Including Manic Monday and Writers’ Island.
Have you had a go yet?
Welcome to my Monday Magazine post.
The British government has announced an investment of £100 billion in thousands of new wind farms in order to meet its greenhouse gases reduction targets. Of course, the actual investment will be by the consumer (and they won’t be as pretty as the picture).
Electricity is to rise 13% and gas 37% to pay for it.
And this is on top of the already expected increases due to the price of oil. So there you have it. Government doesn’t pay, and Big Biz doesn’t pay. It’s all down to the little consumer, handing over the money for failure of these organizations to invest properly.
Sometimes I think I may be paranoid when I say the ‘authorities’ are purposely making green issues awkward for us so we’ll forget the idea. But consistently they show this to be the case. No wonder recent polls have a majority saying man isn’t responsible for global warming.
A Law Lords ruling has placed the justice system in the UK in a panic.
For a while now, witnesses have been allowed to give evidence anonymously in court. Well, it seems the judges have had enough. They reversed a case involving such witnesses.
Many prisoners could now be freed. The government is thinking of emergency legislation. Yet this is the inevitable outcome of forgetting the basics of a fair legal system – that an accused has a right to face his accuser.
Of course, many will say it’s better to make sure we lock up the right people. Well, maybe true – if we CAN be sure. But for many centuries this principle seems to have worked. So what’s gone wrong now?
Once upon a time there used to be people called detectives. They solved crimes. Now, unless they have forensics, CCTV images or informers, they seem to be lost. Too many changes in law are down to police requests for the changes. It seems to me they ought to get on with doing their job properly instead of moaning.
Next Magazine post Wednesday. See you then.
© Anthony North, June 2008
PRIDE
I’m proud of me, I must admit,
my life, my ways, a total fit;
I’m proud of you, my love so dear,
going through life without any fear;
I’m proud of my kids, their way of life,
rising above all trouble and strife;
I’m proud of my work, everything I do,
trying my best, honest and true;
I’m proud of my culture, what it means,
giving meaning, direction, plentiful memes;
I’m proud of my country, what it does,
always busy, providing that buzz;
But pride can come before a fall,
we can often stand too damned tall,
so the greatest pride must always be,
in moderation, understanding, of all and thee
(c) Anthony North, June 2008
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AN AVENGING TALE – Fiction
Ricky’s Story
I think I loved Julie all my life. Looking back, even as kids in school I was always pulling her hair or some other stupidity like that. But it wasn’t until much later that my expressions became more.
Of course, I never realized, at the time, that my mate Wayne’s expressions were similar. I was naïve like that. But what did it matter, anyway? Well, eventually it did. I was old enough to know better – Julie was old enough to know better; even though, as I discovered, see also had a soft spot for Wayne.
But it was me she loved! It was! Until …
A moment of weakness. That’s all it was, she told me. But that was no good for me. She’d been with someone else – and my best mate.
I suppose it’s hard to decide who I hated more, at that time. But my actions were very clear. I took a baseball bat to Wayne’s head.
He recovered. I never killed him or anything. But it was prison for me – and through my actions, it was Julie for Wayne.
Of course, by the time I was released, I’d come to terms with it all – knew I’d lost her, forever. But did Wayne have to taunt me so? What kind of revenge was he after? Or maybe he just wanted me back in prison.
Well, the night they found me with a blooded baseball bat next to an unconscious Wayne once more …
Wayne’s Story
I don’t think I ever saw Ricky as a friend. He was always better than me at everything. He even looked better than me, and I felt I was nothing more than his one man audience – the person to bounce his superiority off – make him feel good. And when he finally won Julie, it was more than I could bear.
Of course, revenge eventually came. And the look on his face when he realized I had spent the night with her. I honestly don’t think he could even imagine I could do a thing like that to him.
The fool. The total fool – and I had had my revenge. For the first time.
I recovered from his beating, and Julie was so incensed with Ricky that she wouldn’t even visit him in prison. She was mine, and no one would take her away from me. Yet, if only she could have looked at me as she had looked at Ricky – shown affection as she had to Ricky. I began to realize I had only half of her.
I suppose that’s why I wanted revenge once more when Ricky came out of prison – why I taunted him so much. And when I woke up in hospital a second time, the pain never bothered me once. After all, he was back where he belonged …
Julie’s Story
Boys will be boys, I suppose. But unfortunately, girls will also be girls. I suppose, as a kid, I liked both Ricky and Wayne equally. After all, there was no understanding of love in those far off days. But as I grew to maturity, I knew Ricky was for me. Oh, I knew Wayne was hurting, but I had to follow my heart.
So why did I sleep with Wayne? Why do we ever do such disastrous things? I suppose in a way I felt pity for him. At least, that’s what I kid myself. But once Ricky had done that to Wayne, I felt there was no going back. He was not the man I thought he was and I hated him.
Of course, I was never fulfilled with Wayne. How could I be after Ricky? And apart from anything else, he was so eaten up inside with jealousy, even once I was his. And when Ricky was released – I told Wayne to stop it – stop the taunts – but would he listen to me?
I began to question everything. I suppose I even began to fall in love with Ricky all over again. And as I did so, I got more and more annoyed with myself. Which, of course, was transferred to Wayne.
Well, I’m finished with Wayne, now, and visiting Ricky regularly in prison. And when he’s out again, that’s it – marriage, kids, the lot. And I’ll always know he’ll love me. He proved that when he took the blooded baseball bat from me, plastered his fingerprints all over it, and told me to run.
© Anthony North, June 2008
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