Rick Mayston

Christmas Eve 2016 was the first one I spent without my kids. I was consumed by the deepest depression. At midnight I climbed up onto my roof and pondered jumping. Then a voice told me to get down and that everything would be different in the morning. I went to bed and I woke up different, or at the least I woke up as someone who had had their true nature revealed to them. It was a surprising revelation. There have been some slightly unexpected twists and turns as the actual me started to get on with my new life, one of which was a complete refusal to knowingly tolerate bullshit from anyone ever again, and a commitment to call out bullshit wherever I see it, at whatever cost. Especially false virtue. 22 years of actors pontificating eloquently whilst wearing badges or tee shirts in solidarity with whatever the current thing was will do that to even a normal person. Mostly, since that time I have had a sense of hardened peace that perhaps not many of us really achieve, as understandably we desperately try and forge a compromise between the truth and a pay check. The gift of a genuine freedom to speak without fear has been an unexpected diamond in the sludge of the modern “progressive” world, where the true soul tries to stop itself from being unceremoniously drowned by the fake one. I sometimes wonder what if I had just carried on getting paid and clapping along about climate change (or whatever) whilst lead actors spent a few days off from squawking about the end of the world, whilst whizzing around on jet skis tended from super yachts in private lagoons, far away from the plebs whose package holidays they despise so much. And then I think. Nope. This is a path I chose. And since none of us know what tomorrow may bring, I would rather not go to my grave a knowing liar. Or even complicit in the lie. It is the silence of good people which hurts the world. Not the actions of the greedy and avaricious. They’ve been here since time began. And so it will always be. This silly Amazon shopping spree which has replaced the celebration birth of Jesus should remind us all of that. That out of the deepest despair, there is hope. That a child was born and destined to die for all of our sins. That every single human life matters. That all lives are sacred. So firstly, my heart is with anyone who is parted from those they love this Christmas. For those in any pain and grief. This is a hard time. But it is just a time. And time passes. Secondly, to those people who can see where something needs their courage. Find it. You won’t regret it. Thirdly, and perhaps my favourite. There's nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose. God speed and Merry Christmas. Lots of love. 🙏

Beautiful.

Have you ever come across a bunch of more narcissistic, cruel, selfish and profoundly unkind people as the #BeKind brigade?

Having to fence off one of our most sacred national monuments to protect it from the mob is a national disgrace.