Port De Soller Mallorca

Port De Soller Mallorca
Sunset

Wednesday 30 May 2012

The Difference between a Labour and Conservative Run Authority

You will recall that I posted yesterday on my trial and tribulations on trying to make a call to Thurrock Council to enquire about a mysterious local road closure, this is what I said in an email to the Councillor responsible for Highways;
While you may not be directly responsible for the telephone system or it's operators you may like to enquire, on my behalf, as to why Thurrock residents are ignored and treated to such an abomination of a service. Is it an unspoken directive from the ruling party in power that if residents can't get through and make enquiries/ complaint then we (the Council) can't register those enquiries/ complaints? It then stands to reason that they will not form part of any figures for comparison on official statistics on such enquiries/ complaints being made, or is it that I am again being far to cynical? Or is it just a question of:
a) poor performance by operators,
b) not enough operators to deal with the quantity of calls
c) not enough departmental employees to deal with the quantity of calls
d) lack of interest by council employees dealing with members of the public's enquiries/ complaints*
*The last one is based on the fact that when I did get through on the 652 652 number the FIRST time I selected option 3 for Highways. I waited 11 minutes and eventually the call was answered by, it sounded like Tracey, but when I asked the woman to repeat her name (I do like to make a note of the name of the person I am speaking to) the call was cut off!
I called again ignoring all the options and after 7 minutes the call was answered by an operator. I explained that I had previously called, that I had selected option 3 for highways, that eventually the call was answered and that when I asked for confirmation of the name of the person I was speaking to, the call was disconnected! The operator apologised and stated that she would put me through, that she understood all departments were experiencing heavy call volumes (See, b), c) and d) above !) but that she would remain on the line until my call was answered.
You've guessed what's coming now haven't you? Yes, I waited in silence for almost 5 minutes and then I heard the click, signalling that the call had been disconnected. Just what on earth is going on in Grays that makes the Council and it's staff so unhelpful to it's residents?
Now this is what happened today when I happened to phone Basildon District Council, who are a few miles along the road:

I wanted to Speak to Environmental Health, guess what;
The call was answered on the first ring, I asked for the dept and the lady operator thanked me for calling, put me through and lo and behold, the call was picked up immediately by a nice helpful young chap, who thanked me for calling after listening to what I had to say, informing me that an EHO would get back to me tomorrow!
It might only be a few miles along the road, but they are galaxies apart in their response to callers – Thurrock could do well to emulate this approach, Oh! And BTW I did make enquiries and found that the operators and other staff were employees of the Council and not some faceless company earning millions?
Is it, that Thurrock are Labour controlled and have outsourced, it seems, all of their resources to a Faceless International Company who go by the name of Vertex and who get over £400 million pounds of Thurrock taxpayers money for providing such an appalling service and who are providing (presumably previously direct employees of the Council)such an appalling service to callers to Thurrock Council, while the Conservative controlled Council in Basildon still employs staff directly?

On the question of Vertex, my blog is reproduced by a local web based paper and yesterdays blog was picked up by them and this is what the editor said in response to my comments on Thurrock employees:

 EdMay 29, 2012 - 9:55 pmI doubt you spoke to any Thurrock Council employee – probably one of the Vertex employees?
In 2005 Vertex won a £427 million contract to run the following council services:-
•Administration services
•Business accounting and financial services
•Customer services
•Engineering and transportation
•Facilities
•Human resources
•ICT and e-Government
•Payroll services
•Procurement and property services
•Revenues services
So the person answering the phone will be a Vertex employee and the repairs to the bridge will be handled via Vertex who will probably sub contract the work out.
I have to confess I was ignorant of this companies existence until I saw this and popped over to their web site, you can visit it here .  Now before you visit, if you are from Thurrock and have ever tried to call  the Council, I don't want you laughing at them (otherwise you will cry) when you look at the site, because under the heading of: Public & Citizen Services it statesMaking it easier for citizens to interact with government.


Well, there you have it fellow Thurrock residents VERTEX are making it easier for us to interact with our local Government, what do you think, are they?

I should also say that there is a link on the same page to a 'Thurrock Council Case Study' I assumed that I was going to be directed to a page telling me how wonderful Vertex are and what a magnificent job they are doing in 'our' service, for the paltry sum in excess of £400 million pounds that they are getting, but alas we get 'PAGE NOT FOUND' I wonder why that is?

Tuesday 29 May 2012

An Open letter to Councillor Andy Smith, Thurrock


Below is an email I sent to the cabinet member for highways of Thurrock Council.  Is it just me that becomes frustrated and, or am I just being unreasonable in my expectations of our Local authorities and the people that they employ to deal with us on a day to day basis and who seem, it appears to me, to be obstructive and as unhelpful as they possibly can be?

 Dear Councillor Smith (L) ,

I am a resident of South Ockendon and I have noticed that for the last week or so that the B1335, Aveley By-Pass Road has been closed between the roundabout that separates South Ockendon Stifford Road (B1335) and the roundabout connecting Sandy Lane/Romford Road and Mill Road.  The By Pass,as you will probably know is the only road route into the Belhus Park Golf and Country Club, swimming pool etc!

I have a couple of questions for you, if I may, as you appear to be the Cabinet member for Transport and Highways within Thurrock Council.  I should first state that I checked Essex County Councils website and then phoned the Highways department to ask my question of them, but after waiting about 15 minutes and then having to spell , phonetically, A V E L E Y to the lady on the other end, as Essex CC 's system apparently does not like road numbers ( how can the CC not like road numbers they deal with trunk roads whose main identifier surely is a a road designation number!) and telling her that it was in Thurrock , she did come back informing me that she couldn't find it, asking, "are you sure it doesn't have another name, and where about in the county is it?"

I stated, again, that it was in Thurrock and no, to the best of my knowledge it was and always has been the Aveley By-Pass and again (although she / they don't like them) the road number is B1335.  "Oh", says she, "well that explains it then, if it is in Thurrock it is theirs, they are a Unitary authority you see....."  And she gave me the number for Thurrock Council, bless .... but a lot of good that did me.

While you may not be directly responsible for the telephone system or it's operators you may like to enquire, on my behalf, as to why Thurrock residents are ignored and treated to such an abomination of a service.  Is it an unspoken directive from the ruling party in power that if residents can't get through and make enquiries/ complaint then we (the Council) can't register those enquiries/ complaints? It then stands to reason that they will not form part of any figures for comparison on official statistics on such enquiries/ complaints being made, or is it that I am again being far to cynical?  Or is it just a question of:

a) poor performance by operators,
b) not enough operators to deal with the quantity of calls
c) not enough departmental employees to deal with the quantity of calls 
d) lack of interest by council employees dealing with members of the public's enquiries/ complaints*

*The last one is based on the fact that when I did get through on the 652 652 number the FIRST time I selected option 3 for Highways.  I waited 11 minutes and eventually the call was answered by, it sounded like Tracey, but when I asked the woman to repeat her name (I do like to make a note of the name of the person I am speaking to) the call was cut off!

I called again ignoring all the options and after 7 minutes the call was answered by an operator.  I explained that I had previously called, that I had selected option 3 for highways, that eventually the call was answered and that when I asked for confirmation of the name of the person I was speaking to, the call was disconnected!  The operator apologised and stated that she would put me through, that she understood all departments were experiencing  heavy call volumes (See, b), c) and d) above !) but that she would remain on the line until my call was answered. 

You've guessed what's coming now haven't you?  Yes, I waited in silence for almost 5 minutes and then I heard the click, signalling that the call had been disconnected.  Just what on earth is going on in Grays that makes the Council and it's staff so unhelpful to it's residents?

As I say, maybe you can look into the above for me.

Now, after all of that, getting back to the Aveley By-Pass....  

Having checked the web pages for both Essex County Councils Highways and Thurrock Councils Highways I can find no mention of the current roadworks or road closure mentioned on either website, the reason for it, or the length of time the road is expected to be closed!  I also do not fully understand why there is a diversion in operation that is sending motorists back along the B1335 Stifford Road to the B186 Stifford Hill then to Pilgrims Lane and from there on to the A1306 Arterial Road, West Thurrock and then under the M25 and on and on and on ....... adding about 5 or 6 miles to a journey that if the correct diversion signs were in place would take people people 5 minutes out of their way up Aveley High Street onto Mill Lane and back onto the Aveley By-Pass from the other end, maybe you would be so kind to favour me with a reply to these few points?

copied to ward councillor Barry Johnson (C) 


Updates:


I should be grateful, I received a response:

The road is closed because the footbridge has been damaged in an accident
There are notices and diversion signs
Sorry for the inconvenience
Cllr andrew smith

But, so much left unanswered, clearly, and unusually for a politician, a man of few words.......


and this from the Conservative member (not in power) in the local government



Mr Stronach thanks for your email I will let the portfolio holder respond but I do have to agree with you that TBC website should have the details showing regarding this incident. Even as a councillor I was not made aware of what had happened but have since been informed (after asking) that a vehicle had clipped the bridge and works are underway to make it safe, but no time line given. Without getting political I am very disappointed in the councils performance under a labour administration but I will continue to be part of a robust opposition. Just for the record with regards to an earlier blog. I did indeed knock at your door during the elections, as I remember well our conversation from the previous year, however I obviously called whilst you were out, and I definately put out literature well before the election as well as on its eve so apologies that you didn't see it. I do hope we can work together in the future and would like to assure you that I would welcome your comments or ideas as we go forward. Myself and Cllr Carr are trying to obtain St Nicholas church for a surgery the first Thursday of each month, however this date is yet to be confirmed.
Regards
Barry
Cllr Barry Johnson
Working hard for the Ockendon Ward


From: THOMAS STRONACH [mailto:tomstronach242@btinternet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 03:10 PM
To: Cllr A.J Smith
Cc: Cllr B Johnson
Subject: Re: Thurrock Highways 
 
Dear Cllr Smith,

Thank you for at least taking the time to respond, even if the response was less than responsive!

Regards 

Tom Stronach 

From: Cllr A.J Smith <AJSmith@thurrock.gov.uk>
To: "'tomstronach242@btinternet.com'" <tomstronach242@btinternet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 15:54
Subject: Re: Thurrock Highways

If you need more information please ring me
Cllr andrew smith


From: THOMAS STRONACH [mailto:tomstronach242@btinternet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 04:11 PM
To: Cllr A.J Smith
Subject: Re: Thurrock Highways 
 
Dear Cllr Smith

Well, what I was looking for was a more responsive reply to ALL of the comments in my note to you and not the less than verbose one received.

My initial query was surrounding the road closure,

1.  Notices are noticeable from their absence as to the reason for the closure locally, although you did answer this.  Now I have to admit that I may have missed it in the local press, but I don't think I saw any comment on it anywhere!  And still no response as to a time frame for re-opening the road!

2. One diversion sign pointing you back through Ockendon and nothing again until you get to the B186 hardly well signposted and why the need for such a lengthy diversion, or is the road also closed from the other end as well, and if so then why a diversion at all?

3. Whether you took it as such or not, I was critical of the service provided by council employees,  and you totally ignored that, just as the employees seem to be doing to callers!

I wonder if you think I am just nit picking or that in fact these points are not valid, in your opinion?

Kind Regards 

Tom Stronach  



On 29 May 2012, at 16:40, Cllr A.J Smith <AJSmith@thurrock.gov.uk> wrote:
Mr Stronach due to a problem on my blackberry I was unable to read the end of your email
Now I have read it all I have forwarded it to mr millard the head of service for his attention
I trust you will get a full reply
Cllr andrew smith

 Dear Cllr Smith,

thank you for that, I trust the problem with your Blackberry is not a terminal one, although I do recall a Cllr Kiely, having similar problems a year or so ago, when I challenged him over something, it must be contagious!

I look forward to a response from Mr Millard in due course.

Kind Regards

Tom Stronach

30th May Update


Just an aside, but I thought worth mentioning: I had occasion to call Basildon Council today, I wanted to Speak to Environmental Health, guess what;
The call was answered on the first ring, I asked for the dept and the lady operator thanked me for calling, put me throu and lo and behold, the call was picked up by a nice helpful young chap, who thanked me for calling after listening to what I had to say, informing me that an EHO would get back to me tomorrow!
It might only be a few miles along the road, but they are galaxies apart in their response to callers – Thurrock could do well to emulate this approach, Oh! And BTW I did make enquiries and found that the operators and other staff were employees of the Council and not some faceless company earning millions?



Thursday 24 May 2012

Book Review: Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00 by CR Hiatt

If you know me, you will know that I love my kids and my grand kids, that's in reality. But, and it is a big But, when it comes to TV, Movies and Books, as far as kids are concerned, I am quite happy to see them die, preferably horribly, in the opening scenes in Celluloid or TV and in Books within the first few paragraphs as invariably they are screaming, whimpering, annoying and irritating distractions.  So, it is, even after finishing this book,  still a bit of a mystery as to why I even picked it up in the first place, as it is clearly described as a YA or Young Adult book!

Anna McSwain is a single mother and a private investigator.  She has a rebellious 18 year old daughter Sydney, who has two annoying teenage boy 'friends'.....

Anna McSwain is shot and killed during the investigation of a high profile fraud and swindle case involving local public figures and after getting over the shock and distress of her mothers death, Sydney and one of the boy 'friends' Cody Beck decide to continue the Private Investigator business, renaming it 'McSwain and Beck' this is going to be the sub heading of a series of books following the 'reluctant sleuths' exploits.

Sydney, or Syd as she is referred to, tells the story in a first person narrative style which sometimes the author occasionally forgets and wanders back into the more defined style of third person narrative.

Before they even get a web page up advertising the 'new' business they get a walk in client who informs Syd that she believes her step brother is stealing from her and she wants him followed and evidence found....  there then follows the exploits of the two, in reality mainly Syd as she stumbles from one disasterous piece of investigation to the next involving corrupt cops, Mexican (suggested) cartel and a number of other suspicious characters.

It turns out that the same people who killed Syd's mother are the ones that she is investigating and while they can kill the mother using a sniper rifle they can't kill young Syd from any distance...

I have to say that the story was a little hit and miss and coming at it from the bias of my dislike of kids in fiction as mentioned in the opening paragraph I was finding it hard to stay focussed.

HAVING SAID THAT, I can also sit back and think that with all the nods and mentions to contemporary YA appendages such as Youtube, Facebook, the Internet, Modelling and the way to an easy life through celebrity, it will appeal to the target audience of YOUNG ADULTS, and it is fairly fast paced throughout which was good.

Cody is the tall handsome athletic all round rogue, who knows everything and is a whiz with a digital movie camera and computers, making movies in his spare time and uploading them to YouTube, and at every opportunity has a cheerleader or three hanging on every word.  Syd isn't as beautiful as her mother was, but has Cody and Jayden, who pops up as an aside throughout the book, both secretly in love with her, since elementary school, and then she nearly had me too with the mention of her love for all things NCIS, Gibbs and Di Nozzo, nearly had me....

The writing style was easy and flowing and it was an easy read but the sleuths are not in the same league as say, King and Maxwell from David Baldacci, or the singular Jack Reacher, but, give them 10 or fifteen years and they may mature into something that the more mature reader might grow into But for now this is definitely a book for YA's who I think will enjoy it much more than I did, having said that I have to say it was not a waste of my time in doing so.

Editing for Kindle /iPad: 4 out of 5*
Reading Enjoyment: 4 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 352 incl two chapters of the authors next offering**
Plot: 3 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

* I downloaded this book when it was on promotion and it contained a number of errors, not major ones, but glaring, I am assured that these have been rectified in the paid version but it would have been nice to find an Indie author who was error free from the get go

** Again in the promotion version there was no page numbers (don't know if this has changed) and I find this infuriatingly irritating

You can connect with CR Hiatt here and find out about upcoming projects or on Twitter with @McSwainandBeck

You can get the book from Amazon UK here and Amazon US here

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Doughnuts for Amy by John Malik

I haven't gotten round to this book in my TBR pile yet, but thought it worth pointing out that the author, who also happens to be a Chef and my friend, John Malik, is having a bit of a promotion on Amazon at the moment and giving it away for

FREE

Now how cool is that?



You can download it to your Kindle, PC, Phone or Tablet by clicking here for Amazon UK or here for Amazon USA


You can also follow John at his blog here or on twitter @chefjohnmalik

Monday 21 May 2012

Book Review: Blood Trail by C J Box

Blood Trail, number 8 in the ' Joe Pickett' series and yes I may as well say right out at the front - EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS 1 THROUGH 7!

Joe is back in Saddlestring with Marybeth and the girls, Nate is in Federal prison after he and Joe were double crossed by Portenson when investigating the 'perfect murder' in Yellowstone Park , the FBI agent who hates Wyoming and anything to do with the morons who live in such a godforsaken backwood, animal infested part of the country!

Joe and Marybeth have now bought a 'house' in town and Joe is filling in across the state for absent or sick wardens.  Nosey neighbours are making Joe wish that he was back in the isolation of their state owned house and hunting season is in full swing....  and it's not just the game that's being hunted.

A new hunter has arrived in the state, not hunting the wildlife but the hunters themselves.  Two have already been killed elsewhere when the third is killed in the hills outside Saddlestring and they are not just being killed, they are being strung up like an Elk sliced open and left on display....

The Governor again calls on Joe to investigate and Director Pope, Joe's boss who hates Joe as much as he (Joe) hates him, and not forgetting he was the guy who sacked 'our' Joe, want's to be in the field as part of the investigation and seems to be backing Joe up!  You just know that ultimately this means that there is going to be more trouble in store for him.

Joe also finds Stella Ennis is back, this time working for the Governor, Joe nearly fell for her and this damaged his marriage for a while, what will happen when Marybeth finds out that Stella is back?

Joe asks the Governor to intervene with the FBI and have Nate released, but he refuses and brings in a specialist tracker, who also ends up getting killed while out with Joe....... as does ......  (no spoilers - but sadness is felt)

Joe knows that there is something more to the killings but can't figure it out, as usual.  A high profile Anti Hunt protester and his Indian wife arrive in Saddlestring and this complicates the enquiry as he hails the 'hunter' as a hero.

Vern Dunnegan, Joes predecessor and mentor and the guy that Joe had to arrest all those years ago when he was involved in an incident that got Marybeth shot and nearly killed and resulted in them losing an unborn child, is back in the frame somehow and Joe has to confront him in prison....

Once again you think you know what the outcome is going to be but Box leaves it until about the last few pages to confuse and reveal the real killer it was a surprise, until you realise that the answer was also staring you, as it was Joe, right in the face.

Box, just continues to provide an enthralling read.  In between the business of Game Warden and Murder we get the 'mundane' family life;  growing daughters with the angst that that brings, nosey and irritable neighbours  and of course the continuing saga of Missy Vankueron-Longbrake, Joe's mother-in-law.  The narrative flows seamlessly from the high octane of danger and death to discussions  on homework, school and cleaning the roof gutters and fixing tiles and fences to keep the neighbours happy, how many authors do you read, that are this good?



Book 1 - Open Season                  
Book 2 – Savage Run                   
Book 3 – Winterkill                      

Book 4 – Trophy Hunt                  

Book 5 – Out of Range                 

Book 6 – In Plain Sight                

Book 7 – Free Fire                       
Book 8 – Blood Trail                     
Book 9 – Below Zero
Book 10 – Nowhere to Run
Book 11 – Cold Wind
Book 12 – Force of Nature

Editing for Kindle /iPad: 4 out of 5*
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5 
Page length on kindle /iPad: 301 for the book (and 1st chapter of next book taking it to 314)
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

* found another word with a hyphen that shouldn't have been there Mr Box 

You can purchase Free Fire At Amazon UK here or at Amazon US here 

CJ Box can be found here



Saturday 19 May 2012

Book Review: Free Fire by CJ Box


I think by now you will have realised that I am a huge fan of 'Joe Pickett' and indeed the Pickett family and of course Nate Romanowski as written about by Mr Box and I really haven't a bad thing to say about any of his books as I work my way through them, this is number 7 in the reading order of 12  and still I have nothing bad to say, even although for the first time in all seven books I found two errors, one of which was a stupid hyphen in dan-gerous WTF!

Setting aside that, and I have marked it down in my editing for Kindle (Harsh but what can one do), what about the story.Well, you may recall that by the end of, 'In Plain Site'  Joe has been sacked from his job as Game Warden and in Free Fire we find him working as Ranch Foreman on his Father-in-laws ranch while Marybeth's accounting business is expanding.

Out of the blue the new Governor turns up in Saddlestring and offers Joe his job back but with strings attached.

A multiple murder has taken place in Yellowstone Park and it looks as if, for the first time ever, anywhere in the world, 'It is the perfect murder'. They know who did it, he even handed himself in immediately after killing 4 people, but they had to let him go!

Yellowstone Park might be in the state, in fact it is in three US states, and therefore comes under Federal law because of its status as a National Park.  The Governor thinks the Federal authorities are not doing enough and tells Joe that he wants him to visit the park and find out what the hell's going on, even although he will have no jurisdiction.

After discussing it with Marybeth Joe takes the job, knew he would, and is reinstated as a Game Warden with no loss of service.  Director Pope who we don't miss from the story still manages to stick the knife in, by making sure Joe doe's not get his original badge number back which would show him as a senior Warden, instead sending him Badge no 54, reserved for rookies!

Joe sets off for Yellowstone in a brand new truck, you just know what's gonna happen to that, just as Joe can't hit a barn door if he was standing in front of it with his gun, you just know what's gonna happen to that truck (oh, it's deliciously funny) followed by Nate Romanowski as back up.

Soon he is in the thick of it, more murders are committed, and just to mix things up we learn of events from Joe's past, about his brother, how he died and where he is buried.  His parents break up and why Joe has hated his father and always avoids discussing him and ghosts from that past become real in Yellowstone all lead to complications in the investigation.

A thrilling climax to the book ends with the FBI and an old adversary from that organisation double crossing Joe and Nate but this after Joe in his usual stumbling way, solves the crime.

This really was /is as good as the previous six books and Mr Box just keeps getting better and better.  The Perfect Murder scenario was a master stroke in finding it and building a story around it and it worked well, I wonder if that little loophole has now been closed in reality (hope so, wont be in a hurry to visit that corner of Yellowstone Park until I know it has been!)?


Book 1 - Open Season                  
Book 2 – Savage Run                   
Book 3 – Winterkill                      

Book 4 – Trophy Hunt                  

Book 5 – Out of Range                 

Book 6 – In Plain Sight                

Book 7 – Free Fire                       
Book 8 – Blood Trail
Book 9 – Below Zero
Book 10 – Nowhere to Run
Book 11 – Cold Wind
Book 12 – Force of Nature

Editing for Kindle /iPad: 4 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5 
Page length on kindle /iPad: 380
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
You can purchase Free Fire At Amazon UK here or at Amazon US here 

CJ Box can be found here

Monday 14 May 2012

Book Review: The Affair by Lee Child

You either like the Lee Child character of Jack Reacher or you don't, there really is no middle ground.  And can I just say at the outset, just to get it out of the way, Tom Cruise buying and starring in the movie franchise doesn't matter a jot.  A book is a book is a book, that sometimes gets made into a movie and generally the movie is well below the standard of the book, so people get over it and concentrate on the books and stop bloody whingeing!

Jack Reacher has been wandering around small town America for a couple of years now doing his best to wear out the tarmac of the roads leading into the middle of nowhere, arriving nowhere and finding the locals being bullied. Reacher doesn't like bullies and generally takes on the baddies in defence of the defenceless and cowered locals and he does it so magnificently and with so little effort, that we keep following him around from nowhere to nowhere, stopping occasionally to buy a new shirt and pair of pants; well when your walking and covering the miles that he does the last thing you need as an encumbrance, is a suitcase full of clothes.

The Affair takes us back to 1997 when Reacher was still a Major in the Army as an  MP and takes us back to the final case he worked on, before taking up his peripatetic wanderings through small town America.

1997 and Reacher is called to his boss, Leon Garbers, office. A woman has been Raped, killed and mutilated, her throat slit near an Army base in Carter Crossing, Mississippi.  Reacher is despatched undercover to get close to the local police while another MP investigates the Army side of things at Fort Kelham.  Sent off with half a story and finding that the local Sheriff is an ex Marine MP, Reacher discovers that there has been more than one murder and in fact there have been possible other murders elsewhere that can be linked to the local ones.  The nature of Army bases is that they can have followers who move around Army bases  setting up wherever they are, so they have no idea whether it is a civilian killer or an Army killer, but the underlying message is, 'that the good name of the Army, must be protected!'

As usual Reacher gets to the truth and all questions raised in the story are conclusively answered in the closing pages, including just why Reacher decided it was time to hang up his uniform.

Disillusioned with the Army at the same time that it was downsizing, a less than stellar report from an Army Colonel on his attitude and tactics which would have seen him marking time career wise.  The blackening of innocent peoples reputations by politicians, and the Army, these were all the things that were vaguely referred to in previous story lines, and going back to 1997 gave us the story behind the myth that is Jack Reacher.

Reacher is a killer, but a killer with scruples and a sense of what is morally right and what is not.  He knows that not everyone on the planet is capable of looking after themselves either physically or by engaging the law, and so he is prepared to look out for their interests.  Killing will never be right, but when it is done out of a clear sense of justice that the normal course of the law would not get to, whether it be for a cover up, or lazy and useless police work , he can easily become, judge, jury and executioner , even when it is the Army, Federal or Local  Government, or just pure criminality; he will take them all on....... and I will be there again, when Reacher arrives at the next small 'nowhere' town.

Editing for Kindle /iPad: 5 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Page length on kindle /iPad: 405
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Lee Child / Jack Reacher can be found here


Footnote:  I love my Kindle but I do wish they would take a leaf out of the Kindle App for iPad and show the book tile and Authors name on each page and more importantly, show the page number as it does when reading through the Kindle iPad app, just saying.




Thursday 10 May 2012

Book Review: Convergent Space by John Paul Cleary

The Galaxy was living in peace and harmony benevolently controlled, protected, and guided by The Guild.

200 years ago The Aveche threatened the peace and tranquillity of the planets within The Guild.  Earth as the founders and most technologically advanced Planet develop a Shield that will encompass all of the Galaxy's and systems within The Guild, and after millions of relay stations are set up it is time to put the Shield in place.

The Earth fleet sets out with the final part but before it can be put in place  a Great (shock) Wave spreads through known space destroying millions of planets and trillions of lives.

Earth is blamed for the catastrophe and ostracised and a new ruling class is born in the The Renaissance.

Earth spends the next 200 years sending out Archeosoldiers to track what actually happened in the belief that their technology and the Shield could not have caused the disaster, no one believed them.......

Convergent Space then, turns out to be a futuristic inter galaxy archaeological detective story, with one person Archeosoldiers sent out in their ships with nothing more than a micro companion, which is connected to them wirelessly from birth, and dies when its human companion dies.

As large parts of the remaining galaxy are still in turmoil and planetary wars and civil wars are ongoing, the attrition rate of the Archeosoldiers is high.  Rone, a female Archeosoldier was badly injured during her quest and had managed to get assigned to a Renaissance station and was living with the leader of that part of space until a badly wounded soldier turns up in her front room.

She likes the life she is living and feels that Earth needs to forget its past and move on as no one really cares any more, but the Quest has become a religion on the home planet and all resources are geared to that and that alone.  The injured soldier dies but not before giving Rone information that could lead her to the truth of what happened two centuries ago.

She reluctantly takes up her old life and sets off in pursuit of the quest only to stumble upon a new threat to what's left of the Galaxy.  Humans, Phlegars, Hernesses are just some of the seemingly humanoid like species living in this mixed up star system.

The truth is finally revealed and the climax to the story is horrific, can history be repeated?

Over all I found it a little bit slow in places but, that was made up for in the overall story which has a bit of a twist to it that many people may find intriguing.

Putting it into today's setting (and whether the author intended to or not, I have no idea) The Renaissance, are probably the bankers who now control the system, francising out chunks of space to individuals and corporations but their actual power is proved to be a myth.  The Phlegars are the itinerants of the system, who have a dark secret that even they don't know about and the Hernesses are the Occupy Movement who will stop, only just short of genocide (except against one race) to rebalance the system for the betterment of everyone.  And humans, well we have just turned out to be blamed for all the ills that makes the system what it is and are ignored and hated by everyone in power... much like we peasants are today by both Governments and Businesses!

There were a couple of errors* in the book not story line but grammatical and spelling, but not as many as some I have recently read and if the author sorts these out

Editing for Kindle: 4 out of 5*
Reading Enjoyment: 4 out of 5
Page length on kindle: 348
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

John Paul Cleary can be found here 


Convergent Space can be purchased at Amazon UK here and Amazon US here 

Monday 7 May 2012

The Mistrust Within - Will it Lead to an (new) Implosion of the Labour Party?

Noticed these tweets earlier on Sunday from a staunch Labour lefty

Éoin Clarke ‏ @DrEoinClarke
Tony Blair's meetings, secret meetings with Blairite MPs have been going on for 13 months now. Not sure why it keeps getting rehashed as news
Éoin Clarke ‏ @DrEoinClarke
I could bore you with a list of who those MPs are (meeting Blair) but truth is you probably haven't heard of most of them. #StarStruck