Monthly Archives: December 2025

#HeadlineTherapy Fifth Belgian Reactor is permanently shut down.

Thank you to World Nuclear News for this headline

In 2003 the Belgium Parliament voted to phase-out all of Belgian seven nuclear power reactors.

The process has meant that five reactors are in the process of being de-commissioned , however, due to the start of the conflict in the Ukraine in 2025 the Belgium Government and Electrabel (a subsidiary of the French multinational electric utility Comany ENGIE) have agreed an extension of the life of two reactors Doel 4 and Tihange 3 who will now operate for a further ten years to 2035.

In May this year the Belgian federal parliament voted to repeal the 2003 law, so that the prospect of a new nuclear plant being built was back on the agenda and also whether the life of Doel 4 and Tihange 3 could be further extended. The Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control want clarity on the situation from the Government to allow them to ensure the safety of the proposals.

Interestingly the Headline could have read , Belgium is keeping two Nuclear Power Stations because they might need them.

Namaste and Thank you for reading.🙏

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Change is a constant process

Daily writing prompt
What is one thing you would change about yourself?

Change is not one action, it is something constant which develops. What feels right one day might feel wrong the next.

So changing yourself and being happy doesn’t mean one thing, it means many things to many people. Understanding where you are in that chain of events and influences is the important thing. The bad news is it’s multi-dimensional. Who said life was easy?

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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#HeadlineTherapy “He was speaking through his eyes. He just gives us a nod. He mastered the art of communicating without using words”: Jon Batiste describes his “gloriously awkward exchange ” with Prince at one of his legendary after-hours jam sessions.

Thanks to Ben Johnson at music radar online for this Headline

Lovely to get an insight into the workings of a great musical icon like Prince. On a short tour with Jon Batiste who Prince had met while Batiste was studying in New York and gigging with his own band at night. Prince saw Batiste and his band playing and asked him to do the tour.

Batiste attended an after show jam with a large group of people ( about 100) squashed into a lounge like room with various instruments. The jamming session took place in a corner of the room , with Prince playing the drums on and off and sometimes walking into the crowd and listening to their conversations.

I can imagine Prince doing that, and he would listen and if anything caught his interest ; those around him would know.

In Batiste’s case Batiste said something along the lines of being very grateful to have been invited on the tour, while the person with him thrust a business card into Prince’s hand with Batiste’s contact details on it. Batiste felt the situation was uncomfortable as there was no conversational reply from Prince, but Batiste realised that with one look from Prince, Prince’s eyes showed he was happy with the interaction and then it was over, Prince was gone.

Perhaps that type of communication means more than all the blabbing that we experience in our daily lives and Prince knew it.

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#HeadlineTherapy Rudolph reindeer Christmas drone show at Ardingly labelled “disaster” and “shambles”

Thank you to ITV News for the Headline

Sad to say we have moved on from mud ridden Santa’s Grottos and overly thin reindeers needing a good worming treatment wandering around waiting to be petted with no hand washing facilities and the risk of e-coli infections ever present.

Ah yes, Commercial Christmas’s answer to making a quick buck has moved on. We now have what could be , if well orchestrated a wonderful show that would make everyone’s eyes light up in the glow of LED’s . Ginormous reindeers filling the sky with red noses , followed by Giant Snowman floating across the stratosphere and a soundtrack bellowing out the story to bring it all together. How wondrous, what could go wrong in a field in Sussex?

Well quite a lot actually, basically a lot of the drones failed to work, so the light display looked like few LED’s randomly moving through the sky; the display was like nothing really ;and so detached from the deep masculine voice generating the obviously digitised soundtrack, as to make no sense at all to the parents , never mind the poor freezing children standing in the mud and wondering why they hadn’t stayed at home and watched “Frozen” on their bedroom television.

Guilt ridden parents headed for the food outlets , only to find that they were vastly over priced and of inferior quality to what they could make at home.

Anyway by that time the children were demonstrating their lack of faith in their parents choices and screaming to go home.

Even the promised visit to Santa at his Grotto was a disappointment. Santa didn’t seem very enthusiastic to be associated with this bunch of amateurs and actually seemed quite curt. The presents he gave out, for the £20 cost of the ticket , were left unopened and given to their mothers to carry. Santa had said it couldn’t be opened until Christmas Day.

Understandably the parents were suspicious and sneakily checked what it was, a £5 bit of cheap plastic in the guise of a tractor, made in China .It would be best thrown out as the paint(probably lead) was peeling off and those bolts were a choking hazard. The parents thought about which rubbish bin it would go in, plastics or metals and if disposing of lead paint was allowed. Perhaps they would have to ring the Council.

The promised Christmas Market had been cancelled and for that the Parents were incredibly grateful, but the children kicked off as they had been given “pennies” to spend by their Grandparents and there was nowhere to spend them and they were never doing this again and what a waste of time it was. The Parents had to agree, but were very hurt when they said that “Johnny and Maggie’s parents had taken them on a trip to Lapland to see the real Santa, ride on a horse and play in the snow”. Thanks Mum and Dad.

And so everyone went home and hoped they could claim a refund for the” Christmas Disaster.” The older children retreated to their bedrooms, and the younger ones did the usual of getting their nappies changed or sitting on their potties and once ready for bed having a story read to them. Tomorrow the baby would have a slight cough which would turn into a full blown cold which would last a week and would make preparing for Christmas relatives “difficult”. The thought of chasing a refund for the “Disaster ” was paling into insignificance.

Such is the expectations and disappointments of Christmas. Still it is the make or break time for “Seasonal Business”, don’t worry it will soon be January.

Namaste and Thank You for reading. 🙏

NB If you haven’t guessed already I use the images generated by AI, and I must admit this one is a little bit scary , but obviously a poorly lit drone show is not yet in AI’s digital memory bank.

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Depends

Daily writing prompt
Are you more of a night or morning person?

Whether I am a night or morning person depends on what I have to do. If you rest to be prepared you can be either.

Namaste and Thank you for reading.

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#HeadlineTherapy Truly unprecedented situation-how can you pardon a prime minister who hasn’t been convicted?

Thanks to Adam Parsons Middle East correspondent and Sky Online News for the headline.

The current situation where the Israeli Prime Minister has been on trial for a number of years on corruption charges yet remains in office and is now asking for a pardon as the trial and the required court appearances ( three a week) are distracting him from his public duties as Prime Minister.

It’s indicative of the disordered state of the workings of Law and Order, and how the state can be hijacked by those with their own agendas and objectives, who in reality want to live outside the Laws that apply to the general population and who want to benefit both financially and reputationally from their positions of power.

Unprecedented, no , I think not I’m sure other dictators have used the same methods in the past and it remains to be seen if history will repeat itself.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading 🙏

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Death and Protein

Daily writing prompt
What are your feelings about eating meat?

In 1789 , Antoine Fourcroy recognized three distinct varieties of animal proteins, albumin, fibrin and gelatin.

Should we eat them or should we stick to plant proteins, perhaps one day , we won’t have a choice as animal protein will become so expensive.

Science has broken down meat to it’s component amino acids and much research continues to find a protein source to feed the World and protect the environment.

Less living animals will be the result, though of course it will mean less animals dying, for they cannot die if they’ve never been born.

Namaste and Thank you for reading. 🙏

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#HeadlineTherapy Thousands of Israelis line up for appointment to obtain Portuguese citizenship

Thank you to Toi Staff and The Times of Israel for this headline

Better to plan and think in advance about your fate. The Portuguese Embassy because of a backlog with their online processing , offered a face to face appointment system for applications and extensions of Portuguese Passports to Israeli Citizens during the months of December and January 2025.

Interestingly this has an historical context , Portuguese Sephardic Jews were subject to the 16th Century Inquisition and many chose to leave Portugal. Portugal in 2015 passed a ” law of return” to let those affected to obtain Citizenship of Portugal and return should they so wish.

Many have applied, but have stayed in Israel with the benefit of having a European Passport. Recent events, however, have caused concern and also the cost of living in Israel is high and there is an attraction in attending European Universities which with European Citizenship is possible.

There were large queues outside the Embassy and those who had the patience were able to start the process of application and extend their documents were happy to complete the process and sad to say , it is a good plan, something anyone who lives in these times has to consider.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading 🙏

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