Including One Single Impression, Manic Monday and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?
The Guardian has reported a stunning new policy being considered by the new President of The Maldives. He’s planning to divert much of the profit from tourism to buying a new homeland for his population. As sea levels rise due to global warming, he doesn’t want his citizens to become environmental refugees.
Such refugees will become a serious problem.
Many countries are in danger of disappearing below the waves, leaving millions of displaced people. At present the world community is trying not to think about the problem. Which is a mistake.
Mass movements of people usually lead to political and economic instability, and eventual war. Unlike in the past, we can predict its likelihood of happening. It is also time to come together globally to seek answers before the problem arises. To not do so is global irresponsibility.
Health and safety news.
The boss of one of Britain’s watchdogs seems to have had a revelation. After years of increasing spoil-sport legislation that has led to the destruction of fun, it seems absolute safety is impossible. We need to return to basic common sense. Well, let me tell you, most people have always known this.
Why did authority think we’d lost it? Well, the first point is the rise of compensation and blame culture. When an attitude of greed combines with the idea that nothing is your fault, institutions have to protect themselves from the lawyer.
Once this attitude is in society, government sees the perfect opportunity to grab a little more control – of our very lives themselves. Hence, a politicization of commonsense begins, with central control of behaviour. Hopefully, it will now end, and we can get the right back to make our own mistakes – AND accept blame.
Next post, Tuesday. Hope to see you then.
© Anthony North, November 2008
COURAGE
Courage – done by heroes true,
not for themselves, but me and you,
forget those out for personal gain,
they’re just on the gravy train;
Courage is a selfless act,
meeting those upon the attack,
not simply reacting through fight or flight,
but going on, with thought, a miraculous sight;
But courage is also more than this,
imbued to always be there, assist,
ploughing on determinedly,
working, caring, then home for tea,
recharging batteries, rising above the crowd
meeting life head on, resolute and proud
(c) Anthony North, November 2008
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SHADOW SEASON – A Cass Nova Detective Thriller
It was one hell of a night – draining. Terrifying!
The serial killer had hit several times now, and every time it was to a set pattern. They’re considerate like that – usually. It becomes like a ritual. And we can read their pattern. And we’d done so with this one. And we made a pretty good prediction of when he would next strike. He had a season for killing.
He seemed to strike when everyone else was enjoying themselves the most – seasonal times, as if fun must always have a dark shadow. So we staked out the town that night – covered everything.
As a detective inspector, I was one of the controllers. I sat in the mobile headquarters, banks of equipment around me, constant static chatter as nothing suspicious was reported.
They say it is frustration that drives such people to kill. Their lot is pathetic – and certainly many serial killers seem to be loners. But there’s more to it than that. These killers have economic seasons, too. They are more likely to hit during periods of affluence, as if people have more to worry about than simple survival. And it is here they have time to fester – to say my life is NOT fair.
If only they could get over themselves.
The joy of laughter filtering in from outside was surreal – so much fun, so much enjoyment, so much naivety. Yet among them was a monster. He’d look no different to you. Indeed, he may be building up for more ‘enjoyment’ than you could ever realize – and as the night wore on, that sense of pervasive evil increased.
Every communication came with a heightened tension. As the laughter subsided outside, a static of expectation seemed to fill the air itself. In the silence of the early hours, there was more than darkness. The shadow seemed to veil everything decent in the world, producing a chill that stuck to you like glue.
Several times I went outside to stretch my legs and felt it. Tangible. Omnipotent. My eyes strained to try to sense it, to capture it, to have some precognitive knowledge of its intent.
The hours – minutes – seconds! – dragged on, and we felt that any time now the report would come. A shriek, a scream, a plunging blade, a river of blood, a death …
And we would be too late. Again.
And then? The dawn. The shadow receding. Decency arising with a hot sun.
I went outside once more. Sucked in cleanness, light. I went dizzy as the tension seemed to ease. He had not struck this night. The world was well.
And then I vomited.
© Anthony North, November 2008
STRANGER
Life’s experience in the raw,
get it wrong, no encore,
spiralling down, no way out,
everything ending, no room for doubt
It began when the stranger appeared,
actions occurred of which I feared,
led to consequence, terrible change,
damn the stranger, so deranged,
no hope for redemption, peace of mind,
no time for happiness yet to find,
no need for thought, not deserved,
no chance of sleep, so unnerved …
Stranger and stranger became my life,
damn him, I hate him for all this strife,
how could he do such a thing to me?
What would happen – couldn’t he see?
Stranger and stranger became my existence,
hardly here, no persistence,
no feeling of belonging to anything at all,
in all ways, I felt so small,
obliterated from life and all its joy,
no reason to even be coy
And when I see him again I shout,
you ruined my life! Of that no doubt,
yet still he follows, won’t leave me be,
everywhere I turn, I see,
glimpsed in mirrors, left on the shelf,
just a ghost of me,
I don’t know myself
(c) Anthony North, November 2008
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