POLITICS

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

Democracy is the best political system but has yet to be understood.
Born out of individual empowerment, it can only thrive in an ideology
which shares this value. Hence, democracy is actually the political
arm of capitalism, and can only work in a capitalist system.

This said, single systems
are always wrong.

They lead to tunnel vision and totalitarianism. Hence, a true
democracy should always have differing systems below the political
ideal, be they religious, philanthropic or socialistic. Similarly,
democracy provides no meaning or moral ethic against excess, so
underlying systems are required to define these influences. There is
always a danger of such influences becoming fanatical. This is always
wrong. Indeed, there could well be a ‘law of opposite effect’ which
states: the more fanatical a person or system, the greater the
chance of it achieving the opposite effect. Hence, essential to all
systems is the requirement of moderation and tolerance to other
systems. Any system should be seen as nothing more than a guide.
However, balanced debate requires such systems to be vocal.
Non-vocal debate – as seen in centre ground politics – does not
achieve this, resulting in extreme law. Vocal debate irons out all
issues and actually leads to moderate law. Counter to true democracy
is the political party. Parties infiltrate underlying systems into the
legislature where they do not belong. Further, parties offer careers to
members and inhibit members’ freedom of speech. These influences
take away their loyalty to electorate and conscience, and lead to a
system having overall power in society. Parties should be degraded by
the instigation of a system that encourages independent
parliamentarians. Such representatives would guarantee greater
debate and whittle away the power of all parties. Another important
factor is the ratio between representative, electorate and legislature.
If a parliamentarian represents too many people to allow adequate
access, he is divorced from the people and a single system will be his
primary concern. Similarly, if a legislature has too many
parliamentarians, it becomes nothing more than a rubber stamp for an
over bearing executive. As I see it, the very maximum of people per
representative is 100,000, and the maximum number of
parliamentarians per legislature is 600. If either of these numbers is
higher, the balance shifts from the people to the system, and
democracy moves towards totalitarianism.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: There is a covenant
between govt and forces concerning
responsibility of the former to the safety of
the latter. In 2006 a Nimrod plane blew up in flight
over Afghanistan, killing 14 personnel. The inquiry has now
directly blamed the govt for penny pinching above safety. This govt
should hang its head in shame. It is unworthy of leadership.

WORLD NEWS: Tony Blair never said he wanted to be the first
President of Europe, but we all know. But now it seems
the other leaders may not want him … err, excuse
me?!!! A political President decided by leaders?
No democracy, then. What a totalitarian
mess Europe is. Indeed, I won’t
cooperate on anything in
Europe until it is about
cooperation, and
not integration.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – 3 Word Thursday
Friday Flash 55 – 3 Word Wednesday

DEPARTED

He’s departed – I know, I put him there,
Lying before me; those eyes, they stare,
Everything within him has now gone,
How can I ever belong?
It departed a little earlier for me,
Any sense of morality,
Reason, too – it took a bow,
And I killed him – I’ve departed now

UNWILLFUL DEATH

Fiction: They thought it was complete intellectual pigritude. After all,
what was the point? The psychologist thought it utible, if for nothing
more than finding out if hypnosis CAN overcome a subject’s moral
responsibility for action. And even though his words were tristifical,
the small gathering looked on. The subject had been hypnotized and
stood in the street, a shotgun in his hands. The instruction had been
given: to kill the first person to walk up the street. Of course, the
person selected was wearing body armour, but unbeknown to the
subject. As if on cue, the target rounded the corner and began to
approach the subject. Those gathered could see the increasing
anxiety on the subject’s face as he fought his moral values. But then,
decision made, he fired … There was shocked silence for many
seconds, and then they rushed to observe the body on the floor. Who
had won the argument was irrelevant now. The subject had shot the
sign – which had duly dropped on the head of the target.

tristifical – causing to be gloomy
pigritude – laziness
utible – useful

THE OTHER PERSON

Two people sit, shards on the floor,
One a woman, the other a bore,
He’s going now, his purpose done,
She’s regretting what she did – so much fun,
Driving her on to depravity and vice,
Never even thinking twice,
Until he appeared – her conscience, alas,
He’s going – she smashed the looking glass

FLASH 55 – THE SONG MAN

Fiction: Memories impact upon behaviour. And often it is through
music. He remembered many songs of love, and whenever he found a
new woman he would sing them in his head. His ways never failed and
she was his. It is then that the song that makes him kill comes into
his head. It’s playing now.

WHEEL OF CRIME

So Many lives you’ve ended up here,
Karma seems to offer no fear,
No progression up the Wheel of Life,
Cannot obey, always strife,
So down you go from human to critter,
Arachnid, insect, plants that wither,
Always you end up criminally insane,
And now as a virus, so much pain

© Anthony North, November 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

MATRIMONY

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

What does marriage mean? Well, to many it means living together until
irreconcilable differences decree otherwise. Indeed, many don’t bother
getting married at all, happy in serial monogamy with commitment only
to a partner until decided otherwise.

Now, far be it from me to
condemn any lifestyle.

To me, people are free to live how they want. But this always needs
to be done in full knowledge. And commitment to another person is
only part of what being married means. Marriage was also intended as
a commitment by a couple to their society in order to receive
privileged status. The modern idea of marriage is another example of
the throwing away of the social forces that used to keep us all
together.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science to
religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Ex-Army Chief Gen
Dannatt joins the Tories. Good. You
need senior military in govt to know how to
do best for forces.

BRIT NEWS: Royal Mail loses Amazon contract as strike
threat looms. If this trend continues, will strikes guarantee loss
of jobs?

BRIT NEWS: Cameron vows to pull down Labour’s big govt. Deserves
to be next Prime Minister for this alone. But then he
must deliver.

WORLD NEWS: Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.
Why? What has he done? A great
symbol, yes, but is this all
you need to be to
win it?

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

Carry On Tuesday – Poetry Train
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem
Three Word Wednesday

THE CAUSE

It’s not my fault, there is a cause,
I may have robbed but take a pause,
Society hasn’t been good to me,
Things always go wrong, don’t you see?

No I don’t, you miserable cad,
When I think of the troubles I’ve had,
But they didn’t turn me towards crime,
There’s no cause for crossing the line

I KILLED IT

Fiction: It was Victor Hugo who wrote: ‘Life is a flower of which love is
the honey.’ Ha! Not in my world. It was so obviously fictitious. At first
I liked her – gave her so much happiness. But it was not long before I
used her, tormented her, became contemptuous of her – her ways,
her ideosyncracies, her very existence. And that’s why I did what I
did. That’s why I killed her. Yet it was soon so obvious I had been
wrong. The last four chapters without her were terrible. And they
didn’t even buy the film rights.

THE SPAMINATOR

Vowelised chelations, capricious progeny,
Vehement reprobates, irresistible infamy,
Cosmoramic investment, insolent language,
Exploded on my blog, exulting their baggage …
A literary thrasher I’ll use ’til they croak,
Freedom from spam I will invoke,
No more, then, will they steal my blog,
Eradicated, expunged, no more comments they’ll hog

IT’S INDECENT

It’s indecent, it is! They told me so,
Got to look, but they’re moving so slow,
Why do they frustrate people like this?
They don’t understand – we simply can’t miss …
At last I’m here, do you want to see?
Ohhh my! It was worth the fee,
In decent shape, I’m telling you,
Frustrated yet? Well join the queue

© Anthony North, October 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

SAD BOOKS

Booking Through Thursday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

What’s the saddest book I’ve read recently? Well, it won’t be a
personal disclosure book. I don’t read them. You see, very few people
go through life unscathed, and when so many write about the bad
things, we can all relate. The result is a victim culture, and this is
socially unhealthy for us all. No, the saddest book I’ve read recently
would undoubtedly be any one of the general world histories I have.
They are full of good intentioned ideas being turned into disastrous
movements. Rather like those disclosure books.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science to
religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: So the rumours and
leaks gather pace. Massive hikes in taxes
and up to 30% cut in services. A national postal
strike looms with many others brewing. Are we about
to face another Winter of Discontent? Meanwhile, industry
mouthpiece the CBI say we’ll return to growth by end of year. So
it’ll all be over by Christmas. I remember that was said in 1914.

SOCIAL NEWS: A psychologist has blamed lack of parental
authority for the growing spoilt generation of today’s
youth. I agree – to a point. But alongside this
must come State intrusion into family life,
leaving young parents confused as to
just what there role is. Families
seem to be stuck in a
vicious circle here.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – 3 Word Thursday
Friday Flash 55

FLASH 55 – THE FILMING

Fiction: He was in search of the perfect scene. The camera was
soon set up and rolling. The story progressed quickly, and as the
denouement approached he put his hands to her throat and
strangled her. Later, watching the film, he was dissatisfied –
again. The bodies were mounting up as he went talent
scouting once more.

COLOUR CRIME

Seeing red – violent crime,
Life to him ain’t worth a dime;
Seeing blue – vice is the thing,
Sex, debauchery, in a ring;
Seeing yellow – cowardly thief,
Show contempt; he’s way beneath;
Seeing black – cell door slammed,
Where they belong, we demand

RELUCTANT GROOM

Fiction: She was mariturient; he not so much. There were, of course,
reasons. He had tried to obstrigillate his fate, but once her father had
found out about the depth of their relationship he knew refusal would
result in an ossifragant outcome. So he married her. But he could not
help worrying about his other wife.

obstrigillate – oppose or resist
ossifragant – bone-breaking
mariturient – eager to marry

CHEESE
(Updated 25 Sep 09)

What a cheek, you’re a thief,
It’s no good smiling, showing your teeth,
You’re a disgrace to what you are,
Behave like this, you won’t go far,
Now listen, I’m a mouse, if you please,
You’re a cat, you eat me, not the cheese

© Anthony North, September 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

MORE CHANGES

Friday Flash 55 and 3 Word Wednesday
More prompts below

BLOGGER BARD

I knew it would happen – it always does. In the last couple of days
I’ve got so much into my Paranormal Flash series that I’ve finished it.
Representing the latest statement of where I’m at in my research, I
read it and thought: here comes another book.

And that’s what I have
to do right now.

I’m devoting a lot more time to further research, in-depth writing and
chasing publishers. That means I’m going to have to cut some of the
time I spend blogging. Don’t panic! I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be
visiting all my friends and doing most of the prompts, but I’ll be
cutting back on essays and current affairs, and, from next week
doing just two bumper posts on Monday and Thursday. I could never
stop blogging, and this should leave me the time I want for my new
project. As for Paranormal Flash, I’m going to give it a page of its
own, complete with links to deeper essays on each aspect of the
narrative. I hope to complete this, and link to it in my posts, from
next week also. I repeat, I’m not giving up blogging – no way! I could
never do that. Hope to see you Monday.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

FAITH NEWS: More evidence
that we’re hard-wired to believe in
God. Researchers from Bristol University
say it offers a better chance of survival through
making us work in groups. I’ve often said prevalent non-
belief in a society can fragment that society, so this makes total
sense to me.

BRIT NEWS: A survey of teachers shows they’d rather teach
‘universal brotherhood’ than patriotism. There’s a new
age adage that to love others you must love
yourself. I think it works with a nation. If
you don’t find meaning in what you
are, you become nothing and
eventually treat all with
disdain. Those
teachers are
wrong.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – 3 Word Thursday

THE FOG

It descends, restricting view,
Swirling outside and inside you,
People disjointed, partially there,
Shocks come so easily – beware!
How do you grasp reality from this putrid mess?
Start with your failings – admit it! Confess;
When the fog descends confusion reigns,
Your mind so easily wrapped in chains

WHO AM I?
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

Fiction: The nature spirit was acting destructively. There was no
quibbleism – he literally beat the bush to pulp. Why? Well, people had
ignored him too long and he was attention seeking – overflowing with
an obrumpent personality. Indeed, they couldn’t even get his name
right. Over the eons they had referred to him as a god, a demon, a
fairy, a vampire, a werewolf, ghost, discarnate entity and now they’d
even given him bug eyes and called him an alien! Such temeration!!
And he was not having it!!! It was as if HE didn’t know who he was
any more. And are they afraid of him nowadays? No. But as he
continued beating the bush, swirling around the air, deforesting the
forests and generally having a climactic time, he knew they’d soon
need him once more. THEN he’d teach them for ignoring his ways.

quibbleism – beating around the bush
obrumpent – breaking
temeration – temerity

FLASH 55 – POISON

Fiction: He was convinced his wife was
poisoning him. She didn’t even seem to
hide the fact. Why, he didn’t know. Maybe
an affair. But he decided not to eat at
home. Rather, he frequented the café up
the road. In the kitchen, chef prepared his
special meals. He was better at it than
his lover.

HANKY

I’m a hanky; I’m feeling sad,
Too many tissues can be bad,
To a throw away society we drift a lot,
Is it funny? It snot!
Don’t be thick – think of my woes,
Don’t reject me ‘cos I get up your nose

HUNGRY
(Updated 18 Sep)

Hungry for people all the time,
Chop them up, make them slime,
Crawling in an insipid pit,
Watching, always – scored a hit,
Doesn’t matter whether man or dame,
It can get you – fame

© Anthony North, September 2009

HYPOCRISY

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Have you had a go?

BLOGGER BARD

I used to think that one of the greatest wrongs was to be a hypocrite.
In most cases I still think this is true, but experience has taught me
that life is so varied that sometimes hypocrisy is inevitable. For
instance, I believe it is wrong to kill, but I would hope that if no
alternative existed, I would do so to protect a loved one.

As a teenager I rebelled
quite a lot.

I now realize this is essential – it is part of growing your own
character for adulthood. But as a parent I do all in my power to stop
rebellion. Parents do. Yet on one level this is hypocrisy, but it is the
way it should be. Hence, it is impossible to not be a hypocrite at
times. So how do we deal with it being wrong, but also, at times,
right? I suppose we should realize that life must always be a balance,
and balance is best achieved through moderation in all things. In this
way, the hypocrite in us all is reduced.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

CRIME NEWS: Official figures
show British police detected just
47% of reported violent crimes in the
year to March 2009, leaving half a million
unsolved. Add the vast majority of crimes that
go unreported and this is a deplorable outcome. They
need to look at themselves and realise their organisation is
too big and they’ve become divorced from society. Modern policing
is becoming part of the problem.

GREEN NEWS: The 10:10 Campaign is gathering steam in the UK,
asking people to sign up to 10% cuts in carbon emissions by
2010. Of course, it will fail. True green will not come until
a new breed of entrepreneur pairs with a new breed of
engineer to begin new smaller firms to produce the
new green tech that Big Biz and Govt won’t
touch. Big is bad. Think small.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem

FATAL DECISION

He wasn’t bad, just confused,
A young life so often abused,
Turned to crime, inevitable, deemed,
It certainly fuelled his self esteem,
Career grew from theft to killing,
On wanted lists he got top billing,
Cornered, he couldn’t get out through stealth,
So he took the decision – shot himself

SHOULDN’T SAY

Fiction: ‘Don’t speak, words will only steal the moment.’ I should
have heeded those words. After all, I’m a fanatic where security is
concerned. I told him so in the bar. He was an amiable chap – got
me speaking on the subject of identity fraud – and surely there was
nothing wrong with telling him. It wasn’t as if I gave away any
secrets. I’d never do that. It was as I returned home that my wife
pointed out how remiss I’d been, forgetting my account details and
phoning her. Yes, I should have kept my mouth shut. The fiend had
stolen my voice.

THOUGHTS ON ME

Unconscious mind like branching tree,
Sun illuminating, enlightens me;
Conscious mind, bricked in thought,
Jailed and limited, amounts to nought;
Let memories stream up without duress,
Of courtship, of my kids, of great success;
But what of thoughts of failures, of pain?
Without their lessons, we live in vain

© Anthony North, September 2009

HITCHCOCK & CO

Booking Through Thursday
More prompts below

BLOGGER BARD

The beauty of buying books en masse in bargain offers is that you
build up a library so big you don’t really know what’s there. So when
you have a search for what you’ve got, you can pull out some gems.

One such recent gem was a
novel by Robert Bloch.

I don’t know how many know who he is in America, but in the UK,
not many have heard of him. Yet that novel was Psycho, perhaps
the most famous horror thriller ever; from, of course, the best
director. But sadly, the original writers are lost behind his fame.
So here’s three cheers for a few more Hitchcock victims: Cornell
Woolrich (Rear Window), Winston Graham (Marnie) and Daphne Du
Maurier (The Birds).

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

HEALTH NEWS: It seems healthy
eating can be an illness. Thirty-something
middle class infatuation is leading to health problems.
Come on, they’re intelligent. Why is it so difficult? The only way to
eat healthily is a BALANCED diet!

BRIT NEWS: Students starting university this year can expect
a £23,000 debt when they leave. This is the result of
turning education into a business, taking too many
students they can’t afford, and redesignating
a degree as a personal need rather than a
societal necessity.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings

TO ALLOW

Maybe we allowed you to get away with too much,
A kid too sallow, fallowed as such,
Hallowed, you were, and you wallowed in all,
Growing up callow – you were bound for a fall,
Lit the wick in the tallow – as you burned them you sang,
And now from the gallows, we watch you hang

THE ALLOWANCE

Fiction: I always knew he’d amount to nothing – which did, of course,
mean the amount would rise for me. I tried to bring him up right, but
with his mother gone, and me busy all the time … well, it’s a typical
story. Falling in with that gang didn’t help – taught him how to get
what he wanted the easy way. Maybe when he first went to prison I
should have left him there – teach him a lesson. But money talks and
I got him out. And that’s when the future pattern settled in – what
he’d learnt in there – from the gangsters. So I pay him the allowance
– and he allows me to live.

ADULTHOOD

Being adult can be such a boring affair,
Always having to be aware,
Of manners and standards and what’s right and wrong,
No catapults or pea shooters or stink bombs that pong,
But I’ve got a theory about adulthood true,
At times you’ve got to remember the child in you

© Anthony North, August 2009

CONCENTRATION

Including ABC Wednesday, Carry On Tuesday and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

I’m always in search of things that make us human. One candidate is
concentration. This ability is essential to technology, allowing us to
clear our minds to concentrate on what we’re doing. Arguably, before
we were human, we took directions from instinct, like other animals.
To break out of instinct and concentrate, we would need somewhere
for non-required thoughts to go. Could this have been the birth of the
unconscious – a repository for things we don’t need to think about?
Without it, we’d hardly be human, would we?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

TECH NEWS: Talking on phone
declining in UK as we opt for text or
Tweet. Well, I guess this is ‘cos we can
now control the talking back.

BRIT NEWS: Study shows 1 in 3 men under 40 still living
with parents. In this cut and thrust world the cut and thrust
only goes so far, it seems.

BRIT NEWS: MPs say plans for bank reforms are just cosmetic.
Well, well, what a surprise. Did we really expect anything
different?

TECH NEWS: Brit govt guidelines for using Twitter
are 259 Tweets long. Wonder how many
Twits it needed to write that?

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime – Crime Fiction

SIZE MATTERS?

As kids we resolve it without delay,
‘My Dad’s bigger than your Dad,’ we say,
As teenagers we often begin to stray,
‘My gang’s bigger than your gang,’ we say,
As adults, Ego we tend to display,
‘My way’s bigger than your way,’ we say,
And resolve it in such a pathetic way,
‘My tank’s bigger than your tank’ – we lay

OUTCOME DENIED

Fiction: The story – well, the moral at least – is in the journey. A good
job really, ‘cos I cannot reach the destination. She was dead, you see
– the love of my life, taken from me. Murdered. And the night I found
her body, I vowed I would laugh over her killer’s grave. Of course, I
had a good idea who had killed her – or at least had ordered her
death. She’d worked for him in the past and he, being a gangster, had
reason to silence her now. Well, I killed, too. I was, of course, soon
caught by the police. After all, I’m not a pro at this. And I was
incarcerated in the local high security prison. I felt sorry for the guy,
really. After all, he WAS innocent. But how else was I to get to a
gangster on remand awaiting trial? Well, I’m a double killer now, and
my journey down the years begins, as I await the day when I can
laugh over his grave.

TONY’S POETRY CHAIN

IT’S ELECTRIC

Electric is an infernal thing,
Before it we all used to sing,
At night surrounded by communal glee,
Straining eyes ‘cos we couldn’t see,
The mystery of the dark, dark night,
Now shut off by electric light

NEWS?

Read the paper; where’s the news?
Plenty there to entertain and amuse,
But where’s the news within the treats?
Plenty on celebrities between the sheets;
Where’s the news? Plenty of blues,
Raising our emotion; get us confused;
But where’s the news, I do entreat,
I’ve looked and looked and faced defeat

© Anthony North, August 2009

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INSPIRATION

Including One Single Impression and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

From where does inspiration come? It is generally thought to come
from the inner mind. We have a problem to solve so we think about
it deeply. Nothing comes, so we try to forget it, and suddenly … the
answer comes! But I think it is more communal than this. Truly culture
changing inspiration is successful because the idea fits perfectly with
how people are thinking at the time. Hence, could the inspired person
be more like a conduit, the frustrations of the people finally finding
expression in his mind?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

MEDIA NEWS: It’s revealed some
400 BBC bosses earn over £100,000 per
yr. Remember, this is a public funded broadcaster
paid for by compulsory fee.

BRIT NEWS: Jobless reach 2.4million, with biggest 3 month rise
since records began. Well, that’s shut them up regarding
approaching ‘recovery’.

GREEN NEWS: Labour to oversee green energy
revolution? Why do I think the timing is
more an election strategy than
a valid policy?

INNER VOICES

Who said that? Was it you?
Those inner voices form a stew,
Of thoughts whizzing in your head,
Resolving things – a common thread;
Some voices are kind, some are not,
A whole plethora, you have got,
But even though they can be disjointed,
In harmony they’re you, annointed

THE SETTLEMENT

Fiction: It was costing far too much. His third divorce was proving the
worst yet – how could he afford to go through that again? Of course,
the situation had been eased by the murder of his two ex-wives. A
serial killer, they said – after they had scrutinised every part of his life
to make sure it wasn’t him, of course. And not only was he proved
innocent, but the detectives felt quite sorry for him. His third may be
a beauty, but social climbing and intrigue came so easily. It was
during the divorce that the detectives returned – they’d found
evidence that his third got so jealous of the first and second that
she simply had to get rid of them. So that was it – the third divorce
proved quite cheap. Which just goes to show – planning a bit of
insurance before marriage can be better than a pre-nup.

THE PLAN

I have a plan – it’s really good,
Shall I tell you? Not sure I should;
Plans are simple, very clear,
But there’s a problem, I fear;
No matter how good your plan may be,
Life gets in the way, you see;
So plan away as you will,
You’ll end up swallowing a bitter pill

© Anthony North, July 2009

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MOANING MEN

Find current affairs & prompts below.

Okay, I’m a man and I’m going to moan. I’m going to
moan about a lot of other men. It isn’t that I’ve put
a skirt on or anything like that, but some men just
… well, you know …

I’ve thought about it often, but it came back to mind with a survey from the British Market Research Bureau, who’ve advised that men between the late 30s, right up to 65, are miserable, with life being a bitch and the ‘mid-life crisis’ in full swing.
Did men have them before it was invented? I don’t think they did – which suggests we tend to be infected by any social or psychological term that comes along. But could it be that the mid-life crisis IS a reality, due to forces within society we have created ourselves?
Perhaps the most important thinker behind the term was Carl Jung. He looked at men closely and realized there was something missing in their lives from about the late 30s. But whereas the term caught on, Jung’s reasoning did not.
To Jung, we had become entrapped in material living. What did he mean by this suggestion? Basically, to be fulfilled, a man has to be a success in a material way, but this is only half of living. There is also the spiritual side, the bonds, the intuitions – basically, the meanings of life.
To be fully mature, a person has to be aware of both these influences. Indeed, only can we be whole by appreciating both. Hence, in tying ourselves too much to a material world, life becomes unfulfilling once success has been achieved.
He was a clever fellow was Jung. Unfortunately, though, it was only the ‘sound bite’ that took off, the ‘reason’ being forgotten in an angst-ridden material half-world.

First posted: Aug 07

Inde-Pol

CELEB NEWS: Am I alone in being
fed up of Jordan & Peter Andre’s marital
woes? Media, please let them get on with it
in private, like everyone else.

BRIT NEWS: John Bercow, a moderniser, elected Speaker.
I don’t want modernisation. I want morals and an ethic of
service.

WORLD NEWS: Brit troops start their biggest airborne
op in Afghanistan yet. At times like these, we
must remember to tell them they’re
appreciated.

Three Word Wednesday
ReadWritePoem

ASSIGNATION POSTPONED

Fiction: Some would call him fickle. After all, he just couldn’t
resist the right type of woman. It was the sparkle he looked
for – that sign that this woman was just right. He sat in the
bar – his latest hunting ground – when he spied her. Okay, she
was a little older than him, a touch wrinkled, but that appeal
shone out from her. Soon he introduced himself, and small talk
over, it was time for business. And in no time at all they were
in the hotel suite. She laid, naked, in bed; waited for him to
return with the condom – and waited – and waited … Eventually
she called the police. It was when she checked her jewellery
that she noticed her sparkle was gone.

DEAR MOTHER

I did alright, had lots of fun,
Plenty of work to do and done,
Been various things throughout my life,
Found a girl, became my wife,
Had kids galore and brought them up,
Learnt to write, a creative cup,
I cherish this time I try and save,
To come along and visit your grave

© Anthony North, June 2009

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TONY ON LEFT ALONE

Including Sunday Scribblings, Poetry Train, Friday Questions
and One Single Impression. Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

Left Alone

Do you want to be left alone to get on with what you want? Are
you fed up of being told what to do? Most of us feel like this, but
the world crowds in on us. Yet what would it be like if we could
just do what we wanted? Left to our own devices, I suspect we’d
only find our desires. And we would soon get bored of those. And
the next destructive urge would be just around the corner.

My Columnists
Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: Official report of MPs
expenses released, mainly blacked out.
So much for freedom of information. Who do
they think they are?

CRIME NEWS: A UK trial is going ahead of 4 robbers without a
jury. The 4th trial, others were nobbled. Still no excuse to take
away jury. Shame.

GREEN NEWS: Report out of global warming effect
on UK. Lots more heatwaves by 2080. Rising
sea levels. Must prepare now, but
will we? Doubt it.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime – Crime Fiction

ASSIMILATION

If you want to join, be the same,
As we exist and acclaim,
Our way is how ‘we’ want to be,
No room for you, individually,
And listen kid: if you’re not in our gang,
You run the risk of us going: bang!

THE PERFECT CRIME

Fiction: It had happened before. Indeed, Brad had told Greg when
it was proposed that they wouldn’t get away with it. But Greg was
a good talker and it was decided that each would murder the other’s
problem. The appointed night came and Brad did the deed, solving
Greg’s problem. And at about the same time Greg got to work on
solving his. Mindst you, this proved much easier. One phone call
to the police was all it took.

VISION OF CRIME

I saw the murder, I saw it all,
Felt the pain, watched him fall,
‘Twas in a dream my vision came,
Including the cad who is to blame,
I saw him yesterday before going to bed,
To see him again, in the mirror, I dread

© Anthony North, June 2009

TONY’S MUSE on … BREAKFAST

Writers’ Tips

Him Outside is trying Friday Questions for the first time. The question
today is: Are you a breakfast eater? If yes, what is your typical
breakfast? Well, he would love a full English every day – bacon, egg,
sausage, tomato – though he’d say no to black pudding. As it is, he
sticks to bacon (grilled) and egg (scrambled), with a bit of wholemeal
bread – and all on a little plate. Infact, he eats five little meals a day.
Never feeling hungry, never full, he’s been on this diet for years now,
and it is one of the best things he did to combat his cfs. Breakfast is,
of course, the most important meal of the day. Skip this and your
stomach is rumbling almost as soon as you start work; and you can
guarantee you’ll never catch up with the eating, no matter how much
you eat. Breakfast is, quite simply, the starting point for a diet. ‘Cos
sometimes, to really diet, you just have to eat right.

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