The Ukraine brooch is here, and this one I can safely say is by popular demand! I haven't had so many of you contact me at once wanting a design since Lady Hale's spider brooch.
The clearly planned ambush of Zelensky in the White House was horrifying. I forced myself to watch it all, and felt physically sick by the end of it but with even more respect for Zelenksy, which I didn't think was possible. What self control, what grace, when the temptation to slap them both must have been strong. In just a few weeks the entire world order has been upended. We now have the President of the United States spouting Putin propaganda and trying to rewrite history.
And it is so worrying seeing mainstream media follow along by talking about 'peace deals' as if Ukraine has chosen to be at war with Russia when they were invaded. Over 46,000 Ukranian soldiers have been killed and an article from last year states that more than 19,000 Ukranian children have been abducted. And the worst part of it all is that Russia was struggling until they helped get the Orange Monster elected. They managed to sucesfully invade the US before they could win the war in Ukraine. Trump isn't even trying to disguise the Putin propaganda he rattles off, and it is the complete lack of empathy or shred of human decency that is truly shocking. They knew in advance what they were going to do, had let in Russian News outlets while banning the Associated Press. They were signalling to Putin and to their base, and are relying on the ignorance of Americans who spend their days in front of Fox News to get away with their lies – claimingZelensky hadn't thanked them when he did, several times. As he said himself, “You’re raising the volume of your voice but not the logic in your argument.”
And the crap about him not wearing a suit, all more attempts at headlines. I saw a great cartoon of F(Elon) asking Trump why he wasn't wearing a kid. They make me so sick, I am trying hard not to despair completely. So yet again, I threw myself into designing, and this one was a doozie. How to get the two words in opposite colours in only two pieces on a design that could fit into my small gift boxes. It took a couple days of messin' but I'm really proud of this one. And it comes in lovely matte colours that look like they have a bit of trapped light in them.
I wanted to donate to a charity in Ukraine to be sure that most of the money would go where it was needed. £5 from the sale of every brooch goes to the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, specifically the Humanitarian arm of the charity – the Healthcare drive which iis working to provide free healthcare to Ukrainians in the de-occupied and frontline areas, by providing equipment, medicines, transport and medical devices to support medical facilities.
The only good that might come from this whole situation is a more united Europe, and the UK's leadership in this has been impressive so far. These are proper crazy times, and I have found I have to ration my news in order to avoid cold sweats at night (literally, this happened!) or that awful frozen feeling of hopelessness. So here is my small creative donation to show our support for Ukraine. Who knows maybe these pins can be conversation starters to educate some misguided people about the facts of recent history. Slava Ukraini!
