Blogs

Universal Credit: Inside the Welfare State, BBC 2, BBC iPlayer, director Chris McLaughlin.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 03 Feb 2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p081z4hg Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell, tells the story of how he went from spike to spike and from town to town. The hungry and downtrodden were given a few slices of bread and some sweet tea. A bed for the night. Moved onto to anther town. They were not allowed to settle. Moved on to another town, a circuit of homeless, hungry men and women moving in an ever-expanding circuit of misery. This...

Murder Trial: The Disappearance of Margaret Fleming, BBC iPlayer, directed by Matt Pindle.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 03 Feb 2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000d2cw/murder-trial-the-disappearance-of-margaret-fleming-series-1-episode-1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000d2fq/murder-trial-the-disappearance-of-margaret-fleming-series-1-episode-2 In 2019, Edward Cairney and Avril Jones are jointly charged with the murder of Margaret Fleming and brought to trial. The accused lived in Inverkip on the coast of the Firth of Clyde, a backwater (near where my...

Story and Poem of the Month

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 02 Feb 2020

Our Story and Poem for the month of January have been chosen by fatboy74: It seems that the drearier the time of year, the better ABCtalers respond to the challenge, and you’ve smashed it out of the park over the last 31 days. The writing has been terrific and it was difficult enough having to choose a Pick of the Day, so this has been a bit of a tough one. Poem of the Month goes to onemorething with her stunning poem Lime Tree. If you like it...

Storyville, The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature, BBC 4, BBC iPlayer, director Adam Bolt.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 01 Feb 2020

In November 2018, reports suggested that scientist in China had altered the DNA of twin girls using CRISPR CAS 9 bio-technology. It would be the first time in history that humans edited the genetic code of future generations. DNA is usually referred to as the building blocks of life. RNA is DNA’s close cousin. If DNA is god’s handwriting on the world, RNA is god’s signature. CRISPR CAS 9 is a counterfeit RNA of god’s signature. A tweet from...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 31 Jan 2020

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 31 Jan 2020 We made it through January! Goodness knows what the future holds - seems like a good time to look back. Scent is a great memory jerker so here is a whiff of the sea and the forest to stir up the past: Story of the week left me in pieces and reminded me how every house has a story - an inspiration point in itself - a beautifully drawn piece from Fatboy74 https://www.abctales.com/story/fatboy74/there-was...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point.

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 31 Jan 2020

We made it through January! Goodness knows what the future holds - seems like a good time to look back. Scent is a great memory jerker so here is a whiff of the sea and the forest to stir up the past: Story of the week left me in pieces and reminded me how every house has a story - an inspiration point in itself - a beautifully drawn piece from Fatboy74 https://www.abctales.com/story/fatboy74/there-was-house-and-there-was-sea-2 Poem of the week...

Crown of Eggshell by Rachel Deering (onemorething). Out Now!

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Thu, 30 Jan 2020

I'm very pleased to announce the publication by Cerasus Poetry of Rachel Deering's 'Crown of Eggshell' ‘In the myth of me, I am geese in flight...’ This flock of poems features cuckoos, blackbirds, owls, magpies, ortolans, starlings, nightingales, canaries, auks, larks, jays, goldfinches, sparrows, thrushes, swallows and swifts. Their presence recurs over both land and sea, sometimes in the company of capricious gods, beneath the celestial...

CERASUS POETRY OLYMPICS

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 29 Jan 2020

Giving this a little bump for anyone who hasn't seen it yet: The 2020 Cerasus Poetry Olympics is a competition that will run over 6 qualifying heats in July-August 2020. The competition is open to all who pay the £5 entry fee and submit a batch of 6 poems before the closing date of midnight BST at the end of 30th June 2020. On payment of the fee, you will be randomly allocated a country name, which will identify you during the course of the...

John Ferguson 1/12/1929—11/1/2020

Posted by celticman on Tue, 28 Jan 2020

I remember when John Ferguson slipped me twenty-quid and I went to the Oasis with the cash. My older brother Stephen—or SEV, as pre-Banksie, he liked to artistically daub on walls or doors— married his daughter Emily. Or wee Emily. I didn’t remember how small she was until I saw her today. Platform shoes of the kind that Elton John wore to play the part of Tommy, and sing Pinball Wizard , took Emily up to the glorious height of about five-foot (...

Elizabeth Strout (2017) Anything is Possible.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 25 Jan 2020

Elizabeth Strout is an internationally and critically acclaimed bestselling author of My Name is Lucy Barton. Lucy Barton, as a stock character, is also an author who writes mostly about farm life in Angash, Illinois. How her family were so desperately poor they ate scraps out of dump trucks and were shunned. The first chance she got to get away she took it. Later she became a successful writer in New York. The maxim ‘write what you know’ seems...

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