TOPIC - Free travel / free TV licence/ winter fuel

 What are your views on means tested benefits in this very difficult economic environment? For example should well off pensioners give up winter fuel benefit, free travel, and the free TV licence?

He had to draw it out of us. We weren’t happy. We’ve all worked hard to get where we are now. We didn’t have the benefits of extended maternity leave and tax credit that young people have now. We were all industrious, careful with our money. We didn’t spend recklessly. We made do. And because of that we are all relatively well off. Do we really need these benefits? Oh the free travel! Should we really have to give that up? When you depend on public transport it’s vital that it is affordable. Young people know all about that too! That’s something we share. Ok so if we have to, we really have to, we could cope with reduced fares. It’s hard to admit, (all that work! All those years!!) but yes you’re right. Most of us don’t actually need these benefits. But in this crazy world, in this computerised, techno world we live in is it really true that there is actually no system for returning them. And is means testing really beyond our capacities? Surely a simple link between tax returns and the benefits office could solve the issue of means testing in the click of a button! Until then we’ll just have to go on accepting our winter fuel allowance. We can always use it to buy a few plane tickets to get to Spain where we’ll have no need of any winter fuel. .  

TOPIC - Half the world’s harvested food is wasted

Half the world’s harvested food is wasted. We still have many people starving across the world. Why do we in developed countries waste food when so many go hungry? In the developed world supermarkets reject much harvested food because of appearance, would you buy misshapen carrots, bananas etc? If so why do we allow supermarkets to waste so much food? Households throw out 30-50% of the food bought, why is this? What should we do about it? 

CHECK out: http://www.thinkeatsave.org/docs/Factsheet_FOOD-WASTAGE.pdf

So how wasteful are we? Well it’s a lot easier not to be so wasteful when it’s just the two of you or you’re on your own. You buy as you need, No weekly shops. But we still allow ourselves to be dictated to by the large supermarkets to a certain extent. Their over conservative date stamping begs us to throw away items that pre date stamping days would have lasted another week. How long is it since you ripped the blue mould off a slice of bread before toasting it? And yet I grew up in a house where that was how you started your day. We’re so used to perfect carrots and pristine strawberries now that we hesitate before popping that crooked parsnip into the pot. Does that look a bit off to you? That’s a most unattractive turnip, don’t you think? In reality too many non photogenic potatoes get dumped by us all when they all get chopped up at the end of the day. It’s about time we all started fighting for the rights for our sprouts to be ugly and our cabbage to be muddy.  

But we’re not the only ones to blame. Restaurants and cafés churn out endlessly huge portions and tend to have a one size fits all policy. Children, the elderly, growing boys: everyone gets the same. You wouldn’t set your toddler down a plate the same size as your 17 year old teenager would you? But I suppose if portion size was up to the restaurant staff you might get a few disgruntled customers when things went wrong. Am I getting that huge plate of chicken broccoli because she thinks I’m a big fat lump?  Or the other thing they do is they lay it all out in a buffet and leave it all up to us. And what do we do? We go and get a bit of everything until our plates are piled so high that we can hardly carry them back to the table. We’ll never eat that!! Daft, aren’t we? But restaurants could offer small, normal and large portions couldn’t they? That could reduce the waste.

But it’s in hospitals and nursing homes where there is so much waste. Sick people don’t tend to have much of an appetite and the elderly, well, what with all those cups of tea and biscuits throughout the day, who has any room left for extra helpings of shepherd’s pie? We need Jamie Oliver into our hospitals and nursing homes. He’ll sort us out there. If Jamie was cooking no matter how sick I was I bet you every morsel would disappear.  Or my Alan. No-one can resist his roast leg of lamb or garlic and lemon chicken.

Of course we need to be teaching our young people how to grow their own. Bring back allotments! If you’ve spent all that time digging and mucking about with your very own green beans there’ll be no wastage to speak of. (Allotments available at reduced rates throughout January. Contact my son-in-law for further information.)

Well time draws on and we’ve run out of time to talk about Jimmy Saville and our celebrity obsession. I dare say there’ll be more horrors emerging in the press before our next meeting anyway. It doesn’t seem to be going away, does it? And we’ll leave the Tea Party guys for another day too. And so to our finale.

TOPIC - Gang Rape

 The gang rape of an Indian student has put woman’s treatment by society in the world’s mind. In Europe with the small proportion of successful prosecutions for rape, with few women in parliaments or on company boards etc… are we much better?

We’re off to a running start here! Watch out Stephen Nolan! Causeway U3A are on to you! Of course the action of gang rape in India was unanimously deplored but in a weird way there was also a certain sense of relief that the topic was finally out in the open again. Modern Western society has almost put a glass ceiling on women’s rights and young people in particular no longer give the matter any real attention. There is an alarming complacency towards women’s safety in everyday activity in this country and it was agreed that date rape and rape by parties known to the victim were much more common place than freely admitted in our society. From the 300,000 rapes reported each year there were only ever a few hundred successful convictions. Does that make us any better than our Indian counterpoints? The caste system, male dominance and cultural attitudes may play a part in India where women are undeniably disempowered in comparison with the Western World. However women here still have a battle to fight in terms of their right to walk the streets at night in safety, to date, and even at times to exist within a family without being prey to the violence of rape. Rape continues to be a major issue in any society and perhaps now we should be grateful that India is the chosen battleground. Let’s not be complacent that the battle has been won in the west. That is generally recognised as far from the truth. 

The discussion ventured into the domain of gender roles in society. Were some jobs more suitable for men than women? It was felt by some that physique may on occasion dictate the appropriateness of some jobs for women. For example intensive labouring may not suit everyone. However advances in mechanisation meant that more jobs were open to more people. What was unanimously decided was that we should all, irrespective of gender, have the right to choose. To have the capacity to choose our profession, our capability, our work/life balance, our goals, our personal ceiling, that is what is important. In our willingness to advance human rights to all genders we would not in any way want to impose our Western values on other societies.

So if we then recognise that the empowerment of women continues to be an issue in our society do we not then have a responsibility to do what we can to support the debate in whatever ways we can? Social networking has had some success in bringing these issues to the fore and this was perhaps where we could best support our colleagues worldwide.

TOPIC - FlagsNI

Now we’re talking! Does the current flag issue indicate that we in N Ireland have not yet raised our political status from a society driven by violence? If so what should we do about it?

Has this issue really to do with flags and identity? Or are we witnessing a reaction from those seeing themselves isolated from society and the political process - perhaps seeing no socio-economic benefit from the peace process?  Are these people who have no stake in our political process? If so how can they be involved? Some people have suggested a manipulation of the issue for extremists or gangland interests?Are we experiencing a lack of leadership, little political imagination or courage? If so what are the likely consequences? Or is this a political manoeuvre gone wrong, can it be corrected?

Good questions don’t you think? Now where do we start?

The flags issue. Disgusted, frightened, threatened, frustrated, questioned, disappointed, embarrassed, humiliated, seriously, seriously challenged. What happened to ‘Our time, Our place’? Why couldn’t we have it like this all the time? Van’s dream? Our dream? What happened to all of that? All those aspirations, all that positivity? The political strategies, the investment? Didn’t we do enough?Stephen Nolan, the ‘Best Show in the Country’ guy, is it really down to you now to sort out our differences, our battle? Are you our new Bill Clinton? Our 2013 John de Chastelain? Ok so we have new voice in our midst. A voice soundly devoid of David Irvine wisdom. Raw, loud,noticeably inarticulate, repeating stock phrases about never, neverness, Britishness,  our identity, our flag. The kind of voice you know from experience you just can’t ignore. The kind of voice that reverberates with frustration, with oppression, with lack of self-esteem, lack of theorising,lack of empowerment. All the issues that Republicanism addressed before the Peace Process and the Protestant working class didn’t. You know that this won’t just go away. You know that somehow you will have to bring these people along. You’ll have to deal with the frustrations, deal with the symbols, the battles, the emblems, the drums, the language of division. They are part of us. We have to finally, relentlessly address this hurt. There is no police, no military solution. The police know what they can and what they cannot do. If there are gangsters involved, drug dealers as some people have suggested, ‘The Beast from the East’, they can take them off the streets. If they have evidence of crimes being committed they can enforce the law. They can monitor behaviour and report on this to the public. They can meet with different bodies to discuss the situation. They cannot stop peaceful protests. We live in a democratic society.  We surely have to accept that there has been a serious lack of leadership. Our capital city has been held to ransom. Our children are being affected, Our economic future has been challenged.

Are there things that we can be doing? What are our politicians doing? It seems from down herethat it’s all gone very quiet up there on the Hill.  And what are we already doing? There are somevery successful organisations in our society. The GAA has been very successful  in fully engaging the youth. The Orange Order has trained up young people to play in bands. Isn’t it a pity that neither organisation opens its doors fully to both communities? Schools have tried to extend the curriculum to include the study of citizenship. However we have now chosen the path of separate development and we now have to deal with the consequences. We do have some Integrated schools. There is some great work going on here.

Work which is world renowned. We have the capacity to lead the world in addressing conflict issues in our schools. The rest of the world looks to us for advice, guidance in this field. But as long as we continue to largely settle for separate development we will  continue to churn out young, disengaged, disenfranchised people who think they have to continue the battle. What battle? We’vemade up this battle. We invented it ourselves. It’s only when you look at it up close that you realise that it doesn’t actually exist. It’s a figment of our imagination. There is more to be done. Maybe it’s time to stop apologising for being old and to start sharing a little of what we have learned over these years.

 Maybe there are things we can do. Yes, we can turn out to vote. But maybe also it’s time to stop being the silent majority. Maybe our politicians need us. Complacency, apathy, fear, settling for second best has got us all here. Is thisreally where we want to be? Is there more we can be doing?

Heavy stuff, n’est-ce pas? In the style of our good friend Stephen Nolan let’s change to a lighter topic. 

TOPIC - Where have all the Ulster Unionists gone?

Where have all the UUs gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the UUs gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the UUs gone?

Peter Robinson’s picked them (nearly)every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Is the Ulster Unionist party going the way of the dinosaurs? Or is it transmogrifying into a Pan Unionist party soon to be under the leadership of Peter Robinson? When even Mike Nesbitt finds it difficult to see any difference between the DUP and the UU is it time to admit that voting for UU de facto means voting for DUP?

We all know that we have a responsibility to vote. Not as easy as it sounds though. We need to know who and what exactly we are voting for. When they are all faffing about not knowing what they are up to it doesn’t instil much confidence in the average voter. Do we just sit back and listen to our politicians continuing to talk about their mandate when it seems that not one of them is able to give us what we want, what we really, really want: a respectful, secure, peaceful, prosperous, forward thinking, fair and just society? Instead of continually bedding themselves down in increasingly entrenched positions is there no-one out there who can formulate a proper, viable vision for the future? We are paying them enough. And are we doing enough to make our demands known?  Not another petition………! Citizens…….!

TOPIC - Feckless Fracking

A serious lack of clarity here too in our very own homeland. Without any consultation with us locals the government has allocated permits allowing five companies to explore the possibility of fracking in Northern Ireland. And we are right in the centre of one of the five targeted areas. They kept that quiet, didn’t they? The risks from the fracking process are largely unknown but in Australia local residents have talked of ponds catching fire, an increased level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, reduced sunlight and certain pollution. Australia is a big country with lots of uninhabited areas. We aren’t. And then there’s the increased risk of earthquakes such as the recent one in Blackpool. We just do not know enough yet and it is far too early to allow such explorations. The government has too high a vested interest as fracking does offer economic benefits. Can we be sure that any research will be carried out with full integrity? And are we ready to sell our souls so that we can all watch Holby City in the evenings? Or read our blog? Or write comments on our blog? I feel a petition coming on……………. Where’s Cliodhna?

TOPIC - Droning on about drone bombers



Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS)

 Does distance erode our moral sense or are drone bombers merely modern day snipers with a very, very long range? They certainly do provide a more efficient means of warfare although not as safe as we would be led to believe. But the lack of reporting on drone attacks is worrying. We have the right to know what warfare our politicians and military are getting up to while we sleep easy in our beds, don’t we? And just because the missiles are being launched from some hidden location in a desert in USA it doesn’t mean they don’t exist, does it? It’s all about clarity and accountability.

TOPIC - Should we allow gay people to marry?

Why ever not? Don’t gay people have rights too? Or are gay people a sub human group? Are they the new ‘women’? I’m pretty sure a gay couple could make as good a couple as any heterosexual couple I know. And they have at least as good a chance as any heterosexual of being a good parent. I applaud anyone who pronounces themselves willing to commit to one partner for the duration. Marriage offers a crateful of challenges, a truckload of togetherness, a bucketful of obstacles, and a heap of happiness. Bonne chance, mes amis!

Now does that rile you? Comments please…….

Ps I am very happily married and have been for 32 years!

TOPIC - The Integrated Education Debate

It’s that old hot potato again! Backwards and forwards. Do we, don’t we? Should we, shouldn’t we? Parental choice, human rights, the good of the country, the Catholic Church, the Status quo, the Economic Crisis. How do we? Why do we? Where do we? When do we? How many excuses can we continue to make?

The truth is we all know Integrated Education makes sense. Recent research shows we all want it, Catholic, Protestant, Nationalist, Unionist, male, female, parents, non- parents. We all want an integrated system of schooling, fit for purpose. Our politicians seem to be the only ones who wish to maintain the status quo. And the other thing is that it most certainly does not make sense not to make a move towards Integrated Education. Politicians talk of ‘Shared Education’ as if it’s enough. But we all know that this is a fudge, an apology, a nonsense. ‘Shared Education’ does nothing to address the underlying message of difference we are presently laying on our children. For ‘Shared Education’ read ‘Separate Development’, read ‘Entrenchment’, read ‘Continued Violence’, read ‘Same Old, Same Old’.

The French did it all in 1789. Napoleon Bonaparte set up a system the French nation are still proud of. A system encapsulating ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité.’ Perhaps 226 years later in Northern Ireland we might be ready to take a step towards a system of Education which offers freedom, equality and brotherhood. It worked for the French.  Mind you, they did have to behead a few people to make it work!

Now this is the bit where I ask you to add comments if you like. But mostly I want you to sign a petition, a petition from Causeway U3A, available soon. A petition demanding our right to a fair, free, equal, cohesive system of education, one for all and all for one, a positive legacy for our grandchildren. Because as L’Oréal would say, they are worth it, aren’t they?



TOPIC - Are we really Ok with ex IRA spy being a Deputy Head Teacher?

Ok. So we’ve accepted ex-terrorists as politicians, nay, heads of our country. Ex-prisoners

now sit in parliament. We’ve got used to people with a ‘past’ telling us what to do, making

decisions on our behalf. We may not like it. From time to time we rile against them. We vote

against them. But mostly we accept their constitutional right to have their say, to speak on

their constituents’ behalf. So if we have come that far, if we now accept diverse opinion,

what’s the big problem with someone with a ‘history’ being a vice principal?

Now this might be something you might like to comment back on. I really did try to be a tad

provocative there. Did you notice?  Hope it works!



TOPIC - Whistle Blowers

Nearly forgot to mention the whole gagging order thing. I mean how is it possible that if

you’re in the Health Service or any other public body the government can put a clause in your

contract stating that you do not have the right to divulge instances of malpractice? And that

same government has brought in legislation encouraging whistle blowers? I mean you’re either

for or against, aren’t you? Or is that just me being naïve?  Walk with our whistle blowers! Ungag

our government employees! Citizens revolt! (Oh I think I might have mentioned that before. Still.

Haven’t heard that expression since 1983. Fun, isn’t it?  

TOPIC - Hospital Horror stories

Well folks! What can I say? Eat healthily, exercise often and stay away from loose carpets, bicycles and steep stairs. Because the last place you want to be is in hospital! Especially if you live in Mid Staffordshire! Or anywhere else that tries to meet government targets! Here’s hoping that Coleraine Hospital ignores all financial targets, turns its back on solvency and instead chooses to spend loads of money on what it was designed to do, look after us! Our very own in-house expert, Jenny, informs us that nurses are good for you. Like birthdays, the more you have, the longer you live. (Yes. I liked that one too! All appreciative comments on good jokes welcome. Just press comments button now.) 

So are the managers to blame for poor service? Or maybe it’s the systems themselves. How on earth can off site managers have any meaningful insight into all the complexities of every day care? Do we expect too much of them? Is it time to bring in Gerry Robinson/Alex Polizzi or  even Wonderboy Jamie Oliver? Any one of them would tell us it’s time for a measure of investment, a spoonful of expertise and a large dose of common sense. Ok. So there are problems. La vie n’est pas toujours en rose in the NHS. Mais la vie n’est pas toujours en noir non plus.

But just like the farmers, the food producers, the supermarkets, just like everyone else, the NHS must take on the principals of integrity, accountability, responsibility. Maybe heads must roll in Mid Staffordshire too. And what are we, you and I, Mr and Mrs Ordinary, what are we doing to ensure our hospital staff remain accountable? We won’t be able to vote for our rights when we’re in the throws of a cardiac arrest. But now, when we’re well, when we can read, when we can write, when we can comment back on blogs (just press comment now), when we can lobby and speak out………….. maybe now there are things we can do to ensure we have done all we can to create the health service  we may one day be so grateful for. Did Cliodhna say something about a letter to sign? And Jerry mentioned a date for those local politicians, didn’t he? Time to act! Citizens Revolt! 

TOPIC - Hairy HorseMeat

What’s wrong with horsemeat? If horsemeat is no health hazard why with hold them from hospitals? (Yes. I liked all those ‘h’s too even with the whole with hold thing.) So we all love our little equine friends. Memories of My Little Pony, Black Beauty, Princess Anne. (All that show jumping I mean!!) But it isn’t really just about our affection for long legs, a fine rump and a good set of teeth, is it? Is it? Although …………..? I digress.

So if it’s not about the horsemeat then what else can we get all het up about? Well there’s the labelling of course. When you buy a beef casserole you’d expect there would be beef in it wouldn’t you? It’s all about what it says on the tin. We like that. What we don’t like is buying beef and getting horse or goat or cat or any other three-a-penny animals. Apologies to goat and/or cat lovers everywhere.

And then there’s talk of fraud and trades descriptions and lack of control and extended food chains and convenience food and supermarkets squeezing farmers (not in the Biblical sense) and over clever marketing and consumer power and consumers’ expectations and our unwillingness to pay a decent price for a decent product and……….. What a palaver! Everyone to blame and no-one to accept blame. ‘It’s all about the money, money, money’ as the song goes. But heads will roll, (tomato sauce /no mustard), many will be sausage meat and some will be well and truly fried. (Now there’s a few of you out there might just rise to the food allegory challenge. Just type in your food related jokes now and press the Comments button. I look forward to all your comments)

The one good thing to come out of all this horsey scandal is that the local butchers are re-emerging as beacons of integrity. And we consumers are finally starting to vote with our feet. The supermarket shelves are increasingly untouched. The buy-one-get-one-free products have lost their charm. Perhaps from this mist we will see the re-emergence of farmers’ co-ops and local markets. How good would that be? Local produce might start to have a chance. And maybe, just maybe we may all end up a little more aware of what we are eating and, consequently, a lot more healthy. At the end of the day we might thank those fraudulent horse traders for finally shaking up our food industry and restoring accountability and integrity to the food industry.     

Now all that remains to do is to defame those never ripe raspberries those ever bland bananas and those totally tasteless tomatoes……………….. Have I mentioned that my son-in-law rents out private allotments?  Cheap at half the price!

INTRODUCTION

Meeting  - 21 Feb 2013

So here we all are again. Comfy chairs, coffee and chat. Let’s while away this bitter winter afternoon venting our views on a varied agenda of hairy horsemeat, hospital horrors and feckless fracking. But first a few fixtures.

·         We are all readying ourselves for meeting our local councillors next month. Will they be ready for us? Now let me think……..……implications of local government reorganisation, planning, shared schooling…..……… they may be here a while!

 

·         And what will President Higgins think of us lot arriving down to the Dáil? Must brush up on my Seamus Heaney! Still I’ve got until May or June, or July….

·         Oh and of course we’ve set up this new blog. What will all our grandchildren think of that? Not that I’m saying we are just out to impress them!  Although it couldn’t do any harm could it? And well, a blog is just so ‘now’, isn’t it? Well, for the moment anyway. At the very least you won’t miss out on all the goss if it’s cold outside and you don’t want to miss Alan Titchmarsh. You just pick up the discussion online in the evening when Pointless is on. Anyway keep your comments coming. That’s where all the cráic is!

This is a little something I wrote by way of stimulus for a discussion on drone attacks. I hope you like it.

My name is Brett Bishop and I am a drone pilot with the American forces. I spend my days in a windowless container on a military base in the Nevada desert with my co-worker, Bart. Air conditioning ensures our container is at a constant temperature of 17 degrees. The door must not be opened. We sit in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. The computers hum while we work.

We fly drone aircraft all around the hotspots of the world and we watch. We watch people at work. We watch people at play. We watch people at weddings. We watch people bury their dead. From time to time we press a button and someone at the other side of the world dies.

In October 2006, I was directing a Predator drone over Chenegai in Bajur Agency, Pakistan. We were observing the headmaster of a madrassa, a religious school, who we suspected was training terrorists. The seminary where he was working was in a flat roofed building made of mud. We had been watching the building for approximately two hours when we received the order to fire.

Co-worker Bart pressed the button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser. The beam locked onto the target.  Years of training kicked in. I pressed the trigger on a joystick and the drone 10,000 kilometres across the world launched a Hellfire missile. There would be 16 seconds to impact.

An infrared camera attached to the drone took images which were transmitted by satellite to the trailer with a five second delay. We watched the monitors as the missile approached its target. Twelve seconds to impact. Eleven. Ten. The missile can be diverted at any time.

Previous to the launch we had been watching the premises. We had observed the students arriving. We were aware of the fact that there were children in the building.

There were four seconds to impact. Three. Two. One. Impact.

I found out the details later when I read about it online. Incidents are not reported in newspapers here. Eighty people died that day. Sixty seven of them were under 17 and one boy was 7 years of age. Three were 8, three were 9, one was 10, four were 11, four were 12……………………………………………………………

 When I heard what Adam Lanza did two months ago when he walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and murdered 20 seven year old children I thought to myself. 20? In the past six years I have pressed that trigger 300 times in a drone attack over Pakistan. There have been over 3000 casualties. 

 Adam Lanza was deranged. I just follow orders. They say we save lives.

Current Affairs Group January 2013

Introduction to the Current Affairs Group

When the oh so affable Jerry mentioned his current affairs group for the first time I thought, ‘well, why not?’ Current Affairs is our secret little vice here is Northern Ireland, don’t you think? Like eating chocolate. We know it’s not always good for us but we love it. With our foremost politicians never failing in their ability to let us down, the party game, to continue to promote the language of division and sectarianism, it can all be a frustrating business.  And the ones we can identify with, the ones who try and talk the language of consensus, democracy, human rights, normal everyday living, earning a crust, paying taxes, looking after the vulnerable? They have been so continually shoved out of line by the bully boys that we sometimes find it difficult to continue to find hope in their ability to convince.

So why bother going to a current affairs group then? More of, more of………. But then maybe it’s time someone like me, a reasonable, thinking, intelligent woman, maybe it’s time we, you and me, had a voice, an opinion to share. We have all shared a history of division, sectarianism, hatred, violence and worse still, apathy. Did we really let all that happen? Don’t we now deserve somewhere, somewhere safe enough, somewhere positive, somewhere where we could be expressive, creative, productive, somewhere that invites discussion, conversation, reasoning, reflection?

So what do we talk about then in our ‘Current Affairs’ group? Our ‘U3A’ Current Affairs Group? Maybe we’re not so sexy, so current as the Youth Forum or the Young People’s Media Forum or the Women’s Forum or any other forum we know of. But that’s ok. We can handle that. Well for a start it’s not all about ‘Norn Ireland’. Our Jerry, our oh so affable, sent us a list of topics in advance. Great! Bring it on!

FINAL Topic  - Who or what was 2012 a good year for? And who was it a bad year for?

Not much time but we came up with a few ideas.

Good year                                                       Bad year

The rich                                                           The poor

Our Rory                                                         David Cameron

The Paralympians                                           Eire

Amazon/Google/Starbucks                            Real shops

                                                                        Women in general (Malala, Indian gang rape)

                                                                        The economy

Happy New Year!