Nigel Gordon

Just mentioned this to a friend who is a leading journalist on one of our national newspapers. He informed me that the correct term for a group of journalists is a gaggle.

I have to say Chris that is one of my favourite stories by you.

​Actually it is far older. Passel is the old pronunciation of parcel, which was often written pacel in 16th century England. At that time the term parcel/pacel just meant a collection of things that were gathered together. In British Legal English we still use it in this sense when we refer to a 'parcel of land' to describe a piece of land consisting of more than one field. At the moment I have an auction listing on screen that describes one lot as a 'a parcel of land consisting of four fields ...' The important thing is that the collection of things does not have to homogenous. There does, however, have to be some communality between the elements in the parcel. So you could have a parcel of plants or a parcel of bird skins but you could not combine the two: "I have sent to you a parcel of pressed plants which have recently arrived from the exploration of the Amazon and with the same a parcel of bird skins from the same source." The restriction of the term parcel to mean something that is packaged for sending by post or courier is relatively modern. I can recall doctors referring to a parcel of drugs in the 1960s - now the term would be a cocktail of drugs. The pronunciation of parcel as passel still exists in some English and Scots dialects. I have just finished reading a piece set in Glasgow where the speaker in reported dialog asks "'as mi pascel kom?" Over the Christmas period I went over to the Black Country to assist and elderly friend to sort out a room that she has used for years as a general store room, but now needs to return to being a bedroom. She pointed to a collection of stuff on a table and told me to "passel up that lot and bin them". I think it is clear that the modern American passel and the English parcel do both have a common source. Personally I have doubts about using the term passel or parcel to refer to a group of journalists, I was under the impression the correct term was a stupidity of journalists.

I must admit whilst I enjoyed the first part of this story it did not grip me the same way as some vwl's other work have. Now with chapter 5 we have moved into a second phase of the story and it seems a lot more edgy and engaging than the first part. I am looking forward to what is to come.

I must say that the longer this novel is going on the more and more interesting it is becoming. It is not an easy read but it is well worth reading. The characters are interesting, strong and well portrayed. It is a really good piece of story telling by Cynus with some really great writing.

Just had an email from a 74 year old friend who is currently on a round the world trip. He said the following: In Sydney, fantastic day, made me feel twenty again. Worth the trip just to see this parade!!

I'm tempted to print them all off, bind them in a nice leather binding and have them sitting in my best reads pile at the side of the bed for when I wake up at three in the morning.

Well, the third story in the Leopards' series has started to be posted. We have the main characters from the previous two stories back in the action but also some new arrivals. It will be interesting to see where Graeme is going to take us in this telling. One thing one can be sure of is that the world around Jim and Tony is never boring! You can find the story here: http://awesomedude.com/graeme/leopards-leap/index.htm

Just read about the Egyptian trainee pilot who is facing deportation from the USA for saying if he killed Trump he would be doing the world a favour. It seems a lot of people have the same idea!

The problem with the demagogue is that all too often they believe themselves to be a demigod!

Personally I would agree. There is no reason why a series should not contain both novels and short stories.

Nothing about this story is average. I read it before, and it gets better every time I read it.

I am looking forward to reading it, the start in interesting, it promises to be good.

I can see one difference, the Islamic fanatics at least appear to live by the word of the Koran, even if they are misreading it. I get the strong impression that the fundamentalist Christians have never read the New Testaments and have no concept of the teaching therein.

I have looked for it on Amazon Prime Europe and it is not available, though the music from it is.

I read this story elsewhere some time ago and liked it a lot. It is a remarkable story very well told and one I would recommend to anyone. ​Reading the first posting of it on AwesomeDude I found that it was even better than I remembered. I don't know if Nicholas has done a rewrite on it or if it is just that John had presented in better on the page, but it seemed to be better and easier to read. You might think that is due to the fact that I had already read it, I can assure you it is not. I have gone back to the original net posting of it a couple of times and re-read it. This is one of those stories that is worth re-reading again and again. You can find it here: http://awesomedude.com/nicholas-hall/gifs-island/index.htm

The German's did it with Hitler and looked what happened. Him and Trump have a lot in common.

Great news, a new story from Cole. That is always something to look forward to. From what we read in the the first chapter we are not going to be disappointed. With his usual skill and grace Cole has created a feeling for both the character of the narrator and the location where he finds himself. I cannot but look forward to reading the coming chapters, though I suspect I am going to have to struggle with the difference between American English and British English. Most of us British readers have grown use to the idea that a Public School in the States is not an elite fee paying educational establishment. Now we have to grasp that a Preparatory School is not an educational institution for under thirteens that prepares them for entry into the Public Schools. Reading this is clearly going to be educational.

There is a difference in the UK between a civil partnership and a cilvil marriage - the permissible grounds for dissolution are not the same. For example you cannot dissolve a civil partnership on the grounds of adultery. Given that, for some people there are advantages in a civil partnership - especially if they are in an 'open' relationship. Mrs Justice Andrews really did not have a choice in the judgement she gave, sitting alone in the Court of Appeal she did not have the power to overrule legislative law, she can only amend the interpretation. The case is going to the Supreme Court and that does have the power to overrule legislative law.

Well if he is going to Scotland I think we need to reman Hadrian's Wall! Also re-run the Scottish Independence referendum with the English voting.

Having just watched 'The Mad World of Donald Trump' Channel 4 TV, I would ask you to amend that request. The amended request to read "Not to land on any soil or enter any territorial waters."

I am fairly certain they would not, most of the MPs driving the debate about banning him from the UK were SNP.

Unfortunately I have not found any books, never mind good books, on the none Jewish victims of the holocaust. The most I have found is some chapters in books about the Roma and other specialist history books. It is something I have been looking into as I have a half finished story about gay victims of the holocaust, but checking historic facts is difficult.

Today, January 27th, in the UK and most of Europe is Holocaust Memorial Day. As always there has been the story of a Jewish survivor of those events on the morning radio news programme. The anchor man stated at one point that this is the day that we remember the "six million Jews and the others" who died in the death camps. He did not name who the others were, no doubt because the list is too long. Amongst them were the Roma, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Evangelical Christians and the Homosexuals. When remembering the Holocaust today remember the homosexuals who were shot or who died in the gas chambers. Remember the seventeen year old boy who naked with his hands tied behind his back was led out before the camps inmates, had a bucket placed over his head and then had the camp guard dogs set upon him who mauled him to death. This taking place in front of his lover who was amongst the inmates lined up to watch. Also let us remember the final insult, were after they were freed from the camps homosexuals were repatriated to their countries of origin where most were then treated a criminal prisoners and put back into prison.

There is one big difference between Hitler and Trump. Hitler was a demagog who knew how to use language to put a point over. Even people who were opposed to him had to agree that he could be, and was, very persuasive. Having seeing listened to a number of Trumps speeches all I hear is populism, bluster and the linguistic ability of a ten year old. The problem of course is that ten year olds can be bloody persuasive. Every tried getting out of a supermarket with one in tow and not buying them some sweets.