bedford-bypass

Bloody hell there’s no end of them. These are all plain clothes coppers that infiltrate protest groups, alternative view meetings and anything that the state doesn’t like. Well done to Fitwatch for brightening up a bleak week!
Go find them!

http://www.fitwatch.org.uk

Private Thomas Lake became the 389th British soldier to die in Afghanistan. I posted an entry just over a week back and one of our friends over at Now or Never posted a reply (which we say thank you for) which took the subject on to another layer.

For those troops that are fortunate enough to return, at least physically intact, just incase PTSD hasn’t already left them vulnerable enough to alcoholism, they can look forward to that first push towards a life on the street sipping cooking sherry courtesy of a misguided campaign by the British Forces Fouundation.

http://bff.org.uk/news/buy-our-heroes-a-drink/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3886170/Six-in-10-soldiers-alcoholics.html

I’m still something of a novice with wordpress, editing, RSS feeds but hopefully you can connect to the article by clicking above. I’ve had something buzzing round my head since the initial comment. Most mornings after dropping DT off at work and Debbs off sometimes I see a guy walking to work. I know him in passing. He has a haunted face, somewhat derelict and distracted. I know his history and he served in the Falklands. We appear to have excised this from history apart from when Margaret Thatcher said “Rejoice” three times shortly after our brave forces sunk a ship that was sailing away from the islands and out of the exclusion zone. (see The Belgrano Affair by Clive Ponting).

There was a stunning BBC docu-drama some years back called “Tumbledown” with a young Colin Firth. It outraged the moral right because of its depiction of the true nature of war, a young Argentinian man being bayoneted to death and pleading, thank goodness we have X Factor to dull our senses these days. The same drama showed the way severely injured and maimed troops were hidden away at the later memorial celebration and for some years the BBC refused to rescreen it. Rejoice she said!

Back to the chap I worked with and I have to be very diplomatic here. I recognised he carried something with him and when I found out his past it made sense. Shellshock trauma is the nearest thing I can think of. The walking wounded, all the damage is mental. Rejoice she said.

Thousands of young soldiers, many trying to escape the blinding depression of sink estates being put into conflict, seeing what I can only imagine is “hell” then returning home coping with severe psychological damage that the links explore. Rejoice she said!

Debs has got up off her slender backside to write a review of the Chumbawamba gig last Friday (18thNov) see Things to Do!

I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to explain my stance on the recent free rave that took place in Willington quarry a month back. I sent a letter to the press pointing out that a) the quarry is a bit of a dump, b) that its not a bad place for such a do, c) that the police costs when I eventually find out what they are will be frighteningly excessive and finally d) there’s someone walking about with a knife and prepared to use it whilst at the same time the police harass the very people that might be able to point this person out. As a result some of the neighbours have got the hump with me.

I’m not supporting raves or the state that they left the site in, nor am I against them, I’ve just tried to make the point that if you are aged late teens to say early 30s you really have got things stacked against you job and education wise so go on and enjoy yourself, maybe try and tidy up as you leave. Its not a new phenomena and the police wading in nicking the speakers, arresting people and waking half of Bedford up with two helicopters ain’t going to stop it so lets start thinking a bit more pro-active.

Admission time, in the early 80s me and my gang of pals would jump into several VW Beetles (I still own mine) and a green escort and go party for free for a few days at Stonehenge and I guess the experience still lives in me and a little light comes on when I think of it.

I tried to get to the stones at the solstice the year when the Police waded in, an “event” termed “the battle of the beanfield” though I didn’t witness the actual brutality that coined the name, this and the miners strike (1984) sort of scotched any notions I had of the Police being a force for public protection.

Here’s an image from one of the Stonehenge Festivals that I was at, not mine so thanks goes to some wiki person!

Its 30 years ago and I feel old somedays. When I wandered around the Willington rave site that few weeks back, I had a wry smile and whilst I never intended to upset the folks back in the village I knwo what I’m opn about and if you don’t speak you eventually lose the ability!

I’ve been having a dig about into the Borough Council’s policy on using bankrupty process to cover debt and oddly enough it turned up in one of those terminably boring committee meetings last month. It actually makes for interesting reading!

Council’s can make you bankrupt if you get into debt for council tax and in a similar vein they can deduct overpaid housing benefit direct from your earnings regardless of your financial situation.

Now we all hate fiddlers don’t we, yeah, booh hiss, throw rotten veg sort of thing. I’ve come across a real swindler who lives in Kempston. I tell you what she did the low down scumbag…she had a brain anuerism and by the time she’d recovered and gone back to work (trying to get by on statutory sick pay) her financial profile was shot at and she ended up 18 months behind on council tax payments but staved off reposession. The Council took her through their recovery process and she was declared bankrup with a little notice in the paper.

Switch to the other side of town and a single parent. Her son has a life limiting brain tumour and has been declared unable to work as he is prone to fits, this didn’t stop the system from making him jump through hoops despite several trees worth of confirmation. Mum has been working for an agency for long enough to have given up hope of working a proper job again at the same time as keeping the mortgage paid and in need of remedial surgery on her hand but unable to afford time off. At the same time her son was undergoing some serious surgery our nice Council was chasing mum for overpaid housing benefit with the result being that payments were taken in effect by force, no option of making arrangements. Further down the well of debt.

Now both these stories are now resolved. In the first case the friend with the bankrupty order suffered another personal tragedy when her husband died last year and another little notice in the paper. Part of this process has lead to the bankruptcy being lifted. In the second case, mum managed to get a proper job and her employer was gracious enough to ensure that the surgery for an arthritic inflamed joint didn’t get put off (there are angels out there) so after three weeks off without worry plus a plaster cast she’s sorted. You might recall a blog some months ago when we ended up outside Bedford Hospital one friday when junior had a major seizure, so things are slightly better. Just slightly!

I came across these two people because they are friends and I’ve tinkered with things enough to muddy the water but they exist. Real people struggling to keep the roof and daily ration. What saddens me is how many more people out there are in similar position and being pounded in similar fashion. Groucho Marx said “Never hit a man when he’s down, he might get up and the two people detailed above certainly did and their contributions when this blog really gets going will be most welcomed!