Regular Another Angry Voice readers will have noticed that I've been quiet for the last few weeks.
I decided to have a break from writing about politics for a number of reasons. Some of them I can go into in detail, others I can't.
- The four months before my break were by far the most productive period ever since I started AAV. In June, July, August and September I wrote 154 articles, which is the equivalent of more than one article per day, every day, including weekends (I didn't take a weekend off all summer). I was beginning to get burnout so I thought the quality of my work would improve after a bit of a break.
- The political situation in the UK is profoundly dispiriting. The re-election of Jeremy Corbyn was followed up by a load of bile and backroom maneuvering from the Anyone But Corbyn wreckers, and even public appeals from the likes of Peter Mandelson for a snap General Election so that the right-wing of the Labour Party could celebrate a Tory election victory as the excuse they need to try to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn again.
- The Brexit shambles is even worse than the Labour Party shambles. If it wasn't clear enough before the EU referendum that the Tories had no actual plan for Brexit, the lamentably shambolic performances of Theresa May and her three Brexiteers are absolute ongoing proof that these people don't have a clue what they're doing.
- It's not good for the spirit to keep on writing about such appalling situations when there's so little to be done to change them. The Blairites are obviously going to continue obstructing Corbyn's leadership at every turn, and in the process they're going to continue allowing Theresa May and the three Brexiteers to get away with making a complete pig's ear of Brexit by ensuring the main opposition party is utterly divided.
- For the last few weeks I was having some difficult personal circumstances. I can't go into any detail on this because it's important that I respect the privacy of other people in my personal life. The warning signs were there that I was drifting into depression and I knew that writing about the profoundly dispiriting UK political scene was not likely to help to improve my mood. I took the decision to stop writing about politics for a while and focus on doing the things that would actually help me avoid sliding into a major depressive episode. After a lot of walking, reading, playing snooker, listening to music and time spent with friends and family I feel loads better and I'm raring to go again.
- I didn't stop writing entirely, I just took a break from posting to AAV. I've written a number of other things, several of which are likely to be published at some point in the future. Some of them on here.
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