Aimé Césaire is the father of Martinican literature. In his Cahier, he explores his roots in his native Martinique and looks with an often angry voice at the repression of his fellow islanders. The Cahier is a poem directed at
Continue readingMonth: January 2017
Review: Confessions of a Yakuza – by Junichi Saga
A doctor conversing with one of his elderly patients in Japan, reveals this amazingly quaint story of a Yakuza gang leader. Set in the heart of Tokyo in the early twentieth century, our hero comes from an ordinary background and
Continue readingReview: The KLF – Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds – by John Higgs
The KLF were one of my favourite bands as a teenager and partly responsible for introducing me to dance music. When they disappeared from the music industry it was a great disappointment and although they featured quite a lot in
Continue readingReview: Gangland – The Rise of the Mexican Drug Cartels from El Paso to Vancouver – by Jerry Langton
This fascinating subject is explored by the author, Jerry Langton, in a fresh and vibrant manner. He makes the often bloody stories flow nicely into each other. What is for sure is that the Mexican drug war is a nasty
Continue readingReview – The Legend of El Chapo Guzman – by J.D.Rockefeller
The subject of the book makes it appealing and gives you the desire to part with the £6 or so it costs on Amazon. El Chapo is a buzz subject a folk-hero, a modern legend. He is head of the
Continue readingInterview with Justin Bond, Mental Health Sufferer from Birmingham
How did you first come to the attention of mental health services?In 2000 I went to hospital after attempting suicide not long after my mother passed away, aged 48. I had also not long split up with my girlfriend of
Continue readingReview: Chav Punk Hobbit – The Quest to The End Of The World – by Jason Phillips
Jason is a Welsh Musician, and in this short book, he details his most recent Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage experience. He takes the Camino Portugués from Porto, a follow up to his previous encounter with the more traditional,
Continue readingReview: The Snows of Kilimanjaro – by Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway writes this collection of short stories in a true macho fashion. Hemingway loved his big sports and we venture in this book into many short tales, apparently many autobiographical, of hunting and fishing trips, of bullfights and horse-racing tracks.
Continue readingReview: The Stone Roses – War And Peace – by Simon Spence
The Stone Roses are undoubtedly one of the most important bands to have emerged during my lifetime. Their early defining sound paved the way for the explosion of the ‘Madchester Sound’ and the book’s introduction about the seminal 1989 Spike
Continue readingReport on Mental Health in Southeast Wales for John Griffiths AM and Jessica Morden MP
I have been a non-consenting patient of southeast Wales’ mental health services since 2nd April 1997. I have almost amassed twenty years of living within this closed mental health system. I write this report with a view to enacting real change
Continue readingEnd Of Terror Meeting with Politician, Welsh Senedd Member, John Griffiths MS
Today, after four years of campaigning, I finally met with Welsh Assembly Member, John Griffiths AM. John is my local political representative in the Welsh Assembly. In Wales, health is a devolved matter and is dealt with in the Cardiff
Continue readingPsychiatry in the Former Soviet Union (Guest Post)
[Here is a post by our first international guest poster. Leoned is from the former Soviet Union and has sent us this about his mental health experiences. End Of Terror is a worldwide struggle and campaign for better rights for
Continue readingReview: Touching from a Distance – Ian Curtis and Joy Division – by Deborah Curtis
I am a massive fan of Joy Division and feel that the band’s greatness has always been tainted by lead singer, Ian Curtis’ early death. He was a modern day British Jim Morrison, a trapped poet, muse to millions. This
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