I have just seen on Facebook on the No One Likes a Tory page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/nobodylikesatory) and on the Guardian website (http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/politics/2012/mar/26/conservative-website-offers-donors-cameron-dinner) that the Conservative Party are asking for donors. I cannot be believe that the party has the cheek. They are cutting YOUR services and raising YOUR taxes, consequently fucking up YOUR country. Now they are asking for YOUR donors. And what do you get in exchange? A dinner with David Cameron. Who will be paying the cheque? YOU most probably. Tea With Mussolini comes to mind. Whatever the case, Tories don’t need YOUR money. They have NO shame. Then again, like the eejits who give the party six figure sums, you have to wonder if you will get some influence on policies you would have if you had dinner with him.
Personally, there are a million better people I would like to share dinner with. Also, there are a million better causes in the world that you could donate your money to, such as my friends who are running marathons and climbing peaks to raise money for their charities –https://elcatracho1.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/good-deeds-nic-clark-alessa-rigal-emma-victoria-lay-jonathan-hurtault/ . There’s Casa Alianza. There’s Rage Arts. There’s Cancer Research. I really don’t like dictating where your money should go, especially if you are planning to give some to a good cause. But you know as well as I do that giving it to the Tories is the worst possible thing you can do (apart from BNP and EDL and such like). Giving your money to cut services and more unemployment is like burning your money in front of the poor. Be clever and do the right thing.
I have just come back from Glasgow to celebrate my Aunty’s 60th birthday. It was fantastic. Aunty Gill didn’t have a clue and I got to see Glasgow again, a city that I have always loved. Unfortunately Celtic didn’t win. Honduras and ex Motagua superstar Emilio Izaguirre (there has to be a Honduras connection somewhere) was playing. Someone hid my Guinesses somewhere. I found them the next day. Feckers. But I enjoyed it all immensely. If I get pictures of the evening, I’ll put them online. My cousin Sam West and Callum McCann played a few songs, who play in the bands Fortunate Sons and Big Figure. I have put them on my blog before. They supported Jools Holland last year. As I stated, they played a lot of music last night. Some of which I heard, some of them I missed unfortunately due to me going to bed early after mixing medication for my ribs and alcohol. There was one song that Callum played that I absolutely love. Nancy Whiskey. Shane MacGowan and the Popes played it on one of their cds, but I have heard it played at various Pogues’ gigs too. It is originally an old Scottish folk song about the dangers of drinking alcohol (maybe that cockhead David Cameron and his out of touch Home Office Minister Theresa May were listening to it when they thought “let’s raise the prices of alcohol because we think poor people are irresponsible with their booze”). I will include a cover of the Shane MacGowan and the Popes version below. The video is brilliant. Look closely and you can see them defacing posters of Margaret Thatcher. Maybe David Cameron has seen the video too and wanted to be a bit vindictive after seeing posters of his little Tory mentor ruined. It’s the kind of thing he would do. Anyway, here it is. WordPress is still being shit, so there is a link below.
As a follow up to yesterday’s update about good deeds, I thought I would let brummie readers know that Emma Victoria Lay’s gig is on 17th April at Vertu bar in Jewellry Quarter in Brum. It’s a band night. Keep the date free!
I also want to say “Slán go Hazel Mealy”. My brilliant mate, hailing from the Kilkenny area of Ireland, is returning to Honduras. While I am insanely jealous that she has returned to the promised land before me, I do wish her the best of luck finding work and I hope to catch up with her soon, most probably in Habia Una Vez with a Salva Vida in her hand and the scent of a Bigo’s burger rolling off her breath while trying to dance to some Latin American funk band. Bíodh spraoi! Coinnigh do aiste bia a ithe glasraí!
To promote Emma’s gig and celebrate Hazel on her adverture, I’m going to play you out with the Irish rock legend, Rory Gallagher! A Million Miles Away. Because WordPress is being a complete and utter shit again, there is a fault on the system that isn’t letting me put on the video on the update. Here is a link away. (Nick Rogers 1 – WordPress 1. Arsehole WordPress).
I remember back two years ago when I was calling on you all to help fund me to Honduras. I remember how daunting it was to think of ideas and get them up and running, especially at a time when the recession was hitting everyone hard and there was little old me with cap in hand.
I now have a number of friends who are raising money for great causes. They are running marathons and climbing mountains and doing quiz nights. There are plenty of social networking sights, but as I have quite a few followers worldwide on my blog, I thought I would drum up a bit of interest for them and see if you could possibly donate some money. It would be much appreciated. I feel I owe many people great favours, so I’ll start here.
Nic Clark
The first is Nic Clark, who was volunteer co-ordinator at the Refugee Council in Birmingham where I used to work. He was a great colleague and is a good friend of mine. He left the Refugee Council to continue with his good work with the para Olympic team in 2010 in Rwanda. Unfortunately he is a Blackburn Rovers fan but no one is perfect, are they! He is running the London Marathon to raise money for Children in Crisis, along with pub quizzes around London.
Alessa is a good friend who also worked as a volunteer at the Refugee Council. She is also running the London Marathon for Children in Crisis, and Nic and Alessa have been training together. Alessa helped me raise money for me to go to Honduras. She came to my poetry night back in October 2010 and we often chat in Spanish. She hails from California, but has a French father (boooo) and her mother is from Peru (yeahhh!). She now lives in London with her fella David. They have let me stay at their place a couple of times. Her Justgiving site is below.
Emma was brilliant on my poetry night. She was getting people to dig deep and buy raffle tickets and she took tickets on the door. She is a star and no doubt I would have not made as much money without her. I feel bad that I haven’t caught up with her since I’ve been back, so hopefully drumming up some more interest for fundraising for the British Blind Sport will help her out too. I have heard from friends that she is organising a band night. When I know more, I’ll let you know. She too is running the London Marathon!
Jonathan is a true spartan from my days at the University of Central Lancashire. He is a Prestonian but chooses to support Arsenal. I have always enjoyed ribbing him about this. I can’t really call him a glory supporter because Arsenal haven’t won anything in years (they nearly did in 2011, but they lost to . . . . er, who?). Joking aside, Jonathan is going to take part in an amazing challenge. It’s the three peak challenge, in 24 hours. I am not too sure which peaks they are. It is best to see his website, which will tell you more. He is doing for Action Medical Research, which helps babies and young children. Jonathan has always been a good noble lad and I’ve always enjoyed having a laugh with him. Good luck buddy!
This piece of news completely passed me by last week. US lawmakers are going to be putting a stop on funding in Honduras if murders of journalists continue in impunity. I didn’t realise, but under Pepe Lobo’s reign that started in 2010, 19 journalists have been murdered. Please click on the link below.
I have managed “do in” my ribs again. The same ribs too. Twice in six months. I am now on pain killers and wine. I wonderful mixture and I feel less pain. Don’t tell the Jobcentre though.
Anyway, while bored at home, I decided to write Hall Green into Youtube. To those who don’t know what Hall Green is, well, it’s “mi barrio” in Birmingham. What came up was our own version of the film “The Artist”. Believe me, you need pain killers to get through both films, but I think the Hall Green one is far better than the overrated Hollywood one. The Hall Green one is proper vintage material though, as it was made in 1958 (and my God, does it show), not like the pretentious French crap that won a worthless oscar or two. Here it is anyway. This goes out to the B28 massive. That’s me speaking Hall Green street by the way. It’s called Packet of Trouble.
To celebrate David Cameron completely dicking on old people and the NHS, I thought that I would include a song. It was created two years ago before he got in power (with help from his Lib Dem sell out, Nick Clegg). It has been based on the tune Common People by Pulp. I hope you like it. It’s funny. Unlike his bill.
I know there has been a lot written about red meat this week. I am remaining skeptical of it all, rather arrogantly and ignorantly, because I think red meat is f–king brilliant! I love the stuff. I hear it makes you live for less time, but I guess I want to enjoy my life while I’m living it and eat what I like. In moderation of course. My mum once told me about a man who ate just carrotts and died. That’s silly and wasteful. To die of red meat or Dairy Milk or Crunchie Bars is far more interesting and entertaining to be engraved on your grave stone. Scientists are completely wrong and should learn to shut up when they have these silly ideas. Burger off. My mum is reading their vicious propaganda and hiding the bacon. I know there is the morality of killing animals, but that emotion quickly passes by when you have a slab of steak in your face. Anyway, here is an article written about the pros and cons of red meat http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/is-meat-good-or-bad-for-us-425192.html.
Have a look at this picture to see if you can turn it down. Vegetarians may want to turn away.
Love it
Here is a poem that I wrote about the subject.
Red meat
I like to eat red meat,
I don’t care if it kills me,
Or my heart skips a beat.
I like the blood dripping down,
And the grease between my teeth,
Bacon, pork, steak or lamb,
They’re all worth the morbid grief.
So don’t read the salacious lies,
Enjoy the taste, take in the protein,
With a greasy serving, of curly fries.
El fin!
This is a message going out to the world asking for some assistance. What assistance would a great man like you need? I hear you say (I better not start off being too cocky or I’m not going to get anywhere). Well, Pamela said to me the other day that she is thinking of starting an NGO in Honduras which assists young people with, or getting into, education and giving them an opportunity to display their talents. We are still looking at the finer details, as well as some time in the future. Part of it is looking at illiteracy and helping young people build their skills and empower them so they can function in everyday life and make a success of themselves, instead of getting sucked into gangs, street life and drugs. It’s a not a million miles away from some of the projects at Casa Alianza. We could bring out volunteers from other countries or ask ex-students to help in the long-run. But, like I said, we are still thinking of the finer details i.e. target markets, aims of the organisation, the values etc.
I have looked on the net and seen a massive amount of websites about NGOs but it all looks vast and some say different things.
Has anyone out there set up an NGO in Latin America? Furthermore, does anyone know of any good books or reading material to look at? A bit like a NGOs for Dummies book, which just gives a guideline for people to follow.
Just leave you comments at the bottom if you have any advice.
You might have noticed in recent updates that I am not very fond of the Tories. The clue might have been my poem “Dirty Little Tories”. That fact will always remain: I don’t like them. However, I don’t want to make this into a David Cameron hating website or blog (there are a million of them. Just type into Google: I hate David Cameron). To be honest, I am not a huge Labour fan, nor Lib Dems. In fact, I really don’t know what I describe myself as politically. Certainly on the left. Something collectively, but not communism exactly . . . .
I am going completely off the point. The other week, my friend Paul Curson showed me a picture on his phone. I thought it was funny but worryingly true. You know there is a touch of reality to it – it’s below. I have been looking for it on the internet for the past week and now I have finally found it on a Labour Party website – http://wyreforestlabour.wordpress.com/. My friend Hazel Mealy wanted to see it. I have included it below. I promise not to do too much Tory bashing (even though it’s so much fun), in case there are some avid Tory fans reading this blog. I don’t want this blog being side-tracked and too political. That’s not why I started it. I like to keep it on things about Honduras and street kids. However, after seeing the state of some of the public health care system in Honduras, where medicines aren’t always widely available because there are no funds (or the funds have been robbed), I do think the NHS is something that should be protected and cared for at all costs. Cutting services just isn’t on. We can’t have a privatised yank system. We just can’t. Use this as inspiration to look after the NHS. Do you really want those eejits smiling like that?
NICK "EL CATRACHO" ROGERS 