Reporting on real life
Mind The Gap: Education & Employment Outcomes
In mentioning the ethnicity of the under-achieving pupils, we ourselves are “playing the race card” when it’s not actually about race in this instance. So now that the papers have got hold of it, we’re subjected to headlines like the one above from the Telegraph, and gems like those below (don’t worry, they link to critiques of the articles, not the original fact-free versions).
Hostile Environment
This technique can be used for more positive ends, such as removing hiding places where people might lurk, or to direct them between spaces using the safest and most convenient routes. But we are less likely to notice what doesn’t get in our way.
#MeToo Is About You, Too
There were times in the past that I was sympathetic to the cries of ” Not All Men,” but after a while I’d seen and heard enough to feel like it actually was All Men. It wasn’t in overt harassment, or openly sexist comments, but the accumulation of so many little things, the ” microaggressions.”
Escaping the Friendzone
Dealing With Rejection Appropriately
Men in Suits
“… I was sacked (without explanation) by a man in a suit. Men in suits missold me pensions and endowments, costing me thousands of pounds. A man in a suit led us on a disastrous and illegal war. Men in suits led the banks and crashed the world economy.
Carillion’s Collapse – What Does It Mean?
So, it has happened – a lot quicker than I thought it would. Although I should really have been keeping abreast of the news, I didn’t actually hear last year’s profit warnings or know that Carillion had been awarded a contract by Chris Grayling for HS2 in what turned out to be their dying days.
Cosmetic Damage – Was the Grenfell Fire a Consequence of Gentrification?
Brutalist architecture is one of the most divisive styles currently in existence. I have no doubt that in future, we will come up with something even more controversial, or ugly, depending on your viewpoint. Grenfell Tower was originally designed in this style.
Relationship Red Flag-Too Much, Too Soon
I’ve been thinking a lot about my experiences using dating websites and dating men in general, and I’ve reflected on my own behaviour and that which I encountered from my potential partners. Soul-searching is great for helping you to grow in general, and specifically for helping you to avoid the same mistakes again.
Update 5th January 2018
Exciting things are happening with my creative endeavours! I’ve been able to increase my output so that I now have a presence on more sites, and I’m reaping the rewards as a result. I’m in the process of overhauling the website, so things may seem a little clunky for a while. However, I’m focussing on usability, presentation and content (so basically, all of the redesign), with the aim of updating the site to give a better impression of the work I do. Because I’ve done so much over the last couple of months, a lot of this is collating data to create a virtual CV.
As well as my regular postings at Vocal, I’m now writing on Medium, and I have set up an Atavist account for my political cartoons. I still write at HubPages, and I will be adding some fresh articles soon. Behind the scenes, I’m working on some fiction and non-fiction books, and I’m hoping to publish my first one through Unbound later this year.
Finally, I’ve introduced more ways for me to get paid! I know it’s all about my art and that, but I have to put food on the table. You can send me one-off gifts through my profile at Vocal, or you can sign up to be a donor to my Patreon, which has further details of projects that I’m hoping to fund (there will also be updates to the project as I’ve come up with a more structured plan for what I want to create using patron’s money).
Keep reading my stuff, and remember – Sharing is Caring!
The Truth About Late-Term Abortions
I decided to write about abortion, not because I have any information that’s not already out there, or because I have a particularly unique angle on it. But there is a problem with how politicians and the media characterise late-term abortions and use it to demonise women and doctors, when it hardly makes a difference to the overall numbers, and is the worst possible demographic to go after.