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Showing posts from August, 2017

God's Waiting Room

We've all heard the phrase "Growing old gracefully", perhaps used a little too flippantly these days, but will that be the case? When, like me you are a twenty something young man, the nature of your own mortality rarely comes to mind. At the risk of sounding morbid, I find this astonishing because age is a destiny we will all have to face. We all hope that our twilight years will be spent relatively pain free, cherishing the fruits of our labour and loved ones.  Unfortunately, this is a luxury afforded to fewer people then ever before. Some of us will become prisoners of our minds, retreating fretfully into a quagmire of mismatched memories. Whilst those dearest to us watch helplessly, as we descend ever further down the dark tunnel of incoherence that is Dementia. This evil disease is not picky, paying no heed to fame or fortune. I have a close connection to the horrors of Dementia, watching my grandmother succumb to its clutches. At the time of her passing, she wa

Fantastic Footy

It's all kicking off. Over the last fortnight new seasons of the Championship and Premier League have begun respectively. My brother and I am are avid Burton Albion fans. It has been a privilege to watch their meteoric rise from League 2 to the dizzying heights of the Championship. I am lucky to have been a season ticket holder for the majority of that time. We are a family club with strong links to the local community. Whenever I return to the Pirelli Stadium, after the eternity of closed season, it genuinely feels like I am coming home. There is nothing quite like the lush smell of a freshly seeded football pitch.  I digress. I have traveled to numerous football grounds and their disabled facilities are excellent. I always feel welcome and well looked after. The disabled seating area is inevitably a superb vantage point to experience all the action, amidst your fellow fans, saving you from any feelings of segregation. You are the same as everyone else, your passion for the b

The Spectre of Brexit

It happened again. This week we saw the Bank of England revise the growth forecasts. It appears that the UK is on course for a decade of slow growth and wage stagnation. While the rest of the world flourishes, we will be left stranded on the edge of Europe, reminiscing about the good old days. Our geriatric economy will be unable to support an ageing population, with their spiralling health and social care needs. Efforts to recruit skilled workers from abroad will be useless, due our perceived hatred of foreigners and devalued pound. Astonishingly, the current political narrative seems to view this as collateral damage. A price worth paying to be free from the tyranny of the European Union.  We are about to enter the economic wilderness. Cuts will bite harder than ever, squeezing already stretched public services to breaking point. I live with the constant fear of my care package being shrunk to it's bare bones. The care industry has a chronic problem with staff retention. The