So, I'll start with some context. I write this in my lounge in a small cottage in a quiet country road near Richmond. Autumnal fruit trees cut silhouettes from the glare of a low afternoon sun. Fantails gorge themselves on midges in the shade of my porch. Shags and herons circle the paddocks outside as they return from the estuary to their roost in the huge oak trees that line our dead end lane. Marty is interviewing The Dead C on our ancient (but pretty cool) radiogram. A batch of green tomato chutney bubbles on the stove.

And me? If you care - I'm middle aged, under-educated and I work in the non-profit sector. I don't get to hang out on the aforementioned porch as much as I'd like and I work harder than I want to. I grow veges, go fishing on the local beach occassionally and drink at my local on rugby nights. I don't bother with pets. I don't believe in any gods but I am in awe of the universe. I enjoy a bit of sport on the telly, books about stuff (currently and belatedly, Salt), good theatre (not that there's much in this neck of the woods), a bit of alt. country, dumb old seventies and eighties albums, stupid American crime programmes, sci-fi films, playing music with friends and - what's it called? neo-expressionism? Euan McDougall - that sort of thing. I suppose I'm a social democrat.

I "suppose" because I don't really know. Not because I don't know what I believe politically but because I don't know how it fits into the current political milieu.I know what I'm not. I'm not a Torie. I'm not a Socialist. I'm not a neo-conservative.

In a different time I would probably have been a Labour man. But many the decisions of the last couple of Labour governments have infuriated me in the way they pandered to a socially conservative electorate and the current imperialist tendencies of the international community.

So politically I believe in individual freedom. I believe in social justice - not only before the law but also economic and socio-cultural equality. I believe everyone has the right to equal opportunity. I don't believe the "market" delivers all of the freedoms, justice and equality to which all citizens are entitled. I believe governments have a role to play in this process. I also believe that governments (countries - nations) have right to sovereignty over how they deliver these fundamentals to their citizens. So, I believe in paying taxes. I believe in solidarity. I believe all citizens have a role to play and a responsibility to carry a sense of compassion for the victims of injustice and inequality.

So, that's the context. That's the filter through which I will try to view our society. I'll rant a bit. I'll write about stuff I find interesting. I'll try to be entertaining.

A penguin walks into a bar. He says "Have you seen my brother?". The barman says "I don't know. What does he look like?"