It's been a brilliant week on ABC. Not only have we had some wonderful work, but in response to the IP writers have been reading out their work either on their own Soundcloud or on the ABC Soundcloud account. Please keep doing it! Our Story of the Week is insertponceyfrenchnamehere's lovely 'Katy, A Ghost Story'. Insert is usually to be found commenting on other people's work and providing invaluable assistance to our new and existing members on...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007mxm/when-bridges-collapse-the... Forty-three people died, scores more were injured and 600 people lost their home when the Polcevera Bridge in Genoa collapsed on 14th August 2018. One survivor described how the road disappeared before him and it was like being in a cartoon. It was Italy’s worst ever road-bridge disaster. A design fault that allowed water to pool and steel cables to fray was blamed, but...

I’ve read this book before, but didn’t remember until I started reading it again. My memories like that, full of wormwood and dark holes. Most folks are that’s why we use terms like short-term and long-term and even working–memory and other types of memory that often doesn’t work. Types I’ve instantly forgotten, but no matter. We usually judge ourselves to be reliable narrators of our own lives, able to judge what is and what is not with...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006wg1/the-bleeder Sometimes you just hit upon a movie you know you’re going to love. Here it is. As surely as any movie written or starring Simon Pegg (or even an actor that looks like Pegg) is going to be a going to be a stinker, The Bleeder is a knock-out. I’m not a big boxing fan. Yeh, sure I remember the Rumble in the Jungle and Ali v’s Frazier. I watched them on BBC in the same way that I later...

Dusk is setting in and the low light of sunset is blanketing the grass with shadows and patches of last light…Day is ending and night is falling and in this moment between light and dark…I sit in quiet contemplation… reflecting on all the issues of my day….but I don’t battle the problems…I let them simmer…pausing to see what answers may come. I have always been a night bird…the pace of morning exhausts me with rush hour and work day demands and...

All writing is an act of faith. I come from a long line of dead people and bar-room prophets, all saying the same things. We’re going to hell in a handcart. We’ve had the fall of the Berlin Wall and Francis Fukuyama proposing The End of History . Karen Armstrong posits The Death of God. The time frame is opaque. But in places like Britain it seems more clear-cut, less than fourteen percent of people attend regular worship (Anglican or otherwise...

What a week for ranting - i'm in a particularly ranty mood myself so took great pleasure in the green calm of Di Hard's delectable and thought-provoking poem https://www.abctales.com/story/dihard/grassjuly - it's our poem of the week. I really enjoyed the discussion of the possible reading of this poem too - it would be wonderful to hear our writers reading their work. I would love to hear Hudson Moon reading his story aloud too: https://www...

I have some thoughts about charity, based on my interactions with Andrew and the people who are supposed to help him. I am yet to engage with the Council on Andrew’s behalf, so can’t comment on how they treat him. However, he tells me that they can’t and won’t help him, as he made himself “intentionally homeless”. This phrase lets councils off the hook and means that they no longer have a “duty” of care towards him. I’m sure how it works...

Part 6 of The Moscow ChroniclesI Follow the links for Part 1 - Moscow Calling , Part 2 - Taksi! , Part 3 - Night in the City , Part 4 - The Road to Red Square and Part 5 – A Bridge Too Far? I left the man swimming in the park to it and made my way back to the hotel. It was galling that I was going to have to walk past it, on the opposite bank, in order to get to the next bridge but, after my travails with the traffic and finding Red Square shut...

President Mandela was the only man who could unify South-Africa he was a great man, a man for his time and his dream was of a Rainbow Nation a brotherhood of our people's. He was known for charisma, affection and compassion, love for his country and love for all its people. The President of the Republic of South-Africa Cyril Ramaphosa is a leader of great integrity, reason and knowledge. He is our leader and worthy and as such has to be honoured...