Tag Archives: #HeadlineTherapy

Thanks to Danielle Herbert and BBC News Online for the Headline

For one little boy a shoe box with gifts in it for Christmas , prepared and sent nearly 40 years ago helped him so much with the trauma of having to leave his home Country of Croatia and move to Sweden , because of the conflict in the Balkans. The boy never forgot that kindness.

All he had was a photo of the two children who had prepared the box and their location written on the back of the photograph, “Mold in Wales”. He put a message out on Facebook through a Mold Community Group and this time social media proved a positive influence and the family who had sent the box recognised their picture and got in touch with the boy who is 40 years old now. The children who sent the box have grown up now and it’s their children who want to keep the tradition of sending shoe box gifts going as they can see what a difference it can make.

Thanks to John Bowden and the Independent Online for the Headline.

I never really trusted polls and now even less. Apparently the candidate who really had no chance and was a poor third in the election anyway. Commissioned a poll to say they were a lot more popular than they were and to make things worse the pollster fiddled the figures to make it look like the candidate James Fishback looked more popular than he was.

Have no fear James Fishback was not elected and also The Polling Aggregator (whoever they are ) said it would not use the particular poll company in its analytics in the future( would we know?)

You can all sleep safely with this knowledge.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading

Thanks to ITVX Online News for the Headline.

This headline struck a chord with me as I have an allotment and enjoy growing all sorts of fruit , vegetables and some flowers on it. There are successes and lots of failures, there’s hard work preparing the soil and there’s the idiosyncrasies of the weather.

The land the allotments have been set up on is part of a large school playing field, but increasingly land around the allotments is being used for Housebuilding. I do wonder , if the land will become too valuable and as the Headline says we will be turfed off to make way for Housing. I hope not.

The article is very sad as the process to remove the people who were growing on their allotments began in February, they were given six months to vacate the plots. Anyone who grows their own fruit and vegetables , knows that August is a busy harvesting period and now the people have been forced to abandon the things they have grown. Despite appeals , the landowner’s agent is insisting that the plots be vacated .

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Mal James and the Space Daily Editorial Team and Space Daily for the Headline.

There are a lot of landed gentry in England and Wales , who do not want common people wandering over their lands, we also have a lot of bridleways, right of ways and also a protest group called Right to Roam who work to ensure the access that exists at the moment is not further reduced.

Scotland, however, has open access laws , similar to Finland and commonly known as the right to roam. This allows walking, running, cycling , horse-riding, wild camping, climbing and water sports like canoeing or wild swimming. The proviso is leave the land as you found it and do not invade people’s privacy.

Fishing and hunting is a bit more tricky, there are licenses for certain activities that need to be obtained. The shared expectation is that people experience the countryside without causing damage or disturbance. No off road vehicle racing or indeed snowmobiles which scar the land.

Ownership need not regard access as potentially damaging and the Countryside and it’s benefits should be accessible to all. In Finland (and Scotland) it seems to work well.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Awogbemila Temitope and Business Insider Africa for the Headline.

South American Columbia has embroiled itself in Middle East Politics by recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The United Nations consensus is that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory and as such are under occupation.

Columbia’s decision under President President Abelardo de la Espriella means that consensus is under threat.

Egypt (presumably according to the Headline) Africa’s strongest military force has warned that Colombia’s stance threatens regional stability and undermines peace and the UN Charter.

Colombia has also supported Morocco’s claim for sovereignty over the Western Sahara.

It seems that Colombia is trying to gain an economic advantage in the middle East and African Continent by supporting these claims. Given the inherent instability of the Colombian Economy and their reputation for Drug Cartels, I would hope that the business they wish to promote are beneficial to all parties and doesn’t do harm, even if it helps their balance of payments.

AI Generated Image

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Milena Wălde and Politico for the Headline

The Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš went for a hike in the beautiful National Park in eastern Czechia which encompasses a mountain called the Lysá Hora. He picked a few flowers on his way up and tucked them into his rucksack and laid them at the monument at the summit to remember a colleague who had sadly died. They both had previously completed the mountain hike together, so it was a mark of respect for his deceased colleague.

Sad to say, this reached the press and PM Andrj Babiš explained his reasoning , however, he did offer to pay any fine attached to the misdemeanor.

Interestingly enough the National Park Officials said that no harm had been done as the species of flower that was picked was common.

This is fair enough , but as a general rule it’s probably best not to pick any wildflowers in National Parks, though I appreciate PM Babiš offer to pay the fine, perhaps to discourage others from picking wildflowers willy nilly.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to AJLabs at Aljazeera Online for the Headline

According to Amnesty International Three-Quarters of the world has abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.

Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty. On Tuesday , a majority of the 128 member parliament voted in favour of scrapping capital punishment and replacing the death sentence with life imprisonment and aggravated hard labour.

In practice although judges in Lebanon have issued death sentences none have been carried out in Lebanon since 2004.

It is very forward thinking of Lebanon to take this step and it is an example to all of us. Capital Punishment like any form of killing dehumanises us and solves nothing. One mistake is one mistake too many.

The use of the death penalty by countries who still have it was recorded as 2,707 executions in 2025. Iran was responsible for 2,159 of those in 2025. Which is a tragedy as it reflects the civil unrest that happened in Iran, so those who were caught up in the debacle in many cases were summarily executed without a fair trial because they disagreed with the Government.

This is why the Death Penalty should be abolished everywhere it is open to misuse.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

And here’s my You Tube Short on the above Headline. Please click on the link as I haven’t figured out how to embed the video yet.😁 Also I think they did is as a short and I said at the end that ” I am proud of Lebanon”🙏

https://youtu.be/MOVZMxGb6Us?is=xBRCioU8rjBfYDdU

Thanks to Jameson Fink and Food and Wine Online for the Headline

I love my Aeropress and I just can’t believe that the “trendies” and apparently trendy chefs have hijacked the simple design and suggested that you get a better cup of coffee if you basically do the process upside down( at great risk of scalding yourself with hot coffee).

Like the journalist who wrote the article I basically make a strong double espresso and then add hot water to it to make it into a “long black”. I love the suction sound, which the Aeropress makes when you push the plunger down. It’s like you are pressing every ounce of flavour and goodness out of the ground coffee beans.

The tinkerers are wasting their time. Aeropress is perfection personified.

https://youtu.be/M0VZMxGb6Us?is=1_L-FF0ucCt7dmZ8

Thanks to Usaid Siddiqui and Aljazeera for the Headline

The new Syrian Government which has been in place now for about eighteen months have been in talks with Russia and have announced a memorandum of understanding regarding Moscow’s Hmiemim airbase and Tartus naval base.

Syria has taken some Civilian and Commercial Control over both military bases and the consensus is that neither Syria or Russia wish to break relations. Although , as Russia was a major backer of the previous regime and the local Syrian population suffered tremendously during the Civil War, there was significant resentment from the people about the Russian role.

However, the political premise “of there are no permanent enemies , only permanent interests is ensuring that the lines of communication are kept open with the Russians. Russia on their part have invested heavily in Syria , so they wish to keep good relations too.

Russia has helped the current Syrian Government by vetoing at the UN Security Council’s designation of the new Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa as a “terrorist”. Russia also supplies subsidised oil and grain to Syria and has important debt and reconstruction projects with the Syrians.

Putin has welcomed al Sharaa and signalled support for Syria’s territorial Integrity.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Sam Stockard of the Tennessee Lookout Online for the Headline

A death sentence is so final I am convinced that no human has the right to decide the end of another human’s life for criminal offences no matter how heinous. My reasoning is , one mistake is one mistake too many.

To sit in an office , any office and sign a piece of paper which continues with the process of taking the life of another person does not seem right. It seems detached from the reality of the situation.

The lawyers in this case will keep arguing until the end, their reasoning is that the method of execution is barbaric and cruel as the state has not employed a doctor qualified to implement the procedure competently.( I won’t go into details , but a previous attempt with another death row inmate went terribly wrong).

No you can’t detach yourself and sit in an office and sign off on something like this as if signing off building regulations, it’s barbaric to do so.

The death sentence sullies everyone.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏