This has been quite a difficult decision for me to make — but sadly this is the end for The Broadsheet Rag.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been unable to keep up with posting content on this blog. And I feel it’s unlikely I’m going to be able to post much else in the future.

The reason for this has been my decision to take up two senior roles in the Libertarian Party. I am now helping the party run their websites and organise the South East branch.

Therefore most of my free time is now used fulfilling these roles. And I feel beholden somewhat to concentrate my free time on them.

Some of you may feel that I have sold out somewhat. As I set up this blog as an anti-political website.

But over the last couple of years it has been my growing belief that the most important political battle we have to fight is the one for personal liberty. And I think the Libertarian Party is one of the best vehicles by which we can achieve this.

I know many of you will disagree with my economic outlook but I hope you respect my decision. And support my aim to make the United Kingdom a more liberal, less authoritarian place.

Before I go I would like to say some thank yous. Firstly to everyone who has regularly read this blog. You’ve made me realise I’m not completely insane.

I would also like to say a special thank you to Mr Higham for being a particularly good supporter of this blog. And posting plenty of comments — even though I do write a lot of rubbish at times.

Cherry also deserves a mention for being a regular reader and commenter. And I think she proves herself a very open minded person as our views do diverge on some key points.

While this is the end for The Broadsheet Rag it is not the end for me as a blogger. I have taken the decision to become a little more open about who I am. As we’re not going to change anything unless some of us openly stand up for our views.

So I will now be blogging for the LPUK Blog and LPUK South East Blog as RobW. In addition I have started Tweeting under my full name.

If you wish to keep up with me please visit those sites. I will also continue to read all the blogs on my links page. So watch out for me — I’ll be RobW not tbrrob.

And finally if you need any help building or designing websites you can contact me via my design site ReDWesign.

All the best and I’m sure I’ll see you around.

Remember — don’t cry too much. But most importantly — keep on blogging.

Love RobW ;-)

The other day I had a rather strange thought. It crossed my mind that if I gave up work I’d probably be better off on benefits.

This may seem odd for a person who earns a decent enough wage — but it’s true. My girlfriend has been out of work for nearly 6 months now. And no amount of ‘get on your bike’ is changing things. So the income I’m now left with after I’ve paid for everything probably amounts to £50 a week. Which is about enough to feed the pair of us. Or about as much as I would get if I were on benefits.

Now, the question I have to answer is, what is the point in working? The answer is simple, because I believe by working in the end I can improve my situation.

But is this view not a little naive? I have one very real worry. Is this a dream I can hang on to? Is there going to be any tomorrow worth working for?

Because while things are bad now we’re no way near bottom. We’ve got an ever increasing government debt. There is talk of the gold market blowing up. And the only solutions put forward are more state and more spending.

I watched a program on the Exxon Valdez oil disaster the other day. And what was most interesting was what one of the fishermen said. He asked, why didn’t the Military just blow it up before too much of the oil had spread? And it was probably because no-one was willing to admit that the situation was that bad. They believed there was some sort of reasonable solution. Yet 20 years later they’re still finding oil on the beaches and the fish stocks haven’t recovered.

And that’s what I feel the situation is like now. The oil keeps coming but no-one is willing to say we’ve got a really serious problem.

The government and many protesters are still saying we need to continue to spend money. They may disagree on how it should be spent but none of them are saying let’s just stop. And it’s possibly because they think there is a reasonable way out of this situation.

But there isn’t. And that’s the truth. Whatever happens someone is going to suffer. In fact, a lot of people will suffer. But the current course of action is going to destroy everything. Essentially it’s going to destroy all hope of a better tomorrow.

We’ve spent all the money in the piggy bank. And now we’re going to spend all the money in a bunch of imaginary, future piggy banks. We’re greedily destroying the future in the hope of holding on to today.

Maybe it’s because the solution is too drastic to contemplate. We will have to turn our thinking on its head.

We will have to accept that the state can’t solve all our problems. That there will always be rich and poor people. That we can’t make everyone nice and happy. That one-world internationalism won’t work. That we can’t afford to spread democracy across the globe. That ultimately the utopia we’ve been aiming for really is a “no place”. It’s a fantasy and we have to start being realistic.

So we come back to the individual situation. As an individual we have to consider whether society can fix itself. Maybe to think it can is pure insanity.

It seems that over time society builds up momentum and develops inertia. And it is only an immovable object like large scale war or social unrest that can stop it.

If this is the case one must consider what’s the damn point? Maybe I should buy that bottle of White Lightning and go on bloody benefits. At least SPAR will survive.

I have something rather sad to admit. This weekend I spent most of it playing a computer game. Please feel free to look down your noses at me.

I have had this problem ever since I was a little boy. From the first time I played Sonic the Hedgehog there’s been a whole list of games I’ve been addicted to.

Including Zelda, Civilisation, Sensible World of Soccer, Half-Life and, who can forget, Golden Eye.

And this weekend came another game that could be added to that list. GTA Chinatown Wars on the DS. I’ve been so excited about this game I’ve been reading about it every day and visiting shops regularly for the last month just to find out a little more about it.

Thank God it didn’t disappoint. It is the best game I’ve played in ages. It looks brilliant — even on the DS. The game play is excellent. The AI of the gangsters you fight is really cool. When they’ve stopped shooting at you they go and hide rather than just stand there like Lemmings.

Everything about the game is brilliant. It’s even better than Zelda Phantom Hour Glass and I didn’t think that would be possible.

If you love computer games like me, don’t mind a bit of violence (or enjoy it) and have a DS go buy this game.

Cos it’s probably more fun than kicking Gordon Brown in the balls.

And so ends the confessional, but before I go here’s a little video preview of the game to wet your appetite…

Saw this today on the Tube — made me laugh a lot. Had to be quick to get the picture though — make sure no one stopped me.