Organising my routine work has made it easier for me to remove a lot of old stuff and prioritise what remains. It gives me more time in the afternoon to do something else, usually sleeping. So many things I would like to do if I had the energy.

For the last 2-3 weeks I’ve had little fresh material to share, then suddenly find myself overwhelmed – I find I’m saving more posts as drafts than I’m discarding, which is the opposite of what I intend! I may share my views on Your Party when I know what they are, I’m still considering several opinions which give me two options:

• Join the party and have an input into the final organisation

• Pay attention to what’s going on but reserve judgement until you see how it unfolds.

For now, I’m adopting the second option; but I’m saving relevant material for future reference. In November and December I’m posting some articles I wrote for Critical Mass on Indigenous Affairs, a topic close to my heart, but I will find time to write some more new stuff in addition to this blog 😅

I did consider migrating my blog to Substack where I have several followers, but I don’t think they’re long enough or frequent enough to warrant the change. I’m content with the knowledge that comrades read and appreciate them and, if I wrote every day, I would need to choose something (perhaps of a personal nature) for #SocialistSunday.

My legacy is now in the bank and I’m still entitled to Winter Fuel Payment, I’m no longer receiving Pension Credit but I was on the qualification date. I didn’t need it last year and donated part of it to Age UK to help those who do, I need it even less now so I’ve donated all of it. I expect to be making several large one-off donations over Christmas but won’t madly splurge out just because I can. I’ll probably make a few smaller monthly donations too. One benefit I lose because I’m not receiving Pension Credit I no longer qualify for a free TV licence, but that’s of no consequence as I didn’t want one when it was free!

One thing I won’t be doing is responding to individual requests from Palestinians on Bluesky – there are far too many of them and I have no way of telling if they’re genuine. I’ld rather donate to UNWRA, if I could be sure of aid getting to where it’s needed.

I’ld really like to help out comrades who are struggling with expenses incurred because of Cur Starmer’s draconian terrorist laws. I’m thinking particularly of Audrey White who has to travel from Liverpool to London for what may be a 35 minute hearing. If anyone knows of a crowdfunder that I can contribute to please let me know, I can afford to be generous. Sadly some friends have health problems that money can’t help with 😢

I’m not forgetting myself. My personal expenses over Christmas will be quite modest, I eat very little and go for quality rather than quantity where alcohol is concerned. I won’t be spending large sums on myself until the weather is warmer and I can get about more. There are a few things I’ld like to do but need to work out the logistics as I’m still dependent on public transport, but I have invested in a mobility scooter and a personal alarm in case of falls (I accidentally set it off when I turned over in bed 😅). So far I’ve only spent what I already had in my bank account.

The mobility scooter will be a blessing as it takes me twice as long to walk into the village as it used to and I missed an appointment at the optician. The accessories have arrived but I have to wait a bit longer for the scooter itself because it needs experienced people to assemble it. I also hope to have my heating sorted out next week, it won’t come on in the morning when I need it but it’s often too warm in the afternoon.