Are your spirits hurried and your brain in need of comforting? Are you suffering from the effects of hard drinking? Do your parts need warming and invigorating? Look no further. Here’s an 18th-century panacea to combat all your woes...


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Any slush-pile reader or writing tutor knows that the truly bad writers are the ones who least know it. So I was interested to read this post on How Publishing Really Works, which led me to this paper, which describes a study of how the competence of a sample of students matched (or didn't) their own perception of how well they did at various tasks, and, separately, how they ranked themselves in general among their peers doing that task.

Like all the best studies of how humans work, it makes so much sense that one's tempted to sigh at the way the social sciences love to state the obvious. Only that wouldn't be fair because anyone involved in helping beginners in any craft needs to know this stuff.


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After yesterday's diatribe about the horrors of church, Lord H and I popped into St Mary's Shackleford for our monthly visitation. It wasn't too bad actually, though I really wouldn't want to commit to any more than that. And I certainly don't want to get involved. Still, the hymns were nice, especially the third one, and I had a nice chat afterwards to the heavily pregnant woman behind me - who seemed startlingly normal for a church-goer. Mind you, Lord H and I did rather get swamped into chit-chat (how I hate chit-chat!) at coffee with other people, whereas last time, no-one had spoken to us at all. Something in between the two states would be nice, and I really don't want to get introduced to anyone. There's no point as I don't remember anyone's names apart from my own, Lord H's - oh and the pregnant lady. I do remember her name. That said, full marks to the vicar for: (a) remembering from two months ago that we'd been decorating the bathroom; (b) being perceptive enough to realise that I will never be a woman who grouts; and (c) laughing with delight when I said we were more the whitewashed-sepulchres-over-a-seething-hotbed-of-sin type of Christians. Perhaps that's the sort he likes? In which case, I certainly don't blame him ...


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''Pashtun Blood Is Pakistani Blood, And, By God, It’s Not Cheap''



In two weeks, three hundred thousand Pakistanis have become displaced, refugees in their own homeland. In any other country, the entire nation would have been jolted. But in Pakistan, the civil society is oblivious. Our tribesmen feel their government and the military are working for the Americans in Afghanistan. This is a recipe for disaster. Supporting war on terror was one thing. Blocking infiltration is understandable. Not allowing sanctuaries or hideouts is also understandable. But to put the entire resources of Pakistan at the disposal of foreign powers, to create disharmony by dismantling the administrative structures in FATA, by deploying the military on checkpoints in the interior of the tribal area, by persistent and indiscriminate use of brute force, including indiscriminate bombing, by going back on agreements, by owning attacks, killing madressah children, launched by U.S., have all combined to create conditions for full blown insurgency. Let us be clear one thing: This is not our war. This is not Pakistan’s war.



By Mr Sajid Hussain PhD
Investigative Journalist
Thursday, September 04, 2008.


OverseasDesk::>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> .......................................

...................................................... As the bloody conflict rages on in the tribal areas, there is a disturbing lack of attention on the part of the government and a lack of concern as far as the political forces and civil society is concerned. Amidst such deepening chaos, bordering on anarchy, there are people who are calling for stiffer response, as if the enormous collateral damage is not enough to satisfy their view of 'use of force'. Any other civil society anywhere in the world would have been shaken by the events of three hundred thousand people being uprooted in a matter of two weeks.It must be understood clearly that the tribesmen feel alienated because the government is, in their view, pursuing a policy that has been designed to benefit the coalition forces in Afghanistan. Moreover, the induction of the army in the tribal areas, reinforced the fears in the minds of the people that Pakistan is a U.S. proxy and that the war in Afghanistan is being brought to Pakistan in fulfillment of an agenda. Coupled with this was the near demolition of administrative structures in the tribal areas. Both the tribesmen and the political agent having been sidelined, and aspirations of people disregarded, the seeds of conflict were sown which would soon sprout to spread destruction. That is what has happened. When the situation became out of control, people lost sight of the perspective, General Musharraf tried successfully to bring home the lesson to the people that there is a deep crisis that needs to be resolved by countering militancy and defeating terrorists. People's memory is short. No one was asking why this situation has arisen. Some of our commentators are now claiming that this is our war and not America's war. As far as the insurgency in the area is concerned, this is our responsibility. The writ of the government has to be enforced and any hurdles cleared. But they forget how we were led into this situation. Supporting war on terror was one thing. Blocking infiltration is understandable. Not allowing sanctuaries or hideouts is also understandable. But to put the entire resources of a country at the disposal of foreign powers, to create disharmony by dismantling the administrative structures in FATA, by deploying the military on checkpoints in the interior of the tribal area, by persistent and indiscriminate use of brute force, including indiscriminate bombing, by going back on agreements, by owning attacks, killing madressah children, launched by U.S., have all combined to create conditions for full blown insurgency. Is pushtoon blood not worth a moment's consideration on how to end this deadly cycle of violence? Let us be more humane. Let us give sound advice to the authorities. Let us not be swayed by the ugly logic that adequate force is the only appropriate response. If that were so, Afghanistan, seven and a half years after relentless use of force lethal weapons, should have become a safe haven for its war weary population. Are we going to be silent spectators to this gory drama of man killing man? Let the government come to grips with the realities on the ground, address the root cause, reappraise its policy of no hold barred support to the war on terror, restore institutions, strengthen the malaks and office of the political agent, isolate militants and usher a new era of peace and hope to the battered population of Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand and Waziristan.

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"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to
door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin
dime left, and he was hungry.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house.
However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he
looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, then asked,
How much do I owe you?

You don't owe me anything, she replied.
"Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said..... "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but
his faith in God and man was strong also.. He had ! been ready to give up and quit.

Many years later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled!
They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare
disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation.
When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.
Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once.

He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to
save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked
at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open
it, for she was sure it
would take the rest of her life to pay for ! it all.
Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill.
She read these words.....

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"
(Signed)
Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed:
"Thank You, God, that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

There's a saying which goes something like this:
Bread cast on the waters comes back to you.
The good deed you do today may benefit you or
someone you love at the least expected time. If you never see the deed
again at least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all,
isn't that what life is all about?

Now you have two choices.

You can send this page on and spread a positive message.
Or ignore it and pretend it never touched your heart.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds."

(Bob Marley, Redemption song.)

"The most remarkable thing about the world is that you can understand it."

(Einstein.)

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set I go into the other room and read a book."

(Groucho Marx.)
"Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice against anyone, anywhere in the world."

(Ernesto (Che) Guevara, in a letter to his children, a few months before he was killed.)

"The man who never made a mistake never made anything."
(GK Chesterton.)




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Guess what? It's here.

So wonderful. I'm holding my book. I'm a bit wobbly. I am going to carry it around everywhere with me. The cover is stunning. It looked good on screen, but it looks so much better in the flesh, so to speak. Wow. Now it's real. Now it's real.

Photo with author and offspring coming later!

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Lordy, what a day. Totally exhausting but some moments were great. Seriously great. First off, I turned up at the University at 9am for 3 hours of Open Day cover with Laura from the Health Centre, who was wonderful company. Thank you, Laura. Meeting people and trying to sound normal isn't my favourite activity ever, but I think on the whole it went okay. Though there were one or two people who just stared at me as if I were an alien. Perhaps I am? That would explain a lot ... However, most students/parents were lovely. And the venue was better too - we were in the University Hall rather than Seasons Restaurant, so I could actually hear what people were saying, hurrah ...


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Yet more strange dreams last night. This time, Lord H and I were in some kind of bar which had a room at the top filled with bees. There was something ghostly going on, and we kept having to try to find the bees and contain them in some way as this would help solve the hauntings. It was all very mysterious and quite surreal really. We never did quite get to the bottom of it ...


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Queen of Teen beats the Best of the Booker!

News just in... the Queen of Teen award has registered more votes than the Best of Booker poll!

Just to remind you, the authors running for the award are Meg Cabot, Cathy Cassidy, Lisa Clark, Grace Dent, Cathy Hopkins, Sarra Manning, Karen McCombie, Joanna Nadin, Louise Rennison, and Jacqueline Wilson. The organisers reveal that the competition is fierce, with no clear leader at this stage.

Vote now on the Queen of teen site. Voting closes on 28th September, and the crowning ceremony will be held on the 29th, and I will be there! Hurray! I'll report back on the shiny tiara action.

In the meantime, if anyone has questions they would like us to put to the shorlisted authors, please let us know in the comments, or email us.

And now... announcing the Chicklish Queen of Teen spotlight posts! We will be running a series of posts focusing on each shortlisted author in turn. The first one is below...

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Have spent a large part of today focusing on Gelahn the evil mind-executioner in Hallsfoot's Battle and actually it's gone surprisingly well. I now have about 32,800 words under my belt - well, I suppose I do enjoy writing on the dark side best of all, and the mind-executioner is nothing if not dark. Though I do like to think he has a certain evil charm. If only to me. And he has his reasons, you know - the Elders of Gathandria aren't entirely squeaky-clean in the making of a vengeful madman. Though, with so much more pain and agonising death to come, one shouldn't be sympathising too much with Gelahn. In the final reckoning, his choices are deliberate. At least that's the plan. Though it may yet turn out to be a fluffy fantasy romance between Gelahn and his super-sized ego - who can tell?...


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