No-one should live in fear of violence and abuse, yet too many women have to do just that. Emerging data and reports from those on the front lines show that violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified during the pandemic. It's International Women's Day 2021 on 8 March and this is a good time for us all to be aware of the forms abuse takes and how we can help and support women.

SCENE: Two men sit at a table in a local hostelry each drinking a pint.

"Red tape Dud!"

"Yeh, red tape Pete."

They drink.

"What about red tape Pete?"

"I hate red tape. It's red tape that is holding the workingman back from his rightful inheritance Dud."

"Bloody red tape Pete."

"Bloody red tape Dud."

They drink.

If you were starting a new political party, what would you call it? I idly asked my social media world this question over Xmas.

"We don't need any more political parties" was at one end of the responses with 'We don't need political parties" on the other.

Amidst the witty replies ('the party party', the garden party, the cocktail party) were many that reveal how distrusted political parties are by those who aren't active members and quite a few who are!

Christmas is always busy. At times it can be confusing; presents to buy; presents to wrap; food to order and collect; bedrooms to be made up; trees decorated; tables laid; cards sent. This year with the pressure of coronavirus and the regulations and guidance introduced by the Government there is even more to think about, even more decision to make. So no one can be criticised for being a bit focussed on their own immediate problems and issues.

My own recent experience and that of residents needing legal support prompts me to share some potential tips that I hope will be helpful to all. The sad truth is that if you can't afford to enforce your rights, you have no rights.

This is the stark truth of today's Britain. Please note I'm not legally qualified.

So another broken promise by Boris Johnson.

In 2019 he promised to spend £5 billion improving broadband for rural communities. Now we hear that £5 billion has been scrapped. It's another broken Tory promise. Like the promise to maintain aid spending for the poorest peoples around the world. But then everything with Mr Johnson is 'the greatest this' and 'the greatest that' until it comes to delivery. Then the truth is it isn't the 'greatest' and it usually isn't delivered.

Vegan leather. What do you think it is? It certainly sounds healthy and natural. After all, a vegan sausage is made of nice nutritious vegetables and pulses, vegan milk is made from nuts. Vegan anything is marketed to convey wholesomeness and virtue.

Vegan leather is not however remotely good or remotely natural. It's made from polyester and polyurethane. It's a type of plastic and plastic is bad for the planet. Education about the evils of plastic is far more effective these days and the understanding of how injurious plastics are to our damaged planet is improving. So selling a plastic mac doesn't test as well in focus groups of potential customers as it once did. Hey presto - change the name! I'd love to meet the evil advertising genius that thought up selling plastic macs as 'vegan leather' ones.

Surveys repeatedly show that a significant proportion of the population are concerned about climate change. Many want 'things to change'. Most have bought in to the need to recycle. But then things get tricky. An electric or hybrid car is probably on the 'I'll do that one day' list. Choosing not to buy fruit and vegetables that are transported half-way around the world, that's tricky. Insulating one's home, that looks too expensive. Looking after and wearing clothes for years, well…!

In May 1756 Admiral John Byng failed to win the 'Battle of Minorca'. An ailing and failing Government needed a scapegoat for the defeat and Byng was ultimately executed by Firing Squad. The incident, famously, caused Voltaire to write satirically "il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres" - for the non-francophones "it is good to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others".

"But how intolerable bright the morning is where we who are alive and remain, walk lifted up, carried forward by an effective word."

― David Jones, 'In Parenthesis'

As Remembrance Sunday approaches my thoughts turn as ever to my Great Grandfather William Pitt. He was a Serjeant in the Machine Gun Corps, and was killed at the third battle of Ypres, perhaps better known as Passchendaele. He has no known grave, but is commemorated at the War Cemetery of Tyne Cot. I didn't know him although I did his youngest daughter Lille, who was born two weeks before he was killed. He never saw his daughter. Lille was my link to that most dreadful struggle, the Great War. I'm very proud of William.