A special kind of person.

As you know, not everyone can be a psychic, or a medium.

It takes years to hone the skill. It takes focus. Some say that it's a gift that is bestowed on them from an early age, and I'm inclined to agree- it must be- because it takes a special kind of person to profit from people's grief, sorrow, loneliness and desperation. Not only that- but to blatantly lie and say they can contact departed love ones. Why does anyone accept this? It's sick and depraved. How such people are allowed to operate as a business (because that's what they are) is completely beyond me. It is literally profit from suffering. 

There is no steadfast evidence that any human being can establish contact with those who have died. There is also no evidence for the "spirit world", extrasensory perception, or the accuracy of any form of divination or fortune telling. Until proven otherwise, they are all heartless money grabbing charlatans. 

How I would solve the recession.

II have a number of measures that I would implement to ease the economic crisis in this country and in the wider world as a result. I'm half-tempted to get into politics to campaign to have them implemented. However, my methods would prove unpopular with some groups of people. It may become clear as you read further.

End tax exemptions for churches and religions:- There is an interesting photo circling the internet about the amounts of money the church gets out of paying in the United States, and that sum being able to pay off the entire cost of homelessness in the country and, give every homeless person somewhere to live. I don't know if that's true- but as of 2012, the annual tax that the church dodged in the USA was 71BILLION DOLLARS. The figure wasn't available for the UK upon my searching the web, but in a way, that's even more disturbing if we don't actually know what they're getting away with paying.

Introduce a tier system and maximum wage for professional football:- How much is one man worth? . If your name happens to be  Wayne Rooney; the answer to my initial question is £300,000 per week, or 15.6million per annum. That is disgusting. We are quick to jump into the throes of outrage when bankers are awarded their ludicrous bonuses; but the obscenity of footballers wages should be seen as an international disgrace. There should be a tier system and wage cap set by the central governing body of football and applied across the board. If you play well, you climb the ladder. There is no way on earth that one man kicking a ball around a field for 90 mins at a time should make in a week what an average British worker makes in 15 years.

Introduce a bill of rights and a constitution within the UK:- "What's this?" I hear you say "This one seems a bit out of place, no?" Actually, not really. If the rights of every British person were enshrined in law as they are in the states- it would really clean up our justice system, and as a result- save us all money. Think of all the money currently wasted on dragging out appeals. We do have laws- but we really don't have a framework for the rights of each and every person in Britain.

Decriminalise currently illegal substances and have them regulated by our government:- This would generate millions, possibly billions in tax revenue, and all but eliminate drug related crime in this country as it would kill the illegal dealer market stone dead. Any drug user would also be a lot safer, as the substances themselves would not be "cut" with harmful materials- a process that serves no purpose but to maximise profit for illegal dealers- who would not be able to compete. 

Disestablish the largely ceremonial monarchy:- They serve no active worthwhile purpose in our government as it is. It's time for them to go. They pay no tax- and details of their cost to the taxpayer, as well as their list of assets makes for grim reading. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_the_British_Royal_Family) Furthermore- a system of inherited power holds no place in a country (or indeed a world) which recognises a democracy as an ethical and just system of governance.  Allow the current monarch to live out her reign, then strip the family of its assets and subsidies. After that is done- open the doors of the houses and palaces to the public as areas of historical and cultural importance. Charge admission.

Reform parliament and disband the House of Lords:- Speaking of outdated concepts, how about this one? A party votes in their wealthiest former employees and landowners, giving them a cushy position of power where they do very little, and yet hold a large sway over legislation. Just to stress once again- not one of these 800 peers are elected by the public- but we are paying for them. 

But like I said- most of these would likely be quite unpopular. Saying that- ask yourself for a moment why they're unpopular. Just think about it. if Scotland becomes independent though- there might be good reason to get actively political. Who knows?

(Images retrieved from google image search- I claim no ownership)

How I Lost Faith In Faith.

Many of you who know me will have seen (and some have even asked why) I am very anti-religion.

This is for an inordinate amount of reasons- and I’d be here all day enumerating them all- but the most important reasons include:

• The ignorance of facts, evidence and reason.

• The bigotry and “in-group/out-group” mentality

• The thought we are “created sick; and commanded to be well” (—Christopher Hitchens)

• The very idea of worshipping a being so tyrannical, mysogynistic, misanthropic, manipulative, vengeful, jealous and capricious just because an old text says we should.

• The laughable idea that blind faith can be a virtue

• The forced indoctrination of children- told they are Christian/Muslim etc before they can walk and talk.

I have some personal experience with the last one. My mother and grandmother attend weekly Sunday services at a Church of Scotland, and identify as Christian. Despite being moderates by any standards- I was baptised and raised as a “Christian child”. As I grew older I naturally began to question things- and I sought, and found answers. When it came to religion however- asking questions was frowned upon- almost discouraged. On top of that, the more questions I asked, the more new ones kept appearing.

One of my questions was “What does Grandpa do when we are in church?” He never went- and that didn’t make sense to me- going to church was just something that people did on a Sunday, wasn’t it? So one week I asked to stay behind.

I was introduced to James Bond that Sunday. 

Grandpa and I had several more Sunday mornings like that- I would feign illness or ask to have a week off whenever I could- and we continued to watch the 007 films- along with Fawlty Towers and other tv comedy of that era. 

In a way- my grandfather deserves a massive thankyou from me; because it was then I realised that church was optional. But then- if church was optional- was believing in what the reverend said optional too? Gradually I went less and less- and when I did- I volunteered to stay out of the service; to amuse the young children who were too boisterous for the sermons and stories. I began to look into prominent people who didn’t believe in god. I started discussing it with people my own age.

Eventually, I told my mother that I was an atheist.

Telling a religious parent that is almost like “coming out”. (Indeed- there is an Out Campaign- google it). Her reaction was almost hysterical. At first she was angry- as if I myself had taken some kind of forbidden fruit- but she then dissolved into tears. She told me that she felt she had “failed as a parent” because she had made a promise to the church to raise me Christian- and by turning away from the faith I had made that redundant and worthless. I have to admit, that did hurt. Part of me was thankful that was it though- because had I been from a more fundamentalist family, I might have been disowned. My mum and I get on incredibly well still, although we do still butt heads on the issue at times- particularly around Easter and Christmas.

It is important to remember though- that is not the parents promise to make. Children should be taught “how” to think; not what to think. All this talk of Christian children, Muslim children and Jewish children is ridiculous. How can a child possibly know what theological viewpoint they have when they know nothing about the world? Can you imagine the outrage if people referred to children as "Tory children" or "Labour children" because of how their parents vote? It is a travesty that it is allowed at all, but- in a modern world of advanced knowledge, technology and science- baptism and spoon fed religion through faith schools really is the only way for churches to keep their numbers up.

So if you’re out there struggling with how to tell your religious parents that you don’t share their belief- contact me. Please. I want to help, because I never got any. Also contact the Out Campaign for support at 

http://outcampaign.org

You are not alone.

Also...

If you followed my Tumblr at all- then you may see some posts that were similar to the content there.

This is simply me repeating myself- I love a good story. I'm very much of the same philosophy as Treebeard from Lord of the Rings:

"We never say anything, unless it is worth taking... A long time to say."

Also, in that light- if you are one of those who thinks long text posts are TL;DR, then this blog is not for you at all. 

Hello and welcome!

This is a new step for me.

I used to blog on Tumblr- but my time there has come to an end, due to both the website not meeting my needs in the sense of security and flexibility, and also because of one user who refuses to leave me alone. Because the website has no concrete "block" function, I have been forced to seek other avenues.

So what can you expect to see here?

There will be the odd personal post- but I'll never name names as I am not about to publicly shame someone on the internet. Mostly, this blog will be my take on news, current affairs and subjects I feel passionate about one way or another. 

If you're reading this I hope you enjoy the content- but I want to stress that this is primarily a blog for me. If someone else enjoys what I write, then that's great- but I'm doing this for me, not anyone else.