I continued to do some lay legal consulting to various mums who had terrible ongoing injustices preventing them having full lives with their young kids after a separation until last year.

All I hear  - or rather see with my own eyes, is that  the ‘system’ – be it their own useless lawyer, never mind courts, is all just as awful as when I was most active (as lay legal, ONLY for pin money – sarnies and coffee cash of  £5/hr, rather than various who seemed to almost profiteer in that role) 2005 – 15ish. And saw for myself in earlier years.

Although the powers-that-be seem to have cleverly rolled back what Juhn Junk ( a superb principled Lay Legal) called in 2006 The Clayton Lacuna, it strikes me that  there is still need for REAL ‘transparency’ which can only really occur when the citizen is allowed to tell the story, in full…

But I gave up, even the so called ‘campaigning’ ‘charities like FNF seemed to be completely incapable of ever saying anything ‘against’ the hand that fed them in the form of the odd bit of government support.  Became part of the problem. Interestingly a month ago their Chairman sent out a mass email fessing up to “we lost our way”.

However my own very very ‘deep dive’ into the months or years of the life of a litigant – once again faceless, as committed  legal assistant – as most ‘cases’ have mounds of paperwork and many many stories behind them  which take many days to hear out, understand, and double check– most will never even make it to court never mind to the shorthand pad of the “ uk’s only full time family court reporter”   only lead me to one even worse conclusion. And I hate to say this…

Whereas from 2005 to around 2012 or 13 every single ‘victim’ of the system contacting me, one could believe - they always told the truth, from around 2010 and even moreso nowadays one simply never knows. There is so much [xxx]  = fill in the box. I decry labelitis which has swept the world UK especially   - everyone is on some spectrum and every opponent in law (regardless of sex) has some or other ‘narcissism / controlling behaviour / even to quote the ridiculous Mr Peterson popularising ‘dark triad’ … stuck up someone's bum…  but I use BPD ( to me and I studied top psych) merely a behaviour by someone who isn’t psychotic or  hallucinatory  which is so irrational to some reasonable objective measure.  For example there became an increasing  section of litigants who would spend months years compiling the most extensive bundles and paper-based counter attacks after suffering injustice.  And if one met them some  would have even pretty good  analyses of the injustices off pat; doubtless also they spend a huge amount of time on some online platform making their case. However when it is put to them “easy case, that judge made such a plainly dubious statement in..line 2.. para 3 …I really don’t see how you wont be able to have this case progressed quickly enough back onto track, AND it is a simple case as many are. Etc”  they never ever … take the next step.

Sometimes I have wondered if their whole  case has become to them, for them….a performance – performing they are enraged hurt damaged victim of the ‘system’  - some rather well. But they rarely do anything about it. (confident and seemingly quite stable people).

Cynics would call it a  weird postmodern cry for attention.     I think there is something deeper and rarely for me use a label: BPD … borderline personality disorder. I think it is far far far more prevalent throughout the population than allowed.  (and diagnoses or allegations never point in to such furthermore I mean in otherwise fairly functional people who do not present with clear behavioural patterns to block parenting time….. ).

There’s the definition of FAILURE! …its laughable I do….

Last year I looked through someone’s case papers and the phrase (in re Z  - see the judgements page) we had had a two day battle (with NYAS)  to yes create “REVOLUTION” and move forward from ‘dehumanising’ words like ‘contact’   but the case I looked at was dotted with only the old word, ‘contact.

I gave up.

I do however believe in the power of STORY. (myself I don’t do miserable ones)

For a decade I have pretty assiduously roamed  looking for allies – collaboration even, developing and getting out story on what became my greater concern ( too much fruitcake in family law for me these days) the environment.

BUT….any scholar of great culture – high but popular, too,  as I am…. Knows that PIETY AND EARNESTNESS NEVER WORKS…

It never did and never will. Especially in Britain.

The Full Monty, Reginald Perrin, even Rick Mayall, and nowadays almost alone (still allowed to be very rude on the BBC) Alexei Sayle proved that.  And there are many other examples. 

(the best of all in fact how Intouchables the French movie – quite rude in places but he has such a  perfect smile!)  made something like 40x investment  for the makers.

 

I have DOZENS of wry funny (though always dead serious deep down) tales collected about the environment.  And I know one reason that almost all ‘environmentalism’ has failed (it has I am an expert of that failed world, too) is because the Greens…. Cannot laugh at themselves, never mind remember they need to make the (unconverted) LAUGH …..  in other words they are a bit of a deathcult

In fact the not-as-good-a-journalist-as-she-thinks Mrs sarkar   advises us in this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av74Yj6CJno&t=1720s&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE

That Extinction Rebellion co-founder (in my last  region, as they became very popular 2018ish – and almost ALL very very mild mannered women who meet for cake were the main members)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hallam_(activist) apparently just did a big “ youre all fucking  cunts” to his once loyal band of pixies…. 

Well… not only would I never be as rude, even when I knew that was a fact a decade ago, but trying to explain WHY they are a bit cun*y … or even make movies about why… surely is required of anyone who cares about the environment enough to lead bits of it

As I have sort of done a bit in 

https://www.ralphschism.com/p/mm.html

But… for a decade I lived IN the ‘environment’ in a very out-of-the way  hamlet with basically disastrous broadband so I couldn’t use the internet much…until 3 years ago I set out to  be elsewhere (gentrified out into rooflessness – best thing that ever happened to me, never mind at least at last I have phone signal  - mobile hotspot tethering the ONE tech thing that DOES work)

Except I don’t have a plug – meandering around in a small  4 wheeled snailshell … and the BPD is so so bad  everywhere that “silence please” in  British library became an act of aggression 15 years ago…

So I rarely have a quiet space, plugged in, to catch up on my only  real enjoyment – jotting, and a bit of storytelling, in such a way I even have time to check through for typos, never mind write the stories fully and thoughtfully.

But I am a pretty good scribe for someone who cannot touch type – well I almost can these days….. rattles out pages of unplanned jotting many a day, not a moment spare to even have a sip of coffee, never mind think…

Which is the wonderful silver lining of bein’ jabbed up the arse by a  whole system that has dark triad syndrome…   you have to really up your game …it happens… I was almost mute in 2002 and would spend  3 days on one paragraph….

Nope…. That isn’t how to live…. Letting go all the way..is…. even if you get arrested for it…. I know the real truths  and sleep perfectly

ANY collaboration on stories welcome always…I never give the link of this site to anyone unless I think they have got maybe a bit of Boudica in them…

And my my we need a few….

(my actual job 10 years meandering seeking them…. The next Voltaire will be a Mrs….Men have no voice in contemporary society I accepted long ago.. but I do have literally dozens of lines for your manifesto…. Worked out over those ten years with dozens of women…….. kindof on the same page….)

0795eight 526three eight 1 7days always from dawn…

 I’m never really off duty because you don’t ‘retire’ from  just..having a go….