julianworker

[julianworker]

Book Review - Maigret Has Scruples

This is a wonderful story and a great idea. An electric train salesman in a major department store comes to see Maigret, to tell the Chief Inspector that his wife is planning to kill him. The next day the wife comes to see Maigret. Maigret knows something is going to happen, but this situation is like working on a case the wrong way round. Usually there’s a crime to begin with and only then…

[julianworker]

Trumped Up - 2

“Your friend Vladimir is a gangster, he’s just burned down a house with the occupants in it, when they refused to hand him the land.” “We love Vladimir and you know, that’s what anyone would have done in the circumstances. Those people were being unreasonable and refusing to do what Vladimir wanted, which was to leave and let him merge their property into his already considerable acreage with…

[julianworker]

Trumped Up - 1

Drumph was sitting at his desk signing his name on blank sheets of paper with a marker pen. His hair was lacquered in place and the orange polyfilla had set on his face. On the wall behind him were images of Churchill, some Mongol guy with a moustache, some Soviet guy with a moustache, and Queen Elizabeth I, all chosen by his house staff. The bold wallpaper was alternate horizontal bars of red…

[julianworker]

Dragon Lawyer 2 - Part 8

There was a scratching and miaowing and all four of the Toms tumbled through the catflap more or less together. “Here’s trouble,” said Sheriff Clanton, as the cats trotted over to their desk and jumped up to start sniffing at their intray and smart new sign. “Hello Four Toms,” said Wendy, “have you heard the news?” The cats huddled in a circle. There was some miaowing and Thomas turned towards…

[julianworker]

Isle of Islay - 3

The civilian airport at Glenegedale started out as an RAF airfield during WWII and is close to the Machrie golf course and hotel. Bowmore is Islay’s administrative capital and is the second largest village on the island, founded in 1768 by the local land owner. The main road heads from the round church – designed so that there were no corners for evil spirits to hide in – straight down the hill…

[julianworker]

Book Review - The Leveller Revolution: Radical Political Organisation in England, 1640–1650

John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Richard Overton, Katherine Chidley, John Rede, and Thomas Rainsborough aren’t as famous as Benjamin Franklin, Robespierre, Danton, George Washington, St Just, and Thomas Jefferson and yet they should be. Indeed, the English Revolution isn’t as famous as the American Revolution or the French Revolution and yet it should be. In England in the 1640s there were two…

[julianworker]

Dragon Lawyer 2 - Part 7

“In a public park, the official name is Andersen Park, about three hundred yards from the prison, in a small wooded part of the park.” “With piles of soil everywhere?” asked Wendy. “The appearance in the park is of molehills. They look like molehills anyway, lots of molehills dug by a demented mole, probably over the last four nights.”“That’s 75 yards a day at least. Only a professional miner…

[julianworker]

Isle of Islay - 2

Three of the most famous distilleries are close by and there is a footpath from Port Ellen to Ardbeg via Laphroaig and Lagavulin. I passed by a site where another new distillery is being built along with homes for the distillery workers to live in. Affordable accommodation is in short supply on the island, so any advantage that an employer can add for potential employees will be beneficial to…

[julianworker]

Book Review - Flying Saucers by CG Jung

This book was first published in 1958 and the chapters cover UFOs as rumours, UFOs in dreams, UFOs in modern painting, UFOs in history, and perhaps most telling of all UFOs considered in a non-psychological light. CG Jung was a self-confessed sceptic regarding UFOs, but was intrigued by their psychic aspect. The simultaneous visual and radar sightings are satisfactory proof of their reality so…

[julianworker]

Book Review - The Tube Train Murder by Hugh Morrison

This is a fine story that zips along at a good pace with a backdrop of the pea-soup fogs that shrouded London at night in the 1930s, making walking alone a dangerous business. Someone strangles an aspiring actress Evelyn Parks on a tube train between two London underground stations and yet the murderer is not present when the train is searched at Hampstead station. Where did they go? Parks lived…

[julianworker]

Book Review - Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Y Davis

Freedom is a constant struggle, trying to change the world is a constant struggle, believing in a fairer and better society is a constant struggle. Few people in the world encapsulate this more than Angela Davis, who first came to most people’s attention when she was demonised by Ronny Raygun when he was president (ah! the good old days?). She was stripped of her professorship by the University…

[julianworker]

Book Review - The Tube Train Murder by Hugh Morrison

This is a fine story that zips along at a good pace with a backdrop of the pea-soup fogs that shrouded London at night in the 1930s, making walking alone a dangerous business. Someone strangles an aspiring actress Evelyn Parks on a tube train between two London underground stations and yet the murderer is not present when the train is searched at Hampstead station. Where did they go? Parks lived…

[julianworker]

Dragon Lawyer 2 - Part 6

Wendy was writing a document in her office when a rather sheepish looking Sheriff Clanton knocked on the door and entered.  “Hello, sheriff,” said Wendy, “how are you? Can I help you? You look worried.” “It’s not good news, Wendy, not at all.” The sheriff shook his head. “Go on, surprise me.” Wendy leaned back in her chair and then thought to offer the sheriff a seat, which he gladly took from…

[julianworker]

Church attendance in Hungary

Hungary is one of the Eastern Europe’s least religious countries. Monthly worship attendance is only 17%. Who conducted this 2017 research? Why, Pew Research of course, I kid you not.

[julianworker]

Book Review - The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott

The praise for this short novel on the back cover compares the book to Faulkner’s The Bear in terms of the finest American short novels. As I can’t stand William Faulkner, I should have been warned that I might not fully appreciate this piece of work. However, I bought the book and I have read it all, to the very end, unlike my attempts at reading Faulkner novels where I usually give up at the…

[julianworker]

Isle of Islay - 1

If you’re a lover of malt whisky or birdwatching then you will undoubtedly know about this island, the southernmost of the Inner Hebrides.  The economics of the whisky industry on Islay are quite staggering. Islay contributes around £100 million a year to the UK government in excise duty and value-added tax. This is roughly £30,000 for each person living on the island. The nine distilleries on…

[julianworker]

Dragon Lawyer 2 - Part 5

As luck would have it, close to this pop-up library, Tom and Tommy were sitting on one of the chairs looking at – and probably listening to – three guests talking to each other in hushed tones around a small wooden table where they were playing cards.  Tommy and Tom were the other two of the Four Toms and had provided plenty of pertinent information in the past few weeks. Tom stayed put,…