Literary Heritage

Recently an old wardrobe I used as a bookcase collapsed, spilling books all over the floor. Those little bits of plastic just could not take the strain any more. That made me look through the books on my shelves. Nearly 500 of those books are by authors that I have helped to publish their own work over the last twenty years. There have been many more writers who have gone it alone, but I no longer have their books.

Looking over the titles there's some really good stuff there, and a sprinkling of mistakes. One guy insisted on producing his novel in bold sans serif font making it the most difficult book to read (I didn't).

When I started, over 30 years years ago, it was a hazardous business even thinking about publishing your own work. Today it has become much easier. Ebook are the easiest, but we still need a handy reader that is given away free, or at very low cost. Once that's available everyone will carry one around all the time. It could be that the Ipod will become a standard item, and we will not read but listen to books.

Real progress has come with digital printing. I now use an on demand printer for my books and that gives me a direct link to major distributors in UK and USA, effectively giving world-wide coverage. Go into any bookstore and you can place an order for one of your books, which will be printed to your order and delivered to the store in a matter of days.

I ha’ve never made any money from my support for authors, but I feel passionately that authors should be able to reach readers,– and especially those readers who are not even born yet.

Our literary heritage is in serious danger. The Tudor poets could not survive today, nor could the melancholics of the Victorian era, yet they and many others, contribute to the richness of a cultured society.

Culture today depends upon commercial success, good looks, football prowess, sex-appeal and serving the lowest common denominator. Mass-market appeal is drowning out progress, at least the sort of progression I dream about. Perhaps we are drifting into a primitive world. One day the lights will be switched out and no-one will understand why.

Suspicion

Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of the government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He's given Scotland the right to govern most of its activities - he's not allowed them to go to war by themselves as he's always wanted to keep that pleasure for himself. He gave Wales more muted powers over their own destinies, and Northern Ireland had devolved government but behaved like truculent children and so had the privilege taken away. It now seems they don't really want it back, especially as they've all been receiving their salaries and perks for doing nothing, so why should they want to go back to doing something.

England has nothing for itself, only Tony Blair.

It's time to wonder what he's up to. He said he was going to retire before the next election, but didn't say when. He took us into Iraq, even though the rest of the British vehemently opposed that action. Now he has committed British troops to Afghanistan. There's no clear reason why he should have done that. The Russians couldn't tame that beast, nor can the Americans, so what are the British doing there?

He reshuffled the government recently but left his deputy prime minister in place, just took away all his powers. He knows that this man, John Prescott, is widely regarded as a buffoon. He also knows that if he is removed there must be an election, and one of his opponents will get the job. Best to let the fool remain.

He's now signed a petition supporting research on animals. He knows, once again, that most of the rest of the country want more stringent controls on animal research, and that many scientists are questioning its validity these days. It was relevant once, but now we have other methods.

Yesterday he came out in support of nuclear power. He knows that his party, the Labour Party (which he insists on calling New Labour), will have difficulty supporting him on all these issues.

Why is he taking such a stance?

Is he just power-crazy, pushing the electorate to see how far they will go? Is he just ignorant of the wishes and views of ordinary people? Or is there another agenda?

I wonder if all this is not a deliberate strategy. He does not want to hand over power to Gordon Brown, his alleged chosen successor. They don't like each other - even though they are both Scots. He does know he cannot stand again. He would not be elected. His days in power are numbered. He is a selfish, self-centred man.

Perhaps he is also spiteful. If he can't have power then he'll not let those around him have it either. He'd rather let the young kid now leading the Conservatives have the job instead.

He's now a stray bullet. Nobody knows what he will do next. It's doubtful whether anything he says or does will be logical.

Welcome to a decaying Empire.

Free Speech

Freedom of speech is an essential element of a civilised society. We are not an homogenous band whose brains all follow the same pathways, and it is invariably the case that today's heretic or revolutionary will develop to become tomorrow's leader, and often then fall to become despotic.

Those that fear the words of others may be moving into that final phase, when everyone around them poses a threat, where a word spoken out of place can mean isolation, imprisonment, even death.

One million people marched through the streets of London to protest against the invasion of Iraq. The government ignored the pleas of all these people, and the majority of the population who agreed we should not invade.

Now we are paying the price. We shall gain nothing from the invasion of Iraq or the use of our army in Afghanistan. We have already paid money, for weapons, for rebuilding an Iraq devastated by bombing, even though a Defence Secretary said that all essential services would be protected, that they would not be bombed.

Our streets are no longer safe. Suicide bombers, born and bred in England, have been so incensed by the actions of our government that they choose to destroy themselves and to take innocent people with them, or to leave them maimed and weakened by a senseless campaign.

It's easy to condemn the suicide bombers, but they are taking such actions because we created conflict. The war against Al Quieda is yet another myth. Who started the fight in the first place?

We remember Vietnam. We know that there was no chance of victory. There is no hope of beating the rage that is eating away at the hearts of so many.

The British must stop interfering with the lives of other people. We have enough to do here. Let them get on with it. Bring the troops back home.

What's really happening?

Our Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, was sacked last week. Been in the job for five years, not caused any real trouble, so why should he go now?

Rumour says it's because he said it would be inconceivable to invade Iran, and that to consider using nuclear weapons would be nuts.

Yesterday another member of our government said that Guantanamo should be closed. America has rejected that request. That guy will probably disappear soon as well.

Iraq is proving to a disaster, but there is a more important issue than the political stability of that country. The companiesd that make the really big weapons, the million-dollar bombs dropped on Baghdad, are beginning to get worried. They have replaced all the weaponry used in invading Iraq. They now need another target.

Iran looks like a good bet. Politically it threatens Israel, and America is controlled by Jews, so attacking Iran looks like a good idea. We don't have to ask if it is necessary, or even if it is achievable, the question is how many bombs do you think we can drop on the place.

All my life I lived under the supposed threat of Soviet invasion. It was a myth, a lie. It was never going to happen, but companies making the products used in war wanted us to feel worried - they made more money that way.

A Kalashnikov rifle costs a few dollars to make, and can be made by anyone. A nuclear bomb takes a little more thought, and can be very expensive. That's the gear these large international (dare I say US-controlled) companies like to make. Missile guidance, huge tanks, untested hardware.

The truth is that we don't need conventional armed forces any longer. They are useless against insurgents, and (supposedly) they are the new enemy. So why do we keep making warships, fighter planes, tanks and bombs?

Because they all make money.

Allotment

It was all too much for me this morning, so I took the traditional male line, and ran away. Just for an hour. It was about to rain, the wind was blowing, but it wasn't cold. I went to the allotment. It was glorious.

A blackbird kept up a constant aria, an absolute delight as I planted runner beans, black French beans and 'Golden Sweet' yellow-podded mangetout peas. Fortunately a hedge had been trimmed nearby, and the clippings remained, long branches of hawthorn, which made perfect pea sticks. This variety of mangetout can grow to 5-6 feet so I pushed in plenty of sticks. Must now hope that the blackbird wasn't watching too closely as I planted the seeds!

Raspberries are about to flower, and the one gooseberry bush looks as if it will be loaded with fruit. I started to clear away some of the long grass around these bushes, but there were too many nettles to make much of an impression without gloves.

A female blackbird flew down beside me, just to tell me that she'd be back as soon as I left to plunder the worms and other juicy snacks I'd uncovered.

We are strange creatures, encouraging the birds to eat the worms, when the worms do us more good than the birds. Although that blackbird's song did leave me feeling elated. An unbroken melody that went on for the whole hour I was on the allotment.

Potatoes are starting to come through. It's strange how some have pushed through and have already formed fair-sized clumps, whilst others have still to appear. My neighbour, a great weeder, has pulled his spuds up into ridges. I'm never sure about all that, you may get more potatoes, but if we have the promised drought they may all be too small to eat. I'll leave mine alone.

Spuds bring back sore memories. I had a five-acre field in Spain, and one evening I had a long discussion with my Catalan neighbour about potatoes. He said the seeds could be cut up, allowing more plants to be obtained. I argued that the cut potatoes stood more chance of getting blight. He resisted that idea, and we agreed to plant my field using both methods. He took the western side of the field, which took the brunt of the weather. That year it rained. His potatoes were soon blighted. It was an awful sight, watching the haulms collapse to yellow-black as the blight reached each plant in turn.

Eventually mine suffered as well and so I lost the whole crop - which had been planted by hand. It's a horrible feeling to pick up a potato that looks OK from the outside, but can be squeezed to reveal the blackened pulp inside.

I always plant the whole tuber these days.

Live for the Day

Spent this morning talking with a lady who looks after 15 anaesthetists, in that she adminstrates their work and collects and distributes the money they earn. Two are women, and she was caustic in her description of these two, saying they took up more of her time than the rest of the team (all men) out together.

I make that as an observation, without comment.

Another friend called to say that her husband had just died. Death is always so much worse for those left behind. As my years increase I consider myself extremely lucky. What ever happens from now on is a bonus.

That cannot be said for the (estimated) 5.4 million children who die from starvation-related causes every year. It's extremely sad, and whatever happened to population control? It was once a popular subject, although now in decline, along with all other environmental subjects.

We are a selfish bunch. Burning oil that has taken millions of years to produce, or nuclear fuel that may take thousands of years to decay. The future is never considered. The children we will never know will be left to pick up the shattered pieces of what should be a perfect world.

Over-population is one huge problem. Yet we continue to invest in new medical techniques that will prolong life while religious leaders condemn the use of condoms. The world is steeped in a lemming-like madness, motivated by greed, pushed along by political and social systems that pay little heed to the needs of the wider society.

British troops have moved into Afghanistan. Why they should be there nobody has really explained. The cost will be met by British taxpayers very few of whom support the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time politicians tell lies, they cavort with their secretaries, having sex in plush offices and apartments paid for by the British taxpayer.

How did we get to the state when nearly 50% of our earnings are taken in direct taxation, and most of the rest is removed by indirect tax or the interest payments imposed by credit card companies and banks.

Amongst all this mayhem another friend's young son is about to die from imoperable cancer. Her pain must be unbearable. There are now words to describe such suffering.

How can any god deserve support when they allow us to create such a stupid world?