Australian radio personality dies aged 58
The well-known media personality was known for his time spent on the 2SER airwaves and as a DJ on Sydney's nightclub scene.
The radio star's cause of death has not been revealed, as of Saturday.
Pompor hosted the music program Jumping the Gap for 15 years, from 2007 to 2022.
More to come.
Australian broadcaster Paris Pompor has died aged 58
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The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Bleak Squad: Strange Love review – Australia's newest supergroup sound like they've been together for years
Occasionally the musical universe offers unexpected gifts that we might never have thought to ask for and had no right to expect. Strange Love, the debut album by new Melbourne supergroup Bleak Squad, is one such gift. The names who brought the band together speak for themselves: Adalita (Magic Dirt), Mick Harvey (the Bad Seeds, the Birthday Party), Mick Turner (Dirty Three) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting, SodaStream, Claire Bowditch), who brought the band together. Brown's intuition that such a combination would go well together has proven inspired. Such things can easily end up sounding better on paper than in practice. Instead, Bleak Squad sound pretty much exactly as you'd expect, given their name and collective histories: the hour is late, the lights are low, the writing is sharp, the arrangements are tight – but the playing is expansive and open-ended, with songs designed to be stretched out in live performance. This is a genuine collaboration, with significant written contributions from all four members. Vocals are shared mainly by Adalita and Harvey, with guitars by Adalita and Turner. Harvey, the best multi-instrumentalist, does a bit of everything, while Brown takes most of the drums, piano and more besides. In lesser hands, it could be a dog's breakfast, but the sound Bleak Squad have arrived at is coherent and fully formed. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Of course, Adalita, Howard and Turner are all established soloists, with distinctive voices. You can hear echoes of all four members' respective projects, and the ghost of Harvey's old bandmate Rowland S Howard seems to hover over all of it. But nothing feels forced or contrived. It's a real band: Strange Love sounds more like a fourth album than a first, by an act that's honed their craft for years. The reality of how the record was made is quite different. Bleak Squad's method was to play each other their songs once, teaching the basic parts, do a run-through, then record the second take, leaving room for soloing or improvisation. The nine songs flow like a river, usually unhurried, occasionally cascading over rapids. To an extent this lends an element of sameness (and it does, at least on the first listen), but it also feels like one long, satisfying trip. Adalita is at the top of her game here. Unabashed about playing with her heroes – Turner and Harvey coming from the musical generation before hers – her vocals and lyrics on Safe as Houses and Lost My Head are richly assured. The delicious surprise is what a great foil the ever-deadpan Harvey makes for her, whether in duet (Everything Must Change, World Go to Hell) or when he steps up for lead vocals (Ghost of the Bad Humour Man). The latter is one of this album's highlights, and provides welcome comic relief. It's actually not quite as bleak as it sounds: on face value, Harvey could be talking about depression, but he could also be poking fun at his rather stoic image. 'I told my jokes, those caustic puns, / not popular with everyone, / as dry as dust, / they obscure the sun,' he sing-speaks, like an Australian Lou Reed. (Reed's sense of humour went over plenty of heads, too.) Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Time will tell whether or not Bleak Squad is left to stand as a one-off project by a group who all have their own stuff going on, or something more lasting. What I'm more confident in predicting is that they should not be missed live: four Australian music greats with charisma to burn, uncanny chemistry, and a quality set of songs tailor-made for those long, dark nights of the soul. Strange Love is out now (Poison City Records)
The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
How the Bendigo writers' festival's code of conduct caused a walkout and claims of censorship
Last Wednesday, just two days before opening, Bendigo writers' festival sent its lineup of more than 90 participants an email that would end up derailing the three-day event. The email contained a code of conduct, including directions to 'avoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, or disrespectful'. Speakers on panels presented by festival sponsor La Trobe University were also required to comply with La Trobe's anti-racism plan, including the contentious definition of antisemitism adopted by Universities Australia in February. The response was swift. By Thursday evening, high-profile participants including the Palestinian Australian author and academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah and the Stella prize-winning First Nations poet Dr Evelyn Araluen had withdrawn from the festival, citing censorship concerns. And by Friday afternoon, about 30 participants had pulled out, including high-profile authors such as the La Trobe University academic Prof Clare Wright, Paul Daley, Jock Serong, Thomas Mayo and Jess Hill, forcing the cancellation of the opening night address. On Monday, BWF confirmed to Guardian Australia that 53 participants had withdrawn, resulting in 22 sessions – a third of the program – being cancelled, including the closing ceremony on Sunday night. The boycott and controversy are the latest in a string of high-profile tussles over freedom of expression involving pro-Palestine artists, including the sacking (and reinstatement) of Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi as Australia's representative to the Venice Biennale, and the stripping of a government-funded writing fellowship from the First Nations author K A Ren Wyld. Writers' festivals have become fraught events, but never before has a backlash been so swift or produced such debilitating results as in Bendigo. On Monday, the festival said it was still tallying the cost of refunding tickets – but the reputational damage had already been deeply felt. Its founding director, Rosemary Sorensen, accused the festival of exercising an 'authoritarian abuse of power'; Noongar author Claire G Coleman called the code of conduct 'condescending and insulting'; and Abdel-Fattah, sharing her withdrawal letter on Instagram, wrote: 'At a time when journalists are being permanently silenced by Israel's genocidal forces, it is incomprehensible that a writers' festival should also seek to silence Palestinian voices.' Samuel Cairnduff, a lecturer in culture and communication at the University of Melbourne, described the mass withdrawal as 'a vote of no confidence in institutional leadership that has forgotten why it exists'. Abdel-Fattah had been scheduled to appear on a La Trobe-sponsored panel titled On Reckonings, speaking about her new novel Discipline, which reflects on the silencing of Palestinians in academia and the media. 'How ironic that they would invite me, knowing what my book is about, on a panel called 'reckonings', where I'm going to be discussing a book on silencing Palestinians – and then attempt to silence me,' she told Guardian Australia. Abdel-Fattah said her withdrawal was more than a matter of principle. After receiving the code of conduct, she believed participating in the BWF 'would have resulted … in some kind of media coverage demonising me'. She believes this is part of a larger move to silence Palestinian voices. '[For] most institutions and organisations, it becomes a cost-benefit risk analysis: I become a Palestinian who is dealt with in terms of risk. I'm a risk management crisis.' A festival spokesperson said: 'The City [of Greater Bendigo which runs the festival] and La Trobe University, as the Festival's Presenting Partner, agreed to issue a one-page Code of Conduct to emphasise the importance of safety and wellbeing for all participants.' The code of conduct 'was never intended to silence anyone, but rather to allow discussions to happen while ensuring the safe participation and inclusion of everyone,' the spokesperson said. BWF did not respond directly to Guardian Australia's questions about whether the code of conduct was issued at the request of La Trobe, instead directing questions to the university. Nor did BWF respond to a question about why the code was sent just two days before the festival opened. A spokesperson for the university said: 'La Trobe will always take seriously any concerns raised about community safety and inclusion – including cultural safety – and we welcome feedback on our public events and engagement.' On Monday, it was revealed that the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, or 5A, group wrote to La Trobe and BWF in July, urging them to 'implement immediate measures' concerning the inclusion of Abdel-Fattah; and characterising her as a person who 'perpetually dehumanises people who hold Zionist views'. It's not clear whether the letter played any part in the decision to issue the code of conduct, and La Trobe and BWF refused to comment on the matter. The timing of the email announcing the code has been criticised as well as its content. 'When you consider how long ago I was invited to the festival, [this] was an unacceptably short time to consider such a change,' Coleman said in her letter to the festival, shared on Instagram. Cairnduff wrote that the festival's last-minute approach is part of a broader trend of late-stage risk mitigation – 'a governance approach that frequently generates greater controversy than it prevents because it fundamentally alters the terms of engagement after commitments have been made'. Louise Adler, the director of Adelaide Writers' Week, which has faced criticism and withdrawal of sponsorship over its programming of Palestinian and pro-Palestine authors, says the BWF 'debacle' is 'symptomatic of the current environment' in the arts. Other high profile controversies included actors wearing keffiyehs at a Sydney Theatre Company curtain call; pianist Jayson Gillham suing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for cancelling one of his concerts, after he made a statement criticising Israel's targeting of journalists in Gaza; and the National Gallery of Australia covering up two Palestinian flags in a textile work by the Aotearoa New Zealand collective SaVĀge K'lub. 'We have witnessed a succession of pre-emptive buckles by arts managers second-guessing risk-averse boards who collectively (with management) are concerned about the reputational damage, the withdrawal of desperately needed sponsorship, and the relentless media campaigns that lobby groups can and do orchestrate with the help of News Ltd,' Adler says. 'The arts community needs boards that have courage and [who] understand their role, the importance of curatorial independence and that the artists who choose to work with these organisations are entitled to full-throated and unwavering support.' Adler says the Adelaide writers' festival's code of conduct is limited to 'compliance with Australian laws regarding racial discrimination, vilification, hate speech and incitement to violence'. 'During my tenure there has not been a single incident requiring intervention,' she says. Denis Muller, a senior research fellow with the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism, describes the festival's code of conduct as 'extremely vague and oppressive', one that 'no self-respecting journalist or writer is going to adhere to'. 'The body politic in Australia is in the process of recalibrating the whole idea of where moral authority rests in the Middle East. This is a period of transition, and it's extremely tense,' he says. In a previous piece for the Conversation, Muller wrote about the 'fraught position' writers' festivals are now in: 'They navigate the frontier between social media's echo chambers of outrage and the traditional public square's conventions, where restraint, reason and tolerance in the face of opposing views are the basis for civilised debate.' Cairnduff says there are lessons for institutions in how they communicate with and consult artists – but argues a more fundamental reckoning needs to occur. 'Arts organisations should be questioning what kinds of restrictions that they – as platforms for creative people – should be imposing,' he says. 'The idea of arts and cultural expression is about freedom of expression and engaging in some of those more challenging and difficult areas of a broader social discourse … restricting speech and freedom of expression – that's exactly the antithesis of what a cultural organisation in contemporary Australian society should be doing.' On the opening night of Adelaide writers' week in 2023, as the festival faced criticism over the inclusion of a Palestinian speaker and a Palestinian-American speaker, the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, admitted he had been under immense pressure to axe its funding – had even considered it – but decided it would set a dangerous precedent if a government determined who was allowed to speak. 'If I was to unilaterally defund writers' week … what path does that take us down?' he said. 'It's a path to a future where politicians decide what is culturally appropriate … a path, in fact, that leads us into the territory of Putin's Russia.' Adler told the Guardian at the time: 'These matters are complex. None of this is simple. 'People are free to deeply object. They don't have to come. Or come, and you don't need to agree with what people think. But people listened. These steadfast Adelaide audiences came out in their thousands and listened with courtesy and respect for the conversation. It should be something that lifts the spirits of all of us.'
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Why Harvey is the forgotten victim of his mother's feud with Peter Andre: While all eyes have been on Princess, Katie Price's disabled son, 23, is the one who's really suffered
While all eyes have been on Princess Andre and her relationship with her parents, thanks to her new ITV show, there is one member of the clan whose suffering due to Katie and Peter's feud can't be overlooked. When Katie and Peter met in the Australian jungle in 2004, he not only went on to become her husband, but also quickly took on the role of stepfather to her disabled son, Harvey, who was two-years-old when the couple fell in love. Having a father figure for her son was particularly poignant for Katie after her ex-boyfriend Dwight Yorke initially denied Harvey was his, and then had little to nothing to do with him. But while Peter declared that Katie's son had 'taught him to be a father' and Harvey called him 'Dad', when the couple's marriage broke down, this father-son relationship did not endure. Currently he is living in residential care in Southampton, miles away from Katie, after he had to leave another college that couldn't cater for his needs earlier this summer. It's believed that he no longer has a relationship with Peter. Harvey is blind, autistic, has septo-optic dysplasia, a learning disability and is one of the 2,000 people in the UK with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder. Katie has raised awareness of her son's disabilities through her 2021 documentary Harvey And Me and multiple parliamentary inquiries about the online and racial abuse he has endured over the years. The mother-of-five even called for a new UK law - dubbed Harvey's Law - to be created to make online trolling a specific criminal offence, which received the backing of many MPs. He gripped the nation and went viral online after the then 13-year-old shocked viewers when he used the C-word during an interview live on This Morning in 2016, and ever since, Harvey's sweet humour and wit has garnered his own following with adored fans across social media. However, all eyes have been on his younger sister Princess, 18, in recent weeks, amid speculation of a feud between the teenager and her mother. But while Princess insists that she's 'best friends' with Katie as well as remaining close to her father Peter, it's Harvey who has lost out on having a father figure in his life. Estranged dad Dwight Yorke Katie and former Premier League footballer Dwight briefly had a romance in 2001 and broke up soon after Katie fell pregnant with Harvey. When Katie first fell pregnant with Harvey, Dwight denied he was the father until a DNA test proved his paternity. In September 2023, Katie lashed out at Yorke in a podcast for the way he behaved when she welcomed their son Harvey into the world. Discussing the moment she gave birth to Harvey in 2002, she said: 'Dwight turned up at the last minute but he didn't want to come in the room or cut the cord so dad did it, he cut the cord.' Katie continued: 'And anyway I remember Dwight saying "oh there's a bruise" and I thought 'don't insult me.' 'That was the last time I sort of saw Dwight, I didn't see him many times after that.' Amazingly, Katie's mother Amy revealed 'womaniser' Dwight is her favourite of her daughter's former partners. She made the surprising admission in her autobiography, The Last Word, while recounting Katie's ill-fated relationship with the footballer. An extract from her book read: 'When Kate told me she was dating Manchester United footballer Dwight Yorke, my heart sank. He had a reputation as a womaniser. 'But of all the men Kate has dated in her life, Dwight will – perhaps surprisingly – always be my favourite because he gifted us this incredible child.' Last year, Katie revealed the Man United legend has only seen his son Harvey nine times in his life. Describing the moment she found out her son was blind, she said: 'I remember sitting there with my mum and he [the professor] was getting all his stuff out looking in [Harvey's] eyes and suddenly he just went as blatant as this - "yeah, he's blind." 'We just sat there, like right. And that was it. We just left the room. There was no, oh we could give you advice or there's these people you want to talk to. 'We walked out like is that it, he's blind. Now what? We've been left in limbo... on the way home my mum was really upset and I just couldn't believe he was really blind.' Asked how many times Dwight has seen Harvey, Katie responded: 'I think he's seen Harvey about nine times in his life.' She added that 'I don't think he liked it that I was with Pete [Andre] and claimed: 'I don't know whether it's because he couldn't have me or Harv, to this day I don't know. 'I've tried to send him pictures of Harvey on Instagram, Harvey playing the piano, he just ignores everything. He doesn't want to know. But the door is always open, always.' Asked why, she explained: 'I don't know, because I'm like that. Really I should say f*** off you a******* you don't deserve him you've not been part of it because I don't know I just think if he saw Harvey and how amazing he is, for him to be like "f***** hell I haven't seen my biological son". 'Any man can make a baby, but it takes a real man to be a dad in my eyes, but it's still his biological son and, I suppose, to prove him wrong because when he found out he was blind and all of this he was like he'll never play golf, "he'll never play football because of you." And I was like, it's not my fault.' A representative for Dwight Yorke declined to comment at the time. Peter Andre and Harvey's relationship When Peter and Katie married in 2005, he vowed to be a father figure to Harvey after Dwight chose to walk out of his life. Peter was even looking at 'adopting' Harvey, according to Katie's mother Amy which she writes in her memoir. He told Daily Mail in 2009: 'I have been a real father of Harvey and he calls me Daddy. I guess that sticks in Dwight's throat.' As years past following the couple's bitter split, Peter often posted messages for his birthday on social media. 'Happy birthday to a very special boy. Hope you like your prezzies', he wrote on X for his 15th birthday. For a while after their split, Pete's close-knit father-son bond with Harvey continued. He wrote in his New! magazine column in 2017: 'There have been a few times recently where he's been to my house and I've been to his. Harvey will always be special to me and I just want him to be happy. He's a great kid! 'He's such a good-hearted boy, I see him a bit more now, which is amazing. He's just the best, I love him. There's always room for Harvey at our house. 'I always saw him as my own. There's a special place in my heart for him - he's very important to me and he's always welcome.' But one day these messages stopped and Peter brutally cut ties with Harvey, despite once seeing him as a son. In a rant years later, Katie hit out at all the men who left Harvey's life throughout the years in an emotional post. She wrote on X at the time: 'When you divorce, you have to share the kids. But with Harvey, there's no one. Well, look, Dwight don't want to know. Someone else doesn't see him anymore. He's just got me, you know?' In her 2017 book, Katie Price: Harvey and Me, the former glamour star heartbreakingly delved into Pete and Harvey's relationship. She wrote: 'The split from Pete really upset Harvey. It must have been frustrating for him at the time because he couldn't express how he felt. But now he can and he remembers a lot more than you'd think. It's really sad.' She continued: 'I began to notice a change in Harvey, I'd say things like, "Do you want to go see Daddy Peter today?" and he'd shout, "No!" So then I'd be like, "But he has a cake waiting for you". But he wasn't interested and he'd start kicking off, it's probably because the visits were starting to fizzle out and Harvey could sense that.' Katie's mother Amy also hit out at Peter in her memoir, The Last Word: The true and honest story of Katie Price. She told how although Peter may have had good intentions at heart, 'it was clear Pete didn't know how to cope with Harvey and his behaviour'. Harvey's Law Katie has forever championed and raised awareness for Harvey's disabilities with petitions, parliamentary committees and documentary's. His documentary, Katie Price: Harvey and Me, followed Harvey and his mum during a crucial year in his life when he turned 18. The BBC film documented the highs and lows of Harvey transitioning into adulthood and Katie's journey into researching for a specialist college that caters to Harvey's complex needs. Viewers tuning into the documentary were left extremely moved with one declaring they were 'crying my eyes out, while others praised Katie for being such a great mum to Harvey. The documentary saw Katie's difficult task in finding a residential college for Harvey which wasn't too far from home and in which her son felt comfortable in. It also detailed her anguish at learning to let her son go as she worried whether he could cope without her. At the forefront of everything was the emotional bond between Katie and Harvey, with the former glamour model clearly devoted to her son, while Harvey's adoration of his mother was hard to miss. Katie also appeared in front of MPs on multiple occasions to raise awareness for online abuse targeted towards her disabled son. She wanted a new UK law - dubbed 'Harvey's Law' - to be created to make online trolling a specific criminal offence. Katie had told MPs at the time: 'I know I'm here because it started off because Harvey and his disabilities but this isn't just for people with disabilities. 'It will help everybody. Like me or hate me, I'm here to protect others.' Price's petition in 2017 to criminalise trolling received over 220,000 signatures, and led to a parliamentary inquiry into online abuse. In February 2018, Katie said of Harvey: 'He is mocked for his colour, his size, I just think they think he is an easy target to pick on. But I'm his voice. I'm here and I'm going to protect him.' Where is Harvey now? Harvey now resides in Southampton in independent living after previously being forced to leave a £350,000-a-year residential college for being 'too difficult'. In February this year, Katie spoke about Harvey's new living arrangements and insisted it is only a 'temporary' move. Speaking on The Katie Price Show, she said: 'Harvey is doing the countdown for his new place. 'He's got his leavers ceremony where they give out certificates and then it's the 'real world' Mr Harvey Price. 'I've found him a place in Southampton which is temporary. It's got five other adults in it. 'Then he moves to his place in October, which is Littlehampton, which will be nearer to me. He's going from college to independent living.' Katie previously opened up about Harvey's disabilities affecting his college arrangements. She said: 'Harvey is supposed to be moving in four-and-a-half weeks, they've changed management and said they won't be able to cater for Harv, because he's too difficult. 'So now I've got to find another placement for him... so yeah, more drama to deal with. We worked months and months for that and he was told four-and-a-half weeks before that he couldn't go there, and Harvey has been doing the countdown. 'Well it's stressful because you want the right thing for your child and it is a lot of time and effort to go back and do more meetings, more forms, it is very time-consuming because you want the best for your child.' Peter and Katie feud Harvey has decreasingly appeared on Katie's social media ever since she and Peter Andre reignited their feud. Peter shared a bombshell statement last week accusing her of peddling 'baseless' lies over the last 16 years. The rift appears to stem from Katie's banishment from her daughter Princess' 18th birthday party and on the nepo baby's ITV television series, The Princess Diaries. Katie claims her daughter's management - who also manage Peter, 52 - are those who have told her not to appear on the show. Katie famously fell madly in love with Peter on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and got married in September 2005 at Highclere Castle. They went on to have two children; son Junior and Princess before they famously split in 2009. Peter went on to marry doctor Emily MacDonagh, 36, in 2015 and they share three children together - Amelia, Theo and Arabella. Katie and Peter's daughter Princess previously opened up about the impact of her parents' tumultuous divorce in her new ITV2 reality series, sharing she felt she couldn't 'go to her dad' after he split from Katie due to their dislike of one another. Peter shared his side of the story, explaining: 'For sixteen years, I have stayed silent in the face of repeated lies from my ex-wife and her family, out of respect for my children and loved ones, but staying silent has been incredibly frustrating. That ends today. 'The latest comments about my children's welfare and living arrangements compel me to set the record straight. For well-documented reasons, and for their safety, Junior and Princess came into my care in 2018 and remained with me until they reached adulthood. 'In 2019, the family courts issued a legally binding order to enforce this arrangement. I have never made this public before, out of respect for my children.' He continued: 'In 2011 and 2015, publicly documented court cases found my ex-wife had made false claims. She was ordered to pay substantial damages and legal costs, and to apologise to me and my management. The same falsehoods are being repeated today. 'Unfortunately, there are many more lies and baseless accusations I have yet to address. Those will now be dealt with in the coming months.' A spokesperson for Katie told Daily Mail: 'Kate is in a much better and clear headspace and is at peace with the situation. 'This was in the past and she doesn't feel the need to bring up tit for tat comments, but more importantly she's dealing with this the right way and it's now in her lawyers hands. Kate will no longer be gaslighted and bullied as she once was.' That same night, tensions escalated as Peter's manager shared an ominous post about feeling 'dangerously angry'. Claire Powell, the founder of The Can Group management agency, previously managed both Katie and Peter, arranging for the couple to make a big money reality show and helping to make them millions. When the couple split, Claire parted ways with Katie but continued to work alongside Peter - now also managing their children Princess and Junior as well as his new wife Emily. Three hours after Peter's bombshell statement was released, Claire took to Instagram to share a post of her own that read: 'The most dangerous anger comes from someone with a good heart. 'They hold it in, stay calm, and forgive, until one day, they can't anymore. Don't push a good person too far.' The Instagram post was accompanied by Ruelle's song Secrets and Lies. Claire and Katie have been locked in a feud for years - with Katie recently bringing it to light again when she claimed that Can management had banned her from appearing on Princess' new reality series. Katie previously filed legal documents against Peter, Claire and their former representatives. She claimed at the time they were responsible for a smear campaign against her. The glamour model also blamed Claire for the breakdown of her marriage in 2009, claiming Peter was 'married to two women' and had an affair with Claire during their relationship. She had to publicly apologise to both Peter and Claire after she was taken to court and lost the case. Following Peter's statement, Katie hit back and pleaded 'I'm trying to be the best I can' while noting she hasn't 'always been the best mother'. She wrote: 'Saints and sinners. As we know, in this life we are thought of as Saints and Sinners. I know I will always be a Sinner. That's fair, I allowed myself to fail into reliance on drugs and alcohol. 'At times I was not the mother I should have been while I struggled with mental illness. I have been at times a poor friend, an awful sibling, an an untrustworthy partner. I've self medicated, been unfaithful, damaged myself and those that I love. 'I've had many reasons - I was sexually abused when younger; I've had relationships that have been coercive; and my mental health issues - but I don't want to make excuses.' Following Peter's statement, Katie hit back and pleaded 'I'm trying to be the best I can' while noting she hasn't 'always been the best mother' Katie continued: 'I've recognised my issues and worked to put them behind me. Sometimes I tried and failed, sometimes I succeeded. 'I've pulled myself out of suicidal spirals because I love my children and want to be there for them. 'I don't pretend to be perfect by any means - but I'm trying to be the best I can. Then there are the "Saints". Some are genuine and some have helped me. 'But some Saints are not who they would have you believe they are. They have a carefully managed image which must be exhausting to maintain. 'Some Saints are fake. They play the victim and to succeed in life they need a villain... or at least a Sinner. Without the Sinner they don't get to be the Saint... 'As a Sinner - I sometimes get bored of these Saints. But maybe I should feel sorry for them, it must be such hard work having to pretend all the time. 'Anyway, all you Sinners keep your heads up and keep trying to be better. All you Saints, it's ok not to be perfect xxx'
