The Other Side of the Flag

A small group clustered on the outer deck of the ship, watching the dock and shoreline slowly recede. On one side of me stood the next King of England; on the other, ‘The Best Prime Minister Britain Never Had.’ Beers in hand, we listened as the familiar strains of Rule, Britannia! rose from the crowds ashore and from the countless small craft dotting the harbour. The Royal Yacht of the same name slowly departed from the last vestige of the British Empire, mere minutes after Hong Kong was handed back to Chinese rule, marking the end of 150 years of British governance.

Those standing on the deck were lost in their own thoughts. For me, it was the conclusion of my 17-year odyssey in this most vibrant of city-states. What began as a quest for adventure – a stark contrast to my comfortable but unexciting life in England – ended with my intimate involvement in a pivotal moment in history.

My career in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force had unfolded like a Hollywood script: from the riot squad to bodyguard duty, to a decade in counterterrorism, and finally as the last Aide-de-camp to the last Governor of Hong Kong. Along the way, I experienced countless headline-making incidents – and some that never made it to the press. It was a career rich in exhilaration and variety, far beyond anything I could have imagined when my journey began.

Charles Dickens Has a Wish

Charles Dickens Has a Wish explores Dickens’ use of ‘secret writing’ (inspired by Edgar Allan Poe) while composing A Tale of Two Cities. To fully understand A Tale of Two Cities, readers must solve the riddle Dickens introduces early in the novel and follow its directions. This book highlights and explains that riddle, along with other subtle clues Dickens uses to guide readers. Some of Dickens’ characters even have unnamed alter egos. By following the riddle’s directions, readers can uncover which characters have these hidden identities.

Dickens encourages readers to experience events through the perspectives of his characters. This mirrors Plato’s attempt, in the ‘Allegory of the Cave’ from The Republic, to have readers see the world through the eyes of the unchained captive. Both authors believed that experiencing life through another’s viewpoint activates what Socrates referred to as the quality of ‘Goodness.’ Often called the ‘third eye’ in Hindu traditions, this concept may also be tied to Gnostic teachings. Could this shared vision explain why The Republic was discovered among the Nag Hammadi texts? Readers who follow Dickens’ riddle may trigger this transformative experience automatically.

In essence, Dickens hid a profound plan for world peace within A Tale of Two Cities. He sought to instill ‘Goodness’ in his readers’ minds, envisioning a future where parents pass this lesson to their children for generations. His ultimate wish? Peace for all people on earth – forever.

Funnyology

Contrary to what those in the profession can easily start to believe, life does exist beyond the classroom; not only before, but during – and after – a career in Education. In this brand-new collection, writer Guy Newmountain, author of “Please I Can To The Toilet Go?” (The Memoirs Of A Supply Teacher), presents a multi-faceted assemblage of hilarious true stories focusing on the more humorous aspects of everyday life.The book is illustrated throughout by the author himself, who readily accepts his own quirky eccentricity in observations stretching from earliest childhood through the most puerile teenage practical jokes to his working years in a score of different vocations. Within these pages can be found a refreshingly broad range of anecdotes; all demonstrating vividly how life, with its many career changes, hair-raising predicaments and extraordinary experiences can be the longest, most unpredictable of tapestries. You really couldn’t make it up!

Soul Full of Sunshine

In this collection, I explore the raw and tender moments that have shaped my life, from the echoes of childhood to the reflections of adulthood. Each poem is a window into the joys, challenges, and quiet revelations that define our human journey. Whether you find a familiar feeling or a new perspective, these verses are meant to resonate with your own story, offering comfort, connection, and a sense of shared experience.

Punk: A Tale of Abuse, Addiction and Survival

Darkness lies in every corner of life. Sometimes you are lucky enough to avoid it; other times you are sucked in, and at its mercy. This journey through the horrors and torment of abuse in all its deplorable forms, is retold in explicit detail, because darkness does not care for the innocence of childhood nor for its screams of hope.

From childhood to adolescence, then moving through teenage years, set against a backdrop of late 70s and early 80s punk rock London, this is a story of a young life lived; a testament to the value of friendship; a tale of hope.

Based on actual events, PUNK: A Tale of Abuse, Addiction and Survival narrates the trials and tribulations of the need to fit in, squatting, heroin addiction, reaching the highs and the lowest of the lows, and surviving it all. Through sex, drugs and punk rock, you are pulled into Gary’s journey at every twist and turn, in explicit page-turning detail.

Punk: A Tale of Abuse, Addiction and Survival

Darkness lies in every corner of life. Sometimes you are lucky enough to avoid it; other times you are sucked in, and at its mercy. This journey through the horrors and torment of abuse in all its deplorable forms, is retold in explicit detail, because darkness does not care for the innocence of childhood nor for its screams of hope.

From childhood to adolescence, then moving through teenage years, set against a backdrop of late 70s and early 80s punk rock London, this is a story of a young life lived; a testament to the value of friendship; a tale of hope.

Based on actual events, PUNK: A Tale of Abuse, Addiction and Survival narrates the trials and tribulations of the need to fit in, squatting, heroin addiction, reaching the highs and the lowest of the lows, and surviving it all. Through sex, drugs and punk rock, you are pulled into Gary’s journey at every twist and turn, in explicit page-turning detail.

The Footprints of Mormonism

Many of us have had the experience of finding two nice young people with white shirts knocking on their door and finding out they are Mormon missionaries. The Mormon faith is uniquely noted for sending such missionaries all over the world. The founder of Mormonism was Joseph Smith and the study of his life, though complex, is most interesting at the same time.

To his followers, Joseph Smith is considered to be second in importance only to Jesus Christ in all of Church history. How Smith came to lead this movement is a captivating story on its own, and how he came to die is a sordid tale in American history. The Mormon faith started out as just a small inner circle of Joseph Smith’s relatives and it has grown to be a very large movement of multiple millions of adherents.

Most of the early leaders of Mormonism were very controversial because they practiced polygamy which they called celestial marriage. Joseph Smith himself had at least thirty-seven wives. Brigham Young, the second leader of the Church, had over fifty wives. The main Mormon body with its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, has long since abandoned polygamous practice. Splinter groups, however, separated from the main Utah Church and continue even today the practice of polygamy.

One of those main splinter churches is centred in Colorado City, Arizona. This Fundamentalist group asserts that polygamy is a deep spiritual duty ordered by God Himself that is required to reach the highest heaven. Warren Jeffs is the leader of this group, and some estimate that he has around eighty-seven wives. He however is no longer with any of his wives because he is now serving multiple years in jail for sex crimes connected to minors.

This book covers all of the foregoing matters in refined detail and provides new insight and research into all of the issues connected to the history, the theology and the politics of the Mormon faith.

Love and (or, Not) Intimacy

Love is a mysterious force. It has the power to destroy and to revive, to turn a beggar into a king and a king into a beggar. Everything depends on how you engage with it. But before anything else, you must understand what love truly is. You must grasp the reasons behind the extraordinary stories unfolding both within and beyond your Self.

Read — and prepare to be astonished.

This book unveils the amazing secrets of the human soul. Love, intimacy, magic, alchemy, tantra, meditation, death — once you understand their deep interconnection, you will cease to ask even the most perplexing questions. Yet the answers will amaze even the most vivid imagination. The heart and the mind will no longer be rivals but allies.

A magical manuscript lies before you. Will love become a source of life — or a well of oblivion?

Fat, Fifty, Freezing... and Now Wet

If you have a fear of death and are unsure what life means, take a step back from yourself and embark on an adventure—any adventure, as long as it’s different. Break out of your mould.

You probably won’t find peace or answers, but you will have a great time for a short while.

John Banting and His Circle

“He is surrealist in the unexpectedness of his invention but lacks the solemnity that makes most surrealists so tedious.”

The New Statesman’s judgement of 1938 could apply as much to Banting’s life as to his art. From the Bright Young People parties of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies to Republican Spain with Nancy Cunard to observing the Anschluss of 1938 with Humphrey Spender. Banting was the archetypal outsider artist with connections. But as the British surrealist movement ebbed after the war, he ended his days in squalor in Hastings, largely forgotten.

In this generously illustrated review, Joanna Ward demonstrates that the contribution of Banting and surrealism to the artistic and intellectual life of Britain should now be acknowledged alongside the kitchen sink realism and other ‘isms’ that contributed to our current identity.

“At last—a fascinating book about a fascinating man—John Banting—one of the great eccentrics of British surrealism—an artist who made life itself a surrealist event.”

– Desmond Morris, zoologist, ethnologist, artist and author of The British Surrealists.

How to Be the Grit in the Oyster

How to Be the Grit in the Oyster delivers a unique and successful model for leading business change in an increasing diverging environment. Change is no longer escapable, businesses are continuously changing yet most transformations fail, often quoted at 75%. This figure has not improved over time. There are articles and books purporting to address this issue and most of these focus on process and defining the change required. This book, based on the authors experience takes a different path. It asserts that at the core of this failure leaders take little account of the impact of the drive for diversity alongside societal diversification and they have failed to adjust their leadership style and delivery models accordingly.

Our workplace is more diverse than it has ever been. It appears that leaders have been blindsided by the intended consequence of this – that we all think and behave differently. Leadership models and delivery practices have continued to be implemented along historical lines built during the decades of compliant workforces. Younger generations have been freed to think and behave as they wish. A kind of emancipation of diverse thinking.

To lead in this new paradigm requires a different approach. The Grit in the Oyster achieves three outcomes for the reader. Firstly, to get them to the ‘aha moment’ that we are living in a different environment. Secondly, to get them to realise they need, as leaders, to behave in the right way to create the space for teams to blossom and then finally, a model to build and guide teams to successful outcomes.

Fly High, Fly Low, Fly Fast, Fly Slow

Early in the morning of 6th October 1957, a five-year-old boy looked up to the skies over the Tunisian Sahel region to get a glimpse of the very first satellite in orbit around Earth, the famous Sputnik. Despite not spotting it, he started dreaming of a future high up in the skies. Little did the young boy know then about his future, and that his life would eventually fulfill and even exceed his wildest dreams.

This book follows the ventures of this little boy, Habib Fekih, who was born in a small village close to the Tunisian Mediterranean Sea. Through hard work, dedication, tenacity, and competence, he reached the skies of commercial aviation.

Follow Habib on his journey: from a student fascinated by quantum physics, to working in his country national airline, which was set up to challenge some of the major carriers, to becoming one of the star salesmen for the still-young Airbus company. He contributed substantially to its success on the world market. Habib guides us through all the intricacies of this fascinating and complex world, where you come to value the enormous contribution of each single shop-floor worker, while also meeting with presidents and kings and other celebrities around the world, gathering many exciting stories.

A fascinating and informative read.