Monthly Archives: July 2013

(Show) Business as usual

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Why anybody with a shred of intelligence is surprised at the disgusting behavior of Jimmy Saville and other UK showbiz personalities, surprises me. At first glance it seems confined to the UK (is paedophilia truly an English disease) until you remember Michael Jackson and the young boys who slept in his bed – and the consequent multi-million dollar payouts.

In general show business personalities are shallow, vain, and selfish; egocentric reprobates whose public image (these days carefully groomed and media managed by clever PR people) bear no relation to the real person and their dark secrets. 80% of people in “the Business” are from broken homes and/or abusive relationships – and have substance abuse problems. Look at the recent suicide/accidental overdose of GLEE star Cory Monteith, not to mention Janis Joplin, Keith Urban etc.

In my book THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind” I deal with all sorts of characters who wash up in The Arabian/Persian Gulf for all manner of reasons. One such was Peter Moore, a decent enough fellow (but probably a bit vain and egocentric too) who happened to get very rich in the oilfields – and that attracted the undesirables. In his case he married Angie, a popular wannabe actress who turned out to be drunken, lecherous and promiscuous with a rather unhealthy interest in S&M. Eventually Peter divorced her  – and she walked away with a sizeable chunk of his fortune squandered on designer clothes, botox and cocaine. But that is just Peter’s back-story.

We pick up his story in the 2000s on the rebound when he joined the hedonistic movers and shakers in the manic property boom in Dubai, and rebuilt his fortune. Unfortunately history repeats itself, and he fell for a stunning 19 year old East European whore who led him a merry dance, and cost him most of his new found wealth – but for very different reasons. Old Habits Die Hard – and maybe that should have been the title of the story.

But I titled Peter’s story “The Girl who went to the Moon” as Chapter 10 in my book which you can review by following the link:

www.amazon.com/author/mikerichards

and you can download it if you have a Kindle.

If you do not have a Kindle and/or prefer to have a real book you can order the paperback from my publisher:

www.feedaread.com

or from

www.thebookdepository.co.uk

They offer free delivery worldwide.

 

 

 

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False Economy

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Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was brutal and oppressive, but provided you steered clear of politics, it was an efficient and functioning society. He was clever enough to provide the general populace with decent jobs, food and education.  And all the Second Gulf War did was to replace that efficient society with an inefficient society that is just as brutal and oppressive. And between the two Gulf Wars the sanctions did not work.

Why anybody with a shred of intelligence believes that economic sanctions against rogue nations achieve their ends (viz. Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran etc.) is beyond me.

I guess the theory, like most theories, is sound. Make the populace suffer and they will rise against their rulers. Most of us want to live a quiet life and just have a roof over our heads, put food on the table, and educate our kids. We may grumble about prices and taxes – but politics is a bore (Showbusiness for ugly people) and we grin and bear it.  Only when the filthy rich and powerful start grinding our faces in an ever increasing workload and tax burden – and threaten the lives of our children – do we rise up.

But in practice the Iraq sanctions did not cause the populace to rise up in spite of the sufferings including an estimated 300,000 children dying for lack of medicines. And all the “oil for food” program did was create a huge black market in illicit oil vouchers that enriched and corrupted Russian, French and Indonesian  government officials, private American investors – and besmirched the reputation of Swiss independent inspection companies and the UN at the highest level including Kofi Annan and Benan Savan.

The effects of all of these shenanigans are illustrated in the story False Economy in my book THE GULF “Reaping the Whirlwind”

Poor Captain Bob, ruined by the false economics of so-called free market capitalism, still has enough dignity to gather the tattered shreds of his self-respect and blow the whistle on the oil for food program in spite of the consequences.

Preview my book by following my URL:

www.amazon.com/author/mikerichards

And you can download it as an ebook if you have a Kindle for just US$2.99.

If you prefer a paperback in your hands you can buy from:

www.thebookdepository.co.uk

They offer free delivery worldwide.

 

The more things change

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“The budget must be balanced: the Treasury must be filled. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and assistance to foreign lands be curtailed lest Rome will become bankrupt. People should learn again to work instead of living on public assistance.”

CICERO: 55BC

I want to share this with you because one of the constant themes in my writing is that nothing has really changed, and probably never will. This quote is as relevant today as it was when it was written over 2,000 years ago. The miracles of the digital age have merely put a shiny veneer on things and covered the cracks and deep divisions, and increased the hubris, vanity and arrogance of deeply ignorant and arrogant people (financiers and politicians) who never learn the lessons of history.

People should wherever possible stand on their own two feet and deal with their own problems. Obviously this is not universal. The vulnerable such as children and old people – and the seriously ill – have to be taken care of in a decent civilized world. But every other person should make a contribution and not try to live by exploiting his fellow man, or welfare.

At the start of my book THE GULF: “Reaping the Whirlwind” I use the cynical French phrase “Plus ca change – plus c’est la meme chose” to express my disgust at the way Western Governments continue to destroy the lives of “ordinary people” (I’ve never met an ordinary person in my life) by which I mean normal people who just want to live a decent and worthwhile life and are not consumed by ambition, greed, ego and arrogance.

(Arrogance is the self-confidence of the ignorant a.k.a. George Bush/Tony Blair).

My book is filled with stories of people who washed up in the Arabian/Persian Gulf because of politicians wars, financial crises and/or the perfidy of women. You can preview the book by following my URL:

http://www.amazon.com/author/mikerichards

And you can download it if you have a Kindle.

If not, and you prefer a real book, then you can buy it in paperback from:

http://www.thebookdepository.co.uk

They offer free delivery worldwide.

I hope you read it enjoy. To quote another great thinker “I may not write the whole truth – but I have not written anything that is untrue”

If nothing else my book is authentic.