Author Archives: James - Page 86
Poetry Pointers
This is a post I wrote for Castlegreen Publishing and was first published on Poetry Pointers Given that we're looking for poetry at the moment we thought that folk might find it useful to give you some insight into what we're expecting and perhaps also some pointers on writing poetry that works for us. This is especially intended to help anyone struggling with their inner editor over whether or not their work is good enough to submit. Guidelines for the wise Poetry is a process, just like prose poems don't spring onto the page fully formed expect to polish poetry through several drafts to get it just right first drafts are always unpublishable, don't be discouraged by this, it gives you material that you can craft Poetry works best when read aloud From the second or third draft record yourself reading aloud and…
An Update
I'm a bit behind with writing things for the blog, there are about six books that I've read but not reviewed and also a continuation on a couple of projects that I'm working on that I was intending to write about. Part, but not all, of the reason for this is that I'm very busy with my day job. Over the last month I've been working much longer hours than normal, my team has doubled in size, and in the next two weeks it's going to treble in size (that's up from 7 to 43). This is a good from a day job perspective, but not so much for my side activities. I managed to completely miss doing TMA3 for B120. Fortunately I have had oustanding marks for TMA1 & TMA2, so provided I manage not to miss any more…
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Book Review – Spies Under Berlin by David Stafford
Spies Beneath Berlin by David Stafford My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a very well put together story of the Berlin spy tunnel, and some of the context that lead up to it being dug. It looks at the contemporary views and also re-evaluates the impact of the tunnel and whether or not it could be considered a success. The tale is an interesting one, because the existence of the tunnel was betrayed to the Soviets before it was even dug. Blake took the minutes of meeting that decided to build it, and told his Soviet handler about it. Despite this the KGB didn't share the information as they wanted to protect Blake as a source, so they couldn't stop the tunnel until there was a reasonable excuse from another source. For two years the British and Americans…
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Thunderclap campaign #StartatGOVUK
The UK's Government Digital Service are launching a thunderclap () to encourage people to start at when accessing UK government information and services (#StartatGOVUK). Be awesome and beat the scammers! Misleading websites There is a problem with websites pretending to be official UK government services. Some of these take money from people. These unscrupulous people use google ads to get to the top of search engine rankings so that they are clicked on by people looking to interact with government. Scammers make people pay for free services ( E111 / EHIC are provided free, scammers charge people £20-£30) People pay twice for services ( scammers make people pay more for government services and often the person also has to pay for the real service when they access it - this has happened on driving licence renewals, tax self-assessment and urgent passport services) Dealing with the problem There are two main parts to the…
A Mysterious Building
The mystery building from the path (Photo credit: James Kemp) While out earlier today with the Clark Pack of Merstham Cub Scouts on a sponsored walk up Reigate Hill to raise money for Merstham Aid Project (MAP) we came across this structure, which the National Trust have cleared the overgrown trees from and want to know more about. It's just along the track from Reigate Fort, a late 19th Century construction that was updated during both World Wars. During the Second World War Reigate Hill was one of the key points on the outer London defence ring. It commands the countryside to the South for at least a dozen miles, you have a clear view of Gatwick Airport and beyond. A closer view of the back of the building (Photo credit: James Kemp) You can see from this view that what…