For the attention of anyone who has ever shared a Britain First article..

Patriotism that is not backed up with logical, critical thinking is like a disease that has the ability to separate humanity more than anything else ever could. It can make a usually rational person support a cause without any understanding of the principles or ideas that are behind it.

Britain First is a prime example of this. They share pictures of our troops and flag which people share to show their respect of what our armed forces have done for us.The thing is, Britain First is a far-right group that posts anti-islam propaganda and has leaders with past links to the BNP. Sharing their images and propaganda is not paying your respect to our troops at all, it is instead paying tribute to fascism, which unless I am mistaken is exactly what we fought a world war against. 

The murder of Fusileer Lee Rigby has been used by many far-right groups to try and fuel hate towards Muslims. To any individual who has the gift of an inclination towards rational thinking it is obvious that the murderers who carried out the attack were two fanatics who do not at all represent the Muslim community.

Lee Rigby's Mother has publicly slated far-right groups, stating that they do not represent what Lee stood for and that her family does not support them. The fact that these groups are using his murder to promote their hateful views is hugely disrespectful to his memory and I can not say enough how much I respect his mother for publicly speaking out against such groups.

 

Of course there is nothing wrong with being proud of your country and your heritage, but to use this in a way of backing up your own misguided belief of your own superiority is completely illogical and unnecessary.  Patriotism is not believing that people of your own nationality are better than others, the idea of a superior race is what Hitler fought for. The pictures and stories shared on far-right pages aim to dehumanize Muslims and people who are not from an old-fashioned British family. If people continue to be ignorant enough to fall for them then this could be very troubling indeed.

The people sharing the images they use just because it has a union jack on should understand this, A flag is merely a symbol, a way of representing an idea and a true patriot would not want their flag to represent or be associated with the ideas that Britain First represent.

 

We are historically a country that is a combination of many different cultures and ideas. From the Roman's, the Vikings, the Normans and the many different influences acquired whilst we had an empire owning most of the world, we have always relied on other cultures to aid us to be a better country. So anyone who thinks that Britain needs defended from outside influences must have no understanding of what our country has been built upon.

Another side of LSD: an expert and its users speak out about acid

A tab of LSD displaying a caricature of the famous "Bicycle Day"

LSD is illegal in the UK and is usually portrayed in a negative light by the press. Despite this, many people who have taken the drug have cited it as being a beneficial experience and many psychologists believe the drug could be vital in further understanding the human mind.

One of the UK's leading experts on Hallucinogenic drugs Dr. Ben Sessa, a Psychopharmacology believes the drug is safe to use in the correct environment and can offer users an enlightening experience.

Dr Sessa said, "If used wisely, with due care and attention to Set and Setting, adequate preparation and appropriate support, a user may have a wonderful, meaningful, fulfilling and important psychedelic experience."

"The experience can provide the user with a depth of personal meaning, an opportunity to explore their past emotional experiences, to resolve repressed trauma and identify new and creative ways to look at old problems."

"The 'classical psychedelics' (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline and DMT) have relatively few physiological effects, this is why the classical psychedelics are so physiologically safe and there is very low risk of physical or psychological dependency."

"Epidemiologically we do not see people returning again and again to drugs like LSD in a 'moorish' fashion. Indeed, many people describe taking LSD or mushrooms just a few times, often as a 'rite of passage' during an episode in late adolescence or early adulthood and then not continuing that use for long periods of time. Indeed, the psychedelic experience is often so intense and 'life changing' that one does not need / want to repeat it regularly. This is why they are actually very useful tools to treat addictions."

LSD was first synthesised on November 16, 1938 by Swiss Scientist Albert Hoffman. Working for Sandoz Laboratories he was hoping to create a circulatory and respiratory stimulant when he accidentally made one of the most famous inventions of the 20th  Century.

The inventor ingested a huge dose of 250 micrograms, expecting this to take little to no effect on him. He then bicycled home on a historical trip he could never have expected. Hoffman realized the significance of his creation and his drug inspired many influential figures of the 20th Century.

Steve Jobs cited LSD as one of the most important experience of his life, second only to the birth of his children. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and many other musicians were heavily inspired by the drug. Writers Aldous Huxley, Hunter S. Thompson and Ken Kesey and many famous Hollywood icons such as Jack Nicholson, Carey Grant and Tim Burton also took the drug. Even Francis Crick, who discovered the structure of DNA, enjoyed taking LSD.

Despite the stigma attached to the use of illegal drugs, many people who have taken LSD are happy to speak of their experiences and share their stories.

Gary Hedley, 22, Supermarket Cashier

I have taken acid on only three occasions and was completely shocked by the effects it had on me. From what you see in movies and hear in the news I expected to be surrounded by very real unicorns and people morphing into interesting and scary things. It was nothing like this! For me it gave me the feeling of ecstasy while marking everything I seen beautiful and interesting. I have taken it in the house as well as while camping in a forest both experiences were different however both were extremely fun, mind opening and brought me closer to the people I was with. I would say that acid is my favourite drug


Harry Appleton, 21, Unemployed

ive took acid 4 times, it was an entirely different experience each time i took it, ive experienced the hell and the heaven, and wouldnt change those experiences for anything, it opened my mind to new ways of looking at the world, it shaped who i am as a person, made me more cynical and at the same time more open minded to ideas i would once of ignorantly thought were nonsense It gave me a lot more empathy towards the struggles of those around me, and helped me accept my discomfort instead of trying to helplessly trying to solve said discomfort with material gain like i perceive most people to do, and after i comedown, Its always nice to feel a whole lot lighter, without losing any weigh

John Fitzpatrick, 21, Student


 “I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve taken
LSD, but it is only once in a blue moon that I do. Usually I take it with friends
and have a great laugh, but also it makes you see a things from a much more
open-minded perspective, it’s like you can see the meaning and beauty in
things.

Thomas Foster Beattie, 20, Travelling Confectionery Manager

Travelling Confectionary Manager "I've tried it around 30 or so times,it let me into an altered state of mind where when looking at an object it appears to slightly morph or breath , and brain is running at 100 miles a hour analysing every possible outcome of the thing you are thinking about. I've took it in different environments, inside and outside, in a night club, at a festival, with people that i know very well and people that i didn't know at all. The only bad experience I've had is when i had it in a club and i got bored with the shitt music they were playing and there were loads of tosserss about so I went home.

Daniel Allinson,20, Bar Person

The only time i took acid, i only took one tab. Three of us decided to take it, however I had four other friends who were drinking alcohol. I  previously had apprehended this was a bad idea, the noise and the mania of the drunks made me feel uneasy, however as the night progressed i begin to stop caring. I had a small amount to drink as well that night and smoked a lot of weed. I would say the cannabis certainly amplified the effect of the drug. I didn't have anywhere enough to  have visual trips or see any particular hallucinatory images, instead I recall a strong feeling of well-being and a dream like lucidity to all of my surroundings. Overall I'd say that it was nice and I'd definitely do it again

William Griffiths, 22, Bar Manager

I've tried acid five times. It distorted my perception of reality and all surrounding entities. It threw all my per-conceived notions of life, death, religion and every matter in between into question, and it made me giggle a hell of a lot. I had it Surrounded by friends late at night walking around the surrounding villages and towns.

Black Friday: A celebration of greed and moral decay

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving in the United States. Regarded as the beginning of the festive shopping season it is a celebration of all that is wrong with the human race. It is the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States, with an estimated 97million Americans hitting the shops. It is a happy consumers wet dream, an occasion to look forward to for materialistic bargain hunters. The event has a manic effect on people, turning them into soulless beasts who have lost all morality.  Prices are slashed and decadent shoppers lose all self-control and inhibition, fighting manically to ensure they purchase the goods they think that they need.

This year saw reports of mindless violence from all over America. A man was reportedly stabbed over a parking space. A woman tasered another in a Philadelphia shopping centre, and one man was maced by police following an argument over a television. Further festivities included a shopper being shot and robbed in Las Vegas, and a California policeman being assaulted.

The worst thing about it is, Black Friday has reached our shores.

Asda,(owned by Wal-Mart) Amazon and Apple have spread the event to the UK, purposefully infecting the British consciousness like a whore spreading herpes around a naval base. This year British stores joined in to help them spread the word. John Lewis and Debenhams slashed their prices for one day only, enticing customers in search of Christmas Bargains. Our country, though not as manic as our American counterparts was taking over by the moral corruption of Black Friday. A man just yards away from the Queen was arrested in Windsor for shoplifting. Another man was arrested following an argument that occurred over two 60-inch televisions. Witnesses described shoppers as "locusts" and "savages" as goods were discounted by as much as 70%.

It is entrenched within our society that a decent person buys Christmas presents for those they care about. It is tradition, your responsibility and your duty to purchase products in an attempt to delight the intended recipient on the morning of the 25th. This leaves people stressed, both mentally and financially and the appeal of a bargain is understandable. What is not understandable is turning into wild animals, with no regard for each other or sense, driven simply by greed. Perhaps if they were fighting over an antidote to some tropical disease I might understand or even empathise, but even then I would expect them to think with a degree of rationality.

I am not anti-american, I love American literature,music and films. I do not bemoan the Americanization of our country as some people do. I believe that every culture has its positive and negative aspects that we can observe and learn from.  Black Friday is certainly one of the aspects of American life that I wish had stayed in America. I can only hopelessly wish that it does not become a tradition in Britain, but if my instincts are correct these wishes are futile.

BBC betray the public

After noticing that most mainstream news organisations decided to give little attention to this weekends protests, I was horrified to discover that the BBC decided not to cover the marches.

The protests had a crowd of at least 50,000 fighting against NHS cuts and in my opinion were definitely newsworthy. Whether intentionally or not, the BBC betrayed their responsibilities to the public by showing a total disregardment to the event or the proposed cuts that sparked the protests in the first place.

In fact, I believe that the BBC not covering the event was almost criminal, they rely on basically extorting money from taxpayers and a large amount of people use the organisation as their main news source.
Attempting to keep a large scale event regarding such an important issue as this discreet is certainly not what a major and supposedly run for the people, news organisation should be about.

A fair democracy relies on having informed voters, so by disregarding this issue I believe that the BBC showed they do not care about having a fair democratic society. As a government run and major news organisation this is very alarming.

Why do people fear words?

Tesco have been forced to apologise for selling a 'Psycho Killer' costume which has been deemed offensive, is that not a bit pathetic? You would have to be pychotic to be offended that easily. If, like many people do, you suffer from some form of mental illness, this Halloween outfit is not taking a swipe at your condition, if you think it is then maybe you are arrogant and self-centred, or simply one of these pedantic people who finds trivial issues like this more important than real topics such as poverty, politics or the simple fact we are a country that tends to look down on the poor rather than help them? Are any of these same people offended by the title Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece? If so they may be missing out on an excellent piece of cinema through no one else's fault but their own.

Personally I believe that the meaning of language is completely down to its context, so why do people decide that the words themselves cause harm? If Barack Obama said an expletive on daytime television there would be a mass public outrcry, wheras if he ordered a small task such as the bombing of a small nation that would dwindle in comparison, an interesting scenario to sum up societies priorities.

When you see the word f*** you read it as the word fuck, so why do bother doing that? If someone can't crack that complex code they use there then I assure you that their issues are far greater than some four-letter words.

People with kids often seem to believe that swear words  will harm their children, yet proceed to pollute the family homes with ciggarette fumes whilst filling their little brats up with almost toxic processed food washed down with fizzy drinks that make moonshine seem like some form of health drink. I'd like to tell them parents right now, if your child finds a swear word offensive, it is because you taught them to think that way.

A case of someone using societies apparant weakness for these 'curse' words to their advantage was Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. Nixon released several large official documents relating to the case with the phrase 'expletive deleted' scattered throughout, which could have been hiding anything. These documents weren't being handed to primary school pupils or a church choir! Fully grown adults, interested in the biggest presidential scandal of all time, would not, or at least should not, be offended by mere swear words ,but rather by being patronised in such a ludicrous way.

'Putin in underwear' artist flees to France

An artist who painted Russian President Vladimir Putin in women's underwear has fled to France, where it is believed he is seeking asylum.

Fearing arrest Russian artist Konstantin Altunin left Russia on Tuesday after having his work seized from an exhibition at a small museum in St Petersburg.

The painting was one of four taking by authorities, other artworks taken included a portrait of politician Vitaly Milonov, one of the creators of Russia’s controversial anti-gay laws,  depicted alongside a rainbow flag which is an international symbol of gay pride.

After authorities were alerted by a member of the public who believed the paintings were breaking the law, police armed with Kalashnikovs raided the Museum of Power on Tuesday to confiscate the artworks.

It has not yet been stated by authorities which laws the paintings break, but it is believed that the police may seek to press charges under the country’s recently passed controversial law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors.

Vitaly Milonov, the creator of the new laws, visited the exhibition, later appearing on St Petersburg’s Echo radio station. The MP publicly dismissed the works of art as "tasteless, at the same level as a yob from a vocational college who scribbles in a toilet at a bus stop".

Defeated David Cameron loses commons vote on UK involvement in Syria

A government motion proposing that the UK takes military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons has been rejected.



The dramatic vote took place in the House of Commons last night, where the proposition was defeated by a total of 13 votes. As a western intervention in Syria seems imminent, a strong opposition from Labour and a Tory rebellion saw the government defeated 285 to 272 in its bid to involve the United Kingdom in the conflict.

The vote took place after a gruelling 8 hour debate at Westminster, which David Cameron used to make his case supporting British military involvement in Syria. Cameron agreed with the motion that: "A strong humanitarian response is required from the international community and that this may, if necessary, require military action"

During the debate the Prime Minister acknowledged concerns raised by previous conflicts, telling MPs: "I am deeply mindful of the lessons of previous conflicts... but this is not like Iraq."

However after leaving no doubt about his personal opinion on the matter, Cameron was unable to unify parliament, with the motion facing strong opposition from the Labour party and Cameron the victim of a Tory rebellion, with 30 Conservative MPs voting against their leader.

After the motion was rejected, a defeated and humiliated Cameron was forced to abandon his plan for military action, telling the House of Commons that: “I strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons. But I also believe in respecting the will of this House of Commons. It is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that and the Government will act accordingly.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband happily expressed his relief with the outcome of the vote, stating:

"I think today the House of Commons spoke for the British people who said they didn't want a rush to war and I was determined we learned the lessons of Iraq and I'm glad we've made the Prime Minister see sense this evening.

"I think military intervention is now off the agenda for Britain and I'm afraid to say that's happened because the Prime Minister tried to go for an artificial political timetable for intervention, he tried to bypass the United Nations and I'm afraid he's got to learn the lesson Britain does not need that kind of cavalier leadership - it needs calm and measured leadership and I hope he takes that lesson out of what happened tonight and over the past few days.

Mr Miliband further added:  "It was cavalier and reckless leadership that was taking Britain potentially into war without going through the United Nations, without putting the evidence properly before the British Parliament and I think he should learn the lesson from this episode."

When asked regarding how the vote will effect relations between the United States and Britain, Ed Miliband said: "I think being and ally of the United States and having a special relationship with the United States cannot simply be about doing what the American president says he wants you to do."

A senior Labour MP resigned as a shadow minister prior to the vote. Jim Fitzpatrick quit his role after telling the Commons he was "opposed to military intervention in Syria, full stop".

Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary supported military action, but confirmed that the British military will not get involved in Syria, telling BBC's Newsnight: "I hoped we would carry the argument but we understand there is a deep well of suspicion about involvement in the Middle East."

The outcome of the vote will come as a shock and a concern to the Obama administration, which is likely to send troops to the conflict in the near future.

Concerning the result of the vote, a US military spokesman stated:

“We care about what the UK thinks. We value the parliamentary process but we're going to make the decision we need to make.”