Showing posts with label Mark Alexander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Alexander. Show all posts

Sunday, February 25, 2024

It’s Time for a Little R&R

I have been blogging daily for a very long time now, but I have had no rest from it. Needless to say, I am feeling rather worn out as a result. I therefore need some rest, a change of mind, a change of perspective. I need a holiday. I am starting that holiday today. I ask you for your understanding.

There is a lot of interesting material up on this blog. In fact, there is material going back more than twenty years. You are free to avail yourselves of it.

I have no idea how long my holiday from blogging will last. I suppose it will last until I feel thoroughly refreshed.

For your understanding in this matter and for your loyalty, I thank you all kindly.

Best wishes,
Mark Alexander

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Sunak’s Incremental Smoking Ban

It appals me that our king has joined our unelected prime minister in calling for an incremental smoking ban. However, it doesn’t surprise me, since as Prince of Wales, he had a history of involving himself in political affairs, even though we all know that our monarch is supposed to stay well out of politics.

Both our king and our prime minister are unelected. Therefore, they have no right whatsoever in a so-called democracy to make decisions on the people’s behalf.

The mere idea of banning smoking for adults — a habit which brings great pleasure to many adults even to this day — is undemocratic, autocratic, in fact, and, quite frankly, stupid. There are far more unhealthy habits than smoking cigarettes. Excessive sugar consumption springs quickly to mind, alcohol consumption, the smoking of marijuana and cannabis, and the use of ketamine, and increasingly, of cocaine. How many young people have a cocaine habit, I wonder? London is, in fact, said to be the cocaine capital of the world.

So, cigarette-smoking is the least of our concerns.

I would be the last person on earth to advocate smoking. However, I must admit, until nearly two years ago, I had a twenty-a-day habit, which brought me enormous pleasure. It also kept me slim and free of type-2 diabetes. Since quitting, I have gained weight quickly; and this worries me. Why? Because I know that my metabolism has slowed right down since I gave up. I am not gaining weight because I am eating more; rather, I am gaining weight because of my now slow metabolism.

You can talk of lung cancer, and lung cancer is a terrible thing. But the fact remains that only about 5 – 10% of HEAVY smokers contract it. Indeed, I recently read of an Israeli rabbi many years over a hundred who died of old age despite being an extremely heavy smoker. Like 60 cigarettes a day!

Please do not misconstrue my message: I neither advocate smoking nor condone it. However, I do defend the right of an adult to make his own choice without people in the Establishment interfering in their decisions. (By the way, I am not a republican. Far from it. However, interference like this could push me in that direction.)

The NHS argument holds no water. Smokers contribute approximately £10.5b in taxes, whereas they cost the NHS only £3.5b.

It should also be remembered that a person’s health is more than being about remaining cancer-free. One also wants to be free of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and type-2 diabetes. One also wishes to remain as slim as possible. Nobody wants to be obese. Smoking has a protective effect on all these maladies.

It is imperative that we look at the big picture; it is also imperative that we keep meddlesome people out of our decision-making process.

If you wish to ban anything, ban meddlesome people from interfering in the democratic process. Keep people’s right to choose. Ban interference from the Nanny State.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Oh God! Here we go again! When is the risk of type-2 diabetes reduced after quitting sugar? Or the risk of a car accident when you quit driving your car? Or the risk of liver disease after you quit drinking alcohol? Or the risk of an STD once you quit sexual contact with your partner, straight or gay? Unfortunately, life is for living; and we cannot get out of this life alive. All this preaching is oh so tiresome. For heaven's sake, live and let live! It behoves us all to live moderately; and to enjoy life, to get our kicks where and when we can. One of these fine days we will not wake up! We'll all be dead! – © Mark Alexander

Monday, January 01, 2024

The Tories

MARK ALEXANDER: The Tories, otherwise known as the Conservatives, have been in power since 2010. And what a dog’s dinner they have made of their governance! They have wrecked this county; they have wrecked its economy.

I write not as “a leftie”. Far from it, actually! I was raised as a Conservative voter; and I voted Conservative all my adult life. Until Cameron became the party’s leader. I took one look at him, and decided he couldn’t be trusted. So I voted for the LibDems instead. We ended up with a coalition government. But to put things simply, Brexit has put paid to my ever voting Tory again, put paid to my adherence to this party of clowns.

The Conservatives used to be the party we Brits could rely on to manage the economy well and efficiently. You don’t need me to tell you that this is no longer the case. The Conservatives have been in power since 2010 and our economy has never, in my lifetime, been in worse shape. Had the Tories a clue, they’d have fixed the economy by now. They haven’t! The economy is is dire shape. Especially because of Brexit, an ideology to which the clowns in the party are wedded.

The European issue was, and remains, a very complicated issue; it should never have been thrown to the people in the form of a referendum to decide. Why? Because even many a politician or economist cannot fully grasp the EU’s importance to our economy. However, to cut to the chase, what one MUST understand is this: The European Union is a market of 450 million consumers; so, on economic grounds alone, it should NEVER have been walked away from. No one in his right mind would walk away from the largest single tariff-free market in the world!

But more than this, far more than this, the European Union is a political union which has prevented European wars and has promoted peace. Countries which are integrated and whose economies are well and truly integrated are highly unlikely ever to go to war with each other. So many a Brit has always been wrong to look upon our membership of the EU simply as being of economic advantage. Our membership was far, far more than that. It was a vehicle of peace and stability in Europe.

It is my hope and dream that we Brits, sooner rather than later, will rejoin the European Union. Not with all those silly ‘opt-outs’ we once had; but as full, functioning members – as committed Europeans. European we are; and Europeans we will always be. No Tory will ever be able to change that!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Happy New Year! Frohes Neues Jahr! Bonne année ! Blwydden Newydd Dda! ¡Feliz año nuevo! Buon Anno! Feliz Ano Novo! | ! سنة جديدة سعيدة

Many thanks to The Glam Pad for this beautiful image.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. For many, 2023 has not been the easiest of years: it has brought many nothing but pain. It is to be hoped that 2024 will bring us all more pleasure than pain. And, above all, it is to be hoped that 2024 will bring us all health above all else – health, but also happiness and prosperity.

Ich möchte diese Gelegenheit nutzen, um Ihnen allen ein frohes neues Jahr zu wünschen. Für viele war 2023 nicht das einfachste Jahr: Es hat vielen nichts als Schmerz gebracht. Es bleibt zu hoffen, daß das Jahr 2024 uns allen mehr Freude als Schmerz bereiten wird. Und vor allem bleibt zu hoffen, daß das Jahr 2024 uns vor allem Gesundheit bringt – Gesundheit, aber auch Glück und Wohlstand.

J'en profite pour vous souhaiter à tous une très bonne année. Pour beaucoup, 2023 n’a pas été l’année la plus facile : elle n’a apporté que de la douleur. Il faut espérer que 2024 nous apportera à tous plus de plaisir que de douleur. Et surtout, il faut espérer que 2024 nous apportera avant tout la santé – santé, mais aussi bonheur et prospérité.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Europe

We are ALL Europeans! Upper class, middle class, lower class. English, French, German, Italian, Belgian, Dane, or people from any other European country. European blood courses through our veins.

Our royal families are interconnected, intermarried – they are all inter-related with one another. And that’s a wonderful thing. In fact, our wonderful late Queen Victoria was known as the 'Grandmother of Europe'! How much more European can anyone become than that?

In the coming years, we must learn to put our differences aside. In fact, we must strive to appreciate them, and then build on those differences for the common good.

Europe, when we learn truly to embrace it, will enable us to have — together — a wonderful and prosperous future. We Europeans are brothers and sisters. We truly are. We belong together. Together and united we will be strong; apart, we will surely be weak. Let peace prevail! Let us work towards unity!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Merry Christmas! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Joyeaux Noël Nadolig Llawen! ¡Feliz Navidad! Buon Natale! عيد ميلاد سعيد

It’s Christmas Eve again, already, another year is almost over. But before it ends, we have an important and beautiful celebration: Christmas. We tend to forget that Christmas is not one day, Christmas Day, but twelve! It behoves us to celebrate them all if we can; it ill behoves us to forget them since, these days, we have little opportunity to celebrate anything. There is trouble and strife every which way we look!

For your continued support, I should like to thank you all. Your loyalty and support mean so much to me.

So, please allow me to extend to you my heartfelt thanks and naturally, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Ich wünsche Ihnen allen von ganzem Herzen ein recht schönes Weihnachtsfest!

Je vous souhaite à tous un très Joyeux Noël de tout mon cœur !

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Haven’t We All Maxed Out on Islam by Now?

MARK ALEXANDER : Let’s face it: Nobody wants Islam in Europe. Nobody wants Islam in the West. Islam is like a cancer in our midst!

Islam is only here as much as it is because our politicians, from the right and from the left, haven’t had the spunk to deal with the growing problem – they have chickened out.

I am telling you now; and in clear, unequivocal words: Islam DOES NOT belong in Europe. And when I speak of Europe, I include the United Kingdom. Indeed, it does not belong in the West.

Does this mean that people born into the Muslim faith don’t belong here? No! It certainly does not. It is perfectly possible for a person born into the Muslim faith to find his/her place here in the West. But only if he/she renounces his/her desire to supplant Western religion (Christianity) or Secularism, Laicité, with Islamic values. It is simply NOT going to happen. At least not without a fight to the death.

Come and live here amongst us by all means. You are most welcome. But only if you renounce all notions of superiority or wishes to take over the West, all desire to Islamise the West. These ideas will lead to NO GOOD PLACE! Of that, I can assure you.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Blogging in the Lead Up to Christmas

With Christmas fast approaching, I would just like to let you know that I will have to cut back on the time I spend at the computer in the coming days, because I have Christmas preparations to make, and housework to do.

I will not stop posting altogether; I will post some items when I can find the time; but my blogging will have to be sparser in the lead up to Christmas. My apologies to you all. I ask for your understanding. – Mark

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Cruelty and Heartlessness in a Post-Christian World

MARK ALEXANDER: I should like to write a few words on my observations on government policies in our post-Christian Britain.

The news today that our Supreme Court has determined that this country’s government policy of sending unwanted asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful is as welcome as it is encouraging. These days, our increasingly populist, right-wing government, which appears to have no understanding of traditional, one-nation conservatism, and certainly no recollection of it, come up with some pretty heartless and hare-brained ideas and policies. Most of these people are Thatcher’s babies, people who have taken the worst of Thatcher’s uncaring policies and are busy peppering them with even more acridity and pungency. To these extreme right-wingers, being caring, merciful and compassionate is redolent of left-wing wimps and wussies.

Suella Braverman was the epitome of this heartlessness. It has come to my attention in recent years that if you are looking for examples of cruelty, you must often turn to women! Politics in the West is replete with cruel women. It seems that the longer that women have been in the workplace, the traditional domain of men, the tougher and crueller they have become. Forget about the fair sex! We are all men in a man’s world now, it seems!

Suella Braverman’s utterances recently on being homeless and on homelessness being a “lifestyle choice” were as cruel and insensitive as they were absurd and dead wrong. Then there was her dream of seeing unwanted asylum seekers on a plane, flying off to Rwanda. Ostensibly, such a scenario floated the heartless woman’s boat!

Clearly, our government policies appear to be becoming crueller, the further away we turn from Christianity. In a post-Christian world, anything, it seems, is possible. Anything goes.

We should all note well that the void left by Christianity’s demise will most definitely be filled; and so obviously by the ever-growing presence of Islam in the West, which our clueless, ignorant and cowardly politicians have allowed to happen. Furthermore, our politicians have busily prepared the way into the heart of the West for the these Muslims. And instead of insisting on full integration and assimilation, and their adoption of Western ways and standards as a prerequisite of entrance to the West, they have encouraged these immigrants to bring with them the ways of their own countries of origin. So, if no stop is put to this nonsense, we can look forward to the recent cruelty of Hamas replacing the gentleness of our hitherto Christian ways. A post-Christian Western world will be harsh and merciless – a world devoid of compassion.

The Islamic world provides us no example of a gentler way of life. In the Islamic world, as we must all surely know by now, it is not uncommon for hands to be amputated for theft, beheadings are common for more serious transgressions, whippings for those who indulge in alcohol and stonings to death for adulteresses. Their treatment of gays is unimaginably cruel.

We abandon our Judæo-Christian heritage at our own risk, and if we continue to abandon it, we will all have a rude awakening. Be you a devout or just a nominal Christian, you are better off in our Judæo-Christian world. Turn your backs on it at your peril!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Since the Heinous Hamas Terror Attack on Israel, Germany Is Experiencing a New Dimension of Hate for German Values, for Democracy and for Germany

MARK ALEXANDER: In Germany — and in all probability elsewhere in the West, too — many residents despise the German/Western way of life. They bring their children up to despise the Western way of life, as well. For such people, Germans and other Westerners are considered to be infidels. A concept difficult for the secular, Western mind to grapple with.

I, for one, warned of this phenomenon more than twenty years ago in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age. It was like whistling into the wind! Many simply didn’t want to hear the message. They didn’t want their comfortable lives disturbed by uncomfortable facts. They preferred to sing Kumbaya instead. But facts are facts, however people want to spin or slice them. I said it then and I will repeat it now, Islam and democracy are totally incompatible. One is either a Muslim or one is a democrat. One cannot be both a devout Muslim and an ardent democrat. No Sir! This is not possible. Period!

I wrote an essay on this way back in April 2007. I reposted in March 2017 here and in August 2021 here.

At last, the mainstream media (MSM) are beginning to wake up. It has taken a while, but it is happening – slowly. For instance, today, I see that BILD in Germany are ahead of the curve and are reporting about this phenomenon in various languages.

In German, they have an article entitled, Deutschland, wir haben ein Problem!. The same article appears in English under the title, Germany, we have a problem!

The same article also appears in Turkish here, in Russian here, and in Arabic here.

Happy Reading!

© Mark Alexander

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Some Thoughts on Vaping

I recently wrote a short essay on smoking and drinking. In it, I pointed out that I had been smoke-free for a full year and a half. I also pointed out that I disagreed with vaping being touted as a healthier alternative to smoking, pointing out that we know far too little about the habit yet to be able to tell.

This sad article on the BBC website today about a young 12-year old girl with lung damage helps prove my point.

In my experience as a person qualified in education, I would say that it is irresponsible to encourage this habit, especially among the young. Our young have been encouraged to take up the vaping habit because of the unrelenting war on smoking, cigarettes and tobacco. I stand by my words: vaping should not be encouraged, at least not at this time and at least not until we have many more years of experience with it. Originally, vaping was put forward as a way to help smokers to quit. And for that purpose, vapes should have been made available only on prescription. But vaping is no longer simply a means of giving up smoking; it is now an alternative to smoking, a habit to which young people have quickly been drawn.

It goes without saying that smoking is an unhealthy habit. Therefore, I have no problem with our government or the medical profession educating people on the dangers of habit. But that is as far as it should go. Cigarettes should not be made so expensive that they become unaffordable for anyone except for the superrich. In doing that, it makes the pleasurable habit affordable only for the privileged few. Ironically, it also make the habit more attractive! After all, if everyone could drive a Bentley, they would soon lose their appeal.

Whenever governments get involved, they screw things up. Governments should adopt a hands-off approach, being satisfied that they are doing all they can to inform people of the dangers. It is precisely because governments have been meddling that we now face the huge problem of so many of our young people being addicted to e-cigarettes and vaping! Do-gooders rarely do good; usually, they achieve the opposite.

© Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Philip Morris lobbying to stop WHO ‘attack’ on vapes and similar products: Exclusive: Leaked email shows firm behind Marlboro cigarettes critical of global ‘prohibitionist’ agenda »

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Some Thoughts on Smoking & Drinking

You will have noticed that I have recently posted a few items on smoking cigarettes. You will have also noticed that I am totally against Rishi Sunak’s incremental ban on smoking for young people, therewith making it impossible for people under a certain age ever to buy cigarettes in this country. Of course I am against encouraging young people to start smoking, but I view this ban as absurd, anti-democratic, dictatorial, intrusive, illiberal, and fundamentally anti-Conservative.

Conservatives are supposed to believe in small government. That means to say that a good Conservative government is supposed not to interfere in people’s private lives or at least as little as possible. Conservative governments are certainly not supposed to tell people what they should eat, drink, or whether they can smoke a perfectly legal product, or not.

This stupid, intrusive law, if passed, is even more annoying and absurd, because we are living in a time in which many governments around the world are decriminalizing soft drugs such as cannabis, and many governments are encouraging young people to vape, the encouragement of which I absolutely disagree with. Why? Because we don’t yet know what the long-term health consequences of vaping and e-cigarettes are.

Many governments and authorities try and say that vaping is less injurious to health than the smoking of conventional cigarettes; but is it really? Only time will tell. What we do know, however, is that vaping, with the plethora of flavours on offer, appeal to young people in a way which conventional cigarettes never did or could.

Cigarette-smoking is an acquired habit. You cannot smoke one cigarette, your first, and love it. Usually, one’s first cigarette tastes foul! Not so, it seems, vaping. An apricot-flavoured vape, for example, has instant appeal to many a young person. The fact that these devices often resemble hi-tech devices is an added attraction to our young people who want to look ‘cool’. This is surely why there are so many young people today hooked on vaping. Vaping today is ‘cool’ in a way conventional cigarettes no longer are. (At least for the time being.)

I have never vaped; and nor have I any intention of ever doing so. Nor have I ever partaken of any drugs. Not even the softest of them. I say that with pride, because there was plenty of opportunity even way back when I was a student. I stuck to cigarettes and alcohol. But in moderation.

Even though I defend people’s right to smoke and deplore this ongoing, unrelenting war on tobacco and cigarettes, I am pleased to be able to report that today, October 10th, marks one and a half years since I smoked my last cigarette. My last cigarette was on April 10th, 2022.

As it happens, I haven't had a drink of alcohol since early June this year, either; so, that is four months without a drink too! My liver is surely happier. Living without alcohol has also been easy.

Actually, I didn’t decide to stop drinking alcohol. It happened by accident. It is not necessarily my intention never to drink again. With Christmas coming, I probably will. But I am sure that being without alcohol for several months has done my health good, especially my liver. Interestingly, I haven’t missed alcoholic drinks at all. It’s surprising what one can do without and what one can get used to.

© Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Mark Alexanders Kommentar: BoJo

BoJo hat Vieles schief gemacht. Aber das, daß am Schiefsten ist, ist Brexit. Unser Ausgang aus der Europäischen Union hätte er nie zustande bringen sollen. Insofern als er das gemacht hat, hat er Mist gebaut. Mist höchsten Grades!

Eigentlich wäre ich imstande ihm sehr viele Fehler vergeben zu können; aber dieses Land aus der Europäischen Union herauszubringen ist wirklich unverzeihlich. Ganz und gar! Mit diesem einzigen Schritt, hat BoJo die Wirtschaft von Großbritannien kaputt gemacht und die Privilegien der Briten als Bürger der Europäischen Union weggestohlen zugleich, nur um ihm die Schlüssel zu ‚Number 10‘ zu geben. Und was für ein Desaster seine Zeit ‚in Number 10‘ war!

Alle Rechte vorbehalten
© Mark Alexander

Monday, April 03, 2023

A Message to My Followers and Visitors

MARK ALEXANDER: Yesterday, I decided to give this blog a new look. The blog had been the same for quite some time. I felt it needed to be freshened up.

The look is different, but I am still committed to rights for the LGBTQ+ community. So please don’t think that I have given up on the community. I have not.

The Pride banner looked attractive, but I believe that it was stopping some people, people with a more closed mind, from returning.

I have always been very pleased with the number of visitors I have been getting each day, but naturally, I would like the number of daily visitors to grow. All bloggers would like growth; I am no different. This blog was not growing; rather, it had got stuck at about the same level for very many months. It is my belief that the main reason for this was that some people, maybe people who are not out, are afraid of recommending a blog to their friends when the blog is so clearly gay-friendly.

I have therefore decided to try a new approach. But rest assured: this blog is still, and will remain, gay-friendly.

I hope that you will all give these changes a chance. I would like to see if I can increase my followers, too. I haven’t had any new followers for a long time despite the many daily visitors.

Kind regards to all and many thanks for your loyalty and understanding.
Mark Alexander

Monday, January 23, 2023

Blogging Leave

MARK ALEXANDER: I have been blogging constantly and consistently for a very long time now. As a result, I need some R&R; I am feeling exhausted.

For this reason, I have decided to take a break from blogging for a little while. I need to re-charge the batteries. I therefore ask for your understanding. I shall be back with you as soon as possible. But a little rest will be good for me at this time.

For all the support you have given me thus far, I thank you all kindly. Naturally, all the content of the blog, going back about 21 years, will remain at your disposal.

I thank you for your understanding; and, naturally, for your continued loyalty.

Best wishes to all
Mark Alexander

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Wishing You All a Very Merry Christmas

With many thanks to Advocate-Art | London – Seville – New York on Pinterest for this delightful and festive image.

MARK ALEXANDER: I would like to take this opportunity to wish you ALL a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. Sadly, many will have to celebrate alone. This is very true for many in the gay community; but it has to be said, not only. Many in the straight community will also have to try and celebrate alone, too. Remember this: Loneliness has to be experienced to be understood.

My heart goes out to all who will find themselves alone at this time. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are. Loneliness is the same for everyone, whether you are in China, Germany, France or the USA. Loneliness is the same. People who find themselves alone in war zones must especially be in our thoughts and prayers. In fact, ALL who find themselves in war zones must be in our thoughts and prayers.

Make the best of the situation you find yourself in wherever you are. You might feel alone, but you are not!

May God protect us all!

Happy Christmas to you all! Frohe Weihnachten! Joyeaux Noël ! Buon Natale! Feliz Navidad! Or, as we say in my part of the world, Nadolig Llawen!

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

Jesus, Christianity, and Homosexuality

MARK ALEXANDER – ESSAY: Christians make such a big thing about homosexuality and often, if not usually, try to deny a homosexual’s right to love and be loved. Christians always cite Biblical teachings for their aversion to homosexual love. Fact is, however, that Christian teachings, as we all know, should be based on Jesus Christ’s teachings. In truth, however, Jesus Christ uttered not a single word condemning homosexuality; he said absolutely nothing about it.

For a Christian to condemn homosexuality, he/she must look back to Leviticus in the Old Testament, to Genesis, and to Sodom and Gomorrah–hence the use of the word ‘sodomy’—and to Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Regarding Leviticus, if we were to follow the proscriptions in that book in the Old Testament, one of the books which forms the basis of Jewish law, we would be forbidden from doing many things. Leviticus proscribes tattoos, the eating of shellfish (bottom feeders in the oceans, hence they eat all the crud that falls to the bottom of the oceans rendering them unclean), and it proscribes many other things besides. Isn’t it strange how Christians cherry-pick the things that they dislike and which do not pertain to their own lifestyles and then conveniently ignore the rest of the proscriptions?

Further, the Bible proscribes men and women from sleeping together and making love/having sex before marriage. It is surely an abomination unto God. But how many straight people do you know that abide by this Biblical proscription? Most straight people I have known in my life have almost invariably slept with their husbands/wives before marriage. So why the big deal about two men or two women loving and sleeping with each other? What’s sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. Such hypocrisy!

However, I should like to add one very important fact about Jesus’s silence on homosexuality. Jesus lived in Palestine. At that time, Palestine was part of the Roman Empire. And the harsh reality about the Roman society at that time is this: Homosexuality was rife in the Roman Empire. It was commonplace for upper class Romans to surround themselves with pretty, young boys. Apparently, it was a status symbol, and they would often be paraded openly in Roman society, too. So that makes it even harder to understand why Jesus did not utter even one single word about this behaviour. Surely, if Jesus had thought it was such a sinful activity in the eyes of God, he would have said plenty against it.

What Paul had to say on the matter interests me far, far less. Paul, previously Saul of Tarsus, was a convert to Christianity. (In actual fact, it wasn’t even called Christianity in those days.) We all know the nature of converts, or reformed people, anyway.

In any case, Christian teachings should be based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, not on the teachings of Paul. It is what Jesus thought that is important, not what Paul taught.

Isn’t it high time that we in the West came to terms with the fact that homosexuals, just as heterosexuals, deserve an opportunity in life to pursue their own happiness? We all, gay or straight, deserve to be able to love another and be loved by another. It is time to stop making heavy weather of this. Furthermore, for believers, if it is truly unacceptable to God, then God will sort it out on the Day of Judgment. It is not for man to play God.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Rishi Sunak Refuses to Commit to Inflation-proofing Benefits

MARK ALEXANDER: If this country cannot afford to raise benefits for the poor in line with inflation, especially in these highly inflationary times, then one must conclude that this country cannot afford the luxury and extravagance of a monarchy. This is a logical and necessary conclusion. The people must come first, not the extravagance of monarchy.

Rishi Sunak had better be very careful what he decides. These are very difficult times for so many people. It cannot be taken for granted that the people will plump for monarchy over being able to feed their children and keep themselves and their families warm over winter.

I should like to remind Mr. Sunak that this is exactly how, historically, monarchies have been overthrown. Think 1789! The French Revolution!

When people cannot feed their children, and when people cannot keep themselves and their families warm during winter, anything can happen. Be very, very careful, Mr. Sunak!

Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

We Are All Raised on a Diet of Bullshit, Legend, Myth and Fable

MARK ALEXANDER – ESSAY: We in the Occident are raised on lies and make-believe. People in the Orient are no different, except that the stories they are told and forced to believe are different from ours. But for our purposes today, let us stick to the fabulous stories we are fed from birth.

We are fed these stories throughout life: it goes on from the cradle to the grave. The crap keeps on coming our way unrelentingly!

It all starts at birth. The early crap is pretty and pretty harmless. It stretches from the tooth-fairy to Father Christmas coming down our chimneys at Christmas. I am not quite sure about those hapless kids who live in houses that don’t have chimneys (but that’s a story for another day). Having travelled through the sky on his pretty little sleigh, packed full with parcels and presents for the children in the whole wide world, being drawn by his helpful and extremely hard-working reindeer: Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph (the most famous and helpful of all the little critters).

Then, when we have grown up a little, that story is moulded a different way: we are told about the story of Jesus, the shepherds who watched their flocks by night, and the three kings who brought the baby Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh.

All well and good and pretty harmless. Children lap it up, as indeed did I.

As one gets older, one learns to modify the story to make it easier to swallow and a tad more believable.

The problems with all these stories, myths and legends is that some people never seem to grow out of them. They believe them throughout life. Never coming to the point of realising that whilst there might be an element of truth in some of these stories, much is simply embellishment and make-believe.

However, the children’s stories are generally rather harmless. But as we age, we get told far more nonsensical stuff. We are taught to fear the Almighty and the all-seeing God. Such myths are told to us to control our behaviour of course, told to us to make us behave in a way that the authorities can control us in an acceptable way. This is where it starts to get sinister.

Then, as we get older, the government gets involved. At this point the real nonsense starts being told! And it is truly unrelenting. In recent years, we have had scares about the eating of eggs, the drinking of coffee, the big one about the eating of saturated fat, the amount of salt we eat, the exercising myth, the extreme dangers of smoking cigarettes and tobacco. Smoking. Ah, that will make you prematurely wrinkled, give you all manner of cancers, your hair will fall out, as will your teeth, you will lose your limbs and become impotent! Moreover, you will stink to high heaven of that awful substance called tobacco. Your teeth will be yellow and your gums will shrink and bleed. Smoking is the root of all evil in today’s world. Naturally, most of it is a load of BS.

Then we come to the myths and legends told us by the politicians. Lizzie Truss and Kwazi Kwarteng’s crap, for example, is the latest nonsense we have been told. The utter crap that cutting taxes for the rich will shore up growth. IT WILL NOT! And nor will giving more money to the richest in society trickle down to the middle and working classes. They sold us that crap back in the Eighties under Thatcher. What we ended up with is a wealth gap today not seen since the Gilded Age and a society built on greed and egocentricity. Who cares for his neighbour anymore? You can forget Christianity with such a politico-economic doctrine. All you will get is a widening wealth gap, a growth in foodbanks, a growth in homelessness, more selfishness and a society based on greed.

I shall add more to this another day. Suffice it to say that we are being led by liars and incompetent fools. We are being force-fed nonsense. We need to change course if we truly wish to save the Occident. In the UK, the Tories are incapable of the course change.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

What Happened When Her Entire Family Came Out

Over five years, each person in Jessi Hempel’s family came out in some way, in the process transforming their family dynamics and journeys of acceptance. In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hempel began interviewing her mother, father, and her two siblings in an attempt to “stitch together” their stories.


Coming out is a most liberating experience. It is difficult to explain to a straight person the feelings one experiences. It is also often difficult to explain to a straight person why it is so important to come out. Many straight people, perhaps most of them, just don’t get it. They have no understanding of what it does to one to live a life that isn’t authentic. Ignorance about being gay abounds. So many straight people think that being gay is about sex. It is not; sex, at least as far as I am concerned, is the very least of it. I don’t even like the term homosexual; rather, I prefer the term, which I made up, homo-emotional. Homosexual has got the S-word written into it; homo-emotional, by contrast, means that one gets one’s emotional support from a member of the same sex. It is perfectly possible to be ‘homosexual’ and not engage in sex at all! Go figure that one out!

It takes a long time to come to terms with one’s sexuality; indeed, some people never do. But even when one does, it is a long, winding and painful road to travel. But once one is out of the closet, there’s no going back. Only real men can come out. Coming out is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is a sign of strength and, often, of masculinity. Weak men could never come out: they wouldn’t have the courage to do so.

All I know is this: Coming out doesn’t solve all of one’s problems; but I would never ever wish to return to the closet. It would be unthinkable. – © Mark Alexander