When Bruce Willis – one of the world’s best-loved actors – decided to reveal he is suffering from aphasia, it was a condition I’d rarely heard of …

It was there of course, a trace somewhere, in the homeopathy of my mind. But I don’t think I’d met anybody who suffered from it.

Aphasia though was just another disease hanging around out there – or in this case, yourself – that you blanked.

If you refuse to recognise it then it doesn’t exist… men like me invariably feel this attitude is our best health-care route.

But aphasia, despite it operating in the shadows of our mental worries, does exist.

And it destroys lives, families, relationships and homes.

So, when Bruce, aged 67, and his family decided to tell the world about his problems and how they will cope with them in the future, it was a brave move.

And it caused another much-loved actor to step up and be counted. Chris Ellison played hard-nosed copper DCI Frank Burnside in The Bill. And, for now at least, he has been ‘silenced’ by aphasia.

Only a few family and friends knew.

Chris’s wife Anita, aged 69, is quoted as saying: “We’ve been so lonely. Chris is trapped in his body. He can understand everything going on around him but can’t speak, read or write. Sometimes I feel as if I have lost my charismatic, very funny and caring husband.

“It’s frustrating for us both but when he looks into my eyes I see he’s still in there. I have cried buckets, it’s a kind of mourning. But he’s still here with us, still very caring and loving.”

Chris was diagnosed with aphasia after a severe stroke in the summer of 2020.

Aphasia is when parts of the brain to do with language are damaged and it can happen after a stroke or head injury.

In Chris’s case he was found him on the bedroom floor at their Brighton home and had to be lifted him through a skylight and airlifted to hospital.

Chris is now relearning the alphabet.

Anita said “When you’ve been a celebrity, people recognise you. He hated it, he couldn’t even say hello. He ended up not going out, he didn’t want to see friends. We have seen a few but it’s frustrating for him. It’s been very lonely for both of us.”

Neuroscientist and author Dr Julia Jones says aphasia affects more than 350,000 people in the UK and there is no definitive cure but therapies can help.

So, if anybody wants to share their thoughts on this awful condition, please drop us a line at The Society – see contact us on the front page – and we will tell our 300,000 readers about aphasia as often as we can.

If you have any positive reports about treatments or you have found ways of dealing with the problem let us know – we’ll let others know too.

Read Will Smith’s letter of resignation to the Oscars academy … should he have resigned? Or was he simply protecting his wife’s dignity and sensitivity?

Let us know what you think!

LEIGH G BANKS WRITES: I will ‘slap you down’ A. if you assault or attack my children B. I will remonstrate with you to the point of a ‘slap’ if you refuse to apologise properly for insulting my wife C. I am likely to try to bring you down a peg or two if you call myself or any of my family a c*nt…

And I am proud to stand up and say this.

Isn’t this part of the DNA of being a man? We are the protectors, the aggressors, the ones who stand outside our fire-glowing cave in the middle of the frozen wastes with only determination and a knife carved out of a broken bone to beat off that sabre-tooth tiger.

I am not a thug, a fighting man or an idiot.

But I do take my job of being a bloke very seriously indeed.

I’m not a macho bully in the workplace, I do not belittle and insult others in the office or hold a reign of tyranny inside the secret confines of my little country cottage…

But I tell you what, I do stand up to bigots, racists, homophobes, bullies (of both sexes), liars, cheats, arrogant people, misogynists and narcissists.

And I do fight for the rights of children, men and women, the down-trodden, the weak and the miss-used, abused, cowed and broken.

And I will slap you if you do anything bad to my family.

Isn’t it time the Woke woke up to reality?

Why should somebody like the very slap-unhappy Will Smith potentially lose his Hollywood glitter, perhaps his career, all because some diminutive laughter-maker thought that he could make glitzy capital out of joking – however mildly – about a beautiful young woman who suffers from alapechia?

Isn’t that a slap in the face for anybody?

Losing your hair is a deeply personal and harrowing experience . (I was lucky, mine started to grow again after a couple of years but most people aren’t so lucky).

The notion that to be a man you have to be angry or emotionally unavailable is outrageous. Those who attack Will Smith are those who also say the toxic notion of masculinity is forced on young men before they even go to school.

Jonathan P. Higgins is a black, gay speaker and writer, has written of his own experiences: “I can remember hearing conversations between my mother and my uncles about how fearful they were for me because I didn’t exhibit the behaviors of masculinity. I was emotionally available, somewhat shy, and enjoyed connecting with people on a deeper level. Somehow, that was seen as effeminate and the men in my family worked tirelessly to “make me harder,” common rhetoric used in the Black cis-male community.”

Do you know what bothers me about Johnathan’s statement is the fact he writes ‘I enjoyed connecting with people on a deeper level … I have done my own work to unlearn the toxic nature of masculinity,’…

A deeper level that being proud of your own sexuality?

#c*nt #willsmith #chrisrock #academy #oscars #hollyywood

As the shock of the ‘retirement’ of one of the world’s most liked actors sinks in, supporters of people wrecked by Aphasia have given some hope.

In a statement Bruce’ family told fans that he has been diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language and that the Die Hard star will ending his acting career.

But does that need to be the final clanking of the door to the creativity which has kept him at the top of his proffession for half a century?

Aphasia spokeswoman Carol Dow-Richards, ARC Director, said with a sense of hope over an issue not many of us are really clear about.

Carol said: “No official diagnosis has been reported but acquired aphasia (from a stroke) DOES improve.

“There IS treatment. People should indeed seek treatment from a licensed Speech Language Pathologist.

“I believe that the CBS report stating there is “no treatment” for aphasia takes hope away from the 2.5-4 million with aphasia.

“Their report also stated there were two million in the USA with aphasia. According to the white paper published by AphasiaAccess, those numbers are likely much higher.

“There IS treatment. While there is not a cure, there is treatment!

“Aphasia is NOT rare. There are more people with aphasia than Parkison’s and muscular dystrophy. However, few Americans know what aphasia is.

“Many with acquired aphasia improve over the years.

“Those with PPA may decline over the years as it is a degenerative brain disease, very different than acquired aphasia from a stroke or brain injury.

“It is imperative that the narrative is accurate. Whether PPA or acquired aphasia, people should seek treatment from a Speech Language Pathologist.

We all appreciate the focus on aphasia. We want to be sure the narrative isn’t out of context and confusing the public or people with aphasia.

“Aphasia is a devastating diagnosis and disability. We believe that lack of public awareness creates a secondary disability for people trying to re-engage in life with aphasia. Communication is the bridge to community engagement – and education is key!

“There is hope! People with acquired aphasia can and do improve.

People with PPA and their families can benefit from therapy and education from a licensed Speech Language Pathologist to offer support strategies.”

Bruce’s acting career began in the early 1980s but he did not become a household name until later in that decade – first after starring opposite Cybill Shepherd in the ABC TV series Moonlighting and then in his 1988 performance as John McClane in the first Die Hard film.

Since then, his films including The Sixth Sense, Armageddon and Pulp Fiction have grossed more than $5bn worldwide, according to Variety. He’s been nominated for five Golden Globes, winning one for Moonlighting, and three Emmys, winning two.

Several actors and other stars offered their condolences to Willis and his family following the news.

“Grace and guts! Love to you all!” actress Jamie Lee Curtis wrote in response to Demi Moore’s post.

“Sending lots of love and healing to you all!” wrote journalist Katie Couric.

#APHASIA #BRUCEWILLIS #DEMIMOORE #JAMIELEECURTIS #HOLLYWOOD #HOPE

Last year we published this story about Action Hero Bruce Willis… now his family have revealed he has frontotemporal dementia. The actor was previously diagnosed with aphasia, which prompted him to retire from acting last year.

Willis, 67, was previously diagnosed with aphasia, which prompted him to retire from acting. “FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone,” the family wrote in a statement.

There are two main variants of FTD: primary progressive aphasia, which hampers a patient’s ability to communicate, and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, which manifests as personality and behavioral changes. “It hits the parts of the brain that make us the most human,” said Dr. Bruce Miller, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Last year his family told fans that he has been diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language. The Die Hard star will sadly be curtailing his acting career.

The statement read:

‘To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.

This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.

As Bruce always says, “Live it up” and together we plan to do just that.

Love,

Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, & Evelyn’

The NAA followed the family statement with this one, full of support for the acting legend and his family.

The National Aphasia Association was saddened to hear of Bruce Willis’ recent diagnosis of aphasia. As the national organization that represents all individuals living with aphasia and their families, we understand the impact of this diagnosis. 

Aphasia is a disorder that can affect a person’s ability to produce and/or comprehend language. There are many different forms of aphasia. All of them affect a person’s ability to communicate. One type of aphasia, termed Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), also affects cognitive abilities. 

While we are not aware of Mr. Willis’ specific aphasia diagnosis, we recognize that strong family support and expert professional services have a positive impact on living successfully with aphasia. 

For more information, free resources, and support, visit aphasia.org. 

For media inquiries email: [email protected]. 

#aphasia #brucewillis #hollywood #demi #diehard #moonlighting

Trans Bridgend MP Jamie Wallis made this statement as he thanked his Conservative colleagues for their ‘incredible support’

‘The parliamentary party had a photo in the chamber and then we went for dinner together. It was nice, especially for those of us in the ‘2019 intake’ of MPs who haven’t done anything like that before.

It was lovely to speak to colleagues away from Parliament, and I appreciated the occasion for a number of reasons.

I’ve had a lot of support from the Whips since I was elected. Not for the reasons you might think, but there’s a lot that goes on in MPs lives and the Whips play an important wellbeing role – as far as I’ve seen they try their best to support and help MPs who are having a tough time. Well they’ve certainly earned their keep with me.

I’m trans. Or to be more accurate, I want to be. I’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and I’ve felt this way since I was a very young child. I had no intention of ever sharing this with you. I always imagined I would leave politics well before I ever said this out loud.

There was a close call in April 2020 when someone Blackmailed me, outed me to my father and sent photographs to other family members. He wanted £50,000 to keep quiet. The police were so supportive, so understanding and on this occasion the system worked. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 2yrs and 9mnths in prison.

For a while it seemed as though I would be able to get on with things and move on. Being an MP and hiding something like this was always going to be tough, but I arrogantly assumed I was up for it.

Well, I’m not.

A few months back, in September, I ‘hooked up’ with someone who I met online and when I chose to say ‘no’ on the basis that he wouldn’t wear a condom he chose to rape me. I have not been myself since this incident and I don’t think I will ever recover. It is not something you ever forget, and it is not something you ever move on from.

Since then things have really taken a tumble. I am not ok.

When I crashed my car on the 28th November I fled the scene. I did so because I was terrified. I have PTSD and I honestly have no idea what I was doing except I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of fear. I am sorry that it appears I ‘ran away’ but this isn’t how it happened in the moment.

Tonight, I was reminded of the incredible support those you work with can provide. Also, I was reminded how important it is to be yourself. I have never lived my truth and I’m not sure how. Perhaps it starts with telling everyone.‘

#transgender #mp #bridgend #jamiewallis #parliament #rape #blackmail

Sopranos drug henchman, actor Paul Herman, has died aged 76. It was his birthday.

Paul had appeared in many gangster films including Goodfellas and The Irishman.

But he was best known for playing the role of ‘Beansie’ Gaeta in the The Sopranos.

Herman’s character was eventually promoted to chief of operations in a heroin trafficking group.

But he maintained a close relationship with crime boss Tony Soprano, who used Beansie’s chain of cash-only restaurants to launder his drug money. 

Herman also appeared in more than a dozen De Niro movies including Falling in Love, Once Upon a Time in America, Little Fockers, and American Hustle. 

In reality Paul also ran the Columbus Cafe alongside his brother in near Lincoln Center Plaza in New York. 

#sopranos #goodfellas #theirishman #sopranos #tonysoprano #scorsese #hollywood #rko

Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse… well I’ve outlived all that then.

To be honest, the best thing I could do now is keep strutting my calcifying knees and bones and act like I have some kind of faded elegance.

But it may just all be a soupçon of memory of the times when I was a young dude and had a chance of dying before my time.

I wanted to go in a coffin like the sidecar of a Vincent Black Shadow, its lid drumming down the dark alleyways of time, a bat out of hell headed for ditches and lampposts.

I am a homeopathic memory now, skin dry as a painted desert, liver in a wheel-barrow and a belly like a battered old bumbag.

But, if you too have disappointed yourself by out-living your own personal plan to die with a joint in one hand, a ‘shot’ in the other, a hard-on that would never let you go home before midnight and a grin like a wired mental guru…

Well, good news, you might not have hit the rocks yet – you might actually still be on a roll.

Yes, we lost Elvis, Jim, Jimmy, John, Janis, Keith, Freddie, Harrison and Harry, Tom and Mamma, Ronnie, Kurt and now Taylor Hawkins, the man of the long bong phooey.

But look who is still on the road – the bath chair bands, the rickety rockers, the grateful to be dead soon, the dark stars flying blind over cataract town.

Floppy Phil Collins has stood up to more than half a century of rock’n’roll rigours and has finally given it all up because of his body and his much-publicised broken heart.

But look who is left – those who will kick Phil’s plastic glow-in-the-dark crown under his wheelchair and keep on going down Danger Road, keeping a sanitised lid on the old box of cheap tricks.

Of course, that last statement doesn’t include the ubiquitous 80 year old Bob Dylan … back on the road as soon as Covid allowed it.

The thing with Bob is that his act hasn’t grown old with him – far from it!

He has revealed a new voice with range, timbre and power. He sounds like he is singing just for you as the under-stage lighting throws Mephistophelian shadows across his joker-grinning countenance.

Bob knows he has arrived at the shadow kingdom but is playing like he is at the rotating glass doors to Heaven and Hell.

And Sir Rod Stewart is touring in the winter, at the age of 77.

Die-no Rod he is being called.

Then there is the granite-faced Roger Daltrey, touring in June and July, at 78. And, let’s face it, there is no reason to ask – after 60 years – WHO he is!

Diana Ross is due to sing at Glastonbury in June.

But I don’t get why that singing tortoise Sir Paul McCartney is headlining Glastonbury. He’s 80!

It is my personal opinion but Paul should have been mullered by a kin tyre for ruining the Beatles.

Billy Ocean, played in Bath recently – no! Not in the bath! In Bath! He’s 72 (I wonder if they supplied him with a bath chair?)

Robert Plant aged 73, began his new tour in Bexhill. Alice Cooper is touring in May, at 74. Debbie Harry is touring with Blondie at 76.

And Sir Tom Jones is having one more cup of coffee before he goes off on a major tour in June, at 81.

#tomjones #robertplant #billyocean #debbieharry #bobdylan #dianaross #rodstewart #rogerdaltrey

When we first became involved in the world of Central and Eastern Europe so many years ago, we knew we had found a new home.

At least for a while.

We moved to Poprad in the Spis region of Slovakia and in so many ways it was like a fantasy – a good one.

There was music in the cafes at night and stoic memories of revolution permeating the air.

1989 is so long ago and far away, almost 40 years. But to the people from this part of the world, it still seems like only yesterday.

Russian invasion, the Warsaw Pact, is as indelible in their minds as is the destruction of the Ukraine. It is happening again 300 miles down the pot-holed road.

When we first arrived in Poprad in 2006 – and we came back every few weeks for the next 15 years – it was a bootlace pondering nation…

Looking at your bootlaces stops you meeting the eyes of your enemy.

If Eastern and Central Europeans of a certain age don’t know who you are, they will still ignore you.

It is passive now. But it was survival then and there is a possibility it may be again soon.

However, once you get to know these handsome and confident people, you quickly learn, yes, they like a laugh, they like a drink, they like going to ‘nature’ – forests and falls and mountains and lakes, castles and ancient villages.

They are intelligent, knowledgable, generous, caring and loyal.

And, unlike the ex-pat contingency in their part of the world, they are trying to get rid of corruption, unlike so many foreigners who arrive there to take their chance with it.

There is money to be made here, if you talk big, invent friends in high places and don’t care about the indigenous population.

But Europeans round here have a way of dealing with this too, they talk about you plenty when you are gone from the room or even this world. They saw through you long ago.

They will lampoon you, expose you. They will refuse to keep your dirty little secrets and they will broadcast them to the world.

The Russians have left scars in Poprad, they painted a Russian tank over a hole in the wall at Dobre Casy. The bar used to belong to Alfons, a big bluff beery barman who lived through it all and stayed despite everything.

Then of course there is the shrine to Joe Bonk, a young engineer who died alone in the basement of a local hospital after being gutted like a fish by Russian shells.

There is a distinct fear now of Putin expanding his assault on Europe and Slovaks talk about it often.

It should never ever be allowed to happen.

But it might.

On a journalism site this video had been passed by. Perhaps my fellow journalists were pondering their bootlaces.

The Society decided to use it, to show the world. We have tried to verify the video.

It was made by Kate Ganochkina, a former business manager in Kyiv, who originates from Lutsk on the Styr River, who now helps refugees.

Kate, in her twenties, said: “I am a refugee from Ukraine🇺🇦. I want to share the truth about the war in Ukraine. This video was filmed to show the reality of today’s events in Ukraine. I tried to show that Putin is a terrorist killing Ukrainian innocent people, destroying the country. Please donate to Ukrainian army, click on the link below. I shared all the truth about war in Ukraine and my story as a refugee.”

https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ https://www.standwithukraine.how/

So, while the great ragged Russian bear stumbles, the Ukraines stand AND ROAR at the entrance to the petrified forests, villages and cities of their homeland.

HOW THE DOGS OF WAR SLAUGHTERED ANIMAL VOLUNTEER ANASTASIIA

https://leighgbankspreservationsociety.blog/2022/03/22/blasters-of-war-never-ending-hope-as-bobs-mate-charlie-joins-ukraine-protest/

#russia #putin #ukraine #murder #death #kyiv

Macabre memorabilia is a curious and often unsavoury part of being a collector … Hitler’s racing car for instance brought more £10m,  death masks of Napoleon, Beethoven, Shakespeare and Goethe are always in demand –  and “killer clown” John Wayne Gacy, has his own art dealer.

Murderabillia has a place in history, collectors put together, sometimes, things which change our understanding of times, social structure and more often, simply the minds of people who just don’t care …

But some dirty old pans that once belonged to a maniac? Would you like to own them?

Greasy, sticky, stinky pots and pans used by mass killer Dennis Nilsen to make £9 a week in prison are reportedly going up on sale.

Yep, you can pick up kitchen essentials used by one of Britain’s horrendous and dispicable gay killers, a man who supposedly sometimes ate part of his victims.

The asking price?

About £300!

Nilsen, who was a chef before he became notorious for the evil that men like him do, used to sell curries with a prison mate, ,Jimmy to make extra cash at HMP Wakefield – the West Yorkshire prison dubbed Monster Mansion.

The pans and a spatula are for sale on the Dark Crime Collectables website.

The items have been reduced from £400: “These two large pans (with lids) and frying pan (which is in a plastic bag as it still contains the remnants of its last dish, cooked in the mid-1990s) and a wooden spatula were used by Dennis Nilsen at HMP Wakefield in early 1985.”

Nilsen, who killed at least 12 young men and boys between 1978 and 1983, boasted about his prison cooking in autobiography, History of a Drowning Boy.

He said in it: “In constructing some measure of stability and economic viability into our partnership, Jimmy and I started a business making and selling curry.

“I was, after all, a trained chef and could produce saleable goods.

“We built up a regular clientele and were able to make £9 a week, on top of our workshop wages, to spend in the canteen.”|

He killed them, chopped them up and, it is believed, ate some body parts. Nilsen died from cancer in 2018, aged 72.

#nilsen #gaykiller #wakefieldprison #curryrecipe #prison

The drummer with the Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, has died aged 50.

The band were “devastated by the tragic and untimely loss” . No cause of death was given.

Hawkins played with Foo Fighters for more than two decades, joining after they finished making their 1997 album The Colour and the Shape.

The band is on tour in South America.

“His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live with us forever,” Foo Fighters wrote.

“Our hearts go out to his wife, children, and family.”

Foo Fighters were formed in 1994 by Dave Grohl, after his previous group Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of lead singer Kurt Cobain.

While Grohl drummed for Nirvana, he took on lead vocals and guitar in Foo Fighters, and so Hawkins had the daunting task of drumming in a group founded by one of the most celebrated drummers in rock.

Born in Texas but raised in California, Hawkins had the demeanour of a surfer.

Hawkins’ death at the age of 50 is devastating – for Grohl, his bandmates and his fans, but most of all, his wife Alison and their three children.

Paying tribute, Tom Morello, of fellow rockers Rage Against the Machine, tweeted: “God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend.”

Ozzy Osbourne said Hawkins was “truly a great person and an amazing musician”.

#FOOFIGHTERS #GROHL #TAYLORDRUMMER #DEAD