Author: Martyn

There Was Once A Saying.

During the 1960s there used to be a saying:
‘We are the people our parents warned us against’.

Now we might just of turned this saying in to:-

We Are the People We Warned Our Parents Against.

Both of these sayings are warnings about both change for the
sake of change, and not having a fluidity of mind to change
things as they need to be changed.

The problem being that as a lot of people become older they
become more conservative.

Yet this is not so much a conservatism,
as a reaction to all of those new dangers that abound,
or it could just be a very human inability to adapt to the
changes in the world around one. Continue reading There Was Once A Saying.

An Inequitable Taxation.

Be it the window or Poll tax,
the question as to what is an equitable or a reasonable
taxation has always excited a lot of protest.

That is why the question of tax exceptions is one which should
concern us all.

We all think that we are over taxed,
but just how many of us think about how just the payment or
none payment of taxation may be.

At present within Britain all religious comminutes are except
from paying any council ( local authority ) tax.

While most of the churches or religious bodies are registered
as Charities,
and thus gain many tax advantages.

Yet Pacifist bodies, ecology action groups have to pay their
taxes in full.

Why should this be so?

Because under the present law Churches are deemed as being
charitable bodies,
while Pacifist and Eco action organisations are considered to
be ‘political’.

If a group of atheists were to establish a community or body to
combat the extremes of any religion, then they would not be
able to be registered as a charity,
or get all of the tax benefits which go with this.

That would be deemed to be a political activity.

Yet Religious bodies who campaign against good atheist values
do get these various tax benefits.

Now just tell me that this is not political?

This makes no sense at all,
as all religions involve themselves in politics,
even if they hide it with the expression:
‘ Spreading the word of god ‘.

Just to take two examples:
– They campaign against the rights of women to make their own
decisions upon contraception and abortion.
&
– Interfere upon just what may or may not be taught within our
schools.

Just look at the website for the
Charity Commission for England and Wales
and you will see just how many religious bodies are registered
as charities.

This includes such controversial bodies as the
Universal Church Kingdom of God.
A church whose activities has aroused a lot of concerns over
the last few years.

On the other hand we have the case of many pacifists who are
taken to court for refusing to pay any war taxes.

This is despite the fact that Pacifists have a legal right to
exercise a conscientious objection to conscription.

Clearly there is an urgent need to change this system,
and give one the right to exercise a conscientious objection to
all war taxes.

Though the long term aim should really be to abolish all
military organisations.

Equally importantly: –
The whole question as to the charitable status of all religious
bodies should be examined,

They should be made to take pay their share of the tax burden,
as it is inequitable that we should all be forced to subsidise
them this way.

What’s the Colour of Your Shirt?

The recent political struggles between the Yellow & Red Shirt
movements in Thailand reminds me of an earlier era.

During the 1930s we had the Communist Reds, Nazi Brown
shirts, and Fascist Black shirts.

In 1931 Paul Poirt came up with the idea of a Green Shirt to
sybloblise peace. The use of this colour was based upon the
fact that olive branches are green.
This idea was backed by the New York based New History
Society which sold these shirts, as did the War Resisters
International.

In 1934 the music hall Lupino Lane recorded a satitical song entitled Shirts. This was a very partriotic song which stated that Britains would never wear shirts.

During the 1970s the Green Movement came in to being.

It was during this era that I used to be in correspondence with
Petra Kelly.

Petra was a founder of the Green Party in Germany.
We both had a concern about the various dangers posed by the
Nukiller Power Industry

Since that time anything which is ecologically sound has
become known as green.

With growing concerns upon the use of fossil fuels as a
major cause of global warming ,
we are now starting to get many politicians,
and the Nukiller Power industry,
referring to Nukes as being:
‘A Green alternative to fossil fuels’.

Well the major objections to the use of nukiller power have
not changed that much since the 1970s.

Just stating that one has changed ones colour does not
change the facts.

Nukiller power is major environmental polluter,
and nothing is ever going to change that fact.

There is an old expression about being broke, or loosing the
shirt off ones back.

Any development of Nukiller power will really be going for
broke,
and we will all then be without a shirt to put on.

Why I Am Vegie.

I turned vegetarian on the 26th of January 1970.

One of the reasons why I became vegetarian was because it is
an extension of my Pacifist, Humanitarian, and Atheist
philosophy.

I also became vegetarian because it means that one can grow
more food, and thus help to combat world starvation.

Even after the growth of the vegetarian movement, and after
all these years, I still find people asking just why I am Vegie,
or have very little idea upon just what a Vegie diet entails.

Once a year I go visit my doctor for a health check.
One of the queries I get a ‘well done’ for doing at these visits
results from my being Vegie.

Being vegetarian reduces the chance of developing many
medical conditions , such as stomach problems, high colostral
levels, etc.

There is also another reason for being vegetarian: –

It helps in the struggle to stop climate change.

Why?

Because it takes less energy and petrochemical resources to
grow the crops which comprise a vegetarian diet.

This just goes to show that there is no such thing as one simple
reason as to why I became Vegie.

There is an old saying:
‘You are what you eat’.

In this time of climate change worries there should be a new
saying: –

Your planet will change with what you eat.

Just think about it.

Saving the Whale – Part 1.

A little of my own history.

It was in June of either 1972 or 1973* that I stood on a small
picket line outside of the annual meeting venue of the
International Whaling Commission ( IWC ).

Most of the picket line seemed to be staff members of Friends
of the Earth.

The Japanese delegation turned up for the afternoon session
while I was standing in line. They just glared at the
demonstration, and went straight in to the building.

The well known British Naturalist Peter Scot turned up,
and greeted every one who was on the picket line.

I had first become aware of the plight of whales from having
seen an advertisement by the Moby Dick Society,
which had been placed in War Resisters League magazine Win .

In subsequence years I followed and publicised the
anti-whaling activities of the Sea Shepherd.

This weekend I was told that the are moves in Iceland to
curtail its whaling industry.

I should have more information upon this within the next two
weeks,
and will share it with you all.

* This is just another fine example of my memory at work.

Words.

I’ve been thinking about the use of various words of late.

One of the reasons for doing so is because I spent a couple of days during this month at a language school to the South of Madrid:

I was talking to some of the students about Cockney Rhyming slang,
and aspects of the everyday use of the various languages which one hears within London.

Now I discover that the British Local Government Association
has produced a list of:
200 words and phrases that all public sector bodies should avoid when talking to people about the work they do and the services they provide.

Here is an example of just what is to be found within this list:

– Baseline – starting point

– Customer – people/person

– Outsourced – privatised

– Rationalisation – cut

– Revenue Streams – money.

– Slippage – delay.

– Thinking outside of the box – Why use at all?

It’s refreshing to read that at long last there is an attempt to curtail the use of so many of these detested corporate terms.

Libraries on the Madrid Metro.

One of the most interesting things I discovered upon my recent visit to Madrid is Bibliometro.

Bibliometro is a project in which Library kiosks are to be found within 12 of the Madrid metro stations.

There are not many books which are held within these library kiosks, but you can order and return library books at these outlets while on your way to or return from work.

By all accounts this is a project which was first developed within Chile.

It is an interesting project which might be well worth developing within many other parts of the world.

A Word to Librarians Upon Stock Revision – Jobs.

Walk into any public library of late and you might of noticed
just which books are coming off the shelves the fastest rate.

These are:
-career guides,
– books upon how to write a good curriculum vitae,
&
– Upon just how one would work for oneself.

These are the new best sellers.

What I am also noticing is that there are a lot more people
asking about vacancies within libraries, or for newspapers
and periodicals in which jobs are advertised.

All this is just a reflection of just how high the level of
unemployment has become.

Many of the new unemployed are not inarticulate,
but highly skilled, and highly educated individuals.

Yet almost all of the help which is available to the
unemployed still makes the presumption that they all have low
skill level, or that all they need is a little retraining in order
to find some employment.

Continue reading A Word to Librarians Upon Stock Revision – Jobs.

A Title by the Spine.

It’s not just ‘dumbing down’ or lack of knowledge which
sometimes causes books to be misfiled within our libraries.

I recently came upon a cd album of the pop band Japan,
‘The Best of Japan’, which was shelved under World music.

These of us who work in the library world know about many
novels which have the name of a character as the title work,
and that have been found on the shelves under the surname of
the title, rather than under that of the author.

I have even a book filed under the publisher name:
the publishes name was on the book spine in a much larger type
face than that of the author.

These things can and do just happen from time to time.

What concerns me more is the way in which library books now
come from the suppliers already catalogued,
and with the class number already placed upon the spine.

Continue reading A Title by the Spine.