“While Gaza health authorities do not have an official tally, doctors and aid workers say Unicef’s 1,000 figure is accurate for the first two months, but has likely been far surpassed since, making the Gaza amputation rates unusually high compared to other conflicts and disasters. “In Ukraine, where missiles have also struck residential towers during Russia’s invasion, there are 30 known cases of child amputees. “British-Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah said he performed six amputations in Gaza in one night.” Source (Jan 2025): https://www.dawn.com/news/1803343 “While Gaza health authorities do not have an official tally, doctors and aid workers say Unicef’s 1,000 figure is accurate for the first two months, but has likely been far surpassed since, making the Gaza amputation rates unusually high compared to other conflicts and disasters.

“In Ukraine, where missiles have also struck residential towers during Russia’s invasion, there are 30 known cases of child amputees.

“British-Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah said he performed six amputations in Gaza in one night.”

https://www.dawn.com/news/1803343 (From January 2024)

It occured to me that there are several types of ignorance:

1. Not knowing something and not knowing that you don’t know it.

2. Not knowing something and deceiving your self that you know it.

3. Not knowing something and knowing that you don’t know it.

4. Knowing something and deceiving yourself that you don’t know it.

The last is surely the most vicious form of ignorance. It is the wilful ignorance that we hold to when we ‘stand with’ the perpetrators of genocide on any level, when we think that anything justifies the murder and maiming of children.

There are some who will think that I’m ‘virtue signalling’ again as they read this .. if anyone bothers. Well, I don’t consider myself virtuous and certainly don’t need anyone to consider me that way. If I were virtuous I would restructure my whole life in such a way that I became more aware of the enormity of viciousness that weighs upon it.

I am not saying that I am particularly vicious or that you are (we are just normally vicious) but we live in a deeply vicious society and the fact that we permit our politicians and institutions to make us complicit in the demonic rituals of child sacrifice and torture being perpetrated in Gaza gives irrefutable testimony to that.

There are some who say that Israel has lost ‘the right to exist’ if it ever had that right, I add that our entire political structure has lost ‘the right to exist’. What the hell are we doing voting on 4th July for parties that endorse the slaughter? Talking about that, being clear that both Sunak and Starmer are effectively supporters and enablers of child murder and mutilation should take priority over any election right now. How did we get to this point? Has it always been this way and is it the case that it is taking the enormity and visibility of this crime being shoved in our faces to wake us from our stupor?

The late George Carlin, political comedian par excellence, has something to say about election that is worth revisiting:

“Two reasons I don’t vote: first of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. The shit they shuffle around every four years doesn’t mean a fuckin’ thing. And secondly, I don’t vote ’cause I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around. I know, they say, they say: “well if you don’t vote you have no right to complain”. But where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent people, and they get into office and screw everything up, well you are responsible for what they have done, YOU caused the problem, you voted them in, you have no right to complain. I on the other hand, who did not vote, WHO DID NOT VOTE. Who in fact did not even leave the house on election-day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done, and have every RIGHT to complain as loud as I want, about the mess YOU created, that I had nothing to do with.”

I’m not going to tell anyone how to vote or whether to vote .. but I’m going to suggest that if you do vote you find out how your candidate feels about child murder and mutilation. Have they discussed this? If not why not? The late George Carlin, political comedian par excellence, has something to say about elections that is worth revisiting: “Two reasons I don’t vote: first of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. The shit they shuffle around every four years doesn’t mean a fuckin’ thing. And secondly, I don’t vote ’cause I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around. I know, they say, they say: “well if you don’t vote you have no right to complain”. But where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent people, and they get into office and screw everything up, well you are responsible for what they have done, YOU caused the problem, you voted them in, you have no right to complain. I on the other hand, who did not vote, WHO DID NOT VOTE. Who in fact did not even leave the house on election-day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done, and have every RIGHT to complain as loud as I want, about the mess YOU created, that I had nothing to do with.” I’m not going to tell anyone how to vote or whether to vote .. but I’m going to suggest that if you do vote you find out how your candidate feels about child murder and mutilation. Have they discussed this? If not why not?