I’ve been otherwise engaged for over 13 months now with little or no time for anything photographic or blogospheric but I’m keen to get back into what was my ‘norm’.

A period of absence is not a bad thing for any practitioner, whatever their field but this period has been obfuscated by the shenanigans of dare I say it Brexit and the polarisation of our society that seems to be spiralling downwards into a very very dark and sinister space. There are many socially based projects that will no doubt be documented by photographers up and down the country as the charade of playing to the apparent majority is played out.

Several things piss me off and I’ve had plenty of time to think about this stuff as I go about doing work that is not the norm for me. I’ve seen some very nasty social media listings of late full of hate and vitriol but here is my list of things that really irritate me;

• Non-payment of taxes that are due leaving public services short of the funding to support the less advantaged in our society – equally as abhorrent in SMEs as in multi-nationals
• The affront by those far right thinkers that decry any challenge by the centre or centre-left to the legitimacy of the outcome of an advisory referendum
• The facile and shallow arguments that Europe is all about take and control
• The approach being taken by outsourced Home Office agents to deny and decry the right to remain as investing citizens or contributors to our country and the economy those who have been here for many years and have paid their dues unlike the charlatans who default on paying their dues but were by accident born to parents whose right to be here was not and cannot be challenged
• The lack of any form of moral backbone in ministers who would rather secure a slot in history and an safe income for life than consider the best outcomes for this country and the its future generations
• Oh, and finally, Gutenberg – thankfully, backwards re-integration is now possible to the Classic editor in WordPress

As you can see, nothing at all about photography but a wealth of subject matter that taxes(sic) my brain and might result in a visual project of some form or other.

On the point of taxes, I don’t like paying any more than I should do but the relative impunity with which individuals can masquerade behind company law and avoid paying the fair share irritates me beyond belief. Sadly, I think this is part of the divide and conquer aspect of our ruling party and the sooner we get back to a moderated form of government, maybe a coalition again the better for us all.

Not many people are around now who had to endure the horrors of  WW2 but I am old enough to remember the fact that I arrived on the scene shortly after rationing was lifted and air raid shelters and old bomb sites were considered playgrounds.  It irritates me beyond belief that some people who never experienced those horrors chant the the line ‘ We won the war’. Yes we did and yes Germany did invade Poland 80 years ago but all of that is history  and if we cannot learn from history then what point the sacrifices that were made by so many and all sides of the conflict?

Food was basic but honest and god forbid we ever go back to half-day closing or just meat and two veg but I suspect we are in for a tougher ride than any gung-ho right wing rhetoric will have us believe.

What I cannot get my head around is why so few of those leavers who remain believe that 40 odd years of integration and freedom of movement is going to be magically sorted out as the clock ticks over to the inevitable leaving date and remove the freedoms that they have enjoyed whilst condemning their offspring and others of a younger generation to endure none of the benefits they had. I suppose it is a bit like further education being free to those in the 70s and yet those who enjoyed that benefit have denied it to others. 

I just don’t get it.

Yes, I’m back.