The Road to Westminster

Nothing in life is impossible provided you never lose sight of your goal and are willing to be flexible at all times and totally dedicated to achieving your aims. Setbacks crop up at the most inconvenient times, but they give you the opportunity to make changes, accept new challenges and achieve your targets in ways you could never have thought possible.
Never give up, never lose sight of your objectives. Be ruthless when assessing your progress. Take chances when you need to. Everyone needs to speculate to accumulate. Go for it at all times.

The Tale of a Hip

The Tale of a Hip is an account of the author’s 80-year life to date, through a period of huge social change, during which, technology has taken over from nature. It is the story of true love lasting six decades, despite the fact that physical aspects of the relationship were less good than they might have been, due to an unsuspected structural problem that only came to light when Pamela and her husband, John, took up dancing in their 40s.

The mystery of Pamela’s shifting bones is unravelled piece by piece, from art-influenced early years in Yorkshire, through the excitement and romance of working in a burgeoning post-war London, to marriage and, later, to obsession with dancing, resulting in back and hip issues for many years.

The Twins’ Twins

Rayn, a self-made businesswoman is in infinite danger of being arrested for domestic violence against Nathanial, her partner. She flees Western Australia and ends up in a hastily agreed house swap at the foot of Muckish Mountain in Donegal, Ireland.
Friendless and alone she becomes involved with 20-year-old identical twins, Isaac and Raphael. The twins play a game where they both make love to her.
Rayn is horrified to find she is pregnant. She plans to have an abortion in England.
Both the twins believe they are the father. Isaac wants her to have an abortion.
Raphael cancels her appointment at the London clinic.
Rayn becomes suicidal. She climbs Muckish to end her life under the Whispering Waterfall.
But this is Ireland. Things are not always as they seem.

The Way We Are

The Way We Are is an account of a life passed in England, Saudi Arabia, and 50+ years in post-war Japan.

How a search for peace of mind became an attempt at self-realization – “satori” or enlightenment, and an acceptance of why we cannot be other than we are – involving (for no clear reason) an induction into a local secret society, learning to deal with voices in the head and telepathy, hypnotism and “Ki” (being manipulated by another person’s will), prescience, visual and other apparitions, 'ghosts', 'poltergeists' etc. All personally experienced without the influence of any stimulants.

This book deals with questioning the limitations of ‘self’ as sufficient identity in this truly modern world, a world where every single one of us is now almost certainly, at some stage, going to be obliged to recognize themselves as that very much rejected and unwanted ‘other’. It also explores moving the mind away from conflict as a solution and examining the fine line between political, commercial, philosophical/religious guidance and control.

There was Once a Street in Bethnal Green

Derek Houghton was born and bred in London’s East End, Bethnal Green, when horses and carts were just as predominant on its streets as motorised vehicles. It was at a time when National Health was not even a dream, or any kind of benefit existed, the only benefit available was by taking the “Means Test” (Dole Money) that most East Enders were too proud to take. Poverty was never any stranger to their doors, unemployment was rife, and the pawnshops did a roaring trade. People then could walk the streets in safety, the streets were the children’s playgrounds, where they played unhindered. As hard as times were, neighbours showed great compassion in helping each other. Each street was like a village, where everybody knew everyone else. World War II was to bring about an even stronger bond with each other. Above all, it was the love of a street – “Our Street.”

The Baby Spa

The Baby Spa has been described as a ground-breaking technique in child development.

Parents’ hearts swell with pride and joy as they eagerly observe their baby’s first unfolding of awareness during independent water exploration. They experience a sense of overwhelming appreciation for their child as an independent and unique little being with a distinct personality while observing in awe as their baby adapts to buoyancy and total freedom that only by being in water can provide.

When babies are happy, parents are happy—an excellent start to the beginning of a close parent and child partnership and joyous journey of swimming through life.

Thoughts

Incisive views and comments on news of the day, couched in humour and unfailing compassion.

Rt Hon Baroness D’Souza CMG The Lord Speaker (2011-2016)

Lord (Indarjit) Singh’s talks on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’ have inspired many including Royalty, Prime Ministers, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders.  

One of Indarjit’s talks in 1999 provided the impetus in setting up the Lambeth Group to celebrate the Millennium by setting up a Faith Zone at the Millennium Dome and to Indarjit hosting a National Service of Reflection and Reconciliation in the Queen’s Gallery of the House of Lords. Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister described it as the most moving celebration of the Millennium he had witnessed.

Rt. Hon. Clare Short MP

Secretary of State for International Development

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today Programme on December 2004, on who she would like to nominate in the Programme’s competition ‘Listener’s Lord’, the person listeners would most like to see in the House of Lords.

I would like to nominate Indarjit Singh. He contributes regularly on Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’, and he gives impressive homilies drawing on the wisdom of Sikh teachings to help us think through the moral issues of the day.

Lord Singh came a close second to celebrated musician and human rights activist Bob Geldolf.

Through Withered Weeds Flowers Bloom

There is a lot I still don’t know about life or about what the future might bring but I do know who I am and how to incorporate life being more about where we choose to go and not just about where we come from. I believe you can throw out the script we get handed during childhood and make different choices whilst implementing determination and positive affirmation. I have used my faith to demonstrate where I found my strength, this can be applied to any type of belief system someone may have. I hope this book can be an inspiration regardless of who you are or where you are in your own life journey and to encourage that it is not where you start but where you finish that really counts. As a result, I accept the idea that through withered weeds it is truly possible for flowers to bloom.

Tightrope: Finland and Hungary in the Cold War

Finland and Hungary both fought on the losing side in WWII. Yet the former was able to resist the overwhelming power of its Soviet neighbour, while Hungary, whose status was uncertain until 1947, was not. Could the revolt of 1956 have been a turning point? How did the Helsinki Accords contribute to the end of the Cold War?

Transit to India

Changing times bring changing outlooks but even back in 1984, well before the plethora of today’s health and safety laws and risk-averse attitudes, an overland school trip to far-off India was considered somewhat extreme. And doubly so, given that travel through Iran was unavoidable despite Iran at the time suffering the upheavals of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution and engagement in a bloody war with neighbouring country Iraq.

The idea behind this 10000-mile, eight-week journey was to present a ‘retired’ old school Ford Transit minibus to the charity ‘Lepra’ to aid its life-saving work among India’s rural poor. Ten pupils aged 12 to 16, accompanied by two teachers, made up the delivery crew, in so doing possibly making the longest school minibus trip ever undertaken. One of the boys travelling (aged 15 at the time) said recently: “Surviving all the adventures and hairy incidents, all I can say is that I set off as a boy and returned as a man.”

Unpacking Italy

Tony Gates has a love affair with Italy. This book shares the affair with you. He has visited Italy more times than he knows. He brings to this “unpacking” of Italy the experience of many years, enjoyment of its many cultures, fascination with the events which brought a united Italy into being, deep appreciation of its art, and engagement with its people and places.

This is not a guidebook. Tony wants to take you to the heartbeat of Italy, a journey which looks carefully at the events and scenes along the way and listens attentively to the pulse beats of the Italian peninsula. The journey reveals that there is really more than one Italy. Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Umbrians, Normans, Lombards, French and many others have ensured that.

Where once Latin held pride of linguistic place, numerous dialects remain, pointing to the variety that is the Italy which the author shares with you. His hope is that you will find an exciting Italy as you join him on the journey.

Tony wishes you Buon Viaggio.

Up Long Meadow

Brindley Hosken’s farm, Withan, is a difficult, hilly patch of ground situated on the Lizard peninsula in the south of Cornwall. His land runs down to Frenchman’s Creek. One of the most peaceful, beautiful, and restful spots you are ever likely to find today.

When Brindley was asked to write a farming column for the local magazine, The Meneage Messenger, in 2007, he could not have known where it would take him. Developing a love for writing, his second book, Up Long Meadow, chronicles the history of his farming life over sixty years. As farming has changed from primarily manual, physical work to more tractor-driven he explores how, as a farmer, he has adapted to the changes that have been deemed progress.

His love of Cornwall and especially his locality on the south side of the Helford River shine through in this book, and hopefully will give the reader an understanding of the myriad of different histories and life stories that each farm and farmer have.