OxyContin (15% morphine in each dose) is getting it’s tentacles established here in the UK too. In 2017 over 64k people died in the USA of opiate abuse. Many were introduced to opiates via OxyContin, prescribed by their doctors, for ailments such as back pain. It is estimated that the OxyContin becomes addictive after […]

Much rests on the second reading of Paul Flynn’s private members bill on Friday advocating cannabis to be made legal for medical use. If it proceeds and is eventually passed into law, it would be a landmark day for people living with a chronic disease or in constant pain, which includes myself. For much of […]

Many years ago, aged 16, I broke the law, and was remanded in custody to await my trial. Confined to my cell for up to 22 hours a day, it was sultry and ever-lasting, in that balmy summer of 1981.  Occasionally I got to break the monotony of it all, strolling with my fellow inmates […]

I’ve always considered myself quite a seasoned traveller around the UK. I love the rolling hills of the West Country, the wildness of Northumberland, and have spent ample time visiting many areas of this beautiful island we live in. However, there is one glaring omission which has never really been on my radar. Besides of […]

I’d checked in at Birmingham airport for my 0630 Flybe flight to Palma, Majorca. I was glad to be in its air conditioned surroundings after a sultry night spent tossing and turning in the nearby Ibis Hotel. Not one for early starts I savoured the caffeine kick from my double expresso I’d brought earlier from […]

It was a big day for Exeter City on Sunday, our 3rd trip to the not so new Wembley and a Division I play off final against Blackpool. As the two times before we all met at the Green Man pub, a short walk from the venue. It is a wash with red and white, cider songs and old faces which […]

Connor popped down the other weekend. He’s having to study hard for the theory side of his aircraft engineering course and Julie and I were suitably impressed at the way he diligently deals with all the mathematics and algebra which he’s got to learn. To me you might as well be talking Japanese trying to […]

My Dad & Mum passed this weekend 16 & 13 years respectively. He was always my inspiration teaching me to hold the line and never give in but it was my mum who gave me my soul. She missed him once he left, often saying to me she was ‘feeling blue’ without him. When she […]

I’ve always been drawn to the mysticism of a David & Goliath battle and turning the odds on their head. Perhaps it goes back to when I was wee bairn fighting chronic asthma or maybe it’s a reflection of later life and my on-going battle with MS. Either way I’m always drawn to fighting for the oppressed […]