If it is your life

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‘Tricky times ahead pal’ previously published in Breathing Space/The Herald, 2010; ‘Ingrained’ previously published in Five Dials, 2009; ‘talking about my wife’ previously published in Headshook, 2009; ‘justice for one’ previously published in The Stinging Fly, Dublin 2009; ‘The Gate’ previously published in The Herald, 2008; ‘Man to Man’ previously published in In Pubs by Stuart Murray, Glasgow 2006; ‘The Later Transgression’ previously published in Flash, University of Chester 2008; ‘Vacuum’ previously published in Edinburgh Review, 2009: an earlier version of ‘Pieces of shit do not have the power to speak’ (entitled ‘In the dungeon’) previously published in Starting at Zero, Etruscan Books, South Devon 2006.

When I presented myself at the Emergency section of the Social Security Office I knew things could go wrong but I was not expecting a leg amputated. But that was the situation. I would have expected an alternative but there was none. This was clear to anybody who knows anything about anything. Not just about the British welfare system, nor indeed state-run hospitals. Nor legs for that matter, at the risk of sounding facetious. This is what they gave me to understand.

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