Blogs

I had a great audition on ‘The Voice UK’ tonight when my reggae interpretation of, ‘The Wheels On The Bus’, caused all 4 judges to turn amidst rapturous applause from the audience. Will.i.am, in reflective mode, said, “It was like when aliens land in your back garden and they ask you to take them to your leader and you think, ‘now that’s dope’.” Jennifer Hudson, hand on hip, ordered with attitood, “You come to Momma now, boy!” Tom Jones...

Why should we listen to Viktor E.Frankel? Well, he’s a scientist, philosopher, a psychiatrist and author, but the real reason we should listen to him is because of the time he spent as an inmate in Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps. That gives what he says heft, he’s walked the walk and suffered the indignity of being regarded as less than human and treated as a throwaway thing. His life and death as a Jew having little or no...

I really enjoyed this short novel. Many of the themes resonate, identity, disillusionment, a search for meaning in a life that has no meaning. He stood at the back gateway of the abattoir, his hands thrust into his pockets, his stomach rigid with the ache of want. Men in white coats and baseball caps whistled and shouted as they moved between the hanging carcases. He couldn’t see his father, yet he did not want to venture in. He knew the sweet...

The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-bulger-killers-was-justice-done/on-demand/66601-001 James Bulger: A Mother's Story https://www.itv.com/hub/james-bulger-a-mothers-story/2a5514a0001 I watched both of these programmes. We know what happened. Twenty-five years ago, when Tony Blair was Shadow Home Secretary, ten-year-old Robert Thompson and Jon Venables took toddler James Bulger from a shopping centre in...

It’s certainly going to be a busy year.

St. Nicholas’ Church, Kings Norton, Birmingham. There’s been a church on this site since the Normans first built a small chapel in the 11th century. The existing church has been built, demolished, rebuilt, expanded, improved and restored many times over the last 1,000 years. Only one dignitary of note over that time: Rev. W. V. Audry… creator of the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. He was the curate from 1940 to 1946. to 1946. The bells were...

Two friends, one now dead the one living writes about the friendship. I don't think I like Lucy, her friend. Ann gives us a selection of Lucy's letters to Ann who she often addresses as 'dear pet' They seem twee, shallow, lacking in reciprocity. 'you will have make do with being my favourite bagel, my favourite blue awning above some great little cafe where the coffee is strong but milky and has real texture to it.' Why all the poetic...

Leggings – Back to the Beginning... It's Mr and Mrs Homburg Hat! Alive as well and walking after me around the Norwich shops earlier this week. He's minus the hat. Perhaps its because it identifies him instantly with his plump short wife by his side. At every shop he critiques me , “Oh look,” he said artlessly to the shop assistants, “Of course what they say about her can't be true, can it! I mean if they said that about someone who meant...

Tim Winton is one of those annoying kids. He wanted to be a writer when he grew up and by the time he was nineteen he was publishing. Pisses you off, doesn’t it. It’s the story of the exception to the rule. Here’s a white, working-class kid, from Perth of all places, that won all kinds of prizes and made it not just in Australia, but world-wide. Good on yer cobber I say. My mock-Australian is like my writing, to be avoided, but I just keep doing...

Story and Poem of the Month for January chosen by Airyfairy: A brilliant start to the year for ABC Tales, with lots of really interesting, thought provoking pieces on the site. It's also been great to see so many people responding to the Inspiration Points and the Poetry Monthly prompts. It's therefore been really hard to select the Picks of the Month. I've gone for pieces that stayed in my mind long after I read them and that conjured questions...