Crazed Loner

Crazed Loner – a poem about the portrayal of mental ill-health in the murder of Jo Cox MP, performed at Ealing TUC International Women’s Day celebration.

Crazed Loner

crazed.loner

R.I.P. Jo Cox MP Crazed loner Stay-at-homer Helpline phoner Hummer and groaner Window licker Timebomb ticker Deranged and estranged He’s a stabber, a shooter Overly obsessed with his computer He’s nothing to do with us, you see No link to … Read more

File Under Self-Harm

mental health

She’s marked her again and the scars will preserve it ​She’s causing her pain ’cause she thinks she deserves it She isn’t a file on a case worker’s shelf She isn’t self-harming, she’s harming herself Hyphen, inversion may make it … Read more

Report: TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee, 5 July 2016

wheelchairbreakchains

Election of co-Chair: Sean McGovern, the Disabled Workers’ representative on TUC General Council, chairs the Committee. I was re-elected unopposed as co-Chair for another year.   Action on Resolutions from Disabled Workers Conference In carrying out the decisions of the … Read more

We’ve Got Something for That

somethingforthat

Your breathlessness feels like asphyxiation You’ve missed a deadline for some bureaucrat You’re sighing, crying, busting with frustration I’m sure there is a therapy for that The lights and noise and pressure make you dizzy The heat is burning up … Read more

Anxiety

anxiety_cloud

A stretched-out band’s pulled thin and pale with tension This wretched land is fertile for portension Its far-fetched plan is born of apprehension Turns breath-snatched panic past my comprehension My rough-sketched sanded smile is just pretension And level-handed mantras get … Read more

Report: TUC Disabled Workers Committee meeting, 17 March 2016

wheelchairbreakchains

Updates on ongoing work ‘You don’t look disabled’ briefing for union reps on ‘invisible/hidden’ disabilities, available here. Disability Labour contact details are here. Seminar on ‘Equality and mental health in an age of austerity’ – report online here. Griffiths v DWP appeal … Read more

Disability Fightback

from Solidarity 339, 8 October 2014   Campaigners fear that government “pilot schemes” to “help unemployed people with mental health problems find work” will lead to people being bullied off benefits and will not address the causes of mental ill-health. Some … Read more

Mood Swings

An attempt to put the ups and downs of depression into verse … Bright skies, natural highs, Summer haze, happy days, Good things … mood swings Dark cloud, not proud Guilt, shame, down again Life’s shit, deep pit Break down, … Read more