20 Reasons to Question Capita£i$m:

Many readers will find what I suggest here blindingly obvious, and many others will find it difficult to accept. I hope to stimulate critical examination of a system most accept as ‘normal’ and therefore unquestioningly embrace. I’ve no wish to offend, scare or cause anxiety. A few moments of neutral consideration may, perhaps, make it …

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A Life-Changing Decision?

The wonderful world we inhabit. Photo courtesy NASA. I’ve slept poorly recently. This time I made a decision during the wakeful period. What kept me awake? Put bluntly; the dreadful state of the world today. Putting the most urgent issue of the environment emergency aside for the moment, in UK we’re now led by a …

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The Time is Now, the Place is Here

In October 2018, just 7 months ago, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced we had 12 years to deal effectively with Climate Change, otherwise we’re likely to reach a tipping point beyond which our ability to predict future changes is at best unreliable. It is likely such a scenario will result in widespread devastation, …

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Fundamental #ClimateEmergency Action

This post will raise many concerns, objections and even outrage in some readers. Be warned. Most of the world is now, at last, aware of the dangers we face from climate change. Some refuse to accept we, the human race, are the major contributor to the looming disaster. Some doubters, like Donald Trump, are in …

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A Political #Poem

Apologies to all my apolitical readers. Here in UK we’re going through a traumatic self-immolation created by a Government that cares more for a political party than for the good of the nation. As a writer, I feel it’s my role to make a point. I’ve done that here in the form of a poem, …

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The #Write #Words? Post 3

Word cloud created through wordart.com Looking at Onomatopoeia, Simile, and Collective Nouns, and my Delusional Dictionary. For definitions of those, click here to read the introductory post to the series. This week’s words: Creak, Croak, Blind as a bat, Deaf as a post, Equivocation of politicians, Photographer. Onomatopoeia: creak, croak ‘Here in the UK we …

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A Protest Poem.

Picture reproduced courtesy of Creative Commons Licence by kind permission of Donkeyhotey Are You Proud of Your Record to Date Mrs May? Are you proud of your record to date Mrs May Are you proud of the men in your club Do they fill every day with delight at their pranks Do they make every …

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Perils of Social Media Engagement

Okay, I shouldn’t have done it. I know. But, sometimes, my passion for an issue overcomes my internal common-sense policeman and I get involved. A short while ago, I posted a Tweet relating to Climate Change, an issue dear to my heart long before I joined Greenpeace in the 1980s. It reached some deniers on …

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Leaders: Do We Really Need Them?

There’s a peculiar, but worldwide, obsession with and respect for leaders of nations. Why? What good do they do? If we look at history, ancient and modern, we find leaders have taken their nations into war, most often to increase the size of the region over which they hold power. Does such action benefit the …

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‘Work Hard And You’ll Succeed’: The Biggest Lie?

You’ll have heard the cry: ‘Work hard and you’ll succeed.’ Almost from infancy, we’re brought up to believe this mantra. It follows us through school, often reinforced by loving and caring parents, and is ingrained in our very personas through repetition and a form of example. The successful, in the terms of our current society, …

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Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari, Reviewed.

What a tremendous book this is. Subtitled, ‘A Brief History of Tomorrow’, this follow-up to ‘Sapiens’ confirms the author’s mastery of deep research combined with an intelligence that permits him to see the world as a whole. I selected this book to read now as I’m at the initial editing stage of a science fiction …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #32

Help here for writers, making their work more accessible, interesting, varied, accurate and effective by exploring similar and dissimilar words. The series also allows language learners some insights into the peculiarities of the English language. A good thesaurus provides alternatives for the idea of a word, but not all are true synonyms: context matters. Placing …

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NSA, by Benny Neylon, Reviewed.

This is satirical, dystopian science fiction taking a brutal swipe at the media, politicians, conspiracy theorists, security experts and the military. All of it richly deserved. The writing is good, characterisation is thorough, creating archetypes rather than indulging in stereotypes as is so often the case with books of this type. The humour is hard, …

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I’d Like to Know: Why? #4 Leaders

This is the fourth in an occasional series of posts asking sometimes awkward questions. Some topics are trivial, some serious, and others vital. I’d love you to join in any ensuing debate using the comments at the foot of the posts. Enjoy! Why Do We Keep Appointing Leaders? We’re living in pretty tumultuous times, aren’t …

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I’d Like to Know: Why? #3 Religion

This is the third in an occasional series of posts asking sometimes awkward questions. Some topics are trivial, some serious, and others vital. I’d love for you to join in any ensuing debate using the comments at the foot of the post. Enjoy! Why Are We Required to Respect Religion? This question has been at …

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