I have a new book out, Burden of Power, which is published on Thursday. I know some of you have noticed because I have had a few requests on here, via email, twitter and Facebook, for signed copies.
As I tweeted recently, I signed a lot of stock for Waterstone’s a few weeks ago, so their main shops should have some. If you want a personalised dedicated copy, (dedicated to yourself or as a present) then I am repeating the arrangement for previous books that I have with my local Waterstone’s in Hampstead.
They will charge the full cover price, but throw in UK postage for free. So that means £25 for this new 700 page hardback, my diaries covering 9-11 to the war in Iraq. They can also arranged for signing of hardbacks and paperbacks of previous volumes and my two novels, All In The Mind and Maya. Paperbacks of The Blair Years, Prelude to Power, Power and the People, and Power and Responsibility are priced at £12.99, £9.99, £9.99 and £9.99 respectively.
All you have to do is email manager@hampstead.waterstones.com stipulating what books you would like, what if any dedication you would like, and how you would like to pay. They will let me know if this has changed, but last time they preferred payment by credit card over the phone, (0207 794 1098) or cash/credit card in person at 68-69 Hampstead High Street London NW3 1QP.
And finally, while on the subject of Waterstone’s Hampstead, on behalf of the National Union of Diary Writers may I tell you that Chris Mullin will be there at 7pm this evening talking about his books. He is not a football fan! Call the number above if you want to go.
The only thing one needs to about power is who it is all given too. The rest are details.
Des Currie
Or, alternatively, don’t bother with the book. Do try Mullins’ – all excellent so far.
Alastair – what about us fans across the pond?
Good luck with the paper book sales.
Notice on twitter Alastair you mentioning Frank Ifield – excellent singer and yodeller. Don’t think he sung the actual song “Born Free”, but he had an album called Born Free in the early sixties – nothing to do with the latter written song by others as in the african lion film.
Good info on Frank Ifield and the music he did here, at this excellent music database site,
http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/frank_ifield
… furthermore, Matt Monro is the one most famous for singing the song Born Free, as in the film, I do believe.
Because there has been a lot of chat about Krugman lately, and about the minimum wage and youth unemployment, here is a half decent article on the minimum wage, from the right wing viewpoint:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/timworstall/100018044/message-to-the-tuc-the-minimum-wage-causes-youth-unemployment/
Not that much different from the (non political) left wing economists like Krugman and Dean Baker’s view of it.
(Obviously to the political left the minimum wage was sent down from heaven on a tablet to Tony Blair.)
Anyway the article makes the point that it is the level of the minimum wage that is important, if it is set at around 45% of the average wage then the job destruction effects will not be noticed too much, seems mainly to argue for changing the brackets (ie make more brackets at a lower rate for younger people) rather than outright abolition.
Frank Ifield? Last I heard of him was in the early 70s when he released a punk rock song: I Remember You, You F*****g Tw*t.
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
That seems a bit of a cretinous article. Look what happened in the interveening period, i.e. 2008.
Why doesn’t the right wing press give year on year figures so that a fair judgement can be made? Why do they always strive for the hysterical claim, as their friends always do in the H of C, especially during mainline telly with PMQ’s?
It is well know the right wingers are crap at maths, and chose fluffy degrees at Uni, like PPE and the humanities. And with PPE, they no doubt struggled with the technical parts of the E part, which requires a degree of conscientious discipline.
Well. Jimmy Carr would say that now, the shithouse hypocritical gimp. In my last job earning 32 grand a year, it pisses me off that I was paying several times more tax than him earning almost ten times as much.
And as for Gary Barlow, strip him of his OBE, or whatever gong it was. He has let me down, thought he was a better bloke than that. And as for the rest worming through our brit healthy intestines, GET THEM HM TAX INSPECTORS! What the fuck do honest people like us employ you for anyway? Are you lot high up on the tax dodging sham also?
I have read on wikipedia corruption Greece style is ramping up like anything in this country, and we are becoming a right corrupt state. Accountants of these kind need to be put up against the wall and shot, and soon too, before we disappear up our own unpatriotic backsides. Pissed off I am, again.
Carr the twat, with his limp wristed fucked up hollow apology of sorts. You knew what you were doing butty boy, don’t come over all ignorant with us – you had an oxbridge education after all, wasted, paid by tax payers in this country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18531008
FUME! sermon over – pant-pant!
Really enjoyed the launch event at Queen Mary University of London on 20th June. Thanks for taking so many questions and staying as long as you did. Looking forward to reading the book.
Agree re fluffy degrees, though I don’t think it is only right wingers like Bojo, Cam and Osbo who suffer from this, didn’t Ed study PPE.
This is why when I see Robert Winston on tv I think “Why isn’t he the prime minister!” Or “Why doesn’t the prime minister just ask him what to do and then do it?”
None of the papers or tv programs give year on year figures, or actual data, its all fluffy storytelling, with the possible exception of The Daily Politics who bring up the odd graph of hard data.
There have been studies on minimum wage job creation/destruction effects though, hard to measure overall as its not in isolation, but certainly you can see the effects in certain professions ie petrol pump attendants and bag carriers at supermarkets biting the dust.
Engineers are good at accounts…
reauns, we do not want to go back to the bad old Thatcher/Major days of £1:50 an hour , do we, and that was what some middle aged cleaners were on, alledgedly? Youngsters were paid pennies then.
I think the minimum wage changed the checks and balances for the good, and social economics adjusted to it quite well. As I said, re, 2008 effects, certain people are jumping to the wrong conclusions, and seem to forget our capitalist banking system went barking mad, trying to invent money out of thin air, with here today, gone tomorrow, mad schemes.
Well, that is what I think.
Yeah but its a straight choice between the bad old days when people got paid less but more people had jobs, or the bad new days when we all have labours lovely minimum wage except we don’t because minimum wage causes unemployment.
I dream of the good new days when a politician says, we have two choices, both of them suck in different ways, there is no non-sucky option, so which one do you want?
Blair said this re Iraq ie he said there are bad consequences if we go in and bad consequences if we stay out, there is no option without bad consequences – if only we could see this argument deployed in ot
My last post got cut off, thanks Disqus!
Natwest and RBS are getting their knickers in a twist last few days, ey reaguns? TWATS!
Viz comic was right about NatWest decades ago…
http://www.tdcbitworks.co.uk/b3ta/NatWest.gif
think you want to bring back basic slavery reaguns. I’ll get a boat, and then we can go around the coasts of the world shaghaing people to sell to the tory party, to clean their houses, ey?
You jest, but minimum wage has already led to slavery. We would not have the unemployment we have now, were it nor for minimum wage, and due to the unemployment we have now, both Labour and the Tories are committed to what would otherwise be seen as a Stalinist policy of forced Labour, something the likes of Thatcher and Reagan, let alone Roosevelt, Attlee or Beveridge, would never have dreamed of.
I simple disagree, due to the seemingly obtuse, to some, reasons I have given. Economics has a mind of it’s own, when the rules are set. It is incredible what could happen if the rules are healthy.
and of course I mean rich tax dodgers.
We, as patriots of of our isle(s), must do our duty, and put them against the wall and shoot the buggers. They are a waste of brit, and NI, FRESH AIR!
Serom over, and now can we sing hymn number 1066.
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