EDUCATION standards are definitely slipping. Casual observation of the dosy dawdlers slowly refilling out streets indicates that this is so. So many citizens are showing an inability to read. To them, the inscribed shapes appearing all around them are nothing more than heiroglyphics. And those who have passed the brain-straining next step of transforming these…
Hi Mum, everything all right? No reply. Morning Dad, how’s tricks? Silence, not a word. And why should I expect one? It’s been such a long time since we last spoke. Something like thirty years or more in dad’s case, probably going on for even lo ger. More recently with mu, almost in this century….
IN these uncertain times (I write in the era of Covid-19) there is little better than delving into a book knowing that satisfaction is guaranteed. Plot, characters and dialogue will meld into a teasingly enjoyable story of good fighting evil with at least some measure of justice being served. The good guys will at times…
BRITISH readers’ love affair with all things dark, murderous and mysterious shows no signs of waning. Crime continues to come first choice among public library users, with children’s books a valiant second and daylight to all other genres. Thrillers, mysteries and crime fiction take eight out of the ten top places in the British Library’s…
CRIME fiction is probably the broadest of all literary genres. And nowhere in my recent reading is this better demonstrated than by this beautifully crafted novel. Fine writing from a Grand Prix Litteraire de l’Heroine winner that mystifies and intrigues from the appealing title all the way through to its haunting other worldly conclusion. Whether…
IT appears that waste is good. More than that, it is to be encouraged rather than discouraged, despite the extent to which it is universally decried. This is proved time and again on my regular excursions to buy the necessities of life. The recent panic buying epidemic – caused by an even greater pandemic –…
A CLICHE it maybe, but the saying that “everything old is new again” is one that has stood the test of time. As reliable as ever as each generation “discovers” something that was commonplace to their parents or grandparents. It rushed to mind as today’s papers splashed on the “innovative” ways public houses were coping…
WITHOUT fanfare my local M&S has today reopened its ground floor clothing, cosmetics and sundry items section. No shouty newspaper or TV campaigns. Almost a whisper; a soft opening as similar cautious events are described. Yet hardly had the doors slid open to provide access to its Food Hall than the other racks of non-essentials…
‘Morning, can I help you?’ The receptionist smiled her greeting. ‘I hope so. At least you look as if you want to.’ A clumsy compliment, Bromo chided himself. But well meant. ‘Makes a refreshing change to where I come from,’ he hurried to explain. ‘Tyllmouth must do strange things to people. So relaxed and slow-going.’…
WHAT is it about proofreading and editing that academics find so hard to understand? Yet again a university student has requested my help in preparing their thesis for submission. And yet again, and much as I would welcome the work, I have had to say no. There are several reasons for refusal, but the main…