In which Talis does a Thing...
It's reached the stage where I've decided that I absolutely have to do what I can - whether it's 'enough' or not - towards a better future for this grey, crowded, unhappy little island. I love my country; I love the green fields and the apple trees and the standing stones and the woodlands. I even love the stone churches and the brass eagle lecturns, and I definitely love the morris dancing, the sense of irony, the tea, the self-deprecating humour, Dads' Army, The Good Life, David Attenborough, Morecambe and Wise, and 'after you' - 'no, after you'... onthe pavement outside the greengrocers'.
I do not love the greed, the ignorance, the 'I'm alright Jack', the vilifying of the old, the poor, the sick, the disabled and the vulnerable; I do not love the slick professional politicians who have never wiorked in a shop or been unemployed or faced homelessness or gone hungry so their child could eat.
I do not accept that as the eighth richest country on this planet we can afford nuclear weapons, oil wars, pay rises for MPs, tax havens for the rich, and subsidies for multinational corporations, but cannot afford human rights, or for our poorest to have a spare room for their kids or their medical equipment, cannot afford for the chronically sick and disabled to live in dignity with the care they need, cannot afford to give the poorest children a decent meal in the middle of the day.
I'm for adding my pebble to the pile. I'm joining a political party, and it's Green.
http://greenparty.org.uk/policies.html
Goodness knows I've been green-minded long enough - if you've heard the songs on 'The Hearth and the Hive' CD or seen me perform since, you'll know that. Somehow it hadn't translated into joining up. Yes, we're all fed up with politics. And doesn't it just suit the big parties to have us wander off shaking our heads and feeling helpless?