted her life to turn out like that. And I was aware that despite not having a problem with alcohol myself, I would find it hard never to drink again so I knew it was an awful lot harder for someone who was addicted. But it really is torture sometimes when you're watching someone do that to themselves.
This blog piece was not actually supposed to be a pitch for minimum pricing although I believe it would have made such a difference to her life. The reason for writing is to try and give hope to anyone out there who is having problems with their drinking or for anyone watching someone they care about seemingly drink themselves to death, that it can all change.
As I say Susan stopped drinking nearly 5 years ago. Maybe she'll write a piece for the blog about that. Since stopping her life has not exactly been stress free but she has faced all of her problems and conquered them - sober! I'm amazed by her strength. It took more than 4 years for her to feel ready to work again and she was so nervous when she started applying for jobs. But she finally had some self confidence and she took the plunge and eventually she was successful.
She started work for the first time in years, full of trepidation but excitement too. I was so angry when she started to tell me about the way she was being treated in her new job. Petty people picking away at her self esteem, not giving her the chance to adjust, behaving, in short, like school bullies! I feared for her then. I was scared she would start drinking again. She didn't. She tried to work round them and when that didn't work, after much thought she handed in her notice. A real shame but she'd worked too hard on getting herself well to risk it all for them. The first major test and although it didn't work out the way she wanted it to, she dealt with it - sober!
Her mum has been very ill for months now and she's the only one who lives near enough to look after her. It's been unbelievably stressful for her - her mum has some physical ailments and is in her 80s but she's also got Alzheimers which is confusing, hurtful and distressing in the extreme. And I know she has been feeling the strain a lot recently. And yet, she's dealt with all of that almost completely single handedly and again, sober.
I could tell you more about the damage that alcohol did to Susan but I'm really hoping she'll do that when she's got a bit more free time on her hands. Incidentally her mum's getting the right help now and Susan is hoping to go to Uni this year so things are moving in the right direction. I just want to emphasise how important it is that we help people who are struggling with alcohol problems. I want to keep campaigning for minimum pricing per unit of alcohol so that pocket money prices disappear and kids can enjoy their childhood and spend their pocket money on other things.
And I want to say how proud I am of my cousin "Susan". As a teenager I looked up to her. Now I am in awe of her strength and determination. Today is a particularly relevant day to be writing this because her cousin who was also an alcoholic, died a year ago today, devastating his family. He didn't die of alcoholism but had he not been an alcoholic he would still be here. He tried to overcome it but in the end, he just couldn't do it. So I stand in admiration of the fact that she's stronger than the lot of us put together. And we are all very thankful for that.
When I think of her these days, the word alcoholic is not the first word to spring to mind. I think of her as the intelligent, funny, caring and competitive (when playing Scrabble or Countdown!) person that she is. And she's still got a modern day Chrissie Hynde fringe so that, alone, makes her well worth a mention on the blog!
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