u/leahcar83

I was diagnosed a couple of years ago and not much has happened since then unfortunately, and this week I've had horrendous bladder irritation and I'm just fed up.

At first I thought it might be a UTI but I didn't get the painful stinging when I urinated and it seemed to go away for a bit. But every day for the past week the bladder irritation comes on like clockwork around 4/5PM. I go for a wee and I don't feel like my bladder is fully empty and then there's this feeling of not feeling like my bladder is empty and like a dull, heavy ache in my bladder and urethra. I started my period four days ago, but it's about a week early and I have an IUD so it can be a little tricky to track.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so do you have any suggestions? I'm currently just taking paracetamol and ibuprofen for the pain, but it's more the lasting discomfort every evening that's bothering me than it being acutely painful.

I know on the left there is a quest for moral life, personally I take a view similar to that of Iris Murdoch that Good is a transcendent, objective reality. She believes that in order to make moral progress, humans must constantly introspect and ensure we don't fall victim to ego. She talks a lot about 'unselfing' which is the peeling back of anxieties and recognising that everyone around us has, complex, messy, somewhat unknowable inner lives just as real as ours.

I bring all this up, because I originally joined the Greens as I felt there was a shared ethos, especially after WEP ended. I still largely feel like the majority of members share a similar view, but I've been increasingly noticing a more authoritarian, ego led view where people see their inner life as the objective truth and judge others against it, not taking into consideration others are just as complex and shaped by experiences personal to them.

I find this attitude quite alienating and demoralising, and it's made me question if I want to continue in the party or if I'd achieve more elsewhere (not necessarily another political party, but advocacy groups or charitable orgs etc). I'm interested to know what others think and if anyone else has been having similar wobbles?

It's clear his early departure is no one's fault but his own. (Need to open in browser)

Terror attacks against Muslims are going unreported as the police take up to nine months to identify them as terrorism.

Last night England played Ghana in the world cup, with Thomas Partey allowed to play for Ghana and it made me so angry.

Partey has been charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault and is due to stand trial next year. He was initially charged with three counts of five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against three women, and has since been charged for additional two counts of rape against another woman.

These reports were made to the Metropolitan police between 2021-2022 and there was a three year investigation before charges were brought. Since he was charged he has continued to play football, with Villarreal signing him after he was charged, and Ghana picking him for the national team despite being aware of this also.

The general defence is 'innocent until proven guilty' but we know that rape has an incredibly low conviction rate. I think league clubs and FIFA capitalise on the fact rape is so hard to convict to avoid scrutiny over their lack of action.

I would be surprised if he's found not guilty because that's the way things usually go, but on the balance of probability it seems likely he did it. Women don't have anything to gain for making rape allegations, it's incredibly traumatic not only having to go through criminal proceedings but the enormous amount of time between initial reports and trial. It's even worse when the person accused is high profile because the social media and the press are absolutely horrific.

These charges relate to four separate women making reports independently of each other. It doesn't seem particularly likely that four different people would all be lying. I'm so fed up of this because this happens a lot with footballers and the only people that ever seem to suffer are their victims.

I feel so angry about this because the world cup is promoted as something unifying and a point of national pride, but it's so insulting as a woman to be expected to enjoy rapists being lauded as national heroes.

I did not receive the RRA information sheet from my landlord and from speaking to friends this doesn't appear uncommon.

I am not planning to report it because I've only recently moved and don't see any benefit in doing this and don't want to sour my relationship with my landlord unnecessarily.

I think if I was under an agency I'd be more likely to report this though.

I don't think the rollout of this has been managed well by the government, because it's easy for landlords/agents to ignore and there's no clear benefit for tenants reporting. Plus the very tenants who'd benefit from receiving this won't know they are meant to receive it and won't know to report that they haven't, so it seems a bit pointless. Personally I think it would have made more sense to require landlords/agents to submit evidence tenants received this to the council, rather than the onus being on tenants.

I'd be keen to hear if other people have or haven't received the information sheet, and if you have reported to the council why did you decide to?

Thought this pertinent as many Greens are Quakers.

I've been trying to learn more about Quakerism and have just started attending a woodbrooke course. I'd like to attend a meeting but I'm a little nervous since my previous experience with religion has been attending Anglican services which I found quite isolating.

Is there anything I absolutely need to know before attending?

How do you feel about Rachel Milward? I'll admit I hadn't paid a massive amount of attention to her until recently but every time I see her I am really impressed.

I like Zack a lot and I think he's the right leader for right now, but what I find very refreshing about Rachel is her decisiveness and preparedness.

Her appearances on Question Time have been utterly fantastic. She's really consistent with the importance of healing division and working cross party, and she's fantastic at communicating that in a way that connects with people regardless of their politics.

The other thing I loved was her answering Piers Morgan asking 'do you think women have penises?' with 'Piers, I think you have a uniquely strange obsession with people's genitalia' and then went on to address the audience saying 'the trans community in this country are being treated appallingly' which got a huge applause. The reaction to her was great because it's so important to have a reminder that support for trans people is the majority view.

Ultimately she comes across as confident, compassionate, and well informed. She gives as good as she gets but never appears like she's on the attack. She's great at treating everyone with respect from what I've seen. Very much do no harm, take no shit. I'd really like to see her in parliament, so I hope it's her plan to become an MP.

Also unrelated to her politics in any way, but I'm obsessed with her big hoop earrings! I'm definitely investing in a pair.