https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions daily 0.75 2026-03-10 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/sometimes-the-old-songs-just-hit-the-mark-perfectly monthly 0.5 2026-03-10 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-really-shouldnt-be-having-these-issues-with-the-nhs monthly 0.5 2026-03-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/b77baa4c-6cfb-4bdf-aa6a-36518c9b6f71/642295028_18411483430133685_4362366999683082068_n.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I really shouldn’t be having these issues with the NHS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/3ohmf6wzt8h3zwgu3u9pmr8ophfrgp monthly 0.5 2026-03-08 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-nightmare-of-moral-dilemmas monthly 0.5 2026-02-08 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/roger-thrond-1924-2001 monthly 0.5 2026-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4e3efca1-bc44-47d9-bc12-20ccc9c20a37/RogerTherond.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Roger Thérond (1924 - 2001) I’m someone who tends to get up very early and I start the day catching the news and flicking around the few channels that are on at that time in the morning. Just occasionally I get lucky and catch an interesting documentary. This morning on Sky Arts I came across a documentary about Roger Thérond who was the editor of the Paris Match magazine. But the documentary wasn’t about that aspect of his life, it was actually all about his love of collecting very old photographs and his love and fascination not just of the photograph but of the people and places in the photograph and the person who took the photograph. It’s hard to explain but I felt an immediate connection with this guy because I also have a love of old photographs and how they capture something that can never be replicated using todays modern high tech equipment. Not only that, I also felt that Roger Thérond was personally an interesting, kind and thoughtful man and for that and his love of photography I’m adding him to my “Cup Of Coffee” list https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/it-almost-feels-like-being-on-the-verge-of-civil-war monthly 0.5 2026-01-15 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/america-is-broken-but-i-think-its-people-are-fighting-back monthly 0.5 2026-01-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/b5330310-7acf-4780-a413-51c136f95c56/BrokenAmerica.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - America is Broken, but I think it’s people are fighting back - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/renee-nicole-good monthly 0.5 2026-01-10 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/saturday-3rd-january-update monthly 0.5 2026-01-06 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/sometimes-i-need-to-do-the-difficult-things monthly 0.5 2026-01-02 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/more-eye-injections-for-2026 monthly 0.5 2026-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/30856dfb-c67e-4e7c-a4da-a9f95bba1965/Eyes.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - More eye injections for 2026 I had my last round of eye injections in October 2025 and thought for a time that it had finally fixed the macula oedema. At the end of November I had a follow-up appointment and at that time it was all looking ok and I didn’t need any further treatment. Last week I was back at the eye department for another round of tests and scans and while I hoped things would be ok, I really knew that things were starting to worsen again. So it was no surprise that I I have had a telephone call from the hospital today asking me to go back next week and start another 4 rounds of injections into both eyes again. While the treatment is VERY painful and everything about having to go to the hospital is so difficult for me, my eyesight the next day quite amazing. And as long as the hospital is willing to do the injections and as long as they continue to work I will keep having them. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-amazing-bbc-interview-with-sir-antony-hopkins monthly 0.5 2026-01-02 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/ive-had-some-stickers-printed monthly 0.5 2026-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/34472961-7e39-4891-a992-362d36d33758/Sticker.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I’ve had some stickers printed I've decided that 2026 is going to be a little bit of a "Trans Fight Back" year. Nothing drastic that's going to end up with me in a cell bock but to kick things off I've just had 300 stickers like this printed Should be a bit of fun popping them all over the place and pissing the world off just a little bit. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/looks-like-im-not-going-to-america-anytime-soon monthly 0.5 2025-12-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/6303b620-7c61-47f3-b236-b4a10c25c92c/Trump.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Looks like I’m not going to America anytime soon It appears that Old El-Presidente Trumpton is demanding to see 5 years of social media records for people of the UK (and other county’s) before entering the United States. From my point of view that will be very simple, it’s 5 years of me calling him a complete grad A twat. Joking apart, what does this say about the mans metal thought processes? To me it shows someone who is increasing paranoid about what everyone is saying about him and I think the question needs to be asked, is he fit to hold office? Wake up America! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/fifa-a-bunch-of-arse-licking-twats monthly 0.5 2025-12-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/ac63b4ca-d77d-4a54-b422-01f92482af99/FIFAPeacePrize.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - FIFA, a bunch of arse licking twats So, FIFA have awarded Old El-Presidente Trumpton it’s very own version of a “peace prize”! First of all, what gives FIFA the authority to award peace prizes? They are a football organisation and in my view need to focus on managing football. Secondly, awarding a peace prize to Old El-Presidente Trumpton is like patting the local racist corrupt paedophile on the back and saying how much of an upstanding example they are! Thirdly, someone needs to point out to FIFA that doing stunts like this just makes them look like a bunch of arse licking twats in the eyes of the rest of the world. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/im-gen-x-and-proud-of-what-that-means monthly 0.5 2025-11-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/b04f72ec-b76e-4a71-ab19-c8970c529e45/GenX.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I’m “Gen X” and proud of what that means You say Gen Xers don't have hobbies like it's a bad thing. But you know what we do have? Responsibilities, repair, and repressed rage. See, we're the sandwich generation stuck between kids like you who can't drive and parents who shouldn't drive, and we're holding them both together with duct tape, caffeine, and cuss words. You think I got time for watercolour painting? Little miss, my hobby is wondering when my next vehicle repair is going to be and when my mental lapse is going to happen, and it's probably at the same time. You want to know what I do for fun? I mow. I manage chaos. I fix things that break, and when nothing's broken, I'm learning how to repair something that just might break. My me time involves muttering at the lawnmower and pretending the smell of gasoline counts as aromatherapy. You know what I collect? Things that might come in handy. We don't build model trains. We build our kids' confidence in our own ulcers. We don't craft. We cope. That's our creative outlet, coping creatively with constant crap. We grew up analogue, and then we both built and learned the digital world. Now we scroll our sanity away between bills and back pain. Our relaxation is sitting silently in the dark. holding a beverage and whispering, don't talk to me until the caffeine kicks in. So no, we don't have hobbies. We have household hazard management, half-finished home projects, and high-functioning hopelessness. But we do it with pride, because we're Gen X, the forgotten middle-generation children of mayhem. Now back off or get mixed up in the mess. Gen Xers never have a hobby!! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/today-i-told-mental-health-services-lmhtto-sod-off-and-stop-wasting-my-time monthly 0.5 2025-10-23 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/my-thoughts-on-personal-integrity-in-the-world-today monthly 0.5 2025-10-22 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/is-uk-immigration-broken-beyond-repair monthly 0.5 2025-10-14 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/have-you-ever-wondered-what-its-like-hearing-voices monthly 0.5 2025-10-14 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/uwmjm5qwk5c2cda0447ec1wef7a3qj monthly 0.5 2025-10-10 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/sometimes-i-just-can-not-face-going-out-into-a-hostile-world monthly 0.5 2025-10-06 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/youtube-here-i-come monthly 0.5 2025-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/3b6e15e2-a42c-4f88-8329-a7e05d22f4ed/YouTubeLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - YouTube here I come Quite some time ago I got the idea into my tiny little brain that I would sit down and talk to the world via YouTube. I bought some fancy 4k webcam, set up a YouTube channel, sat back and did bugger all. You see, sitting and talking to a camera is not that easy. Then you need to factor in “editing” the video. While I am very happy editing still photographs (been doing that for years and I got quite good at it) I haven’t got the first clue how to edit video. I also have at some time during the editing process got to look at myself and hear my voice, neither of which I like doing because I’m butt ugly and I hate the sound of my voice! Finally, top all that off with trying to work out what I’m going to say and it never really got going. But that changed this week. It started with picking up a DJI Mic Mini transmitter and receiver microphone set from Amazon, hooking them up to my new Pixel 10 phone and actually put my backside into gear and hit that record button. The result was a 2 minute and 18 second video that is possibly the most cringe worthy piece of crap in the entire history and future of YouTube. After a few days the video has had just 24 views and I totally don’t care. In fact such a low view rate is probably a good thing. However, it was the spark that I needed to get myself going. Here’s a bit of a little story for you that I think is quite relevant. Many years ago I got up early one morning and went into Nottingham with a camera and took random photographs. Back home I looked at them. They were rubbish but it was a starting point, ground zero if you like. The following week I went out again and took more photographs, went home and looked at them and again they were still rubbish. But not quite as rubbish as before. After repeating this process many times I eventually became a BLOODY GOOD photographer (still am!). I was that good I could have turned pro. I’m now applying the same approach to video blogging. Just to add a foot note, the day after I recorded “episode 1” I sat and recorded a “YouTube Short” talking about the recent Manchester terrorist attack on the synagogue and as with the photography, it was just as rubbish as the first video but maybe just a tiny bit better this time, and to my absolute amazement, in a little over 24 hours it has received 350 views and 8 likes. I’m a YouTube sensation!!!!! Finally, as with all things I dive headlong into, this hasn’t stopped at just picking up the DJI Mic Mini microphones, oh no!! I now have a DJI Action 5 Pro camera and hand grip winging it’s way across the country to my house for delivery before 10pm. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/clearly-a-very-broken-system monthly 0.5 2025-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/bf918dd3-f61a-4d07-991a-0c60b98a556f/FileOn4.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Clearly a very broken system Last night I sat and listened to a BBC Radio 4 “File On 4” report into the secret life inside the UK Asylum Hotels. I wasn’t sure before I listened if it was going to be a bleeding heart report on how all the poor asylum seekers are being miss-treated or the opposite scare mongering media horror story. I’m pleased to say that as per normal for BBC Radio 4 (if not the greater BBC) it was very balanced and I can 100% recommend you put some time aside and listen to it yourself and form your own views on what is reported. For me, it’s very simple that the entire asylum hotel concept is floored at every level. From a UK government perspective it’s clear that the approach has been badly thought out and left open to “self regulation” or “lack of any rules” and we all know that anything left to self regulation is doomed to fail because it’s open to abuse and corruption by everybody. This is evident by asylum seekers working in the black economy when they shouldn’t. Businesses from small local outfits to major national companies taking advantage of a cheep workforce that have little or no employment and safety rights. In other words modern slavery. Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) who hook up asylum seeks with illegal jobs and who take cuts from all sides to the benefit of nobody but the criminal underworld. And make no mistake, this is not the criminal world of the council estate chav, no, this is the world of international BIGTIME crime who make millions off of the backs of their vulnerable victims. The hotel chains. Let’s face it, they are onto a win win situation. Full hotels at guaranteed prices and when the government is finished they get their hotels fully refurbished at the expense of the good old tax payer. And then there are the asylum seekers themselves. Be honest here, they are not always they helpless poor victims. They play the system to it’s maximum because they know that they can. They know that by being as difficult as possible they delay any due process years beyond what it should take to complete. They also know that no matter what they do, it will have little consequence for them. Like I say, take some time and listen to the report and make your mind up for yourself but for me it is clear that this complete concept/process has been broken from the very beginning and it continues to be broken because nobody in authority wants to fix it. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/what-did-you-think-was-going-to-happen-america monthly 0.5 2025-09-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/5a941803-0a17-4002-8e05-cbbb14ca99db/MAGATrumpton.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - What did you think was going to happen America? I see McTrumpton has yet again been making statements and shouting his mouth off without any facts or truth. This time he’s claiming that paracetamol (Tylenol in America) is linked with autism. This turd seems to have no limits to what he is willing and capable of doing. But I have to say America, what did you think he was going to do when YOU elected him. And if you didn’t actually vote for him then not enough of you got off you fat backsides and voted against him. Trumpton already spent 1 term in power and proved he was a power crazy megalomaniac who only wanted to push his own thoughts and not give the truth a hope in hell. Take the idea of injecting bleach to cure Covid as a shining example. So everyone in America who is posting YouTube videos, holding protests, running around in circles and generally whining about what McTrumpton is doing you allowed to happen. And just for the record, I do agree with all of you that McTrumpton needs placing in a VERY secure psychiatric unit along with the rest of the MAGA sycophant he calls his “Administration” What McTrumpton is doing is no less that what religious extremist organisations like the Taliban and the Nazis have been doing since the beginning of time. Wake up America and sort yourself out while you still have a chance. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/this-is-what-happens-when-you-let-hate-of-any-kind-flourish monthly 0.5 2025-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/907bf377-1d87-45be-897a-43f6a81b4767/CharlieKirk.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - This is what happens when you let hate of any kind flourish This is Charlie Kirk, a promoter of far/extreme right wing american political views. I will even go so far as to say he is a promoter of hate speech and a hater of LBGT+ communities. It’s fair to say I really don’t like him and what he says or how he says it. But I also don’t like the news this morning that he has been gunned down and murdered in what seems to be a shameful move to silence him and maybe send out a message of hate to other right wing speakers. By doing this, the murderer is as bad if not worst than what they are fighting against. And I have no doubt that they should be subject to the fullest impact of the law. Nothing can justify murder like this. I’m reminded of the writing by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in her book “The Life of Voltaire” I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it Another day where we wake up to the devastation of hate. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/they-wanted-to-know-why-i-was-crying monthly 0.5 2025-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/97220f2f-6cf7-47b9-9c48-8adf49c20951/LabiSiffre.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - They wanted to know why I was crying Yesterday I had a appointment at the eye department for my monthly treatment. While in the antithetic room the song “Something So Strong” by Labi Siffre came on the radio. I was already having a quite difficult day and was struggling with difficult thoughts but as the beautiful and powerful words of the song played out in the background I just couldn’t hold back the tears any more. “What’s wrong?” they asked and I just didn’t have the strength to explain. The higher you build your barriers The taller I become The further you take my rights away The faster I will run You can deny me You can decide to turn your face away No matter, 'cause there's.... Something inside so strong I know that I can make it Though you're doing me wrong, so wrong You thought that my pride was gone, Oh no Something inside so strong, Oh - oh oh oh oh oh Something inside so strong! The more you refuse to hear my voice The louder I will sing You hide behind walls of Jericho Your lies will come tumbling Deny my place in time You squander wealth that's mine My light will shine so brightly It will blind you Because there's...... Something inside so strong I know that I can make it Though you're doing me wrong, so wrong You thought that my pride was gone, Oh no Something inside so strong, Oh - oh oh oh oh oh Something inside so strong! Brothers and sisters! When they insist we're just not good enough When we know better Just look 'em in the eye and say We're gonna do it anyway We're gonna do it anyway Something inside so strong I know that I can make it Though you're doing me wrong, so wrong You thought that my pride was gone, Oh no Something inside so strong, Oh - oh oh oh oh oh Something inside so strong! Brothers and sisters! When they insist we're just not enough When we know better Just look 'em in the eye and say We're gonna do it anyway https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/not-a-life-style-choice monthly 0.5 2025-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7f229fce-5138-4dc1-b12a-3274e0a6db13/transgender-pride-flag-stockcake.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Not a life style choice I find it very sad and upsetting to see the growing increase in haltered towards the trans community in particular and in general towards any vulnerable minority group in todays society. There seems to be a patten of though that says members of any vulnerable minorities chose to be like this like we are as if it’s a life style choice! While I can not speak for everyone out there I can speak for myself and categorically say that being transgendered is and never was a “choice”. I didn’t sit there one day and think to myself “I bet being a part of a vulnerable minority group will be fun, I’ll become transgendered”. I also know that I didn’t think to myself that I would become transgendered to gain access to women’s toilets and changing rooms. On that point alone I have to say what a ridicules claim to make. I am transgendered because that is what nature made me. Just like nature made people straight, gay, lesbian or any one of the millions of variations that nature imparts on us. I don’t know why the haters like to maintain this claim of choice on our part. Maybe because they feel it gives them some moral high ground to base their hate on. Maybe they think they are upholding some righteousness written in historic texts or maybe it’s because they are so frightened to think it could happen to them or their loved ones. Whatever the reason, it fills me with fear for what will happen in the near future for all of societies minorities. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/ee-i-think-you-need-to-take-a-very-long-look-at-your-attitude-towards-your-long-standing-customers monthly 0.5 2025-09-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/229248e0-34ed-4eee-9217-181e22faa2ec/ee.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - EE, I think you need to take a VERY long look at your attitude towards your long standing customers Last Saturday I decided it was time to update my old phone. After giving it a lot of thought I changed from the Samsung flagship phone to the new Google flagship phone, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. I like Samsung phones but I felt it was time for a change and the Pixel 10 had some new features that I liked that Samsung didn’t offer. After talking with a very helpful lady at EE everything was set up and I should expect contact from DPD to confirm a delivery time for the coming Monday. At 09:30hr on Sunday morning to my surprise I got a text message from DPD telling me the phone was out for delivery and would be with me in a few hours. This was no good for me as I was out for the day and was not what was planned. I called EE and spoke to one of their staff and explained that the phone was arriving today and they needed to get in touch with DPD and get them to deliver on Monday as agreed. Her attitude was nothing short of disguising from start to finish with a torrent of “it’s not our fault”, “this is DPD’s fault”, “It’s not our job to fix this”, Nothing we can or will do” and best of all “It’s your problem, I suggest you contact DPD” After I ended the call I calmed down for a few hours and called them back and selected the option to go through to the cancelation department. The gentleman I spoke to there was very helpful and explained that the lady I spoke to who basically fobbed me off was completely out of order and apologised to me for the way I had been treated. Unfortunately I felt I had been treated so badly and the “new phone experience” had been so screwed up that I just wanted to cancel the phone completely and put things back to how they were before I ordered the new phone on Saturday. That was done and that’s how I ended the call. But EE didn’t end it there. Even though the phone wasn’t going to be delivered to me and it had been cancelled by EE, they continued sending dozens of text messages and emails railroading the setup process and new contract details as if I was going to get the new phone. By this time I was extremely worried that EE would continue with this railroading process and disconnect my old phone leaving with no phone at all which is very dangerous for me given my medical history. Over most of Monday and almost all of Tuesday I spent hours on the phone to EE feeling like they were being deliberately difficult and obstructive to avoid getting a straight and simple resolution to this ridicules situation and all I got from just about every member of staff at EE was lies, bullshit and fob off statements. Basically, if there was a book of how not to treat you long standing and loyal customers they were working through just about every page if it. Even now (Wednesday) I still received a text message at 01:00hr updating me that my new account was all set up and everything was “really exciting” and they hoped I enjoyed my new Pixel phone!!!! If I could, I would close every account I have with EE and walk away, but the way EE set up discounts for one device based on your other devices means it would almost double my monthly charges. While I am pissed off with EE BIG time, I’m not stupid! So, it’s a fresh day and hopefully EE will come through now and sort their shit out once and for all but I’m not holding my breath. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/nottingham-by-the-sea-also-known-as-skegness monthly 0.5 2025-08-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/ea797fff-a15e-4f1b-8f1c-418a122c6947/Skegness.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Nottingham by the sea (also known as Skegness) I was feeling a little “boxed in“ last night so I decided to take a nice evening drive out to the east coast which, in other words means a trip to Skegness. The drive out is as boring as ever with Lincolnshire basically being flat farm land with absolutely nothing to see! Once at Skegness I parked up, had a coffee and sat just taking in some of the sights, sounds and smells of the place and I have to admit, it was so lovely. The sights - Lights, people, old building that have been there since the beginning of time along side new buildings showing that Skegness still has some life in it’s future. The sounds - Banging “funfair” music, slot machines and arcades, bingo callers, people talking and shouting, cars flying past and just the amazing hustle and bustle of a busy seafront road. Smells - a mix of diesel and petrol fumes, fast food and street food stalls, sea air, chip shops and people! All these things combine into something that is unique to British seaside life and I absolutely LOVE everything about it. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/why-the-hell-is-this-even-happening monthly 0.5 2025-08-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/f91e837f-4dd2-454c-ab5d-1ff4ce708578/BellHotel.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Why the hell is this even happening! This ridicules situation of so many “illegal/legal immigrants” being housed in hotels in my opinion has been allowed to run out of control. Only now, when the general public have had enough of the situation and provoked by right wing agitators and extremists do the politicians from all sides and levels of government want to be seen to be shocked at the situation and feel the need to blame everyone else for what’s happened. So, first of all, Kemi Badenoch and your fellow Conservative muppets take note. You had the power to stop this situation from developing to the point it is at today so SHUT THE FUCK UP and go sit in the corner for being so stupid to think you can fool everyone by blaming the current government. And the same goes for everyone one else who had the opportunity through government at all the lower levels to prevent this from happening in the first place but did nothing about it, you are just as guilty as the Conservatives so you can also SHUT THE FUCK UP. Reform UK. Just SHUT THE FUCK UP! You can not fix this, and you are just winding everyone up promising a magic solution when you get into power i the hope that people are generally thick enough to vote for you (my fear is that they actually are!). It would be interesting to see you get into power just to see what you actually do when you are revealed as all “wind and piss” and no action. To the current government and elected officals’s at all levels and in all offices, for Christ’s sake stop fighting among yourselves, stop bull shitting everyone and actually start putting some effort into solving the problem properly. We, the sensible quiet majority who keep this country running and who put their trust in you need to see some real and positive changes in what you are doing. If things don’t change and if proper solutions are not worked out, funded and put into place I fear that before the next pertinently elections take place there will be massive civil unrest and even rioting on the streets of the UK. And it won’t be small gangs of toerags taking part, it will be the common, normal people rioting. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/both-uncomfortable-and-sad-to-see-in-this-day-and-age monthly 0.5 2025-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0e97b126-d3f3-4c8b-8244-d1ab4c27b464/16686900-7302541-image-a-8_1564508771087.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Both uncomfortable and sad to see in this day and age Last week I had to take a very early morning taxi ride through Nottingham city centre and I was surprised by the substantial number of homeless people sleeping on the streets. I’ll be very honest and admit to being very naive on the subject of homelessness with my only information coming from the media and local authorities. And based on that, I thought this was an improving situation. How many times have you heard the saying “nobody needs to sleep on the streets these days”? Having seen things with my own maybe it’s not quite as rosie a picture as some people would have us think. While I know some people (a small number of people I’m sure) are there through choice, I’m confident that the majority of these people have little or no choice in the matter. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-need-to-investigate-whats-happening monthly 0.5 2025-08-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2a753681-3640-4d1b-a980-65b31d83e124/Nottinghamshire-Healthcare-NHS-Foundation-Trust-logo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I need to investigate what’s happening! It’s no secret that I struggle with quite severe mental health issues on a 24/7/365 basis. I’m not talking about being a bit unhappy or a little anxiety over doing something for the first time. No, I’m talking life and death stuff that could well go down the death path at any time. At the start of December 2024 I asked my GP to make a referral back to mental health services because I knew I was losing the fight and I needed some proper support. After a bit of messing about it was agreed that I would be allocated a dedicated CPN/Co-ordinator to provide that support and be a single point of contact. Only problem was that there was about a 10 month to a year waiting list for that service. However, between December 2024 and the actual allocation of a CPN there would be regular telephone contact between Manor Road (my local mental health team) and myself. As expected, that “regular” contact has at best been a complete pile off shite. Last night, I kind of hit the stops and even though I knew there was very little that could be done, I needed to talk to someone who had the experience and knowledge of a professional. To that end I called the 111 service and went down the option 2 route and eventually got to talk to a mental health trained “person” and I have to say she was very helpful, well informed and surprisingly she had taken the time to read over some of my history before she called me which is something that is frighteningly rare. One thing that I took from the conversation last night was the comment that the lady made that based on the notes she had read I was nothing like she expected me to be. I’m not entirely sure what that means but it does somewhat confirm my feelings that 99% of mental health staff at Manor Road haven’t listened to what has been said to them. Then to compound the problems they make notes that are almost totally inaccurate and not a true reflection of what has been said. The problem with this is their notes regardless of how accurate or inaccurate they are form the “official record” and dictate what treatment pathways I am offered and sent down. I now feel I need to do the same as I do with my GP and check what has actually been written in my notes. Tomorrow I will be contacting a manager/senior staff member to discuss my concerns and at the same time request under the Data Protection Act copies of all my medical records/notes for the last year. Once I have these notes I can make an assessment and if I feel they are not a true record of what has happened then I will formally challenge them and have them corrected. If they refuse to change them as I suspect they will, then I at least need to make sure they record and document my challenge to their account of things as part of my medical records. Then in the future I will, if needed, make plans to stop inaccuracies creeping in again. What those plans will be I’m not sure yet and that will be based on what I find. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/what-is-going-on-at-the-bbc monthly 0.5 2025-08-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/80fe38ea-6d26-4fa8-aca1-592c80308aa7/BBCLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - What is going on at the BBC? What on earth is going on at the BBC regarding presenters? It seems like if they are not resigning then they are being accused of inappropriate behaviour or as in the news today regarding Jay Blades being charged with rape! Maybe someone from the BBC HR department needs to sit down in a big room with all these so called celebrity presenters and read them the riot act and make sure they start behaving a little better. If not, they are going to have to train the cleaning staff to do a little presenting. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/government-stanchioned-smoke-and-mirrors-also-knows-as-bullshit monthly 0.5 2025-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/93160cc8-e509-4e32-a5d2-155f700f4882/Boats.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Government stanchioned smoke and mirrors, also knows as bullshit I see in the news this morning that the government are allocating ANOTHER £100,000,000 to stopping illegal immigration via small boats into the UK. Add this to the billions of £ already being spent by the UK government on housing, feeding and clothing overwhelming numbers of illegal immigrants as well as the cost to the UK in crime, organised crime groups and the black economy and it doesn’t take long to realise that the entire situation is out of control and we just can not afford to carry on like this. This is not just the current government at fault, this is successive governments going back decades that have been telling the people of the UK that they are doing this that and the other when in reality they are doing nothing. I think it’s fair to say that for all the decades of government plans, illegal immigration is increasing on a day by day basis. I fear that if nothing is done and everyday “normal” members of the public continue to fear that the situation is getting worst while nobody is doing anything about there will be civil unrest (rioting) on the streets. Additionally, I think this just feeds the hating right wing extremists and gives them more and more stories to twist and distort to feed the fear already being felt by the general population. I know this because I look around at the world I live in. For example, yesterday while driving home I was listening to 2 men talking on a local 2m radio repeater about the state of immigration in the UK. They repeated so many lies and untruths put out by the right wing extremists that it was infuriating! But if these 2 men were talking like this then you can guarantee that millions of other people will be having exactly the same conversations. IT’S BUILDING INTO A PERFECT STORM https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/its-a-different-experience-today-but-is-it-better monthly 0.5 2025-07-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/c10a2c07-2cc4-4fc7-9c4d-8b6f0577130a/20250730_081448.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - It’s a different experience today, but is it better? I took my car in for some “recall” work to be done yesterday and they did it while I waited. As I sat there I looked around and thought to myself how different this is compared to the garage that my farther owned and ran all his working life. Spotlessly clean, warm, free tea, coffer and food, people walking around in fancy suits, not a spec of oil or grease anywhere and no garage smell. The closest you got to a mechanic or engineer was when you watch the video they make for you showing what they had done while you sat waiting. But you never see the mechanics face. It felt so disconnected and clinical somehow., like they didn’t want you to know what they had done. When customers dropped in to my fathers garage they walked into the workshop and spoke to my father directly. Customers stood among the tools, the broken down engines and gearboxes and barrels of oil. There were spanners on desks and a grubby sink in the corner where engine part, cups and hands were all washed (often at the same time). But there was a connection between my father and his customer. The customer showed my father what was wrong and when my father fixed it he showed the customer what he had done and they talked to each other and trust was created. Trust that lasted a lifetime and even when my father had retired. I don’t think you get that trust with the new garage approach and I think I miss it! I know I miss the smell. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/challenging-times monthly 0.5 2025-07-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/87f8bab0-be3c-4dee-b9a9-b0fb15bfeef3/GrimReaper.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Challenging times It’s no secret that I have battled with very serious mental health “challenges” most of my life and in the last 10 years those challenges have left me a shadow of who I used to be. It’s also no secret that I still face those challenges every day and for now I am at best holding my own but it’s never easy and I have asked for help again from Nottinghamshire’s mental health services his year and that help has been somewhat disappointing. This week saw what I’ll describe as a perfect storm of problems, issues and lack of engagement/understanding mainly by my landlord meaning I hit I little bit of a major crisis on Tuesday. To try and avoid this getting completely out of hand I called the 111 service and took option 2 to speak with a so called mental health adviser and after giving all my details all the lady on the phone did was inform me that my details would be passed on to my local mental health team (who had gone home at that time of the day) and they would call me back or come out and visit me in the morning. I have to ask what is the point of an emergency mental health crisis service if they just pass on your details for someone to do noting with the next day. But that’s another story for another day. I explained that I really needed that help there and then because I was sat on my own with the intention of ending my life. The response remained the same and the call was ended. I sat for several hours in my car doing battle in my head trying to find a way through this mess that didn’t involve injecting the many tubes of insulin and taking the tablets I had with me. To cut a very long and complicated story to it’s minimum I didn’t do such a good job and eventually I got “rescued” by Nottinghamshire Police who had been informed that I was in distress by a member of the public who had seen me in my car crying. Full compliments to Nottinghamshire Police who delt with everything at a very sensitive level and did all they could to make sure I was safe for the night. Also well done for not 136ing me and having me forcibly taken to hospital. Slightly worrying that was at one point there did seem to be several police cars parked behind me so I’m sure members of the public must have been wondering what the hell I had done as they drove past! Eventually, in the early hours of Wednesday morning myself and my car were delivered back home, a couple of officers came to my flat with me, we had a coffee and everything was closed down. Anyone who battles with their own mental health will understand that sometimes, as much as we try to to keep things under control, your mind just runs away from you and outside agencies get involved and everything just escalates. Now it’s all over I’m sat here looking back on everything and I’m pleased to say that my landlord has seen the error of their ways and are planning to undertake the work that they refused to undertake in the first place which is a positive. I hope they also understand that they need to talk to me rather than hide behind rules and paperwork and other crap and realise that I am a person and not just a rent payment that comes in every month. On the down side the promised call and support from my local mental health team seems to have been forgotten about as I fully expected it would. I’ll deal with that later. As for me and my mental health, that continues to run on a knife edge quietly imploding while I try my best to keep it to myself and not make a fuss or tie up other services and rehouses. It will all go wrong again in time and I will as always, deal with it when it happens. Finally, I really want to thank Nottinghamshire Police and the officers who helped me on Tuesday night for doing what they did in the way they did it. An example of professional skills and being human in just the right balance. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/just-wrong-in-so-many-ways monthly 0.5 2025-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7dd22773-ab38-4223-bc2b-89903d44bc48/UnionJackDress.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Just wrong in so many ways The story in the news this week about a school in the UK that sanctioned a pupil for turning up to an event celebrating different cultures in a union flag dress and wanting to talk about British culture has pissed me off on so many levels. First of all we should all be taught to be proud of our own culture and our own history and values. So the girl did NOTHING wrong in wanting to celebrate that. Reading the speech she was going to deliver she talked about openness and acceptance, not about right wing extremism or exclusion. The action of the school sanctioning her is beyond shameful and the leaders/mangers of the school need to be replaced immediately for holding what are quite frankly racist views. Secondly, the actions the school took only fuels and empowers right wing knuckle dragging morons to come out of the sewers and push their racist views even more sighting how “Britishness” has yet again been suppressed/dismissed/shamed in fear of offending foreigners who are probably not offended in the first place. This is bourn out now by reports that the school had to be shut down because these right wing knuckle dragging morons decided to turn up at the school and start protesting and threatening violence. Again the school leaders/manages should face some degree of action to make them realise how wrong their action have been. I guess this is a classic example of idiot using political correctness to enforce idealisms that never needed enforcing in the first place and making everything thousands of times worst in doing so. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/we-absolutely-must-do-things-like-this monthly 0.5 2025-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/e97d705d-779d-4f1d-89a2-fabc28c0ab37/Genetics.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - We absolutely must do things like this There is an amazing story on the BBC News web site this morning titled: “Babies made using three people's DNA are born free of hereditary disease” Scientist in the UK have developed a technique to address mitochondrial disease, which is a dreadful and life ending and life changing genetic condition passed down family lines. Parents with this genetic condition can now potentially have children free from the condition not just in the next generation, but in every generation that follows. HOW AMAZING IS THAT? The only sad thing for me is there will be people up in arms saying we shouldn’t be playing with genetics or “play god”. Well if we know how to fix such a dreadful condition and do it safely then surly we have a moral and humanitarian obligation to carry out the treatment to whoever needs it and we also have moral and humanitarian obligation to go on and do more work like this to make life better for everyone. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/steps-back-to-creative-photography monthly 0.5 2025-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/edba0cd0-2ed7-472a-99fc-2b230f8f61d0/TrentSideTreeJuly2025.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Steps back to creative photography For far to long I’ve not had what I describe as the “creative eye” for photography. I’ve tried really hard to to find it but because of what I’ve been through over the last 10 years it’s just not there. But I am starting to find it again. I’m looking around me as I drive around for a view that will translate into a beautiful photograph and I’m starting to think about when the light will be at it’s best for capture. I already have an amazing camera, the Sony A7Cr, which is a full frame 61 mega pixel compact camera. But I’m now working with WEX to exchanging my lenses from some quite large and very fast lenses to some slightly slower but more compact lenses which will fit better with the compact form of the camera and allow me to carry my kit a little easier. I’ve also updated my Nik filters and plugins for Photoshop for working with my finished images. Now it’s down to bringing it all back together and working with/against my disabilities and seeing what I can do now. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-think-this-is-more-about-publicity-than-finding-a-proper-answer monthly 0.5 2025-07-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/93160cc8-e509-4e32-a5d2-155f700f4882/Boats.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I think this is more about publicity than finding a proper answer I watch the news every day with a combination of disappointment, anger, disgust and concern in relation to how both legal and illegal immigration is going in the UK. I’ll be the first to admit that controlled legal immigration into the UK can only be a positive thing for everyone but the key word has to be controlled. I’ll also say that I am proud that the UK can offer safety and asylum to vulnerable victims of persecution from around the world but again, this needs to be controlled. What I’m not happy about are the thousands of immigrants entering this country illegally every day, 365 days a year and once in this country they disappear into the black/illegal economy of organised crime. I guess that’s because they have to do that or the want to they do that. Either way they do nothing to make the UK a better place and I suspect many of them are hiding from a criminal past that is invisible to UK law enforcement so we have no idea of what risk if any they pose to us. It’s this growing and long term element of uncontrolled immigration that so needs to be stopped. But it seems that successive government after government over decades has failed to read the warning signs and do anything that will make a real difference. Now I think it’s simply to late to fix the problem. Even this week the British and French leaders have stood up and declared with great fanfare a new plan to swap up to 20 illegal immigrants every week with families of another 20 illegal immigrants every week. (a) what difference does it make if they are individual illegal immigrants or related to illegal immigrants already in the UK? None what so ever! (b) 20 in and 20 out doesn't change or reduce the overall numbers coming in so is this just another example of leaders and governments trying to blind us with numbers hoping that we won’t see the truth? (c) if high hundreds and even thousands are coming into the UK every week, dealing with groups of up to 20 a week is like pissing into the ocean. It ain’t going to make a blind bit of difference. This is a problem that has game on for decades and in so many ways is now beyond solving, fixing or even improving and I fear it will only get worst because governments don’t really want to address or fix the issues because they know it will not be a nice process or vote winner. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/to-all-you-reform-uk-voters-i-hope-you-realise-what-the-fuck-you-have-done monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0cd59fab-d115-42e9-8003-8f3cc545378f/BertBinghamReformUKTwat.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - To all you Reform UK voters, I hope you realise what the fuck you have done! There is a headline on the Nottinghamshire BBC news website that reads as follows: Councillor calls man-made global warming a 'hoax' This Reform UK muppet is cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council. That’s right, he is in charge of environment matters throughout Nottinghamshire. A position that hold massive responsibilities that YOU have given him. And despite all the evidence of experts and scientists from all over the world with years of experience and evidence “he” thinks/says it’s all a hoax. I bet he also believes in chemtrails, flat earth and UFO’s. All I can say is that I hope what is left of Nottinghamshire once these muppets are seen for what the really are and voted out can be rebuilt. Although it will cost millions and take years to get back to where we are today. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/stop-blowing-smoke-up-my-arse-and-show-me-some-respect monthly 0.5 2025-07-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2a753681-3640-4d1b-a980-65b31d83e124/Nottinghamshire-Healthcare-NHS-Foundation-Trust-logo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Stop blowing smoke up my arse and show me some respect As a long term user of mental health services in Nottinghamshire nobody needs to tell me how bad mental health services are. A combination of over demand, underfunding and many staff who don’t give a shit I suspect are behind this situation. It’s because services are so poor that I try my very best to avoid bothering them or using them. But sometimes, like now, things get so bad in my mind that to avoid walking out into the sea I need to ask for some help. On Monday morning I called and asked to speak to someone from the duty team. I was promised a call back shortly which never happened. At 16:30hr on Monday I called again asking for help from the duty team and was again promised a call back from the duty team that never happened. On Tuesday at 13:30hr I finally received that call from a member of the duty team but because I was driving at the time she said she would call me back at 16:00hr. At 16:50hr she finally called back to talk! I started to explain just how things are at the moment and how, every day I get up, have a shower, make a coffee and sit down and try so hard to not end my life there and then because I just can not live through another day fighting my own mind and the damage that has been done from a lifetime of fear and struggling. I won’t go into details but this is not about “feeling a bit unhappy”. This about fighting with EVERYTHING I have to not put into action the plan I have had in place for a very long time. This is about convincing myself to hang on for one more day, one more hour or one more minute in the hope that something changes even though I know it won’t. After talking to the lady from mental health services all she could say was that “I was doing so well getting a shower every morning” I’m sorry, but on what fucking planet does having a morning shower cancel out wanting to actively end my life? I’ve come to the conclusion that these people are actually trained to ignore the serious problems and blow smoke up peoples arses because by ignoring the big issues they then don’t actually have to do anything. I think they call it “deniable plausibility” and when the shit hits the fan and people die they can say “we didn’t know there was a problem” So, am I going to follow this up with a complaint? If for one second I thought someone at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust would listen to what I have to say and make changes then yes I would. But the reality is absolutely nobody cares and therefore it would be a total waste of my time and only serve to upset me even more. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/a-campaign-of-hate-towards-trans-people-by-reform-uk monthly 0.5 2025-07-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7397d8d5-0637-4500-8839-d924dbc71125/books.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - A campaign of hate towards trans people by Reform UK I have read on the BBC News web site this morning further evidence Reform UK are powering on with a disgraceful and completely unfounded campaign to force “trans” issues and reality into the shadows and gutter or social thought. This time it is Kent County Council (a Reform UK council) that has instructed the Kent libraries to remove all books from the children’s sections that have any connection to transgender matters. What do these people think we are? We are not monsters or child molesters or rapists or anything bad any more than any other section of society. Like the society we have come from we are upstanding, hard working caring people who just want to live our lives the best way we can after nature has played such a dreadful trick on us. Reform UK paint us as monsters knowing full well that if they keep repeating these lies, people will start to believe them and then they will have succeeded in spreading hate among normal none hating people. They will have divided our society with hate Just like extremists throughout history have done like the Nazi party and others. This is another dark and sad day for decency and respect and it makes living in fear for my safety ever more real. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/when-being-alone-really-hits monthly 0.5 2025-06-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/8034711b-eb78-47f5-8edc-0adf547dc8c0/Alone.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - When being alone really hits So right and so true! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/dumbing-down-the-modern-world monthly 0.5 2025-06-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0eb1d43b-2663-447c-a196-8028c9af20b0/Saganism.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Dumbing down the modern world This is something I strongly believe is happened at an ever increasing rate in our modern society. I have commented on it here when I’ve talked about people not wanting to learn or understand or increase their knowledge. But this is how one of the greatest scientists and educators in all our history, the amazing Carl Sagan puts it far more eloquently than I ever could. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/benefit-cuts-right-or-wrong monthly 0.5 2025-06-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/eedeb255-23a4-44ce-967d-2d760120109d/PIP.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Benefit cuts, right or wrong? I find this debate very interesting to keep an eye on. I’ve previously said that in principal I agree and understand the need to cut back and reduce the numbers of people who can claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because as with so many benefits it has been abused. So many people who really don’t need PIP are claiming it to bolster their income and this is to the disadvantage of genuinely disabled people. However, I also think that the bill going through parliament is quite hard handed and has a VERY high risk of hurting those people who do genuinely need PIP to simply live. So I’m happy that MPs from the Labour Party are actually standing up against this bill and forcing the PM and the Chancellor to have a major rethink on how this is going to be done. Hopefully, it will still limit those who really don’t meet the requirements for PIP but protects those genuine claimants. As to who doesn’t and who dies meet those standards is an almost impossible task and and not one I would like to take on myself. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/bloody-massive-things-shouldnt-fly monthly 0.5 2025-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/ded021d9-d60c-4949-a599-17ba53d94dbf/EMA.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Bloody massive things shouldn’t fly While my mobility is extremely limited I always try and escape from my flat once or twice a week. I make a mug of coffee and head off into Nottingham or down to the river of occasionally I like to pop down to East Midlands Airport’s public viewing area, watch the aircraft taking off and landing and listen to all of the radio chatter for the many different services in the airport. I do want to make it very clear that I am not a “Plane Spotter” and I really couldn’t care less what type or make of plane it is. But I just get a huge buzz seeing and feeling something this big and this complex ripping into the air right in front of me. It’s one of those things that never gets old no matter how many times you experience it. The only thing that I think beats this is watching fighter jets taking off. Now that’s extra special! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/trust monthly 0.5 2025-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2786c7dc-e198-4785-96e8-64733d45863b/Trust.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Trust Because of how life has gone in recent years I have a visit each day from a support worker. The visit normally consists of an hour of chatting and hopefully this contact keeps me going in the right direction. But for this support to work I have to trust the support providers and if that trust is broken then everything kind of comes to a halt. In recent months there has been another resident in my block of flats who has been a “bit of a problem”. All times of day and night she has been shouting and ranting extremely loudly and using very offensive language which I just don’t want to hear when I’m sat in my living room at any time of the day or night having my a coffee, watching TV or just enjoying the peace and quiet of the day. I’ve mentioned this situation on many occasions to the support workers when they have visited and asked if they recognise the persons voice or if they know anything about this situation and the have always said the don’t know anything. Even when I played them a very clear recording of the woman’s voice they sat there and blatantly lied to me saying they didn’t know who it was. Over the weeks and months I have used my skills as a radio operator and sat listening to the ranting and slowly I have built up a complete picture of the situation and worked out exactly who the person is, where their flat is located in relation to my flat and as I suspected all along this person is also supported by the same support company and support workers as myself. Once I had all that information and was clear on everything I confronted the support workers and they have now admitted that they do know who it is and yes, there have been lots of complaints from other residents in the flats and something is being done to resolve it. So I have to ask the question why did the support workers think it was OK to lie to me all this time by saying they didn’t know anything. Did they think I was such a idiot that I would not work it out for myself what exactly was happening and who it was so therefore they could just lie to me without consequence? Or did they just think if they kept fobbing me off with lies I would forget about it and just shut up and go away? Of is it simply that they consider me so worthless that they just don’t need to tell me the truth? I know they are limited on how much personal information they can provide about the woman causing the problems and I neve was looking for names, full medical history and full life story of the woman, who I am sure is doing what she is doing because she has some sort of mental health problem herself. But I do expect that my support provider should have at least admitted that they knew who was causing the problem and that measures were being taken to resolve it. That’s all I needed to know and I would have been happy to work with them knowing that and waiting to things to resolve naturally with time. Now I have been left feeling that my support workers have broken any and all trust that existed between us and treated me in quite a disgraceful way, and what’s more I really don’t know if I now want them to continue providing that support from now on given that they have betrayed me so completely. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/just-a-first-world-problem monthly 0.5 2025-06-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/745c5ca3-dc95-42f7-8acd-49c5c564a8fd/Ford.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Just a first world problem! This sort of thing kind of bugs the hell out of me but also just makes me laugh to myself. My car is back and the dealership today for it’s first service and they have it for the whole day which is fine. Now, I don’t need the car for anything and it would have just sat outside waiting for me if I did decide to go out somewhere. But now it’s not there I miss it and I just want to go and fetch it back so I can have it parked outside waiting for me!! Like I say, just a first world problem. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-old-market-square-it-could-be-so-much-better monthly 0.5 2025-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/af9f9981-b5bb-47b4-bb89-752a27767abb/MarketSquare.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - The Old Market Square, it could be so much better The Old Market Square, potentially one of the best open public spaces in my home city of Nottingham. A place that has been redeveloped many times over the years and has probably cost millions during that time. Last night I saw a post online asking if we could have the old style Market Square from the 70s back, and this got me thinking. There is really nothing wrong with the design of the Old Market Square (apart from no public toilets) today. The problem is how it’s being used, managed and maintained by whoever is responsible for it. The last time it was redeveloped they built a fantastic water feature and fountains which for a number of years looked amazing but the council didn’t pay to maintain them properly. So when inevitably they broke the council said it couldn’t afford to fix them and now they just stand dry, broken and a bit of an eye saw to anyone visiting this historical place. Then there are the events that take place here. It’s a city centre location that’s easy to get to via great transport links, huge in size so lots of people can fit in, surrounded by shops , bars and cafes and all that seems to go on there is the annual “Nottingham Beach” in the summer and the “Christmas Market” in the winter. The rest of the year the place sits largely empty and unused by anyone. Why not put on events and entertainment for residents and visitors to the city. If these events were of a good enough standard surly they would bring people in and those people would spend money in the city centre so everyone would benefit. So no, lets not harp after what was there in the past, lets make much better use of what we have now and turn it into a world beating showcase for our great city before it’s too late. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/double-standards-of-a-nation monthly 0.5 2025-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/6883381a-0da3-4709-b52b-7bdb68aef0e0/Israel.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Double standards of a nation What is happening in the Middle East at the moment has the potential to change the world and that change is not going to be for the good of mankind. I am worried! Today I have seen the Israeli government screaming that Iran has carried out a missile attack on one of it’s hospitals. While no hospital in any state or country should be targeted in any war I can not help but think Israel is the absolute epitome of hypocrisy given that they have on so many occasions attacked hospitals in Garza claiming that they are “legitimate targets”. There’s not much more that I can say about this really! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/left-feeling-just-a-little-bit-dissapointed-by monthly 0.5 2025-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0ffce9ba-c642-4b75-a27e-53b8a22aaafa/Dissapointed.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Left feeling just a little bit disappointed by a few people A few weeks ago I had quite a bad fall at home and took most of the impact directly on my left knee. It hurt! After a few days, things started to ease up a little and I mistakenly thought I was on the mend. Then last weekend my knee just became increasingly painful until Monday afternoon I had to go to the A&E department at the QMC. Not something I either like doing or want to do but I had no choice. Long and short of 6 hours sat in A&E is that I have broken my leg across the knee and badly damaged ligaments and tendons. Basically knocked 8 bells of shit out of my knee. Then to make matters worst, when I got into the taxi to go home on Monday night I twisted to drop onto the back seat and I ripped all the ligaments and tendons even more!! It’s really not been a good week after that. Moving has been a nightmare and something I have only done when I absolutely had to and only when I could stand the pain involved. But what I have found the most disappointing is that each day I have had a visit from the people who provide my support and they have come in, sat down, talked about all their problems and all their lives and gone again and not one of them asked me if there was anything they could do to help, no offer to make me a coffee or ask if I was able to make any food or anything. I only got my first coffee on the Thursday morning along with something to eat once the pain in my leg had reduced to a level that allowed me to stand for a few minutes. I’m not going to bring this up with the support provider or to individuals, there’s really no point. But I will remember how things went this past week. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/maybe-israel-should-be-setting-an-example-of-peace-to-the-rest-of-the-world monthly 0.5 2025-06-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/6883381a-0da3-4709-b52b-7bdb68aef0e0/Israel.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Maybe Israel should be setting an example of peace to the rest of the world Given the history of persecution that the Jewish people have suffered throughout history and particularly at the hands of Nazis in the 2nd World War, I can not help but feel that Israel should be champions of peace and understanding in our world. But everyday I turn on the news and I see ever escalating levels of atrocities and human rights violations being carried out by Israel and the IDF in ways that to me suggests that they are absolutely out of control and intent on annihilating the civilian population in Gaza in order to reach members of Hamas. They don’t care how many innocent people they kill to reach their target. Is this not the same sort of thing the Nazis did in the 2nd World War to the Jews of Europe? What Hamas did on October 7th 2023 was completely wrong on every level and Israel has every right to defend itself from such actions in a controlled way, to retaliate in equal and controlled proportion. I will even go as far as saying I support the opinion that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and should be treated as such by all nations of the world. But I also feel that Israel is carrying out it’s own version of the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing which makes Israel as bad as the Nazis. I think that slowly, the world (apart from it seems America) is waking up to what Israel is doing and voicing it’s concerns. The UN is starting to condemn Israel and even accuse them of committing war crimes against the civilians of Gaza. I wonder where this “war” will go, how it will develop and what will happen in the coming months and years. Only time will tell but I suspect it will not end well for everyone. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-feel-people-need-to-start-thinking-for-themselves-more monthly 0.5 2025-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/bea99a45-cf19-4b1f-a895-1f58fd3ffaa5/Idiots.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I feel people need to start thinking for themselves more This is probably going to come across all condescending but I assure you that’s not my intension. This is just my observations on what I see around me. I’m lucky to have a very technical and analytical type of mind. I might have lots of problems battling with my mind sometimes (most of the time actually) but I love exploring and understanding how almost anything works. I’ll even go as far as saying I like it when something I’m working on doesn't work first time or as expected because that gives me the opportunity to start digging into and solving the problem and in doing that I gain a far better understanding of what I’m working with. A simple example, last year I decided to integrate the sound outputs from all my radios, computer and other devices via a mixing desk and into a good quality set of speakers. When I started the project I had never used a mixing desk or any other type of audio equipment before so I didn’t have a clue where to begin. But I sat down and started doing research, lots of research. And I built my knowledge base up over several hours until I felt confident to start buying some hardware. Once that arrived I started expanding on the knowledge and hardware I had until eventually I achieved my goal. Not only had I got a fully integrated audio system but I had added to my personal knowledge of something that I didn’t know anything about before. And I had had hours of enjoyment discovering and building new knowledge. I had achieved something on my own. What worries me today is seeing more and more people who instead of going through this learning process, they just give up before even starting and ask other people to do it for them or to give them the answer to their problem. They don’t even begin to work the problem for themself. Yes, I admit, asking others for help is a valid problem solving method but you do that when you have spent some time and effort trying to solve the problem on your own. And what’s more, this attitude/approach is getting worst. When I moved into IT and computer support in the mid 90s, most of my customers/callers had some technical interest about what they were doing. They had attempted to solve whatever problem they had on their own before calling for help. I loved working and helping these people. But as time moved on more and more people just wanted whatever had gone wrong fixed. Towards the end of my “public” IT support life I lost count of the number of people who just demanded I send an engineer out to fix everything. This attitude is just getting worst with every new generation. I hear stories of people who have no idea about how to change a plug, or fit a fuse or even pop a lightbulb in. How do these people find their way out of bed in the morning without help. But there we go, that’s life in the mid 2020s. I just worry about what the mid 2030s are going to be like. And finally, yes, I know not everyone is like this, I know and accept that there are many people who do have the ability to think for themselves and solve their own problems but they are rapidly becoming the minority! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-dont-believe-either-of-these-people-are-fit-to-hold-such-a-powerful-position-in-society monthly 0.5 2025-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/597d8889-8170-40db-b8d2-1f0a44aaab05/Trumpty%26Musk.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I don’t believe either of these people are fit to hold such a powerful position in society! You kind of hope that simply as a process of elimination, making it to the position of President and his most trusted adviser of the USA means they have “some” level of intelligence. They are 2 of the most powerful and influential people at the head of one of the most powerful nations in the world and you would hope they have a level of understanding of how to conduct themselves in public. But no! These 2 once greatest of friends who gushed over each other like school kids in their first boyfriend/girlfriend relationship have fallen out of love and are now trading insults in social media like a couple of council estate chavs and behaving in a way that you would tell a 5 year old off for! I seriously think ALL Americans need to ask “is Trumpty fit to be your leader”? And as for Musk, he just needs locking away for being a Grade A idiot! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/not-so-sure-i-trust-them-to-drive-a-bus monthly 0.5 2025-05-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/144763b3-0cb9-4f29-abba-369bf96ae5e0/20250528_081215.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Not so sure I trust them to drive a bus! As part of my Radio hobby I like to monitor a wide range of VHF/UHF frequencies used by organisations around Nottingham. One of those frequency ranges is used by the bus company Nottingham City Transport Ltd, and they provide endless hours of entertainment. The thing that worries me most though is the level of incompetence of some of the drivers. So many times these driver get lost on their routes, take wrong turns, can not follow simple instructions from the controllers and most worrying they can not speak a word of English! How are people incapable of doing what is at the end of the day a very responsible job be allowed to drive? Joking apart, are these people safe on our roads and with the lives of the passengers onboard? https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/am-i-feeling-the-creative-spark-again monthly 0.5 2025-05-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/976f636c-212f-4c5c-ab92-eb01684a714b/TestShot.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Am I feeling the creative spark again? There was a time, not that many years ago when I took photography very seriously. So seriously that I was very much on the edge of going professional. But then life took over and I had my breakdown and I kind of lost the creative spark. Then my physical health failed and I put my equipment away and gave up photography all together. Then, at the end of 2023 and the very start of 2024 I took all my professional equipment and traded it in for a new Sony Alpha 7cR and a few fixed lenses. Now, the Sony is no full on pro camera. But at the same time it is probably one of the best cameras in it’s class in the world with it’s 60 megapixel full frame sensor in interchangeable lenses. It takes amazing quality photographs as can be seen from the simple test shot I took today over on the left. The only problem is I’ve not really felt the creative spark. Sure, I’ve taken a few photographs using the camera built into my Samsung S23 Ultra but that doesn’t count in my book. That’s taking snap shots not photographs. But yesterday something happened. I was down by the river Trent heading home after a coffee when I stopped and looked across the river at a line of electricity pylons running away from me and I started thinking how I could capture that in a “photograph”. And that’s how I used to think and feel about images and locations and it’s something I’ve not felt for a long time. Today I’ve dug the camera out and charged the battery, loaded a memory card and fitted a small but fast 50mm fixed lens and I’m going to try and start carrying it about with me a bit. The test shot I took that you can see over on the left is nothing other than just that, it’s a test shot. But I love the colours, the dynamic range and the creamy smoothness of the image it captured. And this is straight out of the camera, no editing at all. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t but the only way I’ll know it to give it a try. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/a-strange-and-somewhat-difficult-day-today monthly 0.5 2025-05-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/02afd283-80a0-461c-8ff7-8fa370329af1/StokeBardolph1.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - A strange and somewhat difficult day today Sunday’s are a day that I always try and go out. I make up a coffee in my mega mug and head out generally to the river, either at Gunthorpe, Stoke Bardolph or the Victoria Embankment. I find if I don’t make the effort and go out I just sit in my flat all week and that’s really not good for me. Today I went off to Stoke Bardolph and I have to say it brought back some quiet powerful memories of some of the good times I had with my father and brother. My father had a little open topped boat with a 2-stroke outboard engine called “Chuch”. At the weekends we would go down to Stoke Bardolph and put Chuch in the river using the slipway and then head off on an adventure/expedition a few miles down river to visit my cousins Carol and Keith who had their boat at Gunthorpe. That slipway is still there but now it’s blocked off so nobody can use it for their family adventures anymore. It’s only a few miles to Gunthorpe but it always felt so risky because the engine was was a bit flaky and we only had a tiny fuel tank and if anything went wrong there was no such thing as a mobile phone back then to call for help. We were on our own, doomed to float forever down the River Trent and out into the North Sea! Once at Gunthorpe we had a cup of tea on my cousins boat which was so much more fancy that our little motor boat, and I remember loading up the jukebox at the marina and playing “Amazing Grace” over and over again for some reason only known to kids in the 70s. Then we would climb back into Chuch and set off back up river to Stoke Bardolph never quite knowing if we would make it alive. Finally, with the boat out of the water and hitched up to fathers car we headed off home for tea, a bath and bed. I so wish we could all do that just one more time before our time together finally runs out. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/when-does-it-become-an-irresponsible-practice monthly 0.5 2025-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/32895332-b498-4cf8-9608-ac066c94ad07/GBCLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - When does it become irresponsible practice? Last week for me proved extremely difficult as a direct result of what I consider to be negligence on the part of the housing department of Gedling Borough Council (GBC). Tuesday 13th May I received a letter from GBC informing me that they were stopping my housing and council tax benefits with immediate effect. Something that you really don’t want to hear first thing in the morning! The reason given was that I had moved from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC) and UC would be taking over the payment. However, because I live in supported accommodation GBC will/should continue to pay my housing benefit and council tax. Several phone calls later I had to drop off a pile of letters, back statements and all sorts of other personal documents at GBC head office in Arnot Hill Civic Centre proving to them my “correct” circumstances. By this time I had moved from being stressed to being upset and heading rapidly to being extremely upset. Around 1am Wednesday morning because of the way my mind works these days I had so many thoughts going around my head that my rent wasn’t being paid so I couldn’t continue living in my home and I would end up living on the streets I seriously considered stepping off the top of a car park. The thoughts were so serious that I actually sat on top of said car park for a number of hours fighting the urge to jump. Many of you won’t understand how that thought process works but trust me, it does and it’s not very nice to experience first hand. I eventually returned home and at around 10am I called and spoke to someone at the housing department at GBC who informed me that they had made a mistake, that they didn’t realise that I was living in supported accommodation and that they had “just sent out a standard letter”. They also confirmed that my housing benefit had been reinstated and everything was coming up roses so I could relax! Then to top it all off, Friday 16th May I get another letter from GBC reconfirming that my housing benefit and council tax had been “STOPPED”. Another frantic phone call to the housing department and conformation from the little pile of shit who answered the phone that everything was alright and it was just another mistake and standard letter from them and there was noting to worry about. These people, these officials need to understand something, they are playing with peoples lives. When they send “Just a standard letter” it had massive impact and damage on vulnerable people like myself. When I was on top of that car park it could have gone the other way. It could have gone all blue flashing lights, Police and Ambulances and at best sectioning or at worst scraping my remains off the tarmac. It’s that serious. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/an-open-letter-to-michael-payne-mp-for-gedling-the-reply monthly 0.5 2025-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/c6c6ec6c-8245-41bd-bb0e-add8b15147c5/MichaelPayneMP.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - An open letter to Michael Payne MP for Gedling - The reply - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/a-positive-step-but-is-it-too-late monthly 0.5 2025-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/3a8bb01e-3d35-4e47-9535-1efc4c4a6bd5/UK-Government-Logo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - A positive step but is it too late? So, our glorious leader Sir Keir Starmer announced yesterday new measures to try and curb the out of control “legal” immigration into this country. While I agree that legal immigration into this country can be and is a positive thing, at the same time the past 10 years of legal immigration has been allowed to run unchecked. It almost feels like there has been an open door policy my successive governments. There is no escaping the facts that over and over again Prime Ministers have told us how much their governments are doing but the numbers just keep increasing and that’s why the population of the UK are so massively pissed off They are fed up of being lied to. We will need to give the numbers time to confirm if this current government have found the magic formula or if they are full of shite like all previous governments. Now, that’s legal immigration placed on hold while we see what happens, but there is still a far bigger problem of “illegal” immigration. Illegal immigrants do NOTHING for the UK economy. In fact, they feed off and into the black market and organised crim from start to finish at every level. We need to see massive positive action to stop now immigration taking place and those that are in the UK illegally need to be rounded up and removed in far greater numbers than is currently happening. Government is on borrowed time and if the silent majority of the population don’t see substantial immigration improvements the “regular” political parties can kiss any chance of getting back into power at the next election, and that leaves the door wide open for radical and right wing parties like Reform UK. And if that happens we are so screwed that no words will ever describe it! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/a-beautiful-start-to-a-proper-shite-day monthly 0.5 2025-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/b2527c0e-0a6b-4847-9e7b-461e9170fadc/20250510_082323.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - A beautiful start to a proper shite day! At 6am this morning the sun was out and it was a lovely day so I put my best sun glasses on and I went out for an early morning coffee. I Parked up outside Nottingham Castle, had the Yaesu FTM-150 monitoring 2m and 70cm and I did my favourite thing, I “people watched” while I thought about the day ahead. Less obvious to everyone was that I also gave a lot of thought to trying to find a reason to not ending my life there and then. Your see, today is my 59th birthday and it seems to have slipped by without the world noticing. I’m not that bothered that nobody bothered to say “Happy Birthday” although that would have been nice. No, what I’m bothered by and upset by is that there is nobody in my life anymore to say “Happy Birthday”. Somehow or other I’ve manages to fuck my life up so much that there is nobody out there who will stand up and call me a friend. Not a mate, there are lots of people out there who are mates, not a care professional because they get paid to be there for me even though they aren't, no, I’m talking about friends or even just a single friend. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/once-in-a-while-something-bloody-brilliant-comes-along monthly 0.5 2025-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0f3fae48-bcf9-4a11-a8da-39aa89c9b913/Notepin.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Once in a while something bloody brilliant comes along! This is the Plaud NotePin digital AI witness. Bet you are still none the wiser as to what it is! Well, it’s a tiny recording device that is about the size of a small fitness tracker, sits on standby for 45 days and records for 20 hours all on a single charge. All you do to start it recording is give it a firm squeeze and a second squeeze stops the recording. But that’s not the best of it. Once you end the recording it transfers the audio to an app on your phone and you can then apply all sorts of AI tools to it and you end up with not only the sound file but also a complete transcription of the recording along with all sorts of handy annotations to help you review it. Then you can either keep it on your phone in the app or send it off to whatever storage you want. In my case I send it off to my personal cloud file storage server. Unlike other voice recorders this is incredibly discreet, there is only a VERY tiny LED light that comes on when recording and it’s always with you. I have mine on a lanyard around my neck but you also get a spring clip, a magnetic clip and a watch strap, and there is no digging through your stuff looking for it like you would do with a voice recorder or getting your phone out and trying to find the voice recording app. It’s just there ready and waiting for you. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/everyone-needs-to-open-their-eyes monthly 0.5 2025-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/dea527ac-e7e6-4735-a6ee-8c3b80abfa88/ReformUK.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Everyone needs to open their eyes Last nights local and by-elections have shown a substantial swing in support to the Reform UK party (or the “if your not with us we hate you” party). Main stream politicians and parties are entirely to blame for this because they have ignored the concerns, fears and needs of the indigenous population of this country in favour of a “we know better” approach. People of this country are sick and tired of ineffective actions on illegal and unchecked immigration, crime, lack of investment in infrastructure like roads, the NHS and so many other things. Reform UK have seen the growing dissatisfaction and jumped on it with a pile of populist policies to try and win votes and subsequently winning power! And people have taken their votes and given them to Reform UK in protest. History is littered with this across the world from ancient times to modern day. But if you dig a little bit deeper into what really matters to Reform UK you might not like what they stand for quite so much. In my opinion they less about reform (defined as making changes in something, especially an institution or practice in order to improve it.) and more about dragging back to the stone age. Back to a dictatorship with draconian laws and beliefs. If you don’t believe this, then have a look at some of the less publicised aims of Reform UK and have a think about how they will impact on your life and freedoms. Reform UK's stated diversity policies involve scrapping Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DE&I) rules and replacing the Equalities Act. They also aim to ban "transgender ideology" in schools, preventing gender questioning, social transitioning, and pronoun swapping. The party also intends to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and reform the Human Rights Act. Here's a more detailed breakdown: Scrapping DE&I: Reform UK believes DE&I initiatives have lowered standards, reduced economic productivity, and are divisive. Replacing the Equalities Act: The party argues the Equality Act requires discrimination in the name of "positive action" and wants to replace it. Banning "Transgender Ideology" in Schools: Reform UK wants to prevent gender questioning, social transitioning, and pronoun swapping in schools. Parents would be informed of any life decisions made by children. Leaving ECHR and Human Rights Act: Reform UK aims to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and reform the Human Rights Act, prioritizing the rights of law-abiding people. And I’m sure this is just scratching the surface. There will be members of the Reform UK party who hold far more radical and extreme ideas just waiting in the wings and the opportunity to put their ideas into action. To everyone out there, be careful what you do with your so called “protest vote” because you could get far more than you bargained for! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/sums-up-my-sense-of-humour-really monthly 0.5 2025-05-01 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/they-really-are-driven-by-hate monthly 0.5 2025-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/39b62cdf-39d9-4502-85b6-67fbe6c0098e/Fiona-McAnena-1.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - They really are driven by hate I was listening BBC Radio 4’s The World At One as they reported the latest round of Transphobic and Trans Hating announcements today following the UK Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling, it was sporting governing bodies turn to say how much they respect us and sympathise with us but in the same breath they tell up to fuck off and don’t ever come back. Not sure how that works but there you go. It was interesting to listen to a Trans netball player called Nattily Washington talk very openly about how she has played in a woman’s teams for several years and has received a lot of support from her team and other teams. I felt the overall interview with Nattily was very sad to listen to because of how she is being told to leave something she is obviously very dedicated to she enjoys, and which she is accepted in and I was very impressed that she didn’t go on the attack or start ranting about how she felt betrayed by society. No, quite the opposite and like so many Trans people she talked about the need for discussion, understanding and acceptance by both sides of the debate. She was every inch a reasonable and responsible lady and human being as 99.9999% of Trans people are. Being the BBC, they are obliged to give voice to both sides of the argument and they invited on air a lady called Fiona McAnena (photo left), Director of Campaigns for Sex Matter (a Transphobic and militant campaigning group). What can I say, in my opinion she was a total bastard (I won’t call her a bitch because she would probably take that as a compliment!!). She constantly referred to Nattily Washington deliberately as him and he and constantly inferred that Trans players in sport deliberately hurt and injured other players because of their “male physic”. She was out and out driven by nothing but hate and you could even tell the presenter Sara Montague was annoyed by her. “We just want clarity in the law” who the hell are you trying to fool you douche bags full of vial hatred and nastiness. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-liberator monthly 0.5 2025-04-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1714de44-321c-480e-a470-a3ebaabe65b7/TheLiberator.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - The Liberator I suspect that many of my “younger” friends won’t have a clue about the image on the left. But some just might! This is the space ship LIBERATOR from Blake's 7. For me one of the best Si-Fi series from the 1970s - 1980s. I came across a very short video on YouTube a few days ago talking about remakes and stuff and in it there was a very quick shot of what could be the new and upgraded image of the Liberator ship. It looks amazing. Check out the full size image here. Needless to say I screen captured it and it’s now my new Windows wallpaper which makes me very happy. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/spring-has-arrived monthly 0.5 2025-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4a8d9c22-dc98-4522-8574-f7e6a3d53039/Spring.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Spring has arrived! On a Sunday lunch, after visiting mum and dad I like to take my coffee and go sit down by the river in my car and do a little “people watching” for an hour or so 4 or 5 days ago I went down and everything was grey and cold and the trees were still in winter mode with no leaves and the water looks SO cold. It just wasn’t very inviting. But today is is so different. The sun is out, it feels so much warmer and as if by magic the trees have come back to life with green leaves everywhere and so much blossom, and best of all the water looks blue and people are out playing on it and enjoying themselves. It feels like weeks apart from my last visit, not days. Nature never fails to astound me. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/an-interesting-and-insightful-24-hours-on-facebook monthly 0.5 2025-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2446c194-a20a-4e53-8b1f-baf48f6df7f4/FaceBook.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - An interesting and insightful 24 hours on Facebook Yesterday I posted an open letter to Michael Payne MP for Gedling just highlighting some of the impact that the recent ruling on gender in the UK Supreme Court of Appeal will make to me. As the letter was an open letter I also posted it to a small number of local Facebook community groups that I’m/was a member of. I did that fully knowing that I would open myself to comments from the less educated and open minded aspects of society so it wasn’t something I did lightly. The results have been interesting to say the least. First of all 3 of the 4 Facebook community groups were happy at me posting the open letter and made no attempt to stop or remove my post. To those I offer my respect, you might or might not agree with what I have said but you accept that you represent all parts of your respective communities. One Facebook Community group however actively blocked my post. All I would say to this group is that if you create a group and call it a “Community” then you really should be open to every part of that community, and not just the parts that you like and agree with as creator/admin. Needless to say that I am no longer a member of that Facebook Group. The most pleasant result of posting was the overwhelming positive response from so many people. I would say something like 95% of all the replies were supporting and open or expressed how my post has opened their eyes to something they didn’t understand before. And of course, there were the inevitable haters and idiots with closed minds who no matter what you say or how you try and reach them they just have their own opinion and make up their own facts to support those misguided opinions and they will never change. And while I find that level of closed mindedness so sad I also accept that they have the right to those thought. Finally, and these are the ones I find the most perthitic, are the ones who don’t have the intelligence to even put together a cohesive argument to hate trans people. They just band around insults and derogatory comments and threats of violence. I guess in the hope that they will upset me and others. It’s like a 5 year old trying to have an argument by calling you names but if a 5 year old behaved like that you would tell them to grow up. And let be honest, you can beat the living daylights out of me and it doesn't make me wrong and you right! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/an-open-letter-to-michael-payne-mp-for-gedling monthly 0.5 2025-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/bdeaafcb-628b-4d5a-abbb-61b3f6cf20de/OpenLetter.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - An open letter to Michael Payne MP for Gedling - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/first-they-came- monthly 0.5 2025-04-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/167030fb-a3ea-4ed3-b66a-345dc92910cc/TheyCame.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - First they came. . . . . My very dear friend Helen reminded me of this wonderful historic passage by Pastor Martin Niemöller. I first came across this on the wall of a police station I was attended to give a talk to new trainee officers about the importance of being open to understanding other people. When I read it I instantly knew it would be important to me throughout the the rest of my life and it has been. But reading it this morning I have realised that perhaps today for many vulnerable individuals and minority groups it is sadly more relevant now, than it has been for many years and that worries me. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/it-was-too-good-to-last monthly 0.5 2025-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4c1ce4b3-7e4f-4dcd-bf0b-e229c90df346/UCLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - It was too good to last A week or so ago I commented on how I had had a positive experience contacting the people at the DWP who were dealing with my move from ESA to UC. Well that all came crashing down this week when I called for a little clarification and got to speak to perhaps one of the most obnoxious women I think I have ever spoken to. Short tempered, nasty and just out right aggressive from the start of the call to the end. The DWP and many other organisations (NHS take note) constantly tell you that they do not tolerate abuse from callers towards their staff and I don’t have any problem with that. I’ve worked on helpdesks and in call centres and I personally know what caller abuse feels like so I never start out on a call with the intension to be unpleasant. But when you are greeted with abuse from the very start from the person who is supposed to me a “professional” it’s hard not to be short and curt back. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/and-so-the-state-sanctioned-hatred-beings monthly 0.5 2025-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/79e5a881-77e7-4333-b270-3aac655ce8a3/SupremeCourt.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - And so the state sanctioned hatred beings Yesterday, the UK Supreme Court finally delivered it’s verdict on the legal definition of “woman” or “female” to mean generic sex. The implications of this for people like myself are so massive and so far reaching I’m finding it hard to even begin to understand how my life is going to change. In one single document the UK Supreme Court has stripped me of any dignity and respect. The ruling echelons of government, the law and society has stuck 2 fingers up at the “trans” community and told us in no uncertain terms to FUCK OFF. The basic way of looking at this is, any “women only” space is now 100% off limits to me. Hospital Wards, Public Toilets, Gyms, Changing Rooms and any number of other places are now closed to me and people like me. Less than 24 hours after the ruling the NHS has been instructed to immediately update it’s policies on single sex wards or face prosecution. This means from now on if I have to go into hospital for overnight treatment I will be placed in a male ward. My view on this is that I would rather die with my dignity and self-respect intact than go on a male ward. This means that I have effectively been bared from NHS hospital treatment. If I am away from home and I need to use the public toilets I will need to use the male toilets. Not going to happen! Therefore I can now no longer travel anymore than 30 minutes or so from my home and my own toilet. My freedom of travel while not being removed has been rendered impossible. If, for some unforeseen reason I go to prison I will go to a male prison. Can not even think about that. If I’m stopped on the street for whatever reason by a police officer and searched I will be searched by a male officer. It would be a form of legal sexual assault. This, for want of a better word, this “process” applies to every UK space deemed a “woman only” space or service or process from now on. The more I try to comprehend the enormity of this ruling it just gets bigger and bigger and more and more upsetting. This will push so many trans people beyond what the can handle and suicide rates will vastly increase over the next weeks, months and years as a direct consequence of yesterdays ruling. Not only dose it remove so many and so much of my freedoms, it also sends out a message to every trans phobic degenerate idiot who drags their knuckles along the floor that it is ok to hate trans people because the pillars of society say it’s ok. This is life changing and life shattering. And before I go I will say this, don’t for one second think you are safe. If you are a minority group and vulnerable, you have just taken a massive step forwards towards being the next group on the list to be removed from todays society. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/not-always-what-you-expect monthly 0.5 2025-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4c1ce4b3-7e4f-4dcd-bf0b-e229c90df346/UCLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Not always what you expect Right now I’m right in the middle of moving from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC). Don’t ask me why this has to happen, it’s just another government driven change I think for changes sake. But it’s happening and I have to go along with it. For many complicated reasons, I don’t cope all that well with changes like this and it can be very triggering and it can send me in to a huge mental decline. That’s exactly what was happening, I tried to find information about what my UC package will be but every bit of information I found was surrounded with so many caveats like “could be” and “should do” and “may be” that it just made things worst. I need solid facts. On top of this I’m very aware of nightmare stories about how people have lost out and been treated terribly by the UC staff and system. Anyway, I decided to go to the DWP and ask if they can give me a little bit of time to just explain what’s happening and how my new UC benefits package will be worked out. To my amazement I got a call back from my case manager within a few hours and she was so incredibly helpful and explained what will happen and how everything will work out for me. This has, in tern helped me manage my thoughts and hopefully avoid a mental health “mini crisis”. What she has told be is also very positive and makes complete sense. To anyone out there who is going through this move themselves I say this, don’t believe all the nightmare stories you hear and seen on the news and online. I’m not saying they are not all true but I think you need to take it as YOU find it rather than how everyone reports it. Like me, you might be surprised. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/well-thats-a-bit-of-a-surprise monthly 0.5 2025-04-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/30856dfb-c67e-4e7c-a4da-a9f95bba1965/Eyes.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Well, that’s a bit of a surprise As you may know from reading my pervious blog post I am fighting against Diabetic Macular Edema or DME for short. Following the treatment, my vision is needle sharp for a period of weeks and then is starts to decline rapidly over a few days to a week with loss of colour, contrast and sharpness. You could describe it as dropping over a cliff edge type of decline. This started to happen just over a week ago and by last Tuesday morning at 7am in the morning I was unable to read text on the TV screen. This gets better as the day progresses and I suspect some of the fluids drain from my eyes. Following Friday mornings visit to see the consultant and arrange another 3 monthly injections my vision has spontaneously undergone substantial improvements in all aspects of vision! I think it is to early to consider postponing the first of the injections next week as I don’t know if this will be a lasting improvement or if it’s just going to be a passing thing. Either way, I’m taking it as a tiny win for now https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-good-old-nhs-what-are-you-doing monthly 0.5 2025-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4fadce3e-e960-4399-a16d-3ffcbf74f358/NHS.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - The good old NHS, what are you doing to yourself? The NHS, one of the greatest treasures of the UK. We should be so prod of it, of what it can do and how it has the power to change peoples lives for the better. Members of the NHS should also do their job with pride and dedication. Sadly, when I look around me I don’t think that the NHS is actually that good right now and I’m absolutely 100% certain that many of the NHS staff do not take the pride in their work that they should do. I’ve seen in the news that user satisfaction figures for NHS care and services is at an all time low of around 35% and continuing to fall year on year. I struggle to actually comprehend that figure to be frank with you. If this was a privately owned company alarm bells would have been sounding long ago and changes would have been demanded by customers and users way before reaching dissatisfaction levels of 35%. And more than anything, management at all levels would need to react and make changes otherwise the company would end trading no matter how big and powerful they were. But it seems that while the people of the UK are up in arms about the quality of service from the NHS, the staff from the very bottom of the pile to the very top person don’t seem to give a shit. To many of them we are just bits of meat to move around departments or numbers on spreadsheets that need to be made to go away. We are just a pay check to them. And the politicians in charge of the country, be it England, Wales or Scotland make token gestures to appear that they are trying to do something, but the truth is all they are doing is trying to con us into voting for them by playing the “we care” game while turning their backs and saying “fuck you” and laughing all the way to the next election. I think that the NHS has forgotten that everything they do, every time they cut a corner or say they are going to do something and don’t, every time they don’t give a shit because it’s just a job hurts someone that’s a venerable human being in need of help. And if you ask me what I’m basing this on. Apart from the news reports I have eyes and I spend a lot of time in hospitals and I observe what is going on around me and I see and experience this “new” NHS attitude every time. I will say a final thing, some parts of the NHS are amazing. Some parts of the NHS work exactly how they should do. Have a major road accident and the earth seems to move to get you back together again and that is amazing. But for the rest of us mundane patients it’s not so good. Good luck to everyone of you. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/another-round-of-eye-injections monthly 0.5 2025-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/30856dfb-c67e-4e7c-a4da-a9f95bba1965/Eyes.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Another round of eye injections According to Google, “Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), a serious complication of diabetes, occurs when fluid leaks from damaged blood vessels in the retina, causing swelling in the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for sharp, detailed vision. “ The photo on the left is the most recent OCT scan of my eyes and shows the build up of fluid at the centre of my retinas. One eye having more fluid that the other which I can tell by better vision in one eye to the other. I have been fighting this condition for about a year now and the treatment plan is 4 rounds of monthly injections into each eyeball (yes you read that correctly!) followed with an and check up with a consultant and an OCT scan 1 month after the last injection. Then, for now, we do it all over again. The results of the treatment are evident the next day with my vision returning to needle sharpness and colour and contrast being just about perfect. I would even go as far as saying that my vision is better than it has been for 30 years or more. This improvement last until the next injection when it all starts aging. The only positive is that for now, this treatment is working at the time of each injection and slowly it is improving my vision for longer and longer between injections. It would however be nice if this could offer a permanent fix for the condition but I fear that will not happen and eventually over time I will lose my sight to some degree or another, maybe totally. The really odd thing today however. Even though my vision started declining last week and hit a really bad day around mid week, today my vision is almost perfect even though I haven’t had the next injection yet! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/america-you-got-what-you-wanted-in-trump-which-just-goes-to-show-you-are-morons monthly 0.5 2025-03-29 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/trust-betrayed-and-damage-done monthly 0.5 2025-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/9667bee2-411f-40f5-bf5d-440df9cb9cb8/Trust.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Trust betrayed and damage done Every day I get a visit from a support worker for an hour. I’m closer to a few of those support workers than others and I hoped that that closeness was reciprocated. This week I’ve had some difficult health news from my GP and up to now I’ve not talked it over with anyone because I’ve waited for the right opportunity and person to talk about this news “off the record”. Normal practice for the support workers is to write a few notes on their system about everything that is discussed and those notes are available to all the other support workers to read. I guess continuity is the goal here. Today I asked one of the support workers who I particularly trusted if we could talk off the record. I feel that at this point if she wasn’t willing to go off the record she should have made that very clear there and then and I would have stopped the conversation before it went any further. In saying nothing and just waiting for me to speak she was indicating to me that she was open to going off the record. After I opened up and talked about my situation she then told me that while she would not record some of our conversation in her official notes she would record the essence of what I talked about. WHAT THE FUCK! I’m now left feeling absolutely totally betrayed and any trust I had has been utterly smash to bits. I actually feel sick. Trust is vital in the relationship between me and my support workers and this has left me feeling that I will never trust any of them again. That feeling is so strong that I actually feel like putting into motion actions to withdraw from my support completely. Right now I need to slam the breaks on and just absorb what has happened, maybe I learn from this and never talk about anything other than the weather with any of the support workers who come and see me from now on. I don’t really know just now. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/bugger monthly 0.5 2025-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/f5d18b89-9dd1-4583-bc89-b970d98f01be/BadNews.jpeg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Bugger! A few weeks ago I had some blood tests done. The results came back and they lead my GP to do more blood tests, lots more blood tests to tell the truth. The results came back as “abnormal” from top to bottom so I got an inkling that things were not going in the right direction. This morning I had a chat to the GP and he kind of explained the measurements that should be low were very high, and the measurements that should be high were very low. He asked a few questions and we talked about what could be the cause of the problem. That’s when he said it. . . . . . “Well Debbie, there’s a very high probability that it could be cancer.” He then went on to say he needed to book more tests and try and pin it down exactly so we could start dealing with it. I’ve thought about this kind of moment several times over many years and to be very honest I already knew what I would do. There will not be any more tests, I don’t want them and I don’t want to know any more because it will not change things. If it is cancer then so be it. I suppose you could say it will do for me what I have tried so many times to do myself. If it’s not cancer then nothing is going to change. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-dont-always-deal-with-change-well monthly 0.5 2025-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4c1ce4b3-7e4f-4dcd-bf0b-e229c90df346/UCLogo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I don’t always deal with change well I don’t always cope well with big change, but they say change is inevitable and change is good. Little changes I can cope with, after all that’s just progress. But big changes in the past have sometimes been major triggers to some of the more drastic collapses in my life. I think it’s the level of uncertainty at the outcome of whatever is changing that upsets me and fills me with fear and dread. Then it starts my brain itching and then I start over thinking things and looking for all the worst possible outcomes and then finally I implode in a big mess. Just now, there is change coming in the way of moving from Employment Support Allowance (EAS) and all of it’s financial disability packages that I so rely on, to this new fangled Universal Credit (UC). Reading the paperwork they have sent me, it should work out that I’ll receive the same value of support but in “different” ways, and trying to work out what those differences are is starting me off struggling with this. Today, at 10:30am I have a phone meeting with someone from the DWP to discuss why I can not validate my ID on line which is part of the online application for UC process (I know why this is, and it’s complicated!!!). It should be a quick and simple meeting but it’s all new to me and I don’t know what the rules are. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/tackling-some-of-the-simpler-things-is-helping monthly 0.5 2025-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/5c7ec431-b6fb-4bb6-a22e-228e0ce4d689/Simple.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Tackling some of the simpler things is helping The bottom line is that I’m intelligent and practical because I am an engineer like my father, brother and other family members. But at the same time, since I had my massive mental breakdown my ability to cope every day has been substantially reduced. It’s quite easy for me to feel overwhelmed by everyday events and tasks that can then potentially lead to a kind of cascade failure that can cripple me. By that I just retreat into myself and shut down and then nothing gets done. This is were the engineer in me kicks in. Recently I have started tackling many of the smaller things in day to day life. That can be anything from just picking something up off the floor and putting it where it should be to washing the pots to taking the time to look out of the window at the sunshine. Yes, the bigger things still need doing and these “bigger things” can trigger feelings of being overwhelmed and useless. But that can be off set by fixing the little things and that means ending the day feeling a little less that useless https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/welcome-back-home monthly 0.5 2025-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7bb0c03b-422b-4334-bdb6-136edcbb1d12/ReturnToEarth.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Welcome back home I’m just going to say welcome back Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, NASA astronauts. You seemed to have taken your prolonged stay in space like the professionals that your are. And lets face it, there are worst places that you could get stranded! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/worrying-times-waiting-for-government-announcement-on-pip monthly 0.5 2025-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/eedeb255-23a4-44ce-967d-2d760120109d/PIP.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Major changes to benefits all round, but are they good or bad? Today (Tuesday 18th March 2025) the government has announced some major changes to benefits system. In many ways I both agree with these changes and the reasons they have had to be made. I think it’s true that many people see health benefits as a free ride to not having to work. I particularly agree that far too many people are using mental heath as an easy route into benefits. So, while it might sound a bit harsh at first sight, removing people from the list who really shouldn’t be there in the first place can only strengthen the support for those who really need and deserve it. The only thing I truly hope for is that the government, whoever they are, stand by their promises to put into place high quality support for everyone. Proper support for those who qualify for the benefits and proper support for those who don’t and will need alternative support to deal with what’s happened to them. I do fear however that this might not fully happen. As a side note. I don’t spend a lot of time watching politicians and parliament “sitting” on the BBC news because it’s a total waste of time and space. But watching this announcement today made my blood boil. All I saw were FUCKING IDIOTS trying to score points over each other based on how the other side had fuck up worst than they had. To every politician who was there today you should hang your heads in shame! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/living-with-diabetes-isnt-a-lot-of-fun monthly 0.5 2025-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/90d7c321-52c0-4edf-8cb0-1eb1766506b1/GlucoseLevel.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Living with diabetes isn’t a lot of fun I have lived with diabetes for quite a number of years now. When I was first diagnosed with the condition I didn’t really understand the degree of just how life changing it would be as time went by. Because I didn’t understand I didn’t manage things very well and for a long time I just caried on as if nothing was wrong. That, looking back was a massive mistake that I’m now paying for. I’ll be brutally honest with you, diabetes kills you very slowly and it kills you by attacking and destroying just about every part of your body over a time frame of years so you don’t notice until it’s too late to do anything about it. Not only does it destroy your body, it also destroys your life. I have so many restrictions on what I can do now because of the damage done. I will confess that in recent years, in my attempt to kick back at the medical profession and in some screwed up way take back control of my life I totally stopped taking any medication for diabetes and carried on with life as if there was nothing wrong. This was very stupid of me looking back. Finally, 2 years ago I had no choice to but to restart diabetic medication and to restrict my diet by removing as much sugar as possible. If I didn’t do this, the eye surgeon wouldn’t operate on my eyes and I would be blind for the rest of my life. Not something I would be able to live with. Because diabetes doesn't stand still, at the beginning of this year for no understandable reasons my blood glucose levels started to rise again. This rise peaked a few weeks ago at over 35mmol/L which is VERY high considering that it ideally should be around 7mmol/L. It’s taken a lot of hard work and a change/addition of medication and the fitting of a Libre 2 constant monitoring system but last night I finally saw my blood glucose level drop to a nice 6.8mmol/L and it’s holding at around and below 10mmol/L while I’m up and about. I actually find this slightly reassuring that I might prolong my fight against diabetes just a little bit longer. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/why-i-fly-the-colours monthly 0.5 2025-03-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/c160cb25-59b2-49cd-8043-0d7f968e0b56/PrideFlag.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Why I fly the colours I can not take credit for this, I found it on the interweb recently. I don’t wear rainbow items to tell you who’s in my bed. I wear rainbows so the family across the street knows they are safe. So the couple in the restaurant know they aren’t alone. So the boy who sees me notice him looking at dresses knows I won’t judge. I wear a rainbow because YOU make them hide! So very simple but at the same time so powerful. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/fighting-the-fight-of-life monthly 0.5 2025-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/824c906a-b83c-478c-a76e-bb15d8f7a03f/MumsChairOnline.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Fighting the fight of life This is my mum’s chair. It’s where she sits and looks out over the garden. For now it’s empty because mum’s in hospital. She is fighting the battle that I guess we all fight and that’s the battle to live a life as long and as good as possible. She is fighting hard against age but the hardest fight is against dementia. Dementia is the cruellest condition because it strips away the person you love while leaving an empty shell behind. But the worst part is the way it does this. It takes a little bit every day and no matter how hard you fight it always wins. I’m hoping mum will be back home soon, back in her chair and back with my dad. In the meantime all I can do is love and support her every day. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-pure-love-of-a-dog monthly 0.5 2025-03-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/e208c661-47f0-4f13-9a88-26030a59d845/Ned.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - The pure love of a dog There are so many problems and difficulties in life at the moment, but yesterday I dopped over to Arnold to the family home to see dad and Ned. Ned is the most wonderful little Jack Russell and I like to think he is my best friend. We have a ritual to go through when I visit. I always have 2 chew sticks in my handbag ready for him to pinch from me and munch through which is his first task as I walk through the door. Once he’s done that he jumps back up and sort of sits next to me and lays his head into my hands and gets a cuddle for a few minutes. During those few minutes there is a really strong connection between us and I like to think we share our feelings of love and trust for each other. Finally he will either lay down at the side of me and sleep or he’ll go off and lay in the sun soaking up the warmth. Dog owners all over the world will know and share this connection and understand just how special and how pure it is. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/my-father monthly 0.5 2025-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1e6604c5-b5e6-4797-8413-88c94fe22ebc/Father.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - My Father First and foremost what I am about to write is not in any way an attempt to discredit my father in any way. My father, like my mother is an amazing human being who is kind and upstanding in so many ways that are not seen in this day and age. He worked hard to always put food on the table and a roof over our heads as we grew up. We had holidays and Christmas and birthdays were always special. In those ways we never wanted for anything and for all of that I will always love, support and respect my father. If I turn out to be a 10th of what he (and my mother) is then I’ll be alright. However, there are and have been some problems and these problems have had a life long impact on my life and not in a positive way. It’s fair to say that my father holds some very extreme views on our society and in some ways those views cross the line into the realms of hatred. While I agree with the concept that we can all hold whatever views and opinions we want it is not always right or helpful to openly express and shout those views and opinions out loud. My father does! Many of his “views” on the LGBT, Vulnerable and Neurodiverse communities over my lifetime have directly lead me to live my life with a feeling of fear and rejection and account for a large percentage my feelings of being inadequate in my fathers eyes and therefore the eyes of the world. Hearing my father talk about hating LGBT people knowing that I was secretly part of the LGBT community just left me so confused and frightened. Sadly, this diminishes some of the many amazing and positive attributes my father has and I don’t think he realises it or at least he doesn't want to realise it and I’m sure he doesn't mean any direct harm. But reality is it does cause harm and hurt. An old but very true saying is “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt, or It's better to keep your mouth shut. There are probably many more years of reflection for me on how my father’s views have impacted on me and in reality I probably don’t have that many more years with my father so I will treasure the positives while trying to temper his negatives just a little bit. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/pedro-pascal-someone-i-have-a-lot-of-respect-for monthly 0.5 2025-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/03eef906-a22b-470f-b0ae-41ceeec45fd3/PedroPascal.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Pedro Pascal, someone I have a lot of respect for Pedro Pascal, apparently he’s some well known actor in TV and Films. To be fair I’m not that bothered about who he is. But what he has said publicly to his many millions of social media followers in quite honestly, inspirational. Apparently he posted the following comment in support of transgendered people……. “I can't think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist." In response and as expected, he has received many replies from transphobic trolls among his followers to which he has sent some outstanding comments back to as they unfollow him. You can read about it here. I wish there were more people who had the strength and openness to speak out like this and stand up for vulnerable groups. Respect to you Pedro Pascal. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/just-maybe-a-step-in-the-right-direction monthly 0.5 2025-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/9ece269e-f199-43f7-b21c-1a2bb1b4485f/Trentside.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Just maybe a step in the right direction Since being ladled up in my GP medical notes last week as an active alcoholic and long term alcohol abuser which really is not the case I have had a very difficult week to manage my thoughts in my own head. I’m sure to many people this is nothing but because of the way I have been treated by the medical profession over the last 10 years or so as well as a life time of being put down by people in authority this has been very triggering. I’ll be the first to admit that I have many problems in my life but drugs and alcohol abuse have never been one of them. And I hope they never will. Tonight, I have received a phone call from one of the partners at the practice who has been assigned to look into my case and he has confirmed that a mistake was made and this mistake has now been corrected. This means all notes referring to alcohol abuse have been removed and a letter to say sorry and confirm the corrections have been made is going to be prepared and sent to me over the next few days. I really wish this could have been sorted out quickly on Monday morning with nothing more than a phone call but the practice turned it into a major complaint, not me. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/this-is-why-i-dont-trust-any-of-the-medical-profession-as-far-as-i-can-piss-them monthly 0.5 2025-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/9ece269e-f199-43f7-b21c-1a2bb1b4485f/Trentside.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - This is why I don’t trust any of the medical profession as far as I can piss them Last week I had to have some blood tests caried out and as a result I had a telephone consultation with a nurse on Friday afternoon. No unexpected problems but I was advised to start taking statins. Because experience has shown than most medical people have a very bad habit of saying one thing to your face and then write up completely different things in the medical notes I always make a habit of logging in to the NHS app and checking to see what has been recorded. After all, this is the “offical” record and needs to be correct. Upon checking the notes I found this (names removed for respect): 21 February 2025 Trentside Medical Group (General Practice) - Mrs J B (Nurse Access Role) Note - History: Task received from C S in response to my task - Debbie known alcoholic on daily insulin only as previously tried to self harm with insulin. Is known to the DSN TT.; History of alcohol abuse (Y20aa) Coded entry - History of alcohol abuse (Y20aa) To say that I am angry at being called a “known alcoholic” and having a “history of alcohol abuse” is like saying the North Pole has a little chilli weather. This is outrageous defamation of character in every sense of the word and given that I am not an alcoholic, never have been an alcoholic and hopefully never will be an alcoholic as supported by the total lack of any medical history related to alcohol I feel this is nothing but fiction and negligence at best on the part of the nurse who made the notes. Now, I’m sure you are thinking a quick phone call to the practice along with an expiation would put this right. So was I when I called them yesterday morning but oh no. First of all I was told they could not discuss it and I would have to send them an e-mail. After sending them an angry but formal e-mail they then informed me that they would need to investigate my complaint and that would take 28 working days at which point they will let me know what their findings are. What the fuck is there to investigate??? apart from drinking half a bottle of whisky last year in a suicide attempt (which I don’t confider drinking!!) I have not had an alcoholic drink in 30 years and before that I drank like any normal person drinks. I got pissed on a Friday night out with my mates. In the meantime this incorrect medical note is open for any medical person to access with no additional notes or caveats to say that this is being contested. It could jeopardise my driving licence, my car insurance an my eligibility for a Motability car but they don’t seem to give a shit about any of that. It’s also seriously impacting my mental health situation and pushing me towards some very nasty suicidal thoughts. Again, I have explained this to Trentside Medical Group staff but they are not in the slightest bit interested. My only option is to try and engage a solicitor to fight my case and take this to the local and nation media (AKA BBC Nottingham) Disgusting beyond words https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/is-this-the-end-of-democracy-in-america-as-we-know-it monthly 0.5 2025-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/a85ceb8f-6416-4b70-b640-446334fee32b/TrumMusk.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Is this the end of democracy in America as we know it? Every morning I get up, make my coffee and sit down to watch the news. Every day I watch with fear what’s happening in America under Trump the idiot’s growing “dictatorship”. And make no mistake, a dictatorship is exactly what’s growing in America. A dictatorship driven by hate and intolerance. I wonder if those rednecks and right wing extremists who voted for Trump the idiot for one second ever thought that they would see mass layoffs of federal jobs. Discrimination of vulnerable people and the alienation of allies around the world. If it’s this bad after a few weeks, what will it be like after 4 years? https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/what-do-i-do monthly 0.5 2025-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/413f969a-a67d-4049-8c3d-0a0fbe78b979/WestAfricanWomen.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - What do I do? For some years now I have had daily visits from support workers. They stay for an hour in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening and their role it to make sure I am ok in terms of my mental health and just generally providing “support where needed”. The primary way this support is provided it plain and simple chatting about all sorts of things which helps by stopping me sinking into my own nightmares. So I think it’s fair to say that speaking English and having to ability to hold a conversation is a MAJOR part of the skill set needed to support me. Today I’ve received a visit from a new support worker who, let’s put this very plain and simply. She does not speak a word of English. She might think she does, and I’m sure she is making every effort to speak English but her African accent to so overpowering and strong that what coms out is nothing! On top of that for most of the visit she just sat there looking at me in silence! This is nothing to do with her race or ethnic origins, for Christ's sake 3 other support workers are from Africa and while their accents make is a little difficult to understand some things they say, we get on perfectly well and I hope they always feel welcome in my home. I have to ask the question though, someone at the company who provides my support must have interviewed this lady and during that interview some alarm bell or thought process must have kicked in that said “this lady can not communicate with out clients”. Therefore she is not suitable for the task she is applying for or at best, she is not suitable for being sent to me to cover my support needs. Put it another way, it’s like somebody apply for a job as a taxi driver and during the interview they get asked “do you have a driving licence” and they reply “no” Do they get the job as a taxi driver? Common sense says no! Now, tomorrow I’m going to have to approach my support provider and point out the problem and ask that they don’t send this lady to me again and that will come across as me being “racist” and then I will be written up in some official notes somewhere as the cause of the problem when I’m not. And that REALLY bothers me. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/we-need-to-show-our-respect-to-volodymyr-zelensky-and-the-people-of-ukraine monthly 0.5 2025-02-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/9156075d-5f99-408d-8740-43e19f4964c4/VolodymyrZelensky.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - We need to show our respect to Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine The president of the United States of America has yet again shown to the world the levels of disrespect he has for us or anyone for that matter. This week Trump the nutter has gone directly to Putin the nutter to discuss how the two nutters are going to end the war in Ukraine on what looks like favourable terms for Putin. Trump the nutter has done this entirely without first talking the matter over with Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine. There isn’t a level in hell that this dosn’’t demonstrate the disgraceful way Trump sees and treats others. Quite honestly, Trump needs taking outside and slapping with a cricket bat for a very long time. In the meantime, I’m very happy to see that the European leaders (including the UK) are openly denouncing Trump and showing their support for Volodymyr Zelensky. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-send-my-support-and-respect-to-dr-beth-upton monthly 0.5 2025-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/8b01784f-e63d-4f64-b94e-1f6ddb2d3f9f/TransDoctor.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I send my support and respect to Dr Beth Upton Beth Upton is a medical doctor at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Scotland who in the last 2 or 3 years has transitioned to a new life as a woman. Something that is probably one of the hardest things any person can do. Sadly, a “lady” called Sandie Peggie at the same hospital has objected to her using the female changing rooms and allegedly made some derogatory comments about Dr Upton being like a convicted rapist! First thing, I’m really pleased that the hospital management did the right thing and defended Dr Upton’s rights in a respectful way. Secondly, the hospital management also did the right thing and suspended Sandie Peggie for this and other “transphobic” hate crimes which has now lead to a tribunal in court. I see people all the time like Sandie Peggie who seem to want to hurt others for no other reason than they feel they can. I wonder if these people realises how much it hurts being subjected to this sort of treatment? It hurts both at the time of the incident but perhaps more damaging it hurts years later just as much. The feelings it generates sit with you at the back of your mind and come out to haunt you when you are at a low point and feeling insecure. These are the things that can tip the balance one way or the other on a dark lonely night when you are trying your hardest to find a reason to live. Yes, it’s that serious! Finally, I want to send Dr Beth Upton my love, my support and my utmost respect for standing up for what’s right and not just giving up and walking away. Do what you can Dr Upton and know there are many people from all walks of life who support you, not just the LGBTQ+ community. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-need-to-fight-against-lgbt-hatred monthly 0.5 2025-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/a1422dd9-e790-4cb5-b658-1de3231034e2/Hate.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I need to fight against LGBT+ hatred This is a subject that causes me and I’m sure many others much concern and I feel it’s something I want to voice my thoughts on. When I first announced to the world that I was transgendered back at the end of the 90s the world felt like it was changing very slowly for the better. The gay community was slightly ahead of the trans community in terms of understanding and acceptance but it felt overall like it was going in the right direction. I recall at the time I felt if this acceptance continued to grow life would not be quite so difficult. I felt hopeful. Then there has been the response to all of the public speaking I have done over the years. I’ve spoken in person to all sorts of groups and agencies who were keen to listen. One time I was even the main stage speaker at an event in front of over 2000 people! I’ve been on national and local TV and radio and was a regular guest on BBC Radio Nottingham talking about my journey. The feedback was always overwhelmingly positive with people saying how much they had learnt about the complexities of being part of the LGBT+ world. I truly hoped everyone who heard me speak went away with just a tiny bit more understanding. If they did, and they passed that on to others it would help everyone get along better. 25 years later and I have sat reading through some peoples comments and then digging into their profiles on Facebook recently and It’s actually really depressing. I understand that when people are online they become very brave and think they can say what they like. But when you dig into their profile you see “Hatred” running all the way through everything their lives. Not just hatred towards the LGBT+ community but hatred towards just about anyone who isn’t a mirror of themselves and this is evidenced with their unwillingness to even respect peoples right to be different. All of this leads me to think that instead of progressing from where we were in the 90s we have instead gone a long way backwards. I think that although the laws have changes over time to offer protection to many minorities, many of our political and community leaders are openly hostile towards us and this empowers others to openly express their hatred hatred thinking they are safe, Maybe they even think they are holding up societies “standards”. For people like me we need to make a stand and not allow this decline to continue. To tell our leaders we have had enough and they need to understand the danger they are exposing us to. We need to make society understand that we are as good as anyone else and that we have the same moral compass as the best of them. We need to stand together for positive changes before it’s too late. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/what-on-earth-is-this-man-doing monthly 0.5 2025-02-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/6303b620-7c61-47f3-b236-b4a10c25c92c/Trump.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - What on earth is this man doing? I’ve talked about this guy a few times and I’ll be honest with you, I have ZERO respect for him. Based on the fact that he’s a multi-billionaire and President of the United States that, implies in my world he has a certain level of intelligence and understanding up to the job. Clearly he dosn’’t!! It very much seems that he sit’s there in the oval office of the white house and an idea flashes into his brain. Instantly and without any further thought or consideration of any kind what so ever “BANG” he’s announcing it as policy to the world. Classic example of this is his ridicules statement this week on what he’s going to do with Gaza by turning it into a “tourist hot spot” despite the fact that his plan flies in the face of dozens of international agreements, laws and conventions not least of which it constitutes “ethnic cleansing”. Then, the buffoon stands there claiming the support and approval of the rest of the world’s leaders when in reality the rest of the world leaders are all saying how stupid Trump’s statement is and that there is no way on earth they will support it. The really sad thing is that this isn’t the first time this scenario has played out. There’s a saying that comes to mind. . . . . ”Put your brain in gear before engaging you mouth” There’s also another saying that fits perfectly here. . . . . “The man’s a fucking idiot” https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/we-can-not-allow-it-to-happen-again monthly 0.5 2025-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/460e2e40-a15c-441b-b972-11ee34e48e44/arbeit_macht_frei-dark.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - We can not allow it to happen again Today, 27th January 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by allied forces from the Nazis. We watch old films of what happened and listen to the memories of the victims of the holocaust but only the survivors who were there will ever really know what it was like. It’s fair to to say it’s one of the lowest points in human history. I think since then we have tried to never allow such horrors to happen again. We have mainly seen the need to work together to resolve conflicts and we have understood that we need to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged among us rather than eliminating them. While I think we have made great progress as the “human race” I fear that we are slipping back towards allowing politicians and world leaders to use hatred and fear to gain power and shape our world in dreadful ways again. Only this week “President” Trump unleashed his clear hatred on the LGBTQ+ community and other diversity groups in ways that in my opinion should exclude him from any and all positions of power, let alone the Presidency of the United States of America. And just like in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, nobody is standing up and saying what is happening is wrong. First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me We need to stand up now and stop this before it’s too late. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-came-across-something-with-real-meaning monthly 0.5 2025-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/87f8bab0-be3c-4dee-b9a9-b0fb15bfeef3/GrimReaper.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I came across something with real meaning! I’ll be the first to say that social media is a never ending source of drivel and bull shit. But just occasionally you come across an absolute gem and this is one of those gems. Before you read on be warned, (a) this could be a little triggering for some, and (b) this is not me saying I’m about to jump off the top of the nearest tall building. See what you think. . . . . . . And when death finds me, I hope it whispers, ”come now, the fight is done” and takes my hand gently, like an old friend who understands why I’m so tired. I hope it says, ”You’ve carried enough, let me hold this weight for you.” I hope it promises, ”here there is quiet. Here there is rest.” I have always respected the right of any person to end their life when and how they want, and for whatever reason they want. During my time working for the Samaritans I have had the pure honour to share the final moments of a callers time on this earth and it is a life changing experience. Of course, if there is an alternative, then that alternative should be explored but if death is the right option for you then you have my respect. And finally, lets not forget that some people have fought battles both mental and physical for longer than we know and death for them is the final release from all that pain. “come now the fight is over” https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/government-security-where-do-we-go-from-here monthly 0.5 2025-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/3a8bb01e-3d35-4e47-9535-1efc4c4a6bd5/UK-Government-Logo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Government security, where do we go from here? Axel Rudakubana has received a life sentence with a minimum of 52 years. If he was just 9 days older at the time of the crime he would have got a full life sentence. That’s what he should have got! While he is now off to prison hopefully for the rest of his life there are many questions that need to be asked, and we need frank and honest answers from those we ask the questions to. Basically, this animal was flagged up time and time again to government security, the police and social services but at every opportunity to do something the warnings were ignored. Maybe warning should have triggered some process that allowed these “government services” to remove Axel Rudakubana from public society. However, and this is where everything gets VERY complicated, and I appreciate there is no easy option for all of us. Do we remove people from our society on the possibility of them committing a crime, no matter how major or minor that crime is or do we have to wait for them to actually commit a crime first? It’s massive and the implications of locking someone up just because we think they are going to do something is the stuff of nightmares and Si-Fi and horror films. But if, at the same time we do nothing we are letting normal law-abiding people down. We have to find some sort of middle ground but what that middle ground is I really don’t know. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/is-this-the-face-of-an-insane-murderer-i-think-it-is monthly 0.5 2025-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0cb77d6c-f05c-4531-ac95-892113977218/Killer.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Is this the face of an insane murderer? I think it is This is the face of Axel Rudakubana. He murdered in cold blood Bebe King, aged 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged 9 and attempted to murder 10 other people. I don’t care what colour he is, what religion he is, what gender he is or what mental problems he had. Just one look at those eyes and it’s plain and simple that it is evil to the very core. I only hope that the judge locks him away for the rest of his natural life. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/today-i-fight-second-by-second monthly 0.5 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7944788e-1df8-4a53-bc2a-f4e2b3519b65/Struggle.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Today I fight second by second Today is very simple. I fight second by second against the thought that the world would be better off without me being in it. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/there-was-a-time-when-things-were-ok monthly 0.5 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/042ff1f4-7bbc-48b4-abcd-a8fd1c00958c/Friends%26Family.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - There was a time when things were ok There was a time not that many years ago when I was ok. I had my family and my friends and while I still battled daemons in my head every day I felt I had people around me who wouldn’t give up on me. I’m so sad to say that when I stepped out into the world as Debbie, those family and friends I thought I could trust walked away from me. It’s impossible to put into words just what that felt like but imagine a bottomless pit of fear and darkness that you know every nightmare you ever had resided there waiting for you. Now imagine being in that pit, looking up and seeing your family and friends walking around above you. If only you could get there attention you would be saved from the pit. They could offer you a hand and pull you out. Finally imagine every single one of them ignoring you. The louder you shout the more desperate you feel the more they walk away until none of them are in sight and you realise you are all alone in the world with nothing but fear, nightmares and demons surrounding you. Now you know why I can not make new friends or allow anyone to get close to me again. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/no-problems-with-these-guys monthly 0.5 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/f8734fa1-dbdc-4d0d-aea4-e5bc385cc80e/LGBTFightingHeros.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - No Problems With These Guys Given that I am part of the LGBT community this is going to sound vey strange but I really don’t want to have much to do with the general LGBT community. You see, I don’t like the over sexualisation of just about everything, I don’t like the cross dressing and the over the top cram it down your throat attitude of so many members of this community. And I don’t like the way that the media portrays only the extreme and controversial LGBT side of our community. However, there is a part of my community that I respect and would be proud to stand next to until the end of time, and that’s the LGBT Military who serve in our armed forced both in the past and today. These people didn’t go skipping down the street dressed as a teenage whore. No, they got on with their lives and did amazing things while keeping our country safe. While all the time living in fear of being discovered, shamed and chucked out of the military like a common criminal or worst. And don’t forget, those who were found out did have their lives utterly destroyed in a torrent of government sanctioned hatred. 25 years ago, after a huge fight by these people the laws were changed, respect was restored, medals returned and apologies given. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/the-los-angeles-fires-keep-on-burning monthly 0.5 2025-01-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/16008f84-9e76-4741-aaa0-656a6107bcdc/LA-Fire.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - The Los Angeles fires keep on burning As I write this it seems that the whole of Los Angeles is burning. It’s so hard to wrap your head around the scale of the wild fires engulfing Los Angeles at the moment just by watching the news. I can not imagine the emotional and physical difficulties people are facing. But people are facing it and many will come together and rebuild what has been lost. It’s one of humanities better qualities. Other amazing qualities of humanity are also being shown, bravery, honesty, love and compassion I’m sure can be seen everywhere you look by all of Los Angeles society, and when this is over we should remember the positives as well as the desolation and loss. Sadly though, we also see some of the lowest qualities of humanity. Those people who are out on the streets looting and steeling from people and properties at their most venerable. For those people the longest possible prison sentence is the only thing they should be looking forward to. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/they-seem-so-driven-by-the-need-for-violence monthly 0.5 2025-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2e257e5f-7af8-40b0-8980-16c0705b6379/BlackKnifeCrime.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - They seem so driven by the need for violence I saw on the BBC News this week yet another pointless knife stabbing murder on our streets. Some 14 year old kid stabbed on a bus. Before details were released by the police and I opened the story to read the details I knew it would be another black kid who had died. Every time you read into these types of incidents you see the same things over and over again. Gang affiliation, social services involvement, criminal history, anti-authoritarian and the same list goes on and on. Sadly I don’t know what the answer is. I know it is largely but not exclusively a “black youth” attitude problem and I know that the politicians don’t want to admit publicly the truth for fear of being accused of being racist. I also know that so many “do gooders” make endless excuses for todays youth of all colours and races. and I know if it’s not stopped soon it will just spiral out of control to the point of open wars on the streets of out cities like you find in the ghettos of America. These youths and their parents/guardians need to change their attitudes and take some responsibilities on themselves AND THEY NEED TO CHANGE. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/one-word-to-say-it-all monthly 0.5 2025-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7696d35c-9743-46cd-b2e7-8106e5e886ab/Fuck.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - One word to say it all FUCK ! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/we-always-cater-for-the-lowest-common-denominator monthly 0.5 2025-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/5e62390b-f47f-4dc1-9755-37875131d939/villageIdiot.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - We always cater for the lowest common denominator The more I see of the world around me the sadder I get. I know we can not all have an IQ north of 150 and be geniuses. In any society there are people at the top and people at the bottom and all have a valid place and role to play and our society needs to cater for ALL those levels. However, I think that we have lost the balanced approach and ever increasingly we are catering for the lower levels only. Look around you, it’s rare to see an intelligent documentary on TV, instead it’s wall to wall quiz and reality shows which to me are just flashing lights, noise and nothing else which bring no enrichment at all. We need to put labels on everything warning that it’s hot or cold or sharp of whatever when just looking it it should make that clear. People want and demand instant answers and fixes without having the pleasure of working a problem through. And many many other crazy examples like that. I genuinely wonder how far we have to go before we become a society of vegetables incapable of intelligent thought, understanding and conversation. I fear it’s not that far! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/further-thoughts-on-elon-musk monthly 0.5 2025-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1f61092c-1f39-4ead-be04-bf3e938a373a/Musk.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Further thoughts on Elon Musk I said a few days ago that I was concerned about Elon Muck and some of his views and approaches to life, and that time would reveal how he reveals himself to us. Well, it seems that things have developed a little bit and we have new insights into Musk’s political motivations. Watching the BBC news this morning it seems he is voicing his dis-satisfaction at our Prime-Minster Keir Starmer for how he handled rape and grooming gangs in the Bradford area. He’s also suddenly dropped his support for Reform UK and Nigel Farage because of their objection to having the right wing extremist Tommy Robinson as a party member. My views on that are already posted on here for you to read. No, my vies on Musk are now very clear. He is dangerous and while he is going on about free speech he is also forgetting the importance of democracy and respecting what the majority have said via the vote. More importantly, he is not a British subject, he doesn’t live in the UK and he doesn’t have anything to with UK politics so he needs to keeps his opinions to himself and stay in America. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/reform-uk-a-force-for-good-or-evil monthly 0.5 2025-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/dea527ac-e7e6-4735-a6ee-8c3b80abfa88/ReformUK.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Reform UK, a force for good or evil? I am so conflicted regarding this party and the muppets who are running it. I agree that we need to implement better (much better) legal and illegal immigration control. As a country we just can not continue to support the level of influx of people. I agree that if you are an immigrant in this country then you should respect our history, our culture and out laws and if you don’t, then you always have the option to go back to wherever you came from in the first place. I agree that we need to reduce the number of people claiming benefits who have never worked a day in their lives and who have no intention of working. The “maximum” benefit system should be there to support those who have worked and contributed to the system. Those who sit on their their backsides all day drinking cans of larger, smoking fags and taking drugs while playing video games on their 55” TV and scream about their “human right” to live like that should be put on the absolute minimum of benefits and forced to change their attitude to working. I agree with the principal of free speech. And yes, I understand that sometimes with free speech, things are said that I don’t agree with but like Evelyn Beatrice Hall said; “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” I agree with so much that Reform UK claim to stand for. But I am also very aware that hidden just below the surface are so many right wing radical, homophobic, transphobic and militant extremists like Tommy Robinson (Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) just waiting to step out of the shadows and take over should Reform UK ever become an influential political party. In addition to the right wing extremists there are so many “muppets” who hold ridicules views and make statements that demonstrate just how disconnected they are from the struggles of living in the real world. To me, this all says that until Reform UK can remove these elements from among it’s ranks I just can not fully align myself with them and vote to put then in power. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/a-bit-of-snow-in-the-uk-and-we-all-go-to-pot monthly 0.5 2025-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/d1cbb5bc-e78c-459c-9105-bb59b36bade6/SnowDay.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - A bit of snow in the UK and we all go to pot! I sometimes despair at the risk averse society we live in today. According to the Met Office there is a bit of snow and a cold spell hitting us over the next few days and as such a yellow and amber weather warning has been issued. But in reality the snow is going to be around for a day or 2 at the most and the low temperatures are going to be -1°c or -2°c. If you watch the BBC news over the last few days the way they are talking it sounds more like a new Ice Age apocalypse in about to hit us. I remember not that many years ago heading home to Rainworth and it was indicating -19°c. Now I completely understand -1°c is more of a problem than for others but the way we are approaching it’s more like a problem to everyone. Come on people, grow up and stand up to what is at the end of the day just normal winter weather that hits us EVER year. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/elon-musk-someone-i-suspect-is-more-trouble-than-hes-worth monthly 0.5 2025-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1f61092c-1f39-4ead-be04-bf3e938a373a/Musk.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Elon Musk, someone I suspect is more trouble than he’s worth. I like to think I’m a good judge of people. I base that on the fact that I’ve been around a bit and I’ve had the privilege of meeting a lot of different people from different walks of life. While there is no question this man is a genius, I also think he has at best a very tenuis grasp on the real every day world and how it works. Just watching and listening to interviews with him it’s so clear that has sees the world ONLY from his point of view and now he is moving into politics and is best mates with Trump that makes him incredibly dangerous. I will watch him as he progresses with fear. As a foot note on this, I truly hope I am wrong. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/i-hope-every-day-he-live-is-a-nightmare-of-fear-and-pain monthly 0.5 2025-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/9a931199-7ce7-4e73-b8b9-54eacc6eba12/UrfanSharif.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - I hope every day he lives in a nightmare of fear and pain. The killer of Sara Sharif (I won’t use his name) has been assaulted while in Belmarsh prison this week and received cuts to his face from a tuna can. Well, that’s the best bit of news I’ve heard all week. And further to that, I hope that he faces the same treatment from other prisoners every day he’s in there because that’s all he and his wife deserve. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/noticed-anything-new-recently monthly 0.5 2025-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/f94bedb3-5ab7-472e-a0dc-0597bd9133da/Squarespace-Logo.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - Noticed anything new recently? At Christmas I was getting a little board and while sat doing an update for my “online presents” I started thinking it was time to shift the design of my web sites up a little bit. I had been using a hosted Wordpress system and while this is great, I was starting to think it was getting a bit “clunky” and dated. After doing a little online research I set up a test account with SquareSpace. My goal was to replicate the functionality of the old Wordpress site but with a fresh new overall look and feel. First impressions and results were not so good but this was down to me learning a completely new CMS backend and getting it to do what I wanted it to do!. After a few days sticking with it and completely frying my brain I finally had the results I wanted. A shinny new web site that looked modern and dare I say it, just a kittle bit sophisticated. The bonus for me was that I was able to combine both my personal and radio/tech blogs into a single site. Thus saves me some money and complexity in the future. On 1st January I pulled the trigger and upgraded the test account to a fully paid up account and first thing on Thursday morning (2nd January) I committed and had the DebbieDavies.co.uk and the 2E0BAF.co.uk URLs pointed at the new site as well as setting up new email accounts for my old email address with Squarespace. It was vital that I didn’t lose contact with the outside world for very long while this switch over went ahead. Now, on the 3rd January I’m in the final stages of going live and I’m waiting for the “internet” to disseminate the new DNS settings to all points which is causing the site to be a little bit flaky at the moment (as expected). But that should settle down in the new 24-48 hours. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/my-thoughts-views-opinions/so-i-made-it-to-the-end-of-2024-and-the-start-of-2025 monthly 0.5 2025-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/32940ce7-04da-4350-bf8e-07f9618aff3d/2025-1024x674.jpg My Thoughts, Views & Opinions! - So, I made it to the end of 2024 and the start of 2025! - 1st January! Many new adventures, challenges and difficulties await and all will be faced when they come. I don’t expect any of them to be easy and I know I will have to face most of them for good or bad alone. While I can not fight battles for you, I want to say that I respect you for your own ability to fight your own fight and I wish you all the very best for 2025 and I hope it is kind to you no matter what happens. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8 daily 0.75 2026-01-20 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/gadget-of-the-day-is-a-times-gate-from-divoom monthly 0.5 2026-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/e851ffe5-120c-4193-975a-907449e9b421/TimeGate.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Gadget of the day is a “Times Gate” from Divoom - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/goodbye-aor-ar-dv1-hello-uniden-sds200 monthly 0.5 2026-01-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1767900389252-TSAL54BJKV3OSQ0FC6GN/s-l1600.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Goodbye AOR AR-DV1, Hello Uniden SDS200E https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1767900377848-820DO1X1O8YQN9AQ574O/1101.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Goodbye AOR AR-DV1, Hello Uniden SDS200E https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/hello-to-the-dji-osmo-pocket-3 monthly 0.5 2026-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7ce544c3-781c-43b6-89f3-efbc1082df4a/Pocket+3.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Hello to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Last year when I decided that I was finally ready to face the camera and start Video Blogging via YouTube it was a bit of a gamble that once I got the kit in place I would actually have the confidence to hit record and that would have meant any money spent on equipment would have been wasted. Taking that into account I opted to start off using the DJI Action5 camera instead of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. The Pocket 3 was by far the better blogging camera but it was also twice the cost of the Action 5. I’m glad to say that I have found the confidence to pick hit that record button and I an really enjoying making and posting video blogs. So, last week I took the decision to order the Pocket 3 which arrived at the weekend and is now sitting ready to make it’s first blog. First impressions of the Pocket 3 are very impressive. I love the larger image sensor (1”) and the tighter lens (20mm) which gives a very nice looking blurred background and therefore great separation between subject and background. Both cameras are quite simple to use but the Pocket 3 is more complicated in that it can do far more and that extra functionality needs to be understood and considered when setting up to record. The Action 5 will still be used so for now I’ll hang onto it but there is no question that the pocket 3 is now my primary camera. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/ive-been-upgrading-my-data-storage monthly 0.5 2025-12-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/a1fdf74d-93fb-4d32-84bc-9539616f1fa9/NAS.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - I’ve been upgrading my data storage For a while now I’ve been thinking about upgrading my data storage option. For several years I’ve been using a Western Digital Home Cloud drive. Which when it first came out was quite an advanced option giving browser access internally to my data and app access externally essentially creating my own personal cloud. The problems with this setup was only having access o my data via a browser which was at best clunky and only having a single HDD holding the data so in the event of that HDD failing all data was lost. Also, the unit did not really have any option to upgrade the amount of storage other than buying a completely new Western Digital system. To negate the chance of loss of data I made a monthly backup to an external drive but obviously risked losing any newly added data between backups. My only real upgrade path was to replace the old cloud drive with a proper full on Network Attached Storage (NAS) configuration. In the end I opted for the Ugreen DXP2800 NAS box and into that I installed 2x4TB Toshiba hard drives in a RAID 1 configuration. This gives me the added protection of if one HDD fails I still have an exact copy on the other HDD and all I have to do is replace the failed HDD and the NAS will rebuild the data. Additionally, the DXP2800 has 2 M.2 SSD slots which when populated can either be configured for fast storage or, as in my setup they can be set up for read/write caching. At the moment I’ve only added a single 1TB m.2 drive so it’s providing write caching. Finally, to avoid the chance of scrambling the storage in the event of a power cut while writing data I chose to also add a small APC UPS. It’s early days at the moment but overall I’m extremely happy the the Ugreen DXP2800 NAS. It was relatively easy to install and configure and addresses all the points that I didn’t like with the older Western Digital Cloud Drive. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/i-got-an-award-from-qrzcom monthly 0.5 2025-11-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/598a7626-887d-45eb-bbc7-9e119ea5b2d8/QRZ+World+Radio+Friendship+Award+November+2025.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - I got an award from QRZ.com - So it’s not exactly earth shattering and life changing but it’s still nice to have had the opportunity to receive this little award certificate from the people who run QRZ.com I will be sticking it in a frame and putting it up on the wall in the shack. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/when-one-gadget-leads-to-another-new-toys-in-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-11-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1763023509393-LQYLIY8TT7PN6LXJCXDY/PXL_20251113_081149578Edit.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - When one gadget leads to another, new toys in the shack https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1763023496713-2IBVTCHVJY7HJJOXUW3E/PXL_20251113_073643151Edit.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - When one gadget leads to another, new toys in the shack https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/new-red-light-night-mode-in-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-11-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/f4ec25fe-a48f-4d97-869a-ce57053fdcfe/PXL_20251112_204811584Edit.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - New red light night mode in the shack I always like to keep my shack/desk evolving and this week I kind of accidentally added a new LED desk light. I bought the light to function as a back light for when I’m recording YouTube videos to light the wall up behind me. But once it arrived and I took a good hands on look at it I realised that it would be perfect to light down onto my desktop. And as an added bonus it’s multi-coloured and remote controlled. Once mounted, it lights my desk and equipment perfectly. It looks great in red for night working and if I need to do any work at my desk I can swich it to white quickly and turn up the brightness at the same time. The only thing I needed to modify is the addition of a visor on the front because with the light at the level and angle it needs to be at, I’m looking directly into the light it’s self. For now I’ve used a length of black cardboard but I’m not 100% happy with the way that looks so hopefully today a proper strip of black plastic will arrive which can be cut to length and once fitted should look a lot more OEM than the cardboard strip. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/new-callsign-neonled-light-in-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-10-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/cd53b0d0-405c-480b-919b-c11eab40e2a2/PXL_20251030_090745695.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - New Callsign neon/LED light in the shack With the new callsign I had to order a new glowing sign to go in the corner of the shack and here it is. It’s actually quite the upgrade from the last one and this one changes colour and has a remote control! I am so blessed!! While changing over to the new sign I also decided to improve the stand I built for the 3 hand held radios. Previously it was made from 2 white chopping boards and severed the simple task of keeping the direct sun from cooking the radios on hot days. I’m still using the chopping boards but now I’ve covered them in a really nice carbon fibber effect vinyl which I think really adds a bit of a more polished finish to everything and makes the lettering on the sign pop! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/a-quick-look-at-the-2025-cq-dx-world-wide-radio-contest monthly 0.5 2025-10-29 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/thought-i-would-give-you-a-shack-tour monthly 0.5 2025-10-24 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/making-the-change-from-2e0baf-to-m8baf monthly 0.5 2025-10-22 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/the-idea-was-good monthly 0.5 2025-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/c24e5853-24cd-4e65-b82f-7cc4787b6b37/LOG04.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - The idea was good! My main antenna is the Ciro Mazzoni Baby Loop and it works perfectly but it’s a very narrow band antenna. I’m also restricted on what antennas I am allowed to put up by my landlord so if I want to get wider band reception on HF via a wire antenna it needs to he a secret hidden antenna. So when I saw this “Loop On Ground” antenna I thought it might me the perfect option to connect to antenna port 3 (receive only) and run the second receiver on it. The transformer box it's self comes in either SO-239 or BNC format and is a small 3D printed box costing about £75 from ML&S. In addition you have the option of buying either a 60 foot or 100 foot wire loop for £32 or £36 respectively. Of course you have the option of making your own wire loop if you want to. Popping the back off reveals a neat and tidy PCB but to my surprise there was no weather sealing on the back of the box lid. While the lid is facing down so water will not directly enter the box given that it sits outside and on the ground in all weather I'm sure moisture/dampness entering the box will be a problem especially over winter. After I popped the back on I ran a bead of silicone sealer around the lid to improve the weather proofing and stop any water ingress from even starting. I also noted that the 3 screws holding the back on were under sized for the holes in the 3D printed box and didn't tighten up, so I replaced then with my own slightly larger self taps. None of this is major but for the £75 maybe something Omni RF want to look at in the future? Positioning the transformer box on the ground and running the wire loop out was easy but Omni only supply 3 ground staples to hold the wire down so I added a few extra stapes to ensure no trip hazard. The wire seems to be good quality and relatively tangle free (eventually!!!) and nicely sealed with marine heat shrink at each end. I also added a good layer of self amalgamating tape around the PL-259 and ventured back inside to do some testing. And this is where things have not gone very well. My understanding was that the the received signal would be reduced down therefore lowering the noise floor and then you add a bit of pre-amp to bring signals back up hopefully leaving noise floor low and improving the noise to signal ratio. On my radio I have the Ciro Mazzoni Baby Loop system set up on antenna port 1 and I've set the Omni box up on antenna port 3 which is receive only. You can probably see from the photo the noise on the Omni RF loop very high right across the band. On top of that, when I set each receiver to exactly the same frequency and conditions I'm getting clear audio (CW for most of my testing) on the baby loop but almost nothing on the Omni RF ground loop. At best if I really listen hard I can pick out a VERY faint audio output signal. Adding the pre-amp just wipes any signal out completely. I'm going to carry out more testing over the weekend to see if I have done anything wrong in terms of setting things up but it's quite simple so not really any opportunities to get it wrong. So, first conclusion for me this antenna doesn't seem to want to work. But that's not to say it won't work perfectly for you or anyone else. I think it's something you will need to bit the bullet and give it a try. Of course, if anyone has any ideas or advise please shout up and I'll give it a try because I really want this to work for me. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/lowering-my-noise-floor-and-stopping-rfi-getting-back-into-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1756107801274-0ICT2XJJEHBAGWVS191G/20250824_150624.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Lowering my noise floor and stopping RFI getting back into the shack https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1756107801379-VVY2E7OZ6WS3EPTSXUBX/20250823_144801.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Lowering my noise floor and stopping RFI getting back into the shack https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/not-sure-these-are-real-anderson-crimps monthly 0.5 2025-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/72f16ecd-bf42-43d4-b9b8-a3ca6150c4a5/PowerPoleCrimp.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Not sure these are real “Anderson Crimps” I’ve used “Power Pole” connectors for quite some time now and love them. In the past I’ve always soldered the ends onto my wires because I didn’t have a proper crimping tool and to buy one was expensive. But a few weeks ago I had a bit of spare cash left over at the end of the month so I thought “sod it” and treated myself to a pair from Amazon knowing full well that they were not genuine “Anderson” crimps. But I really had to laugh this morning when I looked at the photo I took to go with this post and I noticed that they are “Andwrson” crimps! I really don’t care because they work perfectly well, cost half the price and this morning made me laugh! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/new-gadget-for-this-week-is monthly 0.5 2025-08-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/c0cc5a68-3f27-4fdf-ae13-1c9b5b8c10f5/IcomIC-R15.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - New gadget for this week is….. This year I’ve been messing around with the type of scanner I’m using. I started off with an Icom IC-R20 scanner that I had had for many years but soon realised that most radio traffic had moved over to digital modes. So I picked up a digital handheld scanner which was brilliant. Then, a little while ago I had the opportunity to pick up an AOR AR DV1 digital base scanner and I have absolutely no regrets getting it. It looks good in the shack and it performs fantastically. The only problem now was that I no longer had the option to listen to radio traffic like air traffic control and marine radio when I went out. To get around this I thought I needed a cheap hand held scanner so I picked up a basic Uniden UBC 125XLTc and away I went. However! I soon realised that the Uniden while being an excellent scanner but with only 500 channels was quite limited in what it could be programmed up with. So, I stuck the Uniden on eBay and it sold in literally seconds of going online which allowed me to place an order for the lovely Icom IC-R15. With 2000 channels and duel receivers it is fair to say that it is one of the best “current” hand held scanners on the market. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/a-bit-of-a-vhfuhfhotspot-rethink monthly 0.5 2025-08-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0cb621df-3497-499c-aaf8-0b68f7eb7461/ftm-500de.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - A bit of a VHF/UHF/HotSpot rethink I had 2 VHF/UHF radios. The FTM-500DE located in the shack and the FTM-150ASP located in the car. For no special reason last week I decided to swap them over. I’m really happy to say that because I used a .50cal ammo can to mount the body of the radio is was really easy to carry out the swap. The only change that I needed to make was in order to access my Zum Hotspot. The Zum uses Yaesu System Fusion on UHF and the FTM-150 can not access Yaesu System Fusion mode. The fix/work around for this was to pick up a pre-owned Yaesu FT5 hand held for dedicated access to the Hotspot. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/everything-seems-to-be-working monthly 0.5 2025-07-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1abb3410-f096-4263-bd9b-e0c563b0945a/FT8Map.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Everything seems to be working For quite some time now I’ve been getting a lot of interference when I transmit on 40m and 20m. Noise through my speakers, USB devices dropping in and out and even at it’s worst monitors blacking out. Some of the problems are caused when my loop antenna which is located quite close to my shack points directly at my shack (not much I can do about that). But I’ve come to the conclusion after testing with a dummy load that the biggest part of the problem is caused from USB, Power and Transmission cables all running next to each other along the desk. So, a few days ago I decided to tackle the problem once and for all and I ripped out my entire desk build. I took out radios, computers, screens, power supplies and everything right back to an empty desk. Once everything was stripped out I worked out new cables pathways so that once everything was back in place the power, USB and transmission lines were as far apart from each other as possible. I’ve managed to separate the USB cables from the 2 main transmission cables by about 2 feet with the power cables running between them. It’s taken a good day and a half to rebuild the shack and then troubleshoot any little problems that cropped up but I’m delighted to say that now, when I transmit on 40m and 20m unless my loop antenna is pointing North/South which is directly at me I seem to have fixed the interference problem once and for all along with the added bonus of being able to clean the foot thick layer of dust and crud that had built up behind everything. Testing this morning via FT8, WSJTX and PSK Reporter has confirmed everything is working at “optimal” levels with WSJTX reports as far away and Western Australia, Eastern United States and a very nice arch across Europe as per the map on the left So, it’s been quite a challenge both physically and very much mentally but I have loved every second of it. It kind of felt good to get into some proper technical thinking and problem solving but while it was so much fun it was also very tiering So now I need to rest and sleep a little bit. All in all a success. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/updated-my-weather-station-in-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-07-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/ebf58952-0eea-4cb7-be3a-e7c9876f05ea/20250717_192507.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Updated my weather station in the shack No major additions to the shack this week but I did pop a new small/basic weather station on my desk. The pervious on just gave inside/outside temperatures and had no back light. This little gem of a gadget gives me temperatures in the shack, in my living room, outside my front door (in the corridor) and outside as well as time and weather forecasts and it’s back lit so it looks good. I do love a good gadget! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/this-weeks-gadget-of-choice-is-a-tiny-sa-spectrum-analyser monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/cd825571-714c-4dac-acbc-44caddc84b9b/TinySA.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - This weeks gadget of choice is a Tiny SA spectrum analyser Years ago when I first passed my radio licence a club member brought in a “spectrum analyser” for us to play with. It was about the size of a carry on suitcase and cost about as much as a new car. So quite a fancy bit of kit. I guess like all things electronic, over time spectrum analysers have both reduced in size and cost and today you can pick one up measuring a few inches across and costing £50 - £60. The one I have measures just 2.5 inches across the screen. So when I was flicking through the “used items” section of ML&S this week I saw this for £45 and couldn’t hit buy button fast enough. I’ve been playing with it for a few days now and it’s quite interesting what it does and how is does it. Put simply it tunes/scans through a range of radio frequencies and instead of playing signals when it find the as audio it displays them as peaks on the screen. Very handy for finding local signals that are generated by house hold electrical items that can interfere with my radios. And yes, it’s also just a great little gadget to wrap my head around and play with! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/project-gobox-has-taken-a-massive-step-forward-over-the-last-few-days monthly 0.5 2025-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1d460c85-a33f-4289-8af1-5e6f4f626046/Gobox.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project “GoBox” has taken a massive step forward over the last few days I’m delighted to report that Project “GoBox” has taken a massive step forward over the last few days. After gathering all the parts from various locations and suppliers I was able to map out and then mark out all the locations in the shelves to mount the equipment. My father then drilled everything for me in his workshop and on Monday afternoon I started bolting everything down and fitting it into the Gator case. The bolting down of the radio was quite difficult as it’s not really intended for portable use so it doesn’t come with any sort of mounting bracket so I had to make one. That wasn’t so much the problem, the problem was getting access underneath the radio to tighten the nuts and bolts. It took a few VERY frustrating hours but eventually it was done and I was happy the radio wasn’t going fall out any time soon. Everything else was quite straight forward to access the bolts and once the “shelf sub-assemblies” were complete they dropped nicely into the case for the final time. Tuesday, I started on the plumbing and wiring in of all the equipment. It took most of the day to make up custom leads for everything and to make sure everything went into place without running into everything else which is quite tricky in such a confined space. By the end of Tuesday I had about 75% of everything connected and was able to hook up battery power for a first test to make sure nothing went bang and nothing got hot, started smoking and bust into flames. After a few hours on soak it all looks OK. Today I’m hoping for a resupply of powerpoles to finish connection everything up and then I should be good to go, or at least start working on the antenna side of the project. Once everything is complete then I’ll post a full write up on Project “GoBox” for everyone to read and enjoy (hopefully) so pop back soon. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/well-that-wasnt-part-of-the-plan monthly 0.5 2025-05-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/65f9e8f0-bf41-4d97-a093-fdca0b1567a6/20250520_164450.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Well that wasn’t part of the plan! A few days ago I made a trip down to the best toy shop in the world, Martin Lync & Sons in Stains, London. My plan was to pick up the Yaesu FTdx10 radio and other bits to start putting my HF gobox together. Best laid plans and all that stuff and just before I set off to London I noticed that ML&S had a used AOR AR-DV1 digital receiver posted on their web site. This has long been a radio on my shopping list but at over £1000 not something I could justify or afford just now. But this one was at a price point that I could afford if I traded in my current Uniden SDS100 digital scanner. All I can say is that it is sitting very nicely on my desk, ‘m starting to program it up with my favourite frequencies and it’s looking and sounding “GOOOOOD” What are my first impressions of the radio. First of all, even though it has an excellent reputation I was a little apprehensive because last year I bought it’s smaller brother the AOR DV-10 hand held scanner. It really wasn’t all that good. I think that the one I had had faults on it and it wouldn’t do what it was supposed to do which was the main problem but I just wasn’t happy with it. In the end ML&S took it back and replaced it with the Uniden SDS100 which has been a very good scanner but it’s really made for the American market and to use the RadioReference online database for programming which doesn’t work in the UK. The DV1 is far more conventional and used standard channels and banks to store frequencies which I prefer. While the DV1 is VERY good and this one appears to have no problems but there are one or two things to be aware off if you are buying one. It’s an old radio and has old radio design and features. The display is a low res LCD rather than a modern bright TFT/OLED so it’s a bit tricky to read but it works. It’s also quite small and even with my glasses on I need to use a magnifying app on my phone in order to see it!! Programming channels via computer. Basically there isn’t any software that you can download and install on your computer. There is an online website/app that allows you to carry out programming memory channels but it’s not the best and quite “clunky”. It is however better than trying to program directly on the radio via the front keypad. No direct computer access to upload channels. When you have finished using the online programming tool you have to write the CSV file to an SD card, transfer that to the radio and then read the file into the radio. Again, it works but it’s “clunky” and slow if you are doing multi edits and writes. But these are small issues and if the radio work than they all be lived with. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/project-gobox-is-go monthly 0.5 2025-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/bcb44dc6-45ef-4683-bf50-5d64dac82da3/FTDX10_Front.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project “GoBox” is go! - Make it stand out Yaesu FTdx10 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/added-a-tecsun-pl-330-to-the-shack monthly 0.5 2025-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/091e703d-97f8-4375-b958-f118fddb1450/Tecsun+PL-330.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Added a Tecsun PL-330 to the shack Ever since I got rid of my SDR radio I’ve had no means of monitoring my audio quality on HF frequencies. I’ve looked at all sorts of options and I decided the best thing I could do was to pick up an FM/MW/LW/SW “pocket” radio/receiver. After doing some research I decided that a Tecsun would be idea as they have a lot of good reviews and writeups on line. Thing is, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this because it was really only for testing audio and tracking down RFI issues in the flat so no need to be all singing and all dancing super complicated. Eventually, after a lot of looking I came across this tiny radio, the Tecsun PL-330. Measuring about 5”x3”x1” and only costing £45.00 it’s absolutely perfect for the job I need it for. I’ve only just started playing with it and it’s a lot more complicated that it looks because each button seems to do 15 different things depending on weather the radio is switched on or off!! But first impressions re very good for now. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/a-bit-of-genius monthly 0.5 2025-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/de851ae3-670b-464d-aac5-9d932fc1bea9/SafeHDMI.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - A bit of genius! For a long time now Yaesu have put a DVI-D socket on the back of their radios to connect an external monitor which is a brilliant addition. However, it’s getting harder to get new DVI compatible these days so you need to use an HDMI monitor via a DVI-HDMI adapter/cable. The only problem with this is a risk of feeding voltage back to the radio and blowing a tiny fuse in side the radio that disables the display which can then only be fixed at an official Yaesu repair centre. I’ll admit I have taken this risk and I run a Dell 24” HDMI monitor but every time I power the radio on I worry that I’m going to blow the radio. VE2DX over in Canada have just come up with this little adapter that prevents the voltage feeding back to the Yaesu radio thus making it safe to run an HDMI monitor. Rest assured I could not place the order fast enough and at about £48 it’s a bargain for the peace of mind that I’m not going to blow up my £4100 radio every time I start it up. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/i-think-i-can-see-the-problem monthly 0.5 2025-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/ffa22ada-d3f4-4e1e-8a34-bed26444aa0e/ProblemSolved.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - I think I can see the problem! I have 2 VHF/UHF antennas outside of my flat for RX and TX. The Nagoya MAG-77EL-WH, which sits on the floor and I use primarily as an RX antenna for my digital scanner to pick up local signals. To say it’s on the floor it works quite well really and does everything I need it to do. Then there is the Diamond D-130 Discone Wide Band RX/TX antenna mounted on a 3 meter pole which I use with my Yaesu FTM-500 primarily for TX on 2m and 70cm bands. Again it works really well. About a week ago I noticed a sudden and dramatic drop off in reception of my local repeater GB3NF and my SWR had shot through the roof. Switching the FTM-500 over to the Nagoya and the problem went away. Confirming the problem was an antenna /coax problem given there is nothing on the Discone to go wrong. If it’s there it will work. This morning I managed to get out to the Diamond D-130 Discone antenna and strip it down to see if I could find the problem. I’m very pleased to say I found it almost instantly. The coax had fallen out of the back of the PL259 and the centre pin was sitting in free space. I think some people describe this as and “air bridge”!! Popped the coax back through the shack window, sat down at my desk and refitted the PL259 but this time added substantial amounts of hot glue and tape to reinforce the joint. Didn’t look nice but it was solid. Once back outside I reassembled the Diamond D-130 Discone to it’s pole and also added a number of cable ties to carry the not unsubstantial weight of the coax. These ties were there before but not as tight as they needed to be to take the weight of the coax (lessen learned). Back in the shack and everything is reconnected and I’m happy to confirm that reception of GB3NF is fully restored and SWR levels are back down to 1:1 on both VHF and UHF. Not bad job to say it all took place before 9am!! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/a-little-ventilation-needed monthly 0.5 2025-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/6bfd8966-518c-4e9a-98d8-cb0c3fad7c14/20250421_143053.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - A little ventilation needed After adding the Yaesu FTM-150 into the boot of my car I started to think about it being in a sealed metal box and the chances of it over heating on TX. So the simple solution was to add some ventilation. 2x50mm holes in the lid allow for the free flow of air in and out of the box along with a 12v CPU fan to assist with that air movement. Simply wired into the same 12v power supply as the radio to keep everything neat and tidy, everything help in place with huge dollops of hot glue and any possible over heating fixed (I hope). https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/new-project monthly 0.5 2025-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1745085169348-U0RVBTBFNYDUWHQAU3H5/001.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project Yaesu FTM-150 in the car, a development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1745085170643-SDK2ICL7MVK7JXM5NUVD/003.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project Yaesu FTM-150 in the car, a development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1745085169536-UGMB3ISHLUZKQ8M7WELZ/002.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project Yaesu FTM-150 in the car, a development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1745085171198-UF9VBCBUAH273MFUXCRW/004.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project Yaesu FTM-150 in the car, a development https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1745085172371-AJBYHNRWJFPLJJ6KOKEI/005.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Project Yaesu FTM-150 in the car, a development https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/new-project-going-mobile monthly 0.5 2025-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7a99e9fe-e867-4310-a0f1-14e8eeda80e9/ftm-150easp.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - New project, going mobile Last week I played around with popping a 2m/70cm HT in the car. I used a little an Anytone radio, a cup holder mount and a good Nagoya antenna on the roof of the car. This was basically a proof of concept to see how it worked out and about mobile in Nottingham. I’m extremely happy with the results. So now I need to upgrade the radio to a proper 2m/70cm 50w rig. To that end I’m going to be mounting a Yaesu FTM-150ASP in the boot of my car, with the head unit mounted up front on a Lido L-Max Mount. For now I’ve placed orders for everything other than the mount and radio to allow me to carry out the “engineering” tasks to get everything ready for the radio in a few weeks time. You might me wondering why I went for this particular radio. Well, I actually love the Icom IC-2730E Black Screen Edition but Icom have really dropped the ball on this radio with the mic connecting only to the base unit and just about everything to mount the radio an extra purchase. Additionally, I would have going for the Yaesu FTM-500/510 but I really don’t think I’ll use the C4FM digital mode that makes the radio so expensive when I’m out mobile. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/im-now-maxed-out-on-flashing-lights monthly 0.5 2025-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/619fc790-e0d5-4e04-9c81-87c9e8b3c38a/FlashingLights.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - I’m now maxed out on flashing lights I seem to remember that pervious versions of Windows used give you far more control of sound. Even if it was just to be able to adjust base, mid and treble. But as far as I can see this option has been removed in Windows 11. I did try downloading and installing a third party application to allow me to make these changes in software but it just didn’t perform. So, there was only one thing to do. . . . . Buy a gadget of course! Let me introduce to you the Behrirger Ultragraph FBQ1502HD Graphic Equalizer. Only problem is that I’m not sure it qualifies as a true gadget. A gadget needs to be essentially useless and this is VERY useful. Either way I love how it looks and it sounds even better. Now I just need to play with it to get the best sound out. Happy days. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/bravo-xray-slow-down-dude monthly 0.5 2025-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/54c0bb67-e8d5-4685-bfb2-e661fbf087aa/Contest.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Bravo Xray - slow down dude! Listening to 40 meters this morning and there’s an Italian station banging away “I7BX Contest” over and over again endlessly without any break or pause to listen for someone trying to get back to him. I tried for about 20 minutes to get back to him even trying to just give the first half of my callsign to get in quick but before I could get the first word out he was banging away again! I have to ask what’s the point in shouting out if your not going to take even just a few seconds to listen for anyone getting back to him. It wasn’t even as though there were people queuing up to reply. there was nobody. Everyone to their own I guess! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/my-never-ending-search-for-gadgetry-nirvana-part-two-adventures-into-dmr-radio monthly 0.5 2025-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/2887f175-ea77-4a5d-9de3-faaa8fc52bd6/20250323_113157.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - My never ending search for gadgetry Nirvana (part two) adventures into DMR radio! Don’t tell anyone but I got another new radio this week Here’s the thinking behind it. Sat in the shack is a Zum Hotspot running Pie-Star and giving me access to Icom’s D-Star digital network and Yaesu’s C4FM digital network. Both of which I enjoy via the respective Icom and Yaesu radios. But I’ve also been aware that a growing number of the new Chines radios are coming with a digital network called DMR. The Zum hotspot can be configured to cover DMR but without a DMR radio I can’t really check it out. I’ve come close to picking up a DMR HT radio on several occasions but always ended up backing out at the last moments of the checkout process. However, last week I actually went through with it and ordered an Anytone AT-D168. It’s only a basic radio and quite small but for the cost it’s actually a very good bit of kit and comes with everything to get up and running. The radio arrived on Friday and I sat down and started working out just what I needed to do to get it working and hocked up to talk groups via the Zum. As with everything “Amateur Radio” there is not a single point of comprehensive information. It’s down to watching lots of YouTube videos, reading websites and good old trial and error. But to be honest, I really enjoy that challenge and journey of discovery. At 3am on Saturday morning everything finally clicked into alignment and I finally got “first voice” out of the radio and I was overjoyed. Since then it has been a bit of fine tuning and expanding on what I had already learnt but it’s all looking good. Now, this leads to another dilemma. I now have a Zum hotspot covering three digital networks. When it’s receiving traffic from one of the digital networks it stops receiving from the other two networks. Not a problem when only connected to two networks but now I’m missing more traffic than I’m getting. The fixes to this are quite simple Live with it (OK for now) Get 2 more Zum Hotspots and set each one up on it’s own network. I fear I know what the answer I’m going to follow is going to be! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/my-never-ending-search-for-gadgetry-nirvana-part-one monthly 0.5 2025-03-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/3da5a1b2-ee23-4fb0-9fad-5b198db3e09e/20250321_091446.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - My never ending search for gadgetry Nirvana (part one)! I love my “shack”. I love how it makes me feel and I love what it has done for me over the last 14 months. Going from a single Icom IC-705 HF QRP radio to what it has become today. I think it’s fair to say it brings me MASSIVE joy in a life that doesn't have that muck going for it. One of the things I love about the shack is that it’s constantly developing in small steps. Constantly improving and getting better. One week I will add something, another week I’ll get rid of something (to make room to add something mainly!), and other weeks I’ll move are re-organise things to make it all hang together a little better. It’s that constant quest that I love. This week I have added a Audio Frequency Analyser and a Decibel Metre to the desk. Do I need them? Course not. Do they improve how my shack works? No. Finally, do they do anything useful? Oh yes, they make me VERY happy and that is the most important part of any gadget. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/an-amazing-new-toy-in-the-shack-a-microham-arco monthly 0.5 2025-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/82ff7032-60a5-4549-bf35-9f5047357f9f/ArcoMicroham.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - An amazing new toy in the shack, a MicroHAM Arco Last October when I bought the Ciro Mazzoni Baby Loop antenna and Yaesu G450c rotator I also purchased a fancy MicroHam Arco Smart Antenna Rotator Controller. At £800 it wasn’t a cheap addition to the shack and it had to go on back order until delivery this week. Now it’s arrived and been installed in the shack apart from looking incredible, it also provided me with complete touch screen control as well as computer integration via Ham Radio Deluxe. That means when I enter a callsign into the HRD logging screen I just hit the rotator button and the rotator starts spinning in the right direction all on it’s own. Sure, I could do all that using the manual controls on the G450c controller but it’s just a million time nicer to automate everything So, not the Arco has arrived (thank you ML&S for such a fast dispatch) what are my first impressions of the Arco? Looks, build quality and function are nothing other than outstanding. and while it’s a simple design don’t take simple to mean anything other than top quality. It’s a black aluminium case/box about 10.5 inches wide and 5.5 inches high with a very bright and sharp 7 inch touch screen off to the left and a few manual controls over on the right. All the ports, plugs and connectors are on the back which makes for a very tidy install in the shack. First time setup was involved but not difficult. You needed to enter you location, your rotator type and then you are taken through a calibration process that works out the position of the limits of your rotator and it’s heading. This did fail for me a few times but a quick repower and eventually everything fell nicely into place. I’m not 100% sure, but I think these problems were a mix of me not knowing all the right settings to enter for the rotator and the need to fine tune the touch screen. Once I had everything calibrated I found the touch screen was a little unresponsive but again, a little fine tuning in the setup screens and everything was working as expected. I’m absolutely blown away with the Arco. No reservations about recommending getting one if your budget allows and I’m sure you would love one as much as I do. The only thing now is to see how it performs long term so watch this space! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/from-little-acorns-oak-trees-grow monthly 0.5 2025-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/4bbec1fe-2398-4aac-85f6-422444374075/Podcasting.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - From little acorns oak trees grow 2 weeks ago I decided to add a decent set of speakers to my computer so I could listen to playback in proper stereo. That then lead to the idea of playing all of my equipment to the one set of speakers. So I added a Gemini GEM-12USB mixing deck. Once I had the mixing deck in place I wanted to feed sound back to the computer to record it in Audacity. This revealed that the feed from the computer to the mixing desk was mono. A quick change of leads between the computer and mixer solved that problem. I now had lovely stereo going to the speakers. Next idea was to take an output from the mixer back to the computer, but this dropped and stereo output from the mixer desk down to mono again which was no good. After some YouTube research I realised that I needed to add an “audio interface” contraption between the mixer deck and the computer. I ordered a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen USB Audio Interface and plumed it in. As if by magic I am now able to record music from the computer, out to the mixing desk, to the audio interface and back to the computer for recording in full stereo and that’s brilliant. Finally, with all this equipment plugged in and working I needed one last bit of kit to complete the setup. A nice condenser microphone. Enter a FDUCE SL40X XLR Dynamic Microphone hot from Amazon. What next I hear you shout. Well, a lot of testing and working out what everything does and how it all interacts with everything else. Then, once I’m happy I’m going to have a go at doing a little podcasting. No idea how that will work out but I’m going to give it a good shot! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/stopping-my-brain-from-itching monthly 0.5 2025-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/5e3f0f27-ad8e-4bcb-8a34-bf79520e36c5/BackOfTheRadio.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Stopping my brain from itching!! It might not look much, but what you are seeing over on the left is the result of spending 3 hours yesterday very careful untangling, sorting, labelling and finally laying out of all the USB leads, control leads, monitor cables coax, power and sound leads that fit in the back of my main radio to make it work. I try my best to keep them all wires laid out as neatly as possible because, for one reason it’s how my brain works!! I can not sleep at night knowing there is “rats nest” of wires and cables at the back of my radio. It’s also a matter of pride. I’ve spent hours building a work station that for me looks fantastic so why ruin it all with wires all over the place. Then, finally, laying all the wires out properly reduces the chance of them cross interfering with each other which means everything works as it should do when it should do. So, after this photo was taken, I hooked everything into the radio and slid it back into place, sat back and smiled to myself knowing I had done a proper job. The only annoying thing that has come up today is the “rats nestification” has started all over again because I have dropped a new microphone cable in and because I’m not digging the radio out just for one cable it’s not going to be laid out properly and that’s going to start making my brain itch again. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/ive-finally-installed-a-sound-mixer-in-the-shack-and-its-amazing monthly 0.5 2025-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/7c6cb4b6-7e24-42a7-832c-a051cfc4a08b/Gem-12USB+Mixer.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - I’ve finally installed a sound mixer in the shack and it’s amazing As with so many “little” projects like this, it all started so simply last week with the decision to order a good quality set of speakers for my PC. After a little bit of research I ended up getting a pair of M-Audio BX3BT speakers at around £100. Nothing over the top and nothing super loud but at the same time not cheep and nasty. Just perfect for my needs That then got me thinking, what if I could also connect the speakers to all of my radios at the same time? And at that moment my plans to add a sound mixer to my shack were rekindled into a full on forest fire. This is something I have considered on many occasions but just wasn’t sure what I needed to do or even if it was possible to do what I wanted to do. Several hours of YouTube education later I had enough basic understanding of what sort of sound mixer I wanted along with a budget of around £130 - £200 and after some searching on Amazon I was ready to kick things off with an order. I ordered the Gem-12USB 12 channel analogue mixer with Bluetooth which arrived promptly next day along with the speakers. Once I had the equipment I then worked out exactly what cables I would need and placed the order for those. Finally, when they had arrived I was ready to start connecting everything up. All together it took the best part of a day to work out what output needed to connect with what input and once that was all done I took it all apart again, labelled all the cables at each end to make it simpler to reassemble or trouble shoot in the future and put everything back together again. But with proper cable routing and management so it looked like a professional job. Finally, It has taken another day of playing around with the many dials, buttons and adjustments on the mixer and the radios to get all the different sound sources sounding their best through the speakers. The result. . . . .Absolutely Bloody Fantastic, and well worth the planning, implementation and cost involved. And a little foot note, even if it didn’t work it looks pretty cool sat there on the desk just off to my right! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/scanner-consolidation-work monthly 0.5 2025-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/0c0a02dc-72c8-4711-9091-f759d24e2536/SDS100e.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Scanner consolidation work I’ve recently moved from an Icom IC R-15 analogue scanner to a Uniden SDS100e digital scanner. It’s very different in the way it functions to anything I’ve used before but now I understand how it arranges it’s memories I’m really impressed with it. As anyone who plays radio knows, many users have moved away from analogue radio in favour of digital. This has left analogue almost dead. By adding the digital functionality it feels like going back to the glory days of radio scanning in the 1980s (although no emergency services like the Police). Basically there are a lot of active frequencies to listen to. This week I’ve been taking the hundreds of frequencies I have programmed in and consolidated them down to the most active 60 or 70 frequencies. This has reduced the cycle time from 30 - 40 seconds + down to just a few seconds and means I’m able to listen to almost nonstop coms. It’s absolutely wonderful https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/finally-got-the-new-ssd-installed-and-working monthly 0.5 2025-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/dbb44d5a-f304-4e4b-adb8-cf30d696725d/Geekom.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Finally got the new SSD installed and working It’s taken me the best part of 2 weeks to get this sorted and 3 different SSD drives, but I now have an internal SSD Drive fitted and working perfectly as my data drive. The Geekom GT1 Mega comes fitted with a 2TB NVMe PCIe drive fitted into the primary slot, while the secondary slot is empty and user upgradable. I assumed that the secondary drive slot was also an NVMe PCIe and that’s the root of all my problems. Turns out that the secondary slot is a SATA slot!! So once a SATA drive was plugged in, Diskmanger was run and the new space allocated (F-disk and partitioning in old computer speak) the drive was visible and usable. Now for a confession. I conceded and contacted Geekom Support to get their advice on why the drives I was fitting didn’t work, so I hang my head in shame! I will also confess that these days I am so out of touch with PC hardware. Back in my day all you had to worry about was the drive SATA/IDE and is it a big drive or a little drive. Seems that there days there are endless options to consider. I’M GETTING OLD. On the bright side, Geekom Support were first class. Not only did they get back to really quickly, they got back to me with the right information first time and clearly knew what the were talking about. Not something you get very often these days. So top marks to Geekom. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/every-day-is-a-learning-day monthly 0.5 2025-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/23d34d84-5b7b-4244-8218-d8b4f9a36e60/DriveSize.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Every day is a learning day! I’ll be the first to confess that I’m out of touch with the latest computer hardware. I will always have a good understanding but details are not so important to me these days because I just don’t build, upgrade or repair computers anymore. So when I ordered a new NVMe M.2 drive for my PC, I just thought there were 2 sizes. Long and short. Turns out there are 5 sizes!!!! WHY As is normal in life I ordered the wrong size, the 2230, when I should have ordered the 2242 version. Rather than sending it back I have found that you can order adapter plats to add the missing length to the SSD I currently have. It arrives tomorrow and we will see how it works out. I’m not confident. https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/m8baf-tchradio8/aint-technology-just-amazing monthly 0.5 2025-01-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/d8bffb29-0c4d-4c00-9862-906f589cc3ae/1TbDrive.jpg M8BAF - Tech & Radio - Ain’t technology just amazing! Way back in about 2005 I was doing some work at Hampshire Records Office installing a database. As we walked through the building we walked past a window and the IT guy stopped and with bucket loads of pride in his voice said “look at that. That’s a terabyte of storage”. and we all looked on in amazement. We had never seen that much storage in one place before and it was worth tens of thousands of pounds. We were looking at a device about the size of a small city car (like a Smart Car) sat there humming away with a few flashing lights lights and a lot of air conditioning. today, I’ve added an extra 1 terabyte of storage to compliment the existing 2 terabytes already in my Geekom GT1 Mega PC (a GT1 Mega is less that 6inch square and 2inch tall for reference) and the new drive is about the size of a large postage stamp and cost just £65! Not £65,000. No, just £65. It’s hard to wrap your head around how much we have advanced in just 20 years! https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/photography daily 0.75 2026-01-04 https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/photography/wolf-moon monthly 0.5 2026-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/49e1f506-9c71-4ad0-b738-a5bbc4b6da6d/Moon+Morning+4-1-2026.jpg Photography Gallery - Wolf Moon - Make it stand out Wolf Moon Over Westdale Lane https://www.debbiedavies.co.uk/photography/edl-protest-nottingham-2009 monthly 0.5 2025-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478742796-1618NPBY5K7D6AOI4OY8/EDL002.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478742697-6Y95MD8JO511NUXPHF8J/EDL003.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478743951-Q27RPIDLG9EFNNF7R0C8/EDL004.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478743946-Q5KMFCINXRQ3WIP08VTT/EDL005.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478744992-N0OIA1CMDWOOMV4PW3F2/EDL006.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478745092-OOAHKAXRZRZ89A1RCPN6/EDL007.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478746115-XAW2R40UX68V0UYXP8BE/EDL008.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478746260-RR4MJLP0C0WNOZEFFIOF/EDL009.jpg Photography Gallery - EDL Protest Nottingham 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6775453d1fbad72241f27c42/1766478747337-F0C43M6QSW83RD8RD4VJ/EDL001.jpg Photography Gallery - 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