Might Less Government Improve Mental Health?

Mental illness is much more a problem today

Than it was in the past, and it seems here to stay;

The age range has steadily lowered until

Even young children now start to feel ill;

The reason might be we’re now much more controlled

Than was the case for most people of old,

When families were left to get on with their lives

Unhampered by time-wasting new government drives’

Form-filling, paperwork, endless demands

Pass almost daily through citizens’ hands,

As officials ensure that they cannot but know

Big brother is watching wherever they go;

Things might improve if the government spied less,

For all this surveillance increases their stress,

And stress  is well-known to affect mental health,

Quite unrelated to level of wealth.

No to Named Persons

Holyrood is very keen to give each child a spy

Who’d be there from time of birth as childhood years pass by,

Listening to idle talk and making endless notes

Recording every thoughtless word a hapless infant quotes.           

Reporting things they do not like within the children’s homes

So that after eighteen years their files may run to tomes.

Taking if they feel that something is not right,

Even though it may be wrong just purely in their sight,

For many taking up the job may well be rather strange,

But with a liking to control all those within their range.

But it is obvious how this scheme would harm all children’s lives,

Destroying all the privacy on which each family thrives.

Parents will be frightened to speak freely in the home,

In fear of any thoughtless word which from their mouth might roam.

For though each family’s different in their approach and ways

Most children can look back in joy upon their childhood days,

Where there was security in an atmosphere of trust,

Which if this scheme is introduced will quickly turn to dust.

Of course some children are abused and help should be at hand,

But not by such intrusion in all households in the land.

An Alternative

Exams are quite important, as certificates thus gained

Ensure that certain standards are continually maintained;

But while they are an asset and are useful as a rule,

Many famous people have spent little time in school;

But though their years of formal study did not last too long,

Their thirst for gaining knowledge was unquestionably strong;

They had enquiring minds and liked to think and puzzle out

How things worked and what the world around them was about;

Not all jobs are open to those lacking a degree,

And several extra years may be at university,

But many people would be better served if they were led

To get a job and learn the skills they needed there instead.

Affirmative Action

“Affirmative action” - it sounds very nice,

But it’s something that definitely comes at a price;

It assumes that some people are not very good,

And therefore to help them, all colleges should

Lower their standards, so they can get in;

To at least some minorities, this is akin

To singling them out, with a firm view that veers

To saying they aren’t quite as bright as their peers;

And of course if employers become well aware

That standards were lowered, so they could get there,

They won’t want to hire them, if others apply,

Who didn’t need help with  exams to get by;

Their qualifications will come to be seen,

As worth a lot less than they might well have been

If they hadn’t had help just because of their race,

But through their own efforts achieved a high place;

Solutions must be Found

When will politicians learn

They need to look till they discern

A way to stop these vile attacks,

Which mean no person can relax,

Even when they go to church;

Our leaders must increase their search

To find solutions so that we,

From fear of violence can be free.

For it’s a government’s job to keep

Their people safe, with not a bleep

When bombs go off, or other crimes

Disturb what should be peaceful times.

The Labour Party has Problems

The Labour Party currently is in a dreadful mess,

Not helped by all its latest news appearing in the press,

So everyone is well aware how much they disagree,

With all the bitter arguments laid out for all to see.

The numerous resignations by MPs right at the top,

Which Jeremy as leader found impossible to stop;

The snide remarks abounding that are music to the ears

Of Tory politicians, hoping they’ll go on for years;

The obvious lack of loyalty shown by those who’d never thought

That Jeremy would win the vote, however hard he fought.

They felt the £3 members would refuse requests for more,

But even with an eight-fold rise, they still came through the door.

At present Jezza’s at the head, with nothing much behind,

And with the current membership, he’ll very likely find

That he’ll remain the leader, but with little left to lead,

As many of his MPs cannot tolerate his creed

Old Friendships

It isn’t right to ditch old friends as soon as someone new

Appears and seems to offer more than those old friendships do,

Forgetting that old friendships that have been around for years,

Sharing all the joys of life, and also all the tears,

Have proved their worth in steadfastness, and presence when in need,        

Showing they aren’t fly-by-nights, but solid friends indeed.

But there are people who will drop their old friends if they feel

A new friend offers something more exciting and more real;

But often that new friendship is short-lived and quickly dies,

And they are left regretting just how swift was its demise,

They turn to their old friendships, but by then they may be gone,

For having been rejected, they have possibly moved on.

The same is true of countries, who go after newer friends,

If this means that with other states their long-time friendship ends

For if the new friend fades away, and is their friend no more,

They may not still be wanted by the friends they had before

Summer Idyll

A bright sunny day with a hint of a breeze,

With no sound of traffic, just humming of bees

As they call on each flower gaily showing its face

And spreading the scent which pervades the whole place.

A sure sign that summer’s appeared at long last,

And cold dismal weather belongs in the past;

It’s time to enjoy the warm sun once again,

Before it’s replaced by the frosts and the rain.

Modifying DNA

Sometimes defects can’t be known

Until a person’s fully grown;

So when altering DNA

No scientist can truly say

Everything is fine until

Many have been through the mill,

And when they died at eighty plus,

It seemed there was no need to fuss

About affects in all those who

Received components that were new.

But until then one must beware

Of dangers that could well be there;

For testing things on rats and mice

Which is the usual advice,

Doesn’t every time produce,

Exact results for human use.

Intense Heat in Summer

The sun beats down on all not in the shade;

There’s nothing in its path it won’t invade,

And make it hot. sometimes too hot to touch,

Especially things like metals, wood and such.

The ground becomes too hot for human feet;

The bricks of walls absorb the burning heat,

And in the night continue on their way

Of sending forth the heat there stored by day.

The roads may melt, and trains have problems too,

Both of which may be entirely due

To temperatures much higher than the norm,

Till they’re brought down by a summer storm.

Fake Coups

It’s not unknown for rulers in some lands to engineer

Attempted coups to show that they have every right to fear

The dissidents and others who are lurking everywhere,

Waiting very patiently until the time they dare

To suddenly arise and try to oust the people’s choice,

Putting in a new man who will represent their voice.

But not all coups are real ones, and among the ones that fail

Some are merely fake ones, so the government can derail

Any thoughts of changes to the leader of the day,

Giving them the chance to put all dissidents away,

Rounding up opponents, and all others in their sights

Who might be merely working for just basic human rights.

Searching very thoroughly amongst their detailed files,

Arresting tens of thousands and with most perfunctory trials

Finding they are guilty, maybe executing some

And ensuring all the others aren’t around for years to come,

Silencing the press and forcing bloggers off the net,

Trying to keep hidden views they haven’t seen to vet.

A fake coup can be useful in consolidating power,

With the current leader being the hero of the hour.

The Need for a National Youth Movement

Children need a focus in their lives, to help avoid their minds being led astray;

Something that will occupy their time, and help ensure temptation’s kept at bay;

Activities to fill the many hours, both after school and during holidays,

Something to look forward to each day, and maybe sometimes set their hearts ablaze;

Showing there’s a life where gangs and crime are not essential to provide a role,

Showing there are other things to do, and other paths and views they can extol.

Of course it would be costly to set up, but if results were looked at over time,

It might be money that would be well spent, if it produced a lowering of crime,

Together with young people filled with hope, and skills to take along to adult life,

Instead of languishing in sink estates, where drugs and crime are currently so rife.

Planes in the Night

I love to watch the plans at night

Till they vanish out of sight;

Through the darkness they all fly,

Their lights atwinkle in the sky;

They pass a dozen times an hour,

A potent sign of modern power,

Transporting people everywhere,

Rich and poor, they all are there.

Coups

Another country has a coup,

Which really isn’t something new,

And no-one should look on aghast

If they have had them in the past.

In many places it’s the rule,

A coup is seen as rather cool;

Elections never bring a change,

So colonels frequently arrange,

Often while he is abroad

To oust the presidential horde.

They may then govern for a while

In normal military style,

Until they feel that they’re compelled

To say elections should be held,

And then the people can elect,

The man the army chiefs select.

Dictators often tend to stay

Forever if they have their way;

And it’s usually true of course

The army is the only force

With any hope they can achieve

The aim to make the leader  leave..

So they plot a coup they hope

Will be successful, giving scope

To take control and once again,

Install more sympathetic men.

But if it fails they can expect

Retribution to take effect.

Hoverflies

They never stop within their flight

To land and give a nasty bite,

Or for a single second pause

To leave some germs where they can cause

Some nasty illness, as is the case

With the common housefly race.

They simply come when it is warm

And in a rather obvious swarm,

And landing on the pavement lie,

Till tramped on by passers-by.

Causes of Crime

And while in places this is true, it isn’t all the time;

Many people who are poor are honest as the day,

And thoughts of turning criminal just never come their way;

They don’t indulge in violence and would never start a fight;

Despite their lack of money they can tell what’s wrong from right;

Their principles ensure that they live lives beyond reproach,

Where anti-social acts are not permitted to encroach;

And there are many wealthy men, including billionaires,

Who feel the right to steal and cheat is definitely theirs;

They pay their staff low wages, while they cream off all the cash,

By varied and intricate schemes, to build a bigger cache;

Their wealth grows bigger every year as lawyers all ensure

No-one can prove they are but crooks, who often rob the poor.

The wealthy can be violent too, as often has been shown,

And beating up their rivals even now is not unknown;

It isn’t poverty that drives the rich man on to steal,

He doesn’t need the money to provide a needed meal;

Nor does it make him violent, with a temper which is short,

Threatening all the people who within his world are caught.

Men are rarely drawn to crime through any actual need,

But due to lack of principles and self-control and greed.

An Aim

Each day of our lives we should make it our aim

To do something different, instead of the same;

So learn some new facts and increase what we know,

So  helping our bundle of knowledge to grow;

Do a good deed and thus help make the world

A place where kind acts every day are unfurled;

Visit a place that you think you’ll adore

But haven’t been able to visit before;

Join a new group, with the chance that you’ll meet

People from further afield than your street;

Be slightly artistic, create something new,

Written or painted, to mention just two;

Pay compliments freely and make people feel

The idea of goodness is very much real;

Think always of something to make all your days,

Special and different in large or small ways.

A World of Change

We live in a world that is changing quite fast,

Where little if anything’s certain to last;

Once vibrant industries now have closed down,

Leaving quite desolate many a town;

Political systems have crashed to the ground,

Which once were assumed would be always around;

Old customs have vanished, replaced by some new,

Remembered in time by no more than a few;

Alliances change, and the friends of today,

May be looking tomorrow a quite different way;

Many trades of the past now no longer exist,

And obsolete skills form a very long list;

Life’s pace is increasing, and time is so short,

And many are finding they lack the support

Of a world which is stable, where changes are few,

And they don’t have to constantly cope with things new.

Will the EU Change?

Will we leave the EU?   Or will the EU change?

To some at first those questions might well seem a little strange,

But there are many countries who aren’t happy any more

With where the EU’s going and just what there is in store.

The French, the Dutch, Hungarians now feel they’d like   to see

A different type of outcome to the one proposed to be;

The Danes, the Swedes and Austrians all think that too much power

Is being devolved from nations to the mighty Brussels tower;

The Poles as well aren’t happy as they realise it is clear

The prospect of an EU state could easily be near;

Italians also have their doubts about the a super state,

And if that were to come about, just what would be their fate.

So there are movements for reform, and halting Brussels’ race

To see that these arrangements will continue on apace;

It could be that they all will work to change the EU’s goal

Remembering it was once about just trade in steel and coal;

And focus on a trading bloc, which most would like to see,     

With all the members closely linked, but leaving them still free.

Rain in July

Faced with yet more pouring rain,

It’s “brollies up” yet once again;

Even though we’re in July

It seems there’s not a day goes by

Without at least a few small drops,

While other days it hardly stops.

By that of course I do not mean

That there’s no sunshine in between,

But rain quite often just appears,

Comes pelting down and then it clears;

But that’s enough to soak you through

From hair right down to squelching shoe.

When going out, make sure that you

Always take your brolly too

Uncertain Futures

What lies in the future, we none of us know,

Or where our own lives are for certain to go;

We all can make plans, but there’s no guarantee

That what we’ve envisioned is what we will see,

Especially at times when the world is awash

With changes that all far too quickly can squash

The plans one has made, and require that one make

Completely new plans for the path one will take.        

The best one can do is prepare to be faced

With a world that is changing, rather than based

On one which is stable and always the same,

And make being adaptable part of one’s aim.

All Women

On Wednesday all the papers say,

Our new PM’s Theresa May;

With all the others left the race,

She’s the only one in place

To take the reins without a vote,

Become the captain of the boat.

And when that happens there will be

A most unusual group of three,

With Nicola at Scotland’s helm,

And Arlene in the Ulster realm.

All it needs is just one more,

And then there’d be a group of four,

Which could happen should Welsh Leanne

Lead all against the Labour clan.

Then history really would be made,

And politics would be less staid,

With all the UK women-led;

Is that something that could spread?

Dark Streets

The streets of central London are well-lit throughout the night,

So those with bad intentions can’t with ease stay out of sight;

There may be some dark corners they can hide in for a while,

But staying out of sight for long would take an expert’s guile;

And then there are the cameras taking pictures all the time,

Ready with their images of nearly every crime.

But out of central London often streets are badly lit

With lengthy spaces spanning where the lonely lamp-posts sit.

The pavements are in darkness, and it’s very hard to see

The face of any person who’s attempting there to flee.

Of course there are no cameras looking down from every wall;

In fact it’s highly likely there’s no camera there at all.

Though streets without good lighting can be safely walked as well,

There’s always just a tiny thought that one can never tell,

For there are spaces everywhere that criminals can hide,

And one is glad to reach the door and safely step inside.

Untruthful Politicians

I briefly read the papers and surprise, surprise, surprise,

Another politician has been caught out telling lies;

They really must be silly if they think that they can feed

A constant stream of fiction to the public and succeed

In making them believe it, when the journalists can check

If they were the captain or a lowly hand on deck.

So many make themselves appear much bigger than they are,

Claiming that in former life they really did go far,

Even if the truth is that their progress there was small,

And they had almost no responsibilities at all.

Others top their learning with degrees of every kind,

Even though they mostly are just figments in their mind.

And then there are the ones who seem they never are averse

To stating something is a fact, then later the reverse,

At one time they could get away with telling blatant lies,

But now they can’t hide major things from journalistic eyes.

When checking is so easy, it is really quite bizarre

A politician should tell fibs to make himself a star.

It makes one wonder if they are as bright as they proclaim.

Or if the truth is nearer to inadequate and lame.

The Changing Length of Days

The longest day has now been passed,

And evening light from now will last

For less and less time every day

As slowly dark nights make their way

Towards the shortest day each year,

Which in December will appear.

And after that it all will then

Begin its changes once again,

With there being every day more light,

Together with a shorter night.

Work Gets in the Way

There’s so much more that I could do if work weren’t in the way;

I’d have three times as many hours for hobbies every day;

For doing things like writing, reading books or landscape art,

Going swimming, hiking or to concerts for a start;

Singing, taking photos, cooking different types of food;

The list is really endless, for there’s so much to include.

Going out on day trips, to museums, and to plays –

There’d never be a shortage of new things to fill my days;

But everything costs money, and so work must have a place,

And hobbies and activities must have a smaller space.

Imagine Another Ice Age

Imagine another ice age, like the one in the recent past,

Which started very quickly and ended just as fast.

Within the length of a decade, the climate turned bitterly cold,

And people just had memories of the warmer weather of old.

Ice and snow abounded as the mercury plummeted down,

And people died in their thousands in every village and town.

The crops were unable to ripen in the worst of the ice age years,

Bringing mass starvation to add to the people’s fears.

No-one knows what caused it, though a volcano made it worse,

And many people alive then thought the earth was under a curse.

Then suddenly the climate changed to what we have today,

But there’s no guarantee how long it will remain this way.

Letters are Safer

It’s nice getting letters with up-to-date news

The latest in gossip, the writer’s own views

On subjects to interest to you and to them,

The paragraphs littered with many a gem.

It’s so much more private than email as well,

For no-one can hack into letters and tell

The world what’s been said in a private exchange

Where views being expressed may conceivably range

From the highly provocative through to mundane,

The logically argued to slightly insane.

So it’s better to write if one really prefers

The contents stay private, no leaking occurs.

It's Important to Stay Healthy

It’s very important to say fit and healthy,

More vital in life than to seek to be wealthy,

For illness can go a long way to destroy

The pleasures of things one would hope to enjoy.

So one should take care to look after one’s health

Before the objective of gaining great wealth;

Then one can enjoy life with all that it brings,

The greatest events or the simplest of things.

A Woman for Prime Minister

This may be the year when the time has now come

To end seeing women as just slightly dumb,

And instead look around for a feminine hand

To stand at the tiller and govern the land.

For women are often more careful than men

In thinking things through, and especially when

Much is not clear and it’s quite hard to know

Where the results of decisions might go.

Women more often are used to the role

On keeping a focus on more than one goal.

They’ve had to be strong, with a grip on affairs,

For a chance to be leader to ever be theirs,

For people still judge them more harshly than men,

Quoting all failures again and again.

Women in general tend to be clam,

Realising anger can often cause harm.

They don’t tend to shout and to say “Look at me”,

And constantly scheme to be top of the tree.

But under the quietness you’ll frequently find,

Ability linked with a razor sharp mind.

So maybe a women might be the right one

To lead us all forward and see things get done.

All babies have Someone who wants Them

There’s someone out there with a welcome in store

For every new baby not wanted before;

For though to some mothers a child means despair,

If one looks around there’ll be someone out there

Who’d love a new baby, and see all its charms,

And welcome it gladly straight into their arms.

Relaxing in the Garden in Summer

A glass of wine and a riveting book,

The sight of flowers wherever you look;

The twitter of birds as they hop around - 

Always a more than welcome sound;

The hum of bees among the flowers –

So much a part of summer hours;

A seat located in the shade,

With a rug or cushions overlaid;

Various scents which waft through the air,

Making you very much aware

Of the beauty of perfumes out-of-doors,

Whose presence makes you stop and pause;

A feeling of peace, so rare today,

That you might hope is there to stay.