Visual Proverbs

Anti-semitism

The UAE will teach children about the holocaust. That's nice. And now Israel can reciprocate by teaching about the killing of Palestinian children by the Israeli Defence Force.

Details are available here

 A spike in the number of child fatalities led to condemnation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

 

 

A right royal carry-on

OMG. I can't pick up a paper or watch a news progamme without getting far too much information about the right royal farce. 

The only thing missing is for Harry to imitate Kenneth Williams, "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"

The Royal family carry-on is being used as a diversion from the cost of living. Lets face it the cost of living does not bother any of them. They keep their royal snouts in the trough all right.

 

Spoiler Alert Answers to Proverbs 9

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

Proverbs 9

 

 

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

Spoiler Alert answers to Proverb Quiz 8

Proverbs 8

1) In the poem who was "put in a pot and boiled 'til he was done"?

a) Prince Andrew b) Boris Johnson c) Don't Care

2) What is the mother of invention?

a) Money b) necessity c) genius

3) If something is rare it is once in a

a) blue moon b) while c) week

4) Where might a bolt come from?

a) the shed door b) a rifle c) the blue

5) Cockneys are said to be born within the sound of

a) Eastenders b) Coronation Street c) bow bells

6) What might you bring home?

a) the TV licence b) the bacon c) the whole hog

7) If it ain't broke

a) get another one b) don't fix it c) look after it

8) President Harry S. Truman had a sign over his desk saying who or what stops here?

a) my secretary b) the president c) the buck

9) What might you find in the ointment?

a) vanilla b) lavender c) a fly

10) What cannot stand?

a) my aunt fanny b) a drunken man c) a house divided against itself

11) What might you find in sheep's clothing?

a) ticks b) a lamb c) a wolf

12) What should you do unto others?

a) as little as possible b) as you would have them do unto you c) before they do unto you?

13) There is no WHAT for the wicked?

a) rest b) money c) forgiveness

14) What should you not put before the horse?

a) the cart b) the nosebag c) the manger

15) What should you beware?

a) the first of March b) the ides of March c) the thirty first of March.

(15th of March - traditional day for settling debts or assassinating Caesar)

16) What is the food of love?

a) peanut butter b) music c) chocolate

17) You are innocent until

a) proven guilty b) arrested c) you can afford a lawyer

18) When is a hare proverbially mad?

a) February b) March c) April

19) What should you do while the sun shines?

a) make hay b) sunbathe c) go on holiday.

20 Where will you find big ears?

a) little pitchers b) Noddy c) big heads

 

 

Proverb quiz 8

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

A Deadly Web

This latest book from Jeanne M Dams is excellent. It is hardly a spoiler to say there is a murder and it is solved by Dorothy Martin with the aid of Alan and his police contacts.

It is the everyday human interaction of Dorothy Martin with her family and friends which brings this book to life. The characters are more realistic. Many famous detectives are brilliant at solving crimes but they don't seem to eat, drink or sleep and certainly do not have mischievous pets.

The imaginary city of Sherebury is remarkably like Arundel -  a village which has a Cathedral at its midst. Everything in Arundel is within walking distance and I can just imagine Alan and Dorothy in Arundel Cathedral.

The unfolding of the "whodunnit" is very satisfactory and the local colour adds to the story. Jeanne M Dams is an American and perhaps an honorary Brit because her stories are set in the UK for the most part.

Read it and enjoy it.

A lesson from History

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. The Tories are planning new anti-union laws and union-bashing rhetoric. They have forgotten their own history.

The Heath government recklessly imprisoned five dockers in 1972. It sparked a strike wave of unprecedented proportions and the government had to produce the "official solicitor" like a rabbit out of a hat to say the five dockers (Con Clancy, Tony Merrick, Bernie Steer, Vic Turner, and Derek Watkins) had apparently purged their contempt so they were released and there was no need for a general strike.

The pressure from rank-and-file trade unionists spurred the TUC into action against the wishes of the right-wingers in the leadership.

The Tories looked ridiculous and the working-class movement was triumphant.

TES teaching resources

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/helpline2

Although it is called a shop all the resources are free.

Bookworm words

These are some of the more unusual words which can be used in the online game Bookworm. It is a game which I thoroughly recommend to your pupils

Why not set it for homework? They will love it.

https://kbhgames.com/game/bookworm-online

 

DELF	Alt spelling of “Delft” referring to pottery
DIS	Could be slang for “disrespect” (alt diss) or the capital of Hell
DOPY	Alt spelling of “dopey”
DORY	A flat-bottomed boat
DUP	“to open” and not the abbreviation for the Democratic Unionist Party
DURE	Hard or severe
FANE	A temple
FRIZ	Alt spelling of “Frizz” meaning to make hair into short curls
GEES	Third person present tense of to gee – as in gee up a horse
GOY	Anyone who is not Jewish
GREE	Mastery or victory
HAED	Had (Scots)
HIN	Ancient hebrew measure of liquid
JIN	Alt spelling of “Jinn” - a mythological spirit which may be good or evil
MARRER	Alt spelling of “marrow” meaning a mate or friend
NADIR	Lowest point
PATE	Head – although Google thought I meant Pâté
PITA	Alt spelling of Pitta as in Pitta bread
QUIRED	Alt spelling of “quire” meaning 24 sheets of paper
TASS	A cup (Scots) cf tasse (French)
TIDED	Past tense of verb “to tide” meaning to move with the tide
TIPPY	Liable to tip over but a word I hadn’t heard before
TITI	A South American monkey
TOTER	One who carries something, e.g. a gun-toting cowboy.
TOYER	One who toys with something
TREED	Planted with trees or indeed driven up a tree by a hunting pack
TRET	An allowance for waste
VIS	Power cf Latin “vires”
YELD	A sterile animal
ZOA	Individuals from a single egg
ZOON	Singular of zoa

Also

torse	Heraldic wreath
bine	a long, flexible stem of a climbing plant, especially the hop.
eft	newt
nelly	a silly person (informal)
voe	a small bay or creek in Orkney or Shetland.
quean	cheeky girl
quoin	an external angle of a wall or building.
cavil	make petty or unnecessary objections.
gan	a dialect of Chinese spoken by about 20 million people, mainly in Jiangxi province. (you'd think that would make it a proper noun but Bookworm accepts it)
foy	to assist a ship in distress
gie	a Scottish word for give
ret	soak with water
rax	to extend
ria	a long, narrow inlet formed by the partial submergence of a river valley.
yow	used to express excitement, joy, or surprise
bren	a lightweight quick-firing machine gun used by the Allied forces in the Second World War. (you'd think that would make it a proper noun but Bookworm accepts it)
kab	an ancient Hebrew measure equal to about two quarts.
purl	(knitting) an inverted stitch producing ribbing etc
vagi	cranial nerves
glim	candle
joe	an ordinary man “average joe” (or a cup of coffee)
loof	palm of the hand
ite	dto make ready
pinta	chronic skin disease
illy	badly
cade	lumpy or rotund
clag	sticky mud or dirt
ree	Wild; fierce; outrageous
mome	A dull or stupid person.
sau	a skewer made of losilosi wood
wale	a horizontal wooden strip fitted as strengthening to a boat's side.
pinas	Pina = a cone of silver amalgam prepared for retorting (pinas being the plural)
fiar	The price of grain in the counties of Scotland,
sura	a chapter or section of the Koran (scholars say each one can be taken seven different ways!)
soli	did you know there was a plural of solo?
oxo	the game of noughts and crosses (and those beef cubes as well!)
cuke	cucumber (informal)
kata	martial arts practice
maar	a broad, low-relief volcanic crater
macer	an official who keeps order in a law court
quate	archaic term for fortune or destiny
uta	noun. any of several iguanid lizards
lunk	a slow-witted person
puggy	having a face that resembles that of a pug dog
menad	a frenzied woman (alt spelling maenad)
pung	low box sleigh
geest	a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside
Dexy	a tablet of Dexedrine

Spoiler Alert - answers to Proverbs 6

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

Proverbs Quiz - just for fun

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

TES downloads

Resources on the Times Education Supplement website. Free to download

233 sales for Brevity series

Ebay report 233 sales for the Brevity series.

All the feedback has been positive.

Woohoo!

Spoiler Alert, answers to the old money quiz

What follows is the answers to the old money quiz.

These are my answers anyway.

They might all be wrong!

 

 

1) Sun moon and a star are three far things = 3/4d

2) A gorilla's leg joint would be an ape knee 1/2d

3) Penny 1d

4) A penny farthing 1 1/4 d

5) A baby kangaroo and a three penny bit were both called a Joey 3d

6) The largest Maundy coin is a fourpenny bit 4d

7) Dutch money is a Euro now but used to be a florin 2/-

8) Bob 1/-

9 A tanner 6d

10) A tiara could be a crown but Glenda suggested half a crown 2/6

11) A dollar was 5 shillings 5/-

12) A snow leopard is called an ounce (it just is) so eight would be half a pound 10/-

13) Guinea £1 1s

14) Oh dear this is the worst. Sick squid £6

15) Tenor £10 

Old money quiz

I was given this at Quiz Club today. I do not know all the answers yet. However they are all amounts of old money: pounds, shillings and pence and of course farthings.

1) Sun, moon and a star.

2) A gorilla's leg joint

3) A girl's name.

4) A bicycle

5) A baby kangaroo

6) The largest Maundy coin

7) Dutch money

8) A boy's name

9) A leather worker

10) A tiara

11) A dollar

12) Eight snow leopards

13) A pig

14) A poorly sea creature

15) Male singer

Fiction Books

 Total fiction books = 12

The latest is the audiobook "Brev"

 

 
The most recent Durrington Detective Agency book is Darkness in Durrington

The best thing about this series is that people who buy one, tend to buy them all.

My fiction books are as follows:

The Mirror of Eternity Series

The Mirror of Eternity

Salt Wars 

The Miranda Revolution

Defending the Sangreal

Domain of Dreams

Space Dog Alfred Series

Space Dog Alfred

Planet of the Dogs

Durrington Detective Agency series

Durrington Detective Agency

Death in Durrington

And a collection of short stories

Pot Pourri

Proverb Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

Word Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

A proverb

Ingenu/e

Ingenu/e magazine published this and even sent me a free copy. Ingenu/e is sympathetic to #worthingflash and the magazine is a great place to publish flash fiction in print.

Proverbs

Malala - Muslims against the Taliban

The first and main victims of the Taliban were Muslims. This is the story of the muslims who fought back against them told through the words of Malala Yousafzai.

Thousands of girls of Malala's age are rebelling against the dictatorship in Iran as I write this,  The slanders against the rebels - that they are in the pay of America - are exactly the same as the slanders against Malala.

The facts belie the propaganda. Malala's story focuses on education. Her father's dream was to run a school and he made personal sacrifices to do so. When the Pakistan branch of the Taliban started burning down schools and threatening his school, he spoke out against it and Malala supported him.

The Taliban seek to keep women and girls subservient and it is for that reason that they oppose education for any female citizens. This is based on what Malala sees as a false interpretation of religion. Certainly it is more about social control than religious dogma.

Malala's enthusiasm for education is boundless. Not all students feel the same. Not all students have armed thugs trying to prevent them being educated.

The reactionary views of the Taliban thrive on poverty and ignorance and every voice raised against them gives hope for a future where girls have rights and poverty is a thing of the past.

 

See How They Run

Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan are the stars of this film.

In the role of Constable Stalker, Saoirse Ronan produces innumerable red herrings which move the plot forward. The murder victim is hit in the face with a pair of skis from the performance of "The Mousetrap" and as she says it is "all downhill from there".

I will not give any spoilers about Sam Rockwell.

Although it is a comedy, it does reference some of the serious issues of the time in which it is set.

It is set in a period of history when female officers had a struggle against the institutional sexism of the met. A struggle which is not over today. 

Her very name suggests the Stalker Inquiry which was an investigation into the shootings of suspected members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1983.

Overall it is a very satisfying "whodunnit" in the Agatha Christie tradition and a very good comedy to boot.

 

 

Though Cowards Flinch and Traitors Sneer

Keir Starmer wants the Labour Conference to sing "God Save the King". It will be drowned out by the sound of Keir Hardie turning in his grave! 

 

Fiction

Once upon a time, the People's Friend described itself as a magazine for women. Now it has gone unisex.

It has rules for fiction contributions which are here

• In brief save your story as a Word document. (You do not need to spend a fortune on "word" because Open Office can save in Word format and Open Office is free.
•  Put the number of words in the title. 
• Use the title as the header for your email.
• email to friendfiction@dctmedia.co.uk

They also recommend reading their magazine but they would say that wouldn't they.

101words.org accept stories of, you guessed it, 101 words. They are never closed for submissions.

And of course never forget #worthingflash

Brevity 3

There are stories about the Twittens of Durrington, a surly shop assistant, a teacher who gets in a bit of a pickle, robbers, horoscopes, the future, a project to help the homeless, ghosts and a clairvoyant trickster. There is also a longer story which is a revised version of "The Mirror of Eternity" which deals with time travel.

 

 

Fat cats and hosepipe bans

The water companies have had decades to prepare for the drought. In fact the money which could have created the infrastructure to cope with the demand has been siphoned off to shareholders in record profits. In all over 60 billion pounds have been paid to shareholders since 1991.

Hosepipe bans are a stupid knee-jerk response to the crisis which the water companies caused. They are blaming and punishing the victims. Consumers do not waste water on the same scale as water companies. Imagine our hosepipes wasting 3,000 million litres of water! Leakages peaked five years after the privatisation of the water companies.

If you are finding it difficult to water the garden, you probably have a fat cat sitting on the hosepipe!

 

Letter to My MP

Dear Sir Peter Bottomley,

I am aware that in China, the population either votes Communist or else.

Would you like to explain the present prime ministerial election in which only paid-up Conservatives are allowed to vote? Is this the shape of things to come? Can you possibly defend this?

Yours sincerely,

Derek McMillan

Fun Quiz

Click here 

The only prize is a pat on the back!