I am pleased to report that, after the little cyber-scuffle earlier in the week (I displeased some champions of personal autonomy and free speech by expressing an opinion that wasn't theirs), harmony has been restored in the mercurial metaverse of Miri AF (please note that I do not actually live in the metaverse, I live in a terraced house, but, you know, abundant alliteration always appeals...).

I really appreciated the supportive comments I received yesterday - thank you to all who made them - and one in particular I am going to quote, if its author doesn't mind. It said:

"Your posts are my essential daily read. You always ‘hit every nail on the head’ in a clever and straightforward, easy to understand way. I look forward to and enjoy all your posts, regardless of topic, they are my daily ‘fix’. I hope you can continue your excellent work."

Needless to say, it's very gratifying to receive this kind of feedback and I'm delighted that people hold my work in such high esteem.

Yet to provide quality, timely, near-daily content - as I do endeavour to do - quickly responding in a meaningful way to news and 'world stage' events, as and when they occur, and as people ask me to do (whenever there is a "big story", such as Roe v. Wade being overturned, or the pandemic 'amnesty', I will receive comments to the general effect of, "eagerly awaiting your thoughts on this! Will you have an article soon?") is a huge time commitment.

It's at least a full-time job and often much more than that, as I find myself dealing with article comments and reader emails late into the night, or getting up to proofread a piece at 4 in the morning as I can't shake that niggling feeling there's a typo... Obviously, keeping up with world events, coming up with premises for articles, doing the requisite research, writing and editing the articles, promoting them, and moderating comments, consumes huge amounts of time, and this time commitment is necessary if I am to continue to provide the quantity and quality of my current output.

Unfortunately, however, my putting full-time hours plus into my endeavours, is not translating into a full-time wage - even at minimum wage - and so there will come a time in the not too distant future where, if I am not able to monetise my writing more successfully, I will have to dramatically scale back my output and get a "normal job".

I have had many such jobs in the past (charity fundraising, market research, admin, telesales, and even - oh yes - selling double glazing), and will obviously go back to one of these things if I have to.

But I don't think that's the best use of my time and skill, or the best contribution I have to make to the world. I think, and I hope it doesn't sound too immodest to say, that my readers (or at least some of them, hi hate fans), agree.

This being the case, I would like to humbly request that anybody who enjoys my writing and would like me to be able to keep doing it, makes a small monthly contribution - the price of a cup of coffee, or whatever you can afford - through one of my fundraising platforms, such as Patreon, BuyMeACoffee, or straight to my bank (details at footer of article).

Of course, I enormously appreciate all donations, and I understand that some people are not in a position to commit to monthly donations, even small ones. However, as most of my donations do come as unpredictable one-offs, rather than stable monthly pledges, this puts me in a particularly precarious position, as I simply don't know and can't predict what my financial situation will be month to month.

I know, of course, that some level of instability and fluctuating income comes with the territory of freelance writing, but still, like anybody else, I need be able to ensure a minimum level of stable income so that my essential financial obligations can be met.

This is why I so appreciate it when people make monthly donations, and there is no amount too small, because if everyone gave a small amount, this would translate to a steady level of income for me, whilst not putting any significant strain on anyone else. I would prefer to have many small donations, rather than a smaller number of large ones - even if the large donations ultimately added up to more money - because a) large donations are more likely to be cancelled, and b) are more likely to come with strings.

Of course, this is not always the case, and there are many fine people in the world who are simply generous and philanthropic. I greatly appreciate such people. Unfortunately, however, there are also many who are manipulative and dishonest, and wish to 'buy' other people in order to control them. It's very, very easy for a journalist or other content creator to become "controlled opposition" simply by accepting monetary "gifts"... with conditions.

"I'd really like to support your great work with a big donation," a devious donor might say. "And then, I'd just love it if you could cover this really important topic, from this particular angle, pushing this particular conclusion..."

I will never let myself be in that trap, but in order to maintain these standards of complete independence and integrity, I do need to make money somehow, and I have considered carefully all the options.

I contemplated allowing advertisements on my site, but quickly came to the conclusion that would not work, since, first of all, I myself find endless adverts and pop-ups to be a prodigious pain, and I tend to veer away from sites that use them. In distracting the eye and breaking up the text, I feel adverts can take something away from the writing and from really being able to immerse oneself in the message. Adverts often make the site look and feel too commercialised and can just overall "lower the tone" (I know some people have different feelings and make different choices and that's fine - but this is my personal view).

More importantly, though, allowing advertisements is another way one can become "controlled by stealth", because once you start permitting advertisements, you inevitably start caring what your advertisers think, and start to become careful of not 'offending' or 'scaring them off' with certain content or views. So, again, I couldn't go down this route and simultaneously maintain complete editorial integrity.

Then there's the option of paywalls, which I did not feel I could in good conscience do, since how would anyone ever be able to discover new information or develop new views, if all such information is behind a paywall? I would never have "awoken" myself, if all alternative journalists and other content creators put their content behind paywalls, so I am not going to do it myself. I want my articles to be able to reach as many people as possible, and obviously, a paywall dramatically reduces the breadth and the scale of the reach.

So, that leaves just one remaining choice.... optional reader donations from people who enjoy my content and would like me to be able to keep creating it.

So, if that is you, please do donate! Please don't think, "well, she seems really popular, I'm sure plenty of other people reading this will donate, so my few quid won't be missed", because - and I know this very well, from my stint as a charity fundraiser - that is what around 9 in 10 people think when approached with a donations drive. That even if it's a good cause that they support, the large majority of people still don't donate, as they assume others will.

So please help me turn that statistic around 🙂 . I keep my Patreon and BuyMeACoffee accounts open and public so that people can see exactly what I'm earning - I am quite happy to be totally transparent about this because the only reason to disguise it would be if I was making much more than I claim (mentioning no names, Jack Monroe...). Once my income has hit a solid level, then these kinds of donations posts will stop.

I would like to thank everyone who does donate currently, or has in the past, because without you, I would never have been able to keep going as long as I have. Obviously, the establishment is very keen to thwart my efforts, given my recent PayPal ban - please note that if you used to have a monthly donation through PayPal, that will have now been stopped by PayPal, as I am no longer permitted to receive any money through the service, so if you wouldn't mind taking a couple of minutes to set it up via another platform instead - details directly below - that would be greatly appreciated.

So, basically, this is the deal I would like to offer readers and I think it's a pretty good deal - I will commit to producing near-daily articles and updates, every week, of the quality and standard you have come to expect, which you are completely free to read, share, comment on (argue with...), and, in return, all I ask for is a monthly contribution equivalent to the price of a cup of coffee (or whatever you can afford). The details of my platforms where you can donate are directly below.

Thank you for reading, and for all your support, past and present. It's really appreciated.

Thanks for reading! This site is 100% reader funded, with no advertisements or paywalls. If you would like to make a contribution, please do so through Patreon, BuyMeACoffee or bank transfer to: Nat West, a/c 30835984, s/c 54-10-27, account name FINCH MA. Your support is really appreciated. Thank you.