And a good reminder that the most dangerous thing most of us do is to climb into motorized vehicles.
… Bloody wasp.
Another Anthony Horowitz mini-series.
Collision (2009) is a five-part British television drama serial …
… the story of a group of strangers whose lives intertwine following a devastating car crash. The crash opens a number of startling revelations as stories of everything from government cover-ups and smuggling, to embezzlement and murder start to unravel. …
Jo Woodcock is particularly good as Jodie Tolin, a teenager paralyzed in a car crash — now trying to find a way forward in life.
Lucy Griffiths as Jane Tarrant is very appealing, as well. Oddly, her story has very little to do with the collision. It’s more like Love, Actually … with a twist.
… Beyond the crumpled cars and beleaguered emergency services are the invisible dramas and when DI John Tolin begins his investigation he finds himself drawn into many different and dangerous worlds including government cover-ups, smuggling, torn relationships and murder. …
Another charming British novel with an elderly heroine.
The Marlow Murder Club (2021) focuses on a group of older women who form a club to investigate a series of killings in Marlow.
It was published in January 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. … The second book in the series, Death Comes to Marlow, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for Best Cosy Crime novel published in the USA in 2022.
It’s an insight into the American public school system. ReTrumplicans insist on reducing funding for public education, while subsidizing rich kids in private schools.
The GOP later complains about crime when these same underfunded kids can’t make it in a nation with poor health care and a $7.25 / hour minimum wage.
… Set in late Raj India, The Sleeping Dictionary tells the story of a young peasant girl, who makes her way to Calcutta and is caught between the raging independence movement and the British colonial society she finds herself inhabiting. …
While the term “sleeping dictionary” was originally coined for young women who slept with Europeans and educated them in the ways of India, Kamala turns the tables on the colonial establishment, using her talents for readings languages and men to work for India’s independence. …
There’s a Hollywood film with the same name and theme — The Sleeping Dictionary — from 2003.
Initially developed for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, it has since been used in other productions and has been cited as a revolutionary visual effects technology.
Thursday Murder Club are British pensioners living in a retirement village who solve murders as a hobby.
Quite humorous. Very insightful regarding elderly life in the U.K.
Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
The gang’s search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters—as well as heartache close to home—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust. …
One important and touching side story is Elizabeth’s husband Stephen declining with dementia.
While still in full mental capacity, Stephen wrote himself a letter explaining his medical condition. Elizabeth must read it to him every day as he’s already forgotten.
On the down side, the murder mystery is absurdly simplistic.
We don’t yet know who will play whom in the upcoming film adaptation.
New steam powered spinning looms require fewer people to operate them, throwing many people out of work.
Luddites, followers of Ned Ludd, destroy as many of the new machines as they can, but to no avail.
It’s a story we know well. New technology displacing old. The buggy whip industry disrupted.
Currently ➙ Artificial Intelligencethreatening the jobs of many.
Instead of fighting AI — we need to regulate it as best we can to maximize the benefits, minimize the harm.
AI won’t take your job. Somebody who understands AI better than you will take it.
A good analogy is robotsreplacing factory line workers. Those maintaining and repairing robots are doing well.
This book continues through 1824 against the backdrop of social unrest occasioned by revolutionary ideas from America and France. And the Napoleonic Wars.
