Thank you to everybody who has purchased “The Purging” since the review in the Church Times last week. I hope you enjoy reading it. The feedback I’ve received has been very helpful. I think readers who understand it’s intended to be “Midsomer Noir,” while also exploring a serious theme about religious extremism have generally been very positive.
I’ve also had the good news that my excellent local bookshop, Harts in Saffron Walden, will stock the book.
Thank you to everybody for your support.
Much to my surprise (and delight) a review of my first novel “The Purging” has appeared in the Church Times. Thank you to Fiona Hook for her positive review. Nothing encourages an aspiring author more than when somebody reviews your first novel and, even better, appears to have enjoyed reading it.
I have posted a link to the Church Times review here: http://bit.ly/1FktQoC
With a full time job and various voluntary roles I find it a challenge to make time for my writing. However, I still hope to publish the second of the “Bonhunt Chronicles” this summer. I take on board Fiona’s comments that Inspector Wendy Pepper’s personality has still to impress. She is very much work in progress.
If we really want to dislike something, then Europe always seems to be a good target.
Our Government currently has its sights on the European court of human rights and the European convention on human rights. Let’s be clear, these are not the same as the European Union (a distinction that our media often fail to make – everything with Europe in its name gets lumped together and is portrayed as being bad).
Because some of the judgements from the court aren’t ones that the Government wanted, it is being proposed that we should secure the right for our parliament to veto its judgments. We need to be very careful. I am sure Russia would welcome the idea that their parliament, the Duma, could set judgements against their country aside. And if we pull out of the European convention on human rights we turn our back on the convention that guarantees the right not to be tortured or enslaved; the right to liberty and security of the person; the right to marry; the right to a fair trial; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association.
These rights have been hard earned: we shouldn’t set aside the structures that guarantee them just because they are European and don’t always produce the outcomes that we want.
So the prize for the first broken promise after the election goes to………..Nigel Farage. He’ll probably claim that, technically, he did resign as leader of UKIP having failed to get elected in Thanet, only to be “begged” not to quit by his party’s executive. But does this really honour his promise to quit if not elected?
What it confirms is that UKIP really is a one man band and is incapable of turning itself into a mature political party.
So David Cameron, the essay crisis Prime Minister, has once again got there by the skin of his teeth. An overall majority on just 36% of the vote.
First of all, congratulations are in order. But I cannot get enthused at the prospect of five more years, this time with an overall majority. No tempering this time by the sadly decimated Liberal Democrats, and so nobody else to blame. Already it seems legislation that affects our civil liberties is back on the agenda, and our future in Europe looks decidedly dodgy.
Cameron talks of “one Nation” conservatism. I fear all the pressure will be from the right wing of his party, and he can no longer use the Liberal Democrats as an excuse to resist their demands.
If we needed any confirmation about the sad state of our newspapers here in the UK, this morning’s editions surely provide the evidence that the once noble institution of Fleet Street has waved the white flag and surrendered.
Yes, I know they all moved out of Fleet Street years ago. That was probably the moment when the rot set in. The challenge of modern media and new methods of communication could have opened up new horizons and spurred investigative journalism on in its task of holding the establishment to account. Instead, most of our once great newspapers are now owned by proprietors who have little interest in real journalism and news reporting, preferring to instruct their poor staff to produce comics that peddle savage attacks on the politicians they don’t want us to vote for, while failing to hold the ones they support to account.
I used to care about the future of many of these newspapers. But why waste our money on this rubbish? Perhaps it is time to say good riddance.
Just two days of campaigning left in the General Election and an opportunity to reflect on a campaign that has sadly failed to enhance the stature of politics in our society. But there are some positive notes.
Firstly, it was good to see an endorsement of Nick Clegg in The Times this morning, coupled to an encouragement for voters in his constituency to support him. He has had a pretty torrid time at the hands of the press over the last five years despite the fact that it has been largely thanks to him that we have had a stable and effective government. In coalition you can never get everything you want, but Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have successfully argued for a fairer society and resisted further curbs on our civil liberties.
Secondly, Ed Miliband has withstood the expected right wing onslaught far more effectively than those orchestrating it anticipated. He has made a strong case as to why he deserves to be Prime Minister more than David Cameron.
The disgrace of this campaign has been David Cameron, refusing to say where his welfare cuts will fall and trying to win the election on fear rather than with a positive view as to the future of our country.
The polls continue to show Labour and Conservatives equal with a small rise in Liberal Democrat support and the SNP set to win lots of seats on a very small proportion of the overall vote. Let’s hope people vote for vision and not out of fear.
I can highly recommend the current touring production of David Hare’s play “The Absence of War,” playing this week at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. It proved a refreshing alternative to the Party Leaders’ Question Time sessions last night and provided a very realistic (if somewhat depressing) analysis of the state of our democracy.
David Hare’s take on the state of the Labour Party and politics in general dates from 1993, but it is highly prophetic in terms of the current General Election: political parties fear saying what they really think and what they really intend to do, while the whole process is distorted by a vicious and unforgiving press.
The Sun newspaper has clearly given up any pretence that it holds a credible opinion about politics in Britain.
This morning’s main edition tells us we should vote Conservative to “stop SNP running the country”. But the Scottish edition tells us “why it’s time to vote SNP.”
Just how stupid does the Sun think its readers are?
It’s great that the politicians are talking about housing and have woken up to it being a key issue for the General Election.
But are they getting their policies right?
The Conservatives have decided to sell off houses they don’t own, offering the “right to buy” on homes owned by Housing Associations. If they get into a position to implement this policy it will be interesting to see if they can deliver – since when could you legislate to sell-off somebody else’s assets?
The Labour party is now offering all sorts of goodies, including capping private rent increases (not sure how they would achieve this) and removing stamp duty for first time buyers (which will probably just push prices up even further).
What we really need is a lot more homes, of all types. It’s the chronic shortfall in supply that is the problem.