Caveat Emptor

  Something in my soul jibes at being cheated. It first came to my notice as a young teenager that people would try and put one over you if they could, and you let them. I'd saved my paper round earnings to buy a bike from a lad down the road. It wasn't a fantastic bike, it only had 3 gears, but it was a lot better than the one I had before. I negotiated a price with him, and once I'd saved enough money I went to buy...

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Twenty Woodbine and a Kit Kat Please.

  So the ban on displaying tobacco comes into force today, meaning that cigarettes and other products will need to be kept under the counter, or behind the closed doors of former display cabinets.  The ban will only apply to large shops and supermarkets, with smaller shops being exempt until 2015.  Apparently, according to public health minister Anne Milton, young people are recruited...

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Taxing Times

    "Forgive me father for I have sinned." I said through the grill.I heard an exhalation that I took for a sigh, and then, "What is it this time child?"  Okay it didn't actually happen like that but I do confess that I've always had a secret interest in politics. There will now be an interlude while you mutter something along the lines of, "crazy fool."  I have a sneaking suspicion that this...

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Why on Earth Did She Do That?

    As much as I don't mind slating Tory politicians I find myself struggling to understand how Francis Maude can be blamed for the terrible tragedy that befell the woman in York who was pouring PETROL, (GAS for American readers)from a jerry can into a glass jug.     According to this report from the Mail Online http://tinyurl.com/dyhn4d3 Mr Maude, the...

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Just a Little Snip With Some Scissors

    When my wife and I were casting round for a way of economising a few days ago and she suggested cutting my hair I thought she was joking, until I saw the look of intent on her face. It was unlikely to save much I protested; after all I only have a hair cut every three months. That's four times a year, and at £10 a pop it's not exactly breaking the bank. I didn't like to suggest we'd save far more if...

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Just a Little Prick With a Pen

    Having been compared by two different reviewers of my debut novel, Coming Home, to Alan Sillitoe, and Evelyn Waugh, surely I could be forgiven for basking in the warm glow of popular acclaim?    I thought so; at least for a short while anyway. I wouldn't get too carried away; I wouldn't immediately dash out and proclaim from the rooftops: 'Hey, guess what! I'm the new Alan Sillitoe, or, depending...

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Coming Home

    Not normally being one for new year resolutions I surprised myself on the 1st of January 2011 by resolving to write and publish a novel within a year. I further surprised the thrifty side of my nature by deciding to make it available free of charge. It would be a marketing exercise I decided. If I charged even a nominal sum it might put people off - there's lots of other things around on which to spend 99 pence after...

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Square holes - round pegs.

     In 1972 when I was fifteen years old I left school; one of the last generation of children - and make no mistake we were children -  able to do so. I left school without taking any examinations, GCE O-levels as they were then.     At the time, and for a few years afterwards, I thought...

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Is There Anybody There?

Written for 'The Write On Project.'http://thewriteonproject.wordpress.com/Subject: Communication. I watched Steven Spielberg’s classic film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ on DVD the other night. In the movie a five tone motif is used to try and communicate with the aliens. Apparently the tones were chosen so that the notes sounded like H E L L O in musical form, which I guess is a good a greeting as any to try on aliens.Watching...

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Oh God

    Is Richard Dawkins a secret believer in God? Does the leader of the sect of Atheism, subconsciously at least, believe in the Almighty God?    On the Radio 4 Today program recently, in a discussion with Giles Fraser, the former Canon of St. Paul's, Dawkins stated that many Christians couldn't name the first book of the New Testament. Therefore he concluded, these so called Christians were not real...

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Does it add up?

    So the Bank of England has decided in its wisdom to inject a further 50 Billion pounds into the UK economy. Will that make your life easier? Will it make my life easier? Will it help get the economy moving again?      I suggest the answer to those questions is a resounding no.     Now the adult population of the UK is considered to be approx 51 million....

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Let It Snow...

...but only for a short time, and don't let it settle.     For as long as I can remember I've always been a Scrooge about snow. I hate the stuff. I concede, that viewed through double glazed windows, seated by a log fire, with a glass of beer to hand, it can have a certain charm.     Most of my working life has been spent doing jobs where snow has been a hindrance. I spent a long time working for...

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