Leaving aside the related health issues, hard working people lost their jobs or their businesses – all due to gov't directives. The corner shops lost out to big supermarkets and large stores - and so many other small traders lost out to the giant online retailers – all too familiar to us! As a result, a crazy shift of wealth took place – upward - to the richest 1% in the world.

That missing thing – which at one point in our history was the only thing we had – is a thing we need to examine afresh and begin to use in our daily lives. That thing is debate. Debate is the peaceful coming together to share knowledge, experiences, thoughts and even wild imaginings. It is through debate we gain a fully rounded picture and understanding of our world.

The same is true of corporate entities – such as banks. Who hasn’t dangled on the end of the phone, often with no idea whether they’ll have to wait for 2 minutes or 20? Only, in some cases, to be booted abruptly off the call!

The residents decided that they weren’t having it! Together, they raised a million pounds and bought the hospital themselves. The former Edward Hain Memorial Hospital, founded more than a century ago by a local shipping family, is now going to be a new health and wellness hub offering healthcare –free wherever possible – to the people of St Ives and west Cornwall.

It’s difficult not to notice in the media pages of any news channel – that is, MSM news or, the more questioning in nature, People’s Media – the press to divide people. It almost seems there’s an agenda to divide us all – whether it be rooted in politics, religion, race, colour, sexuality, or some other ideology. One clear demonstration of this happening is in the labelling of people.

That new age – that so many of us now are getting a glimpse of, due to what governments and others are saying – is the Fourth Industrial Revolution. You will know we’ve had one already, thanks to the history segment at school. But you may be wondering about the others - so, to remind us all and recap, what follows is a brief description of the missing numbers two and three.

The pages are full of horror and pessimism and the majority of readers are not only – almost helplessly - drawn to these pages, but are transfixed by their content. The counter – and very valid – argument, is that people need to have a view on what – supposedly – is going on in our world. That is, what we are being told is going on in our world - which explains my reading of them.

And it’s overlooked by so many of us. It is overlooked by schools and it is overlooked in what counts for government. The fundamental nature of debate is not taught or exercised in schools and our politicians clearly have no handle on what debate truly means. That being so, we cannot expect them to exercise this debate tool, or the skills needed to use it – can we?

But the term ‘Personal Charter’ literally spoke to me when I was posed a question of myself, being a question which I felt compelled to answer given the importance I placed upon it. It related to a mistake I could easily have made had a certain problem not emerged which caused me to rethink. That problem related to a person I may later have had very close dealings with.

A meme on social media today suggested that people don’t suffer with depression – as doctors and Big Pharma would have us believe. Instead, a lot of us are suffering with the state of the world. Well, there’s some truth in that. It’s countered by the zen principle that we need to carry our sunshine on the inside. And it’s there, where we have our greatest asset – and our solution!

Is this a case of “everything you’ve ever been told about the role of government is a lie?” Well, yes. Knowledge about the true British constitution is held by a vanishingly small number of people - and when they die, that knowledge will die with them. We need to understand our real constitution quickly and share that knowledge. The good news is – it’s not complicated!

Couple that basic principle - about news - with what the world’s been living with these last 3yrs and the feeling of depression is magnified in all of us. And the odd thing is, we’re all drawn to it like moths to the light. Do you remember that line in the film, ‘A Bugs Life’ – “Don’t look at the light!” If only we could all stop doing that – we’d all feel better. We could be bouncing!

On 20mar2003, American forces invaded Iraq – a country governed by an oppressive and tyrannical leader – a country which was however no threat to its neighbours or the world generally – but a country with major oil reserves. There was no justification in law for the invasion, but political powers combined to make it look as if there was. It was a crime against humanity.

Cohousing means living in a community. Not a commune - every household has its own home. People share spaces, resources and responsibilities. Eating together is a big part of living in a cohousing community – but not every night! It’s one way to be part of a vibrant, more balanced community, reduce your living costs, consume less and tread more lightly on the earth.

I’m reliably informed that, in the 1950s and 60s, letters sent from the UK government to members of the public ended with "your obedient servant." Well, I’ve just received a letter from the government – and it won’t come as a surprise to most readers to find out that my letter was NOT signed off like that. Is it time to ask – when it comes to leaders - who’s serving who?

I recall filling in the application forms and enclosing a cheque – remember those things – eager to buy into the public sale of our very infrastructure – BT, British Gas and whatever else was being sold off to the public then.  In the late 80s I had become a shareholder in what were public assets and felt a tad proud but, in truth, eager to trade shares in the market and try my luck.

We have all bought many things online - over the internet – without actually touching the thing we are parting with our cash for.  We see the pictures and read the description on platforms like Amazon - and a million others just like it. We've also bought intangibles – like motor insurance and breakdown cover – but even then, we have a mental picture of what we are buying. 

The first challenge to face in this process is deciding what on earth do we look at first?  The mess which I am referring to here, by the way, is the way – we the People – have allowed the administration of this country to unfold.  I cannot say develop – since that very word suggests a form of positive progression – which we certainly have not had and won’t get on this path.

Take for example this story from Australia. It’s about people sharing cars. Now we’re all familiar with the idea of sharing lifts to work – but that is NOT this. Here, the sharing of cars means sharing time-usage of those cars rather than sharing lifts. This version of Car Share is a bit like holiday-home time-share, but without the fixed time slots.

Whilst some leaders may well have crimes to answer for in the near future, what the situation has made plain to us all now is that a different way of thinking is required. A different way of thinking for a different kind of world.