Benjamin Zephaniah

I have more respect for Benjamin Zephaniah who laughed at the idea of being a member of the British Empire than for anyone who accepted this farcical honour. 

After all, most people were not given a choice about the British Empire!

Military Gap Year

Teenagers who spend a year in the army will certainly gain experience. And how much of it will be experience of bullying and misogyny?

The experience will have one unique feature. Most gap years will not kill you. 

If you thought a boggart was the star of Casablanca, read this book.

If you thought a boggart was the star of Casablanca, read this book. 

A family tried hard to be as normal as can be. Then they are beset by strange happenings, hallucinations that are not hallucinations; dreams that are not dreams and the past overshadowing the present. That is what you will find in this hugely entertaining book.

Your Party

The main political parties are drawing closer together as establishment 
parties.

There are people in this country who are opposed to blaming migrants for 
everything.

There are people who are not happy about arming Israel to the teeth.

There are those opposed to attacking the living standards of the poor so 
that billionaires can laugh at us.

So it is not unreasonable that there should be a party to represent 
those people.

‘Your Party’ is an attempt to fill that role. They get my vote. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Derek-McMillan/e/B009FUXHW

How to Kill your Family

This is a darkly comic book which gives more and more details, some of which are hilariously funny, about the people who are killed. You can make up your own mind about whether they had it coming.

It has some wry observations such as:

"Prep work for killing someone is an odd thing. I wish there were an online group where you can share tips."

The body in the Landrover

Hello Derek

Congratulations... your story has been approved, please find it here: https://short-story.me/stories/mystery-stories/1994-the-body-in-the-land-rover

Human Rights vs politicians

When a Labour Home Secretary is praised by Tories and Reform UK, it should ring warning bells. 

If politicians attack the human rights of refugees, our own human rights will be next. 

It should be clear that Labour has abandoned any pretence of supporting the working class. A new party is needed.

The Seventh Son

Human beings tend to regard homo sapiens as the last word in evolution and as being superior to other iterations of humanity because we possess consciousness.

What if our consciousness is the very thing which leads to dementia? Without giving away the whole plot, a billionaire has the means to conduct an experiment which might just uncover this paradox. 

It is fair to say that he is not concerned with the human "subjects" of his experiment and when it becomes clear what he is playing at, he thinks his money will protect him and compensate his victims enough so that they don't mind.

The disastrous consequences for the prime subject of the experiment (the "seventh son" of the title) might make us think twice about playing with people's lives!

Labour and refugees

"Billionaires cause the problems, so let's attack the refugees." seems to be Labour Policy at the moment.

Are refugees easier to attack?

The enemies of the people arrive in private jets not small boats.

 #billionaires #refugees #Labour 

A modest proposal about the monarchy

More Racist than Thou

The Artist formerly known as Prince Andrew

So the grand old Duke of York is no more. And on purely spurious grounds he retains the title of ‘Prince’.

He was ‘born a Prince’ and could have stopped using the title. He chose not to and Charles let him. #princeandrew #kingcharles #epstein

The King can grant, revoke, or amend titles using a legal instrument called Letters Patent. Charles chose not to do so. 

It is time to get rid of the lot of them.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Worthing Musical Comedy Society production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert gives new life to songs we thought we had forgotten. The costume department are the unsung heroes of this show. Each time I found myself thinking, "They can't get more outrageous and extravagant than this." Each time I was wrong.

It was a hugely entertaining evening. The plot follows an improbable journey of three drag queens across Australia from Sydney to Alice Springs. En route they have a series of impossible adventures in a number of places with unlikely (but accurate) names.

Australia is not the worst place in the world for homophobia (That would be Saudi Arabia where gay relationships carry the death penalty) but at the time of the story it was a serious problem and it still is.

So to make light of it with some very good (and rather shocking) jokes is an interesting approach.

The improbability of the plot does not matter, the production of the musical numbers does. On that score it is a great success.

Zionist narrative

The BBC has stated this morning that hostages were tortured by HAMAS. In the same breath they assert that the released Palestinians have made ‘allegations of torture’. 

Who is telling the truth? Who is making allegations?

Should a news organisation be trying to find out the truth or peddling the Zionist narrative

Trump

The media is saying that the #hostages  will be welcomed by #Trump - surely they have suffered enough.

The Struggle for World Socialism

Peter Taaffe’s legacy lives on through his writing, which will continue to inspire future generations of socialists.

I had the privilege of working alongside Peter during the time Militant transitioned into a weekly newspaper. It was an ambitious undertaking that stretched the resources of the Militant tendency, but ultimately, it proved to be a worthwhile effort—both in its impact and in the dedication it inspired.

Peter had a rare ability to both inform and inspire. Deeply well-read and consistently persuasive, he was a powerful advocate for socialism—whether through his writing or his speeches. His words brought many to the cause and left a lasting impression on all who heard or read them.

Like the universe this book is full of dark matter

"Expect the Unexpected" would be a fair summary of this book of short stories. Short stories ought to have a twist in the tale and these are no exception.

Would you trust Mick Herron with your life? He might have you killed and dismembered in a Harrogate tea house for fun. Someone who could invent Roddy Ho is capable of anything.

Like the universe this book is full of dark matter and it is a first-class read.

The Demon Drink

Many teachers find the job quite stressful and consequently drink a reasonable amount of alcohol to take away the sting. Sometimes this spills over into an unreasonable amount of alcohol - a glass becomes a bottle. I am no exception.

For some people the only solution is to "go cold turkey" and give up drinking altogether. In my experience, this is easier than giving up smoking but Alcoholics Anonymous tell a different story. AA do very good work and if it weren't for their insistence on meetings I would have signed up to them.

A compromise is to pick a day and keep it as a non-drinking day. (Or two days, there is no limit). The advantages of having a Methodist Monday or a Teetotal Tuesday are twofold.

1 As the adverts say, your liver and heart will welcome a day off.

2 Equally important, you will realise that you can manage a day without the demon drink.

There is a third advantage, which is that you will save money.

Click here

Brush up Your Shakespeare

"Brush up Your Shakespeare" is the advice with which the Rainbow Shakespeare Company and the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra ended their concert in the Assembly Hall.

A great range of composers have been inspired by Shakespeare stories and there are too many to list. To give one example, the orchestra played works by Berlioz and Prokofiev which were inspired by Romeo and Juliet. These were followed by excellent performances on stage. The formula worked very well.

This was an inspired performance and entertained the audience hugely.

The idea we all went away with was that "If you can quote Othello, she'll think you a hell of a fellow."

It was great fun.

Audiobooks

 Click here

The advantages of audiobooks for writers:

a They are generally going to be cheaper than print books.

b An audiobook can be produced with just a PC and a microphone.

c You can reach a whole new audience.

d They appeal to people who have problems with reading.

e If, like me, you use eBay you can get reliable information about your audience.