Brothers From Different Mothers!

It has been a long time since I watched TV with my hands over my face while hiding behind the settee. I remember sitting one Saturday evening in front of the TV at Granddad and Nonna's house. This TV was more like a small wardrobe with a tiny screen than a TV such as we would recognise today. Nonna bought it when they first came on the market. All the neighbours would call around to her house on an evening just to watch this new miracle invention. She still had that same TV until four years before she died in 1989.

The programme that had me squirming with fear was an episode of Doctor Who where the head Dalek screamed out the usual threat of “Exterminate!” This was the first time I or anyone else had encountered this terrifying threat. The memory of it is still quite vivid in my mind. So I thought that my days of squirming in front of the TV were over as I'm now all grown up and reckon I could take a Dalek out in a fight… but how wrong I was.

Last night I was unfortunate enough to witness a broadcast by the Leave campaign recommending Brexit - designed to make the people of Britain choose to leave the EU. If you are reading this and you are not from Britain or the EU you may not be aware that here in Britain our beloved PM (Prime Minister), in a desperate bid for re-election, gave the population a chance to vote once and for all about whether we stay or go from the EU. This is a big decision, something not to be taken lightly. No one really knows what the outcome will be either way. We just seem to get the threats instead of the facts. The Remain campaign reckon that they won’t be able to negotiate any deals anymore (?) and we will go bankrupt (?) while the Leave campaign reckons our national flag will be Latvian in ten years’ time! Boring!

The Brexit (Leave) commercial last night centred round an old woman going into hospital. I have never seen anything more inept, moronic or patronising in all my life. The Brexit campaign have no credibility at all. Was this commercial aimed at people who have just come out of a coma with brain damage? Who the hell was it supposed to appeal to? Was it supposed to be some sort of xenophobic mind drip about how Johnny Foreigner is abusing our beloved NHS? With so little investment by various governments into the NHS over the years, we now rely on foreign nurses and doctors to run it for us! Without immigration, the NHS would come to an abrupt halt.

Why has this referendum become solely about the Tory party? People were, not long ago, calling Jeremy Corbyn for being weak, but Labour all seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet, even though lots do want to leave. Why can't we have an intelligent and informed debate about the pros and cons of the EU? There are lots of positive things about being connected as one, but also there are lots of negatives. This is the same for every country of the EU, but each country has different gripes. For example, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal benefited from money used to improve their infrastructure, then suffered when they were unable to make the repayments.

I want people who are bright and knowledgeable to have TV debates, giving us all correct answers to the main themes. I believe that we receive less money back than we pay in; the money that we receive back goes to a small percentage of the population in the form of grants. The real winners here in Britain are the big multi-nationals, not the great unwashed or small-to-medium-sized businesses. Here in Yorkshire, investment has ranged from little to non-existent and in the North-East it's even worse. As for workers’ rights getting worse if we leave the EU, then vote in a government that will make a change. In fact, change the whole system!

Now you may be wondering why this posting has the above title. Well I seem to have found myself in some kind of 1950s sci-fi B movie. You know the one where the lead character knows that aliens have landed and taken over the population but no one believes him. Well, I'm here to tell you that Boris Johnson is one of those aliens! It's easy to see that he's from another planet just by the shit he talks. His whole argument about leaving the EU seems to be centred round the shape of bananas. Honest, he goes on about this all the time and people cheer and clap when he does this! These people must have had their brains removed and replaced with walnuts - there can be no other explanation. This man is some sort of genetic mutation of Donald Trump. They are just hair-styles with no substance. They both just make puerile, pathetic statements that any person who is able to tie his or her own shoe-laces would find offensive. But people buy into it. Why?

Just because these men are successful, it doesn't mean they are clever. It means their parents had lots of money and they are both manipulative and bullying. I know someone who worked on a panel show on TV. This was a satirical show which picked out topical subjects of the week for the panel to mock. Boris was a guest on the show and of course was a target for the comedians. My informant who worked behind the scenes thought Boris's performance as the blundering buffoon was just brilliant but was shocked to find that after the show, when the cast got together for a chat, it wasn't an act! Boris wasn’t able to hold his own in the conversation.

I believe Trump to be the same, I think he can easily intimidate people because he is so powerful. In America money is power; here in Britain it's the old school tie. A few months ago I wouldn't have given Trump a chance of becoming the president, now I think there's a good chance he will do it. Johnson always had a chance of being PM as he went to the right school and had all the right connections. But I thought that because he was such a moron no one would take him seriously. Now that his inane quips about Brussels seem to be winning people over, I'm worried.

When you look at the Brexit camp how can anyone take their campaign seriously? The diabolical advert they unleashed on the public showed that they have no grasp of how things are run. They were just playing the very dangerous race card as far as I'm concerned. These idiots do not represent the people of this country who do want change, but not if it involves being led by donkeys such as Johnson and Co!

Real Super-Heroes Walk Amongst Us!

When I was a child, a family friend gave my mother a job-lot of Superhero comics for my brother John and me to read. John wasn't really interested in these works of art, but I loved them, especially Superman and Spiderman.

I would read these comics over and over, and often dreamed of developing the ability, like my hero Superman, to fly. But all this coincided with my having a science lesson about “propulsion”. Little did I know what effect this lesson was going to have on me; I think it was the start of me being one of life's incurable pedants! You see, to demonstrate the effects of propulsion, my teacher talked about the jet engine and how it worked, and the force needed for the aeroplane to get off the ground. That evening, I ran home as usual and sat in my bedroom to read one of the Superman comics again. In the story I was reading, Superman saved humanity by catching a nuclear missile and flying it out into deep space. While I read on, it suddenly dawned on me, WHERE'S HIS PROPULSION? The lesson I had had that very day proved to me that it would have been impossible for Superman to fly. If he were lighter than air he would float about aimlessly and he wouldn't then be the man of steel.

I later found out that the original Superman couldn't fly, only run at the speed of a bullet. Why didn't they leave it at that? Pedants like me might have worked out that if he could run that fast and jump in the air with his cloak outstretched then he could have flown! I know that I'm glossing over all the other unbelievable things about him but it was this fact that made me lose interest in Superhero comics.

But. many years later. I discovered that there are actually lots of superheroes walking amongst us. They, too, are of an unknown identity, but some of them have been unmasked.

The first superhero, as far as I know, has not yet been unmasked. There is a powerful photograph taken in the 1960s of a Ku Klux Klan rally. (They can't even spell properly!) The KKK came out to counteract the civil rights marches. These fascist imbeciles taunted the civil rights demonstrators and things turned ugly. I wish the demonstrators had shown more restraint in the face of these idiots, because they ran and attacked - which didn't help their cause, even though they had extreme provocation. Three of the KKK found themselves alone with a large group of the demonstrators converging upon them. In the photo (which can be found on YouTube) you can see the only thing between the KKK and the group of black demonstrators was one lone cop with his baton drawn. He fended off people, even though the odds against him were enormous. This would really be enough to make the man a superhero, a man doing his job to protect the community (although in this case not the innocent). But what raises him above mere superhero status was the fact that this policeman was BLACK! Yes, this man was standing to defend people who hated his very existence. Not only this, can you imagine the internal conflict he must have felt as he went about his duty? I would have probably turned on them with the demonstrators…

So if there's anyone from South Yorkshire Police reading this, that is what policing is all about. Not making up stories to cover up your disgraceful practices at Hillsborough. Not turning a blind eye as children were systematically raped. It's about serving the community even if it makes you unpopular amongst your own peers.

The other superhero who has been unmasked is sadly no longer with us but he did live until the ripe old age of 106! His name was Nicholas Winton. Just before Britain was dragged into the Second World War in 1939 he was supposed to go on a skiing holiday to Switzerland. But he decided to do a detour to visit a friend in Prague. It was there that he learned about the plight of the Jews, if/when the Nazis moved in. He abandoned his holiday and set about trying to arrange for children to be shipped out to Britain and safety. It's a long story, but one well worth reading. He managed to organise a train to take 669 children to Britain. He tried to get America to take two thousand children but Roosevelt wouldn't agree. The only other country that took some of the children in was Sweden. He tried to rescue another 250 children but the war broke out and the Nazis moved in. Only two of these 250 children survived the war.

Winton petitioned for, and was granted, conscientious objector status in the Second World War. He started to work for the Red Cross, but claimed that he could no longer object against the tyranny of the Nazis and joined the Air Force, where he rose through the ranks. After the war he became a stockbroker, but was also a life-long socialist. He was finally unmasked on the Esther Rantzen show, That's Life in 1988. Unbeknown to him, lots of the children, now middle-aged men and women, whom he had saved, were invited to be in the audience. His story was read out and then Esther asked if anyone in the audience had been saved by this remarkable man. The entire section of the audience where Nicholas was sitting got to their feet, a living testament to the difference just one person can make to so many people.

So when you hear all the claims about why we shouldn't take in the children who are fleeing tyranny in Syria, go and read about the plight of the children on the Kinder Train (as it became known). Read about the bravery of not only Nicholas Winton but of all the people who worked with him to save these innocent young lives. Read about the people who took these children in, and in many cases, because their parents were killed, adopted the children. Then when you feel the need to give your pitiful excuses about why we shouldn't take these children, hang your head in shame!

Luckily for people suffering oppression and injustice around the world there are still superheroes, unsung superheroes, who work tirelessly on their behalf. It's good to know that when humanity descends to its darkest hour, beacons of light arise to show the way back to reason.

On Being Judged By The Company I Keep

I have written many times about my friends. I think it's safe to say that most of them are their own people, who live their own lives without interference from the outside world, especially the media. Some of these people are my friends for no other reason than geographical proximity - they lived close to me as a child. We have nothing in common intellectually, emotionally or politically, but we are firm friends nonetheless. Some of the friends I met later in life have a lot more in common with me, but again there are points where we are in disagreement. With one friend, neither of us can remember where we met or when; we have nothing in common other than the ability to make each other laugh, and for me this is good enough! I must admit that lots of people may find some of my friends a little odd - but what is normal? I have yet to find it. One thing I do know is that for all my friends, if the occasion demanded, I would stand up beside them to be counted.

So having said all this, how come I seem to have fallen in with the clown section of the 'Mal Cirque'? Let me explain.

If you are not from Britain or indeed from Europe and you are reading this blog you may not be aware that Britain is about to have a referendum on whether to stay in Europe or not. I'm talking politically now: I don't mean phoning the AA to tow us to Brazil for a bit of sun and sex! I, like most people, have a view on the political status of Europe and I personally have never believed the Common Market was in the best interests of Britain. I believe that political unions like these favour the rich, and if you look at the research this seems to be the case. Big multinationals and banks are the winners… and they are the ones making the most threats at the moment! I'm not saying that nothing good has come from being part of the EU; workers’ rights and reforms on the environment have been their biggest successes in my opinion. But it is staffed by second-rate politicians doing grubby deals to serve their own interests.

Originally the EU was set up with a view to Europe becoming a federal state, a super-power. But the more countries that join the union, the weaker existing members become. Just look at Cameron's feeble attempts to strike a deal! He got precisely nothing. My whole disagreement with the EU is financial: that is, I think Britain will be better off outside its confines. I don't think for one moment that the world will stop trading with us or (as Cameron pathetically claims) we will go to war. Neither do I believe that we are more at risk of a terrorist plot, or that other European countries will not share intelligence about suspected terrorists if we were not part of the union. It is as much in their interests as it is in ours to stop these people.

On the other hand, I think we should take in more refugees. I don't care about sovereignty, I want to vote for a government, not have one foisted on to me. Well, you know what I mean! I think the problem is that no one knows what will happen or if we stay in or leave. Everything is just assumptions. The big hitters who make claims designed to scare the great unwashed are just giving one scenario; whereas there are lots of other possibilities. This includes the chief of the Bank of England, who, when questioned by economists who knew what they were talking about admitted that what he said was not a certainty. Both sides in this referendum don't seem to have an argument either way. One side bangs on about immigration and sovereignty, while the other just keeps on giving us scare stories which become more outrageous as the referendum date looms ever closer.

So having said all this can you imagine my horror to find that all the politicians who are on the Brexit side are the very people that I loathe. Let’s get Farage Rhymes With Garage out of the way first. He's a pompous creep who has used the migrant card for years for his own political ends. But having said this, he can hold his own in any debate about the workings of Brussels. Ian Dunkin' Doughnut is just a political failure who wants to claw back some sort of credibility.

But my utmost horror was reserved for Slime In The Suit Gove. When he announced he was part of Brexit, I really started to worry about my judgement! If you are not from Britain you will not know who this smarmy little toad is. We have two contenders here in Britain for the title of ultimate camp Bond villain: Mandelson and Gove. Mandelson is the sort that would stand stroking a fluffy white cat. (You’ll never find him stroking a pussy ... sorry, couldn't help myself.) He is the one who will say, “No, I expect you to die, Mr Bond!” then laugh maniacally. Gove on the other hand would be standing stroking a white cat with a skewer through its head and wondering why it wasn't responding to him!

But we have to save the best till last: Boris the Bad Johnson. If you think this lump is just a lovable buffoon, you will be sorely mistaken. He is actually a devious, manipulative bullying buffoon. He is Britain's answer to Donald Trump. He is dangerous and ambitious - two very bad qualities when put together. But he seems to be devoid of any sensible argument for anything. His pitiful attempt to gain support for Brexit was to claim that another failed politician, Churchill, would have wanted it! Then to my surprise the Remain campaign jumped in saying, No, Churchill would have been on our side. WHO CARES?

When Johnson was challenged about his remarks comparing the EU’s ambitions to Hitler’s, he made some weird chugging noise then said that's not what we are talking about and changed the subject. He does this every time he is challenged about his mind-numbingly stupid statements. In the 1940s and 1950s here in Britain we used to have a film company called Ealing Studios that turned out typically British comedies. These comedies always had some pompous type shouting at a hapless victim, “You blithering idiot!” As a child this never made any sense to me, but this phrase now fits perfectly when applied to Johnson.

While I'm on the subject, who made these imbeciles the spokesmen for Brexit? Why have they become the face of the Leave campaign? If they win and we leave the EU (they won’t win), Cameron will step down and I think Johnson will make a play for the PM spot with Gove as his right-hand man. This, people, will be our Trump moment: we will lose what little credibility we have in the world. If this happens, and if Trump gets into power, I'm offering my body up for vivisection - they won't have to wait for me to die!

So you can see my dilemma. By saying that I don't agree with the economics of the European Union I seem to have unwittingly aligned myself with a troop of evil clowns. I don't feel that I can justify ANYTHING these idiots claim or say. So what do I do?

(Just as a side note when I checked the spelling for Mandelson on spellcheck it offered me Manhandle! Now there's an offer you might want to take up!)

My Invisible Evil Twin!

I seem to be two people trapped in one body. I don't mean that I have an urge to cut off my genitals and call myself Genevieve, I mean that most of the time I seem to be a rational, law-abiding citizen who spends most of his time helping others to achieve their goals, but every now and then my inner evil twin surfaces and I get the urge to cause trouble.

I don't want you to think that my evil twin is the sort that kills or maims. Neither is it the sort that cons people out of their money or property. My evil twin exists solely to annoy the hell out of people. My evil twin, or Dave, as I prefer to call him, usually surfaces when faced with pomposity, or when I have been told in no uncertain circumstances that I must not do something. He just won't listen to these people.

It is not always pompous jobsworths that suffer his wrath, as my wife unfortunately also seems to be a regular victim of his. I think it's because she reacts badly to him. While walking down a road side by side with my wife, if she is in deep conversation with me, Dave likes to make me stop dead in my tracks, leaving my wife to walk on, seemingly talking to herself. Or he may make me quickly move to the other side of her while she talks. Both these make her very angry when he makes me do them. He also rejoices in making me remove supporting struts from sun loungers, causing them to fold up on her when she lies on them! These are some of the usual things that he makes me do. One of his favourite things is to get me to scream, “ARGH! IT'S A WAGON! I CAN'T STOP!” when we are driving in the car and she has fallen to sleep in the seat at the side of me.

But I don't always give in to him. Many years ago, I visited a primary school in Leicester. I decided to play a trick on the kids for a laugh. I did the old deadly spider trick where you bend a hair grip and stretch an elastic band with a button threaded through the centre over it. You then wind up the button and place it in an envelope. You then tell your victim that there's a venomous spider in the envelope but not to worry because it's dead. You then ask them if they would like to have a look, most people will have a peak. As soon as they open the envelope the button unwinds at an alarming rate making a vibrating sound which usually scares the life out of your chosen victim. This particular day, I had three hundred young children sat in front of me in a packed school hall. I told the kids that in the envelope I had a dead funnel web spider that was able to kill people instantly with one bite but not to worry because it was dead. I then told them that I was scared to open the envelope so was anyone there brave enough to do this for me. One you lad walked up to the front and bravely opened the envelope. The resulting vibrating sound caused by the button unwinding cause the young man to throw the envelope away... directly into the centre of the hall where all the other children were sat! This resulted in a mass exodus of screaming children from the hall, some were trampled underfoot, teachers were trodden on and nothing could stop the terrified fleeing children as they ran like crazed lemmings in all directions. I was asked to leave the school immediately.

I now know that it was quite a stupid thing to do, and I swore that I would never do anything so stupid again, but... now and then, in unguarded moments, I think about this event and burst out laughing, then Dave suggests that it might be fun to do it again sometime. I have, so far, resisted.

I once made some fruit smoothies for a few friends after we had been out for the day. We were all chatting away and noticed that one of the group, a good friend of mine, was ignoring what was going on about him and kept on texting someone, which started to irritate me for some reason. Dave suggested that this person likes to brag that no curry is too hot for him, so wouldn't it be fun to put this to the test, after all I had a couple of birds eye chillies going spare, what harm could they do if they were blended up with his drink?

The only problem was that sometimes pranks can hit unforeseen circumstances. He kept on texting, ignoring his 'smoothie' and the rest of the group had finished theirs. His partner had enjoyed my blend of fruits, and, being quite thirsty, asked him if he was going to drink his drink, to which he replied, “Drink it if you want!” The whole of my world went into slow motion as she picked up the glass. My normal caring side made an attempt to stop her from drinking the offensive cocktail, but Dave stopped me from getting to her in time, and she downed the whole glass in one! I had never seen anyone scream and projectile vomit at the same time, it was quite a new experience for me. What made it worse was my friend full of concern asked her, “What's up with you, you silly cow?” The following smack he received across his face registered on the Richter scale. This couple, I'm sure you won't be surprised to know, are no longer together. I still see my friend on a regular basis, but his ex has never spoken to me from that day to this.

The problem is that people don't believe my evil twin theory, saying it's me being a 'Dick' - but it's not. Dave seems to get some perverse pleasure out of winding people up! I even blame him for me doing a 'Gezzy' (see previous blogs). I have to go now: my wife has just discovered that someone has painted the top of her nail varnish bottle with nail varnish and then tightened it up so it has stuck fast... DAVE!

You Are Only Too Old When You Give In!

I have suffered one or two injuries of late, My wife claims they are self-inflicted, but she's wrong. I have had a broken toe, which decided to turn a strange shade of purple then swell to the size of a German sausage! I actually broke my toe while getting out of bed in the middle of the night. We have a metal bed frame, and trying to navigate over a comatose wife sleeping next to me in the dark caused me to get my toe stuck in the bed frame!

The resulting crack, followed by a very severe dose of good, old-fashioned swearing, awoke one comatose wife who, in her infinite patience and consideration, snapped, “Shut up and get to sleep!” as I writhed on the floor in agony. I have to say that the pain did subside after a few days just in time for me to go training. I have two sports, badminton and mixed martial arts. I was coaching a couple of semi-professional fighters when one of them, while trying to get out of a choke I had him in, noticed that I had conveniently left my toe out in full view. So he kindly stamped on it for me. This time I had to be all butch and manly to show that I was unaffected by this callous act, but inside I was screaming like a banshee! The result of this stamp (my fault really, a schoolboy error on my part) left my toe throbbing like a blind cobbler's thumb! But to make matters worse, I went to play badminton the next day with some friends, and the result was my toe gave up the will to live, turned purple, swelled up and decided to torture me.

That evening, I lay in my bed with pains shooting up my leg at regular intervals. The pains weren't severe, just uncomfortable, but they didn't give me any warning, so it was like having an electrical shock! I ended up without a night's sleep. The next day I took myself off to the hospital, as I thought my toe might like an outing where it wasn't being pummeled. On removing my shoe and sock in A&E for the nurse to inspect the damage, I was rather concerned about his qualifications when he looked at my foot containing four healthy normal sized pink toes and one bloated twisted gnarled purple toe and asked, “Which one have you hurt?!”

The toe seems to be on the mend at the moment, but I have still been training with it, as it's quite difficult to go training without it! But now I seem to have picked up a thigh and back injury. I'm not sure how this happened. It may be the way I sleep, or it might have been an eighteen stone professional fighter slamming me on the floor then jumping on the top of me. I'm not sure which it was. My wife, ever the voice of reason, has pointed out to me just how old I am. I don't know why she does this as I have known myself for quite a while now and I'm quite capable of working out my age (sometimes). She tells me that I'm too old to fight, and that I should find another sport, but why? I love my sport, and all sports have an element of risk - some more than others, admittedly. I have friends that are the same age as me that ride motorbikes, others that climb mountains. The one thing that we all have in common is that, yes, we like to take risks but also we are all fit and happy, we are alive and living!

I can't understand the mentality that says your life should stop because you have reached a certain age. I'm not as stupid as my wife thinks. I know that I can no longer fight in the ring. Yes, she's right - I am too old for that. I don't have the strength and speed that I once had. But I still have the knowledge and the bloody-mindedness to teach others, and I can still give the biggest and the meanest a run for their money, so why shouldn't I? Some people are just too keen to give in and take up the pipe and slippers, and in my experience these people go downhill fast. When you give in mentally, it's not long before your body follows suit.

So my present injuries mean that I can't tell my wife about them, as she will only go through the same, “I told you so” routine. But I have found myself making involuntary wincing noises as I stand or sit down. I sound like a lonesome hamster calling for a mate. My wife has noticed and thinks it's my toe that's hurting me, but it's not.

So I shall go on doing what I'm doing until I can no longer stand or move, but I have to admit the way I feel at the moment, I don't think that should be a long time!

Bullies!

I watched with some amusement when Obama announced that if we were not all good boys and girls and didn't play ball with his buddy, Dave-the-Suit, we would all be cut out of his future trade deals. This was in no way rigged between Cameron and Obama to get the great unwashed not to leave the EU, it was a true fact! But when questioned further in a later interview, he quickly retracted what he had said by saying they were doing a single deal with the EU at the moment and we would have to talk with America at a later date.

But then you get Boris-the-Bully Johnson reacting with more nonsense.  The whole referendum is being run as a negative campaign of fear: you are not supposed to make an informed choice, you are supposed to be scared witless about choice and change. In all reality no one really knows if Britain will be better off staying or going - it's all “what ifs”!

We now seem to have developed politicians who run campaigns by bullying the public; they have turned into abusive partners.

“If you leave, you'll have nothing!”
“I'm doing this just for you!”
“I hate to see you suffer, but it's not my fault!”
“You will thank me in the future. It's tough love”.

Ask any person who has been abused by their partners how many times they have heard these statements in one form or another.

The Tories have to cut benefits, the police, the NHS (not the banks, though) because of Labour’s previous time in government. They hate doing all these things but they are doing it because they care so much about the country. Don't give up now, together we can be stronger if we all just stick together. The abusive partner beats up on their victim then tells them, it was the drink that made them do it. It's because they love them so much that they behave this way. They really want to change things but they know it will take time. Don't throw everything away over this one thing! These are all just the same tactics: make you feel weak and unsure, while promising change if you just keep things as they are.

Bullies need your submission, your compliance.  It is the basis of their hold over you. The famous quote from Wellington when told he was about to be exposed in the press, “Publish and be damned!” is wonderful. This one sentence sums up how is best to deal with these situations.

We are told lots of different things about how to deal with bullies at school.  Usually it's “tell the teacher”, while in the workplace it's “tell the boss”.  But what if it's the boss who's the bully? Of course each bullying situation is different and we now even have cyber bullying. But for me the best thing to do is face the bully/ies. I know this is hard, I know there is a chance you may encounter violence, but just ask them why, and what their problem is? Stand your ground. I'm not advocating violence, I'm saying take back the power. I know this is easier said than done. I have written in my blogs before that I haven't ever been bullied. I'm too big and aggressive to bully physically and too stupid to bully mentally. If people try to ridicule me for no reason other than malice, then I'm more than capable of retaliation, I write comedy for a living!

But what about the bullies? Cameron wants us to stay in Europe for his own political means, he doesn't want us leaving on his watch. Same for Johnson: he wants to seize power and this he can do if we leave. They are both doing it for their own means.

I think Obama probably does think that a united Europe is a better and stronger ally for the USA. But again, he spoke out for what was in his best interest.

Lots of bullies don't realise that they are bullying others. Some really do think that they are just having a laugh. I'm not talking about the evil-minded halfwits who menace and intimidate, I'm talking about the playground and workplace bullies who mock and belittle. I'm not trying to condone their actions, but when these people are accused of being bullies, a lot of them are genuinely shocked and even, in some cases, quite upset!

Whatever form of bullying you may be suffering from, I wish you well in dealing with what can be a complex situation. Don't let the bully take away your defiance, as, without it, you will only become weaker and suffer more. Talk about the situation you have found yourself in to others; even talk to the bully, asking them to justify their actions.

But when it comes to political bullying, don't listen to negative spin from any side. Read up on matters that concern you, do not read the press, look elsewhere. Make an informed rational choice on what you think is fair and best, taking your own circumstances into consideration, and tell all the negative bullies to GO TO HELL!