George Orwell – Fascism and Democracy

The writer who told the truth.

What is the use of political liberty, so called, to a man who works 12 hours a day for 3 pounds a week? Once in five years he may get the chance to vote for his favourite party, but for the rest of the time practically every detail of his life is dictated by his employer.

Even when by some mischance a government representing the poorer classes gets into power, the rich can usually blackmail it by threatening to export capital.

The citizen of a democratic country is ‘conditioned’ from birth onwards, less rigidly but not much less effectively than he would be in a totalitarian country.

and lastly

The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world

Goodreads Recommendation

Goodreads makes recommendations for books they think may interest me as a reader based on a book or books I’m currently reading.

However, I think this algorithm needs some refining.

The 28th October recommendation was based on the book:

The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold by Geoffrey Robertson QC

and the book Goodreads recommended was

The Man who made Husbands Jealous by Jilly Cooper

I’m still trying to understand what connects these two books?

Book Review – The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato

This is a book whose contents should change people’s views of the state as a bureaucratic apparatus at odds with a dynamic private sector. State funding has allowed key research that provided the basis for the Internet, Microsoft Windows, Stealth Fighters, GPS, and the screens found on almost smartphones including those made by Apple.

And yet how do the private companies who benefit from this innovation reward the State for the risk they took in providing the funds for the research? By keeping the profits for themselves, socialising any losses they make, and evading the taxes they should pay. This doesn’t seem fair and isn’t fair, especially when Pharmaceutical companies benefit from state funding and then produce a drug, based on the state-funded research, which most taxpayers can’t afford.

One day, I hope a country implements the suggestins made in this book? Perhaps Finland or New Zealand already has as they seem ahead of most countries.

How the Yeti was named and other stories

I have written eleven funny stories including the obituary of a former flying ace who died along with his guide dog as they free-climbed Mount Robson. There’s a rejection letter to William Shakespeare for his play “Hamlet” and an explanation for the building of Silbury Hill in England. I also researched, from gnostic texts, the story of how the Yeti received its name.

Discover these stories in this book – available at a discount between 20th October and 27th October.

You can also read an updated rendering of the Three Musketeers and discover the true meaning of words such as aroma, portfolio, and drastic

Diary of a Buddhist Cat

Hello, my name is Freddie. I am a cat.

I live in a house with another cat called Gemma and two humans, John, and Mary.

I am about 3 years old though I can’t remember how old I am exactly because they took me away from my mum when I was very young, and my dad had already left home. My mum used to whisper to me gently how many days old I was when I woke up each morning. This was just after she told me she loved me and that I must be brave at all times and always try my best. I love my mum and I miss her every day.

I can’t really remember which day is which as I live in the present moment. This book isn’t really a diary, because diaries have days and dates – I read this in a book – and I will enter all my entries as ‘Today’. Buddhists believe we should all live in the moment – I read that in a book too, I read a lot – and so I must be a Buddhist cat, but I am not sure how I prove that to anyone. Perhaps if I leave all my chapter headings as ‘Today’ then when they discover this book after I pass on someone else will determine that a Buddhist cat wrote this book? Otherwise, I am not sure what to do. Do I have to obtain a certificate or pass an exam? I’m not sure. I can’t find any books which tell me this information and I’ve looked hard.

Luckily there’s a library next door that allows cats to use the facilities, though I’m not sure whether the library realises this yet. I can even use their photocopier to produce pictures of my rear end, which confuses them no little amount, and then they call in the repairman because they reckon there’s a fault with the copier, rather than a cat with a sense of mischief lurking outside the window. To gain entry, rather than use the sliding doors at the front which I can only operate with a great deal of effort, there’s always an open window on the top floor and I can squeeze in there during the day when it’s open. I have to leave by 5pm before the slim lady librarian with the severe eyebrows, blue hair, and clothes covered in dog hairs closes it for the night.

Anyway, I will stop moaning – as Gemma calls it, she’s mean but more of that many times later – I can sense you’re wondering how did this Buddhist cat get into this state? How did I get to the pinnacle I operate at today? Well, you’ve come to the right place for an explanation, clever reader, how did you know?

Actually, to be fair, there’s not that much to it…

As I said, they took me from my mum when I was little more than a kitten and gave me to an older lady ‘for company’. This person was poor and fed me a paltry amount each day. She lived in one room, and I was never let outside to gain the social skills required to get along with trees, streets, and those large moving objects that weigh more than I do, and which would squash me flat if I ever went too close to them. I was a sickly young cat and caught cat flu, which I don’t remember hunting but caught anyway. The lady took me to a vet, and I needed some medicine. The lady couldn’t afford to pay and threw me at the vet, who caught me and paid for the medicine himself before handing me over very gently to a cat shelter.

To read further, please visit this link – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GPQJTB2

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I am very pleased I reached the end of this book. It was a struggle at times against the flow of the descriptions, word repetitions, and almost constant contemplation of Marlow’s existence. He comes up against the corruption and despair that the author thought was at the heart of human existence, a struggle to make headway against the current of a human life fraught with dangers and disappointment.

Kurtz is talked about far more than he appears as a character and the conclusions people draw about him are difficult to believe, given his actual character is in the book so little. His influence is everywhere, but it’s difficult for me to understand how someone could become so pervasive when he spends so little of the time on the page.

Anyway, no more Joseph Conrad for me although he is more readable than Virginia Woolf.

How the Yeti was named and other stories

I have written eleven funny stories including the obituary of a former flying ace who died along with his guide dog as they free-climbed Mount Robson. There’s a rejection letter to William Shakespeare for his play “Hamlet” and an explanation for the building of Silbury Hill in England. I also researched, from gnostic texts, the story of how the Yeti received its name.

Discover these stories in this book – available at a discount between 20th October and 27th October.

You can also read an updated rendering of the Three Musketeers and discover the true meaning of words such as aroma, portfolio, and drastic

Diary of a Buddhist Cat

Hello, my name is Freddie. I am a cat.

I live in a house with another cat called Gemma and two humans, John, and Mary.

I am about 3 years old though I can’t remember how old I am exactly because they took me away from my mum when I was very young, and my dad had already left home. My mum used to whisper to me gently how many days old I was when I woke up each morning. This was just after she told me she loved me and that I must be brave at all times and always try my best. I love my mum and I miss her every day.

I can’t really remember which day is which as I live in the present moment. This book isn’t really a diary, because diaries have days and dates – I read this in a book – and I will enter all my entries as ‘Today’. Buddhists believe we should all live in the moment – I read that in a book too, I read a lot – and so I must be a Buddhist cat, but I am not sure how I prove that to anyone. Perhaps if I leave all my chapter headings as ‘Today’ then when they discover this book after I pass on someone else will determine that a Buddhist cat wrote this book? Otherwise, I am not sure what to do. Do I have to obtain a certificate or pass an exam? I’m not sure. I can’t find any books which tell me this information and I’ve looked hard.

Luckily there’s a library next door that allows cats to use the facilities, though I’m not sure whether the library realises this yet. I can even use their photocopier to produce pictures of my rear end, which confuses them no little amount, and then they call in the repairman because they reckon there’s a fault with the copier, rather than a cat with a sense of mischief lurking outside the window. To gain entry, rather than use the sliding doors at the front which I can only operate with a great deal of effort, there’s always an open window on the top floor and I can squeeze in there during the day when it’s open. I have to leave by 5pm before the slim lady librarian with the severe eyebrows, blue hair, and clothes covered in dog hairs closes it for the night.

Anyway, I will stop moaning – as Gemma calls it, she’s mean but more of that many times later – I can sense you’re wondering how did this Buddhist cat get into this state? How did I get to the pinnacle I operate at today? Well, you’ve come to the right place for an explanation, clever reader, how did you know?

Actually, to be fair, there’s not that much to it…

As I said, they took me from my mum when I was little more than a kitten and gave me to an older lady ‘for company’. This person was poor and fed me a paltry amount each day. She lived in one room, and I was never let outside to gain the social skills required to get along with trees, streets, and those large moving objects that weigh more than I do, and which would squash me flat if I ever went too close to them. I was a sickly young cat and caught cat flu, which I don’t remember hunting but caught anyway. The lady took me to a vet, and I needed some medicine. The lady couldn’t afford to pay and threw me at the vet, who caught me and paid for the medicine himself before handing me over very gently to a cat shelter.

To read further, please visit this link – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GPQJTB2

Book Review, Carry on Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

I was thinking about giving up this book about 100 pages in, but I was determined to keep going and I’m glad I did. The writing is so good that it made me despise the vacant, idle rich person who’s the main protagonist in most of these stories.

In the end, I thought it was quite funny in places, but I’m not sure I’ll read another Jeeves / Wooster book, but will almost certainly read another Wodehouse book. Of course, all the short stories in this book are based on very contrived plots and situations only the rich can find themselves in…apartments in central London and New York, being driven around by a manservant, friends living from the allowances of rich aunts.

How the Yeti was named and other stories

I have written eleven funny stories including the obituary of a former flying ace who died along with his guide dog as they free-climbed Mount Robson. There’s a rejection letter to William Shakespeare for his play “Hamlet” and an explanation for the building of Silbury Hill in England. I also researched, from gnostic texts, the story of how the Yeti received its name.

Discover these stories in this book – available at a discount between 20th October and 27th October.

You can also read an updated rendering of the Three Musketeers and discover the true meaning of words such as aroma, portfolio, and drastic