THAT'S WHAT I CALL READING

Mrs Crime Scraps bought this Rupert Annual in a charity shop the other day claiming that rather than looking like the author of The Enchantress of Florence [in the opinion of  Declan Burke at Crime Always Pays] I looked more like the character Podgy.

 

But after the recent celebrations, with more to come, I will have to come back down to earth and face the problems of the relocation of CARE Blackerton, and of selling a retirement apartment in a falling market.

I have recently been in touch with the folks at CARE Shangton; their view of the relocation situation, the trustees and management is.................. [removed on the advice of Crime Scraps legal team]

There will be more on this subject over the next few months. It is all about service users  choice but in reality you only have choice as if it fits in with management plans. 

Service user is one of those management speak terms for the residents who were once called villagers at Blackerton and Shangton. 

You can apparently turn a service user out of their home and it sounds better than evicting a resident. If you go here and scroll down you will find a series of posts listing some of the arguments against the closure of the villages that have been successful for 40 years. Or you can go here.

Terminology can be very important as I remember when we NHS dentists were instructed not to call our patients 'patients' anymore. They were to be called customers!

That meant they could be charged a lot more. It was also all about change , and no change not being an option and other phrases that sounded marvelous but in fact led to the gradual destruction of NHS dentistry as we knew it.

One of my most fervent wishes is that the rhetoric of Senator Barack Obama will be matched by good deeds, I am assuming he will be elected. 

I do hope he is not going to be like another young charismatic good talker Tony Blair who promised "change" and that "things could only get better" back in 1997, or like the present PM Gordon Brown who promised "change" and a new sparkling government only a year ago. 

But back to the important stuff coming up in the next few days a Crime Scraps exclusive  interview with Polish crime writer Marek Krajewski.

Marek is the author of the Eberhard Mock quartet the first of which Death in Breslau I reviewed for Euro Crime here.