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The Servant of the People
This book describes the 18 years during which Den Dover had the privilege to serve the people of Chorley, in Lancashire, as their Member of Parliament. He entered Parliament in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and left in 1997 when Tony Blair won a massive victory for New Labour.
Where the author has omitted to mention certain happenings, it has been in an effort to focus the minds of readers on the important matters – not to obscure what really happened. Indeed, Den’s main aim has been to allow readers to make up their own minds on the very important principles, procedures and proceedings described.
Underpinning everything else is the overwhelming requirement for elected representatives of the people to act in the best interests of all their constituents. They should never seek to benefit, financially or otherwise, from being granted the greatest honour in life, namely to work on behalf of their constituents.
At all times, elected representatives must listen to the needs of the people they represent and deal with their problems to the best of their abilities.
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East to West across Russia: The Long Journey Home
Embark on a captivating journey across the vast Russian steppe aboard the iconic Trans-Siberian Railway in this modern tale of self-discovery and introspection. The narrator, known only as D, begins his westward voyage in Vladivostok, traversing the ever-changing landscapes that unfold before him. As time moves inexorably onward, the everyday lives of the passengers intertwine with the rhythmic churning of the train’s propellers, contrasting sharply with the raw silence of the natural world beyond the windows.
As the journey progresses, D’s physical expedition takes an unexpected turn, delving into the depths of his own psyche. A haunting presence, N, permeates the narrative, her essence imbued in the natural world, particularly at the breathtaking Lake Baikal in Siberia. N represents the one who got away, leaving a void and a profound fragility within D’s soul, scattering her ghostly influence across the many places his footsteps tread.
Immersed in the tranquil vistas of the external world, D finds himself enamoured by the everyday characters he encounters along the way. As he navigates the complexities of his inner turmoil and the beauty of his surroundings, the narrator embarks on a transformative odyssey. The D who began his journey in Vladivostok will inevitably be different from the one who arrives in Moscow at journey’s end, but what will this transformation entail? Join D on this introspective voyage as he unravels the mysteries of his past, present, and future on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
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A Strange Fish Swimming in a Foreign Sea
Sierra Leone prior to and post-Independence in the early 1960s, seemed a place of tranquillity to Tim May, just twenty-one years old. He and his companions worked and played hard but Tim was labelled a failure in Freetown, in work and in health and as his manager Mr Enk said, ‘I’m sending you to manage Port Loko branch, you will bloody well sink or swim.’ It was the time-honoured treatment of a failure in the old Empire.
Management was a daunting prospect, especially without a knowledge of Bank accounting, but Tim faces the future with fatalistic hope. Immature and wracked by personal problems the prospect is bleak, particularly dealing with the wily, cunning mostly Lebanese customers who grubbed a living thousands of miles from their nation’s internecine wars. It is not only the customers Tim has to combat, but the climate, diseases and general ill health and his mental state, a strange fish in a foreign sea. It seemed the bugs and creatures, the customers, his fellow expatriates and most of all his real persona all combined to defeat him.
Tim though is a strong fish swimming amongst predators and escapes to fight other.
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In the Steps of Alan Turing: Working in the Digital Age
Computing has developed at an astonishing pace over the last 40 years and Professor Alty has been involved in most aspects from working at the bits/bytes level to higher level management. As a member of the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils between 1976 and 1981, he chaired a very influential working party on microtechnology which had a major impact both in universities and in industry. One commentator wrote, “This report should be tattooed on the DTI’s backside”! In 1976, he and his team were the first to recognise that the postcode was much more important than assisting the posting of letters, and they pioneered its commercial use. He spent a great deal of effort making computers easier to use for the average person. Between 1984 and 1990, he was Executive Director of the Turing Institute for Artificial Intelligence and became very involved with artificial intelligence research around the world. Between 1990 and 2000, his research team made significant improvements to critical computer interfaces in power stations and aircraft. In the 1990s, Professor Alty examined the techniques of musical composition and showed that they could be used in computer interfaces. In 1996, he pioneered the commercial use of digital radio, producing with Roberts Radio the first successful DAB radio, one of which is on display in the British Science Museum. Finally, in 2000 he and his team performed some important research into dyslexia, which is still highly quoted even today. This book provides an interesting insight into working in the digital age.
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Archaeology at Two Australian Universities 1971 to 2023
This book is about the author’s time as an academic archaeologist attached to the University of New England, Armidale NSW, and the Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia. It continues the autobiographical account in Prelude, published in 2011 and From Cambridge to Lake Chad published in 2019. It discusses his experiences as a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor and Emeritus Professor. This memoir also considers the role of many other people with whom he was associated.
Covering the period of 1971 to 2023, it charts the development of the field of archaeology in the Australian context.
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Comrade Sao
‘Thursday 17 April 1975 is the day that I will never forget until the day I die. That was the day the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh and overthrew the government of General Lon Nol and his Republican Party…’
Thus begins Firos Iseu’s gripping memoir of his experiences during the Khmer Rouge’s brutal regime in Cambodia between April 1975 and January 1979. At the tender age of 12, Iseu – whose ‘revolutionary name’, Comrade Sao, provides the book with its title – faced the horrors of the regime’s first wave of killings, which at a stroke deprived him of his parents and elder siblings. Bearing a diverse heritage of Indian, Laotian, and Vietnamese roots, he was branded a ‘17 April’ or ‘new’ person, marking him as an outsider and second-class citizen.
Comrade Sao stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, showcasing the author’s remarkable courage and resourcefulness in the face of terrifying adversity. This harrowing, unflinching and above all honest narrative sheds a necessary light on one of the darkest chapters of humanity of the past 50 years.£12.99 -
Methadone and a Mobile Phone
In Methadone and a Mobile Phone, delve into the turbulent world of Melissa Jane, a woman ensnared by choices that lead her astray. As life’s winding path becomes a treacherous terrain, Melissa grapples with the weight of addiction, an affliction that touches countless souls globally.
While many bear the scars of this battle, the decision to heal and rise is deeply personal. Melissa, tethered to methadone’s deceptive solace, overlooks the commitment needed to truly reclaim herself, descending further into the abyss of her own making.
A poignant reflection on the fragility of human spirit, choices, and the battles we wage within, this narrative is a heart-wrenching reminder of the cost of surrendering to one’s demons.
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Where There is Life, There REALLY is Hope
Have you just discovered that someone you know is a drug addict? Are you heartbroken? Do you feel overwhelmed? If so, you are not alone. That is what happened to me. I thought I would have to bury my daughter by Christmas 2014.Snippets of my and my daughter’s story aired on 60 Minutes and Seven Sharp in 2015—current affairs programmes in New Zealand. Now, you can read the full account of my perspective of the traumas that led to my daughter’s addiction, the impact of them on me and what I learned along the way.My daughter shares her story in a companion book. Together, we have a miraculous story that has a happy ending. The great triumph after tragedy is that it is always possible to rebuild something with more beautiful results. My daughter and I are now closer than ever and she is doing better than I could have ever imagined.Expect to feel encouraged, empowered and hopeful as you travel through the pages of this book.Where There Is Life, There REALLY Is Hope, the inside story of a mother of a P addict who survived the rigours and now wants to share the insights she learned along the way.
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We Were Tourists
Jim Toomey was already a successful drummer when he became a part of a new group, The Tourists, in the late seventies. He formed the group with Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart, Peet Coombes and Eddie Chin.From their early beginnings in London, finding their sound and their voice, through their success, their recordings, TV appearances, and their tours across the world, this is the story of The Tourists, told by the man sitting behind the drums.In a series of anecdotes and tales of the band's journey, we gain insight into the inner workings of a successful band; the fun and success, but also the work, the creativity, the pressures of seemingly endless tours, the good and the bad sides of the business, and the all too familiar trajectory of a band which sowed the seeds of music which endure 40 years later.
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They Said I Was Misguided
The struggle to find your identity while growing up is a common experience for us all. Now, imagine that you belong to an orthodox religious community and you are gay – so your sexual identity is entirely at odds with your environment. What would you do to find acceptance? This memoir follows the very personal and lonely struggle of a young man forced to deal with this very scenario, with dramatic and moving consequences for his family, friends and most importantly, himself.
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The Reality of War
Have you ever wondered what war is really like and how you would react in it? This book tells the story of what a young soldier, exposed to a full-blown war, experienced during the Gulf War, the largest conflict since World War 2. Based on a diary that the author wrote on a daily basis, the book hides nothing at all. People died, before, during and after the war. The reader is exposed to the military culture at the time, with a brief history about the author and the regiment he served in. Once deployed, you are then taken through a day-by-day account that vividly brings to life the drama of exactly what went on, including all the fighting and what life was like when a person was sent to fight in a war overseas – far from home. War is not just about fighting the enemy; that sometimes is the most straightforward and simplest part.
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The Militia Boy
This is the autobiography, memories and impressions of a boy born in 1918 in the poorer district of a large, Lancashire city. His childhood and early youth were spent unaware of the awful poverty and deprivation of the hungry thirties which were coloured by the spectre of mass unemployment, social degradation and abject misery. The clouds of war had been building up from 1935 and the Spanish Civil War was a prelude to the final holocaust of 1939.On his twenty-first birthday, in July 1939, his passport into manhood was to be conscripted into the Armed Forces among the newly recruited Militia and he became a Militia Boy. For over six years these militia boys served in every theatre of war from Narvik to Dunkirk, the deserts of North Africa, Sicily, Burma, Singapore and Malaysia, India, Iraq and Syria, Crete, Italy and Germany and even witnessed the final disregard of human life in the charnel houses of the concentration camps of Europe.This story is dedicated to all those Militia Boys who were unfortunate to be born at the wrong time and who gave over six years of their manhood in the hope that the World would become a better place to live in.James PalmerJune 1980
£14.99