In the wake of the Clarkson jibe about Gordon Brown ...

It reminds me of the story of the Cyclops family. One day, Cyclops Jnr comes in crying his eye out. Cyclops Sr takes him under his wing and asks him what happened.

Cyclops Jr wipes away a single tear and says "I was in a toy store, and another boy said something horrible about me!"

So they all went over to the toy store. Mr and Mrs Cyclops and Cyclops Sprog. And there, they saw the other boy, coming out with his parents, wheeling a big red bike.

"Are you sure it's this one you wanted for your birthday?" the boy's father says to the young lad with the bike.

"Yeah," the lad says. "Like I told you, that's the one I'd get."

Something I wrote on a Government website today

I was invited to express my opinions on a Government website today. I'd asked my MP to look into a proposed Bill which would have had horrific ramifications had it been allowed to pass unremarked.

This is what I wrote:-

I wrote to my MP because I am scared by the database state.

I am scared for the children who will have to grow into this totalitarian state into which we are falling. I fear that generations will be born into this country who will know nothing but IDs, surveillance and uncontrolled data sharing; a generation who will only know of the words "privacy" and "freedom" as theoretical concepts, delusions held by their forebears.

I wrote, because I fear this future, in which a few at the top will, by this means, live in comfort and unjust indulgence at the expense of the many for whom, not peace, but a state of virtual slavery, and actual fear and oppression, shall be their lot.

I wrote, because I wish to strive to do everything I can legally do within my power as a citizen of this sceptered isle, and a subject of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, to prevent this nation from forgetting the principles of law and democracy for which my forebears fought and died in two World Wars, and for which they fight today in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And since I received nothing further from my MP, I did find myself wondering what side he was on, and why I bothered voting for him in the first place. Perhaps I won't vote for him next time.

However, I do wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful site for the opportunity it has given me to exercise my rights as a citizen. This site gives me hope, and faith in the principles of democracy which I love.

And for that, I thank you.

And this is what I was writing about

( Behind the cut, in case the link disappears )

"What's In Space? A Journey Beyond The Earth"

My local Council have planned a Science Festival for March 26th - 4th April. This is a biennial event, and it's all good fun.

There is a literary competition. Entrants are given a title, and they have to come up with something appropriate to that title.

That title is, as you may now have guessed, "What's In Space? A Journey Beyond The Earth."

I have a blog on another site. What I'll be doing is this.

I'm going to write a new article, once every couple of days. They're no more than 1,000 words, and they can take any format. Non-fictional essay, poetry, short story, even illustration (for budding Chesney Bonestells - oh, what if the next Rick Sternbach came from Wrexham?)

So every time I come up with a new article, I'm going to talk about it here and on that other blog. Put up notes on my creative process, so to speak.

And why do I have to put up the stuff on that other blog? Because it's a public forum, and the festival organisers might be reading it.

But they don't get to see the entry I choose until I send it to them. :)