Captain Cameron has performed his version of 'shuffling the deckchairs aboard the Titanic' and put of all people, Jeremy Hunt in charge of the NHS. It's common knowledge that Cameron, Hunt, and all the rest of them, hate the NHS and are determined to bring this great institution down. (50,000 medics getting their P45's as part of the cuts, rationing of services, and private, in the main American health corporations muscling in to cherry pick profitable services, and by so doing, gain access to British taxpayers money etc). If ever a signal could go out the NHS is not safe in politicians hands, the appointment of the smug Mr Hunt is it. The very same minister objected to the NHS tribute that featured so spectacularly at the Olympics opening ceremony, and that says everything we need to know about the intentions of Cameron's government.

The 'other' Team GB

Nothing irritates and frustrates me more, than being unable to write due to pressure of work. On the positive side though, endless fermentation of ideas keeps on bubbling away, whilst I carry out my conventional workload. Team GB and their stunning performance at the Olympics, has set a whole new train of thoughts in motion as regards how to present SNM in the best possible light. Our sportspeople have shown what can be achieved when sufficient hard work and a positive mindset get applied to a job in hand, and theirs is a mentality that needs to be applied to all walks of national life.

Taking in the bigger picture, our sportspeople represent just one constituent element of the real and full scale 'Team GB'. Other elements include Politics, Law, Commerce, Public Services, Bureaucracy and Community Cohesion amongst the other 'players' and those elements all represent failure.

Picture Team GB as it ought to be viewed. One element has proved itself to be worthy whilst all of the other elements around it represent the worst of Britain. That is the starting point and the new direction of attack Sheep No More will come from. The current website is too 'wordy' and concentrates on 'the problem' whilst only touching on solutions and what ought to be achievable. Chapter 12 of SNM is packed full of material designed to begin righting so much that has been left to go wrong, and that is where the emphasis of the project must go. So expect new content to the website just as soon as I can knock it into shape, that will take its lead from our Olympians and will concentrate on solutions and the performance 'we the people' are entitled to expect from 'The Team'.

The weekend just gone, witnessed the first outing of SNM at the Garlic Festival on the Isle of Wight. A handful of copies of the paper and ink book went home with new owners and an encouraging amount of interest in the eBook version was generated. It was very rewarding to meet new people and have some pretty intense conversations, some of which were quite challenging. All-in-all, a very good experience and one to build on.

Two widely shared opinions came across forcefully. The first is that Brits are sickened at the trashing of their country and have no faith whatsoever in any of our politicians, an opinion I share and that is common to people like me who are not defeatist by nature. The other opinion 'that it's all too late and nothing can be done' comes from people who've all but given up, and who I cannot agree with despite understanding the pessimism.

Summer 2012 has been quite a time for me and lots of lessons have been learnt. The Queens Diamond Jubilee and accompanying appearance of the Union Flag, almost to saturation point, tells me that the British have a powerful desire to be united and be able to feel pride in their nation once more. Then followed the success of Team GB at the Olympics and we witnessed what hard work and a positive mindset can achieve. At the Garlic Festival this weekend and as a result of all those conversations partaken of, it struck me that the 'Team GB' concept needs to be expanded and the much talked of matter of 'legacy' be tackled from an 'every walk of life' perspective, so taking in politics, the law, commerce, the whole kit and caboodle. Doing so will be the subject of my next posting.

Garlic Festival on the Isle of Wight today and tomorrow. Will be taking three dozen books and some flyer's to see what interest can be drummed up, so a bit of a nail biting weekend lays ahead for yours truly. Still; just so long as they don't all come back with me, I shall regard it as a success!

Britain has just been through an amazing couple of weeks, that could, if we've the sense to build on the mentality demonstrated by our Olympians, begin the task of putting the country back to rights.
 All those medals were won, not just because our athletes were at the peak of physical fitness, but their mental fitness was finely honed as well. They're team players who won the respect, support, and love of their countrymen and weren't in the least bit ashamed to show patriotism (for so long a dirty word in this country)

I don't expect the politicians and business leaders that run Britain and who control all of our lives to be all that physically fit, but we ought to be confident that they are mentally. Ours aren't, they are not team players but are self serving in the extreme, and they certainly don't command any respect. The likes of David Cameron and Bob Diamond occupy the same positions in politics and banking as does Bradley Wiggins in sport, but they are not fit to tie his laces. Politicians and businessmen need seriously to get their heads straight and up their game, and I cannot see any reason or excuse not to do so.       

Never before in my adult lifetime, has the Union Flag been more in evidence than it has in the spring and summer of 2012. Putting aside the European Cup (bit of a let down, but we were after all, pinning our hopes on a bunch of overpaid, prima-donna chavs) the spirit of the country has since then improved enormously. Queenie's Diamond Jubilee went down a storm, and then the Olympics got underway, and our hard working girls and boys have restored to Britain a great deal of pride. Well done to all of them I say, and not just the medal winners, but those whose success may well come at future tournaments, also those working behind the scenes. Soon it will all be over and this amazing summer (events wise) will draw to a close. Then it'll be back to normal (austerity and all that crap) which will be a very good time to capitalise upon the positive spirit at large now, and see about what can be done to revive British Politics and make it worthy once more.  

For a week I have been disconnected from the Internet as my PC pretty much died, and it is currently the only device in my possession I can hook up with. Now though, I've learnt the lesson and have a second option that should arrive any day soon!

The day my computer threw a wobbler, was the same one I guested on the Ian Mac show at Vectis Radio. That appearance was my first opportunity to promote Sheep No More, and sorry to say, I got it wrong. Instead of concentrating on what we could, and should, be doing about the almighty mess our politicians and bankers have saddled us with, I banged on about 'the problem'. Still; the PC breaking and gifting me with plenty of thinking time had a good effect. Now I can see what needs doing, and that both my presentation on the day in question, and the new content of the SNM website need rethinking. Learning by making mistakes is a pain in the backside, but obviously in my own case, necessary.

Today I will be guesting on Ian Mac's show at www.vectisradio.com between 10am and 1pm; an interview that will mark the first real promotion of Sheep No More. Afterwards, the PC being used to write this, will have to be dropped off at a repair shop, because it's doing all sorts of strange things that it ought not to. Normal service will resume just as soon as I get it back! Guess I'm going to have to invest in a backup machine; bugger.

Everything in the news justifies the existence of my project, but I'm not going to comment on any of that today, but will instead talk about my uphill battle to get SNM out of the starting blocks.

Without a publishing deal, I've only my own efforts to call upon, and any time I can afford to spend pursing ideas / making enquiries etc, has to come after making a living, and on that front the Gods have been playing tricks on me of late. Since the banking crisis hit in 2007, business has been to say the least, quiet. For the first four months of 2012 it was dire, but that allowed me to utilise the time instead, preparing the book for publication and uploading it etc. On May 1st, just as I was planning on getting to grips with the matter of promotion, something strange happened on the conventional work front. It lit up, and work began to pour in, almost like the good old days, and without my having made the slightest effort to go looking for it. And because my workload had been slow and for so long, with the inevitable consequence that family finances have taken a hammering, I've had no choice other than to buckle down and get jobs out. Its been difficult to do so, because that's not where my head is at, me wanting to concentrate on the book, and in my dreams, ram a copy of it up David Cameron's nose!

I am where I am, and will shortly have to go to my workshop and carve silver and gold all day long. Despite long hours at the workbench, I've been writing a document full of  'prompts' to call upon when I do get to promote the project. I've also got some pretty good (if I say so myself) letters of introduction off to people in the public eye and who I admire, they being constructive by nature and who're likely to 'get it'. The website has been knocked into shape for now at least, although I accept that it needs to be less 'wordy' and contain more artwork etc to make it more appealing. And I have started to wonder as to whether or not, finding a good literary agent may not be a sensible move? Perhaps someone that knows their way around the publishing industry and its promotional methods would be useful to have on board?

I'm away to my bench now and will continue churning it all over, as I do all of my waking hours. Sure could use a holiday! To be continued...

Productivity is my theme for today, and how best to measure it. A doctor or nurse's value can be measured according to how many sick people they help to make well again over the course of a working lifetime. An Educationalist's, according to how many young people are turned out that can read and write to a decent standard, and who can exercise their grey matter to optimum effect. A Soldier's, according to how safe he and his comrades reassure us that our democracy and civilisation is properly defended, that we can sleep safely in our beds at night, and that potential aggressors are deterred from attacking us. And on and on we could go, assessing the many areas of life in which Brits work bloody hard at keeping the heart and soul of our nation intact. 

What of politicians? How should we measure their 'productivity'? I'd say, according to the peace of mind and reassurance that the nation is in safe political hands, each of us ought to be able to enjoy. That being the case, my own assessment of our political breed, across the entire spectrum, from left to right, is that these are the least productive people in society, to the point of handicapping us in the most unacceptable way. They are in control of every aspect of our daily lives and volunteered themselves to be 'guardians' over the state of wellbeing of our nation, its history and heritage included; and yet, all they are capable of doing, is dismantling what took centuries to build, sowing as they go, many seeds of fear about the future.

During WW1 the army came to be known as 'lions lead by donkeys' so what does today's situation amount to? The national flock 'guarded' over by hyenas maybe?

And the picture? The Green Howards, a three hundred year old regiment, due to be disbanded, so that the money necessary to run it, can instead be trousered by the financiers/bankers that have our nation over a barrel, and whose 'agents' are our political masters.

Alex Salmond is way ahead in his quest to bust up the Union and has been allowed to call all the shots, pretty much unchallenged up until now; a wrong that isn't about to end. Alistair Darling (pictured) is to head the campaign to maintain the integrity of the UK, which doesn't inspire in yours truly much, if any, confidence.

The rise of separatist nationalism in Scotland and Wales is a symptom of national decay. At the 2009 European Elections, just short of a million people voted for the BNP (British National Party) which to my mind is another indicator towards, and symptom of, national decay. People wouldn't be voting for the kind of outfits that give Britain a bad name and are out to fragment and ultimately destroy the United Kingdom, if conventional, mainstream politics hadn't failed so catastrophically.

Mr Darling heads a Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem coalition campaign to stop the SNP (Scotish National Party) pulling apart the Union and turning back the clock on three centuries of advances. Salmond should be easy to expose for destructive force for bad he is; a 'Little Scotlander' on the brink of reducing Scotland to a pipsqueak nation reliant on EU handouts and about as influential in the world as Luxembourg, but baring miricles, Alistair Darling is unlikely to be the leader needed. He represents the breed that allowed decay to bed in and fester, has cost us our quality of life, and set people searching for scapegoats to blame for so much unhappiness. Is it sensible therefore, to expect the same individuals to put matters right? In Scotland right now, the majority of citizens don't want to destroy the UK, but still they remain disenfranchised because no one is fighting effectively their corner . We've got two years before Salmond get's his dreamed of referendum that may result with 'game over' for the UK, so we'd better get are arses into gear.

This South London NHS trust is bust whilst politicians are queueing up to stick the knife in and twist it. The trust is in debt to the tune of 69 million, but why? Well for a start it became the victim of ruthless financiers that managed to tie it up in PFI knots, and having done so successfully, became the greediest pig at the trough where the trust's budget is concerned. Instead of being spent on medics and treatments, millions have instead been wasted, servicing a massive and unnecessary debt. Add to this the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, unhealthy diet, health tourism and injuries arising from social breakdown (gang fights / nightclub brawls etc) and unsurprisingly the money to deal with it all has run out.

What are politicians for if not to steward the affairs of the nation? It is up to them to prevent the likes of hard pressed NHS trusts becoming ensnared with ruthless financiers pushing lucrative (for them) deals. And when social breakdown gets a grip and will impose mighty costs upon us all, that too indicates that our lords and masters are not doing their job anything like adequately. The problem here isn't the NHS, but the political establishment that would far rather look after the interests of big business that do the right thing by society.

There is a fantastic letter on page 51 of the Isle of Wight County Press, penned by Arthur Reader and concerning the wilful destruction of the Royal Mail. The letter is titled 'Goodbye to our heritage'. It isn't on the CP website currently but if they put it up in the next day or so, I'll copy and paste it here.
This morning I shall reply to the letter and support the view of Mr Reader, which is bang on the money.
The gist of it is, the powers that be don't give a damn about our heritage and are aiding and abetting the national identity to be rubbed out. He objects to that and so do I.

Book and website sorted, I've now to put my thinking cap on regarding the next two steps. The first is to figure out how to draw the attention of journalists and public figures to the project and its aims, and gain their support, which is likely to be a long and drawn out job, but enjoyable; hopefully! The other, is to put together the shortest possible document, to be kept about me at all times from now on, with upon it bullet points and prompts. I shall be working on the document just as soon as I've finished this blog entry, and may even publish it when complete on here. Now then; who has a phone number for John Humphries or Jamie Oliver? Come on guys, help me out!

Change has got to come and we all know it, and as we also know perfectly well, 'the establishment' will continue with business as usual until we the people declare enough! This project is my own way of telling the world I'm not prepared to put up with endless failure (not that very many are aware of it at the mo) and my book and website are the means by which word will eventually spread.

This really is a one-man-band and very small operation at the mo, and I shall have to take it a step at a time. Years were spent getting the manuscript right and readable, and then followed six months preparation to publish. In May the book was uploaded onto Kindle and Feed-A-Read and a few kind people bought a copy, whilst not really knowing what they were getting, so thank you to them and for taking a chance! In June the website got sorted and I must say that I'm very pleased with it, so thank you to Netguides of Cowes. Then yesterday a box of books arrived as pictured, and these will be used for promotion and to say thank you.
My daughters will get one each as practical proof of why their dad has spent so much time writing in recent years, and half a dozen copies will go to friends that helped me out with advice and inside knowledge of certain institutions, such as the Royal Mail. Then left from this carton of 20 books, will be some copies I'll use to promote the project to media people. It's a start, albeit a very small one, but that's OK by me.

Now that new content is up and running at www.sheepnomore.co.uk I can thankfully declare my new career has begun and that this is effectively 'Day 1'. Twelve years have passed since the title of 'Sheep No More' popped into my head and long before a word of text had been written. Numerous attempts at writing the manuscript and around three quarters of a million words having been deleted later, and the book is at last published. Now it has a website to compliment and promote it and it feels like I have at last made real progress.

The mindset behind this project is that we'll tolerate any amount of abuse which includes appalling quality leadership, that it has been going on for a third of a century thus far, and that the future itself has gone down the tubes as a result. We need to fight back, figure out what went wrong, identify a sensible way forward, and set about repairing Broken Britain. It is doable and I truly believe that, but I've not a scintilla of faith or trust left for our movers and shakers to do the right thing by the country. This repair job has be carried out by people like you and me, working together and cooperating in the common interest and demanding change for the better.

Does the book need to make money? Of course! And when it does, you can take it from me upon my word of honour (worth a great deal more than any political operators weasel words) this project will be developed to its full potential.

Whilst waiting for my new website material to be put online by the designer, I shall lay out my stall in brief terms.

Where I live on the Isle of Wight, someone stencilled the words pictured onto a workman's hut where they remained for several years until recently. It was quite a talking point locally, because many of us would like to know the answer! I think it should be, and indeed is possible to figure out what went wrong in straightforward terms and language.

Currently Britain is in one hell of a mess. Our politicians are a bunch of nationally handicapping, self serving, antidemocratic spivs and the country is plainly not safe in their hands.We're bankrupt in all but name because of a misguided political and commercial philosophy, in place and ripping the fabric of society apart, for a third of a century thus far unchallenged. I am no socialist and you don't need to be one, in order to recognise that over the time-frame in question, the country and its economy has been run to benefit those already at the top of the pecking order, whilst the rest of us have been ignored to the point of disenfranchisement. Ordinary citizens in Britain have counted for nothing, whilst the movers and shakers in control of our lives, have made no effort to maintain national unity or a stable society. That is a statement of fact that couldn't be any easier to prove. Watch the TV news, read your local paper, take in what surrounds each and every one of us daily, and the evidence of a nation in serious decline is undeniable.   

Two questions must be answered with courage and honesty. How did we get into such an almighty mess? And what can be done about it? I believe, nay am certain, that our current free-fall of decline can be explained, halted and reversed. We need a new political breed and mindset, so that those entrusted with power understand that their duty is to 'steward' national affairs courageously and sensibly, leaving you and I to get on with the job of bringing home the bacon and raising our families, whilst confident that our political masters are up to the job we're entitled to expect of them, and are keeping the nation and us all safe! We need an economic model specifically designed to work to the benefit of the majority, supporting and rebuilding our skills base and recirculating cash healthily, as opposed to the minority serving model that has bankrupted the nation and inflicted so much harm. And we need to rekindle our national spirit, stop tolerating a multitude of abuses, and demand a fitting and worthy future for our children.

With this posting I have barely scratched the surface of what needs doing, so am looking forward enormously to the new website going live. The next post I make will be to advise you that www.sheepnomore.co.uk has been updated and is ready to kick off. 


 

I'd thought that I must be alone in cyberspace, because surely after ignoring this blog for eighteen months and even forgetting the log in details, no one would still be looking in would they? So I was about to indulge and write something smutty or tell myself a good joke or two, but then noticed the view counter, telling me there were 140 views of the previous post. Well I never! Just to say then, I'm still waiting for the website to be put up and will then start letting rip. My fingers are ready!

A new start for this blog. First opened in the spring of 2010 when I stood as an Independent Candidate at the General Election of that year, all the old posts relating to that time have now been deleted. In support of my book Sheep No More, now published on Amazon Kindle and Feed-A-Read print on demand, I am promised by the web designer that www.sheepnomore.co.uk will go live later this week. This blog will enable me to write more than just snippets as on Facebook and Twitter and link them to the website. I shall discipline myself to direct my efforts constructively, towards this blog instead of idle chitchat on facebook!