Indira Gandhi

 A Divisive Figure

The Closed Fist

Since the parttion of India in 1947, the only person hated more than Muhammad Ali Jinnah who spurred the mass slaughter of Hindus in 1947 is Indira Gandhi. Her policy of mass sterilisation made her a reviled character, who, even now, over 40 years later is still despised.

Yet, one of her sayings is true, she once said, "You can't shake hands with a closed fist."

In recent years, there was concern that if Hillary Clinton won the US election, there would be three ladies in power, and according to Confucius this would be the end of the world, sorry we passed that hurdle in the 1980's with Indira Gandhi in India, Margaret Thatcher in the UK, and Golda Meir in Israel

What does half-life mean?

 The French Connection

Nuclear Power

Scientists talk about nuclear elements having a half-life, what does that mean?

In broad terms it means that in X number if years, HALF of the radio-active element SHOULD be classed as safe. This does not mean the other half should be safe in another span the length of time, as the half of the element left now has its own half-life. Those elements have a half-life going into thousands of years, when, if ever shall they be safe?

Nuclear Power is an endless poison.

Here is a thought, Nuclear in an anagram of unclear, as scientists are unclear of the safety of the power

The French Connection

 Marine Le Pen

I voted to stay out of the EU in 1972

The majority of yesterday's blog readers were in France.

I share a lot of the views of Marine Le Pen, that doesn't mean I am right-wing, it means she makes sense to me.

The EU has proved to be what I said it would be in 1972, a free bank to support Germany, after successive governments failed to clear their defecits. The German press admit, they are in so much debt, there is little chance they can clear it.

I don't care who is in power, I am against nuclear power, it has not proved safe, incidents such as Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima prove this to be true. These we know of because they made the news, how many smaller accidents slipped through because they didn't make the news, or were covered up? Years age, when I listened to short-wave-radio broadcasts, I heard about an accident which happened outside Kyiv. Two trains carrying nuclear waste collided. How can anything which has a half-life of thousands of years be classed as safe?

N.A.T.O. is ineffective.

There are no Royal Air Force bases in Europe. Outside the UK, the nearest RAF base is in Cyprus, and that is only a supply depot.

I can't say I voted for Brexit, as I voted to stay out of the EEC (as it was in 1972), back then, the President of France, Charles DeGaulle told the UK government to stay out

Links on YouTube

 The double life of John "Mad Jack" Adams

Sea Ghosts

A few minutes ago, I did something I rarely do, I posted the link to my short story, Sea Ghosts, to two sites I watch on YouTube. The link is valid as the channels are about pirates, and my story is of a pirate who lived in Yorkshire

The blog has more readers in Finland than the UK

 Tervetuloa Finland

I can understand the Finns

In 1970, I visited Finland during a school cruise around the Baltic Sea. The Finns are a cold people, like most Scandinavians, I can understand why.

Since the 1700s, they have been in a stalemate with Norway and Sweden over an area of land. The area is small, and far from most of the major population centres, none of the countries want the area, but they don't want the others to have it either.

Before World War 2 began, Finland was at war with Russia, and with Sweden's neutrality making an invasion from Germany likely, I can understand why the Finns chose not to stand with the Allies. A war with both major powers would have been catastrophic.

The short story shown here is not Finland, the image is one I took in 2009 of Greenland, the following year, this area exploded and vanished below the waves

Alzheimer's Disease Concerns

 Mental Health Concerns

I am losing my memory

Since losing my wife in January, 2025, I have noticed a sharp decline in my mental health, I put it down to nothing more than old age, now I am concerned it could be Alzheimer's Disease. This was my wife's fear, both her mother and grandmother suffered from it at their ends. One of the most noted sufferers was actress Rita Hayworth, during her later years, she didn't recognise anyone.

My wife's mother lived with us in Horfield, Bristol in her last years, and she'd wake up calling for her husband, but he'd passed away years ago.

I hope to start writing again

 Alan Place - Short Story Writer

The Fantasy Writer

I have several projects in my WIP files which I can enlarge. There are some Gothic stories, Romance stories, Horror stories, and several Fantasy stories I enjoyed writing.

The last time I wrote one of my Speculative Fiction stories, I had to stop.The story was so weird, it gave me bad nights for weeks, and I knew what was coming, perhaps that was the reason. That story was based on an event that happened which happened to me, when I was stationed in Scotland