Narcomania: A Journey Through Britain's Drug World

Narcomania: A Journey Through Britain's Drug World. Narcomania is a timely, gripping and informative investigation of drugs in the UK. Looking at the dealers, the users, the police and the politicians, the book charts how consumption and markets have fragmented and changed over the last decade; follows the money to reveal where Britain's licit and illicit economies overlap; explains where each of the major recreational drugs comes from; and maps which drugs are popular in different parts of the country. It will explode many of the myths and misconceptions about drug use, and tap into fraught debates about how politicians, parents and police should respond. In the wake of the internet boom, globalisation and a decade of decadence, Britain sits at a crossroads in the legalisation-versus-intolerance debate. While other nations have succeeded with progressive experiments, inertia and self-contradiction define British drug policy to the detriment of everyone except the criminal underworld. Unsurprisingly, in the light of this book, our politicians are confused about what will please or displease the all-important middle class electorate. Equally unsurprisingly, however, so much myth and confusion surrounds the subject that clarity must be brought to chaos if the wisdom of the crowd is ever to surface... If you have teenage children or opinionated friends then it's as well to be informed. A great deal of view is cultural. Who was it that once said "let them eat them cake"? Anyone at the sharp end of drug use and that's nearly everyone would benefit from being informed. RRP: £12.99 Price: £8.79 & Free Delivery with Amazon Prime You Save: £4.20 (32%) Buy here. Narcomania: A Journey Through Britain's Drug World

Rain North Fife

Rain North Fife, It rained heavily again last night, as a consequence the run off from the fields washed onto and across roads streaming to the lower fields. Recently cultivated and sown fields suffered considerable loss of topsoil and with it the grain. What it is to be a farmer and see your work and land go down the drain.

Ducks North Fife 2012

Mostly Swedish Blue Duck, not pure bred. Ducks are amazing birds, the drakes are very rampant and if they can get their way, they do. The results are quite amazing with genetic qualities of parentage showing through. We have 9 ducks and 1 drake, he is mainly a caller, smallish, noisy and flies with ease. He manages to mount the ducks but has a hard time with the Indian runners with longer necks. To put you in the picture, the drake mounts the duck holding her head down in its bill, she in turn offers her rear end only he can't always reach. It takes a lot of attempts and if they are on water the duck is sometimes drowned. Randy, we all know the mating imperative, ducks have it big style, hence the mixtures that result.

Mallard Cross, both of these ducks are 4 months old and will be laying eggs in the new year.

Tayview 9th October 2012

Tayview 9th October North Fife. Same place as many times before but with totally different light. The night before there was an amazing solar storm giving rise to the so called northern lights, ( aurora borealis ) I looked and looked again through the night of the 9th, too much cloud, such is life, not everything works out. mmmmm Tonight might be different of course.

James Oswald North Fife

James Oswald, brother to Peter Oswald, well known playwright and Alice Oswald renowned Poet. A literary Family.

James Oswald on his farm today in North Fife.

Natural Causes has made a spectacular success as an e-book having been rejected by traditional publishers. Two of his other crime thrillers have been bought by a German publisher recognising a good thing when they see it. There is talk of a film being made. Natural Causes (The Inspector McLean Mysteries) [Kindle Edition] The body of a young woman is found walled up in the basement of an old Edinburgh mansion. A prominent local figure is brutally murdered. An illegal immigrant cuts his throat in a city centre pub. As violence descends upon the city, Detective Inspector McLean must think the unthinkable. An ancient evil has been freed, and only if he accepts that it can exist will he be able to stop it. ---- When Edinburgh police find the killer of a prominent city elder less than twenty-four hours after the crime, they are justifiably pleased. So the murderer has killed himself; that just saves the time and cost of a trial. But a second murder days later bears haunting similarities to the first, even though once more the murderer swiftly confesses and kills himself. Detective Inspector Anthony McLean is investigating the discovery of a dead girl, walled up in the basement of an old Edinburgh mansion. She has been brutally murdered, her internal organs removed and placed around her in six preserving jars. The evidence suggests this all happened over sixty years ago, an attempt to re-enact an ancient ceremony that by trapping a demon in the dead girl’s body would supposedly confer immortality on the six men who took one of her organs each. McLean’s grandmother – the woman who raised him after his parents were killed when he was a young boy – dies after months in a coma following a stroke. On top of this he has to investigate a series of unusual, violent suicides and a cat-burglar who targets the homes of the recently dead. But as another prominent Edinburgh businessman is killed, he begins to suspect that there may be a connection between the murders, the suicides and the ritual killing of the girl found in the basement. The same names keep cropping up. He just can’t find a rational explanation as to how that connection works. As he digs deeper, and as the coincidences stack up, McLean is forced to consider an irrational explanation. Could there really be something evil stalking the city he has sworn to protect? And if so, how on earth can he hope to stop it? For Book or Kindle, click here.Natural Causes

Mackerel Sky North Fife

Mackerel Sky North Fife, as you might have noticed if I'm not looking down, I'm looking up. Today a wonderful display of these clouds. Mackerel skies are spoken of in the popular bywords, "Mackerel in the sky, three days dry," "Mackerel sky, mackerel sky. Never long wet and never long dry," and the nautical weather rhyme, "Mare's tails and mackerel scales / Make tall ships carry low sails." The phrase 'mackerel sky' came from the fact that it looks similar to the markings of an adult king mackerel. A mackerel sky or buttermilk sky is an indicator of moisture (the cloud) and instability (the cirrus-cumulus form) at intermediate levels (2400–6100 m, 8000-20,000 ft). If the lower atmosphere is stable and no moist air moves in, the weather will most likely remain dry. However, moisture at lower levels combined with surface temperature instability can lead to rainshowers or thunderstorms should the rising moist air reach this layer. In the winter it is often said to precede snowstorms and flurries.

Oilseed Rape North Fife 2012

Oilseed rape, a valuable crop used for cooking oils, margarine spreads and increasingly for motor fuel, in Europe a directive. The problem is that the price for food use goes up just to keep our motors less dependant on mineral oil. Ummmm not a good idea.

Oilseed Rape harvest north fife. These fields were spring sown, an usually wet and cold year has held back combining. Wet ground and unequal growth.

Oilseed rape being augered into a waiting trailer.

Earlier this year, a winter sown field. More

Tayside Cloud Oct 2012

Clouds over North Fife, unlike in built up cities and towns the sky takes on a more prominent aspect wherever I am in a rural situation. I find it almost impossible to not notice the juxtaposition of land and sky, pictorially.

Badgers North Fife

It saddens me to hear of any abrupt and untimely death, in this case of Badgers. Two counties in England are about to embark on a 9 year trial of killing Badgers 70% of them in the vain hope it will protect Cattle from Bovine Tuberculosis. Who knows how many Badgers there are anyway. Estimates suggest that culling badgers in areas where bovine TB is prevalent could reduce the number of new cases of TB in herds by 16% over 9 years, said Defra. Some people just love to kill, if the corpses were eaten it would be better understood, maybe badgerburgers will catch on. Several scientists, including government advisers, say culling alone will not solve the problem. The NFU and the British Veterinary Association (BVA) argue that even if culling delivers only a modest benefit, it is better than nothing. The Badger Trust, which failed in a legal bid to stop the culls, says vaccination is the way forward. "With every passing week the Government's claims that the cull is science led are shown up for what they are - a sham," it said. "It's time they were abandoned. Vaccination of badgers will make an important contribution. But the long-term solution has to be a cattle vaccine." Evidence suggests some wild badgers can become infected with the bacteria that causes bovine TB and pass it on to cattle. More

Badger North Fife, Badgers in Scotland are found to be TB free yet word has got round and the Badgers are taking matters into their own hands. In the meantime I and many others lament at the attitudes of our government.

Brunton and Luthrie Fields North Fife

Rain clouds over Brunton North Fife. It's that kind of a year, rain, sun, rain and a little sun.

Harvested fields in-between Brunton and Luthrie, I like the delineation made by the combine harvester, instead of a crop texture lines are clearly drawn, this way and that.

Crop lines Brunton, a couple of springs showing in the field. Where ever there are hills there will be springs, then wee burns feeding rivers, these start the Motray Water snaking its way through North Fife, Luthrie, Rathillet, Kilmany, Leuchars and into the sea with the river Eden at Guardbridge. Amazingly brown trout can be found in Brunton in just a few inches of water.

Riverside Newburgh North Fife October 2012

Down by the riverside October 2nd Newburgh North Fife, always worth a visit for the sheer tranquil quality of the flowing River Tay.

Mugdrum Island and reed beds Newburgh, Shower rain clouds drifting over the Carse of Gowrie.

Flotsam on the tidal river Tay waters on the riverside, bits of litter, there seems to be no escaping the stuff where ever one goes, even in the Arctic waters there are millions of microscopic plastic particles per cubic metre of what we think is pure water. Apparently synthetic fibres from clothing via washing machines and getting into the food chain. As custodians of the planet we're not doing a very good job.

End of the rainbow, life jacket.

Now sing along................................................... Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue...