Blogs

Subtitled 'Living with Schizophrenia a Father and Son's story' this is a factual account. Henry first goes off the rails when he is a first year student at Brighton Art School. He swims in the freezing cold estuary near Brighton while guided by voices and is rescued by fishermen. Seven years of acting irrationally and believing that there is nothing wrong with him follow. During this time his father tries to understand what precisely his son is...

In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "We Can Be Taught!." William Keegan (2014 ) Mr Osborne’s Economic Experiment. Austerity 1945-51 and 2010 – The first question when purchasing a book about economics is it worth the money? Let’s look at the evidence. The book costs £10 or thereabouts. This includes delivery. Not bad. But it is very short—or concise—depending on your definition. Large borders on the page. Empty spaces. Empty pages to...

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan are good-looking and they act well. The dialogue is a bit clunky and in places unintentionally comic and the pace sometimes slow. The bits where he inflicts pain on her; I shut my eyes 'cos I'm squeamish, I sometimes watch Casualty on TV and shut my peepers when the blood spurts. Mr Grey is not only a man who likes sexually dominant role-play he is a control freak. Whenever Anastasia wants to end the relationship...

In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "In Loving Memory." My brother phoned me today. He works in Fife, Longannet Power station, been there about twenty years. Longannet is one of the few coal-fired power stations that is still on grid. It was opened in 1972 and has a capacity of 2400 MW. Most of the other coal-fired power stations in Scotland are closed. That’s not a bad thing. With global warming mankind is on life support and we...

It's about the Pendle Witches hanged in 1612. I picked it for the author not the topic, witch stories, whether in Salem, Lancashire or Bideford in Devon where Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards were the last two English witches hanged have a miserable inevitability. Misogyny, superstition, the rabble and the powers that be ganging up on impoverished women who sometimes believe the hocus pocus because it affords them a little power; execution. A...

Running season is here, the parks and public pathways are beginning to fill with the wannabe-fit, time for me to slip on my running blog slippers, park myself in front of the computer with a nice hot cup of Sunday afternoon tea, and get writing. I’ve been running throughout the winter, of course. I always run, I have a ‘have legs – will travel’ mentality, and have been running at least once a week for thirty years now. But there’s not much to...

I was vaguely aware of Jackie Kay and had read an extract of this book a few years ago. Heard her speak about her novel Trumpet and knew she was a poet. Poets make the best prose writers. What stuck in my memory was her parents. Two white working class people that adopt two kids that happen to be black or coloured, or whatever term you’re comfortable with, because this is not about race, or about class, although both her adoptive parents are...

I wanna be your pen Recording your voice with beautiful words Depicting your moods with perfect line Composing your stories with happier end Lettering your name with fully love I wanna be your pen Lying in your snug pocket Dozing with your broken heart But I am a man, living with loneliness I wanna be your pen Depicting your long hair with gentle glasses Delineating your warm hands with icy beer Painting your serious cheek with naïve smile...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/citizenfour I missed the beginning of this programme, ironically because I was online. I spend too much time online. I’ve nothing to hide. Well, nothing much to hide. Here you have it. Everybody has something to hide. We can laugh now at the old-fashioned-spy networks of neighbours spying upon neighbours. You keep expecting Michael Caine to pop up in a John Le Carre thriller. It’s funny. An Orwellian world...

I get pretty much all my facts from Fiction. No wonder my quiz team has yet to win, it's a good thing we have one person who knows a lot about sport or we would fare far worse, but this is my comfort zone for the acquisition of knowledge. When I don't understand something in a book I then try the often maligned Wikipaedia. Books on social studies are sort of like guys I have a brief fling with but wouldn't take home; I flip though them briefly...