Ash Ford-McAllister

  It was supposed to be the bankers who got punished for the 2008 financial crisis.   They were the ones who got high on "all the money waiting to be made"  from selling ill-backed loans to people who'd been encouraged  to lie about their means to repay the loans. They were the ones who targeted  those least able to afford credit. They were the ones who covered up accounting black holes in their banks' reserves. They were the ones who lied, again and again, to the public, the media, and to governments. But, inevitably, in the end, they managed to paint the public  as the bad guys. If ordinary people just hadn't been so greedy  for things like secure housing, vehicles to get to workplaces that were inaccessible by public transport, high quality nutrition, childcare so they could actually leave the house to go to work, the desire to start their own businesses, to work towards building their futures, and their families' futures, then the drama of 2007-200...

  On this day (16th October) in 1984, British television encountered a revolution in programming, with the very first episode of The Bill  airing on ITV, meaning that today marks the show's 40th anniversary. The 16th October 1984 was a Tuesday, and The Bill  continued to air on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout its 26yrs on-air (the final episode of The Bill  aired on August 31st 2010.) The Bill  was a huge part of my life from around 1997-2009, and I very strongly connected with PC Tony Stamp , played by Graham Cole , one of the few actors I actually became interested in enough to follow through other aspects of their career, and through the non-acting elements of their life they choose to share.  (For something very different to The Bill  featuring Graham Cole - and the late Tony Scannell, who played DS Ted Roach in The Bill  - I can definitely recommend Evil Never Dies ) Growing up, Tony Stamp was very much a role model.  While I moved awa...

  They Come In Waves Heads together, slush-puppy ice-waves Blending With childhood-memory candyfloss, Sending Stereotypes of "the boy one" and "the girl one" Saves Of cognitive shortcuts whose codes May not reflect reality; Because Whether fairground floss or dreamscape sea, They are both, in several ways,  "The girl one." A babe and her hun, Holding quiche, Taking the chiller-cabinet background to The watermelon They've been eyeing since they first walked in. Tie-dye jeans tied to Genes that have you tied  Between shafts of assumption And expectation. Your truth will out. I reach up, open the door Look back to see you follow me; Relieved, and a little more relaxed Than you were before. We both reached this point Where the roads converged. We each pushed past barriers, Cut back thorns, Ignored warning signs To take the road less travelled - I hope we get to talk together About the difference that it made. 'They Come In Waves' was developed fro...

  Depression isn't "just feeling a bit rubbish."  Depression isn't "suicidal thoughts and extreme emotional pain." Depression will be different for  everyone, but it's also different as individuals progress through it. Because depression is  something you progress through. It won't always be the way it starts out, and I feel that's an important thing to discuss as mental health is increasingly centred in Western society, and conversations become more open, and more commonplace. I have depression. For me, if we were to use a mental health version of the pain scale, which might look something like: 1. Everything's great! I'm really positive and motivated, with plenty of energy! I'm actively enjoying existing hobbies, and exploring new ones. I'm focused on how good things are going to be in the future, and I have pleasant memories of the past. 2. I'm feeling positive and motivated, and enjoying my current hobbies. I have things I...