Blogs

The garden path was lit by bright, eye squinting sunlight and I wanted to run down it. To jump over the gate and run for miles finding my way to the beach, to the soft settling sands under my toes as I race to the waters edge. To abandon at the pier all burdens, daily grinds and demands on my time. To be the person I was at eighteen with eyes wide with possibilities, arms open to encompass the world, to live in today and let tomorrow watch at a...

You see, representative democracy has been shown to be the superior decision-making solution because expertise and wisdom produce better decisions. Popular feeling is only resorted to by the elite when they have gauged that is in their interests to do so - when the mood is going their way. I'm sorry if all this seems a little patronising to people from my own background, but it happens to be true, I'm afraid. You/we are not equipped to make...

Ha-Joon Chang, The Little Blue Book: ‘Economics is politics.’ Charles Darwin urged the ‘weak in mind and body’ to refrain from marriage. That’s why I never married. Contemporary disciples of Francis Galton’s scientific racism now favour that dismal science of pseudo-economics. Economic racism doesn’t discriminate against the rich. It is premised on it. The poor are feedstock for those that have accumulated land and wealth. A propaganda war,...

Congrats go to safety and MJG this week. A pair of crackers. We hope you enjoy these as much as we do: http://www.abctales.com/story/safety/volcanic http://www.abctales.com/story/mjg/will And we hope that this will give you Inspiration for your writing: http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip Have fun!

I’m as repetitive as person with Alzheimer’s, but I think I may have picked this book up before and read the start of it. I really wanted to like this book, but didn’t get beyond page 40. We have the Triads: Tia Lo (the boss) his beautiful daughter Ming Fu. I could tell you who the other Triads are but really who cares. There’ll be another along shortly. And why do all daughters have to be beautiful? Why can’t she look like a banana? Well one...

I went to Dalmuir library yesterday and got three books. Two by Des Dillon and one by Jeff Torrington. Ewan had mentioned Torrington in one of his posts. Although I know I’ve read his book, Swing Hammer Swing , like most books I read I can’t remember anything about it. Nothing. Well, the bit about it being set in Glasgow. Since hearing Des Dillon speak at Dalmuir library I thought he’s one of us and I better read something he wrote. When I got...

Congratulations this week go to T_az for 'Maya' and to Kilb50 for 'Something Dead in the Road' - both wonderful pieces. http://www.abctales.com/story/taz/maya http://www.abctales.com/story/kilb50/something-dead-road The Inspiration Point is poetry and prose on the theme of hope because I think we could all do with some of that this week. http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip

What a disaster. What horrible news. At first sight, it bears the hallmark of an individual act of lunacy, and we've seen enough of those (I won't apologise for my choice of words under the circumstances), but this act is symptomatic of the level of political and social hatred that has been gripping Britain since at least the last General Election and is intensifying in the run-up to the EU Referendum. This behaviour is so out of character for...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/born-on-the-same-day 7 th March 1944, three babies are born in different parts of the world, the Second World War is just finishing and there’s a population boom as the soldiers come back from the front. The format is familiar. Granada broadcast the original 7UP documentary series in what was meant to be a one off, World in Action programme, in 1964, directed by Michael Apsted. 7UP was meant to tell us...