Archive for August, 2018

Brexit No Deal Papers: Are We Any Wiser?

Friday, August 24th, 2018

Yes. A Bit. The publication yesterday of the government’s first tranche of up to 80 Notices laying out guidance to everybody, including businesses, services and private citizens, were detailed in some places and vague in others. To non ideologues they demonstrated what all thinking people know. A crash Brexit will cost. Not just on the big ticket items like borders and supply chains, but on individual things like credit card charges, roaming fees, pensions paid to ex-pats and so on. There is a whole raft of new costs for business to cope with a more complex regime for both exporting and importing. Dozens of new government agencies have to be set up to monitor all the regulations to be repatriated. Life will become more complicated and it will also become more expensive. At least in the short to medium term.

At the centre of it all is this simple emerging truth. Britain will not be better off. And people were told that the reason for voting Brexit was compelling; we would be better off. This is going to have consequences. Big ones. And perhaps sooner than we think. Stay tuned.

America and Australia: A Curious Coincidence

Thursday, August 23rd, 2018

Australia seems about, once again, to change its prime minister as the result of an internal coup by members of its federal parliament who belong to the party in power. At the moment this is the Liberals, who equate with our Conservatives. But previously it has been Labour. In other words both parties are at it when in power. Because only members of parliament are allowed to vote in a new party leader, it is just a handful of people switching support that brings down a prime minister. This is not a good system of democracy and works only because Australia has strong State governments which cater for most of the day be day needs of the population.

In America, short of death, a change of president once elected to office is well nigh impossible and has succeeded only once, when Nixon resigned. Since then it has become almost routine for opposition forces to mount a campaign to discredit the president in office, trying to prove via special prosecutors some degree of culpability for something, to enable impeachment proceeding to begin. The actual process has begun only with Andrew Johnson in the period immediately following the civil war, and Bill Clinton. Neither was driven from office. But Reagan ( Iran Contra arms scandal) Clinton (sex and perjury) and now Trump (Russian collusion) have been subjected to major campaigns dominating Washington and hobbling their presidencies for considerable periods. Once again the I word is in circulation on Capitol Hill.

Both countries need to consider reforms. This is not the kind of democracy voters favour, because it appears to place the priorities of politicians above the needs of the voters who put them there.

Birmingham Prison in Crisis

Monday, August 20th, 2018

The news that Birmingham Prison is to return to government control is very welcome. What has been going on there is a blot upon the civilised values of the whole nation. You can judge the inner core of a country by the state of its prisons. A Birmingham situation suggests the core, if not rotten, is rotting. This blog has never supported prisons run by private contractors. Some services are just not for profit and never should be. Prisons are certainly one of them.

Rory Stewart, the prisons minister, is one of the best intellects in the Commons and already has a distinguished career as historian, diplomat, writer and broadcaster. If anyone can sort out the mess our whole prison system has become, he can. That is if the brawling mob the Tory party in parliament and government has become, allows him to do the job as he sees fit.

Vaping: Do Not Relax Restrictions

Friday, August 17th, 2018

Vaping is a nasty habit. No sane person wants to be close to a vaper in a public place or social environment. It is a device to help people quit smoking and a parliamentary committee wants restrictions relaxed so that more people can use it in more places and thus more give up smoking. This blog thinks vaping disgusting and would oppose any such move.

I speak as one who smoked a lot of cigarettes each day for twenty five years. It is thirty years since I gave up, so I have a licence to speak out. If you want to stop, stop. Not over a cliff, but thirty down to twenty a day in month one, to ten in two, five in three, then stop in four and never go back.  You will live to celebrate it. You do not need any help beyond your own decision, your free will and your strength of character. Don’t make excuses, your are more than strong enough to carry it through. Your reward will be a healthier and better life for you and those you love. Good that.

Historical Thriller: Download or Paperback

Wednesday, August 15th, 2018


Product Details

Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy and right hand man, flew to Scotland on a mysterious peace mission in 1941, which has never been convincingly explained, to meet unidentified politicians who wanted to end the war. The truth has been covered up for generations because to reveal it would somehow undermine the honour and constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom. Who was plotting against Churchill? What were the peace terms on offer? What happened to Hess? Was he killed in the War? Was the prisoner in Spandau a double?
There are many questions to which in the modern day one man, Saul Benedict has all the answers, because his parents were players in the drama involving Churchill, Hitler, leading politicians and an important Royal. Saul is an author and declares his intention to write a book to reveal all, but he is shot dead, apparently accidentally by a poacher. But was it an accident? Rick Coleman, an investigative journalist, determines to find out. Taking place in the modern day but with flashback chapters which gradually unfold the hidden secrets, the novel is a fast moving and compelling read.

                  Amazon UK           Amazon US

Bridge Collapse: Is There A Wider Question?

Wednesday, August 15th, 2018

The dreadful loss of life and the shear unexpected horror of the collapsing motorway in Genoa has made front pages the world over. Questions abound. Foremost, after the anguish for the dead and injured, are: How? Why?

The new Italian government is already beginning to place the blame on cuts in government expenditure forced upon Italy by the Eurozone, i.e. Germany. There may or may not be truth in this,  but more widely there is a very big problem, growing ever bigger. The economic model favouring low taxes, small government and a very large financial sector with low wealth creation and high asset inflation is unsuited to a modern state. Not just Italy, but many, if not most. Especially the UK.

Whatever may have been the ideal in the past, whatever economic theory is seen to be the purest and whatever ideology drives politicians and campaigners from the right, the plain fact is that the modern world is different. The notion, the driver of everything for nearly forty years, that you keep taxes low, cut spending to make that possible, favour the rich over the poor, lavish wealth upon the few, not the many, and make everybody else survive on the nebulous notion of opportunity for all, is way past its sell by date.

A government must inaugurate an economic model which creates new wealth at the base, built on giving priority to the mass of ordinary people upon whose shoulders the provision of all manifestations of civilised living depend.There must be proper jobs, paying enough to cover housing costs, living costs, leisure and enough for saving. Public investment in housing and infrastructure is an absolute must as part of that economic reboot to guarantee state of the art transport, communications, environment and competitive energy. And, most of all enough decent affordable housing. That will bring prosperity at all levels but will begin at the base and filter upwards, not the other way round.

But it is also necessary to run efficient public services right across the piece, whether it is health, education, the police or social care and the national fabric has to be maintained and renewed. That costs money. Taxes provide the cash. But the difference has got to be that first the cost is calculated and then the taxes are fixed at rates required to pay the bills.

At the moment taxes are reduced to gain votes and services are cut because the money runs out. Well, that is all going to come to an end. Prepare for a very different world. But a better one for the ordinary majority.

 

Hess Enigma: Download or Papaerback

Sunday, August 12th, 2018

Hess Enigma: A Novel by [Raven, Tor]

Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy and right hand man, flew to Scotland on a mysterious peace mission in 1941, which has never been convincingly explained, to meet unidentified politicians who wanted to end the war.  Who was plotting against Churchill? What were the peace terms on offer? What happened to Hess? Was he killed in the War? Was the prisoner in Spandau a double?
There are many questions to which in the modern day one man, Saul Benedict has all the answers, because his parents were players in the drama involving Churchill, Hitler, leading politicians and an important Royal. Saul is an author and declares his intention to write a book to reveal all, but he is shot dead, apparently accidentally by a poacher. But was it an accident? Rick Coleman, an investigative journalist, determines to find out. Taking place in the modern day but with flashback chapters which gradually unfold the hidden secrets, the novel is a fast moving and compelling read.

                  Amazon UK           Amazon US

The Hastings Option: Download or Paperback

Sunday, August 12th, 2018

The Hastings Option by [Raven, Tor]

 

The narrow, ordered life of a gentle but almost reclusive artist, Jane Block, is disturbed when a bequest, intended for her dead mother, passes to her. Mystery surrounds the nature of the inheritance and Jane is led on a sinister trail to secrets of the past, forcing her to confront her own fears and inhibitions. She finds herself caught in a frightening quest to unravel a mysterious cover-up from World War Two, and in so doing finds intrigue, love and betrayal.

Amazon.uk

Amazon.com

Is The Government Governing? What About Hungry Children?

Sunday, August 12th, 2018

Well one can only hope so, yet there is scant evidence of it. Boris hysteria has gripped both the Tory party and the media for over a week now. The Cabinet appears split on what do do, which is hardly surprising, since it is split on everything else. Everybody seems to be investigating someone or something. Yet the serious world is still there and it will not go away. The EU looks on with mounting anxiety as the orderly government, which has been the hallmark of Britain’s contribution to Europe’s wellbeing for three centuries, appears to be dissolving. The implications for Brexit are not good. And, as previously posted by this blog, all the sniping and quarreling at the top is contributing towards an atmosphere of intolerance and discord right through the country.

There are real things needing attention. Infrastructure and service issues like railways, prisons and social care. But human issues about increased demands for more food banks to, and this I never thought to hear in this country, hungry children having to be fed by charities or  volunteers during the holidays because their parents cannot afford to do so. As so often posted here, we are now seeing some very ugly outcomes of an economic model which makes the poor even poorer while the rich become even richer. So, instead of grandstanding  and being generally obnoxious to each other and everyone else, this government must fix these things or be consumed by the white heat of the people’s anger, already beginning to glow.

Historical Thriller: Paperback or Download

Saturday, August 11th, 2018

DOWNLOAD OR PAPERBACK     Product Details

Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy and right hand man, flew to Scotland on a mysterious peace mission in 1941, which has never been convincingly explained, to meet unidentified politicians who wanted to end the war. The truth has been covered up for generations because to reveal it would somehow undermine the honour and constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom. Who was plotting against Churchill? What were the peace terms on offer? What happened to Hess? Was he killed in the War? Was the prisoner in Spandau a double?
There are many questions to which in the modern day one man, Saul Benedict has all the answers, because his parents were players in the drama involving Churchill, Hitler, leading politicians and an important Royal. Saul is an author and declares his intention to write a book to reveal all, but he is shot dead, apparently accidentally by a poacher. But was it an accident? Rick Coleman, an investigative journalist, determines to find out. Taking place in the modern day but with flashback chapters which gradually unfold the hidden secrets, the novel is a fast moving and compelling read.

                  Amazon UK           Amazon US