It's like global warming?

Back in the heady days, when I set my blog up, last September to be accurate, one of my first blogs was about the US sub-prime market and its likely impact.

Take a look at,

http://soapboxcorner.blogspot.com/2007/09/only-birds-are-coming-home.html

The birds are now indeed coming home to roost and we are all going to catch the cold. Greed, overspending and misleading business practices is hitting us all, not just the villains this time.

I cannot predict where its all going to end but something tells me it wont be as bad as some suggest. Because we are linked in this global framework, democrats, communists and fascists alike.

Somehow I feel the storm will settle and the feared recession will simply become a bumpy, yet significant correction with no one fully escaping.

In the end, we will all have to pay something. Perhaps this will be justice after all. Some will lose their home and some will just lose money. A bit like global warming?

Porcelain & Pottery Restorer

The 16th January is a special day, it's the birthday of a very special lady, who I believe is one of England's finest and most dedicated antique ceramic restorers.

For some years, Polly Bacon has applied her delicate skill to some of the most beautiful pieces of porcelain and pottery to bring them back to their former glory having been damaged or broken by their owners.

Polly's work was featured in the Yorkshire Life magazine in April 2005 and her work has been widely recognised in the antiques trade as well as from many private clients.


To see examples of Polly's work, visit her website at: WWW.BODYTALK.COM


Many happy returns Polly Bacon, a very special lady.

Rhys Jones

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has had a private meeting with Stephen and Melanie Jones, the parents of murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones.

The meeting with Mr and Mrs Jones took place during a visit to Merseyside, where the 11-year-old was shot dead last summer, which horrified any right minded person, in a crime which is unsolved.

The quiet dignity displayed by Stephen and Melanie Jones after losing their precious child was both heartbreaking and inspirational.

No fanfare by Mr and Mrs Jones, no fancy PR spin machine paid for by wealthy backers, just an ordinary hard working couple, gripped by unimaginable grief.

Sadly, nothing will bring back young Reece Jones, but his mum and dad will ensure his memory is respected forever through their dignity and humility.

Charles Edward Bacon

Private Charles Edward Bacon 2935, 2nd/5th Bn., [Prince of Wales Own] West Yorkshire Regiment died in Le Harve hospital France, on the 26th January 1917. He joined up in 1914 at the age of 36 and trained in Harrogate and Bedfordshire until his embarkation on the 6th January 1917.

The regimental war diary confirms, the 2nd/5th Bn stayed under canvass on the night of the 6th January 1917 and the following day, one man [Private Bacon] was taken to Quai d' Escale hospital in Le Harve, where he died at the age of 38, on the 26th January 1917. His body was laid to rest in ST. Marie Cemetery, Le Harve.

What is extraordinary about this unremarkable story, is Private Bacon's wife, Hilda, a mother of five, was escorted by the War Department, from her home in Hawes, a sleepy backwater of Wensleydale in North Yorkshire all the way to France to see my Grandfather before he died. This was at a time time when hundreds of men were dieing for their King and Country and would never see their families again.

In the book Wensleydale Remembered by Keith Taylor published in 2004, it is suggested Private Bacon died of pneumonia but was ill before his battalion set off from France and that he should not have traveled at that time. Whatever the truth about his illness and subsequent death, Charles Edward Bacon joined the army in 1914 and served his Country until his death in 1917.

It has bee recently discovered Private Charles E Bacon 2935, was awarded The British Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal 1914-1919, but sadly his wife and family never knew.

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to my Grandfather who served faithfully and gave his life for his country and to his late wife Hilda Isabel Auton who struggled on to raise five young children after he died.

Empathy, truly a gift.

To feel, the grieve of someone else's loss, the joy of someone else's new baby, the pride of someone else's success and the heartache of some one else's loneliness, comes from the gift of empathy and keeps us in touch with family, community and humanity.

Children who can talk, can be taught to read and write.

Four out of ten children left primary school in 2007 without being able to read or write, Government figures show.

120,000 children could not read properly while almost 140,000 were unable to add up. The Government has failed to meet its own target, to get 85 per cent of 11-year-olds in England up to Level 4 by 2006, despite significant investment in improving schools.


Bright children often go on to university and leave their local communities, to rightfully pursue their careers.

But what about the children who leave school without any basic skills, they cannot read sufficiently to apply for a job and cannot do basic sums to be responsible for the money they do receive. These children are not socially mobile and therefore cannot take advantage of the opportunities most of us take for granted.

Whilst many rub along without any real hope or aspiration, some end up in the criminal justice process, ignored by their parents and punished by the system, only to continue to hurt the very community which nurtured them.

We need to invest as much in the academic basics as we do in academic excellence for our children. If we continue to fail in this basic necessity, we let our communities down as much as we let our children down.

I do not know, of a single child, born in England, who has failed to learn and articulate the basic English language, before they reach the age of five. In some cases children from the most deprived backgrounds have mastered one of the hardest languages to learn. Yet we find it acceptable, that these same children, cannot be taught to read and write basic English, after eleven years of schooling.

This is a sad and disgraceful reflection on our sophisticated society and our schools, who have failed dismally to stimulate our most deprived children through out eleven expensive years of wasted opportunities.

If we truly wish to remove poverty in our society, the battle must start with equipping all our children with the basic skills to communicate effectively within their communities, the rest is easy.

Happy New Year

A belated Happy Christmas and my very best wishes for a peaceful 2008. I know my reader is out there, waiting with baited breath to read every word I scribble. Sorry, I just had a small brain fart there, fantasising again.

I'm not one for new year resolutions, as they rarely get resolved, but this year I will try and get my head down to a couple of projects. Sorry again, I can't tell my reader what they are, I might fail dismally in my quest and you will know how badly, which will encourage you to get a life and no longer visit my blog.

Enough of this rambling rubbish, I truly wish my lone blog reader whatever, he or she desires for 2008. To anyone else who stubbles into my little, self opinionated world, I apologise ,for my errors in spelling, grammar and composition.

If you understand what I am saying and agree, thank you. If you understand and disagree thanks for stopping by. Whatever your views, good luck in the coming year.