In autumn last year my partner and I had some great news from the doctor – she was pregnant, and was due in April coming. The buzz was building right up to the day before I filed this article when I had to attend a safeguarding meeting with all...
Trying to meet their housing policy objectives has meant donning blinkers for the majority of those involved within the Council - and in any case in the main we are not only often talking about low calibre individuals whether elected or appointed who have been doing this but also...
I have a paranoid delusion: Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) is out to get me. He will have my disability benefits reassessed and I will be taken off Tax Credits and forced to take Universal Credit, and be bullied by a Jobcentre Plus worker into giving up journalism to earn...
Through my Facebook network I found an offensive group called “Support Workfare – Make Benefit Scroungers Work for their Money” – click on the hyperlink to see what this is about. Naturally I shared the link asking people to report the page to Facebook to have it taken down....
When we take out private insurance for our homes, possessions or holidays, we expect to pay more the more we have to lose. So why not with payments that protect the fabric of our societies, with payments that ensure our society functions efficiently: a payment we call tax? Who...
Dear Mr Drax,I pay my taxes, amongst other things, to provide effective armed forces able, if necessary, to project power to wherever it is needed in the world.One of its functions must be in the gravest of circumstances, when tyranny reigns and innocent men, women and children are being...
In 2011, I wrote my thoughts regarding the coming of the 2012 Olympics to Portland. 3 years on and two years after the event, perhaps I was right? You be the judge. With less than 1 year to go until the Olympics Sailing Events start here in Portland, one...
The phrase "Keep Portland Weird" refers to the people of Portland and their age old customs and beliefs. I have a sneeking suspicion that the concept of said phrase was for just one of our age old customs..."The Bunny Thing". Now as a Portlander born and bred, I was...
Members of the Dorset Health Campaign are writing to GPs across South and West Dorset in the next stage of the campaign to stop Privatisation of the Dorset County Pathology Lab. GPs are being asked to have copies of the petition displayed at their reception desks so that members...
For better or worse, many people are addicted to a nerve toxin (nicotine) in a weed (tobacco) grown commercially in the Americas and Africa. A new solution has emerged that allows smokers to reduce the amount of poisons entering their lungs and reduce the ill effects of smoking a...
