Saturday, January 23, 2016

‘The Line Between Fact and Fiction’ revisited

The one that hates the book everyone else loves? I didn’t want it to be me ...

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. "...



How They Sorted Mail in 1903 Core77 via #7 Stephen of Chevy Weddings fame

One advantage of being a veteran writer is this experience: You will receive a message from a reader who has just read something you wrote long ago. Sometimes it is to correct your spelling or grammar. But, most of the time, the reader liked it or learned something from it and has reached out to let you know. That rush I get now and then from a single reader was multiplied recently by the news from the journal Creative Nonfiction that an essay of mine ranked #3 among the most read pieces on their website for 2015. What made this news amazing and delightful is that the essay was first published in 2001.
‘The Line Between Fact and Fiction’ revisited

*The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World that Values Sameness, by Todd Rose

Separation of Powers: An Overview. Matthew E. Glassman, Analyst on the Congress. January 8, 2016. “Congress’s role and operation in national politics is fundamentally shaped by the design and structure of the governing institution in the Constitution

In the 1970s and '80s, he and his older brother, John, operated an auction house in North Sydney under the name Spectrum Art Enterprises. Webeck was chirpy, with a mischievous grin never far away, and he soon became a familiar identity at art sales. With no grandiose designs on the art business despite his background, he frequented the secondary rooms in Sydney and also sent pictures to Melbourne for sale. Few Sydney auctions were conducted without his involvement and he was a supplier to auctions in both capitals. Legacy of Art Dealers in Sydney and Beyond ...



*Looking up by jimmy
* Early morning cappuccino by  Artistic Photography: James Webeck 

Ishiguro's new novel, The Buried Giant (Dragon), is concerned with forgetting ...
the giant, once well buried, now stirs. When soon he rises, as surely he will, the friendly bonds between us will prove as knots young girls make with the stems of small flowers. Men will burn their neighbours’ houses by night. Hang children from trees at dawn. The rivers will stink with corpses bloated from their days of voyaging.
At this point The Buried Giant seemed like another first for Ishiguro: a political book, reminding us of post-war regimes like Iraq. The uses of Media Dragon oblivion

Jennie Granger, HMRC's director general for enforcement and compliance, said that Lunn's arrest was the product of "hard work from HMRC officers across the department". "Lunn believed he could make up fraudulent claims to benefit both himself and his clients. This long-running investigation has already recovered £20m as Lunn's former clients settle their tax liabilities, with more to come." "I hope this result serves as a reminder to those who try to cheat the public purse - particularly those in the tax profession - that no one is above the law and that HMRC will relentlessly pursue tax evaders to bring them before the courts."
Lunn's son, Christopher Jonathan Lunn (Jon), who also worked at the firm, was convicted in December 2014 on six counts under the Fraud Act, after he had sent false invoices to HMRC to try to cover up the fraud in the practice Taxman to the stars jailed for five years for tax evasion
Brafa 2016: Mark Colle sets a floral scene
Ireland: the Tax Haven that Dare Not Speak Its Name  / £117 billion needs to be better spent  

A hidden network of hidden wealth  

Heathrow is under fire for paying just £24 million in tax while paying its owners £2 billion  / Heathrow UK corporation tax bill compared to dividends  


Official: Draghi confirms the colonial mechanism of the euro-dictatorship failed evolution 

Warsaw’s EU spat stalls German-Polish engine Politico 

Poland is backsliding on democracy, and the EU is powerless to stop it Slate

Ian Buruma’s grandparents felt huge patriotism for England despite German-Jewish ancestry. But cultural assimilation today is more fraught Assimilation: more British than the British