Autumnal Politicking

The Summer 'silly season' is drawing to an end as the politicians head towards their annual party conference frolics. Party Leaders (and those who aspire to lead) are busy dusting off their propaganda releases in attempts to make them appear plausible to the UK electorate. From the Tories dramatic announcement of £500 million pounds to prepare Faslane (aka MoD Aldermarston) for nuclear weapons the UK Parliament has not yet approved; to quasi-investigations into what is wrong with Police Scotland by Giesa Jobdale's Scotch Labour. In this we could all save Scotch Labour a lot of huffing and puffing, BBC Scotchland air time, paper and cash (they do not have) by reaching the conclusion on Scotch Labour's behalf - it is all the SNP's fault. Job done Giesa, I hope my cheque is in the post.

It seems Willy Rennie is still alive and the Libdems have decided to revive him from his self induced coma though given the Libdems £800,000 outstanding bill for Police Scotland's activities at the Libdems last conference (and I mean that most sincerely folks) making indirect claims about deliberate under funding and cost cutting by the Scottish Government causing the 'overstretch' is just a bit rich and hypocritical. Even worse for the Libdems is a number of police authorities in England are now looking at Police Scotland style amalgamations as a way of maintaining effective policing given the severe cuts being inflicted on them by the Tory Government's austerity policy which the Libdems and Labour, at Westminster, apparently support.

In the meantime Ian Taylor of Vitol, dodgy Serbian Oil deals and fracking has thrown Ruth and her Scotch Conservatives £100,000 in the hopes they will get enough list seats to keep the fracking pot boiling so his company's arms length investments in Scottish fracking licenses are not as worthless as a Tory Party promise of being a compassionate government. Mr Taylor would probably prefer the money to be spent ensuring the Tories control Stirling Council after May 2016 so he has a better chance of gaining planning approval for the Airth Field Expansion; then again, maybe I am just being cynical and he really does care for more than his immediate self interests.

Then there is RISE which has created a fog of confusion as to whether it is the official political wing of RIC or just yet another re-badging of the ferrets in a sack known as the Scottish Socialist Party which is hanging onto RIC's coat tails. The confusion becomes even greater when the chair of the RIC states that RISE has arisen from the RIC but is not part of the RIC. RISE has not yet stated what it actually stands for except its is "more left wing than the SNP and stands in solidarity with the working class ...." but given RISE's SSP domination we can expect announcements on the ending capitalism, creating a workers paradise and bringing everything into public ownership - whether it would be an effective use of taxation income or not. The launch conference was long on rhetoric but short on policy. I remain concerned, given the longstanding fracture lines and antipathy between its founding members, that RISE will make it to May 2016 in one piece and if they do, they will steal list votes from the Scottish Greens in the main and, in effect, weaken the 'socialist' impact at Holyrood by reinforcing in the Scottish electorates' mind the only effective opposition to the Unionist cabal is to vote SNP in both constituency and list. In this they have already done themselves little good by their immediate leap into antagonistic 'SNP bad' press releases, just for the sake of them.

The SNP are not infallible nor are their policies in Government agreeable to all of the wide base of their support at anyone time. Mistakes have been made in the process of creating Police Scotland but if anyone thought the process could be seamless they need their heads examining. Whether Mr House was the best person to lead this change has been long debated given his alleged Hitleresque style of leadership which involved removing, demoting or ignoring senior officers who did not agree with him. Further the process was undertaken in the knowledge that £1 billion of savings needed to be made while retaining front line police officer numbers because of known Barnett consequential reductions in funding for Scotland's Police and Fire Services over the next five years. These funding cuts could yet be even worse in the light of Osbourne's Treasury spending revue announcements which have now been delayed until November.

The SNP are increasingly seen as a 'safe pair of hands' by even Unionist Party supporters, though it cuts them to the bone to admit this. More importantly once the SNP have recognised they have made a mistake in policy they are not afraid to put their hands up, apologise and revise the policy. To some this is seen as their weakness; to me it is a great strength in this left of centre social democratic party which seeks to put the needs and expectations of the all the different sectors of the Scottish electorate ahead of its own narrow political and membership interests.

At its heart the SNP respect and acknowledge the Scottish legal and constitutional tradition of the people of Scotland being sovereign and as a result of this constitutional position, Ms Sturgeon and her team understand they can not be all things to all people nor do all they would wish, given the serious constraints put on them by Westminster's control of Scottish Government funding and the need to represent the wishes of the sovereign people of Scotland, but one thing is certain and that is this: The SNP always put Scotland's interests first and foremost.

Someone's taking the rise ...

Somewhere on the outer spiral left wing arm of the Yes galaxy, one hundred or so anarcho-Marxist monkeys are typing away furiously seeking to interpret the last three years of Scotland's political awakening as a massive success for their brand of politics to the point where they stand on the edge of claiming without them there would have been no 'Yes' movement to speak of.

I do not belittle their input into the campaign nor their willingness to put their shoulder to the wheel to gain Scottish independence but when they start claiming the SNP are no longer interested in independence because they have not declared UDI after May 2015, stir a pot of lies over fracking which ignores the moratorium nor are the able to concede pressure from the SNP MPs and MSPs have forced the unconventional gas people to go home and think again then, I have to ask if they are simply taking the RISE. The reality is the fracking and unconventional gas sector have now accepted, as long as there is a SNP Government at Holyrood, they may as well pack up their drills in Scotland and go home. This in spite of the legal technicality that Energy Licensing and exploitation (including fracking and unconventional gas) is reserved for Westminster.

Then there are the snide comments about SNP MP's increase in salary and how they have quickly 'gone native' at Westminster while ignoring the SNP MP's have agreed that their increase will go into a fund for their constituencies to benefit from. This apparently is not enough for those taking the RISE, it is in their Citizen Smith style hyperbole, "...giving into the capitalist establishment at Westminster."

Now the insinuations are being made the SNP are living a lie because they are not a real 'left wing party', the sort of  "My statue of Marx is bigger than your statue of Marx, SNP splitists!" claim worthy of the 'Life of Brian' rather than Scottish politics while totally ignoring the crux of the matter.

The SNP are a left of centre social democratic party so is not 'left wing' in the sense of a Colin Fox or a Tommy Sheridan. This means the SNP always seek to deliver the best compromise between the needs of capital to create wealth and thus taxable income and profit, so it can afford to provide for the welfare, education and health needs of the population in general.

This means the SNP sometimes has to be nice to the money at say INEOS, to protect jobs, core chemical processing facilities, oil and gas pipe lines and all the other employees reliant on Grangemouth because by doing so it protects the tax income which pays for the welfare, health and education programs. The difference is the SNP Government does not roll over like Westminster and say, "Take me, I'm yours, INEOS, you big bad boy." which appears to be the norm for UK Governments of the last three decades when dealing with international corporations and the City of London in particular, if the SNP Government acted like the UK Government, the central belt coal and shale fields would already being fracked to bits.

On the other hand it takes its commitment to welfare, education and health of Scots very seriously within the one hand tied behind its back Westminster fiscal regime which it operates and has robbed and continues to rob 'Peter to pay Paul' on many occasions to protect key public services' funding while alleviating the worst of the Tory driven austerity dogma's impact on those most vulnerable in Scotland.

The bleats about FE cuts in Scotland are a case in point. The courses which lost funding were, by and large, ones which delivered no qualifications or were 'hobbies'. These were courses that would be nice to have if you had an unlimited budget but given the reduced real time Scottish FE budget, as a Barnet consequential, could not be afforded if SVQ's, City and Guilds and degree courses were not going to be impacted on. Other courses were cut to concentrate them in one FE college which for FE college's which lost courses was a disaster and lead to staff job losses. Sadly in the real world these decisions have to be made to ensure the whole system does not crash around our ears and no one has access to FE.

My problem with those on the outer edge left wing spiral of the Yes galaxy is this: their solutions are primitive and based on creating conflict within the very groups of people they need working together to deliver the effective solution (capital and the work force) and in this they are no better than the right wing austerity sharks and their core theory of 'There is not enough to go around, so let us grab all we can for ourselves'. The only real difference is the Left call this 'redistribution of wealth' while the Right call it 'trickle down' yet the reality is most of the capital stays in the same people's pockets and the workers get screwed over which ever way.

Ye Royale et Enceinte Clubbe de Gowf

In the widdershins of Ank-Morpork where the old families live and the new money seeks to, there is an area on the city map, within the ring of old family piles, marked 'terra incognito' or land which does not want to be known. In a city under such stress for accommodation it is to be marveled the C.M.O.T Dibbler Estate Agency has not yet sought to sell it off for exorbitant sums for those seeking bijou residences. The fact C.M.O.T Dibbler does not have title to the land is unlikely to prevent Ank-Morpork's greatest entrepreneur from at least having a bash until the point where ancient family retainers forget about their piles, for a few hours, while negotiating with Mr Dibbler for the cessation of said land sales via the threatened use of clubs with large rusty nails hammered into them. Yet, so incognito is this terra, the idea of selling of this land has never crossed C.M.O.T Dibbler's mind which is lucky as clubs with big rusty nails in them can be terminally mind altering.

For those few in the know, the terra is not incognito; it is the last remnant of the Royal Hunt of the Kings of Ank and now home to the Royale et Enceinte Clubbe de Gowff, the home of the 'Game of Kings' and of course 'Royale' hangers on. One should immediately note it is the game of 'Kings' and as such no woman, no matter how high her breeding, is allowed to play the game or be a member of the club, known as the 'R&E'. When the R&E was first founded the ruling King of the day was made honorary president of the club for life. Given this is Ank-Morpork, successor honorary presidents did not last very long as the Rules Committee Chairman was the hereditary title held by the Master of the Guild of Assassins. The Master came down very hard on members who cheated or broke the rules in any other way in accordance with the Guild of Assassins rules. It is claimed that more Kings were assassinated for trying to nobble the R&E Handicap Committee, by threat or bribery, seeking a few more shots on their handicap; than for any other reason.

One ex-Queen bravely sent a velum of complaint to the R&E Secretary regarding the fatal handling of her late husband by the R&E Rules Committee, suggesting that regicide was out with the R&E's competence, excessive and if she had her way heads would roll, in fact the Royal Axe-man was putting a final edge on the blade as she dictated this very epistle. The Honorary Secretary, Mr Slant, pointed out that rule number one of the R&E's Rule Book stated that in all or any dispute or resolution of same the R&E Rules Committee decision was always final and was binding on all members, including Honery Presidents who talked loudly and beat servants to death with a 'mashie' when fellow gowffers were preparing to putt which was just not done. Thus, as this was purely an internal R&E disciplinary matter it was outwith the King's Law. 

(A warning: the smarter among you may now have become aware of the spelling error in the Quirmian wording of the R&E's name. The last smart arse who pointed this out to the club committee found themselves unconscious and on the way to the Four Ecks continent without a pregnant pause; R&E Rule number one applies.)

The bottom line was to become a member of the R&E you had to have a registered coat of arms at least 100 years old to be an associate member, for full membership you needed to go back a minimum of five generations. If you passed this hurdle you had to be proposed by five full members and pay a non returnable joining fee of $AM 10,000 then $AM 10,000 per anum - though special annual membership rates were given to members of 'old families' who had fallen on hard times. 'Sang est Toute le Monde' being the R&E's motto. The membership committee initially had problems with Lord Vetinary's appointment, him being an outsider, as Honery President but the Club Secretary made clear in his four hundred years both alive and dead the ruler of Ank-Morpork was always invited to fill the post, it was a matter of tradition, what else was the R&E but an upholder of tradition. He had already discussed the appointment with Drumknott to sound out the Patrician's position and the sound which echoed back was he would be pleased to be a non-playing Honery President.

There were mutterings from more modern members that they should approach Commander Vimes, given he was now the head of a proud and well established old family, since his marriage to Sybil. Lord Underwood undertook to invite Commander Vimes to apply for full membership but reported back that Commander Vimes had better things to do with his time than hit a 'mousey' around with some stupidly named bats while paying a blind fortune for the privilege and already had enough problems protecting his back from the nest of vipers who inhabited the R&E clubhouse, as it was. The Club Secretary noted this response in the membership committee minutes as a 'Not yet'. After all, who would turn down an offer of membership to Ank-Morpork's most exclusive men's club?

There are numerous claims as to the origins of the game of gowff but research by the University of Ank-Morpork, via their thinking engine, indicates the game came into the Disc World when the Nac-MacFeagles were thrown out of Fairy Land for one too many brawls and breaches of the peace against the 'honest' citizens of the Fairy Queen. As far as the Nac-MacFeagle were concerned this was the best thing that had ever happened to them as this new Alba was bounteously filled with 'mony an muckle ships', the nectar which was 'Granny's Ships Liniment' and "Onywie yon Fairy Quin wis a richt cleppit oot aud hag wha wis jist fit fir a guid doin' o'er. Scunnert aud bat thit she wis."

According to the Nac-MacFeagle bards the story of the game of gowff has much to do with the way the Nac-MacFeagle Clans decision to settle their differences with a minimum of Nac-MacFeagle fatalities and destructive impact on the surrounding countryside in their new Alba where clan battles had brought famine, destruction and bankruptcy to the big job farms, towns and villages within a twenty mile radius.

The first attempt to find a more peaceable resolution to Nac-MacFeagle conflict was by the introduction of the game of Shintaigh. This game was played by one hundred on each side and the aim was to get the decapitated head of a selected member of the opposition, also know as the header, into your own goal which was a set of standing stones with a lintel, by use of a shin bone from a rabbit - also known as a 'camman' as in "Camman, gies yon heid a guid clout, ye scunner." A bard playing the mouse pipes from a neutral clan was referee and each of the Clan Chief's ran the line to decided whether the header was in the goal or not and aid the Bard on decisions such as offside and fouls. This of course lead to many a dispute amongst the players and the Chiefs as to what actually constituted offside, just what was a foul - for instance did it constitute the loss of a limb or a deliberate fatality, what a biased 'scunner' the Bard was and routinely resulted in the battles which the game had been devised to prevent erupting, erupting as the distinction between players and supporters rapidly turned into an all out brawl with supporters attacking their own players as well as the opposition. While reducing the degree of famine and destruction on local big job communities to a ten mile radius, was clearly an improvement but not the success the Nac-MacFeagle Chiefs and Bards had hoped for.

The Bards returned to their research of the histories and traditions of the Nac-MacFeagle and deep in the past they came across stories of single combat between chiefs supported by their 'cawdies' who provided the Chief with advice as to the best weapons to use against their opponent as well as the shortest line in to land the fatal blow or defend from attack. These cawdies ended up as famous as their chiefs in the old tales and as important in giving advice to the Chief, as the Clan Bard, prior to battle. In battle their tales of bravery and cunning were legion. The problem was how to introduce non fatal single combat?

The answer came from watching young Nac-MacFeagles who were training to be Shintaigh players. During practice they used stuffed mouse heads, 'mouseys', and rabbit holes for goals. The bards combined the idea of the cawdie with different weapons and the junior version of shintaigh's mousey and in doing so they devised 'gowff' and the basic system of rules which developed into the game now played by the R&E in Ank-Morpork.

In Nac-MacFeagle culture eighteen is the proper number of bouts or teech in a single combat between chiefs in the most severe of conflicts. So eighteen was deemed to be the right number of  teegh  that should be played in gowff. From each teech it was decided the winner would be the chief who put the mousey in the hole with the least blows by the hawthorn clubs of differing weight provided. The bards at first could not decide whether these teech should be long, short or in between, so as a compromise they decided there would be a mixture of teech decided by the home cawdie and bard laid out over an area of ground near the local Clan's home. To ensure spectators stayed off the teech there would be defined areas of fair way which were only for the use of the competing chiefs and their cawdies and on which no fights, invasion by supporters or other disturbance were allowed at risk of forfeit of that teech to the victim's score.

Each Bard and chief went back to their clans, appointed cawdies and set about laying out their gowff course with teech to trip up and destroy their opposition. The cawdies then adapted the different clubs to better hit the mousey over different distances and gave each club a name, the biggest became a mashie then there were niblicks, spoons, wedgies and pitters which were used last of all to 'pit the mousey in the hole'.  Chiefs found they enjoyed the game and to help with their practice for future single combatgowfff matches began to invite other senior clan members to play. Soon the young Nac-Macfeagles want a go at gowff as well so shorter teechs were set up and around the hole was improved to make the pitting area truer and greener.

The game became so popular that many disputes between Nac-MacFeagles both within and outside a clan which had previously only been resolved by fighting were now resolved over the gowff. It was only a matter of time before gowff became so important to the Nac-MacFeagle they started to have Clan Oban Championships where any Nac-MacFeagle attested by a Bard and accompanied by a cawdie could play at another Clan's course in competition. This lead to what was called 'The Oban Championship' at which all the clan champions and Chiefs could show their mettle to be the Nac-MacFeagle champion of champions, was to be contested once a year and rotated around the Clans' courses and the winner was awarded the 'Clarty Mug'. The effect of 'The Oban Championship' was to once again reduce the big job countryside to famine, bankruptcy and destruction for twenty miles around as the Nac-MacFeagle gowff supporters descended like the cloud of locusts they were. To give time for the big jobs farms villages and towns to recover from staging 'The Oban Championship' the chiefs decided to only hold it every five years which gave the big jobs enough time to forget and their economies to recover before 'The Oban Championship' next rolled into town. 

One of Ank-Morpork's kings had lead an army to suppress the Nac-MacFeagle during 'The Oban Championship' near Sto Lat but become enamoured by the game instead and as part of the post conflict negotiations had the Nac-MacFeagle set up a gowff course in his hunting forest near Ank and teach him and his nobles to play the game. A small clan of Nac-Macfeagles set themselves up at the King's course in Ank to act as cawdies and still provide the same service to the R&E to the present day, kept in as many 'ships' and as much 'Granny's Ship Liniment or Jim Bearhuggers as they wish.

This was not a problem until the Cawdie Clan of Ank-Morpork discovered it was their turn to host 'The Oban Championship'.

All characters are the property of 'Discworld' and the estate of Terry Pratchett and are used here in tribute to one of the greatest English Language satirists since Johnathon Swift. The ideas are the author's own and were sent as a proposal to Mr Pratchett's agent for a future 'Discworld' book in 2010, prior to the announcement of Mr Pratchett's terrible and sadly fatal illness.

NHS UK, the final destruction begins ....

"NHS England management told to leave posts unfilled if possible to save on potential budget overspends."


In the meantime a global venture capital conglomerate, trading as Integrated Dental Holdings, sucks an estimated £408 million in NHS dental treatment (2013 -14) and supply contracts from around 400 NHS practices they own in England, provided by using Eastern European dentists at slave labour rates as 'assistants' (avoiding GDC and NHS contract registration), while seeking to sell on the European Business arm for over $3 billion. IDH also has supply contracts with NHS Scotland for dental provision but under very different contractual conditions.

This is the 'thought model of NHS provision' Hunt is seeking for the NHS in England across the board even though many of the complaints going through the General Dental Council for poor or inappropriate dental treatment comes from the use of poorly trained (by UK standards) Eastern European dentists at an ever increasing cost to UK trained dentists in professional protection and indemnity cover.

In 1990 a year's dental indemnity insurance as a principal cost me £100. Friends who still practice dentistry, as full time practice principals, are now paying upwards of £4,563 in 2015, depending on the levels of cosmetic dentistry or other dental specialism they undertake. In 1990 indemnity insurance cost for a year was around 10% of the principal practitioner's monthly gross income, in 2015 indemnity insurance is equivalent to 49% of the average principal practitioner's monthly gross income while figures from the dental defence unions show most payouts are made for clinical errors by dentists under the age of 35 and most of the dentists brought before the GDC, as a proportion of the UK dental register, on a region by region basis, are NHS (England) practitioners, something the current UK Government would prefer to keep very quite about.

Clearly the UK Government does not wish you to know you are ten times more likely to receive poor or inappropriate treatment within NHS England dental care than elsewhere in the UK. You will read in the Torygraph or the Gruniad of the very occasional 'bad, fraudulent, greedy, private dentist' censured or struck off by the GDC but little about the daily trail of NHS dentists (mainly non UK trained) who are now clogging up the GDC disciplinary process to the detriment of patients and dentists.

The GDC (a UK Government quango) was recently assessed by the National Audit Organisation as being unfit for purpose, had lost the faith of the profession it regulates, poorly lead and which lost a legal case brought against it by the UK Dental profession for its failure to consult or justify its massive annual registration fee hike for 2015. This GDC is is the body Mr Hunt appoints people to as Secretary of State for Health, trusts with the future of NHS dentistry, all dental training standards across the UK and in the regulation of a profession which now holds it in utter contempt. The previous Tory Health Secretary further reduced dental professional representation in the GDC to give greater public input while appointing 'friends of the Tories' to positions they have neither the skill nor knowledge to hold. The same aim of greater patient involvement in the GMC is currently being proposed by Mr Hunt - read more Tory placemen and women to do the UK Government's bidding.

A quick look at the attempts to fit Mr Hunts preferred NHS dental model model (IDH outsourcing) into English NHS GP practice, by the likes of Virgin Health, demonstrates it is not viable as there is little or no profit in a contracting system which has already been cut to the bone, using UK trained graduates, and the 'assistant' loop hole in the GDC rules is not available due to GMC requirements for GPs though could be manipulated to fill house officer and junior nursing positions and probably already is.

In the meantime new and recent UK graduates in medicine, nursing and dentistry are taking the hint and heading off to the Antipodes or North America where their skills and training are in great demand and where working conditions and quality of life on offer is far better. They feel no commitment to the NHS, saddled as most recent UK graduates are with over £40,000 worth of student debt, courtesy of recent Tory and Labour Governments.

Oh look! The NHS in England and the rest of the UK is suffering manpower shortages amongst key professionals .... that'll be everyone's fault but successive UK Government's failure to address the underfunding of NHS recruitment, retention and training policies or their 'crash dummy' NHS privatisation scam.

Still think NHS Scotland is safe as part of the 'Better Together'  UK health program?

Is 'Humanism' a religion?

In the USA the Federal Government has, for some bureaucratic reason, decided that 'Humanism' has to be defined as a 'religion'. 

Yet how can 'humanism' be a religion?

If it is a religion it is not 'humanism', as a religion requires an object of faith to function and a credo which members must follow to ensure the spiritual energy (gods, demons, etcetera) is placated for their own and others good.

The point of humanism, along with the original Buddhist philosophy which is at its core, is simple. We are responsible to and for ourselves for the impact our action or inaction has on others and the world around us. There is no 'spiritual guide' or check list that defines whether we are or are not 'humanists' as we seek to be 'aware' of our effect on those around us.

We can only forgive ourselves for hurts we deliberately or unintentionally cause others, there is no 'god' or other outside force we can dump off on to seek 'forgiveness'.

There is no 'right way' to live in terms of what a humanist must or must not eat, their sexual habits, where to live, whether bits of us are chopped off or not for being unclean in this or that Gods eyes, or special days when we must think only about being a humanist and fast or feast. The only concept which guides humanists is to be open to having empathy and compassion for all around and in their world.

This is why it is actually hard work living as a humanist but also why it can be so enlightening and enjoyable as all doors to human expression of emotion, love and action are open. No doors to the expression of 'who we are' are closed off because we are not 'pure enough' or the 'right type' which is why Governments across the world find humanists so bleeding scary as, as the first recorded humanist - Siddhatta Gottama - stated, we should, "..seek our liberation with diligence." We accept we get things wrong, even while trying to do our best out of compassion and empathy for others and understand there is no 'right way' to live life, people must be left to find their own 'right way' which can involve the need for religion and Gods to make sense of the way ahead.

Compare the humanist way of seeking to live life with the 'Anglican' David Cameron or the 'Catholic' Ian Duncan-Smith who justify their anti-social, anti-human and anti-world policies under the guise of 'Christian' compassion, directed by their deep seated 'Christian' beliefs while hiding behind the facade and pillars of the 'Christian' religion they profess to follow, just stopping short of the ancient and hypocritical Crusader cry of 'God wills it!' - the last refuge of the ultimate charlatan.
 

Many great religious figures of the past and present are both Christian and humanist, Hindu and humanist, Islamic and humanist, Zoroastrian or which ever other religion you wish to name and humanist. It is their own human compassion and empathy which is key to how they act and behave. If they wish to claim a Gods guiding hand is behind their actions, this is fine by me as it gives them comfort, a sense of safety and security knowing they have 'done right by their Gods'. Yet these are the same Gods other religious people use as an excuse to execute and maim 'non believers' in the name of the same religion and faith, 'Gods will it!'

The difference between any two sets of religious people, even the apparently polar opposites described in the previous paragraph, is not religion, faith or belief, both groups hold that in common, but their humanism.

In turn this is why I argue humanism is not and can not be a religion, it is outside of unthinking faith, untrammeled belief in Gods and their peculiar needs for 'sacrifice' while being inherent in each and everyone of us, if only we engage with it. When we do engage as humans with empathy and compassion, enemies become friends and strangers become family with not a 'Gods wills it!' nor religious person in sight.