Because of my age and lack of mobility I’m unable to take part in protests without assistance, I’ve bought a self-propelled wheelchair in case I do get the opportunity but I need to get there first and I don’t drive. So I have to do whatever I can online and I’m exploring new ways of doing so. It doesn’t come without a cost!

I thought it useful to outline the expenses I have doing my work in addition to my annual subscription to maintain my WordPress. I’m not going into precise figures, that’s information useful for me that you don’t need to know. I could monetarise my blogs by inviting you to donate, but I’m not going to do that. I prefer to invite you to donate what you can afford to whichever of these causes you choose. I call it socialism in action, and I rarely ask anyone to donate if I’m not prepared to put my money where my mouth is 😊✊

Local Charities

These are my largest regular donations and rather than ask people to support the same lifeboat and foodbank that I do I provide a resource so they can find one closer to home.

Alphabetical list of UK Independent Lifeboats https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Qi81OlwmG9PCtN2zEDdTHcG-ZtQYfuebIIHH8Otpd4

Whether you need help putting food on the table, or can afford to help someone else put food on theirs, you can find a foodbank here. https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/

Animal Welfare Charities

I’ve adopted a dolphin named Charlie with Whale and Dolphin Conservation. You can adopt a dolphin, humpback whale, or orca by clicking on this link uk.whales.org/support/adopt/ Cost from £4 per month.

I’ve adopted a tiger named Gopal. You too can adopt an animal 🐅🦍🦧 for just £3 per month https://www.bornfree.org.uk/adopt

I also donate regularly to https://www.league.org.uk/ I considered cancelling my donation when they fired Chris Williamson and Peter Egan as trustees/sponsors but Chris dissuaded me from doing so

Rights

I’ve chosen to donate to the Left Legal Fighting Fund set up by Chris Williamson from damages paid to him from legal action against the Labour Party. Rather than support specific campaigns such as those for David Miller ( which were successful) I prefer my donation to go where it’s most needed in campaigning to achieve justice for activists, protesters and whistleblowers. https://www.fightingfund.org/ via @Fighting_Fund

I’ve joined human rights organisation Liberty, costs only £1 per month https://secure.libertyhumanrights. org.uk/page/57463/donate/1?locale=en-GB

I’m also a member of Lakota Peoples Law Project https://lakotalaw.org/about

Information

I have a paid subscription to https://morningstaronline.co.uk/node/43772 which gives me access to an unlimited number of articles.

I’ve also subscribed to @CraigMurrayOrg Craig’s articles are free to share but I’ve chosen to support him financially.

I subscribe to @openDemocracy and @UnlockDemocracy. I think the first is a paid subscription but the second is not.

Substack

I subscribe to several Substack accounts, some are paid subscriptions but others are not. All worth reading.

The Chris Hedges Report https://chrishedges.substack.com/

Caitlin Johnstone https://open.substack.com/pub/caitlinjohnstone/p/liberals-are-always-trying-to-distance?r=jitam&utm_medium=ios

Laura K Translater (parody) https://open.substack.com/pub/normalislandnews/p/flag-shaggers-furious-england-football?r=jitam&utm_medium=

Harry’s Last Stand https://open.substack.com/pub/jmsmith/p/the-1-have-kept-us-in-check-with?r=jitam&utm_medium=ios

Council Estate Media https://open.substack.com/pub/councilestatemedia/p/if-supporting-genocide-is-not-a-red?r=jitam&utm_medium=ios

Jonathan Cook https://open.substack.com/pub/jonathancook/p/how-the-western-media-helped-build?r=jitam&utm_medium=ios

My subscription to Dr Julia Patterson’s blog is currently unpaid but that’s about to change https://open.substack.com/pub/jujuliagrace/p/reactions-47-can-you-replace-a-doctors?r=jitam&utm_medium=ios I’ll tell you more in a separate blog.

I may switch to Substack myself next year, but I’ve already forked out for a year’s subscription to WordPress. I can’t finish this blog without a mention of my friend and comrade Charlotte Hughes https://thepoorsideof.life/ We subscribe to each other’s blogs and are trying to collaborate so far as we’re able 😊

I also make occasional one off donations to various causes, like my comrade @RevBluesSusie who recently walked the equivalent distance from Gaza to Jerusalem and back to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. I couldn’t do that myself, my York Walk for York Rescue Boat is something I’m proud of but it’s unlikely to be repeated. I’m constantly getting requests for donations and can’t afford to donate to them all out of my state pension even if I am slightly better off than many pensioners.

I could list a lot more useful sources of information that don’t cost me anything, but you’ll find them for yourselves. My purpose in this blog has been to show that we do what we can with our abilities, and online activism shouldn’t be disparaged – it doesn’t come without a cost. I’ll end by re-iterating that I’m not bragging about how much I donate to various causes – I’m merely inviting you to do likewise if you can afford to do so 😊