Authoritarianism
Control freakery
When I worked in Kuwait we were joined by three Polish programmers. Two really were programmers, the third was there to keep an eye on the other two. He was expected to work as a [more…]
Blog
Literature
An Old Man’s Musings Part Thirty-Seven
A lot of disquiet expressed currently regarding the actions of the police, two-tier policing etc. etc. Policing by Consent – this from 2000 ‘When saying ‘policing by consent’, the Home Secretary was referring to a [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Two Hundred And Ninety-Two
Monday Good morning, my good friends, and it… guess what, it’s drizzling here in London, I could have predicted that with a Test match to be won. I saw that Angel Eagle doing the rounds [more…]
Diary
Through The Storm to The Smoke
After a breakfast of yoghurt and cheese, washed down with a glass of full-fat milk, we made our way to the railway station early. Storm Floris was interrupting myself, Mrs AWS’s, and our VVIP’s chaperoning [more…]
Fiction
Downfall, Chapter Two
In the street, Dave led Sally across the road, they sat on a bench overlooking the Thames. As they sat down, Sally started crying, Jane Goodley had closed and locked her office door, sitting behind [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1984
Featured song: Duran Duran – The Reflex This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 when they stopped making it. [more…]
Authoritarianism
In Like Zinc
Going-Postal’s old friends in the shadowy world of contractors used to disseminate government propaganda are back in the news. This particular practitioner of the dark arts of perception management and black propaganda came to Puffin’s [more…]
Arts
Jinnie’s Story, Book Eight – Chapter Twenty-Four
Ro showed Jinnie around the house and to her en-suite guest room, all the time accompanied by Syd the Maine Coon kitten. Ro said, “I’ll leave you to settle in. When you are ready, come [more…]
Economics
A Simple Solution to the Tariff Wars
US President Donald Trump has kicked off a tit-for-tat tariff war, claiming that foreign tariffs against American goods harms America and that American tariffs against foreign goods are essential to rebuild America’s manufacturing base. Frankly, [more…]