In an ideal world the word 'Charity' would not exist because the act of giving would be considered universally as part of being human, it would be so natural that it would not need to be defined.

I believe small acts of goodness and kindness freely given are what binds a society. They are often done without realisation, as manners, as part of our attitude to life and other people. Most individuals desire to be seen as socially worthy, to act outside their own selfish interests not with great gestures but through glints and sparks. The word Charity has too many toxic meanings. One day we will call it being human.

What is News? it seems the media is a scanning eye, magpie like attracted to the bright and shiny be it fresh gore or gold. It is an eye which never rests for long, never dwells and is always on the verge of being drawn away.

This is the nature of News, it has to be fresh, it is a commodity, it has to arouse our attention, it must in some sense entertain, a macabre theatre of truth. 

Putin re elected President of Russia. Good news or bad? To some extent he is a known entity, for all his hard man of Russia stance he represents stability and that is a basic requirement of the markets and corrupt regimes. I can see chance of real democracy in Russia for a number of decades, the West must negotiate with the illusion of a democracy in the hope that it will one day be attained.

Syrian hospitals used to torture and murder opposition fighters, worst still there are doctors actively involved in administering torture. A perversion of all that the profession represents. Syrian leaders are corrupt and obscene, at least their actions will meet with repulsion from around the world. No words, no actions, nothing will cleanse them of their crimes.

 The UN has been refused entry into Syria. Even after pressure from China and Russia it seems this country is oblivious to World opinion. The significances lies in the actions China and Russia who by none intervention had the wrath of public opinion focused on them. It is easy to under estimate how damaging appearing to lose face through inaction can be for Super Powers. These states want to represent themselves as strong not only to their neighbours but to the world.  There is a difference between causing a stalemate at The UN and inaction, the first is seen as political or ideological the second as weakness. This weakness in turn can reflect on the political ideology of the ruling elite, put simply ' How ideologically sound is a Super Power if it refuses to act as part of an international effort to stop a bloody catastrophe?'

In another important event North Korea has agreed to have it's nuclear capabilities monitored in return for substantial food aid from America. This has happened before however, given the political changes in North Korea and other international nuclear threats  it can be seen as the nuclear giants attempting to stabilise certain hot spots in order to focus on the real threat of a Iran. or a destablized Pakistan.

We are bombarded by media coverage of Syria, News they call it, but it is not News because it is the same murderous slaughter day after day and we witness it as helpless spectators. We can only feel outrage, pity and shame in the inhumanity of our species. We can do nothing else.

We are a blunt weapon, we the public can only have an opinion and politicians can only hope that the weight of our feelings of outrage, added to the that of the millions of other witnesses around the world, will shame some kind of act of humanity out of The Syrian government and military.

In the case of Syria, the system is too embedded, it is tribal under all the politics and too many people have too large a stake in the status quo. In the past the murder of 20,000 people did nothing to change the attitude of Syria's neighbours and  trading partners who only seek contracts, stability and no advance of western democracy or American influence.

Politically Syria is not a danger to the west so it is prudent not to interfer in Syrian internal politics. The West cannot involve itself in military action, the threat of an alliance with Iran and the military support of Russia in supplying arms means instability in the whole region and beyond.

So we have no choice, we must sit and watch and be outraged and know that our disgust means absolutely nothing to those who hold sway in Syria. The best we can hope for is to shame Russia into acting as a modern democracy rather than a Stalinist bully terrified of the none existent threat to it's borders. We can only hope.

Murder in Syria.

Russia is still selling arms to the country and, along with China hs vetoed a NU resolution. The truth is that they have as much blood on their hands as those doing the killing. Make no mistake this is murder and Bashar Al-assad will not last, regardless of the outcome he has sanctioned these killings.

Once again I watch TV with my guts in a knot as bodies of children lay dead on makeshift operating tables, whilst bodies, looking no more than heaps of bloody rags, lay covered in debris and dust. We look, knowing we can do nothing only witness this obscene slaughter. These people could be our brothers and sisters, our children and grand children, we witness murder and can do nothing.

When times get hard the rich get nervous and the laws get tougher. To be rich and accept the poverty of others is unacceptable, it is a form of violence. The act of turning away is an act of brutality, indifference is a crime.

I do not agree with liberal sentiments, of charity and bleeding hearts, the rich should pay their share or live in fear. Let them build their walls higher and barb wire their gates, so they impose imprisonment upon themselves, let fear be their bars. there is no freedom without freedom from poverty. Freedom is either for all or none, our poverty makes prisoners of the rich as well as the poor.

'Those who try to define the boundries of art are it's greatest enemy.'

Drawing from Life, it's been a few years now and getting my hand and eye back in is tough, it's all about confidence and faith in one's ability to modify and balance marks, constantly reassessing and adjusting. When the confidence returns I know that most of this will take place without me being aware of it. I suppose being 'In the zone' is a good enough description. A state of mind in which decisions are being made at such a speed and volume that it would be impossible to be aware of them. This is where the inspired marks are born which we called happy accidents.

If anyone doubted the intensity of the mental processes involved in drawing and painting and how easy it is to be mislead into thinking it is a simple learnt skill let me explain. You have a sheet of white paper and a 6B pencil and you sit before a still life. The first mark is the hardest because every other mark is born from it's relationship to this first strike. With each successive mark the possible permutations increase. Each mark is an attempt to anchor an interpretation of reality onto the paper. And yet, this is impossible because the reality is perceived through the artist, it is not possible to be completely emotionally or intellectualy detatched therefore each mark is a synthesis of technical skill and the subconscious, it is the battle between meaning and expression.

An artist works to know himself through his work and that knowledge when glimpsed or hinted at, touches all of us because it reaches something we all share. I call it the beauty of our imperfection.  

I am civilised

I am completely dependent on and integrated into a modern society.

I do not have the means to feed myself by growing or hunting for food

My only access to water is through a tap, I have no access to river, spring or well

I cannot keep warm through burning fuel, my heat and light is dependent on electricity and gas

I own no land and my home is rented

If I am unemployed, cannot find work and have no income all of the above are denied me.

There are only two options open to me; crime or state benefits

By resorting to crime I act against society, my actions have consequences for others however, by accepting the risk of punishment just as the hunter risks death or injury, I am taking responsibility for my life. In a civilised society the criminal  is feral but his crimes are committed in order to exist within Society. A criminal is only a criminal in the eyes of society when he is caught.

The benefit claimant is stigmatised. To claim benefits should not be a matter of shame, for most people they have contributed to these payments through National Insurance contributions however unlike the criminal who only becomes a criminal when caught, I,  the claimant become a scrounger as soon as I begin to claim.

The reason for this I believe is that to claim benefit is a passive act, I am made to feel that this is not an entitlement, a benefit for which I have made provision through NI contributions. Instead I am made to feel that I am receiving other peoples money and therefore they (the Government, society) has the right to treat me as someone claiming alms rather than what is rightfully mine.

I then fall into one of two groups, I am either part of the deserving poor or the undeserving poor. the first group are seen as a burden on society, the second group as outright scroungers, leaches on the rest of society. However, it must be remembered that both groups are still considered over paid and having life easier than those who are in employment.

Whilst I have outlined two groups there are sub catagories in each. what is true of all is that it would be impossible for anyone to live a meaningful existence without state aid. Therefore the ability to live on benefits and the nature of your quality of life is a matter of survival techniques. Poverty is a state of survival through the management of resources, exploitation of the various systems of modern society and above all knowledge. Poverty is a state of mind.

Hi Ken

Personally 'cocksucker' seems offensive only to those who do not take part in this particular activity, if directed at the male it is an accusation of being gay or bisexual rather than subserviant. I think 'arselicker' or 'brown noser' are far more offensive and actually create a nastier visual image. 'Motherf ucker' brings in the incest taboo, it also hints at a freudian truth that all sons want to f uck their mothers therefore calling a man a motherf ucker touches a raw nerve in the form of a subconscious or suppressed universal desire. Why is it that daughterf ucker or daddysucker are not used as an insult? When language taboos are looked at closely they describe a deeper relationship between word, meaning and signification.

Banning words does not stop racism, prejudice or hatred however I believe the word NIGGER to be a word with such offensive meaning that it cannot be reclaimed into language at the present time.

Nigger does not just describe the colour of a person's skin, it also questions their humanity, Nigger means less human, inferior. To use the word nigger is to summon up the past, to allow all the reasons why slavery was justified to once more be warmed with meaning. To use the word nigger is to set a brand in the fire. To use the word is a direct act of violence.

For too long the countries of the world have been defined in terms of their development as capitalist economies. In the 20th Century the success of  the Western Capitalism masked an  ideological Imperialism as toxic and false as Communism.

The fall of Communism and the new buzz word 'Globalism' seemed to herald the victory of Capitalism and that the new ideal was to be a world of free trade and global capitalism with governments aspiring to liberal democracy as the only morally justifiable system of Government.

Now we are into the second decade of the 21st Century it has become clear that the world consists of a variety of thriving cultures, tribal, medieval, democratic, theocracy communist and various hybrides consisting of two or more of the above. Globalisation of communication allows for the sharing of ideas, it allows us to see that difference is not other, It is therefore a threat to all forms of power.

The wise man looks to the stars but only the fool tries to touch them

I hear Capitalism is in crisis. This is no more than an expression of Capitalism, it's reality, the reality felt by billions of people every day in developing countries. Now the cosy blanket of advertising and promises has been dragged from us we feel the chill, the fear, the humiliation of exposure to poverty that we conveniently ignored for decades. Charity salved our guilt, we gave but never enough and only to keep the problem at arms length. The poor and the desperate made to stay in their poverty rather than given a share of the dream. We build our walls higher and as we feel the pain we turn our backs and yet our suffering is nothing compared to theirs. So few of us have known real poverty, real hunger, poverty of expectation. Our dreams are bloated, lottery ticket fantasies. The glossy glib and nauseating spectacle of the fat and stupid and the greedy dancing around the totem of Capitalism. The money jackals are close, they wait in the darkness, waiting, do not turn, do not let the fire die, soon you will feel their breath on your neck then what will you do?

It is impossible to escape the absurd nature of culture and those who actually contribute rather than are permitted to define the boundries of acceptability. Basically art is the ability to understand the difference between Art that looks like Shit and Shit that looks like Art.

Conceptual art of which I have been a fan for many years, is not really proper art in that the visual exists as a starting point for language or text. The point is you can't look at conceptual art as a meaningless object in itself, a thing of sublime beauty. Conceptual art makes the viewer ask a question. Manzoni's 'Merda de Artista'  (The Artist's Shit) comprising of a number of tins filled with his Shit is a perfect example. Do we discuss the aesthetic appeal of the work, a tin of Shit, or are we more interested in contextualising it? of discussing it's meaning in terms of, perhaps, the commodification of The Artist's creation be it art or Shit or vomit?

Fussing with her bag

In search of Mint Imperials

Fingers delving through

The litter of tissues and tickets

of lose makeup, stolen spoons

and aspirin

Lined mouth like a puckered stitch

Eyelids peacock feather blue

and brows, drawn evidence of trembling fingers.

Afternoon bus rides when the weather is fine

A Lunch Club on Wednesday

Bingo until nine

She cleans and she polishes

Busy all day

 Busy all

day.

look at him and Her

blowing smoke up The Devil's arse

and like the burr on the steel

the pin in the wheel

the wire to the heart

She and he

He and she

Make out in nanny goat coats

On magic carpets red and rainbow

in that tainted light, that painted ice

He looks at she

She looks at he

And all the rapture in their sweaty groins

bursts like a dam of soundless voices

choirs of words recipricating echoes

shadows lost like a muse

And he lost to the teat lost to the heat lost to the beat

And she lost to the way lost to the day damned to repeat

Repeat repeat

I wanted to be true

I wanted it all to be true

walled garden and roses

Treasure chests filled with dressing ups

first kisses sweet dreams and peaches in December

I wanted it all to be true

And like a slow tide the mirror ebbed away

to leave so many pebbles on a beach

the diamonds were just glints of sunlight

the slivering disc and distant rock

Water varnished pebbles are my truth

I wanted it to be true

until it was.

Well I'm back after a few months of serious thinking and now I'm thunked out and admiring the view from the 3rd class lower deck of SS World Economy as it  searches for yet more icebergs to hit.

So a quick word on the economy... You print money to prime the economy knowing it is a long term strategy, it makes sense so long as all the major economies do the same. If you then change to a policy of cutting public spending and investment in skills training and large build projects the economy contracts, the deficit increases and your credit rating on the World market falls.

when talking in terms of Trillions money becomes an abstract. Confidence is the basis of economics, lose faith in something and it becomes weakened, wars can be won or lost on the quality of leadership and the morale of the troops. Gordon Brown acted to stop a meltdown, his actions save the world economy. At present there is not the political will or a politician with the the qualities which inspire confidence.  Man the Life Boats..... Sh*t no space for 3rd class!