FAR FROM DISBANDING 'CONSPIRACIES' CONCERNING 9/11, THERESA MAY JUST GAVE THEM WEIGHT

The majority of the 9/11 attackers (allegedly) came from Saudi Arabia.

Saudia Arabia are not an 'enemy', but an ALLY of the west. And despite outcry, both the US and UK categorically refuse to give up that alliance. That in itself raises questions. Big ones. But whatever you do or don't believe about the tragic events of that day, the simple fact is, there's simply never been any attack in history shrouded in so much confusion and controversy, with so many 'official' details that don't add up - ever.

After fifteen plus years of ongoing pain and anger for the victims' friends and families, fifteen years of 'conspiracy theories' and explanations that simply refuse to go away, finally a UK government report was demanded into the potential involvement of our 'ally', Saudi Arabia. Finally, some of the speculation could perhaps have been put to bed. But after years and yeeeears of compilation, Theresa May has categorically refused to allow the British public to know the contents of that report. Not once, but twice now.

Rationalise that how you will, but to my sensibilities, that means there's something in it she doesn't want Joe Public to know. That sounds obvious perhaps, but WHY would May not want us to know? I'll tell you. Because if the Saudi government were involved, that means one of two things - there are literally no other alternatives. Either 1) our 'ally' betrayed us and were involved with the most horrific crime on western soil in history, but we bizarrely/suspiciously remain allied to them any way, or 2) they acted as a faithful ally, working in coordination.

Let's face it, neither option is great.

What if the Saudis weren't involved, I hear you cry. Fair question. Then why on earth would May suppress that? Surely anything to make her distasteful alliance more palatable for the public would be a positive thing; a boon to be wheeled out in her favour? Again, it just doesn't add up.

Yes, many might argue I'm ignoring countless variables here, that the report may contain sensitive information not relating to the issue, which can't be revealed. All manner of explanations are 'possible', that is true. But generally, if an animal has four legs, a tail, and barks, the likelihood is it's a dog. It's not somehow more rational to assume it's a sabre-tooth tiger.

Until some actual explanations are forthcoming, the suspicion and controversy will continue. Bottom line? Whatever is contained in that report, and whatever is or isn't true (I've given up trying to make sense of it all), this shady behaviour by our government only gives weight to the supposed 'conspiracies'. Quite literally the very furthest thing from disbanding them.

MOTHER'S BRIEF HISTORY OF WORLD CONFLICT, AND THE ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR

'Mummy, why is there war in the Middle East?'

'Well darling, at the end of Word War I, the Western Allies broke up the Ottoman Empire, which had existed for hundreds of years and included most of the Islamic world - claiming ownership of various territories. Then at the end of World War II, they created a new country in the middle of one of those territories, right or wrong, and called it Israel. Then they spent 70+ years arming that country to the teeth, whilst simultaneously making sure the fragmented Muslim states around it stayed poor - who naturally allied with their enemies. It's a pressure cooker. They've been fighting ever since.'

'And Saudi Arabia? They're one of those surrounding nations, aren't they? Why aren't they poor too? How do they wage war and assert control?'

'With weapons and bombs supplied to them by Britain. They, like Israel, are supported with Western finance.'

'I see. What about Pakistan? I hear there's problems over there. What's that all about?'

'Well, before those World Wars, Britain conquered and ruled India. Pakistan was another Muslim nation forced out and brought to heel. When Britain finally gave it all back because it could no longer sustain its empire, it decided which bits Pakistan got and which India got. They've never been happy about that. They've been fighting ever since.'

'Oh dear. And North Korea? Why do they hate America so much?'

'Well, at the end of World War II, America and the Soviet Union - today known as Russia - split the country in two, taking half of it each. One prospered, and one didn't. And America punished the North for 70+ years for its enduring ties to Russia. Like in the Middle East, it's a proxy war between sabre-rattling super-powers. They've been fighting ever since.'

'Why all the problems in Africa?'

'Well, the British Empire and several other European nations - later America too - conquered the continent, divvying it up, selling off all its resources, and trading its people as slaves. Bit by bit, the continent was plundered, and when those powers gave up control, it was deliberately handed over to various competing tribes and left in turmoil, so the continent could never become strong, and illicit trade & supply deals could continue behind closed doors benefiting Western interests. They've been fighting ever since.'

'Wow. OK, what about closer to home? When you were growing up, there were problems in Ireland, weren't there? I've read about bombings and all sorts. I can't imagine it. Why were Irish people so angry?'

'Well... before it was called Britain, England spent centuries inflicting war and hardships on Ireland. Scotland and Wales too. Separated by sea, many people wanted Ireland to be its own independent country, and they spent centuries fighting back, until the English - now calling themselves British - were forced to retreat to all but a scrap of land, that is now called Northern Ireland. But Britain refused to let go of it, as a point of principle. And they've been fighting over it ever since.'

'Why are people talking about it now?'

'Because the dispute didn't really matter when we all became part of the EU, we all became Europeans - one people.'

'Is that why there haven't been any wars in Europe since World War II?'

'A big, big contributing factor - yes. Also, while we were united as one continent, Europe was a match economically and militarily for any of the emerging super-powers like Russia, China, and The USA. Britain was one of the most important nations at the table too. Now The EU is splintering, Britain and America are wobbling, and Russia is starting to lick its lips greedily.'

'So being part of the EU kept Britain safe - and Europe safe, and helped Britain to become secure and wealthy again in the carnage following the World Wars?'

'Yep, that's about it.'

'Why on earth would Britain give that up, or behave so ungraciously now?'

'Good question son, good question.'

'Have the EU started any wars, or pillaged anywhere?'

'No... no they haven't. They mostly just create laws to protect average citizens in every European country.'

'Hmm. All seems very strange to me Mum.'

'What's that dear?'

'If you look at everything we just talked about, all the  wars occurring today - or a good deal of them any way - there seems to be one inescapable common denominator.'

'What's that?'

'Britain. Us.'

TEN REASONS WHY THE LATEST EPISODE OF GAME OF THRONES, 'EASTWATCH', BUGGED THE LIVING HELL OUTTA ME

It's probably late in the day enough for me to have a moan about the latest episode of Game of Thrones, season seven/episode five - 'Eastwatch'. If it's not, sorry. But I do need to get this off my chest - the show I thought could never disappoint, finally disappointed. Not a great episode at all. One of the worst yet to be honest. Several details bugged the hell out of me, and the nerd in me needs to talk about them. Please bear with.

1) Apparently Jaime and Ser Bron are part man/part seal, both able to swim miles under water. In armour. We'll just ignore the whole 'beach with a straight-drop into a bottomless lake' thing too.

2) Having spent several seasons following these characters closely on their long journeys, they're now all hopping around Westeros in the blink of an eye. Journeys of hundreds of miles on foot/horseback/boat, journeys that would take months - all just glazed over. Apparently nothing of note ever happens during those periods...

3) The long enduring relationship and history between Daenerys and Jorah Mormont - the man who's just returned to her having cured himself of an incurable disease - all that is surmised with one paltry hug, before she sends him off again. Probably to die. With barely a line of dialogue. "Cheers, dragon queen."

4) Yes. I'm sure it would be blissfully easy to 'smuggle' Tyrion Lannister, the 'most famous dwarf in the world', right into the heart of King's Landing. And then have him waltz on out again like it 'ain't no thang'. It wasn't at all probable and/or likely that Jaime would take the Hand of the opposing Queen hostage, albeit his brother, considering in the last episode he was willing to die to end the war. Or that Cersei, as she apparently knew about it all in advance, would have had her imp brother seized. That would have been daft after all. She's only hated his guts for seven seasons.

5) This REALLY bugged me. One of the Lannister guards who catches Tyrion on the beach, was the very same actor who portrayed one of the touring 'pantomime' actors Arya Stark travelled with in an earlier season - the one who played Ned Stark as a befuddled idiot (Kevin Eldon). There are SOOO many actors who'd kill for a part in this show. So it's either grotesque laziness on the part of the casting directors, or blatant unbridled favouritism, compromising continuity either way. And they already did it once before, when the actor playing the murdered Martyn Lannister (Dean Charles Chapman) returned as the young King Tommen Baratheon.

6) Seriously, I know these White Walkers are slow, but how the bloody hell can everyone else fly round Westeros back and forth like Superman, while these chumps stumble about a relatively small block of land eternally 'on their way' to attack the Wall?? What the frick are they doing? Surely they've killed everyone north of The Wall by now? For God's sake, just get Daenerys to fly north (will take about 20 seconds of show time) and toast the whole damn lot of them. The White Walkers haven't got a giant cross bow after all.

7) After mining all that dragon glass, the purpose of his trip, Jon Snow seems to be returning to the north with barely a boat load. Good one Jon. Real clever.

8) In an episode where the screen-writers obviously attempted to cram in just about every character we'd forgotten about in the interim (Gendry, The Brotherhood Without Banners, The Hound, Ser Jorah, and the damnably annoying Samwell Tarly), the characters we actually WANT to see what's happened to, are strangely absent. What about the Sands? Are they rotting? Is the daughter dead yet? What about the bell-ringing 'Shame' Nun from last season... is she alive, what happened to her?? What's going on in Dorne? What about the Greyjoys? Apparently they had an episode off. All a bit jarring I fear.

9) Considering Bran 'piss on my chips' Stark knows absolutely everything, and is able to get messages to Jon Snow by raven while he's at Dragonstone, you'd think the bloody dimwit might also inform Jon that Daenerys is his Aunt. Especially considering it could possibly unite them, end the bickering, establish a dynasty everyone really likes, and you know, Jon's also on the verge of giving her one.

10) The rate at which the Stark girls are going 'dark side' is getting a bit gun-ho if you ask me. Considering they thought their whole families had been wiped out, you'd think they'd be a bit more trusting and nice to one another. Sansa is going very 'Little-finger', very quickly. Speaking of whom, for all her 'Faceless Man training', Arya didn't spot the guy hiding in a stairwell, or even think to look after she'd cat-burgled his quarters. Sloppy. Very sloppy. And again, you'd think Brandon Stark would step in and expose the subterfuge threatening to turn his sisters against one another. Nope, He's too busy flying about as 'crow-bro'.

I feel they're rushing it now, at the expense of continuity, sense, and/or maintaining a similar pace to the previous six seasons. Throwing in dodgy guest appearances, and relying on fairly daft one-liner jokes. It hurts. It hurts I tell you. I thought this show was infallible.

Plus if Cersei kills Bron, I'm gonna be majorly pissed off.

And breathe.

A PHOTOGRAPH THAT CAPTURES BROKEN AMERICA

If ever a photograph captured the tragedy that is America today, it's this one.

An Afro-American police officer in Charlottesville stands guard, protecting the rights of white American supremacists. One of whom is doing a Nazi salute. Another carries a sign stating Jews are 'Satan's children'.

All the officer can do is stare at the ground. He's just trying to 'get on with it' and do his job. But sunglasses cannot hide his despair.

This heroic man symbolises the world for many of us at present.

Forced to stand idly by, powerless, trying to 'get on with it' - all the while acutely aware that genuine evil is quite literally rising up around us. Fearful for our families and our future, fearful for innocent people we don't even know, and fearful of what might happen if we dare to shout back too loudly.

He refused to denounce them. The President of the United States actually had to be told to condemn Nazis and white supremacists. The same odious neanderthals who used to hide behind white hoods and burn crosses, now walk down the street proudly waving Swastika flags, wearing President Trump baseball caps and t-shirts.

Trump made a point of placing blame on both sides. Yes, the liberals were apparently to blame too - simply for standing up to unapologetic fascists, and for being in the way of that car. His words were nothing short of chilling. 

Perhaps more scary is that in his mind, small as it is, Trump probably thought he was being 'fair'.

We're not quite there yet in Britain, but we're on the same page.

(Instead, our Nazis chant 'Brexit.')

THE PUTNEY JOGGER 'COCK-UP': IS THERE NO PLACE FOR COMMON SENSE??

I don't get this:

The story is breaking everywhere, yet not one of them says what the woman herself has said?!?

She saw him. Twice. He ran back across and she tried to accost him. Surely she can identify him? She's not going to blame an innocent man for that, she's going to want justice?!?

Is there no room in our criminal justice system for basic common sense??

If the victim has positively identified him, it's on camera, and yet he's wriggled out of it by creating a doubtlessly expensive alibi, because oh yeah... he just happens to be a millionaire banker... that is beyond appalling. We as a society cannot let that happen. We just can't!

And if he wasn't the perpetrator of that shocking behaviour on Putney Bridge, why the flaming heck was he arrested in the first place?? Again, the small detail of a witness who looked him straight in the face, one might have thought a fairly significant factor in any arrest.

In that instance, someone was physically paid to come up with that intel... intel unbelievably ignoring the most obvious and rudimentary evidence.

What a farce! Hardly inspiring of competence. And it really makes no sense, either way round.

Clarification is needed. Pronto.

IT'S NOT ALWAYS MENTAL 'ILLNESS' TO FEEL BROKEN. IN FACT, THAT'S HALF THE STIGMA.

An article I came across by John Pavlovitz - 'Sinead O’Connor is Telling Us Mental Illness is Killing Her. Do We Give a Damn?' - regarding the singer's recent post from a New Jersey hotel room, was almost as heart-breaking as the video it discussed.

And also, bang on the money. It's well worth a read.

Pavlovitz is right. For some almost bizarre reason, we'll celebrate and mourn people who've taken their lives - talk about the tragedy, the terrible things that sent them down that particular path, all the beautiful things about them, what should have been done etc. But only if they do actually kill themselves.

By comparison, people who are on their way to that point, eg: people in pain, people on the edge, people whose lives and careers have unravelled, people desperately crying out in whatever way they can for someone to help them - we don't want to know. Those people are shunned and avoided. It's just too much effort. Too 'uncomfortable'.

They are shunned, in essence, simply for being a little bit stronger than those who gave in. They're trying to hold on. They desperately want to find positive things to live for, they have not given up hope that this world could be a better place for both themselves, and others. They don't want to give in, and on some level, actively want to feel alive again. The finality of death is so very absolute; there's no coming back from that, and they know it.

Yet the sad truth is, that added tenacity generally puts them in the 'freak' category, as opposed to the 'tragic'.

It's as if they're dismissed for 'Crying Wolf'.

Sinead O'Connor is such a person. I positively guarantee most people will be speaking of her recent antics very differently to the way people currently speak of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell, for instance. And what Pavlovitz's article points out so poignantly, is it seems no-one will care or try to help her until it's too f**king late.

That is when people will start saying nice things, trying to look like compassionate human beings. All the radio stations will play Nothing Compares To You on repeat. And frankly, it will mean nothing. Try showing love to those in pain while they're still alive.

The Stigma of Mental 'Illness'

I think part of the problem and stigma, for some any way, is being depressed and suffering from anxiety do not feel like an 'illness'. The classification of 'mental illness' suggests on some level, you're mad and/or some kind of babbling loon. (Which is ironic, as many studies claim greater levels of intelligence leave an individual more susceptible to depression.)

Depression and anxiety are not often 'spontaneous' like an illness. Some people admittedly do simply have propensity for greater sadness inside them, but it's not always that there's 'something wrong' with them. Sometimes depression and anxiety are a very natural reaction to a world that, let's face it, is all too often a horrible piece of sh*t.

Harsh realities, disappointment, tragedy and bereavement, unpleasant life experiences, frustration, loneliness, injustice - they forge who a person is. Some are able to rise above these detracting factors, others are not. But really, in a sense, they are the cause - not 'deficiency' in a victim's brain. The equivalent would be beating an animal repeatedly with a stick, then saying there must be 'something wrong with it' because it can no longer walk. No... it's because the creature was beaten within an inch of its life, to the point it could no longer function in a normal capacity. That's not 'illness'.

I suppose you could argue it's just terminology, and that even in the analogy I just gave, the beating of the animal physically 'made it ill'. But it doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel fair, or acknowledging of causation. And I do genuinely think that's part of the stigma. Some people are fragile because they got repeatedly bashed, not simply because they're 'ill', or somehow started out weak.

Why So Prevalent in The Arts?

An old friend commented when I posted this article on social media, asking the following question:

It's a fair question.

I've always happened to believe that yes - you do need a screw loose somewhere to be a performer. In a sense, you have to be slightly 'mental' and/or pretty needy to want to make a career out of saying "please look at me, please love me and think I'm wonderful". That counts for all of us in the business, myself included.

Then within that group, you get a spectrum. At one end you have the egotistical types, who genuinely think they are amazing, and everyone should rejoice in their presence - performing is a way to enhance their social status as much as anything else. And at the other, those who aren't so sure. Those who have major insecurities/personal problems etc, but performing is something they're called to regardless. More 'neurotic' than 'egotistical', applause is the only love they know. They are the ones at risk. Because naturally, the first type are more geared to succeed in an odious business that literally runs on egotism, especially if they are actually talented. Whereas type-twos don't fit in so well. The business tends to stamp on them, as do the ego-maniacs who think they're so much better than the 'social lepers'.

So basically, you've potentially got already damaged/insecure people being exposed to egotistical and often very bitchy cliques, in an absolute cut-throat business where the very ability to work and do what you love is usually entirely dependent on getting on with those same cliques. (And kissing the right asses.)

If/when things go wrong, type-twos lose their entire way to relate to people, and the only thing that makes them feel 'worthwhile'. And often, the higher the rise, the higher the fall. I reckon my friend Natalie was right on both counts. The factors are symbiotic, in fact.

I'd also say that most performers/artists etc are generally more emotional and in touch with their feelings than 'Average Joe'. And I guess when you feel more, the things in life that hurt, hurt more. That's a fairly rudimentary assessment perhaps, but there's something in it. And sadly, often when people are thought of as being 'dramatic', the content of what they say - even the reason and genuine pain behind it - can be entirely dismissed.

I hope somebody steps in to help Sinead O'Connor, I really do.

GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS TO BE MADE PUNISHABLE BY FLOGGING, ACCORDING TO NEW GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

New government legislation has suggested those who post Game of Thrones spoilers online, ahead of the regular broadcast time, should be beaten and publicly flogged. 

‘Not all of us have Sky Atlantic you know’ commented one angry fan of the HBO series. ‘And these nerds who stay up to watch it at 2am the night before are obviously complete losers.’

‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m half way through renovating my loft to look like the throne room of King’s Landing. I’ve made an Iron Throne out of kitchen cutlery.’

‘Admittedly, it’s not very comfy.’

A former university lecturer in North Yorkshire, Harrison Dingle, was recently divorced by his wife of 35 years - simply for a Facebook post last year, revealing Jon Snow was not in fact dead. Mrs Dingle later cut off his penis, force-feeding it to him inside a Melton Mowbray pork pie.

Tory politicians are reportedly overjoyed by the idea that UK society should mirror the imaginary world of Westeros, adding the show seems ‘a very fair and workable model for post-Brexit Britain’.

A potential ‘Walk of Shame’ was also briefly discussed, for anyone on a salary of over £50k who openly supports Jeremy Corbyn.

The idea was dropped, as there aren’t any.