Welfare Rights Bill 2011

I got a letter from the DWP today telling me that if the Welfare Rights Bill 2011 is ratified, then I will get no support from the state from April 2012 until I've eaten through the monies I'd saved for my retirement.

My condition is degenerative so I won't get any better.

I have applied for over 1000 jobs in the 2 years, 7 months since I was made redundant. I've had four interviews in this time, two of which couldn't even me bothered to inform me I didn't get the job. A close second place resulted in the feedback that my previous employer had been under-utilising my skills and that I should be applying for jobs in the £40 to £45k mark. Not many of those jobs about in good times, let alone now. Applying for lesser jobs results in no interview due to being over-qualified!

In short, I have a broken spine, qualifications, experience, dedication to job hunting (I've even applied for jobs the same day as having been in hospital with needles in my spine!), have studied throughout life, put money away for retirement, and whittled away my youth working like a dog only to find myself on the scrap heap at 47, treated like a dole bludging scum bag and left to rot. Well, thank-you very much Mr. Cameron. 

Syria

Oh Syria! The crimes of your security forces do not occur within the shadows of a blackened veil of evil. The world is watching. Those that love freedom will not remain silent, nor ignore the fire storm being unleashed upon your people. Do your rulers love power so much that they would stand on piles of rotting corpses to hold on to it? Shame on you for your "Yes"!


Russia, why do you put your Cold War hang-over ahead over what is morally right? Shame on you for taking the role of apologist!


Iran, you, of all people, should understand the fields of the dead. Shame on you for your support of more of them.


And shame on any of us standing by, mute to the blood spatters and to the wails of the grieving!

Seasonal Blues, Reds or Golds Anyone?

The turn of the seasonal clock toward winter gives me mixed emotions.

Shortening days mean the onset of SAD and a greater challenge in resisting my chronic depression, especially in the darkened cold of January and February. Conversely, there are many simple pleasures: the reddening leaves in October, November's breathlessly crunchy days, Christmas Carols in December and skeletal trees highlighted by lichens and mosses by winter's end.

The onset of Autumn means home grown veggies and jewel hued flowers. I couldn't resist buying a bouquet of butter yellow sunflowers from Waitrose this week, nor the deep pink Asters from M&S. Looking at them makes me feel like I've fallen face first into an artist's paint palette. Their effect is made all the more striking by my placing them in deeply coloured and clashing pottery vases.

From Blogger Pictures

Thinking of those home grown vegetables reminds me of the calorific joys of home-made winter stews made in that most scary of kitchen equipment, the pressure cooker. These are not properly served without a basket of crunchy bread nor of chilly, empty cats wrapped around my ankles as I release the lid. 

Ah, but then my loathing of icy pavements thick with grubby snow raises it's ugly head and makes me want to hibernate 'til Spring. Am I part bear? At times I think so; in temperament if not appearance. Still, at least this last has a rationale in that I'm terrified of landing butt first and doing my dodgy back further damage.

I must finish on a pleasure. My fur friend Nutmeg's shared disgust of the cold means I have toasty toes at night as she curls up under my duvet with me. I could do without her habit of bringing her supper with her though... cat spitty biscuits are as comfy as toast crumbs in the bed!

Building a Better World

Not for the first time, I find myself wishing that the BBC would make their Real Player content available world wide so that all my friends could watch this week's episode of Songs of Praise. As might be expected, it was a commemorative of 9/11 (for one week only : Songs of Praise)

At one point, two young girls talk about their friendship, one Christian, one Muslim. They live in Birmingham, UK and met through a group called The Feast Factor that seeks to promote community cohesion between Christian and Muslim young people.What they have to say about each other and how they have found their differences made for a more interesting and stronger friendship is truly inspiring and very moving (The Feast)

They were followed by the Birmingham Community Gospel Choir (Birmingham Community Gospel Choir) singing one of my favourite country music songs, "Love can Build a Bridge" :

"I'd gladly walk across the desert

With no shoes upon my feet

To share with you the last bite of bread I had to eat

I would swim back to save you

In your sea of broken dreams

When all your hopes are sinking

Let me show you what love means

Love can build a Bridge

Between your heart and mine

Love can build a Bridge

Don't you think it's time?

Don't you think it's time?

I would whisper love so loudly

Every heart could understand

That love and only love

Can join the tribes of man

I would give my heart's desire

So that you might see

The first step is to realize

That it all begins with you and me

Love can build a Bridge

Between your heart and mine

Love can build a Bridge

Don't you think it's time?

Oh, don't you think it's time?

When we stand together

It's our finest hour

We can do anything, anything

Anything, anything

Keep believin' in the power

Love can build a Bridge

Between your heart and mine

Love can build a Bridge

Don't you think it's time?

Don't you think it's time?"

I would also recommend reading Bishop Alan Wilson's blog entry for today : Forgiveness and Healing.

Exercise Exciting???

I had an appointment at the physiotherapist today. I was expecting a bit of bending, exercises and a flea in the ear for not doing enough since my first visit (is it possible to kick your own butt?). Instead, I had one of the most interesting two hour conversations I've had for a while. Yes, I know, quite a statement when you consider how I do love to talk!

There are many changes under way within the NHS, some of which give me great concern, but I am loving recent moves to offer more community-based self-help courses with a multi-disciplinary approach. Prior to my back exploding, I practised Iyengar or Sivananda yoga most days. I was banned by my surgeon and osteopath for year before they both declared they'd made a mistake as I'd stiffened up somewhat (no sh*t Sherlock!). I have struggled since to get back into it even though I know my body and mind love it.

This past couple of months has finally seen me getting some practical help in dealing with my back, depression, and singular inability to get flexing. One Talking Therapy course later and I'm booked on to another that fuses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with meditation, visualisation, and breathing techniques taken from Eastern medical traditions. Today my physiotherapist is referring me to another that fuses traditional physiotherapy with CBT. The first is to help me maintain my recovering depressive state and the later to encourage me to manage my own pain better.

These therapies are no fluffy, pseudo-science based nonsense but soundly based on recent scientific studies that support what Yogis, Tai Chi and Qi Gong folk have understood for centuries. Namely that the mind has a profound effect on the biochemistry of one's body. My degree is in Life Sciences so I love 'getting under the bonnet' so to speak and anticipate seeing myself as my own experiment.

Watch this space as I grumble about the 'no pain, no gain' involved in these courses!


My physiotherapist has made several reference recommendations that I thought I would share :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0671033972/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0980358809/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A14N8KU5L9NGDX
http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/
http://www.britishpainsociety.org/

New Definitions

I was watching the BBC News this evening when I noted a new definition of the word "Freedom" (or, maybe, "Democracy") arising from the Libyan "Arab Spring". Namely, the ability to write rude messages on a public wall in nail varnish without penalty.

Britain's Riots.

There's a police shooting incident. A protest march is arranged before the facts are known. A minority start trouble on the streets of London. What happens next is shocking to the 'average Joe'. Violence flames, seemingly at random, across central London and soon spreads to other major cities throughout the United Kingdom.

I watch the news, sickened, appalled and ranting. Not at the pictures however, but at the sound of the apologists talking about 'poverty' and 'boredom' and about young people being left without hope. In fact, if I hear one more excuse for those who have left their homes with the express intent of going on the rob "for a laugh" and I think I will projectile vomit!

Shop owners are not 'rich' and if you were truly poor, you'd be stealing food, basic clothing, and the materials needed to build your own shelter. Are you living in a third world style ghetto with buildings made of corrugated tin and cardboard? Are you living with open sewers passing by your front door? Do you have to pick over a rubbish heap looking for things you can sell in order to buy a handful of rice? No? Well, then you are not poor nor 'hard done by'.

As you watch your stolen television, do you see people living under such conditions taking apart their own communities because they are bored and without hope? No, what you see are people working as many hours a day that they can with the aim of lifting themselves out of the gutter.

The violence we have been seeing over the last few days is criminal and motivated by greed. It is the result of a society that has married materialism to a lack of personal responsibility. That people are capable of being surprised by it is the most shocking thing of all.

No, 'they' won't be able to claim on 'their' insurance as that does not cover damage caused by civil unrest. So, the net effect of your greed is simply to reduce your own environment still further. What are you going to do when there's nothing left to destroy?

How do we 'mend' Britain? Perhaps if the powers that be reassured parents, schools, and adults in general that instilling the notion that poor behaviour has consequences won't lead to them being treated as if they'd committed a mass human rights violation would be a damn good start?

The Unpopular Tourist

Many, many years ago, in my teens, we had a family holiday in Portugal. My father hired a local to take us out for the day. He teased my younger brother all day, making 'donkey ears' at him and at many of the black-clad women we passed as we drove through teeny villages with even teenier roads.

Amongst other places, he took us to a modern church to show us the guarded tomb of one of Portugal's great and good (we never did find out who). Upon leaving, our driver collapsed in tears of laughter over the bonnet of his car. One by one, we spotted an ancient old man carrying a wicker basket with grey smoke pouring out of it.

Unsurprisingly, this man got increasingly annoyed as we all failed to hold back our less than sympathetic gales of laughter. Our driver eventually managed to let him know what was going on. He up-ended the contents of his bag and proceeded to tap dance on them to put out the flames. It didn't help any that he was wearing T-shirt, Bermuda style khaki shorts and 'Desert Welly' sandals. Needless to say, we were less than useless on the help front!

Walking the Cat

My former home, a flat, was located on an inner city square surrounded by traffic. Consequently I never let my mad tom cat, Maximus, out on his own. We would go for a walk together, most often on a sunny day when the square was full of people, including the occasional village drunk or two...

"Oi, Missus, did you know you've got a cat on that lead?"

Looking down, then at the drunk, at his mate, back down, back to drunk 1, and repeating

"Bugger, what the bloody hell have I done with the damn Alsation?"

Drunk 1 exits confused 

Drunk 2 falls back into the flowers

The Pink and Hard

One otherwise unremarkable summer's evening in a bar about ten years ago saw a cocktail created in my honour. 

Take a chilled tall glass

Sugar frost the rim

Add equal measures of Vodka and Campari

Add crushed ice

Top up with pink grapefruit juice 

Add a splash of fresh lime juice

Serve!

Salute!

What a morning!

I saw a man fall from my neighbour's roof this morning, just 20 feet or so from my back door. Thankfully, I only heard him land with a heavy, wet thud. He was still alive when the ambulance departed.

I only became aware of what was going on once I got back from my morning school run. Apparently he had been on the row of terraces from about 1am. He walked along the whole row of terraces, throwing tiles down at people on the ground and at the firemen trying to rescue him. The neighbour whose roof he fell from is missing several tiles and has a hole in her flat roof from the debris that fell on it. I have broken terracotta shards in my back garden.

At the peak, there were three fire tenders on scene, including a 'snorkle', several police cars and a couple of ambulances.

I'm glad my next door neighbour's young children were blithely unaware of what was going on, much to their parents' relief.

Of course, his falling is not the end of it. The police scene of crime officers have just photographed the damage he caused and the local press have been out interviewing. My house has only just stopped vibrating from the police helicopter.

Perhaps it's the effects of too many years commuting to London for my work in the past, suffering delays from other suicide attempts, perhaps the three attempts made from the office windows at my first job, but I can only feel a little stressed and somewhat annoyed at him. This despite being a long term sufferer of depression myself. It's a sad reflection but an honest one.

Treating Allergies with Acupuncture

I was asked about my experience of having a severe allergy treated with acupuncture again today so I thought I'd share my answer here for ease of reference the next time I'm asked.
...ooOoo...

I developed hay fever at the age of eighteen (I am now forty-seven). This increased in severity over the next two to three years until I had a full-blown allergy to grass, nettles, and plantains.

My symptoms would start as soon as people started mowing their lawn in the Spring and continued well into the Autumn. They included itchy eyes, mouth, skin, ears, tongue, massive sneezing attacks (some twenty to thirty at a time), wheezing, inflammation of the inside of my throat and mouth, and welts on my skin if I came into direct contact with grass (like nettle burns). I would get torn rib muscles from the violence of the sneezing.

Under the supervision of my family doctor, I was on ten of the kind of anti-histamines you're only supposed to take twice a day and had to use an asthma inhaler and steroid nasal spray. The spray got binned after just five uses as it burnt my nasal membranes and has left me with a tendency toward nose bleeds. Despite taking the last pair of tablets just before going to bed at midnight, I would be unable to sleep much longer than three in the morning as I would then wake with my mouth, throat, and tongue swelling up.

I would try to mitigate the symptoms by washing before bed, including my hair and even rinsing out my eyes, ears, and nose. Largely without much reduction in symptoms.

I could not go anywhere with grass which meant having to stay in most of the summer.

One doctor tried de-sensitisation injections but a change (for the better) in UK law* meant I never got the follow-up treatments in subsequent years so their effect largely vanished, not that they were particularly effective in the first place.

At one visit to my doctor, I asked if there was anything I could do short of emigrating to a desert. I was desperate by this stage, not least because the amount of anti-histamine I was taking was making my blood pressure shoot up alarmingly and gave me palpitations, I half expected him to refer me to a specialist hospital in London for further desensitisation treatments. Surprisingly he suggested acupuncture instead.

Apparently, he studied the technique on a BMJ (http://www.bmj.com/) course and I was able to get acupuncture on the NHS as a study held in London had found it DID help those with chronic pain conditions and allergy sufferers. The NHS found acupuncture did NOT help in quitting smoking however.

I started treatment as soon as my symptoms started the following Spring. As it was my NHS doctor doing it, I knew everything would be properly sterilised. My doctor explained that not every person responds to acupuncture and that the pattern of needle placements might need to be varied a bit until he found the best locations for me. Thankfully and amazingly, I found almost instant relief.

I had needles placed in the webs of my hands and feet and several across my brow line and either side of my nose. When my allergy related asthma was bad, I also had some needles placed in my breast bone. On one occasion, when my symptoms were severe, I had a needle placed to one side of my right shin. This is the only needle I found somewhat unpleasant as sensations radiated from it all the way down to my ankle and all the way up to my knee. It is not used often though as it's seen to be a powerful locus. Normally, there is very little sensation or pain as the needles are inserted as they are very fine, through you may find the area throbs a bit. I should warn you that the often quoted "just under the skin" is total crap.... the needles in my hands and feet went in a good half an inch!

I would find that my nose would start to clear and my sinuses open as soon as the needles be my nose went in.

Once all the needles were placed, my GP would leave me to rest on the treatment couch for up to an hour. Other schools of acupuncture have the practitioner continue to move the needles throughout treatment.

Acupuncture can leave you feeling a bit light headed and, well, a bit drunk afterward so you can't drive or operate machinery for several hours after a treatment session.

This first season of treatment reduced my symptoms so much I only needed to take six tablets the entire season! I probably only actually needed three of those, having taken some before suffering as I knew I was going somewhere with a lot of grass.

I had treatment for many years until my doctor retired. Unfortunately no other doctor at my old surgery took up the service.

These days I have a slight allergy that sometimes needs the regular dose of anti-histamine when the pollen count is high. My doctor told me that many of his patients lost their allergy totally and permanently.

Be aware :
- it does not work for everyone
- the practitioner should be able to supply proof that they are qualified
- the practise should be able to supply proof that everything is properly sterilised
- needles should come in an unopened pack so you know they haven't been used before
- the number of treatments is highly variable as each person responds differently
- blood donors in the UK will need a certificate of cleanliness to show their doning clinic before being allowed to donate unless it is an NHS doctor providing the treatment
- whilst the traditional explanation for how acupuncture works has no scientific basis, there is plenty of scientific evidence to show it does work for certain conditions and that it's effects are not due to the placebo effect

* There were a handful of cases whereby people suffered a severe allergic reaction following desensitisation treatment, either at their doctor's surgery or soon after leaving it and had to be rushed to hospital. The legal change meant all such treatments had to be done somewhere where full resuscitation facilities were available.


References
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/acupuncture/pages/introduction.aspx
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/114/5/1242.abstract
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2000.6.519

The Death of Osama bin Laden

I was going to comment upon the recent demise of Osama bin Laden at the hands of American forces in Pakistan today. In particular about my concerns on how Al Qaeda and other deviant Islamic sects might see this as a mandate for further violence in celebration of his martyrdom. Then a friend reminded me of the following.

‎“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”


"Loving Your Enemies,” in Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr.

The Immigration Debate

I read a news article on the BBC's web-site that reported on David Cameron's recent speech on what the government proposes to do about the numbers of immigrants entering the UK today. As ever it was masterful piece of political obfuscation.


The facts are that immigration always becomes an issue amongst the chattering masses whenever there's a recession and regardless of the root causes and actual figures (never let the facts get in the way of  good propaganda material).


The graph on the BBC link clearly showed that the majority of immigration into this country is from non EU countries but did not make any distinction as to the category breakdown : asylum, economic or family application. At the last election, I took a close look at the figures on the National Statistics web-site. Non EU economic migrants make up a relatively small percentage of overall nett immigration. However they are the only category of immigration where our government can alter the numbers without having to pass legislation at National, EU or even International level.


It would be a far more profitable use of government debate time for them to get the current immigration systems working effectively and in finding the funding to be able to remove those found to be here illegally. It is ridiculous that we catch illegal entrants and then let the go under their own supervision whilst awaiting deportation. Of course they are going to run!!!! We also need to find a way of speeding up the appeals process without compromising human rights.


On a broader front we need to have a National Debate on why certain ethic minorities seem to have greater trouble integrating than others and what we should be doing to prevent ghettoisation. Of course such a debate is almost always rail-roaded by extremist views; shouts of "send them home" and "racist pig" being the least of it. If we really want to work out how we want the UK to be structured demographically, then those of us adults out there need to insist on the debate and ignore the idiots.

Lumbar Epidural

I had my lumbar epidural yesterday despite a last minute "it's off, it's on" shuffle by the Royal Berkshire Hospital's list administration due to a complicated case coming in the day before. As this treatment is fairly common, as all Mums out there will know, I thought I'd share what happens.


The aim of this treatment is to further suppress the symptoms caused by my broken spine (early onset degenerative spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 with associated spinal stenosis, herniated disc and radiculopathy due to bilateral root compression of my sciatic nerves) and to finally determine if the break is the sole cause of the symptoms I've been experiencing.


This procedure involves placing a needle into the insulating material of the spinal cord itself (the dura) and then injecting a local anaesthetic followed by a long acting steroid to take down the inflammation. You are awake, seated and sedated. The sedation means that one has to starve the night before though you can drink water up to an hour before checking in at the hospital. These restrictions also allow the medical staff to put you completely under and do a caudal epidural there and then instead should they be unable to do the lumbar procedure.


Having signed the consent form, you have a needle in the back of your hand to enable drugs to be administered should you 'take a turn' and so that fluids can be given to you afterward. Frankly, the placement of this needle is worse than the larger cannula they put into your spine!


You then sit on the long side of a treatment couch with your feet placed up on a stool so that your knees fall out to the sides. You are asked to cross your arms at the wrist, to curl forward and to tuck your chin into your chest. The anaesthesiologist cleans your back, applies a self-adhesive pad over most of your back and then feels your spine for the correct location to insert the needle. Placement of the needle is not very painful due to the sedation but does involved a bit of pushing and tweaking. The local anaesthetic is injected and feels cold. A couple of minutes pass whilst this takes effect. A cannula is then fed in over the needle so more pushing! You are then instructed to hold very still as the cannula is fed into the spinal dura itself. The methyl prednisolone (Depomedrone) is then injected. This does not create pain but did produce in me a feeling a bit like all my back muscles going into spasm at once from waist to the bottom of my shoulder blades. The needle, cannula and pad are removed and the wound site dressed. You then lie down on the treatment couch and get taken to the recovery room.


In recovery, you are fitted with a saline drip as good hydration helps the sedation and local to be flushed out of your system. You are instructed to drink plenty of water the following day for the same reason. You are placed in a semi-seated position to ensure that the epidural fluids move toward your feet rather than your chest and head where they could cause problems with your breathing, heart-rate or consciousness. The recovery nurse fits you with an automatic blood pressure cuff which activated every five minutes or so, a finger clamp for measuring your pulse, and gets you to take a deep breath. The nurse also checks if you can move your legs and feet as the local can cause temporary paralysis. After a while, the nurse sprays you from toe to chest with a cold alcohol. Areas that cannot feel the coldness (you may still feel yourself being sprayed) are affected by the epidural. In my case, I had to be sat in a more upright position as the affects of the epidural were occurring too far up toward my chest.


Once the recovery nurse is satisfied you are safe, you are returned to the day surgery ward to wait for the affects of the local to wear off sufficiently to be able to take a pee. You have your drip removed once the nursing staff are assured that you are drinking enough water or weak squash. The best bit is being fed toast!


You need someone to collect you and they are asked to sign a document undertaking to escort you home and to take care of you for an absolute minimum of 24 hours following the epidural. You are not permitted to drive, operate any machinery (not even the toaster) or to do any physical work or sign documents due to the risks of you fainting or worse and of having your judgement impaired by the sedation. Ideally, this part of recovery should extend to 48 hours. You are given emergency contact numbers should you experience any ill affects and told in no uncertain terms that if you are suffering from certain of them, you are to contact the hospital AT ONCE.


I am writing this toward the end of recovery day one. I was wobbly on my feet this morning and felt a bit shaky from shock this afternoon. My lower back is achy from the epidural itself and from loosing some blood when the cannula was removed. The nursing staff are right to emphasise rest, drinking water and allowing yourself to be nursed by your responsible adult as I feel rather tired in the too much physical labour sort of way (think 5-6 hours weeding and tidying the garden including mowing and raking the lawn). I intend to try going to a half hour mass tomorrow at 10am as I feel I could use some fresh air after being baked half silly from the over-heated ward yesterday but I'm certainly not doing much else. I would strongly advise making sure all your housework was out of the way before you have this done, especially having a freshly laundered bed to crawl into!


References :
http://www.spineuniverse.com/treatments/pain-management/lumbar-epidural-injection
http://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/spondylolisthesis/spondylolisthesis-back-condition-treatment
http://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/spondylolisthesis/degenerative-spondylolisthesis-lumbar-spine

Libya

I watch TV with tears in my eyes and horror in my heart as I watch Muammar Gaddafi's security forces rip the bodies of Libya's citizens apart with their weapons.

Nato condemn their actions as genocide. Malta reports a pair of fighter pilots seeking asylum rather than carrying out their orders to bomb their own people. Libya's diplomats resign in disgust. State leaders issue statements declaring that Libya's citizens have the right to peaceful protest and urge their own citizens to flee the country.

Words are a pitiful response to such a massacre. Words are inadequate to describe the courage of those still raising their voices in protest.

Tonight, every one of those of us living in peace should take time to remember the priceless value of that, offer a prayer for Libya and petition our own leaders to act.

From Scribblings

Good News

As some of you may remember, one of the joints in my spine broke shortly after I was made redundant two years ago. Well, the benefits office originally ruled that this condition did not impair my ability to work in any way. Well, my tribunal appealing this ruling was finally heard today.

I won my appeal. It only took the lawyer and doctor hearing it two minutes to make their decision.

I don't suppose for one minute that this will mean any financial support from the state, I just feel vindicated as the original decision made me feel like I'd been called a liar.

Still not sure it's really sunk in yet.

I also have a date for counselling for my depression next week and a date at the end of the month for an epidural injection.

All I need now is a bloody job! LOL

Egypt's Pain

I have been watching the news coverage and blogosphere chatter about the economically driven unrest in the Middle East with a mixture of nostalgia and concern.

I spent quite a lot of time talking to friends of my former fiance whilst in the Sinai about how they view their country.

The Egyptians and Bedouin don't often see eye to eye but they do seem to agree that the current regime's foreign policy is sound, even admiring President Hosni Mubarak's ability to walk a very difficult line between Israel and the Arab states.

It is Mubarak's approach to domestic issues that concern them, in particular

• the high rates of unemployment and the way in which curtailment of freedom of speech impedes economic development
• that the suppression of extremist Islamic views has spilled over into any and all criticism of the current regime even where comment might contain positive suggestions
• heavy handed application of the outlawing of the Muslim Brotherhood has made it more difficult to prevent the spread of the kind of extremist forms of Islam that the majority of Egyptians do not want to live under
• the degree of corruption amongst within the government and civil service
• the lack of application of human rights within their penal system that has resulted in large numbers of people being 'disappeared', held without trial, and tortured
• twenty years of a 'state of emergency' which has enabled the state to excuse its own poor behaviour

In short, what most of them want is a fair chance of a job that earns them enough money to get married and to have a family in average comfort, all in the knowledge that they will be treated fairly economically and legally.

The current situation has been brought to a head by the global economic crisis and by the Egyptians themselves being given the confidence to act by the knowledge that the world was already watching due to similar protests in other countries.

I have been watching a blog in Facebook that is highlighting all the demos in Egypt and the authorities' response to them. What is not clear on mainstream TV coverage is that this civil unrest is not confined to the main cities. Several have already lost their lives due to the heavy handed response by the police, including one lad in a small village in the Sinai.

I hope and pray that this time things change for the better in Egypt and that the change happens without civil disobedience turning into civil war.