Recently the government revealed that they attempted to fine a homeless man for not submitting his tax return. At the appeal tribunal HMRC argued that the individual’s circumstances were not special. The judge called them ridiculous and it is hard to disagree. HMRC automatically fine those who don’t submit a tax return when asked to […]

Once a man called John Smith decided to trace his family tree. He knew nothing about genealogy but had a credit card which brought a subscription to a popular website with templates to populate. He could remember where and when he was born and knew details of his immediate family. Beyond that he was reliant […]

When I was a child you could identify the best-selling books by looking at a display in your local book store. In America there was also the option of checking the list in the New York Times. Today it is the Amazon best seller lists which give the best indication of a book’s popularity but […]

Show don’t tell is advice usually given to writers, but it should also apply to those starting new jobs. As an applicant you summarise your past experiences and describe the most suitable in the interview. Then, when you start, it’s all irrelevant. Your new colleagues, and managers, aren’t interested in anecdotes of previous glories. They […]

Members of the British Parliament are leading a global trend of poor decision making. This week 432 (66%) of them voted against the Brexit Deal. Some are whinging about the confusion and chaos, without acknowledging that they caused it. On 9 June 2015 544 MPs (83%), many the same ones who rejected the deal, voted […]

Once there was a country pub that made a small profit. Everyone in the community drank there and nobody misbehaved because they knew that the landlord would ban them. Along came the government with an increase in alcohol duty. The landlord hired someone who could use a microwave and offered food to break even. Along […]

Ten years ago, a British pensioner possibly set a record by borrowing 25,000 books from her local library in weekly installments of first six then twelve. An average person is expected to read twelve books a year, and a voracious reader reach 5000 in a lifetime.  Like most people I don’t keep records, but Amazon […]

2018 was a good year for my writing career. My third book, Jack the Ripper Suspects:The Definitive Guide and Encylopedia, was published in March. For the first time, you can assess 333 suspects in an accessible narrative and reach your own conclusions. Two weeks later I was honored to feature in Rippercast. I also contributed […]

As each Christmas approaches, I think of William Onion, the East End Poet and possibly Britain’s most convicted man who was born on Christmas Eve in 1834 and ended a fifty-year addiction to alcohol in December 1898. Afterwards he became a minor celebrity, preaching temperance. One thing didn’t change. He remained poor. The most Onion […]