Two stories that caught my eye yesterday. First, the worrying news that Police are taking days to respond to 999 calls as budget cuts bite.
Second, the report about a bunch of Manchester students who became (briefly) successful drug dealers on the dark web.
Filing these away for future reference.
I’ve set up an account with a service called ko-fi, which lets people share small cash gifts. It’s a possible way for me to ask for support when I start serialising the next Rain & Bullets story, and get to work on my fantasy graphic novel, Uninvited Guests, later this year.
So, as a test, would you care to buy me a coffee, kind people?
I’m focusing primarily on marching bands and tractors, this year, so I’m sorry if you were in the parade and I’ve missed you out of the gallery.
This collection of images of British book cover design and artwork from the 1950s and 1960s is rather lovely and inspirational. I need to refer to it next time I’ve got a cover to design.
A former Russian spy is critically ill, possibly due to poisoning, and there’s suspicion that his former colleagues could be behind it.
The next planned Rain & Bullets story involves something similar to this as one of its inciting incidents. I shall be following this story closely.
On my list of possible subjects for a story is the threat of far-right violence and terrorism. I don’t have a specific hook for this story yet,
but I am collecting background information for research.
(And getting worried for my country as I do.)
Today, though, there is an autonomous mass of far-right activists propagating hate independently of formal far-right organisations, some of which we have outlined in our new report out today, State of Hate 2018. Some of the biggest names in this world are from the UK and they have global audiences. Many of the largest and most influential far-right sites in the world are visited by huge numbers of UK activists.
Source: Britain’s far-right keyboard warriors are taking advantage of our complacency
So, the government has revealed that MI5 agents can commit crime in UK in pursuit of their duties. There’s been no detail released, yet, of just how serious those crimes can be, or any of the more detailed guidelines.
In Bond-like stories, the MI5 agents become daring cat burglars, whilst in Le Carre land, retired agents live in fear of their misdemeanours in the line of duty being used as blackmail them into off the books espionage.