Month: September 2025

Assisted Dying is not the same as Suicide

Assisted Dying may be controversial for those uncomfortable with the realities of Death. But it’s not the same thing as suicide and anyone uncomfortable with that reality should not be influencing public policy

Whilst much of our attention has been focused elsewhere recently, the Assisted Dying Bill (Terminally Ill Adults [End of Life] Bill) has been making its way through The Lords. Attracting yet more criticism and bad feeling, in no small part due to former Prime Minister Theresa May equating the outcome with Suicide last week.

To say the issues underpinning the purpose of the Bill are proving to be massively controversial would be an understatement.

But the whole question is very complex even before beginning to consider the answer and mechanics of a solution. And this reality seems to yet again be being missed by many politicians by who really should know much better.

Sadly, for us, they don’t. And whilst the Bill could and should have been handled far better than it has by the current government, the different fear-driven arguments lining up against it risks thousands – and potentially even some of those who are arguing against it right now – finding themselves unable to access the relief that they need. For no better reason than the indulgence of the unfounded fears of those who probably never will.

The tricky part is Death

Perhaps one of the most difficult subjects for any of us to deal with in life, is the question of mortality and death.

Few of us find comfort with the certain reality that our bodies will eventually die.

We certainly don’t wish to contemplate the idea that we could find ourselves incapacitated one day.

And we really don’t feel comfortable considering the possibility of a situation ever existing where we would be unable to communicate with others at the time when wishing to find a peacefully assisted way out of life may in fact be the genuinely preferential choice.

It is much easier instead to assume that we would and could never want to end our own life and have reason to ask for help to do it. That this is something that would never happen to me. And that what life means to us today must be protected and held secure in any way that it possibly can be.

To be fair, this is a feeling shared by almost everyone who has no health problems; is perhaps younger than most, or who has no reason to believe that they could ever find themselves at a very difficult stage of life where death might be the preferable option.

A situation where they would be experiencing significant and potentially intolerable discomfort and pain, that may itself be beyond the scope of functional life if to continue means becoming dependent upon high levels of pain relief.

However, for those who have already found themselves staring their mortality in the eye, knowing that there’s unlikely to be anything good about their last hours, days and perhaps many weeks before they go, looking reality in the eye takes on a very different meaning.

As we consider what the outcome of this Bill really means for people other than ourselves, it’s important for us all to understand that the experience of dealing with an end of life that has now become expected and what that means to the patient can be just the same if not worse for very close family and loved ones – who will know what this kind of suffering means more than most thankfully could.

Assisted Dying and Suicide are only similar in so far as they both involve the choice to end your own life

The fact that we are culturally backwards when it comes to death, means that we fail to have or take part in the conversations and openness about what is essentially the last part of life.

We don’t discuss or consider the realities of death as we really should.

Therefore, we avoid looking more closely at what the process of dying for those who do go with the knowledge they are going to do so really means.

The prickliness this lack of discourse creates leaves many of us facing the ridiculous situation where we back off from friends and people we know with terminal illnesses and even cancer diagnoses; sometimes without even realising that we are avoiding the issues around mortality.

Issues that would make life a lot easier for everyone if we were more willing to embrace them as being normal.

That said, everyone should recognise that there is a very distinct difference between the circumstances where a person will have to contemplate the otherwise unthinkable need to alleviate pain and suffering by ending their life sooner than what will already be an early death, and the equally tragic but also all too often isolated and lonely circumstances that surround the question of Suicide for those who have reached or are reaching anything like the conclusion that they no longer wish to continue in their life.

Assisted Dying and Suicide are not the same thing

There is a significant difference between choosing to die by committing Suicide and choosing to die through a process of Assisted Dying.

People choose to end their life through Suicide because they find the prospect of continuing to remain alive in their body too painful to contemplate.

People would choose Assisted Dying, not because they want to die. But because remaining in their body has become too painful or difficult to continue being alive – and what we would likely all agree as being a realistic quality of life is therefore no longer possible.

Whilst some would argue that there is no difference between the two, or that the differences are too subtle to make any real difference, the reality is that the need for Assisted Dying is based upon the alleviation of pain and circumstances that are or will be created by our physical state. Whereas the wish to end life through Suicide reflects pain and circumstances that are ultimately created by our mental health – often by external factors and our relationship with them – that are outside of our control.

In the most basic terms, we are talking about the differences between physical and mental pain.

As Assisted Dying is about addressing physical pain, it seems only appropriate that this is dealt with as any other physical health issue would be – with specific policies and procedures to deal with it.

Being idealistic is great, until idealism meets practical reality

We are at least talking about Assisted Dying – even if there is a significant risk that those who are afraid of what will happen if the Bill becomes law are potentially being as inconsiderate to the few that really need this option, as those involved in the debate who may well have more sinister considerations in mind.

Suicide, on the other hand, is the silent tip of the wider mental health epidemic. Quietly swept under the carpet. Probably because just like the prospect of experiencing a natural death, which may be unbearably painful, very few of us believe that we could ever reach the level of desperation, where we might want to take our own life, simply because we no longer felt able to go on.

Where the picture can blur: Suicide and the Mental Health Epidemic

Regrettably, we are living in times where the boundaries of common sense and the values that underpin life have been deliberately blurred so that experiences and actions that are either different or motivated very differently can be argued as either being the same or resulting in the same thing.

People in genuine need of consideration and help are forgotten, whilst fashionable problems become the priority for all.

Whilst the realities that underpin Suicide and Assisted Dying can be defined between the escape from mental or physical pain, it must also be recognised that there is a potentially significant group of people who may feel more open to the idea of ending their lives, if they were to be able to engage in the process of Suicide with the assistance of someone else.

It’s easy for those looking on to scoff at this and therefore write off any such position as being whimsical. But for those who are thinking about the process of taking their own life methodically, the prospect of failing but making things worse for themselves is as real as the reality that others need help either to see things from a different perspective, or more likely changes to their circumstances which at that point feel well beyond their own control.

We should be under no illusion that those who have really reached the point where they cannot continue to live will find a way to make an exit.

The real selfishness that rumbles alongside the difficult subject of Suicide, isn’t the act on the part of the person who succeeds in taking their own life – no matter who or what circumstances they may leave behind.

The genuine selfishness surrounding Suicide is the lack of empathy and consideration on the part of others who cannot or will not conceive, just how desperate, lonely and hopeless a situation will have become for anyone, when they have concluded that the only solution for them is to take their own life.

Instead, many others make ‘their’ pain, about ‘me’.

It is an absolute tragedy that any person, no matter the circumstances, should find themselves considering Suicide as an option.

But the problem is very real, and anyone choosing to pretend that the questions this whole debate raises don’t matter, because it’s not something that normal people deal with every day, is simply deluding both themselves and anyone they are making decisions about life on behalf of.

According to The Samaritans, there were 5656 Suicides in 2023 (Which included a rise of 372 from the year before), whilst the Financial Times recently reported that after 10 years of the Bill being implemented, the number of Assisted Deaths would have then reached 4559 per year.

Meanwhile, the ONS tells us that in 2024 there were 568,613 deaths in England & Wales, meaning that in today’s terms, we are talking about at least 1% of deaths each year for Suicide and Assisted Dying (More than 2% or 2 deaths in every 100), which feels like a lot of people to be trying to escape life or death level pain, who are currently being overlooked.

Assisted Suicide is something different, again

Opening up the meaning of Assisted Dying so that it is considered to be the same as Assisted Suicide could indeed be a significant problem. If the appropriate safeguards are not in place.

However, the circumstances should never exist where Assisted Suicide becomes a problem. Provided that an adequate system of checks and balances are put in place that prevent any situation from coming into existence where death could arguably become a lifestyle choice. Thereby effectively legalising the death of ‘unwanted’ people at the hands of others who get away with murder. Because the establishment has helpfully allowed circumstances to exist where this terrible act can be given a different meaning by using an alternative name.

However, shutting down those possibilities does not address the reality that there are a lot of very unhappy people across the UK.

People whose lives could be improved massively if those responsible for public policy and direction were doing their jobs properly.  

And there are a lot more suffering with these problems than any of our politicians might openly like to think.

The mental health epidemic being experienced by people like you and I across the UK is very real indeed, with well-known Mental Health Charity Mind suggesting that 1 in 4 of us in the UK will experience a mental health issue of some kind each year, with 1 in 6 of us experiencing a more common Mental Health issue like anxiety or depression each week.

Regrettably, as with most things where politicians and influencers are getting so wrong about the lives they are supposed to be improving, you really do have to have experienced a mental health problem or had your life touched by someone experiencing one to even begin understanding how very real the impact on functional life for the sufferer and those around them can be.

It is horrid to have to consider that once any person has stepped into the living tragedy that is the mental health epidemic, there is very little available to help those suffering to find a cure, beyond management of the condition itself.

Unfortunately, many of the causes of the wider mental health problem and indeed the absence of the types of support and the environments that create real happiness stem from the massively unsustainable, money and material orientated and valueless lives that we are now leading and that we are encouraged to live.

It is a situation that is itself dehumanizing the way that we approach everything and is therefore making our interpretation of such difficult issues as Assisted Dying and Suicide considerably worse.

The role of fear for those making decisions for us who are themselves completely unaffected

Our political system is failing us through the selection and appointment of so-called leaders who cannot lead, who we know today as politicians.

Lack of good leadership and public representation has become so problematic and embedded across society that it has become difficult to comprehend just how far the rot has spread throughout the public sector and our entire system of governance.

Regrettably, poor leaders, who don’t have the qualities and abilities necessary to lead, are as likely to indulge their own fears whilst identifying them as being those of everyone, as they are to being led in any direction that they are advised by whoever they might choose to listen to or be influenced by at any time.

Yes, there are very good reasons why no sanctioned or legalized form of death that involves the assistance of anyone else should simply not be allowed.

However, this is the 21st century. We do not exist in times where a system of checks and balances would be difficult to put in place and maintain.

If any good government were to consider the facts and mechanics of how the genuine need for a pain-free or comfortable death for those who are already known to be terminally ill and have rapidly reducing or arguably no remaining quality of life, a properly considered and fully consulted process should be more than possible.

However, it would need to be conducted without the emotion and the irrationality that is running rampant through the corridors of power at this time.

We would then surely be able to create and implement a system that would work for everyone, providing all the assurances necessary, whilst managing what are the relatively small figures of people who need Assisted Dying as an option in real terms, so that they can make the choice.

It is unacceptable that we have people who have been elected to represent us and therefore make meaningful and fully considered decisions upon our behalf, who do not have sufficient self-awareness to be able to discern that they are considering only their own views and experiences.

Nobody should be enabled to consider their own view to be qualified and therefore more reliable than that of others, purely because of the position that they have attained, and nothing more.

The Depopulation Agenda

Perhaps the most destructive element of the Assisted Dying debate entering public discourse, is the growing fear that the whole Bill has been introduced as some kind of trojan horse; rolled into the legislative agenda with the intention of facilitating a Depopulation plan of the kind that has been mentioned by a number of different speakers linked either to the worlds elites or world-government-obsessed organisations such as the WEF.

Sadly, experience suggests that both the last Conservative as well as the current Labour Governments have pursued agendas that have zero alignment with the public good.

Decisions made and policies enacted are massively out of touch with reality and common sense.

They appear to have either been built upon the ignorance and ineptitude of the politicians themselves; because they are having their strings pulled by someone else, or both.

Regrettably, the fact remains that in terms of the things that politicians have and are doing that harm us and have the potential to harm us even more in the future, there are much bigger and much more real issues that we are choosing to ignore that are already affecting us and our lives today. Issues that are themselves laying the groundwork for sinister levels of societal control that make clear there really is no need for politicians to use such obvious tools as this Bill to achieve such aims – if that’s what they intend.

The fear that a growing number have of the establishment and all those who seem to have been able to maintain unquestionable levels of societal control, is very real to those who feel it.

But this fear could quickly be addressed if we were to all stop going along with the information meal that we keep getting served; take back our own power and begin taking steps to make every decision that relates to our lives, our communities and our environment, for ourselves.

Done properly, Assisted Dying would not be open to abuse by the State or anyone else

Were the process of putting a policy for Assisted Dying together conducted properly and with the resources, time and impartiality that it should be – given that as things stand, we are arguably kinder to our pets than we are to other people when it comes to the practicalities of dealing with a physical need for euthanasia, there is no reason to doubt that the necessary safeguards and protections could be put in place to ensure that no circumstances could exist where assisted suicide – whether voluntary or involuntary – could take place. Even in cases of dementia or other forms of mental incapacity where the sufferer had not themselves given reasoned and appropriate consent.

Regrettably, whether the Bill currently working its way through the Legislative system was as well intended as it arguably should have been or not, the reality is that like most things this political class touches, it is anything and everything else that sits beyond the real purpose and outcomes for the genuine beneficiaries of a successful process, that seem to be getting prioritised first.

Useful Contacts:

If you have been affected by any of the issues that have been discussed in this Essay, and are not already in touch with them, you can reach The Samaritans on the phone by calling 116 123 or Mind by calling 0300 102 1234.

Without Legalising Assisted Suicide & the Right to Die, it is an uncomfortable truth that we are kinder to our animals than we are to other human beings
It’s the question of safeguards over Assisted Dying that are the real problem. Not having the option of an early death as a reasoned voluntary choice
Our Local Future | FULL TEXT

 

 

Assisted Dying is not Suicide PDF_Vers1_24Sep25Download

We Need a New Constitution for The United Kingdom

And we need a completely new Establishment to run and deliver everything too

Your politics, religion, ideas, background, age, education or anything else that has, can or will be used to divide us, does not matter when it comes to recognising that for every one of us, there are parts of life that simply don’t work in the UK, anymore.

Whether we are being affected and impacted directly, or the problems we recognise are just something happening to other people or different communities that we can somehow see, we all know that things aren’t working as they should. And the horrible truth is that for some of us, nothing is working at all.

We could go down the rabbit hole of trying to identify, apportion blame and then demand that politicians and government change whatever we identify as needing to be changed. Or, that they step aside so that they can be replaced by whoever we believe will do whatever it is that they either cannot or are choosing not to do.

Indeed, many are doing just that, and already expect that all it will take is just a change in government. So that we have ‘the right people’ in charge.

It’s a nice idea and it’s appealing to many of us. Because this pathway also leaves the real work, commitment and doing whatever it will take to enact change, to someone else.

Unfortunately, we’ve been here before. And very recently too.

In fact, many of us genuinely believed that the downward chaos of all the Conservative governments between 2010 and 2014, which was aided and abetted by the Liberal Democrats between 2010 and 2015, would unquestionably be stopped by the election of Keir Starmer and The Labour Party in July 2024. Because Labour was supposedly offering something new and would know what to do, or in any case could never possibly be as bad as what we already had, could they…

It took just a few months to prove the point that the power of our vote can have consequences that are completely out of our control.

Whilst some seem prepared to make the very same mistakes all over again, the reality is that as things stand today, we can no longer trust anything that politicians promise or offer us as part of an election manifesto. Because they are without fail behaving the same as all the politicians we have ever known and will inevitably go on and do whatever they want to do once they hold the power, we trusted them with.

And once they are elected, they will do whatever they want to whilst telling us that it’s in our best interests, knowing there is nothing that we can do about it democratically until the time of the next election comes around, when we will hopefully by then have forgotten whatever they have done which might then be years before.

Whether we voted or not, millions of us made the mistake of electing yet another group of politicians who are out of touch with real life; are motivated by all the wrong things and above all, have no real control over the apparatus of government and the legislative devices that should be at their disposal. Either because they are too frightened; are being very badly advised or misled; are out of their depth and really have no idea what they are doing and what they could do; or a mixture of them all.

This page is not here to make excuses for this government, the Sunak government or indeed any one of many governments before them both that have harboured and given favour to the wrong politicians and what decades of poor, absent and self-serving non-leadership has given us, whilst we are somehow always the ones who are getting everything wrong.

This page is here to make clear that politicians and the political class that we have today, right across the tiers of government in the UK, are just a part of a much bigger problem. And they are the only part of problem that we cannot otherwise see.

If we need a divorce, we go to a lawyer. If we need our car fixed, we go to a mechanic. If we want and extension built, we go to a builder. If we want a load of bread, we go to a baker. If we want a beer we go to a brewer. But for decades, we have gone to the Polling Stations on election day and chosen who we vote for from a list of candidates that only Political Parties have offered up.

Specialist professionals and tradespeople like these that provide goods and services that we genuinely need, learn a very specific craft. And they get better at what they do, because they spend all their working time doing just that.

Yet when it comes to everything to do with government, governance and how every kind of public service and are systems of rules and regulations are managed and designed across the UK, we currently leave strategy, planning and everything important in the hands of a few people who are always there to represent what they Political Party wants first. So-called politicians who cannot possibly know or understand every part of life they are making decisions upon, and certainly don’t have the leadership skills, experience or awareness to listen, consider and then act appropriately on our behalf, only after referencing all the people that they really should be, whilst being sure that they are being impartial and working in the best interests of everyone at all times, too.

Anyone with a platform, the words and a great speaking voice can sound like a leader. But leadership is about the actions that genuine leaders take and in the case of politics, the actions they take when none of us are either looking or able to see what they are doing; where they are doing it and who they are doing it (for or) with.

In other words, to lead any Country properly, it takes integrity, purpose and a commitment to public service before Party or anything else.

The evidence from what we can see today, tells us that no politician or would be leader in the public eye has this purpose, spirit or a level of integrity that we can put our trust in that in power, they will always do the right thing – even when it might require that they step up and do some very difficult and perhaps unpopular things.

We can all see that genuine leadership and integrity don’t exist within UK politics today.

Unfortunately, both have been absent for so long that the whole system has been so corrupted and become self-serving that it must be completely replaced.

The system is so established with the way it works and operates that it continues appearing to function. Whilst the reality is that in whichever direction we turn and begin to look, every part of it is either dysfunctional or going completely wrong.

The illusion of effectiveness is only held in place by the reality that like everyone else, our politicians have fallen into the trap of believing that every problem can be solved with money. And that if politicians have enough public money available to spend, every problem for them can be addressed. No matter the problems their inability to lead and acts of avoidance using that money will and have meant that we and people in every UK community subsequently face as a direct result of their ineptitude and what they have(n’t) done.

This isn’t a problem that can be fixed with politics or politicians who are just about the politics.

Because politics has become all about the politics and who’s in charge of the political process. Rather than being anything to do with results, outcomes or whatever gets done.

Politics is now the biggest distraction of them all when it comes to the change and scale of change that we need. Because the way that elections and the electoral cycle work mean that we really are just going around in circles, whilst everything gets worse, and we keep waiting for the merry go round to come full circle so that the whole problematic rotation can begin all over again.

Our Local Future | FULL TEXT
The Grassroots Manifesto | Full Text
An Economy for the Common Good | Full Text
Manifesto for a Good Dictator | Full Text
Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE | Full Text
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government | Full Text
The Makeshift Manifesto | Full Text
We Need a New Constitution for The UK PDF_Vers1_17Sep25Download

Beliefs we accept as our own are destroying everything, including who we really are

Being right does not automatically make anyone else wrong; even when you have the loudest voice

The Penny appears to finally be dropping amongst the masses that power does not necessarily mean virtue. And it’s certainly no guaranteed of integrity either.

Meanwhile, for the powerful, reality is also now dawning that position, influence and how loud they may be in public (or how many people hear them) doesn’t mean that they can do anything they want and that the power they seem to have will automatically make anything they do right.

The problem is, belief that position and being seen to have won the argument, got the result or controlled the narrative – often with words, deeds and actions that are morally apprehensible when it comes to political power, have not only convinced the political classes that ‘do as I say, not as I do’ is baked in.

Politicians really have reached the point where they believe they are right, no matter the consequences or real human cost from whatever they do or what they say.

All because they are the ones deciding what’s right and what’s wrong.

Wrong things shape our beliefs and make them feel right

It’s not only a problem that public policy that isn’t really about the public at all is damaging lives, people, communities, the environment around us and the businesses that we need to survive and thrive.

The fact that sanitised but nonetheless tyrannical behaviour is coming at us constantly through every channel and digital stream that most of us regrettably consider to be credible sources, mean that many people are becoming conditioned with the belief that behaviour that is reflective of what our so-called leaders are doing is not only correct, but good for one and all.

The Dehumanisation of Life through remote-controlled Techno-Tyranny

Regrettably, there is an urgent need for us all to recognise that the dehumanised way of life that is progressively taking over with each and every step taken towards the Tech and AI Takeover, where it seems that every need possible can be met through the tap of a finger on our phones, is feeding into the nightmarish version of an increasingly dystopian life and living environment for us all.

It’s sucking up lies from each direction, whilst simultaneously convincing us that we still have freedom and choice.

We’ve lost sight of the very principles and values that equip us to function, communicate and interact with other human beings face-to-face. All within a rapid, dehumanising transformation process, that is currently succeeding in convincing otherwise very sensible people that the only guides and directives necessary for a successful life come from a smart phone or online.

What is more, the whole process has already began removing and questioning ‘common sense’, taking everything in life backwards.

We find grown adults fighting over whether the basic tenets of life are either wrong, right, open to interpretation or that taking what should be obvious as read and thereby offending somebody over what only they might ever believe is itself enough to justify ruining the other persons life.

We are the sum of our experiences

It really doesn’t matter who we are. One thing that we can almost certainly be sure that we have in common, is that if you or I were to stop and reflect upon our current view of the world; what everything means and how we see it; we would both be right.

We would both be right, because as individuals that’s what all the experiences up until this moment have taught every one of us. Even when our experiences may have been harmful to us, been incorrect (because of what others have done) or because for whatever reason, they are basically skewed.

Experience is cumulative too. Whilst none of us may wish to admit that the understanding we have of anything can only be as much as layer-deep, or that we have only reached a certain level of knowledge about anything; such limitation of understanding can therefore mean that what we believe to be right isn’t completely right.

It can certainly be very disconcerting to reckon with the reality that reaching GCSE, then A-level, then degree level, then masters level, then doctorate level in the same very specific subject may well mean that whilst we may have a very good and correct subjective view; in objective terms, even then, as an ‘expert’ or with even a recognised level of qualification, we are still a very long way from getting it right.

Misplaced confidence based on our beliefs being ‘who we are’, when our beliefs come from those who influence us

Recognising the value that we give to others when they have been awarded academic qualifications is one thing.

Then there is also the phenomena which is the way that we give credibility to others simply because they have a role (like politicians or public officers) and most alarming today, to influencers (which can mean many things), based on nothing more than the reality that they have a platform of some kind, where the number of people watching, following, liking or subscribing gives them credibility that reaches beyond all other things.

Oddly, when anyone speaking or even writing doesn’t appear to have one or more of these status anchors, we seem to consider whatever they are sharing to not have the same legitimacy. No matter the content of what they say. And if what they say contradicts our own message and belief system in some way, there is all too often the chance that we will simply assume that whatever they offer has no value and that they are therefore ‘wrong’.

Misplaced confidence based on our beliefs being ‘who we are’, when our beliefs come from the establishment, religion and the shibboleths they impose

Perhaps more difficult to consider and accept is the role and influence that what we might otherwise call cultural or societal norms have on our beliefs and therefore behaviour. Because we can all too easily believe that these are just the things that ‘normal’ people do.

How we behave in public. How we consider some behaviour and actions to be acceptable whilst others are not. How we consider right and wrong. How we look up or look down upon others – in ways that would be called prejudices in any other terms. Increasingly how we stop and question actions and behaviours that we had previously not given a second thought to because we considered them to be normal, but now we stop and feel guilty because we thought them.

These are all based upon the belief systems that are set, adapted and increasingly forced into our lives by the organisations that we recognise as being the establishment. And for some more than others, from our religions which can become the most important source or framework for our behaviours and what we expect for ourselves and from others across our lives.

Whilst we must recognise that some of the rules and social codes that have come from our system of governance and our religions can be very good for us and for everyone in very specific contexts, we also need to understand, accept and therefore recognise that many of the rules and social cues that we live by were or have been created as forms of social control.

They have been created and are used to foster and promote fear of something that is apparently outside of our control, so that what we do have control over can in turn then be restricted and therefore controlled by someone else.

For instance, there is no need to question the existence of a God, Source, universal force or whatever we may each choose to call the focus of what we might ultimately believe in, to recognise that words and interpretations can change each time they are passed on.

We must recognise that ultimately, to further the scope, reach, influence and power of religions, the people who benefit from being in control of those religions have created compelling stories and interpretations of those stories and what they may or may not require of us. All based upon material that has itself been passed on potentially many times, each time by another person who was never actually there at the time whenever the chain of these stories first began or could be witnessed firsthand.

Genuine, voluntary and uncoerced faith in the system and faith in a religion can be the same or should be the same. In that they are most powerful, most compelling and most beneficial to us and to others, when they are left to us all to recognise what we believe to be true and in turn to then apply our understanding of everything in terms of what we know to be wrong or to be right.

There is no system in existence that seeks to control or compel others coercively that is also unquestionably right or correct

Doing anything because someone with authority or because a book says so isn’t voluntary belief or choice.

It is dogmatic servitude that excuses itself by insisting that slavish adherence to whatever it teaches, automatically makes it right – even when it is very clearly wrong.

We are indeed fortunate that what we might call the societal operating system of British Culture is based upon the secularisation that the evolution of a Christian system has allowed to develop, that was itself probably only possible because of The Reformation and the otherwise questionable parts of the reign of King Henry VIII.

However, the freedom of thought and expression that becoming unshackled from the Church has ultimately brought has also made us massively vulnerable to anyone who understands how narratives, group thinking and the tools that media offers can be used to introduce and make us subservient to contrary systems of belief.

Indeed, alien beliefs that run contrary that everything our society has been built on have been progressively introduced and are reshaping societal beliefs, leading to people questioning their own common sense, whilst others simply accept philosophies and agendas that are ultimately not offering anything that is good for anyone and least of all you or me.

Fear is today being used to disproportionately exaggerate societal problems, in ways that have created the risk that those problems may quickly become even bigger problems that we would never otherwise have experienced.

Whilst learning to stop, count to ten and then think about what is being said, who is saying it, why they are saying it and what is really happening would help every one of us to uncover the truths that are good for us all to believe.

Finding and creating beliefs that we can trust

There exists no person, no government, no establishment and no religion that has the right to insist that either you or I believe whatever they say or require of us, without question.

Such expectation is an abuse of the rights of whoever they are victimising or making a victim of. Whether that victim is aware or sees their relationship as being that of a victim under an oppressor or not.

This is not a question of those with responsibility hiding information from those under their care that would otherwise be harmful to them.

This is about those with responsibility for others abusing the trust that others have given and that has been assumed from anyone who is vulnerable and then either ignorantly or deliberately misusing that trust to abuse they very people they are there to protect from such abuse.

We are in troubling times

Regrettably, few institutions now exist where integrity can be assured from the actions, behaviour and decisions from anyone that we don’t personally know and have no good reason to belief that they are and always will be as good as their word.

The digitisation and mission creep of the online world has exacerbated this greatly and made the overall process of dehumanising everything progressively worse.

The reality we must face is that if we want to own our own beliefs and develop them using reliable and trustworthy sources, we can and must only use face-to-face relationships and the benefits of the social interactions that remain open and available to us without accessing anything that is only available to us online.

The only relationship that matters is the one that’s right in front of us

For all the benefits that we may be able to agree upon, the latest forms of digital technology and artificial intelligence are also introducing a much bigger and malevolent dark side into the world as we know it.

Almost every system that has and is being introduced into daily life for you and me, is either already or soon will be used as a tool of control.

And these tools can and only will work as effectively as they do, because we believe that what they bring or give to us is good for us in ways that make us forget or overlook the freedoms they have replaced and ultimately the non-financial price that we pay.

Yes, AI for medicine, AI for diagnostics, AI for workplace safety and purposes like these are and will always be good uses. Especially so when they are not about profit but about improving life and therefore the common good.

But AI in any form that appears to make life easier, quicker, or that replaces the need for us or any person to do anything are not and will not be good for anyone other than those who profit from it.

The AI and Tech-takeover really doesn’t offer the whole of humanity anything that any of us need in day-to-day life. But it is set to take away a massive amount from us that we do.

Of all the beliefs that we have been conditioned to have, the belief that whatever is outside of us is better than us and that it reduces our value in any way, is the worst one possible for any of us to have.

When we interact properly with others and use all of the senses and skills that we have to communicate and to read, listen to and understand communication in the circumstances that can and only will ever be offered through real one-to-ones, we will soon begin to remember or realise that these are some of the very best sources of learning – and therefore belief development that any of us could ever have.

Once you become a number, it won’t matter what you believe

Relationships – that’s real relationships, with real people, in real life, really matter.

Once all those relationships have been lost and we no longer have the ability to interact normally beyond familial or friend-based relationships in person and everything else is done without people with names online, our opinions, what makes us happy, what makes us healthy and what is actually good for us will no longer matter. Because the humanity in relationships and therefore the values that make us human will have successfully been cast aside.

The most concerning aspect of the process and steps that are now taking us towards this destination is just how quick and therefore soon we will arrive there.

Whilst most of us still don’t even question what we have unknowingly given up and that has been taken from us, because we have accepted the belief that what has been given to us or that we have often actually paid money for has been good or even better for us in some way.

Thinking for yourself isn’t about being right. It’s all about thinking the right way

Whilst we may not have used this term here until now, critical thinking is the key for all of us to unlocking the door to the pathway that leads to understanding what everything in life is all about.

Critical thinking isn’t just the magical formula that gives us back the power to define our own belief system.

Critical thinking is the golden gift that enables us to recognise and understand the value of all the experiences that have made us and therefore to self-define who we are, and who we will be.

A certain truth that we would all benefit from learning, understanding and living is that none of us are right or will be right until the time that we recognise we are all right and that being right is just the next step in learning what else is right, until we all agree that right is exactly the same thing.

Our Local Future | FULL TEXT
Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words | Full Text
People need jobs more than AI and the Tech Revolution
The greatest benefit of AI today will be a new dark age of stupidity and ignorance that our surrender to it will bring
Just like AI, the tools, actions, rules and infrastructure of tomorrow will be good or bad for us depending upon who and what is in control
Do you believe that AI is about ‘Progress’? Think Profit. Think Greed. Then Think again.
Wrong Beliefs Wrong Everything PDF_Vers1_16Sep25Download

New Names, Old Games

Talking about and thinking about narratives isn’t just important today. It’s essential if you are to arm yourself with the truth and ultimately stand any chance of not being driven completely mad.

Unfortunately, the reasons that make critical thinking necessary, as we absorb and digest any of the information that constantly flows towards us, usually through the digital devices that we carry, are not just as simple as working out the credibility of sources, identifying the truth, or filtering out the rampant levels of views and opinion which have regrettably become the bigger part of the content of all news.

It is increasingly necessary to identify where names and the nomenclature or branding of ideas, approaches, systems and even recognisable activities have been deliberately changed with the intention to confuse. Usually to create the misleading idea, in our minds, that somebody is doing something or selling something to us that is completely new or specialised beyond our comprehension. Just so that they can gain advantage over us until such time as we have worked it all out.

Regrettably, the establishment – that’s government, the public sector and all the big businesses and money organisations that are actually running things – has reached the point where they change the names of everything, either to make more money or benefit themselves, or increasingly to give the impression they have stopped or moved away from doing anything that has been publicly outed as being wrong. But for whatever reason that’s important to them, they intend to keep on doing it anyway and believe they need to nothing more to cover it up than change the name.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Whilst it would be foolish not to acknowledge the power for good that some forms of digital technology and artificial intelligence have – in the right hands and when being used for the right reasons, the way that so many of us have taken the coming technical or AI revolution as read, and seem to have just accepted that many will no longer have jobs as a result, does illustrate the danger that we have become to both ourselves and to our own future. All because we don’t ask questions and simply accept whatever we are being told to believe – usually because it’s come from the voice of someone remote who we don’t even know!

The rather inconvenient truth that all those creating new terminology for whatever they control, are trying to control or attempting to regain control of; is that there isn’t much going on that’s genuinely new, as we consider life in the aspect of 360 degrees around us.

It is just made to look and feel that way.

Indeed, most of us would quickly grasp this, if we were to refuse to just accept the sales pitch and ask what they are selling us, what it will do and how it works.

This approach is applicable to method as well as to machine.

We would all be wise to take time to consider everything that touches our lives in some way, in terms of the pathways that bring it to us, how it works, who benefits and why those interests have brought them to us as and when they have.

Some would say ‘Oh it’s obvious!’

But is it really? And has it ever been?

Magic only works on us, when we don’t understand whatever is happening

Sadly, many of us are all too happy to accept the premise that what we don’t know can’t hurt us.

We accept that names, memes, keywords, industry terms and abbreviations mean that whoever is using them knows things that we do not. Usually making those people more knowledgeable and therefore powerful than we are, with a somewhat strange accompanying surrender to the misplaced idea that we should simply shut up.

Exploding the very dangerous myth about people who are considered to be experts and specialists, often in ways that are taken to mean they have universal understanding of everything, when they most often have been doing just one job; have studied more about the subject than us, and have been given a qualification by someone else who is actually just like them, is now becoming essential.

Not just to stop ourselves from being played like complete fools. But because the idiocy and self-aggrandisement that blankets so many of the people in positions of power, influence, control and that we therefore revere, are hiding behind the façade of terms we don’t understand, just to benefit themselves whilst all the time creating a very unhappy and unhealthy world that for us, that is never really going to work in our favour for as long as people like this have influence and control.

Dishonesty is regrettably rampant throughout everything that the establishment now does. Not necessarily because everyone within the establishment is dishonest. But because the way that normal people like you and I are being exploited, manipulated and used, so that those doing these things can benefit in some way, is simply now accepted as being the ‘normal’ way things work and therefore as being the done thing, for everyone.

Using and abusing others at any level is not ok. And as we find ourselves transiting a tumultuous period of inevitable change, one of the things that we should all be striving for to experience in whatever new world awaits us on the other side, is that lying, manipulation and the abuse of any person for any reason by another, just so that the abuser can become advantaged in some way, should be outlawed and treated as the horrible crime that it really is.

The Choice – A Waking Up Story | Full Text
Our Local Future | FULL TEXT
Playing on Fears: The self-fulfilling prophecies of today’s False Prophets will be the worst outcome from everything that’s already wrong
When the smallest truth becomes the biggest lie and we become the collateral damage sandwiched in between
New Names Old Games PDF_Vers1_7Sep25Download

People need jobs more than AI and the Tech Revolution

Everyone’s ability to work and be financially secure is vital to humanity, whereas accepting an unnecessary AI and Tech-Takeover that nobody genuinely needs will ultimately only benefit the few

The narrative now dictating to us that the Tech and AI Takeover is inevitable is tiring. Not least of all, because the whole idea that progress can and will only go one way is a myth.

Indeed, the myth that the AI and Tech Takeover is now inevitable serves only those who stand to benefit from everything being pushed this one, very specific and wholly unnecessary way.

Granted, many of us do feel that once technology has arrived and it is in our lives, there is no choice but to accept whatever the implications and outcomes of its arrival might be. Even when for increasing numbers of us it is beginning to become frighteningly clear that we and everything that we know may be about to be affected in some disastrous, life-changing way.

However, you may want to ask yourself, ‘Is this tech takeover, and what is going to change a voluntary choice that I am making?’

Did you consciously agree with the direction everything that touches your life digitally is now going?

Did you agree to changes that may quickly lead to you or people you know having no work or hope of ever getting another job?

Did you knowingly allow the parallel, digital universe and the role of arbitrary judgements about you and everything you are, do or can be, to walk in and begin the process of taking over each and every part of your life through the clever use of man-made codes which have been called algorithms?

So many of us fall into the trap of going along with the idea that jobs we know of today will no longer be required or even exist within perhaps just a matter of months because we are told that it represents progress and that the changes that the introduction of new AI-based technologies across life will be better for us all.

But when the narratives and words of politicians, tech gurus and influencers say all or everyone, just exactly who are they really referring to?

Are you going to benefit and in what way?

Are those benefits real, or are they just distractions that appear to make the very small and seemingly meaningless things that we do every day much easier?

Are those benefits really meaningful and long-lasting, or do they cover up how the small wins everything outside of us tells us we need actually covering up the real, long-term losses in our lives that unless we quickly wake up, we will never be able to replace?

Regrettably, few of us are even thinking about the impact and consequences of the changes that we have accepted for the simple reason that everything we have seen and experienced so far, whether it’s the way we shop, are able to access so much through apps or online, or are able to access whatever we believe we want in mere moments online, leaves us with the idea that AI and anything related to digital tech can and will only ever be good for us.

But what was wrong with the way things were two years ago; five years ago, or ten years ago, where the tech that we had in our lives or that we had access to was concerned?

Didn’t life work just as well, and perhaps in some ways that may seem unrelated even better then?

Have computers, smartphones and digital tech really benefitted our lives in the ways that we are led to believe? Or have they actually disadvantaged us and changed our lives in ways that make us very unhappy and create what for some are unmentionable problems, in so many other ways?

Technology and technological improvement or progress is a phenomenon that we must begin looking at in relation to ourselves, the people we care about and those who we have real face to face contact with, regularly within our communities; You know – people living in the real world that is OFFLINE!

Do we actually need a world where we and those people around us do not have jobs and cannot work, because a machine or different software systems can now do all the things that every person does at work, or once did?

Do those people who don’t have jobs really benefit from no longer having work?

Is the best use of AI and new technology to replace us? Or the best use of AI and new technology to assist us?

Surely there can be no doubt that the world around us would be a much better place to live and experience if everyone who can work, does work; and that in return for doing a full weeks work, they in turn receive enough money or remuneration of whatever kind to ensure that they can cover the cost or be able to secure all the basic essentials that give them independence, rather than a situation now evolving where the masses look like they are soon to be left behind.

Where is the drive really coming from for jobs to be lost and make it all seem necessary?

Who benefits from it appearing to be a foregone conclusion that ending jobs and mass redundancy is not a choice that is any of ours to decide?

What we can be sure of is it will not ultimately be people like you and me.

Technology and the advancement of technology and AI is like everything right across life that is being driven by the quest for greater and continuing profits, and the wealth, control, power and influence that quickly follows behind.

We don’t see it because we aren’t supposed to and that’s why what’s really changing underneath what we can see is actually leaving us, our communities and our humanity behind.

The choices being made about the way that new technology is being rolled out and used are not being made in the best interests of the masses. Because if they were, they would not be threatening to take away jobs and resulting in outcomes like the destruction of communities and to lives that it will bring.

If the purposes driving AI and new Tech were genuinely about improving life for all, the changes underway would not be beginning to impact us all negatively, just so that business owners, tech owners and those that benefit can elevate themselves in every way, whilst their actions and choices begin to leave everyday normal people like you and I behind.

Yes, the idea that all jobs, tasks and requirements could be met by machines, software and automation will sound appealing if it means that everyone can do and have whatever they might want without ever having to do a day’s work or lift a finger in effort, ever again.

But just how real do you or anyone that you know believe that idea to be?

Do you really think that the tech companies and those who control AI and digital technology are working day and night at an incredible pace to create a utopia where we all do nothing, pay for nothing, are given everything for free and have whatever we want in our lives without paying for it or working for it?

Wouldn’t we be seeing and experiencing signs of this great giveaway already, if they really were on the altruistic pathway to greatest giveaway to everyone else ever known?

The answer is that whoever and whatever is controlling all of this only has the benefits to themselves in mind. Or they would be happy for AI, for tech and the advancements that are available to be used only to improve life and working conditions for everyone, rather than them being imposed at the head of a revolution, deliberately hidden in plain sight, that is apparently set to leave the majority of the people across the world behind.

The narrative about the role of AI is a myth and the creation of a prophecy that can and will only become true, because we believe the narratives and respond to them as if they were already true. Not Because they are actually real and the AI takeover is as complex or on its imminent way to sentience or being genuinely all-knowing in any way.

The irony is that if we continue to believe the hype; continue to be fooled into thinking AI can and will do all we are being told it will, simply because we have been blindsided by the speed that it works and what we have seen it do so far, we will walk into an elephant trap where the masses will have made themselves irrelevant and we will soon be of no use to those who are controlling all of this and believe it is their right to exploit everything and the lives of all others, if it will help them to achieve whatever they want to do.

The advances in digital technology and Artificial Intelligence are just another step in a long-term process of centralisation and power transfer by design, where the power and Personal Sovereignty that all human beings should have the right to enjoy, has slowly but surely been stolen, but with our manufactured consent.

Our independence and personal power have been progressively eroded and transferred to organisations and people who have no idea who we are, what we do and know nothing about the communities and places where we live.

Yet they now find themselves on the cusp of being able to control every part of our lives and existence through the removal of our independence, making life dependent upon them and their system, which can and will only be able to exist because we have failed to question and reject the idea that this all represents progress for humanity.

Without change, the creation of a mass sub-class of people who can do nothing more than exist – if it is indeed possible for them to continue to do so – is now inevitable and the only way our subservience to this system and what it is dictating can take us.

To be clear, the AI Takeover and technology revolution that we are being conditioned to expect is not necessary. It is not legitimate at any level or in any way.

Technology and innovation should always be used to benefit the whole of mankind. Not just those who create it, own it, regulate it or pay for it, with money they would never have even had, if they had not first corrupted and manipulated the monetary and economic systems of the world so that it would appear to have legitimately gifted them everything that they now have.

Life and what it should offer every person was never meant to be this way.

Power over us all was never meant to be concentrated within the hands of just a few.

Centralisation, remoteness and the dehumanisation of every process and function that maintains and provides for life was never meant to be funnelled into the hands of others. People who will soon have the ability to choose whether other people live or die, based on using the digital chains that our own eagerness to have more of everything has unwittingly enabled them to wrap around a lot more than just our wrists.

Walking away from a system that puts money and the technology that enables it first, as the absolute priority before the masses of people is key to creating a different future. A good future for all, where everyone once again has the opportunity to be free, to be independent and to enjoy fulfilling the functions necessary to create and maintain a genuinely good life. All the time working together and collaborating only with those strictly necessary within our communities to provide everything that is essential for life in a real, localised world where everyone and everything can be trusted, because it can always be seen.

Simplicity of life; simplicity of governance; simplicity of business models and structures; simplicity of money and the systems that only administer it are key to improving every part of life and creating the equitable experiences and opportunities that only real justice, fairness and balance in everything can provide.

Yes, the technology we have certainly has its place.

But the place of tech is to help humanity; not replace it.

People need jobs more than anyone needs a Tech Takeover. Because we all need to function in the world; to contribute to it and to what we all need from each other collectively in some way, and then in return receive whatever we need that will at the very least meet all of our essential and basic needs, so that we can function and support those we care about without ever having to seek or become reliant upon help.

We must reject the use of AI, Tech and the takeover of real life by the digital universe.

We need to get back to basics with the prioritisation of businesses and business structures that are essential to life being sustainable and maintained locally.

Businesses that employ people need to be sized in such ways that mean everyone in every community has work to do and a contribution to make within a system where everyone who can work does work and receives everything they need to be functionally independent and therefore able to meet all their own needs.

Imagine the 21st century equivalent of the village green, where every essential and basic need for members of the community is met by small businesses dedicated to meeting just the needs of the people that everyone knows and meets face to face, pretty much each and every day.

Businesses that are and only ever will be big enough to provide services and goods to the people they serve as specialists in whatever it is that they do. So that customers always have the best experience possible for them to have, and the business itself prioritises just those needs and pays all of the staff and its working shareholders fairly and justly, ensuring that retail prices will never exceed an affordable relationship with what everything genuinely costs.

This scenario is not only possible. It has now become necessary, if we want to enjoy lives that are built around values and care for everyone, for our communities and the environment that supports us. Rather than pursuing a desperate path to make life and everything we ever do about whatever material wealth, possessions and power that we have.

Money, profit and everything that prompts and promotes the greed that underpins it are the real reasons for centralisation and the transfer of control.

There is no humane reason for any person to become impoverished by the implementation of any form of technology that isn’t being used purely for the benefit of humanity or the public good.

Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words | Full Text
Our Local Future | FULL TEXT
Do you believe that AI is about ‘Progress’? Think Profit. Think Greed. Then Think again.
Just like AI, the tools, actions, rules and infrastructure of tomorrow will be good or bad for us depending upon who and what is in control
People need Jobs more than AI and the Tech Revolution PDF_Vers1_1Sep25Download