The true costs are staggering!! Johnson negotiated an appalling deal!!
Posted in UncategorizedTagged BREXIT, Politics, satire, The Disaster of Brexit portrayed as a Triumph, Tory liesLeave a commentEdit
In the park they were filming some strange production of what looked like Beauty And The Beast. Couldn’t be sure as nobody spoke English.
Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beauty and the Beast, film set, Manilla, Manilla – on the Film Set
I felt I had to share this. I have just completed the second rewrite of this new Sci-fi novel. I then wrote this blurb for the back cover. All comments are gratefully received.
I’m going to catch my breath before looking to publish. Before I do I’d be glad of any feedback.
I don’t do space opera or action stuff. I work at exploring social situations. This novel is as relevant today as any book even though it’s based in the future.
I’ll put up some extracts for comment over the next few days.
Thank you!
The Cabal Blurb
It is the year 3960 of the System – a sprawling confederation of planets spanning hundreds of thousands of worlds.
Human beings have come a long way through space and time but nothing much changes.
This is a tale of war, political intrigue, greed, power and conspiracy.
The Cabal are a ruthless group of the wealthiest people that have ever lived. They have everything but they want more and are prepared to do anything to achieve their goal, even destroy worlds.
The President is equally selfish and greedy and is in their pay.
A young hacker is all that stands between the might of the evil establishment, who are busy plotting a war that would kill billions, and a brighter, fairer future.
Posted on by Opher
The Chartist aims were simple; they wanted one man one vote for all men over the age of twenty one who were sane and not criminals and payment for MPs (So that those other than the extremely wealthy could stand).
That sounds very reasonable to me. I mean it wasn’t as if they were asking for votes for women. Heaven help us if anyone thought that women might be intelligent, knowledgeable or able to exercise the right to vote.
But no. Even this step was thought a step too far. The establishment believed that if you allowed the poor to vote they might vote for things that would stop them being poor. The only way they could be richer was by taking money out of the pockets of the wealthy. The idea was preposterous. Equality!! Freedom!!! Once one lot had it the rest would follow!! Before you knew it the eighteen year olds and women would be after the vote!! And then what??? The country would go to the dogs!!
Giving the vote to ordinary people was asking for trouble it threatened the status quo and had to be resisted.
We are only talking about the mid nineteenth century here. It’s not a thousand years ago. This was the time when only the wealthy were allowed to vote. Strangely they always voted to protect their own interests and keep ordinary people down. Inequality was rampant.
The Chartists did not believe in revolution or violence. They wanted to exert their power by sheer force of numbers. Their idea was to hold mass meetings and sign petitions. These petitions were signed by millions or ordinary people.
They demanded justice and empowerment
They wanted the right for all men to have a vote. For that to be made in secret and for the representation through the country to be fair.
It became a mass movement, particularly in the North, Midlands and South Wales.
Rejection of their demands by government led to strikes. There were some outbreaks of violence. The State hit back by imprisoning hundreds.
The Church, to its discredit, stayed out of the argument.
In 1848 the Chartists held a protest rally on Kennington Common attended by upwards of 150,000. A petition of an incredible 6 Million was handed in demanding the right to vote. It was ignored. The government ordered the deployment of troops and was prepared for an uprising. They feared a revolution along the lines of the continental revolutions.
It looked like the Peterloo massacre on a larger scale!
In the event it passed peacefully.
The Chartists did not achieve reform but they set a tone.
It wasn’t until 1867 that urban working men were given the vote and not until 1918 that we achieved one man one vote. We haven’t yet had a hundred years of power!
The rights of women took a lot more struggle and effort.
The rights we have are the result of the efforts of millions!! We should exercise them with great care. They are easily removed.
The Tory Party look on in horror at what they have done. They voted Truss in and she revealed what they are all about in one crazed swoop – naked greed.
She was so arrogant that she thought she could do anything. Egged on by the rabid ultra-rich Tory membership she revealed their hand. The Party of the Rich were planning to give even more to the rich. But it was too blatant. This is what they have stealthily been doing forever but Truss didn’t even bother to cover it up!
The markets turned.
Seizing back control seems to mean giving control to billionaires from abroad.
She’s a monstrous liability. But they are stuck. If they try to kick her out she could force a vote of no confidence and trigger a general election and they’d all lose their seats! On the other hand, the pressure is mounting and she might crack.
Once upon a time
Once upon a time
There was a mutation in an ape;
A tiny change in sequences
Leading to murder and rape.
On a beautiful planet
With a myriad of life
The arrogant apes are kings
Creating kingdoms full of strife.
Inventing gun and bombs
To protect their ivory towers
They set about subjugating
All beneath their power.
They thought they were above
All other animals
By building torture chambers
Safe behind castle walls.
Such a small mutation
In a strand of DNA
Is now threatening all life
With a burst of gamma ray.
Opher 2.10.2022
It feels as if there are always two forces at play in human nature: the side that is for creating, helping and building and the side that is for violence, destruction and death.
The planet is either heading for a slow decay into polluted ruin or a fast meltdown into a nuclear pit.
Everything is run by greed and the lust for power. The world is soaked in fear and hate.
We’ve created religion and politics and use both to destroy each other.
What hope is there for these psychotic apes. On a positive thought – the planet will eventually recover from our brief custodianship. It might take a few million years, a lot of mutations, but evolution will plug the many holes we’ve created!
Life will prevail!
Look out your back door!
Hey! Look out the back door!
Can you see the start of a nuclear war?
Thousands of missiles darkening the skies?
A future lost to greed, brinkmanship and lies?
Or is that a dark cloud or flock of crows?
Only Putin knows!
In a world of madness
The unthinkable becomes real.
An inevitable path
That started with the invention of the wheel.
Flawed human behaviour
Creates a world of pain.
A bunch of mutated psychotic apes
With an endless pursuit of gain.
A tsunami of madness.
Never learning from history.
Rational behaviour
Still a mystery.
Hey! Look out your back door!
Is that the start of a nuclear war?
Opher 3.10.2022
When I look back through the history of ALL mankind all I see is violence, greed, exploitation and abuse.
Nothing changes.
Everywhere we go we destroy, kill, maim and torture.
The world is full of castles, fortresses and torture chambers.
We pervert every scientific invention to create weapons of destruction.
In the terrible destruction of Ukraine, we find mass graves, wanton killing, torture chambers and terror.
Why am I not surprised?
This is the species that thought baiting bears, bull baiting, Badger baiting, ripping live animals to pieces, dog fights and cock fights were family entertainment.
We are a sick species.
Rubble to Rubble
Rubble to rubble,
Dust to dust,
Nothing survives,
Especially the just.
When the man decides
To clench his fist
It becomes impossible
To resist.
Rubble and dust
Rubble and dust.
The whole world runs on greed and lust.
A game of power;
Flex of meat;
Callously cruel;
Shrapnel and heat
Putin’s gamble;
Existential threat;
Where’s it going?
Place your bet!!
Rubble and dust
Rubble and dust.
The whole world runs on greed and lust.
Opher 5.3.2022
Power is corruption.
Putin lives in his palace with full control of millions. His generals quake before him. The Czars of the past would have recognised him as one of theirs.
Yet power and greed have no limits.
Paranoia builds.
There is always a threat. Lots of similar psychotic minds want what he has.
Do not fool yourself that it is any different where you live. Trump, Johnson, Modi or Erdogan, Bolsonaro or Macron; they are part of the same elite, tools and puppets with power.
Power corrupts.
They want more!!
Ignore the crisis just make insane promises in order to get elected. Power is all that matters!
The system run by this Tory government is all about funnelling the wealth to the top. While we all suffer austerity the wealthy are getting wealthier by the minute. We are being conned.
Opher's World 
