New release ...

THE MESSENGER-RELOADED 

(sequel to THE MESSENGER)

(adult content - e-book) 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RW6CHWX

D17’s JACK CHANDLER has convinced himself that Leyla and her realm were figments of his imagination and he needs to get back to doing his job – finding and dealing with the money-men controlling western governments. But the targets are disappearing and he wants to know why. 

Warned off going back to the States by his harassed boss, Brigadier Adams, Jack ignores the order and, under the guise of a holiday in Washington with unwitting wife Sally, sets off to challenge shady arms dealer, Levi Jaffe, before he, too, disappears. 

The encounter sets off a chain of events that throws Jack into a maze of corruption and blackmail which includes the President and the NSA. Confronting those behind the mayhem not only puts Jack and fellow operative Sam Mason on the trail of a secret organisation willing to do anything to expand its hold, but also threatens to destroy them and D17.

Jack fights back, but the battle takes its toll and opens a can of worms from his past that tips his world on its head. Can he survive what’s happening to him - and is Leyla refusing to go away?

And if you feel like picking up The Messenger, too,  it's here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005GAAY32

Jack Chandler is with Special Forces and his near misses have been adding up, which is why his wife, Sally, wants him out of the Regiment.

On his last mission, he is mortally wounded and finds himself in a realm overflowing with the souls of war dead ready to slide back and destroy this world. He recovers, but the visions persist, driving a wedge between him and his family. Jack is told he is suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He hopes it is. The alternative, that what he is seeing is real, terrifies him.

Discovering a US plot to invade Iran that will kill millions and flood the realm with dead it cannot hold, he sets out to stop the genocide. But can one man succeed against the most powerful country in the world? And the souls? Are they real or is Jack's conscience creating them?

1. Print length

   616 pages

 

LONG COVID IS A THING ...

 

Early on last year doctors didn't know what to make of it when people complained about strange ailments - extreme fatigue, joint inflammation, brain fog, chest tightness, dizziness, shortness of breath to name just a few, that had suddenly descended on them. Some people remembered having flu-like symptoms a short while before, but because they weren't hospitalised or possibly even confined to their beds, they assumed it couldn't be Covid - and if they did wonder if it might be (perhaps a mild case) they were finding they couldn't get tested, anyway, as the tests were, understandably,  reserved for front-line workers. I know because I tried. 

Talking to my GP about the debilitating pains in my shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers - the inflammation in my right ankle, the memory / concentration difficulties and the fatigue that was disrupting my life on a daily basis, was met with the usual diligence and blood tests. When these showed nothing out of the ordinary, more tests followed.

The markers in my blood were normal - so what was happening to my body? Was it my cancer causing these pains and the tiredness? I'd had fatigue before with the hormone and radiation therapy for prostate cancer, but nothing like this.

Weeks passed and the fatigue and upper-body joint pains were still with me - the inflammation and pain in my right ankle, too, all of which meant no gym visits and I now needed a walking stick to get around. 

Then, slowly, a condition called Long Covid began to gain ground in the media and I found people were suffering many of the symptoms that I was experiencing - people who had had covid in many different forms of seriousness from four or five days of feeling 'unwell' to those hospitalised. 

I mentioned this to my GP and he nodded, sagely. He'd heard about L.C. and decided more tests were needed. These were inconclusive. But because the pains were causing me problems with my daily life both mentally and physically, he rather reluctantly (because they lower the immune system and covid was still rampant) gave me a course of steroids. Within days the pains stopped - although I put on a stone in weight (apparently normal with steroids). However the fatigue, brain fog and the ankle inflammation persisted.

The course of steroids stopped and the pains returned. More tests and hospital visits (physio for the ankle - ECGs and upper body Xrays). More weeks (and Christmas) passed and the peroneal tendon in my ankle was deemed to have split and needs surgical repair. 

Long Covid is now a recognised condition and people suffer all sorts of ailments as a result of it. Some complaints are short lived - others drag on and cause the host body (and mind) dire problems. Hopefully, the medical profession will get to the root cause of why Covid does this.  

    

I have been lucky. My problems with Long Covid have been mild compared to many and my fleeting association with Covid 19 left me standing - for which, after all the sad fatalities, I am grateful.  

E-scooters - the way forward?

 

This week in my city centre myself and other pedestrians were almost knocked off our feet by a head-to-toe black clad e-scooter rider slaloming along the pavement at what I can only regard was reckless speed.

My concern after seeing the rider disappear into the distance was what injuries someone could sustain being in collision with him / her. Many of these machines are capable of 30 mph, although it seems rental scooters are restricted to 15.5 mph, but, even then, an elderly person or a child being hit at that speed by what could be 150 - 180 lbs of rider and machine could sustain life changing injuries.  

In light of the fact that privately-owned electric scooters are prevented from being on public areas, I can only assume that the machine in question had been hired from somewhere local. Had it been a motorbike cruising the pavements I could at least have taken the registration and reported it to the police. However, these e-scooters have no markings and that concerns me as how can anyone identify the rental company and then the person who rented said machine without a visible registration plate? How would anyone know who to contact in the event of an accident where the rider does not stop?

I have, subsequently, taken up both the issue of speed and registration plates on these scooters with my local MP and the Government's Transport Minister Grant Shapps. 

Control - new balls needed?

A century ago a company* set out to control the oil business. The secret of its success was control - it dominated production, ran all the refineries and pipelines and owned all the ships, tankers and petrol stations. It squeezed out competition with ruthless price cutting until only it was left. 

Does that M O ring any bells? Are there certain online companies out there doing the same thing nowadays? Does it matter? It should do, because the next thing that oil company did when it had the control it sought was to hike the prices. 

Some may argue that our high street stores should have upped their online game, should have seen online shopping coming - and Covid will not have helped, with everyone being locked-down - unable to visit shops and stores. But these tech giants are gaining more than just our shopping from us - they have data on everyone who uses their facilities (yes, my books are on Amazon Kindle - so, me included) and do we know what they do with that data? Do they sell it to the highest bidder - to any bidder? Does it matter? Well, it might if it's sold to someone you would rather it wasn't. But you have no control over that - you don't know and have no way of finding out with whom these tech giants are trading your personal information. And it's not just the data you give them, it's the data they collect from algorithms which record our every move online and many of our moves off-line. 

A series of anti-trust lawsuits has been laid against Facebook and Google in the US courts in a bid to stop their monopolistic behaviour and the Australian government has taken up the cudgels, too. Google's response has been to threaten to withdraw its service from Australia. Which rather sounds like - if we can't play football our way we'll take our ball home. Maybe the rest of the world needs to get some balls of its own!   

Tobias Ellwood (chair of the Defence Select Committee) made these points in an article in The Mail on Sunday (7th February 2021) he also wrote:  

"These firms assume we have become so dependent on them that they are irreplaceable, an essential part of life, like the air we breathe. This is not so."     

"Meanwhile, we watch our high streets being emptied of shops that have been household names for generations, victims of internet retailers such as Amazon that pay derisory amounts of tax and whose physical presence is merely a few giant warehouse hubs." 

"The internet's pioneers saw it as a way to share information free from Government control. How ironic that their creation has now been taken over by unaccountable corporations much bigger and more powerful than most countries."             

---

*For information: The company was Standard Oil and it made its owner, John Rockerfeller, wealthier than Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and google billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry page are today - combined.  

2020 et al

Well, as we all know, 2020's been a hard year with Coronavirus sadly leaving its mark on people and the economy. Deaths linked to the virus (deaths from any cause within 28 days of a positive covid test) have just exceeded 100,000 in the UK and it doesn't look like letting up any time soon - although the vaccine(s) should begin to bring some hope of fighting it.  

Viruses are not new - I believe the earliest recorded cases of influenza were around Europe in the twelfth century and often it's people with underlying health conditions who die from it, but, as we have seen from Coronavirus, that isn't always the case. 

Then of course just around a 100 years ago we had the Spanish Flu which worldwide infected around 500 million people - and is suspected of killing 50 million - mostly the young and fit! Other than that it was similar to Coronavirus in that there was no existing vaccine and it was overwhelming hospitals and other medical services. (As a matter of interest - the UK Office of National Statistics tells us that deaths from influenza during the years 2013 to 2018 averaged around 17,000 per year -- of which 14,500 per year were in the 65+ age bracket.)

So, we have had to learn to socially distance - stay in - work from home (where possible) wear masks and not put ourselves and others at risk of infection. 

What we are also learning is that online shopping has become 'the thing', but at a cost - our towns and cities are not only losing their big department stores, but smaller businesses are failing, too. No foot-fall for weeks / months on end is having its effect on the owner's ability to pay expenses (rents, business rates, tax, salaries, etc). Whether the big stores have brought this upon themselves by not investing in online options - or whether doing that was just going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, who knows. But what it does mean is the huge corporations (Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft etc etc) are hoovering up all that trade and at some stage will have no competition whatsoever. They will become all powerful - and we know what absolute power does. It would be different if those huge organisations paid ... I was going to say 'paid their fair share of tax in each country from which they receive income', but, of course they will say they do. And, perhaps, legally, that's correct, but is it morally correct? If they side-step paying then how do we keep services like the NHS or  local government departments operating? Because with the closure of big businesses comes big unemployment - and all that brings in personal and financial anguish? Governments need to up their game to ensure that these huge companies have no wriggle-room - perhaps we should make these companies advertise how much tax they've paid as a percentage of sales in those countries - maybe it could go alongside their fancy logos. Then consumers can make a choice about with whom they spend their hard earned cash. 

Well, that's my rant for today. Sorry it's taken so long to get into print again, here. 

Stay safe, folks.            

Worlds Apart -- the background to the story.

People often ask me where I get the ideas for my stories and I usually say it's my weird, conspiratorial mind playing with the What if? factor of life. 

In the case of Worlds Apart the idea came to me around twenty years ago in the Canary Islands. On our first night at the hotel, whilst I sat at our restaurant table, taking in the sunshine and the view, my wife went off to get her meal from the host of buffet tables at the other end of the crowded room. 

After about ten minutes I looked along through the throng of people and couldn't see her. Another five minutes passed and I stood up from the table, craned my neck again in the direction of the buffet tables - nothing. I sat down and thought ... imagine going to Reception and saying: "I've lost my wife" and the receptionist saying: "But you came to the hotel alone, Mr White".  How would I feel?  Suddenly realising that everything I knew was not as it should be? 

Eventually, my wife re-appeared - plate piled high with all manner of delights and, as she sat, she nodded in the direction of the buffets tables, "Go round the corner they have another room with some delicious sea-food".

I smiled at her and thought I must write that story.    

   

WORLDS APART (Another life) - Released on Amazon Kindle (December 2019).

Ever wondered what having an alter ego would be like? Would he / she be the better you - the worst you? How would you cope if you were thrust into their world? How would you cope with them being in yours?  How would you cope with switching between worlds and picking up  the pieces of both lives after they'd buggered them up? 

Harry Ford wakes from a heart attack to find his wife, Kim, at his bedside – an event that terrifies him as he knows she died nine months before in a car crash that he caused and which haunts him daily. Being told by a doctor that this memory and others are false and have been caused by the heart trauma, Harry finds hard to believe.

At home with a distinctly indifferent Kim he meets décor he doesn’t remember, a father whose friendship and support he doesn’t recognise and, when he returns to work, colleagues who look the same, but aren't. More importantly, he discovers that he is selling his company’s secret military electronics plans to a foreign power, has a mistress living in an expensive apartment that he owns and a girlfriend at his office.

Harry remembers none of this, nor does he understand why everyone calls him, Mac, and continually being told what he does remember doesn’t exist has him searching for the truth. What he finds blows his mind – and has him chasing his tail to stay alive.

---

What a year!

In late December of 2018 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It didn't really come as a surprise as my PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) level had been rising steadily - although, not all elevating PSA readings are cancerous. However, when mine reached 20, my GP decided to get me in for biopsies (Christmas eve) and the result confirmed the condition. By then the level was at 23.6 and I was given the option of prostatectomy (surgery) or hormone injections together with radiotherapy (20 sessions over 28 days) - and more injections afterward - possibly for another two years. I chose the latter.

The reason I'm telling you about this is that I was lucky, in that my cancer was diagnosed relatively early on and I had options for treatment. Some guys don't get that. Some guys are told the only route is surgery and knowing people who have taken that route (by choice or by no choice) and knowing that it had its problems - albeit they might be temporary and not affecting everyone - it was one I didn't want to go down. My reason mainly was the 'not affecting everyone' aspect meant it affected some - and I feared it would affect me. In 2015 (you can read it in my previous posts) I was given medication to cure a simply problem and I lost my sense of taste for 3 months (a rare occurrence, apparently). Then after the prostate biopsies in 2018 I was given an antibiotic which caused me to contract tendonitis (another rare occurrence - that laid me low for ten days). So, I reasoned that if incontinence was a possible side-effect of prostatectomy, then I would probably become subject to it. 

Anyway, the three-monthly hormone injections and a course of hormone tablets began very quickly to devoid my body of testosterone because (my consultant told me) it helped prostate cancer to grow. So, gradually my PSA level dropped to around 3. Then, in August, I had the 20 sessions of radiotherapy (painless and non-intrusive) which brought it down again to below 1. 

This ousting of testosterone from my body coupled with the radiotherapy, I was told would not come alone - and it didn't. My oncology nurse advised that I would experience symptoms similar to the female menopause - to which my very supportive and caring wife jested "Now, you'll know how I felt for fifteen years!" In addition to the hot flushes, loss of body hair - (not that I had much of that to begin with) and the mood swings, came loss of strength and a level of fatigue I never dreamt possible. Suddenly, even the most menial of physical tasks made me exhausted and I would fall asleep at the drop of a proverbial hat.  I was told not to beat myself up over it as it was to be expected and when it hit me I was to accept it for what it was - overwhelming tiredness - which, over time, would gradually get better.

So, here we are a year on and I'm back at the gym - not training with the weights that I used to - as I have to work myself back to those, but things are improving and hopefully my PSA reading will stay below 1 for the future. 

All of the above I have written because I would like to see guys over fifty have regular blood tests for prostate cancer. The blood test isn't perfect, but it will give a level and perhaps, more importantly, will show if that level is elevating. Like I said earlier, not all PSA readings that are rising are rising because of cancer - some may just be an enlarging prostate making itself known, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Interestingly, on the news this evening was a piece about an MRI scan test which may more accurately replace the PSA blood test. Somewhat surprisingly, I learned that not everyone who is diagnosed with PC had the usual suspects (difficulty peeing, weak flow, erectile dysfunction etc.) for symptoms. 

All I would say is: "Get it checked, Guys" - especially those of you who may have had (as I did) a father who also suffered prostate cancer.

On a lighter note, despite the tiredness I managed eventually to finish my thriller: Worlds Apart (Another life) and it's on Kindle. My next post will be about it. 

Thanks for listening. 

                      

OMG ...

"Children shouldn't have to worry about spelling ... or grammar - it stifles their young minds. We should just let the essence of their creativity shine through - no matter what."

I was told this 20 years ago by a teacher who felt that corrective red marks on a child's school work was a disincentive and not only inhibited the creative flow, but could bring problems with self -confidence in later life. 

Whether you agree with that philosophy or not, the written word is changing. Text-speak is here among our everyday written language and, like the boundary of the mind, once expanded, will never shrink back. 

So, what's happening in the world of text-speak? 

Words and phrases are now abbreviated to two or three letters (cd -could / wd - would / u -you / pls - please / BTW / OMG / LOL ). Emojis tell us how someone feels. The confusion over there, their and they're - your and you're - it's and its can have us pondering the meanings of posts. The apostrophe is being used for all things plural (MOT's - apple's - snake's). Dates: the 50s, 60s, 70s etc., have become 50's, 60's and 70's. Phrases like "Totes amaze" (totally amazing) -  GR8 M8 (great mate) - have many of us (oldies) stopping to decipher the message on our mobile phone from an eight year old grandchild - to whom phonetic and abbreviated speech is becoming more and more commonplace. 

Is the use of text-speak increasing because our lives are so busy that we must save time anywhere we can? Is it just a lazy use of language? Or, perhaps, a need to fit in with our peers - to be one of the crowd? Or is it that it's become a God-send to the person who finds spelling and grammar difficult to grasp. Does someone who has no particular problem with the English language use text-speak - or soldier on with correctly spelled and grammatically sound posts, complete with commas and full-stops?   

And what happens about legal documents? Will they ever be written in text-speak? Or will there be a cache (possibly 'cash') of lawyers retained for the purpose of composing legal papers at higher and higher fees? I wonder what would happen if the most prolific of text-speak users received his / her house deeds / divorce papers / income tax demand, written in phonetics and emojis? Would he or she feel overjoyed that authority has embraced this modernity - or feel cheated that the documents aren't in the English of the echelon of society which makes the rules?  

Should we allow all aspects of text-speak to creep into full acceptance in everyday written usage? Is little Johnnie's (or Mary's) essay going to be littered with abbreviated words and symbols - something to be deciphered rather than read? Will big John (and Mary's) application to university / job application be full of the same text-speak?  Will it matter? (I suppose if someone decided to associate its use with an assumption that the applicant has come from a particular background and views that as a problem, then it might. Paranoid - moi?)

Could we end up with a number of people unable to read or write anything other than text-speak? Would official forms have to reflect this anomaly?  

Will authors of the future write in two formats? One for those who have grown up with and prefer  text-speak as their reading (and writing) style and one for those who still want to read stories incorporating correct spelling and grammar? 

Was the thinking of that teacher 20 years ago prophetic - or the beginning of the end for the English language as we know it?  I wonder. 

Here's ... Johnny!

Hi Guys,

Well, it's been a while ... 18 months to be exact. But I'm back! (Actually, I didn't go anywhere - just out of the loop in terms of blogging.)

Lots of stuff has been happening since last I posted - a new great-grandchild, a wife who spent time in hospital having her heart re-aligned (cardioversion), thankfully she is better now, me gradually losing my hearing and requiring the on-off assistance of a couple of hearing aids - at least the neighbours don't have to listen to Wheeler Dealers and the News at full blast anymore - and, also me, still busily working on my next thriller - Worlds Apart. I'd tell you what it's about, but I haven't finished the script, so it may change before it hits Kindle and I wouldn't want to lead you up a movable feast of a garden path. 

No real excuse for leaving you chaps in the lurch, I know, but I will start posting again. Promise. 
Coming up - The written word - what will happen to it over the coming years? 





  

THE PARADIGM CULTURE -- Free download 25th, 26th and 27th September 2016

I had always wondered how far people would take revenge or punishment if they were granted the power of retribution. 

We all see reports on the TV and in newspapers which make us angry, sometimes even fighting mad - with people being murdered, mugged, raped, bullied, fleeced of savings by con artists, cowboy builders - the list goes on. But would the meekest of men and women change if bestowed with the power to provide an eye for an eye?  Would they then become like the people they despise? Inflicting pain and torment until they feel better? Until they feel satisfied that their 'target' has learned his or her lesson? Or would they become like King Midas? Would having the power turn them into people unable to look at the news - unable to read or hear anything without fearing that they couldn't control their reaction?

And what if this power escalated - became not just the ability to dish out punishment, but to kill just by thinking about it?  What then? How quickly then would the individual with that power be snapped up by the Government or the Military? Would his life not be his own any more? Would he be too great a risk to be allowed to exist free in society?

The Paradigm Culture is about just such a talent and how one man struggles to deal with it, before it deals with him.     

THE PARADIGM CULTURE - OUT ON KINDLE NOW.  https://goo.gl/AsRVtm

The Paradigm Culture. Now on Kindle.

Hi Guys,

My latest thriller - The Paradigm Culture - Born to Rule (453 pages), is now on Kindle. And, as an added bonus, it's going to be on free download from Sunday 25th September until and including Tuesday 27th September.  Link here: goo.gl/AsRVtm

If you feel like leaving a review on the kindle page, pleased do. You can also sample the first 14 chapters there too. 

The Paradigm Culture takes as its theme that old adage: Be careful what you wish for – which, in the case of Dan Wright, does come true. 

His troubled upbringing has left him believing life is either black or white. He has no faith in the justice system, and no truck with people who break the rules. Being made redundant from a lucrative role at close to 40, and, despite trying, still being out of work six months later, has not only seriously dented his self-esteem, but his marriage to Jayne, who is at her wits end with him and his increasing obsession with rules. She just wants him to get another job – they need the money. Imagine then Dan’s delight at, after a freak accident, suddenly being able to bring criminals to justice, move objects and see through walls just by thinking about it. What talent – what kudos – what power! Except the stuff of his dreams is becoming a nightmare. People he’d been told were there to help him, are not to be trusted, and his abilities are in demand by everyone and they’ll kill to get them – which is why he must break the rules to survive. But, above all this mayhem, is the question of where this power came from and why Dan has it. The answer, could affect the future of our world.





Shortlisted!

Just heard that my latest novel The Paradigm Culture has been shortlisted for Literature Works Sci-fi Competition (One Giant Write). Final round judging by Imogen Robertson and Marcus Gipps. Winner will be announced on or by September 5th.
  
Watch this space, guys!



 

EU referendum - a shot in the dark or a blaze of light?

The EU referendum has set the UK nation at one another's throats, young against old, rich against poor, Scots (who overwhelmingly voted Remain) against anyone who voted 'Leave'. Many are saying this vote was the chance for the disaffected to voice their anger at the way the Government has ridden roughshod over the industrial north, the midlands, the forgotten southwest, in fact anywhere outside of London. If this is the case then why did no one see this result coming? Is the Government so out of touch with the people that from its ivory towers it has lost sight of what’s important to the nation – what frightens and what gels people? Is there no interest in anything that happens outside of the capital?  

At the last election the Prime Minister, David Cameron, offered the referendum to the people - guaranteed that if they voted Conservative he would deliver it – and he did. I don't know whether at the time it was a ploy to gain voters or a genuine altruistic gesture to give the people a voice on an organisation that he and his party must have felt was causing problems. After all you wouldn't offer a referendum on something that was not causing problems – would you? Whatever his motives, there is an old adage that says "You don't offer a referendum unless you know you're going to win". Now, either he'd never heard of the saying or he just assumed that, when he went to the EU to campaign to rewrite our terms of membership, Donald Tusk, (president of the European council) would agree to his demands. Tusk and his colleagues didn't agree.

So, David Cameron began telling us what others of all party colours had been saying, that the UK could thrive outside of the EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6JsrxXhCEc 

Then a few weeks later we began getting the scare stories – vote Remain or the economy will collapse, our security will be weakened, there could be war ... it was like someone had told Cameron and his colleagues that there was a remote chance that some people might vote Leave and maybe he should stop saying we can survive outside the EU and scaremonger those independent thinkers and Euro sceptics back into the fold. Then we had President  Obama telling us we should remain in the EU – suggesting that if we left then the 'special relationship' between our countries would somehow be irreparably damaged. Many people who felt the sovereignty of the UK was being lost under EU interference didn't take kindly to President Obama threatening us with excommunication – telling us to kowtow to the EU or else. We know that the UK being part of the EU benefits the US in many ways – and maybe President Obama was worried that this way into the continent of Europe would be lost to the US. (I wonder how he would take it if our PM suggested that he allow another nation to control his future?)   

A plethora of scare stories began to abound from both the Remain and the Leave camps. So much so that people didn't know what to believe and what not to. The worst of this was that the politicians and gurus offering these warnings seemed to have their own agendas (party leadership – personal gains – financial interests) so could we believe them? The financial institutions – the ones who told us a few years ago that we would be finished if we didn't join the Euro – pitched in too. But what no one, except the people living in those regions of the UK, was seeing was the effect of the deprivation, the growing food banks, the zero hours contracts, the closed high street shops,  infrastructures unable to cope, not enough houses being built and the fact that we could not control our borders. David Cameron had said he would get immigration down to the tens of thousands – that failed. The question of immigration became a huge issue on both the for and against the EU sides. People who wanted controls placed on immigration were being made to feel like racists – when all they wanted was to control the influx, so that the country could budget for the numbers coming in and get the infrastructure in a position where it could cope (which it’s not doing at the moment). But the free movement of the EU membership prevented that. Of course then there were scare stories about poorer countries joining the EU and whether that influx of economic migrants into this country would be capable of being controlled. People who felt that the sovereignty of this country was being eroded were being called ‘Little Englanders’ – when all they wanted was for the elected Government of this country to be setting the rules for the nation – and if that government cocked-up then the nation had the facility to vote it out – something that can’t be done with the EU.

So there we have it – scaremongering from all sides, an out-of-touch arrogance from the Government and 52% of the electorate which felt disenfranchised by an unelectable and remote body.

June 23^rd 2016 will certainly go down in history – maybe as the voting person’s revolution, but there is no going back and, now, we must get on with endeavouring to heal the rift between the Leave and Remain camps and put this great country back on the global rails.       

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS!

Let's hope 2016 brings peace and understanding to all.

A cheap shot at Postmen by the BBC? You decide ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03bs7g7/pointless-series-10-episode-2

Pointless (Quiz Programme -- BBC 1)

Series 10 -- Episode 2 of 70

Programme first aired 27th September 2013 at 5.15pm.

Repeated on 30th December 2015at 5.45pm

 

I saw this episode of the quiz programme (as a repeat) on 30th December 2015 and my complaint (on the same day) to the BBC about it was that, during the introduction the presenter, Alexander Armstrong, joked that his co-presenter, Richard Osman, was called the Postman as, and I quote: "he always delivers and he isn't above stealing ten pound notes from birthday cards".  

I felt the remark was not only offensive and classed all postmen as thieves, but promoted an incorrect and slanderous stereotype.

 

============================================ 

I asked for a reply to my complaint which I received promptly the next day and is shown here:

 

Dear Mr  White
Thanks for contacting us about Pointless.

We understand you’re unhappy with a comment made by Alexander Armstrong.

Alexander and Richard have a very long tradition of introducing each other in a humorous way, but the joke is always firmly on them. In this case Alexander was deliberately using an outdated stereotype to poke fun at Richard, and we’d hope viewers would appreciate that the reference is obviously baseless. That said, we’d never set out to upset or offend viewers, and we’ll make sure your comments are circulated to the Pointless team.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaintswww.bbc.co.uk/complaints

=====================================

     My reply to the BBC (31st December 2015) was:

Your response:  "In this case Alexander was deliberately using an outdated stereotype to poke fun at Richard, and we’d hope viewers would appreciate that the reference is obviously baseless" I'm afraid I don't agree with, for the following reasons:  

1) Calling it an "outdated stereotype" implies that the public had thought postmen/women were thieves. I'd like to see your proof for that assertion.

2) If the reference was "obviously baseless" as you suggest, why create it? 
 
3) The use of the reference in the programme by a well-known personality not only gives it a base, but also promotes it as a given -- all postmen steal. So what you have done in allowing this reference to be aired again, (as it was a repeat from 2013) is give further oxygen to the myth that postmen (and postwomen) are thieves.

It was a cheap joke at the expense of hardworking, out-in-all-weathers individuals who are doing a valuable and essential role, often for less than the national average annual wage.

Someone in your organisation chose to allow this reference to be aired - why I don't know, but it smacks of elitism at the detriment of a sector of the working class that pays that person's salary, via the licence fee. 

I would like the BBC to apologise for the use of this offensive reference.   

 

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 Is it just me, folks, am I super sensitive to this sort of crass cheap joke? I wonder if postmen / women would give it  a second thought? Maybe I should ask them. Watch this space! 

        

 

 

 

 

 

Terbinafine - Beat it!

It's back! My taste returned last Sunday, but I wanted to check that it was not a flash in the pan before I posted.

It's been 13 weeks and whilst my taste began to come back a couple of weeks ago, the ability to taste sweet things has taken a couple more weeks. If anything now I feel my taste for sweet things has heightened - I'm assuming that will regularise over the coming week or so.

For those of you still suffering this horrible so-called side-effect keep eating what you can. I know it's difficult and there were times when I felt totally depressed because I didn't want to eat (or drink) as food and liquids just tasted so terrible. I have lost weight because of this problem and now need to get back to eating healthily to put it back on.

I do believe doctors need to do more research before they prescribe this medication and I also believe the pharmaceutical companies producing it need to revisit their patient leaflets as, I believe, the information contained within them is misleading. The leaflets will suggest that (1) the possibility of developing this side-effect will be minimal and (2) what they call 'taste disturbance' will disappear as soon as the medication is stopped.Both are at inaccurate. My case and that of others is that once you have this loss of taste it can last a minimum of eight weeks (mine 13 weeks!) before you fully regain it - that's not minimal. To call this problem a taste disturbance is also grossly wrong. When it happens it brings with it a host of other problems, loss of interest in food, loss of interest in eating and drinking, medical problems associated with not eating and drinking enough, relationship issues and depression, to mention a few. These are not conditions to be treated lightly - especially in people who may already have physical or mental problems.

My GP had no knowledge of this side-effect and although he said he would stop prescribing it, there will be other doctors out there who will prescribe it, whether through a lack of knowledge of the side-effect or because they feel the on-line drug advice suggests minimal risk. I daresay, too, there will be people who will have used this drug without experiencing this side-effect and will wonder what all the fuss is about. They have been lucky and I am pleased for them. However, my concern is for the people who have and will suffer this problem and the horrible way it impinges on their lives. 

In light of the horrid situation this drug can bring on, and the fact people will not know until around 6 weeks in whether or not they will be affected, by which time it's too late to do anything about it, Terbinafine needs new medical tests and an updating of the patient advice information. Then and only then can people make an informed decision about whether to go forward with the use of this drug. And, it may be to some, that the possibility of prolonged taste loss is something which they are prepared to accept in order to deal with the fungal infection for which this drug is prescribed. But at least they will have made an informed choice which is not the current situation - because no one is informing them.

So, in summary, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel - just keep eating and drinking even though you may not feel like it. Your taste will return and you will enjoy food and drink again.
 

There's no such thing as a free lunch ...

What you see below was posted on Facebook on April 21st. It told people that they could win two Range Rovers by liking and sharing the page. They were also asked to pick a colour for the car.  

On closer inspection there is no company name on the page - no information about who is giving away these cars and no history to the site. So, would you waste your time liking / sharing such a page?  No - guessed not. Neither would I, but what amazed me is that, here we are two days later, and 55,000 people have done just that, and I'm guessing by the 26th (if the page is left on FB for that long) that figure will have risen considerably. Now, I'm guessing that the creators of this page are looking for 'likes' so that they can sell it on. No one will win any cars.

There are many scams like this on Facebook - some offering cars, high-value shopping vouchers, cash prizes - purportedly from bone-fide companies (who know nothing about it) in fact anything that will attract people and play upon their greed, their conscience or their vulnerability. In all these cases many thousands of people will not only 'like' and 'share' the page - but leave comments begging to win.

So, what is it about these people that makes them think there is such a thing as a free lunch? Does their greed take over and blind them to the truth of what the page really is? Or do they know the page is a scam, but their judgement suddenly becomes impaired the more they look at the prize? Or do they regularly take everything they see at face value in all areas of their lives and never question anything?

How gullible can people be? Are these 55,000 the tip of an iceberg? Why do people not check? If there's no company information, no contact details, no history to the site - then be suspicious! Check! Do yourself a favour - wake up and smell the coffee!     
     

Range Rover 4X4.

April 21 at 8:45pm ·

For the FIRST time in facebook history we are giving away 2 Range Rovers to two winners that we will select on April 26 2015 completely at random.
Would you like to join this amazing giveaway for a chance to own a brand new Range? Simply follow the steps below to enter the competition :
Step 1) Likes this Page...
Step 2) Like this Post
Step 3) Comment which color you want. (Black or Red)
Step 4) Share on your wall

The winners will be messaged via inbox message
Good Luck

See More

 

 53,142 like this.         57,483 shares

 

Three schoolgirls + Syria = Police apology

Can anyone tell me why the British police are having to apologise to the parents of the three 'bright' schoolgirls who flew out from the UK to Turkey in a recent perceived bid to get to Syria?

I'm at a loss to understand how it's the fault of the police that these girls somehow and, apparently without the knowledge of the three sets of parents involved, managed to get together the best part of £1500 each and, one of them, a stolen passport for their journey.

Am I missing something here? 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31820783 

By the way, I truly hope the girls are safe and return to their parents soon. Maybe then we will know what it was that enticed them away. Was it online grooming - or a belief that Syria was their destiny? 

Terbinafine taste loss - a continuing saga of cardboard and seawater!

Well, I'm into the fifth week of taste loss. Feeling quite depressed now by the so-called side-effect of the aborted course of Terbinafine that I was prescribed. Food still resembles the texture of cardboard and all drinks still resemble seawater. I do not feel like eating or drinking as neither is a pleasure any longer and I'm now also experiencing problems trying to swallow food as my saliva ducts seem to have given up altogether and my mouth is very dry all the time. Family meals are not the social occasions they used to be and I am losing weight, which for a 68 year-old bloke of 5' 10" and weighing 12 stones is not good. My energy levels are greatly reduced and my motivation to do anything even remotely creative has gone. Hence, the story line for my latest book is lying fallow which depresses me even more. My wife is worried about my state of health as am I, but as all food has no flavour and the textures seem bland it is a chore to force food down - even though I know I should. What makes it worse is that I can smell the food and drink as I raise it to my mouth, however the instinctive expectation of flavour when I put it into my mouth is suddenly dashed when I eat. 

As I mentioned previously I know people suffering cancer and undergoing chemotherapy often experience taste loss - a side-effect of which they are warned and, as the chemotherapy is essential to their fight against the disease, have little choice in not accepting. As someone who had cancer and, fortunately did not have to have chemotherapy, I feel for their predicament. But here we are not talking chemotherapy we are talking medication for a fungal infection and the patient advice leaflet does not, I feel, place enough emphasis on this side-effect. The advice, and I know I am repeating some of what I have written previously on this subject in this blog, gives the impression that the taste loss is a minor ailment and its duration listed as 'for some time'. Not exactly a warning of the debilitating physical and mental effects this drug can have upon one's life for what looks like, in my case, is going to be a further month at least.

So as you will have guessed, based upon my ongoing problems, I would warn anyone prescribed Terbinafine to think very carefully before taking it. (You would be wise to look up Terbinafine and check out the facts about this medication - also check out the links concerning it that I have provided previously on this blog).  One of the major difficulties with this problem of taste loss is that you will not know you're going to experience it until it happens and then, of course, it's too late. Not only will you have the problem for a minimum of eight weeks (and indeed the possibility that your taste may not fully return) but as soon as the problem arrives - you will need to stop taking the drug, which will mean that as you didn't finish the course you will be left with the infection for which you took the drug in the first place. Not a particularly good trade off.      

And don't rely upon your doctors knowing how bad this so-called side-effect will be. From their reference material, they will believe that the instances of taste loss with Terbinafine will be extremely rare. So rare that it's not worth mentioning to you - even if you're over 65 and have a low BMI which means that you could be more susceptible to getting this problem - and at a time of life when you can least do with it.

 

Below is a 2005 objective assessment of Terbinafine-induced taste loss, the conclusion of which states:

 

These findings 1) support anecdotal case reports of taste loss after terbinafine use, 2) demonstrate that all four major taste qualities are affected, and 3) suggest that olfactory dysfunction is not involved. Because self-report markedly underestimates chemosensory deficits, more extensive quantitative testing of patients receiving terbinafine will likely reveal a much higher prevalence of terbinafine-induced taste loss than currently reported. Since being older than 65 years of age and having a low body mass index are reportedly risk factors for terbinafine-induced taste loss, physicians should be particularly on the alert for elderly persons taking this medication who may become depressed or alter their food intake in response to decreased taste sensation.

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Watch this space!