Mark Frankland

MARK FRANKLAND

I wear two hats when I write this blog of mine. First and foremost, I manage a small charity in a small Scottish town called Dumfries. Ours is a front door that opens onto the darker corners of the crumbling world that is Britain 2015. We hand out…

MARK FRANKLAND

I wear two hats when I write this blog of mine. First and foremost, I manage a small charity in a small Scottish town called Dumfries. Ours is a front door that opens onto the darker corners of the crumbling world that is Britain 2015. We hand out…

A WINTER'S TALE - THE EVOLUTION OF THE FIRST BASE EMERGENCY FOOD PARCEL FOR 2022/23.

For the last couple of weeks I have had Sean Bean's voice stuck in my head. The full fat Sheffield version. Two words. 'Winter's coming.' Oh yes. Is winter ever coming. A couple of sayings have been in my mind keeping Sean company. First up, an old…

MARK FRANKLAND

I've had this blog sitting for weeks now. It seemed right wait for the actual situation we all find ourselves in to to fully emerge. Well it has emerged. At first we were braced for a truly challenging winter. Then things moved beyond 'challenging'…

MARK FRANKLAND

I wear two hats when I write this blog of mine. First and foremost, I manage a small charity in a small Scottish town called Dumfries. Ours is a front door that opens onto the darker corners of the crumbling world that is Britain 2015. We hand out…

MARK FRANKLAND

It's March and it is already crystal clear. History will recall 2022 as a year of catastrophe. We don't yet know just how great the catastrophe might be. God forbid, it might still end in mushroom clouds. Let's all pray otherwise. Right now, all eyes…

IN THESE DIRE TIMES, DO YOU EVER LOOK BACK TO THE 2014 INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM AND THINK 'IF ONLY?....' I DO!

I did an interview for 'Scotland Tonight' yesterday evening. It was actually rather a bizarre experience - High tech and low tech all rolled into one. The high tech part involved a mind boggling link which enabled my ugly mug to appear on a large…

SAVE BIG DOG? OH PLEASE, PLEASE DO!

A few months ago I found myself in what I guess might be called a double pinch myself moment. You know the kind of moment, right? As in this is all so utterly extraordinary I really must be dreaming. Some context. Liverpool were in the midst of their…

MARK FRANKLAND

On the day the Colston Four were found not guilty by a jury of their peers, I was delivering a week's worth of food to a guy in Gretna. It has become part of my routine. A couple months ago I returned a call to his support worker to pick up the…

MARK FRANKLAND

On the day the Colston Four were found not guilty by a jury of their peers, I was delivering a week's worth of food to a guy in Gretna. It has become part of my routine. A couple months ago I returned a call to his support worker to pick up the…

FIRST BASE HAS RECEIVED A CHRISTMAS CARD FROM THE VICEROY! BUT WILL ALISTER BE THE LAST VICEROY?

Once upon a time First Base used to get lots and lots of Christmas cards. My, how dim and distant this particular past suddenly looks. The salad days of New Labour when there was a quango for everything from the Methadone programme to anti social…

MARK FRANKLAND

I can't say there will be much structure to this blog. You are not about to be taken on a careful, well structured journey from A to B to C. Instead it's going to be a bunch of random observations of a pandemic drenched world where the lunatics are…

THE JOY OF PEOPLE POWER IN THE MIDST OF A SEA OF TROUBLES

I can't say there will be much structure to this blog. You are not about to be taken on a careful, well structured journey from A to B to C. Instead it's going to be a bunch of random observations of a pandemic drenched world where the lunatics are…

MARK FRANKLAND

It's 7.45. Not even close to getting light. Rain streaming down the window. Wind shaking the pane. And an old line from a Simon and Garfunkel song. “A winter's day in a deep and dark December.” Deep and dark. Sounds about right. For some months now,…

THE VIEW FROM OUR FOOD BANK IN A DEEP AND DARK DECEMBER

It's 7.45. Not even close to getting light. Rain streaming down the window. Wind shaking the pane. And an old line from a Simon and Garfunkel song. “A winter's day in a deep and dark December.” Deep and dark. Sounds about right. For some months now,…

OCTOBER 6 2021 WILL GO DOWN AS A DAY OF SHAME. THE DAY THE TORY PARTY QUAFFED CHAMPAGNE IN MANCHESTER WHILST KICKING THE POOR IN THE TEETH.

Over the last few months I have been asked time and again about the impending £1000 per annum cut to Universal Credit. And my thoughts on the subject have been totally consistant. They ain't going to do it. Not a chance. Not in a million years. Even…

MARK FRANKLAND

Last year a vast crisis was headed our way and the Government in London chose to more or less completely ignore it. Night after night we tuned into scenes of horror being played out in the hospitals of northern Italy. Horrified. Fascinated. Aghast.…

COME ON NICOLA, IT'S TIME TO GET YOURSELF ONTO THE FRONT FOOT.

Last year a vast crisis was headed our way and the Government in London chose to more or less completely ignore it. Night after night we tuned into scenes of horror being played out in the hospitals of northern Italy. Horrified. Fascinated.…

MARK FRANKLAND

THERE'S A GREAT BIG ELEPHANT IN THE INDYREF 2 ROOM. WHY OH WHY ARE WE SO INCAPABLE OF POINTING IT OUT? Even though I have never shared a room with an elephant, I don't find it so very hard to imagine how it would feel. Yeah. Bloody terrifying. There…

MARK FRANKLAND

THERE'S A GREAT BIG ELEPHANT IN THE INDYREF 2 ROOM. WHY OH WHY ARE WE SO INCAPABLE OF POINTING IT OUT? Even though I have never shared a room with an elephant, I don't find it so very hard to imagine how it would feel. Yeah. Bloody terrifying. There…