Last year ended with my celebrating 76 years of staying alive despite all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune but this year hasn’t started well for me. I’ve been informed of the date of my mother’s funeral but in terms that make it impossible for me to attend. My lack of mobility is not accepted – 6 months ago I went out for a drink with a friend, who picked me up and dropped me off at my door, and just before Christmas I walked a hundred yards to deliver a card to a neighbour. I have managed to get out this week for a long awaited visit to the barber. She did a brilliant job 😀

I’ve had a reply from my sister Tricia and her executors of my mother’s will, with only a postal address to reply – I’ve no intention of buying printer cartridges or walking into the village to post a letter. I expect nothing and anything I receive, beyond what’s needed to pay off my debts, will be donated to charity.

My last three blogposts have been reposts of earlier articles. This is not laziness, I thought it an appropriate time to post them again. I included moving this blog to Substack but my annual subscription to WordPress thas just, been renewed so I’ll be staying with WordPress for the next 12 months.

I will only be on X/Twitter for 6 months as more comrades migrate. My tweets are no longer protected as I was still getting a lot of shite despite blocking @Keir_Starmer @DavidLammy @elonmusk and @TzipiHotovely

A large part of my day on Socialist Sunday is spent following back comrades from the other place, even without the hashtag! I have a problem with accounts that don’t provide a bio – how do I know that they will have anything to say that will interest me?

I’m also getting a lot of people claiming to be from Gaza with a crowdfunding account. I tended to follow back these accounts at first to show solidarity but without donating – if I gave £1 to everyone who asked me I’ld have nothing to live on and I’m quite generous as it is – and I have no assurance that these people are genuine. The consequence is that I will no longer follow back any accounts purporting to be from Gaza, I question how they manage to get their messages out when Israel is cutting off all their power?

I set out last year to write a blog a week and, bar a couple glitches, I’ve managed that and hope to do more this year. I’ve already started winding down the number and frequency of the petitions I promote but it’s difficult to stop doing what you’ve been doing obsessively for 10 years!

I want to post more original work, instead of sharing what I’ve read, but I need to learn how to set up a zoom meeting to facilitate collaboration with others. I also need to take a step back from social media, but not so far back as to lose contact with friends and comrades. I’ve become more reclusive as I get older, and I would have felt person non grata if I had the gone to the trouble and expense of attending my mother’s funeral. You are my family now!

I have several topics I want to write about but there’s one subject I know more about than anyone else – it’s myself! My first blog post was simply intended to tell my followers something of my background. I think the time has come for a complete autobiography, in instalments. That’s something for me to work on on 2025, in between other things!

I haven’t asked you recently to subscribe to my blog as I wasn’t sure I was staying with WordPress. Having just paid £100 to renew my subscription for another year the time has come to subscribe so you don’t miss anything. It doesn’t cost you anything and won’t pay my bill, there’s not even an option to buy me coffee, but your feedback would be very much appreciated 😀✊