My Thinkin' Blog

The film The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939. Even though Judy Garland and Edgar Yip Harburg won Oscars it was not a commercial or a critical success, the New Yorker said of it that it had "No trace of imagination, good taste or integrity" and the New Republic said it was full of "Freak characters". The success and the cult of the Wizard of Oz was to come later when in 1956 CBS leased the film from MGM for television. They had been after Gone With The Wind but settled for The Wizard Of Oz. The films popularity grew with television read more

The news that eight servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan within a 24 hour period has given the opposition something else to batter the Government with. The charge.. that they are not sending the troops out with proper equipment (but I wonder would they have done any better)? If any Government is going to send its troops out to war the least they can do is provide them with proper equipment. One of the problems is apparently that soldiers are apparently using land rovers that where designed to be used in the Northern Ireland troubles. (a totally different sort of military campaign). I believe in Afghanistan troops on the ground say they need more tanks and helicopters. However if you look at this from a historical perspective, roughly 20,000 men died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in the 1st World war. So from an numerical point of view eight people does not seem to be an awful lot. In fact, you could say that we are getting much better at protecting the people who...

In 'Two Concepts of Liberty' Isaiah Berlin states "To coerce a man is to deprive him of freedom". A week or two ago the European parliament was voting on taking the anti smoking ban a step further by banning smoking outside the workplace, pubs, beer gardens and such places. The fact is that they are doing everything possible to penalise the smoker short of outlawing it altogether. it is understandable enough that it has not been outlawed after-all it is still a lucrative source of income for Government and what Government wants to be responsible for criminalising a sizable proportion of its citizens. Read More

"Of this Word's being forever do men prove to be uncomprehending, both before they hear and once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this Word they are like the unexperienced experiencing words and deeds such as I explain when I distinguish each thing according to its nature and declare how it is. Other men are unaware of what they do when they are awake just as they are forgetful of what they do when they are asleep" (Most of us sleepwalk through life)

In light of the recent expenses scandal in the British Parliament it would be no surprise if we thought of our politicians as Machiavellian. Politicians have traditionally been viewed with a healthyamount of distrust and cynicism by the more discerning electorate. Where politicians are concerned I believe the rationale is that if they have Machiavellian traits that is only to be expected because that is the nature of politics and politicians. But are the British politicianstruly Machiavellian and therefore good politicians in the way that Machiavelli suggests what would make a good prince (or politician)? Read More

“The Fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need.” Machiavelli 'The Prince'

Are you a carer? Do you ever feel sick to the back teeth telling people (social workers, psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists etc) what exactly would help you and the person you care for? Have you read books and watched documentaries to find out as much as you possibly can about the particular disability until finally you don’t want to know any more for all the knowledge you have gathered hasn’t really helped anyway? Do you feel that your case is so well documented it probably has its own room in the social worker’s office? Apparently many people who care for others are isolated because of the situation that they find themselves in. So they don’t know about the things monetary or otherwise that they may be entitled to. Social workers are there to make sure that these people don’t miss out. Carers (in my experience) are not stupid people, as a general rule they do know what they are entitled to, or they know about most of the things that they are entitled to. What ha...