Touching base…

I had hoped to write a post about something that might bring understanding on issues that plague humankind. Instead I am just writing part of my journey with chronic disease.

I have been dealing with the pain in my shoulder, and have seen some improvement. I’ve used breathing techniques to relax, and small amounts of alcohol – a glass of wine will send me into a deep sleep, which is really great and medicinal.

It seems I may have bruised a bone in my pelvis when I had that awful fall on06 11 19. The bruise was bad, but there is still tenderness and some pain in my left leg.

Last week, one day, my blog was most read in Japan. I found this surprising. My blog has been read in every country in the world, apart from a handful of countries in Africa. I find this very humbling. I hope those who read it find inspiration and hope.

I started this blog without even thinking others would read it. In all honesty, I think it’s only been this year that I started to engage with followers on WordPress. Sometimes a friend will let on that they have read something, but I would rather not know, as I want to write freely.

Last week, someone hacked the facebook account of a friend of mine and sent me a friend request. I blocked that hacker and told my friend. I don’t understand why I get that intrusion now. When I was much more engaged in human rights, it was almost normal to be ‘spied’ on, or brand new accounts asking my friends questions about me. Friends who freely gave info to someone they’d never heard of became unfriended by me on facebook. I’m still in touch with a few, but really, who gives info about a friend to a stranger? I don’t.

All sorts of tactics have been used to try and intimidate me, or find out information about me. That’s ok. But when my daughter was brought into it, that was quite another. I am a tigress when it comes to my daughter.

I’ve stepped back in the last 18 months as it took a toll on my mental health. Politics is so slow. And so many lies are told and believed. Some governments place no value on human life. Some – most goverments see refugees as less than human.

We have an election here this week. I shall vote Labour as it will save our National Health Service. It is up for sale with the Conservatives, and Trump’s proclamation that he isn’t interested in our NHS was word play. He hates the NHS because Republicans see it as socialism. We pay for it in taxes and it is free at the point of need. The Tories have planned to end this and make it a for profit scheme.

If you have the right to vote here in the UK, please vote Labour for the sake of the NHS. I have never before advocated for the Labour party. I don’t like Jeremy Corbin, I don’t like a lot of things, but Labour is the lesser of the two evils.

Being hacked, Prince Andrew and other things…

At some point today, while I was downstairs chatting with my friend Abby, my laptop was hacked. I know who did it, or it was their brother who lives in Bristol. Stop it. The police know.

A friend tagged me on facebook with a meme I had used on here… It’s good to know I am being read, though I generally prefer to not know who is reading among my friends and family.

I am glad there is a reader in Portugal, and I hope it is Frank.

….So Prince Andrew has famously given an interview to Newsnight. I think notoriously is a better word. He has shown himself to be a very self centred person, he showed absolutely no concern for the victims of Epstein, and is not fit to be a patron of any charity, organisation or initiative to do with young people.

Anyone who is asked such questions and expresses no empathy or concern for trafficked children for sex, poses a risk to young teenage girls. Really. Truly. Prince Andrew not once uttered any concern that his friends had been abusing girls in this way. Ghislaine Maxwell seems to have a lot of questions to answer too. In a court of law.

Prince Andrew does not regret his friendship with Epstein. He really should regret it and should have not bothered to end the friendship at all, by phone, by text, and certainly not by staying in Epstein’s house for four days.

All he did was say he had let the Royal Family down. He described sex from a man’s point of view is ‘a positive act’. But we are not talking about ‘sex’. We are talking about abuse of power, violence, victimisation, etc etc.

It is appalling that someone of his position can give an interview in a palace, with plush carpets, furnishings and comfort, while his accusers are not afforded the same. Prince Andrew should be answering in a court of law, in America.

I don’t see what he can do in future. Exile is an option. Certainly, he is now a huge blight to his family. His crime is to be totally uncaring about the abuse of children, the extent of Epstein’s crimes, Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement, and the callous self- vindication he engaged in.

The NSPCCC must be cringing that he was ever involved with him, and as someone who once worked with the NSPCC, I was shocked to the core.

When I was a young girl I had a crush on this man, and was shocked when he was labelled the ‘the playboy prince’ and he feigns surprise that he is called the ‘party prince’.