Blogs

The Trouble With Our Trains, BBC 2, 9pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05sz83j/nick-and-margaret-the-trouble-with-our-trains Twenty years after privatisation, in which the number of rail passengers have doubled, Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford examine what was once British Rail, but is now a hotchpotch of different companies competing in the rail market. Only they aren’t. Four billion pounds of government money a year still subsidises...

I enjoy writing. I wish my story link was working.

Hi, Is anybody having a problem writing a story? My story link is saying "Assess Denied".

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/on-demand/57108-007 Reporter Harry Wallop goes undercover to investigate Sports Direct, and its owner Mike Ashley, listed as the twenty-third richest man in Britain, with an estimated fortune of £3.5 billion. I must admit a conflict of interests here. I own three-supersized Sports Direct mugs. Indirectly, I’ve contributed to Ashley’s fortune. The first half hour (or excluding adverts, twenty minutes...

Even as a child - Stories have always run through my day -causing me to daydream characters and plots and subplots -and I write and write and have never stopped. I am not a published author but I have 4 completed novels -- My family has not read them - only me. My world in little creations that are mine- mine to move in and bend plots in and create moments for. I am happy writing - so I worried - if I tried to publish and received less than...

Long-time, much respected, very valued ABCtales editor and professional writer Mark Say stepped in to scrutinise this months writing and his decision has just come in. Here’s what he has to say: Poem - My Other Life Is – Philip Sidney http://www.abctales.com/story/philip-sidney/my-other-life This impressed me because it is simultaneously simple, clever and perceptive. It uses a few well-chosen words to create a sense of contentment and then...

THE DEAL. The contracts were signed just two days ago (23rd April) which meant that tickets could finally go on sale. The venue (MGM Grand) holds just under 17000. Yet only 1000 tickets went on sale to the public. They sold out in minutes. Priced between $1500 and $10,000. The other 16000 tickets were allocated to VIP’s, Relatives of the fighters, Sponsors, Sports Teams and associations. It would seem that Mayweather got what he wanted as far as...

It has been an exceptional week for poetry! At least four writers could have won this week's poem of the week and several others were in the mix. There were two that I just could not separate. So this week we have joint winners and they are Philip Sidney with My Other Life Is: My Other Life is and span for Moving In: moving in After a brief hiatus it looks like Vera Clark has started to hit the keys in earnest. Her Iron Giant takes this weeks...

Should Asians get affirmative action? There has certainly been a train of prejudice against Asians. From the pineapple farmers of Hawaii to the Chinese who worked on the railroads... prejudice, disdain, and ignorance has defined the way of progress. Asians are often ignored in debates, are seen as stealth bombers who fly below the radar. The Yellow Peril is approaching. People are afraid of the Chinese taking over! Chiamerica. I think that...

HISTORY. It’s the fight that should have happened 5 years ago. Some would say when both men were at their peak. In 2009, the American Sports Channel ESPN, announced that contracts had been signed and the fight would take place on March 13, 2010. They’d jumped the gun. Contracts had been sent from one camp to another but not signed. Things had to be sorted. These two fighters each believed that they were the best on the planet. They were both...