Curry smells heavenly

Honestly, it does.

When presented with racism that equates pervasive food smells to just one race of people.

I find my mind is full of rants.

Until I come to put pen to paper and then it all seems so absurd I can only write the words.

Curry smells heavenly.

Tongue in cheek dating

As there is so much to sadden around at the moment I thought I'd share this piece of free art I found online, I suspect it will resonate with some of you.

Not my own work

The wrong example

British people have an increasing habit of looking at America as a shining example of how they want to live.

Indeed there is a lot in the country to be admired and it has spawned many great men and women too numerous to count.

But news of the latest gun violence in Texas reminds me why I am more reticent in blindly running after an American example.

Banning hand guns in this country may have been one of the wisest political moves we made in modern times.

It is high time America found the strength to act collectively on their gun laws.

All of us stand to gain in a world where gun ownership is more restrictive.

Peeking out of the pit

In a dizzying world where sex pests can get on in life without an eyebrow raised for years and Catalonian democrats face prison at the insistence that all is still democratic.

You would be forgiven for giving up.

But take heart.

The painfully low minimum wage has been raised in Britain to a level most people would consider a bit more liveable.

Fights remain, but clearly progress on this one.

Knock back a seasonal beverage and have a listen to this.

Catalonian fractured beauty

Illness and sadness have a funny way of halting the lyrical muse.

Brexit is painfully negotiated and years of agreements initially inspired to cement European peace are squabbled over by some politicians in a way to shame even the most head strong.

Trump turns American politics into a heartbreaking farce that sees a man given power who wields it seemingly only to self aggrandise.

And so it is the turn of Catalonia to raise it's head and fight about what politics is really about, the freedom to democratically define our own futures.

I have never known what it is like to be a Catalan, but there is a strength of purpose always having given it a strong voice within Spain.

And so their leader in Exile looks to me a little bit like an older Democrat fighting for something bigger than themselves in a time when Brexit and Trump have made us knowing and disillusioned.

Catalonia seems to be saying in a mass of ballot boxes, a quieter and humbler yes we can be bigger than our times.

Yes, democracy does mean something.

They are at the turning point of something uncertain to us all.