Authors Electric

As it is the day of the general election in the UK. I've written a lighthearted poem of outlandish promises candidates might claim they will deliver if elected. It is complete nonsense, any policies I've included are completely spurious and any resemblance to actual politicians is completely unintentional. Here are your five candidates - who would you vote for? Vote for me, vote for me I promise chocolate cake for tea, Overflowing lemonade All is free, expenses paid. Vote for me and you will see The future’s bright We’ve got it made.   “Cast your vote for me” she says “Just put a cross beside my name Not all the parties are the same We all find scapegoats we can blame. My policies? Oh, this and that Tax cuts pulled out of my magic hat How could you not vote for that?” A vote for me will save the world I’ll make the sun shine every day* (*Except for Christmas - we’ll have snow) The world will be a happy place Here, have a sticker, with a smiley face. ...

I was looking for something to repost this month - way too much real-life going on at the moment with both parents incapacitated in various ways and a big birthday (and party) coming up in the next couple of weeks. I first posted this blog below in December 2016 and it struck me how little really has changed. Plus  ça  change and all that, but 2026 is scarily close now in early 2024 ... 2016. A year of change. I wonder when they look back on 2016 in the years and decades to come, whether they will say that 2016 was the turning point, the pivotal moment when the world reached some kind of critical mass? I say they because I’ll be 53 in January and while I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon, this isn’t my world anymore – this world belongs to my daughter and her generation, to make the best of as they see fit with whatever legacy we’ve left them. Brexit and the US elections. Neither gave the result that was expected and both, I think, made people sit up and realise ...

In a former life (well, that's what it feels like now) I worked in Child Mental Health, specialising in play therapy with traumatised children. I did all the training, read all the books - but all that learning came down to one thing: it was the relationship between the child and the therapist that did the work. And so the most effective thing I could bring to the work was myself. I don't need to go into the soul-searching and supervision that went into all that. But it meant that I had to be acutely aware of events and feelings in my own life that I might bring into a session, in order to understand whatever the child might bring. I was pondering on this last week - as we geared ourselves up for the election and then dealt with the aftermath. Every day I sat down at my laptop and forced myself to write a word or two - having deleted that twaddle that I'd forced myself to write the day before.  I knew the drama of the election was in the way - and normally I'd be a...