Just Finished Reading: Fractured Lands – How the Arab World came Apart by Scott Anderson. (FP: 2016)

The Arab world, across North Africa and deep into the Middle East, exploded into open revolt in 2011 seemingly coming out of nowhere and toppling authoritarian leader’s one after the other. It was no coincidence that amongst the first to fall where firm friends of the western powers so recently involved in the invasion of Iraq. The spark that ignited the still on-going conflagration was a real one when a simple trader set himself on fire in a desperate and final protest to his hopeless situation. When the protestors took to the streets in their thousands there was little the authorities could do. Intimidation no longer worked. The people had lost their fear and a tyrant fell. But if it could happen in Tunisia it could happen elsewhere too. Egypt was next but this time the government was more ready than its neighbour and riot police were on hand to intervene. But yet again the people had lost that very thing that oppressive governments and police states rely on to maintain control – fear, and it had, just like in Tunisia, gone. So if the leader of the great Egypt could be unseated what about the other great dictator of North Africa? Could Gadhafi go too? Yes, but with much hardship and many deaths. Was any country immune? Some thought so and said so publically. Ironically, with the gift of hindsight, Syria thought that it was above such things. Soon enough the Syrian authorities were disabused of the idea but had a response ready – just in case. The answer was firepower and the willingness to use it against their own population. Unsurprisingly violence produced violence in its turn and the spiral of destruction and death has been climbing ever since as the country descends into a grinding Civil War.

Told through the eyes of six people on the ground – an Egyptian dissident, a Libyan air force cadet, a Kurdish physician, a Syrian University student, an Iraqi woman’s rights activist, and an Iraqi ISIS member – this slim volume gripped like a vice as whole countries descended into chaos and violence and those caught in the middle of it attempted to cope, survive and fight back to protect what was theirs or bring forth the life they had always wanted. Taking you into the heart of things through the eyes and experiences of people easily identified with this really brought home the reality of the Arab uprising and what it all meant to the people right at the centre of things. After reading this not only do I appreciate the kinds of things these people have gone through – as much as that’s possible at third hand – but it really helps the reader to understand (or at least start to appreciate) the forces at work in the Middle East and why the people living there (or fleeing from their) are doing what they’re doing. Being only 210 pages long there isn’t the in-depth analysis that you’d get from other books [watch this space] but you do get a brilliant emotional connection to people not very different to the people we know in our daily life. Quite brilliant and highly recommended – although sensitive souls might find it rather stressful at times. (R)         

Cartoon Time.

Remember, Remember...........

The Sunshine Blogger Tag

I’ve been tagged by Judy from Keep The Wisdom (go visit if you haven’t already) to respond to 11 questions about my Blog and my reading habits. So here they are:

 1 How did you get started blogging?

Just before I started Blogging back in 2005 a few of my friends had started Blogs so I began commenting on them as well as other Blogs they had links to. It seemed the next logical step to have a Blog of my own. My original friends have mostly stopped Blogging and have moved onto Facebook. I stayed on Blogger.

2 What do you enjoy most about being a book blogger?

Reading other people’s reviews, finding new books or new authors, essentially the communal sharing element of the whole thing.

3 How long have you kept your blog going?

A little over 14 years – so far.

4 Would you say you have a philosophy behind your blog? If yes, please say what it is.

To comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable.

5 What genres do you enjoy reading the most?

Science-Fiction, History, Espionage, Politics and Crime. Plus anything else that piques my interest long enough to pick up a book about it.

6 Who are your top 3 favourite authors?

A VERY difficult question for me. But 3 *of* my favourites are Bernard Cornwell, Alison Weir and William Gibson.

7 Do you also attend reading groups? If yes, how many?

Not yet. Maybe when I retire. I do like the idea of reading as a group but at the same time don’t really like reading to order.

8 If you could invite a few authors over for dinner who would they be-even if you had to resurrect some from the dead?

Iain Banks (sorely missed), Philip Pullman and Agatha Christie.

9 How do you find the books you want to read?

Amazon recommendations, visits to bookshops, accidentally whilst looking for book covers on Google images, seeing what other people are reading, Book Tubers, other Blogs….

10 Do you think authors today are as good as those from earlier years? Better? Worse? Why?

Definitely different. Modern authors are, I think, generally darker, more cynical and more sceptical. The main difference though is speed. Modern books are very fast compared to even 50 years ago never mind in previous centuries. There’s also much more going on and the whole experience is much more intense. All of which, I suppose, reflects how much life in general has increased in pace and volume since the 1960’s. I think giving a modern novel to someone from the 19th century would be a very confusing experience for them!

11 Name a few of the best books you have read this year.

Suffragette – My Own Story by Emmeline Pankhurst
The New Silk Roads – The Present and Future of the World by Peter Frankopan
The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Cartoon Time.

Antibiotic use falling but resistant infections rising

From The BBC

31 October 2019

There has been a 17% drop in the number of prescriptions for antibiotics written by GPs in England over the past five years, latest figures show. But antibiotic-resistant infections are still rising - up 9% between 2017 and 2018, to nearly 61,000. Public Health England is urging the public to take antibiotics only when necessary. And it urges people to listen to their doctor or pharmacist's advice on when to use them. Antibiotics are essential for treating serious bacterial infections, such as sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis. But they should not be used to treat coughs, earache and sore throats, which usually clear up without drugs. If antibiotics are taken inappropriately, harmful bacteria living inside the body can become resistant to the antibiotics, which means the medicines may not work when really needed.

PHE's annual report on antimicrobial resistance for 2018-19 found that the most potentially serious infections (antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections) rose by a third between 2014 and 2018. Dr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England, said it was "worrying" that more infections were becoming resistant to life-saving antibiotics. But there is good news too - total antibiotic consumption in England has been coming down since 2014, when it hit a 20-year peak. "We have seen positive steps taken to reduce antibiotic use without affecting people's recovery when they are unwell and GPs should be congratulated in their ongoing work to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use," Dr Hopkins said. "We want the public to join us in tackling antibiotic resistance by listening to your GP, pharmacist or nurse's advice and only taking antibiotics when necessary," she added. "Taking antibiotics when you don't need them is not a harmless act - it can have grave consequences for you and your family's health, now and in the future." The report found no evidence that GPs prescribing fewer antibiotics had led to more people being admitted to hospital with serious infections.

Antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in the community went down by 16.7% (from 750 to 624 per 1,000 inhabitants per year) between 2014 and 2018. There were reductions in all age groups, but particularly in the under-65s. Dental antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in the community have gone down by more than 25% in the last five years. Last year, E. coli was the commonest cause of bloodstream infection in England. Prof Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, said: "The decrease in consumption of antibiotics is good news but the rise in resistant infections shows the threat is increasing and so there is more to be done. Antibiotic resistance is not just a matter for clinicians - the public also have a crucial role to play in helping to preserve these vital medicines."

[I’ve probably experienced too many end-of-the-world scenarios in either book or movie format to be comfortable with the idea of growing antibiotic resistance. It’s easy enough to imagine a future global pandemic that just blasts through what little medical defences we have with Black Death-like consequences. Personally I like to avoid anti-biotics whenever I can. I’ve been prescribed them more than once for a minor infection only to throw it in the bin knowing/suspecting that I’ll be over it in a little while anyway. I’ve just gotten over a cold (not a particularly bad one) and have developed an annoying cough. Rather than even thinking about anti-biotics (which the Dr shouldn’t really give me anyway unless I have an identified URT infection – that mostly clears up on their own) I simply increase my garlic intake which usually does the trick. Not sure if the little buggers can adapt to garlic. I’d like to see them try… I’d just increase the dose….. [lol]]

To celebrate/acknowledge Guy Fawkes here @ SaLT the month of November will have a slightly rebellious tinge.. [grin]

A Cabin in the Woods by a Lake..... What could POSSIBLY go Wrong?

Just Finished Reading: Film Noir – A Very Short Introduction by James Naremore (FP: 2019)

Of course it was the French who started it all. Well, at least they named it. With the end of WW2 American movies flooded into once occupied Europe wowing audiences across the continent. The French, always eager to true something new, something stylish, something ‘Avant guard’ lapped up the dark brooding crime films they began calling Film Noir. As with many of these movements the now classic examples of the genre were not so classified at the time they were being made. Only much later, when the Noir style was recognised for what it was, were films seen as ‘Noir-ish’ from their inception.

But even though a Noir film could be recognised and called so the definitions of what exactly made up the genre where fluid – especially at the edges. Most film critics agreed on much of the core cannon of films but there was much disagreement regarding films that had some elements of Noir but not others. Sometimes it was as simple as asking if a Noir film should necessarily be in Black and White? The golden age of Noir, according to received wisdom, ended with the advent of colour. Then there were the genre crossovers or boundary films. Could you have a Noir Western? Are films like Bladerunner a Noir film or is it a homage or pastiche of Noir sensibilities grafted onto a Sci-Fi motif. Unfortunately these and many other similar questions cannot be definitely laid to rest.

Noir itself was an outgrowth of multiple paths: there was the hardboiled detective novels of the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s the authors of which gravitated to Hollywood to boost their limited incomes and who gave the movies they worked on (not necessarily an adaptation of their own work) a certain cache, then there was the flight of directors and cinematographers fleeing from Nazi Germany and bringing with them the Avant-guard and Surrealist film making techniques that made the products so intriguing to watch in post-war French movie houses.

Of course the Noir sensibility didn’t end with the beginning of colour nor with the advances in lighting techniques (especially outside the studio and at night). Noir is, first and foremost, a way of seeing the world – both from inside the characters head and from outside via the audience. Noir is certainly a style but it is more than that. It is an attitude, a philosophical stand, a mind-set. That is why, decades after the sheen of the golden age has faded, Noir films are still being made and are still being discussed in critical circles. Just like the Night and the City (to say nothing of the eternal Femme Fatal) Noir will always be with us.

This was a delightful little book aimed directly at one of my all-time favourite things – Film Noir. I’m not entirely sure why I like this movie genre so much but I most definitely do. Even bad Noir (and Noir has more than its fair share of bad examples) has flashes of dark brilliance. The best of the genre continues to blow me away after multiple viewings. It either says much about the human condition or much about how I see the world. Whatever the truth of it Noir is probably my second movie love – with only SF holding it away from the top slot. Of course the rare combination of the two just sends me….. Long live Noir. Definitely recommended for all Noir fans, both casual and dedicated.     

Cartoon Time.