Can Do Turns Killer

It comes as a shock but it shouldn't. The news that three British guys are dead in Greenland after being caught in a blizzard. They were trying to raise money for charity. Such high hopes and such a dreadful way to die.
Nobody expects these people not to come back. They traipse off to faraway places, down the Amazon jungle and up Everest and come  home to family and friends with  loads of funds and a great book to write. It's become commonplace.
A guy jumping from space hardly raises an eyebrow. We reckon he has the risks covered, but he hasn't, has he? Big rows break out on the top of a mountain and Sherpas turn nasty because climbers want to go it alone in one of the most dangerous places on earth.
All this "can do" gets a kick in the backside sometimes. Tragedies happen and people die.They never really expect it. Someone always seems ready to rush to the rescue. So much sympathy for those left behind this time.

You'd Laugh If It Wasn't So Sad

Two little tales along the lines of " How daft can you get? One tragic, the other, just plain bonkers. Lets start with that last one.  A supermarket has taken bags of nuts off its shelves because they contain - nuts. Anyone can see they are nuts. Full view, no doubt about it, they are definitely nuts. Doesn't say so on the packaging so - bin the lot, just in case some nutrter with an allergy decides to try one and see.
The other story concerns a pour soul who doused himself in petrol and threatened to strike a match. Police arrived to find the 32-year-old very agitated. What did they do? Tasered him. The ensuing fireball was a surprise to no one, except perhaps the dim-witted plods.
The guy was in his garden at thye time. Was there not a hose handy ? Could have doused him, washed off some of the petrol? At any rate a lit match would have been a no no. Instead, an electric taser. We are at the top of the food chain, the highest form of intelligence on this planet. Makes you wonder.
PS Get my book Devil Deal, by Liz Freeman, £1 53 on Amazon and help people with Crohn's and Colitis. It's not about the guts. Thanks

Iain Banks Does It Right

Sometimes someone comes along who is so far out of the ordinary that they leave you stunned. One such is Iain Banks, who writes great fiction. His books have a unique originality that hooks the reader in.
As a person he always seemed to be just one of the herd, though clearly a grifted and successful author. Then he finds he has gall bladder cancer. His way of dealing with that has taught me how to live and die.
It's a hell of a lesson to learn and come the moment I'll probably maker a total hash of it and get it all wrong, but if I remember Iain, I have a chance of doing it right. He doesn't whinge, wonder why, or put it all out there for us all to gawp at.  No long articles in the press detailing his treatment or his dashed hopes for the future.
Iain just gets on with it and thanks the people he has loved and who have loved him. I wish I had met him, I think I would have loved him too.

Anorexic Victim Was Well Off - So What?

Parents  mourning their beautiful daughter decide to talk to the papers, trying to stop the same thing happening to someone else.
It's an unselfish thing to do, but what's this? A full and frank appraisal of their way of life.  We read that this family lives in leafy Buckinghamshire, that they have tennis courts, a swimming pool and sprawling lawns. They underlying message is, they were rich, they had all of this, yet they still lost their daughter to anorexia.
Imagine if they lived in a council flat in Walthamstowe, with dingy net curtains, threadbare carpets and mould up the walls. Would we have been told? Probably not. Why is that important, we would have asked ourselves. Yet somehow The Times decided that the way this family lived should be spelled out, if it can happen to them, it can happen to anybody, sort of way.
Stunningly beautiful Sarah, a medical student, had bought DNP over the internet because of claims that it burns fat. It is also lethal. That is the only message this family wanted to get over, nothing else really matters. Does it?

Suarez The Shark With No Shame

Chew on this Luis Suarez - you are an animal! Sinking your teeth into someone is beneath most dogs, yet you have done it twiice. In front of a crowd of thousands.
No shame then, certainly no remorse. Suarez should never play football again after trying to take a chunk out of Branislav Ivanovic. Will that happen? Of course not, he got away with last time after all.
In 2010 he bit Otman Bakkal and faced a seven match ban. So Suarez likes human flesh. Can't get enough of it. It must be time for football to crack down hard, surely? Who wants to see monstrous behaviour like this on the pitch? What does that say to young lads there with their dads - those that can afford the ticket prices these days?
Trouble is, Suarez went on to score the equaliser, so that's that. Slap on the wrist is the worst he can expect. What other sport would allow this? Let's send him shark fishing to get a taste of his own medicine.

Boston Madness Beyond Belief

Boston shutdown - are there any women having babies there tonight? Are there any diabetics needing insulin, old people having strokes, heart attacks? Is this lock down as total as it seems to be, because if it is, the terrorist has won a huge victory
He has caused a city to come to a standstill. What more could he want? Everybody is dancing to his tune. Fear rules. Why? When London was bombed people went about their business. There were buses, cars, bikes on the streets. A day later and the tube was empty - but running.
One million people are cowering in their homes. They are not cowards. Their police are making them prisoners. This young man may or may not be responsible for the horrors of  the Boston Marathon. He may be dead by now. He is certainly terrified. Confined to their homes, the people of Boston have serious problems of their own, some may well be life threatening. He cannot harm them all, but  what he has achieved is hugely shocking to the rest of us.

Whoop di woo! The minimum wage has just gone up to £6.31! There'll be celebrations on the streets tonight, bunting, balloons and booze we'll have the lot, hang the expense, it's time to party!
So what will our new found  £6.31 buy us in these heady days of plenty? A book of stamps? No chance. A pot of tea and buns for two? Perhaps. A loaf, the paper and a box of tea bags? Maybe, just don't expect to get the bus home.
We ask a lot of the low paid. Drudgery jobs that hardly keep them in shoes while the benefit cap is £500 a week. You could work ten hours a day, seven days a week and not come close, yet everyone is still better in a job. Somebody might have to do the sums again.

PS Get my book Devil Deal by Liz Freeman for £1.53 on Amazon for Kindle. Not got one? Download the free app and give 50% to medical research to help cure Crohns and Colitis. Thanks

Boobs Doing It For Themselves

A man is saying; "Dump your bras girls, boobs are better withgout." Well he would, wouldn't he? Research by French professor Jean Denis Rouillon reckons bras are useless and that if young women go without their nipples rise by up to 7mm as the breasts work to support themselves.
Good for them, though not so hot for the rest of us. Not that I am tempted. A 36C needs a bit of help I find. Plenty of others feel the same. Just watch those films of our recycled stuff arriving abroad. What are those women wading deep into the pile searching for? Bras of course, absolutely massive over there.
Take a look at the cultures that already do without. Pictured them? Exactly, point proven. Perky 13-year-olds turn into droopy 20-year-olds. Not that they give a monkeys, nor should they. Over here though, it's a tad frowned upon. Not to say uncomfortable running for the bus. Thanks Prof, but we may pass on that.
PS Get my book Devil Deal on Amazon - http://goo.gl/84Zq1 and help raise cash for medical reseach. Not got a Kindle? Download the free ap, Thanks!

Thank You and Goodbye Mrs Thatcher

Does anyone think the mines Thatcher closed would still be open today? No, they were uneconomic. Would we still be building ships on the Tyne if she'd broken the unions sooner? Yes, the work went, of all places, to Korea.
There was plenty of hardship during her time, not all of her making. On Tyneside workers were laid off because the unions made them unemployable. Only an electrician could change a lightbulb. Anyone else did it and the strike was on. My dad would despair as he watched the work go elsewhere and families go hungry.
He was a Labour supporter all his life and would not buy the Tory Sun even when I worked for them - except for the day my picture graced the front page. A dad first then. Margaret Thatcher had her faults, but weakness was not one of them. Her love of country sent her battling Europe time after time on our behalf. Absolutely all of us, everyone of us, has a lot to thank her for.

Devil Deal Does It For Crohn's

Brilliant day! Just published my first book, Devil Deal on Amazon. Can't believe it took so long, but it's out there for £1.53. It's about a young guy who is offered £1m by the Devil, to have for a year and then pay back - or the Devil takes him. He goes for it, travels and meets some very odd people - then the day of reckoning dawns and he is short ...
It zips along, very funny in places, but I've got a bigger reason for doing it. Half of the money raised will go to research into Crohn's disease, which brought my son Ben to the edge of death. Everybody knows someone with Crohn's, it's very common. Multiply a sore stomach by 100, then add on nasal feeding and a bag stuck on your side you spill your guts into. Acid burns your skin. You are 20 years old, can't get out of bed and you look like a skeleton from Belsen.
A 999 ambulance rushes you paralysed and unable to speak to hospital when your calcium crashes. Muscles are made of stone and you are minutes from death. That's complicated Crohn's which my lad got when he was 14 but it took two years to diagnose. Danmage done. That's why I want to help. I've promised half the profit from Devil Deal, by Liz Freeman, my middle name, to Crohn's and Colitis UK. A little bit from a lot of people CAN make a big difference. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog. I know you are out there and that you care.

April Fool Cameron Today Lost The Election

Today David Cameron is the April Fool. He just lost the election. He took £14 a week from council tenants in bedroom tax and gave £45,000 a year to those earning over £150,000. The Tories are all stone dead in the water.
Their party doesn't govern this country, they just hand out our money to their friends in bamking or business to keep them happily afloat. The rest of us can sink. After all, there are many more where we came from.
Some of us voted for Cameron after the shambles Labour left us with. We thought people with a good head for finance might be able to make some sense of the mess. After all, they handle big money all the time, so they should be able to balance the books.
We expected to divvy up, to help out, not to shoulder the burden while his rich pals quaff champagne and wonder what the fuss is about.