I was just stopping by on my way to another blog tonight and I thought I would add something here.

It's been a while. The political scene both here and in the US has changed out of recognition. Britain's leaving the EU, a dangerous capering fool is trying to get elected POTUS, a new prophet, nay messiah of the left has arisen in England.

The last few years have been pretty oppressive for anyone who isn't one of the privileged few. Jeremy Corbyn at least allows us to hope that things could take a turn for the better.

It won't be all that long before I retire from the NHS and I'm almost bursting with excitement at what the future holds. Lucky me, I have a happy marriage and a modicum of security although we will be living quietly within modest means.

Some of my short stories are being published soon in a local anthology. The writers' group I used to belong to shows signs of revival having disbanded last year.

I don't write at the moment, except blogs and comments, for reasons that I will explain when the time is right.

See you soon.

Personal Journal

Today is a work day, but at last I have got away from paid work for a few months. I've taken unpaid leave from my hospital secretary job in Leeds to help the family here in Shropshire.

A lot has happened since 2012. Both of our mothers passed away last spring after a long hard couple of years - both had dementia and both had to be managed with carers and eventually into care homes as residents, one at a distance of 200 miles. More happily we have also acquired two grandchildren, a boy born in Oxford last December and a girl born at the end of November this year.

Mr Lunnunis now works from home part time, with the odd trip into Manchester. So our income is rather paltry; we'll get a little rent from our son who is living in our house in Yorkshire while we're away. I am on a career break, so not allowed to work for money.

Moving house, Christmas, rental home with low cupboards,plus weight gain and no opportunities for the gym mean I have got a minor back injury which is a lot better today thanks (else I wouldn't be typing this).

My son in law the vicar wonders if I will be doing more writing now that I'm away from work. I left the sequel to my novel Genuine Bargains aside when the problems with mum became too much added to the pressures at work (no one in the NHS is exempt from the grinding pressure created by the system which only ever increases). Instead I became active in a trade union, acting as an advocate for other workers and trying to improve my own position at the same time. When I go back I will have a year and a half minimum left before I can retire and, I hope, wish the NHS farewell for good.

My serious writing began when I was away from employment last, over ten years ago. Since giving up the struggle I have not written anything, except for the Monday short pieces set by the writing group I belonged to in Yorkshire.

Sometimes it feels as though I have 'done it' by writing Genuine Bargains and it is all downhill from here, That's certainly been true for many successful artists, that their first work was definitive and they were never able to recapture those heights.

The Political
The movement of our society into a new phase of oppression has pushed me much further to the left than I have ever been. I do not feel represented by our elected politicians, none of whom are left wing enough to get this country back on track, Once I was an enthusiastic Blairite but I feel that for all his achievements (and they were considerable) his plans ultimately failed on a basic level because he did not see how evil the commercial sector actually is. He valiantly tried to work with business and business just ripped off our society. Unlike many I do not see his foreign adventures as some sort of criminal activity. I believe he acted in good faith at all times and is essentially a good person.
I have not found a real home among the existing left parties because they are not realistic about foreign policy and immigration.

We should
Renationalise our railways and utilities
Encourage public transport, discourage private cars
Repeal anti union legislation
Have a points system for immigration, make immigration difficult but at the same time -
Give genuine help to poorer countries at home (ie not trade linked bonuses for the rich classes that don't do anything for the poor, or similarly what amount to bribes in return for political leverage)
Do not support either side in the Middle East, Be strictly neutral.
Support English regions, not London

I leave the Welsh and Scots to their own politics. I am English. There may be times when we should all pull together as 'Great Britain' but I don't think this needs to be a formal union.

The large hadron collider is due to come back onstream soon. Does it worry me? Yes. There seems no hope though that safety concerns will ever be listened to by the powers that be and so we go on into the unknown. Let's hope we stay lucky, While I  know little about physics, I do not think that experts in a field are best placed to judge the danger or otherwise of their own work. Naturally there is a gross conflict of interest.Society is so dazzled however by these 'magicians' and their mystique that it gives them free rein.

One year on

As I have a little extra time to myself this week I'm back to blogging.

Genuine Bargains has been published non-exclusively by 'Ebooks for pleasure' and I've started the first draft of a sequel.

I'm still working away at my job three days a week to earn my bread. How lovely it would be to inherit a tidy sum and gain my independence. But my family are all poor so perhaps a lottery ticket is a better bet.

I entered some stories in the Morley literature festival competition in the autumn, including 'Safe House',(fantasy) and 'The Third Winter'(straight fiction).

Before that I was a finalist in Solander's yearly historical fiction competition.

My most recent short story is 'Snowlight', a tale of love and climate change. I'm thinking of creating an anthology of my shorts sometime soon to put up on Amazon. But as you can see there is no consistency of genre. I just write what I like.

My Book Genuine Bargains

Genuine Bargains is ready for download to your e reader from E Books for Pleasure.

Finished, published and on display there with a rather nice cover. Just go to

http://www.ebooksforpleasure.com/

and search for Genuine Bargains

At $5.99 definitely a genuine bargain.

It has mystery, romance and some nostalgic characters and settings. A little like No 1 ladies' but not quite so soft centred. Plus I would probably never use a hoary old urban myth in my fiction.

It's winter again, and again and again

Happy New Year.

Genuine Bargains is no longer on Authonomy and I have left the site. I'd also put a collider critical novella of mine 'Hard Science' up on there for a short while. Or thought I had. Discovered from a reader's responses that a great chunk of it was missing.
Not really contributing anything on the collider critic front now though I try to follow what others are doing.
Still working 3 days a week with Tuesday as my writing day. I've penned a few more short stories since last year and made some submissions here and there.
Genuine Bargains is getting a re-edit and I'm nearly half way through.

Genuine Bargains on Authonomy

Six chapters of Genuine Bargains went up on Authonomy a week or so ago and I've had some very nice responses. I don't know how seriously to take the 'contest' but it's a plus for new people to see my work.

Writer Development is over now, at least for a year, so I should have more time to work on writing, editing and submissions.

The collider has inspired a new piece 'Hard Science', a 'trashy' thriller which is in the early stages of development. Meanwhile 'Love Like Salt' my 'literary' effort will have to languish unloved.

GB is quite middlebrow in approach, but a work with some refinement and character depth I hope. My final workshop at writer development was fronted by an agent who compared GB to the works of an author called Barbara Pym and this comparison was also made by one of the commentors on Authonomy. Apparently she was very highly thought of, but her works date from the 50s and 60s and she died in c1980.

The collider is ramping up, albeit more slowly than originally planned. I make my small contributions to opposing it here and there on the net, and have recently written to my MP and the government's chief scientific advisor to update them. The debate has moved on a little bit and a few people are starting to recognise that there could be something to discuss here after all.

Collider blues

It's getting started again - beams were put through the LHC over the week end.

CERN announces new low energy test beams at the LHC October 26, 2009.

Human rights complaint will be filed at the United Nations in Geneva.

After a year of repairs and redesign of some LHC safety systems due to a massive equipment failure, the LHC is on track to inject circulating beams in November. Beam collisions might start this December. With no advance announcement of the tests unlike last year's fanfare, CERN's new low profile demonstrates more care and caution at least when it comes to media fallout. CERN's official announcement today:

http://user.web.cern.ch/user/news/2009/091026.html

LHC critics announce a new complaint will be filed soon at the United Nations to stop the LHC until proven safe.

A comprehensive and detailed new human rights complaint to the UN at Geneva, worked out by well-known critics and specialists, relying upon the work of specialists in black holes and cosmic rays, particle physics and risk researchers and several independent international lawyers and experts in international law, will be published soon. The UN-communication clearly demonstrates weaknesses in CERN safety assessments and concrete dangers arising from the planned high-energy experiments at the LHC.

The complaint demands an external risk evaluation and study of the latest relevant cosmic ray and other empirical data that bears upon LHC safety considerations. The legal aspects are focused on the special responsibility of Switzerland and France (by territory principle and CERN-council membership) and the other CERN member states not to insure LHC safety. This complaint is supported by a wide group of international critics of the planned "big bang experiment". A press release will follow when published.

The scientific network “LHC-Kritik” (“LHC-Critique”) participated in the initiation and in the elaboration of this complaint.

Best regards:

Markus Goritschnig MA

Spokesman "LHC Critique"

Phone: +43 650 629 627 5

E-Mail: Goritschnig@LHC-concern.info

www.LHC-concern.info