Healthy Cities.

       There is no doubt that this pandemic has brought about lots of changes in the way people think and act. Of course some of that will disappear after this covid19 thing is behind us, but some will stay. hopefully we will start to put together that better world we all talked about, and hopefully organised for, while our lives were suspended to a degree. Of course for our "frontline workers" life was never suspended, it was thrown into warp speed.
      One of the changes that came about during this lockdown was the booming cycle business. People started taking to their bikes big time, new bikes old bikes all started to be seen streaming through our streets and parks. If that continues it instills a wonderful feeling of joy, as we start living in cities and towns where we can breathe much cleaner air, and see a healthier population. Of course that is only one small change we will have to make to get to the better new world we want.
     As a keen cyclist can applaud this short piece from Not Buying Anything, it has started a little glow of hope that perhaps we are seeing the demise of the car jammed roads, each vehicle belching out poison and turning our living spaces into poison pods. Here's hoping, it's a start to that better world.

Overheard the other day:
     "What is something you are looking forward to doing after the pandemic is over?"
     "Continuing the family bike rides that we have started while staying at home."
        Does anyone else feel the Earth moving under their feet?
Is that the rumble of people giving up driving for riding? Right now car sales are down, and bicycle sales are up. Guaranteed no one saw that one coming just a short while ago.
       Not only are bike sales up, bike servicing is as well as people drag old bikes out of basements and garages and bring them in for a tune up.
       Whether it is to get out of the house, get exercise, spend more time with family and friends, or have a less expensive way to commute that doesn't involve being in close proximity to other commuters, people have been turning to the glory that is the bicycle.
One of the best headlines I have read recently is "Bike Business Booming During Pandemic". That booming you feel is a mass turn toward simplicity.
        The acquisition of a bicycle, after all, is one of the most simple (and wonderful) acts a modern person can engage in.
          To alter the H.G. Wells quote a bit, I can say that, "when I see an adult get set up on a bike, I no longer despair for the human race".
And when I see large masses of adults buying new bikes, and repairing old ones, I start to think, "Hey, we might actually turn this thing around."
        Here's to riding our way to a new, better world.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Walk With The Poets.

Never a believer in "what must be must be".

 

WALK WITH THE POETS.

My head has had enough of you,

you doomsday sooth-sayers, and

rationalists, that trap us in the world that is.

Go weave your tales of “can't be done”

to the dead, and those of no imagination.

I want to walk with the utopian,

the dreamer and the poet,

laugh with the child and sing with the wind.

Run with the deer, not with “the market trend”

Enough of, “this is the way it has to be”,

a world of poverty, wars and inequality.

Now, I'll create the world I want to see,

A world of sharing, peace and liberty.

I want the children to plan tomorrow,

the adult help them get there,

trees and flowers our treasured possessions,

with birds and animals their keepers.

Who wants a world that chains us to mortgage,

binds us to a labouring day, just to eat bread?

Who wants to spend their life, feeding fat-cats

while their own children go hungry?

No, this is not the world that has to be,

in our foolishness and misplaced trust,

this is a world that has slithered over us,

poisoning our mind, putrefying our spirit.

Let's call on the poet, let's welcome the dreamer,

let's take council with the utopian,

They'll help us create a better world for all.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT.

      Ian Duncan Smith's new super plan to penalise the unemployed is now about to be rolled out. It's modelled on that righteous authoritarian dictate, “three strikes and you're out”. Your crimes could one or all of the following dreadful crimes, refusing to take a job offered by your “Job Seeker Advisor”, failing to apply for a job when told to do so, failing to turn up for a placement interview.

      For the first offence you could lose three months Job Seekers Allowance, a second offence and it is six months lose of JSA, and wait for it, a third offence and you lose your JSA for three YEARS. Another little bit of their authoritarian mind set is that you have no right of appeal, your Job Seeker Advisor's word is final.

      This type of planing chooses to ignore the fact that there are 500,000 listed vacancies in this country while there are over 2.5 million unemployed. It also chooses to ignore that with their policies of cuts, we are going to see another 500.000 public sector workers dumped on the unemployment queue, plus the knock-on effect in the private sector.

      A Job Seeker Advisor will be able to strip “errant” unemployed of their JSA with no right of appeal, and no doubt the Advisor will be under pressure to meet targets. Cameron's millionaire poodle, Clegg says that the plans will bring 300,000 households back into work. Even assuming his figures are anyway near accurate, what he fails to mention is that figure will be more than replaced by the public sector pay-offs.

     There are thousands of reasons why people become unemployed, the biggest one is lack of decent jobs, nothing in the millionaire's plans go any way to solving that problem. Forcing people to go about picking up litter 30 hours a week for no pay does not create jobs. It could of course reduce paid employment as councils struggling to cut cost now find that they can have the streets cleaned for free, will start to pay off those who are paid to do this work.

     All of these plans are driven by an ideology, there is nothing wrong with the capitalist model, your poor because of you own lack of effort, the unemployed are lazy shirkers and if you are not working you deserve nothing. This is the type of society they are intent on forcing on the people of this country, there is no room for sharing, helping those less fortunate than ourselves, services based on needs. Everything must create a profit for the millionaire class and that profit as usual will come from the working class, who will have no say in how our society is run. Our lords and masters will be the corporate world, it is not a pretty picture if you are a member of the working class. Only by realising this is a class war, and at the moment we are loosing, can we hope to reverse this trend and push society in the direction of an all inclusive sharing society where needs over ride profit and mutual aid is the basic principle.

ann arky's home.