I read the news today oh boy! Page 2,354

When did justice start Stephen? I must have been on the toilet. The man in question has clearly led a life known to few, he has never faced hunger or a days work as his mother was appointed by god and given the tax payers money to do his bidding.
This was a civil case that was always going to end 'On the steps' so all he has done is mishandled a dodge that many others kept a lid on by acting promptly. The only reason this is in the public domain was because of his arrogance, otherwise we would never heard of it like most of the things the rich get up to.

I would gather from your words you are a disestablishmentarianist. (and breath)
Royal or no royal, civil case or not - he should be completely stripped of any connection to the royal family, all stipends stopped immediately and sent to live in a croft in the wilds of Scotland. Mummy won't be around forever so I hope Charles does something like that.
These predator pedophiles are everywhere.
I'm very biased because I once had dealings with one.

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 16th February 2022, 9:10 AM

I'm very biased because I once had dealings with one.

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Oh, that's interesting, and what royal was that?

You don't have to tell me about them I was brought up in care I have seen them at first hand. And yes I'm not a massive fan of the monarchy, for a myriad of reasons.

I'm very saddened to hear that. As an apprentice I worked for a few months in a children's home.
It nearly broke my heart with so many kids starved of love.
They used to follow me around everywhere holding my hand and the 'mothers' as they were called, didn't give two f**ks about them.
It was an emotional eye opener.

Thanks for that Stephen but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I was also in Woolton Vale Assessment Centre which was a secure unit that was a dumping ground for every kid in care that encountered problems. It was like a microcosm of society in that it held the sad the mad and the bad. They beat kids daily they had cells for 10 year olds and they loved to cane anyone and everyone. In the showers every kid had purple stripes on their arses.
It was closed down in the end after it came up in Parliament and most of the staff were arrested for sex abuse etc . On the plus side I went to school with nearly every gangster there is now in Liverpool.
Leaving care is even harder to be honest and it didn't end well for me as I was sent to Borstal when I was 16 and if you think you have seen scary you should go on the landings in Strangeways when you're 16 year old scouser, the screws and the Mancs all wanted a piece of you.
Thankfully I straightened out but I had to work for 30 odd years on commission only type jobs as I had a record and no qualifications. But I did find a lovely wife and both my kids went to Uni so I am at peace with myself on that front Now all I need to be is a writer

Write what you have just said - humour can be found in any situation and a bit of pathos helps.

Thats just it I don't like writing pathos as I don't need sentiment by proxy I love straight up comedy or thrillers. I know that they love all that guff but for me its about the funny and of course at times the arguing

Although there is one hilarious bit of pathos in that episode in my life. It was secure unit so no one went home or anywhere else and at Christmas the Welfare Department of the council (Social Services now) Did come in and asked every lad if they wanted a watch or a wireless for Christmas? Then they gave us them wrapped in xmas paper out of big box., When they left the staff pointed out that we couldn't have watches or radios and they took them off us .

My God, Teddy, you really went through it! I can't say how much I admire you for your resilience. I'm proud to know you, if only through this forum.

Steve beat me to it.
You should really look into it as a source of some sort of writing project
a) From a purely cynical point of view they love stuff like that if it comes from. lived experience.
b) If you can find the humour in something as grim as that it can be very powerful - ref: This is going to Hurt, This Way Up and many more.
And don't be so sure as to where your writing strengths lie- a good writer is a good writer.
It might be a bit painful, but something magical could come out of it.

Beaky few people have an easy life that is a stone cold fact, hardship can be found in most peoples lives, but thank you for the sentiment
Lazzard I have sen Jimmy McGovern using peoples issues to make a buck and the same with Alan Bleasdale etc, but the truth is that they want it from sources they understand such as Deputy heads and Social workers not the ones at the coal face as its too real.
Plus outside of comedy and thrillers I couldn't bring myself to write about reality as it would hurt me to write it and then see it being 'interpreted' by someone who wasn't there and doesn't really understand it. But again thanks for trying to steer me as I know its well meant.

Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ 16th February 2022, 12:19 PM

the truth is that they want it from sources they understand such as Deputy heads and Social workers not the ones at the coal face as its too real.

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I don't think that's true the days at all - "lived experience" they call it.

But, you're right, only you can be the judge of what you want to write.
Perhaps don't do it now - but stick a few notes in a book every now and then - maybe for another day.

I may well do thanks for that Lazzard.

Quote: DaButt @ 15th February 2022, 7:33 PM

All of that came with an enormous price tag, and it's very unlikely - although not impossible - that he'll withdraw without at least a token amount of shooting and border-crossing. I won't believe that the crisis is over until those hundreds of thousands of troops, tanks, planes, and guns are removed from the border region.

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WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The United States and NATO said Russia was still building up troops around Ukraine on Wednesday despite Moscow's insistence it was pulling back, questioning President Vladimir Putin's stated desire to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyber attack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind that the country had seen. It pointed the finger towards Russia, which denied involvement.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises in southern and western military districts near Ukraine - part of a huge Russian build-up that was accompanied by demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.

It published video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said key Russian units were moving towards the border, not away.

"There's what Russia says. And then there's what Russia does. And we haven't seen any pullback of its forces," Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC. "We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border."

What Washington wanted to see was exactly the opposite, he said. "We need to see these forces moving away."

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-pullout-meets-uk-scepticism-ukraine-defence-website-still-hacked-2022-02-16/

Quote: Lazzard @ 14th February 2022, 2:44 PM

Your heart has to go out to those poor Postmasters & Postmistresses shat on by the Royal Mail.
Lives absolutely ruined.
Let's hope the enquiry names a few names.
See how they like it.

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It seems to me that the fault does not lay only with the Royal Mail managers, How come the lawyers and Judges did not explore the possibility that the software was faulty. They were told often enough (it seems) and any remotely competent software engineer would have noticed the strange coincidences and had the software properly audited.

It's typical excessive reliance on technology and an erroneous belief that software won't be wrong.

I dread the fact that I see the same attitude in the NHS. (excessive reliance on technology etc).