Awake Not Woke

 A few months ago I wrote a piece on the Ipswich Conservative website and I have updated it below to incorporate my visit to the pop up community shop expansion into my ward Stoke Park at St Peters Church a couple of weeks ago. I had the pleasure of being invited to The Community Pop Up Shop founded by Graham Denny of the Basic Life Charity at All Hallows Church in Landseer Road, Ipswich. This is open every Tuesday at 11am. The idea behind it is to collect donations from several supermarkets for anyone who is happy to donate £2 for a bag which they then use to fill from the array of foods available. No means test, no referrals, just anyone who wishes to buy. I loved this idea. It was very evident from the moment I arrived at 10.30am when I saw a queue already forming, that this was also a community activity, bringing people together at the same time to chat while they waited to go in. I decided to talk to them to find out what it meant to them. The first woman I spoke to simply answere

  In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot   - Cseslaw Milosz It’s time we looked at everything candidly and honourably. This White ribbon is not just to appear as if we are doing something. It’s about making a difference. The campaign is not about vilifying men, nor must we ever let it be. Nor is it saying that women are weak, not able to speak up or stand up for themselves or that every man is aggressive in some way. My opinion is that a man is more likely to come to a woman’s aid and be a knight in shining armour than to do anything that would hurt or debase her. The white ribbon is about messaging and speaking out to protect women and girls when they need it and crucially when they want it. Hubby came home a couple of weeks ago and told me about a horrible incident he witnessed in the town. A man had his hands around a woman’s throat in full view of the public. When he intervened and asked the woman i