The Productive Pessimist

International Men's Day. It's on the 19th November every year. Try and remember that, guys - it gets a little bit wearing for everyone  when you whinge on, all over posts for International  Women's Day (8th March) about " when's my  day, huh?!" (it's very much not  giving Alpha energy - it's giving three year old at their sibling's birthday party. But if that's the look you want...) What is the point of International Men's Day? As for International  Women's Day, International Men's Day both highlights challenges men face, discussing the root causes, and thus potential solutions, of those problems, and celebrates men's achievements. In contrast to International  Women's Day, this "highlight and celebrate" is considered... well...a bit awkward when it comes to International Men's Day - because when we say "men" in the UK, most peoples' minds default to "financially comfortable, able-bodied, men...

  Recently, I read a poetry 'zine, " The  Wisdom of the Punk Buddha " by Sam Marsh. It was, in general, a good collection of reflections, which I agreed with overall. But, like so many "radical positions"...Sam had a fixation on the "obligation" to "be a healthy punk". Every where you look, those who proudly prance around shouting about ho w counter-culture they are align themselves very strongly with the dominant culture when it comes to "You must be healthy! Being healthy is completely within your control! If you aren't healthy, you don't have the necessary self-control to succeed in our fight!" And that is ableism. Yes, yes - "Oh my god , is everything an 'ism, these days?!" No, everything isn't. But insisting on health in order for people to be seen as "committed enough", "capable enough", insisting on "being healthy" as a pre-re quisite to being seen as a va...

  Take some time sometime to go onto YouTube (other platforms are available), and look for documentaries on "the  world's most expensive xyz..." If you watch those documentaries fully - ideally several of them in a ro w (they make a great background if you're working from home, doing creative projects, or getting through the house work) , you'll notice something: All of these expensive products - some selling for literally thousands of dollars a piece - are made slo wly. Often very slo wly. Days at a minimum, more commonly years. And these products are still very much in demand. Many companies are struggling to keep up with demand, because - globally, including in "countries that don't pamper people with bs like a ' welfare state!' - businesses of all types are experiencing recruitment challenges. People aren't arguing the toss over the cost of these products - they're paying deposits to join years-long waiting lists for them. So, ...

  Flags strung up from lampposts,  with minimal effort ( why be patriotic enough to climb a ladder when you can just cruise along in a cherry picker... which it would suit your stated aims more to use helping out British farms with the harvests you don't want "immigrants" to do.) Rupert Lo we ruining the one attractive part of his constituency, and driving off most of the likely winter visitors in a to wn which relies heavily on tourism, by forcing staff members to go out and litter the entire promenade with St. George crosses - not , tellingly, Union Jacks; no; this man doesn't want the Scots, Welsh, or Northern Irish in "his" part of England, either - in the middle of a named storm. He then had the nerve to claim he was "confronted and threatened" by a Labour MP with a Palestinian flag - no, Rupert; you decided this was a war; the way wars work is both sides get to wave flags about. Unite the Kingdom et al are nothing short of domestic ter...