This is truly sickening

And it's happening now.

But it's not in Ulverston, or England or the UK.

So shall we ignore it?

It's what is happening in Belarus  .

If I was being imprisoned there as described in this article I would want the world to know of my plight.

This is why I feature it here.

This is why this situation was featured on the front page of The Independent today.

At least we should read it and know what is happening to others - we never know we could be pleading for help ourselves with everyone ignoring us.

What to do  is another matter - this is presumably what Amnesty International is good at.


Looks like I need to devote a very small part of my busy life to issues like this.

But then Ulverston has some groups of with little energy to spare.

I've just returned from spending about two hours with well over a hundred of them - the Ulverston U3A.

It was a strange atmosphere. It's as though they were being harangued by their school teacher Diane Hill who they knuckle down to and obeyed with some quiet but rare dissent. Why do they put up with iy I ask myself.

These people come across as very old for their age. They appear to have lost that childlike quality of being inquisitive; have they put too much emphasis on being led and guided rather than being adventurous.

People I know have found more fulfilling things to do.They choose to do things outside the Ulverston U3A. In an atmosphere like this, it's easy to become  of complacent.

With all this talent and potential energy - what a missed opportunity for the town -  an opportunity for the members a to develop high self esteem by working with a wider cross section of people and age groups.

Is the Ulverston U3A too inward looking, I ask myself. Too pre-occupied with itself and not with the world outside

Working with young people keeps one young! It helps redress one's perspective regards what is happening in the real world.

Even Diane Hill tends to agree with me when I admit to not wanting to mix with Old Foggies, like myself, all the time. I do love the energy that young people have. By restricting our rules for membership of the U3A, are we not missing  the vibrancyand questioning the under 50 year olds bring to life.