I had a very loud argument with one of them during the Christmas period regarding taxes and the government. I want to respect the privacy of the ex so I will call him Oscar . Oscar is British born and lives abroad. His argument was that the problems with England could be solved by higher taxes. My argument was that the British government had no idea how to spend the money they received from taxes, so giving them more would be like poking a blind man in the eye…painful and fruitless.

I am passionate about this, I’m not saying that I know everything about the government but it does not take a genius to see that they are a bunch of overpaid pigs whose first interest is lining their own pockets. What I am passionate about is the government actually opening up it’s squint eyes and taking a look at the state this country is in and righting the wrongs that it has created.

I don’t want to sound like a Marxist but that is what the British government is making me do. At the end of the day you can squeeze only so much juice out of a fruit and I believe that the government is trying to feed the five thousand with five fish and two loaves of bread, with the thinking that they can produce miracles…..(from the hard working British tax payers). In short there is money to spread but the government want to build tanks bombs and nuclear reactors whilst apologising for the lack of police on the streets, clean hospitals and cells in prisons. Whilst asylum seekers get homes, jobs and schooling for their children, English children are getting knocked up, banged up, beaten up and killed by gun or by knife. Criminals are let out and what do they do? Brake laws and kill people…..shocker!

What is being done for the physically, mentally incapacitated people of the U.K,? What is being done for the soldiers coming back from Iraq who will never, ever be the same?What is being done for the the disabled, the weak, the poor, the unfortunates? We are told that soldiers are not being fairly compensated for their loses by the government and what of those others who are not able to earn and expected to live on the stupid amount the government offers, what of them?

What of the people who have disabilities who are forced to the back of the queue because of those who have come from countries that are suffering so much? What of people forced to live in squalid conditions because all the safe housing has been given to asylum seekers.

In one week the news has told me, one baby was burned to death because of an unsafe water tank, reported but left to fail. A young girl died from being beaten to death, her parents wanted her to be part of an arranged marriage she did not want and there was no where safe for her, nothing in England to keep her safe. Three youths either shot or stabbed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, out enjoying the evening. A woman gave birth and died because she was given an epidural into her arm rather than into the spine. How many elderly persons died this year because no hospital were watching them?

I work my fingers to the bone and pay taxes, but I expect to hear that my money is going towards causes that are beneficial to this country and those English born who need help.. I don’t want my taxes to go towards arms, foreigners and perks for the government.

What about the pensioners who are being conned out of their pensions, left with half a pint of milk and £1.50 on their electric?

The hospitals that are so filthy and the staff so incapable of their jobs people are dieing, is it just down to too little funding from the government?

What of the farmers who need a boost because of foot and mouth and bird flu?

The mentally/physically ill who have to rely on the mealy amounts of charity because the government has very strict policies on what they will contribute to. Strange that these people can’t find peace in their own minds and bodies, when they live in a country where peace of mind and safety is given on a plate to “those seeking asylum” or even those just seeking a house.

At the end of the day I am angry, I live in a country where the government is too concerned in making money for itself and being a “friend to the world” ( I use that term loosely), so that prime-ministers and ministries can take four week holidays, fly on private jets “for security”, whilst all the ministers slope around in the latest Jaguars, Mercedes, Porches or one of those great four by fours( just what you need when you are going from Parliament to Tower Bridge). The houses they live in, the food they eat, the lives they eat and I haven’t even started on pollution. Are we living in Animal Farm? It certainly feels like it.

I have in the last ten years seen taxes rise (whilst paying them) and all I have seen is the country decline. I don’t know what government can bring about the answers, and I strongly believe the problems in this country will only get worse. I will be leaving this country near the end of the year and whilst I will miss my family and friends I will not miss the hard, earned money cut off the top of my wage being pored into a black hole of the big fat pig’s mouth.

I think that to phrase men as cunts is doing a disservice to the female form…which every artist would be up in arms about. Please be careful if you are calling someone a cunt…only the greatest, most magnificent heart break, a kind of man so swamped in romanticism, so humble, so adoring of women, in so much appreciation and understanding of each and every part of the female body, a man who admires women ( now there’s an endangered species)

All I’m saying is don’t waste your passionate words on wasters…..they don’t deserve the praise.

I was having a quiet pint with a friend and we breeched the subject of Valentines. Their thoughts were that it was just an excuse for marketing types to make a quick buck and that people got carried away with buying things and that it had no true meaning.

This got me to thinking, is this true? Is romance dead? Do you have to spend a fortune to show the one you love you love them?

My personal opinion is that personal touches are worth far more than expensive gifts. When I was younger romantic types would put tapes together for me to listen to, I guess your modern day alternative would be an email with a file full of MP3’s. But they wouldn’t actually spend any money, time and effort yes but that time, thoughtfulness and effort weighs up as worth more in my mind.

If you have poor taste in music and have no idea what your beloved likes then you are in a no win situation. But there are other things you could do. I’m lucky I have many artistic skills in short I can quite cheaply show anyone how much they mean to me.

You could go find a bunch of wild flowers and kill them by picking them and them give them to someone, get an old cheque book and write in cheques for things your partner would like you to do to or for them (make sure you trust the partner), dedicate a song to them on the radio, cook them dinner (which might cost a bit but will be cheaper than the Ritz.

Everyone has a talent…with a little imgination, a touch of effort, some glue and some glitter, it’s easy to show someone that you care. And if you don’t really care that much but you do want the pleasures of carnal fulfilment….you need to do something.

In short Valentines doesn’t have to be about spending a lot of money on someone, if that’s what they expect then they are shallow and not worth it. Why are you bothering? If you are both quite heavily into Materialism and think love is something for naive people….go away and write your own blog..or why not reply to mine…come on I love a debate….I warn you though I nearly always win.

Valentines is a day to celebrate love, the beatles said “all you need is love” and the older I get the more I understand. To have someone to share the same old joke with, someone who knows when to back off and shut up, someone who worries about you and thinks about you but knows that you will phone and eventually turn up. Someone who can look at you and know all your faults and still want to be around you. Not just someone to joke with and f**k but someone you would do anything for, not take everything from.

I love my Boo, my family, my friends, and I have no enemies just people I don’t know yet.

I’ll admit that I like the big bunch of roses and I wont turn around and say “No please don’t cheapen your love with superficiality” but he likes to send them to me just as he likes to take me out to dinner, open the door, pull out my chair. Men can be men and women can be women without being scared of losing their indivduality, love and being in love doesn’t make you a sissy, it’s hard work but it is it’s own reward