John’s Blog

All Hallows E'en is also called Halloween All Hallows E'en is the eve of  All Saints Day, 1st November. For some, there are stronger links with an old Celtic festival, Samhain. Why keep All Hallows E-en? Perhaps you just need an excuse for a party or you like dressing...

Breaking the law in fiction Breaking the law creates plots for novels. I write about people who solve crimes and bring the criminals to justice and have written about real and fictitious police heroes. Most novelists let their principal characters break the law in a...

Redheads are rarely in the news, but... Redheads don't get much publicity. However some politicians, such as Kemi Badenoch, sometimes try to drag then into the culture wars (on which I have written before). When anyone asks for parliament to give some minority...

Computer logic is always right, isn't it? Computer logic is built in by design and isn't fallible like human brains, they say. That is their strength. You can rely on your computer to give the right answer to any mathematical or logical question - every time. They...

Detectives are always police officers, aren't they? Detectives in the UK are part of the police force. They have to have served a term on the beat before moving into CID. It is probably the same in most countries. How else could it be? Other detectives exist Private...

IT Jargon or Computerspeak affects us all IT Jargon, also known as computerspeak, technical terminology or gobbledegook, baffles you when you try to understand what IT experts are saying. In my novel, Accounting for Murder, Double Entry, my hero encounters other...

Computerspeak is all around us Computerspeak is the language of computer experts. If you are in business, or even if you are not, you are likely to hear it often.  You, the client, are the one who pays for all this technology and the people who run it. People easily...

Bible stories can be retold in various ways Bible stories amuse and educate when people tell them well. I have often found that is true when I take part in Open the Book, which is for primary school children, but what about older children and adults? Bible stories...

Rebellion? Where? When? 'Rebellion' is the name of a recent series on Saturday nights on the Drama channel. It was about the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916. It provoked a lot of controversy on both sides of the Irish Sea at the time and it still does. Nowadays a...

'Economy' has two meanings Economy has several meanings. Here's one. It often simply means saving money.: doing without or buying cheaper. Is that a false god? It can be, if you make saving money an obsession rather than a means to an end. You can make your life and...

Noah's flood is ancient history (very) if not a myth, surely? Noah's flood is one story in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible and people have been reading and talking about it for thousands of years. Many people doubt it's veracity, whilst others say it...

What Ark Experience? The Ark Experience was here two years ago and I posted about it at the time. It will be back for the week 10th to 15th July at St Paul’s Church, Penketh, Warrington, where it was a great success in July 2021. There will be a series of seven...