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Category: Writing

Tragic Slaying in Silay

Many murders have an element of tragedy but this is truly a tragic slaying in Silay. Silay City is only a fee kilometers from Bacolod so the entire expat community and thousands of locals were saddened to hear about this tragedy, I reproduce the story below  as reported by Lifestyle Bacolod, a Facebook page.  Let’s help Erik… Your P50s can go a long way. Erik was shot dead as 5-year-old son waits in vehicle in Silay City. The victim identified as Erik Norman Hendrickson, 57, of Wisconsin, United States, was declared dead on arrival at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, according to Supt. Noel Polines, officer-in-charge of the Silay City Police Station. Hendrickson, who was temporarily residing at Loney Burgos in…

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Watch UK TV in the Philippines – No Dish Needed

There are times when British expats want to watch UK TV in the Philippines. Now you can and no dish is required. With UK Expat Media, you can access over 300 channels of premium UK TV including many sports, drama, movie channels as well as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and virtually anything else you care to watch. Sports includes all the Sky Sports, BT Sports, Eurosports channels as well as some U.S. sports channels. There are also the MUFC TV, LFCTV and Chelsea FC channels available. Movies include every single Sky Movies channel. Not only do you get all that, but also catch-up TV and a whole vast library of movies and documentaries. So, whatever your tastes there is something for everyone. To find…

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Why I Support the James Bulger Memorial Trust

This post first appeared on my author website. James Bulger Was Murdered in 1993 Below I republish an old post from my personal blog Expat in Bacolod. I was prompted to write about why I support the James Bulger Memorial Trust because I answered that very question when I was the subject of an author interview in connection with Mystery Thriller Week. This is how I answered the question: James Bulger was a toddler murdered in the Merseyside area of the UK in 1993. It became a high-profile case and shocked the nation not just because he was a toddler but the fact his killers were aged about 10 or 11. My early detective experiences were on Merseyside. About one year ago, Stuart Fergus contacted…

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Bamboozle: Word Wednesday (Improve Your Word Power)

Bamboozle – now that is a word and a half! Merriam-Webster as usual – verb bam·boo·zle \bam-ˈbü-zəl\ Popularity: Top 40% of words Simple Definition  : to trick or confuse (someone) Full Definition of bamboozle transitive verb 1 : to deceive by underhanded methods : dupe, hoodwink 2 : to confuse, frustrate, or throw off thoroughly or completely <a quarterback bamboozled by an unexpected defense> bamboozlement  noun Examples in a sentence <bamboozled by con men into buying worthless land in the desert> <she’s completely bamboozled by the latest changes in the tax code> Did You Know? In 1710, Irish author Jonathan Swift wrote an article on “the continual Corruption of our English Tongue” in which he complained of “the Choice of certain Words invented by some…

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Spycops! Is There Such a Thing as Ethical Undercover Policing?

My inaugural HuffPost UK blog post – it first appeared on Huffington Post UK on November 15, 2016. Twitter is awash with the #spycops hashtag. It is an omen of things to come relating to the Undercover Policing Inquiry.   I hope that the Pitchford Inquiry asks, “Is there such a thing as ‘ethical undercover policing’?” To some that appears to be an oxymoron. Perhaps it comes as no surprise when learning about some of the antics of former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) undercover officers in particular. First allow me to make full disclosure – I am a former undercover police officer and was deep undercover on one of the UKs largest drug busts back in the 1970s. I now write, after careers as a…

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Jingoism By Jingo!

Hard times, tough times do foster a wonderful feeling of resilience in people.  War time is possibly a good example of that. I mean war as in WW2,  not the futile war fought in the Falklands at the whim of a whiskey-dependent mad woman in charge of the UK at the time. That was jingoism at its worst. Jingoism in its  modern-day form (aka racism) was also seen in the UK before and since Brexit. The sense of resilient feel-good -pull-together-because-we -are -all- in -the- shit feeling was possibly last experienced en-masse during the heavy bombing of the UKs major cities and dockyards during WW2. I guess it was also felt to a degree in the aftermath of some terrorist attacks in London. I lived…

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Scion: Word Wednesday (Improve Your Word Power)

Scion is today’s word and taken from the Merriam-Webster ‘Word of the Day.’ Let’s get straight to it 🙂 noun SYE-un Definition of Scion 1 : a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft 2 : descendant, child; especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family 3 : heir Examples “The duke was the billionaire owner of swaths of central London, a friend of Britain’s royal family and the scion of an aristocratic family stretching back to the Norman Conquest.” — The Boston Herald, 14 Aug. 2016 “The vibe of the place is a mixture of old-school cool and Brit eccentric. There are…

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Will This BBC Article Sell More Books?

Will This BBC Article Sell More Books? Now that is a good question and I have no idea of the answer. Generally speaking I am happy with the article as it is 99% accurate. Here it is in full and it can be found on the BBC news site.: Operation Julie: How I infiltrated a drugs gang By Dominic Blake BBC Radio Solent 2 October 2016 From the section Hampshire & Isle of Wight   Image copyright STEPHEN BENTLEYImage caption As Steve Jackson, Stephen Bentley lived out of the back of a van during the surveillance operation At the age of 29, Stephen Bentley, a fresh-faced detective, turned himself into Steve Jackson, a dope-smoking, hard-drinking hippy. His time spent undercover with a gang making and distributing LSD helped bring…

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How To Write A Novel In 17 Killer Steps

This post first appeared on my author website. Many of you are writers and some bloggers – if there is a difference? Some of you will have no intention of writing a novel but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the powerful writing tool called ProWritingAid. Read more to find out all about it. Writing a novel is not easy. If you are a writer of fiction then you probably fall into one of two broad categories – a plotter or pantster. If you are definitely in the second category then read no further. There is an excellent new eBook available that shows even the novice how to write a novel in 17 killer steps. How to write a novel in 17 killer steps The beauty…

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Alarm Starboard!: Book Review

Alarm Starboard!: A Remarkable True Story of the War at Sea by Geoffrey Brooke My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is truly a remarkable story. In fact it is several remarkable stories resulting from the author’s career in the British Royal Navy from pre-WW2 1939 to the end of WW2 in 1945. It is remarkable and fascinating. So fascinating that I read all 288-pages of the hardcover version inside two days. I simply could not put it down! The author’s easy writing style certainly assists as the story gallops along from one life-threatening incident to another, and some of them were not related to ships or the sea. I seriously wonder whether the world will ever see another generation of young men like Geoffrey…

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