Evidence

I don't think I am a sceptic, but I don't simply believe what anyone tells me. Most of us have the tools to check what is written & said on our phones or computers, providing we use reputable & reliable sources. So I do. Routinely. Because I am aware of the propaganda, half truths & lies which permeate every level of our society today. I am also aware that even my friends & family may have inadvertantly told me something that isn't based on evidence & may be meant to mislead me or sell something that I really don't need & probably won't make my life better.

Evidence is particularly important when we try to understand what is going on internationally in the Middle East, Africa & between Ukraine & Russia. There are leaders in these countries who manipulate the truth to their advantage. They are masters of propaganda & prevarication whilst killing, maiming & devastating.

I've recently discovered that it is possible that I have Jewish heritage on my mothers side. I am not anti semitic. I am very anti what the Israeli government, the IDF & radical settlers have done, are doing & propose to do in the West Bank & Gaza. I have watched several reputable & harrowing documentaries & read a lot about the conflict, which has roots back to 1948, but has been sparked by the dreadful acts on October 7th 2023.

The point I would make is that although Israeli politicians & spokespeople argue vociferously & vigorously that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, (I can accept that), they repeatedly justify their actions by saying that they only bomb Hamas postitions & strongholds. They say that Hamas fighters are embedded in hospitals & schools, that there are tunnels full of arms stores & that is why these places are targets. Never mind that they are also supposedly safe places & refuges for ordinary people who are killed & injured in the raids. That is just collateral damage & is justified because Hamas uses them a human shields.

I lsten to brave local journalists actually in Gaza & very reputable & experienced foreign correspondents who have never been allowed into the zones by the Israeli's. What other reason than not wanting independent journalists to see what they are doing can there be for that decision? I can believe that Hamas does not follow the Geneva convention any more that Israel does. But the crucial thing to my mind is that there are many verifiable reports, for example from international doctors & NGO's, who say that the Israeli propaganda is not true. They are on the ground, they see & hear everything. I see no reason why they would lie. Especially as they put their own lives at risk by being there.

The critical thing for me is that all I hear from the Israeli war machine is bombast. I have never once heard or seen any evidence to back up the claims of the Israeli government or the IDF. I have, however seen evidence to the contrary, several times from Israeli dissidents. Not all Israeli's support what the extreme right wing are doing & believe. 

   

Wiping out Hamas entirely is the goal for the security of Israel. I don't believe it will ever work. If you were a child or a teenager living in Gaza or the West Bank & saw your family & friends killed & maimed & your home & country destroyed how would you react?

Israel is just creating more despair, terror, anger & desperation through the suffering. It's a recipe for more fighting, & more aggression. It's a vicious circle - all to keep Netenyahu in power & out of prison where he belongs. The evidence is there for I C C warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant.

A Pope & a President - Good v Evil?

There seems to me to be a circularity to the election of  a new American pope. It's very Dan Brown. A fight between good & evil staged between powerful Americans. The pope & Trump doing battle for control of the world.

Pope Leo has already spoken out against Trump voicing concerns for the poor and immigrants, he chose a name that references more liberal church leadership, and appears to have both supported the liberal-leaning Pope Francis and criticised the US president's policies on social media. Counter intuitively the Trump administration openly embraces advisers and officials who proudly say faith has shaped their views. I am amazed at how many politicians in America are religious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliation_in_the_United_States_Senate

I am even more amazed at just how many different churches there are in America. Scroll down to the comparison between the general population & politicians - very interesting. 

Personally I don't think religion should have anything whatsoever to do with politics. That isn't to say that religious leaders shouldn't speak out against the actions of politicians. They should. What I strongly object to is religion playing a part in the democratic process & influencing voting. Trump actually said his life was saved by god in his inaugural speech. 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/20/politics/video/trump-inauguration-speech-saved-by-god-digvid

Absolute rubbish. If there were a god, s/he certainly wouldn't save someone as corrupt & self serving as Trump. 

Our politicians pussyfoot around openly condemning bad decisions & actions in the name of diplomacy. If church leaders don't do it who will?

 

Remembrance, Memory & War

Remembrance & memory are two different things. Remembrance is an action. Something we usually do deliberately. Memory is the mind storing something from the past. As I've aged I have realised that there have been many memories & a great deal of data stored in my brain over 80 years. Sadly remembrance is becoming more difficult as the years pass.

In the case of memories no one's life is filled with happiness & people or events that are good memories. There are usually things that we would rather forget. It seems that we have little control over what is remembered & what is forgotten. It might be good if we could chose which memories to store & which to erase. Apparently there are techniques to influence & improve memory. But I think it's a bit late for me to do that. The brain itself selects which memories to solidify & which to forget. A lot depends on the emotional impact of the event. 

We are currently celebrating 80 years since VE day. Personally I am very ambivalent about this sort of remembrance. Human history is littered with wars of varying magnitude from skirmishes to full blown world wars. England fought in over 120 wars across 170 countries post the Act of Union in 1707. Prior to 1707 England fought in the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses, and the English Civil War for example.

We do not celebrate anniversaries of all these wars I'm glad to say. I can see nothing to celebrate about war. It is pointless, cruel & destructive. It is generally brought about by men seeking territory, power & wealth. There is huge death, destruction & suffering. Often it is the weak & defenceless - women, children & the elderly who suffer most. What is there to celebrate? 

This week we are celebrating the end of the 2nd world war. All wars do end. History shows us that war achieves nothing positive. Over the years millions of people have been killed or maimed. Homes & infrastructure has been destroyed & rebuilt. 

Its a repeating, man made cycle. We now have ways of fighting that don't involve hand to hand fighting. It is done from control centres miles away from the actual conflict. Soldiers kill without even seeing the "enemy", led by powerful men in capital cities who have never been in harms way & have no concern for the "collateral damage" they instigate.

The only winners from war are the people & companies who profit from the clearing up & rebuilding after the devastation. Malthus had a theory that because population expands at a faster rate than the earths ability to provide what we need, we need events to control population. War, pestilence & famine.

 

If there is a god perhaps this is the inbuilt way of control & balance? If there isn't maybe we live in a self controlling universe that will carry on despite us & our pathetic ways of trying to be in control of something much greater than us. 

Responsibility & Opting Out - Individual or Corporate?

I have just had an email from an organisation called Swiftaid telling me that one of my major charity  donations has automatically been registered for Gift Aid. There are tax reasons, according to my accountant, why this shouldn't happen & I tell all the charities not to do it. My first thought was that this was a scam. But when I checked it out it wasn't.

I am really cross. Hopefully I have stopped this in it's tracks. But this is the first I have heard about this new change of responsibility, presumably by many charities. Moving responsibility away from organisations onto individuals isn't a new thing. Now there are several. The most well known is automatic organ donor registration, for which there was huge publicity & did not happen overnight. 

Now there is also National & GP Data opt out. The balance has switched from individuals giving consent to them knowing they have to opt out. In other words affirmative action is ending. The responsibility has shifted. I'm sure this is much easier for the organisations, It saves them time & money. I'm not convinced that it is beneficial for the individual though. Personally I want to be able to make a choice, whether to opt in or opt out.

Most people are perfectly capable of making choices as long as they are aware of the choice to be made. We can make a "pre-emptive opt out" or  "withdraw consent". However that relies on individuals being notified in advance of the choice to be made & given any relevant information. The big problem is that despite our advanced technological age often relevant information is hidden away in small print or a button or link that people may not notice. 

Additionally not everyone spends their time on computers as I do. Not everyone is tech savvy. Not everyone has the time to check things out on reliable sources.

This seems to be a growing trend. I really think it is a retrograde step & will cause confusion & individuals being opted in to things they do not want to be. I suspect it is not in the spirit of Human Rights, but I can't think which one it might infringe. 

Basically we are moving to a Big State & increased power away from the individual.