Two wrongs don't make a right.

What Hamas did is both unacceptable and against international law. 

Israel has the right to fight back but not to also go beyond international law.

There can be no victory for either side, only civilians suffering both Israeli and Palestinian.

It's not right to punish a whole population for a terrorist group within. While the current Hamas organisation may be defeated it will only create a new generation of terrorists.

In the past the UK suffered many IRA terrorist atrocities because of Northern Ireland. Would the world have allowed the UK to bomb Northern Ireland?

We must remember that Jewish people are not all the Israeli government nor are the Palestinian people all Hamas. It's not right to blame either or attack them for the actions of a government or terrorist organisation.

We have come so far as a human race yet we haven't left the starting line in many regards.

Mental health

Mental health is an ongoing battle. Much like physical health you have to keep on top of it. I have been struggling lately.

Autism has always been part of my life. I've always known I was different but not why until 14 years ago I was diagnosed.

Trying to fit into a world that I struggled to understand has led to periods of depression and poor mental health throughout my life. I have had a breakdown, been through counselling and medication.

I changed my work shifts last year which has helped enormously. I was on sertraline for depression. I weaned myself off before Christmas but two weeks ago recognised I needed to go back on it. 

I'm posting this so that other people, no matter what the reason for their mental health struggles, can see they aren't alone.

There are no wrong answers. Do whatever helps. Talk to people especially your family, meditate, yoga, running, exercise,seek counselling, get medication but don't suffer in silence. You are not alone.

Election lost on the battlefield of culture wars?

I stated a while ago that I thought culture wars were sending the Tories down a cul de sac with ever diminishing returns.

People want answers to paying energy bills, putting food on the table & seeing a Dr etc. Not culture wars.

The local elections to this point, far from showing me this is wrong, have only fortified my thoughts on this.

But I think there is more to it than that.

A lot of people are looking at the Tories and seriously wondering what they have to offer if they were to get another five years.

You look at the front and back benches which are devoid of any heavyweight politicians. There are some more competent than others but overall they are extremists and ideologues. 

Even Sunak comes across as an over promoted school prefect.

They have no policies, solutions or ideas that will solve the current problems. The policies they do offer are only performative. Designed to create division and distraction rather than solve the issues they are supposed to address.

People have rumbled this and do not want another five years of destruction and decay.

Government, BBC, Culture wars and Lineker.

The most important thing to realise is that the BBC is simply the monkey not the organ grinder. The government is the organ grinder.

The government has applied political pressure to create division and a distraction. But in doing so they have not only exposed the blackness at their own heart they have created a platform which shows how many people dislike this government's divisive rhetoric.

They think culture wars will get them re-elected. I think this Lineker episode exposes the cul de sac that the tories are fast heading down.

In the cold light of the voting booth what will come to people's minds? Culture wars? Or energy bills? Rising rent/mortgages? Energy bills? High food bills? 9Struggling to get a doctor's appointment or access to a dentist? That long wait for treatment on the NHS? Pension moving ever farther away? The struggle to find a job? The worry about your job security due to economic mismanagement?

I think any culture war is going to be very low on the list. 

The local elections in May will show where things are on the list.

Does your mind ever wonder to the bigger picture?

It's easy to get caught in the immediate stuff like the Tory Brexit or the cost of living crisis.

Does your mind ever wonder to the bigger picture? By bigger picture I mean the biggest picture. Mine does.

The human race. Where are we going? The answer to me cannot be separated from where we came from.

Everything we know including ourselves is made of matter. Matter that was created in the birth of stars.

In other words we are born of the stars. Our destiny, if we are to survive as a race, lies one way or another in the stars.

One likely possibility is that we will be stupid enough to burn through all the natural resources on our planet. Therefore we will have to journey to the stars to find another planet for human life to continue.

Even if this scenario, or another scenario, does not occur one day our sun, like all stars, will burnout and explode. Resulting in the same journey to the stars, beforehand, to find another planet if we are to survive as a race.

Our journey as a human race therefore started in the stars and unavoidably will end in the stars.

The Tories are the problem.

Sunak has a deal. The real question is whether he is prepared to take on the extremists in his party or rely on Labour votes? Or will he fold entirely and leave things as they stand?

Sunak is a weak leader in charge of a split party. 

The dance around the NIP this week illustrates why the Tories need to be removed from power if this country is ever to repair some of the economic and social damage they have caused.

This deal was needed to kill the NIP bill now in the Lords. This would have been a key step to build trust with the EU. In turn that could have led to.a closer relationship benefiting the economy.

The factions and individuals within the Tories may have dealt a fatal blow to their fading electoral hopes. The economy will now carry on scraping along ar the bottom. More importantly their blind ideological stubbornness and, in some cases, individual entitlement have solidified the damage in this country.

At every turn since and including the referendum individuals within, factions within and the Tory party itself have put it/themselves before the interests of the country.

Reflections

 Sat in the window seat of a coffee house this morning. The perfect position to watch the world go by.

Yet my attention is drawn to the bulb just above my head.

The glowing pleasingly shaped filament. 

The warm colours in the glass. Warm like a real fire.

The reflection of the world around me. The window bar where I am sitting and my cappuccino at the bottom of the bulb. 

The street outside with people moving to and fro on the left of the bulb.

All the while my world sits next to me in conversation, Mrs J and my Son, while my autistic mind wonders…..