Nigel Gordon

We most certainly do. It was a remarkable film for its time and is still a remarkable film today. We also owe a debt to Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington for there roles in the film, both were advised not to play the parts because the film was about a gay man with AIDS, yet both took on the roles. Demme both produced and directed the film which went on to deservedly win Best Actor for Hanks, Best Original Song and Best Screenplay at the Oscars.

Colin, well Miss Jenkins does turn up, though not in person, in "Walking the Wild Side" which is being published elsewhere on the web. At the moment I am some way into a novel "An Interesting Young Lady" which involves Miss Jenkins, Maddie, a character who turns up in "Walking the Wild Side" and Miss Jenkins' nephew Neal, the boy with the skateboard. Miss Jenkins is looking for answers about the death of her gay nephew and Maddie is out for revenge. When that pair get together somebody needs to watch out. I am hoping to have the story finished by the end of the year. Where it will be published I do not know, unfortunately it will not be on AD.

Like Merkin, I went back and read "Flip's Tale", which I thoroughly enjoyed. There again I have enjoyed all Joel's work and look forward to reading the rest of "Jamie's Quest". The beginning has been first class.

To those of you who have asked. Miss jenkins is still floating around. I have plans for Edith Jenkins but if any will see the light of day I do not know.

Unfortunately at times political correctness and equality legislation and guidelines comes up against reality with some stupid results. The 'Only Boys Aloud' case is one. A small charity I have worked with in the past closed it doors a couple of years ago. It provided advice and information on safe sex to members of the LGBT community. It did this by handing out safe sex packs and information at gay clubs and other gay venues. It's funding was withdrawn as its information distribution policy was deemed to be discriminatory against heterosexuals!!! There is a place for common sense to come into the system. Unfortunately, due to the risk of being sued, officials dare not do anything but apply the rules exactly as they are laid down.

I think that was a feeling many of us had that night.

It has been announced that Gilbert Baker, the creator of the Gay Rainbow Flag died in his sleep at the age of 65. Baker designed the flag in 1978 for San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day. It subsequently became adopted around the world as the LGBT symbol. Personally I always regretted the loss of the old Lambada symbol and flag that was in use prior to 1978 but understand that there were copyright issues with its use in the States and that is what led to the creation of a specific flag for the Gay Freedom Day. As I am writing this I can look out of my window and see the Rainbow flag in the window of the commune that is across the road from me. I hope Baker's creation keeps flying for a long long time and someday in every nation on earth.

Come back Guy Fawkes - all is forgiven!!

No. The only undertaking that has been given by the government is that there will be "a meaningful debate". The Lords amendment to the act authorising invocation of Article 50 required that there had to be an mandatory debate that could have rejected any deal made. The government overturned this when it went back to the commons. N

A good concise account of how things stand as Britain starts one of the slowest suicides in history.

It has been some time since we saw a new story here by Sequoyh but one has finally arrived. From the very start it has all the feeling and atmosphere that one associates with the work of this master storyteller. The first chapter sets you firmly not only within the time and place of the story but also within the dynamics of the family and the participants in events. Although nothing is actually clearly described sufficient is given that I have a clear feel for the office where Ethan works, the plantation house and the school. This is Sequoyh's great ability, to be able to build a picture in your mind of place and events with the minimum of description. Lighting up your imagination so that you buy into the story he is telling. Chapter 1 has grabbed me, I can't wait to see where the story is going to go. My feeling is that this will be better than Sentinel Mountain or Journey to Love, both of which are great stories, well written and well told.

I was reading this story on IOMFATS when this news broke here. Followed the link above and read the rest of it. It is a remarkable and moving story. The latest news just makes it more poignant.

The BBC have just put this up on their web site. Singer George Michael has died aged 53, his publicist has said. The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, is said to have "passed away peacefully at home". Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT. Police say they were treating the death as unexplained but there were no suspicious circumstances. In a statement, the star's publicist said: "It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period. "The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."

Ditto

There were a lot of people who risked their lives to save not only Jews but other minorities, not only within the occupied countries but also in Germany itself. Unfortunately many of them will be unknown as they gave their lives for what they were doing and there is nobody to speak about them. Also, often for security reasons, those being helped did not know the names of those who were helping them. A friend of mine in the Netherlands (who is unfortunately dead now) as a young teenager (14-17) often guided escapees to pick up places from where they would be picked up by boats and taken to safety. He never knew the names of those he helped and they never new his. He never knew who brought them to the point where he collected them or who took them on. He would be told that there would be a 'package' for collection at a certain place and that he should deliver it to a certain point. His estimate was that over a three year period he guided about four hundred people. The thing was his mother was also working with the resistance, he did not find that out till after the war, she never knew that her son was in the resistance. I just pray that when the need for such courage arises again, as I fear it might well do shortly, that there are those amongst us who will stand up and do what needs to be done for freedom and liberty.

The death has been announced this morning of Rabbi Lionel Blue. He was European Director for the World of Progressive Judaism and came out publicly as gay in 1980, the first rabbi to do so. In the UK he became well known for his broadcasts on the Thought for the Day slot in BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He was a remarkable man. I met him twice, both times left a distinct impression on me of kindness and generosity. You can find his obituary here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12128766

Without doubt this has been one of the most difficult reads that I have read for a very long time. Not because the book is badly written or the story badly told. In fact it is really well written and well told. The thing that made it hard for me is the subject, the love between Cameron and Dylan and how Dylan's addiction to heroin affects their relationship. For the last eight years I have been fighting (when he has been out of prison) with my boyfriend's addiction to heroin. It is a fight I recently realised I had lost. Nicola Haken in this book examines the thinking of the addict and those who are involved with them. Her insights are true and often painful. Reading her descriptions of Cameron and Dylan and the interaction between them I realised she was describing events that I had experienced with my boyfriend. The book follows the life of Cameron and Dylan, two boys who fall in love but are forced apart by circumstances when they are thirteen, only to come together fifteen years later. By then Cameron's life has become one of success. Dylan's life is one of addiction. How the two of them deal with the issues that this creates and how love can survive the conflicts of such a relationship is well explored in the book. It is well worth reading. You can find it in ebook format for Kindle from Amazon and I believe it is available in other ebook formats.

If you have not carried out you democratic duty and voted you are not entitled to the benefits of a democratic system, such as tax exemptions or relief. So if you don't vote, pay more tax. You could also cancel privileges, like a persons driving licence.

If you have compulsory voting an abstain or none of the above option is necessary. Also the option of a write in candidate. There have been a couple of local elections here where the controlling party has kept out a very popular local politician just to put in place on if its yes men.

With recent results in the US and the UK I am beginning to see a good argument for the Australian approach - make voting compulsory.

Don't the Illuminati already own it?

Colinian I was speculating on the basis of an article I read a couple of years ago on DNA evidence that some members of the West Coast Native American tribes carry a DNA marker that is only found amongst them and amongst a small group of Han Chinese from the North Eastern coast of China and some Ainu villagers in Hokkaido. The evidence suggests that the marker in the North American population dates from somewhere between 800 and a 1000 years ago. The marker in the Chinese population goes back at least five thousand years. Now the marker could have arisen spontaneously within the North American population, but given the level of match with the Chinese marker, this is considered unlikely. Evidence does indicate that in the period around 1000 years ago there was a much more extensive trade from North Eastern China along the Japanese archipelago and up to the low artic coast of present day Siberia. We know from 19th century records that Japanese seafarers plying these water were on occasions blown onto the Western Pacific coast of America by storms. It is possible that if the Chinese were in those same waters nine hundred years before, the same thing could have happened. Linguistic studies of West Coast Native American languages have identified groups of related word which have a high similarity to similar word groups in Han Chinese. The fact that these word groups are highly specialised points more to absorption of the words from an external source rather than the words arising within the local language. There is also evidence of similarities between Native American pictographs from the Western Coastal regions and the forms used in Chinese Bone divination of the same period. My personal belief on the basis of what I have read is that it is highly probably that there were instances where Han Chinese seafarers were blown off course and landed on the Pacific coast of North America in the period around 1,000 AD. ​Coming forward from that interaction there is also speculation that part of the Great Fleet of 1421 may have also got to the West coast of North America. This idea is explored by the writer Gavin Menzies in his book '1421'. Although widely dismissed as speculation by most mainstream historians there are quite a few who are prepared to accept the idea, at least in part. The ships of Zheng He were certainly capable of crossing the Pacific. It does appear that the Chinese had some clear knowledge of North America well before 1492.

Well, they were there before the Europeans!! Though I think the Native Americans have a prior claim.

This might be an alternative solution:

Just listened to the More of Less programme on BBC Radio 4, explaining the mathematics of the presidential election. It seems that for the majority of Americans Trump is certainly not their president.