MR PRATCHETT

In his writer's layer in Somerset a bearded fellow was leaning over his keyboard.

"What next?" he thought as he imagined the characters of his creation in his head. "Maybe a little more of Death." He thought.

YOU CALLED?

"No dear, it wasn't me," he said still staring at the screen not looking round.

TERRY PRATCHETT.

"Oh," he said, this time turning his head to look behind him. As he did so there was a thud as his body's head fell unto to the letter "a" and filled the screen with the letter. "Is it that time already?"

I'M AFRAID SO, said Death.

And as the two of the them walked off into the endless light out in space the giant space turtle Great A'Tuin reached her final destination to the time of mating and the massive elephants on her back Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen stood still for the first time in history. The Disc that lay upon their shoulders stopped turning.

Only in the history books will life on the Discworld now be remembered and in the imaginations of millions of readers will the characters live on.

Terry Pratchett 28 April 1948 - 12 March 2015

The only man who for the last 25 years has continually made me laugh out loud in too many public spaces, walk into too many lamp posts and had me still reading when the sun came up the day after release date. All while largely not physically present.

They'll be Dancing in the Streets of Anhk Morpork

It may be Hogmanay but that means the announcement of Queen Liz's New Year's honours.

Those plucky British Olympians are adding to their Beijing honours with one knighthood, six CBEs, 13 OBEs and 35 MBEs in Queenies New Years Honour lists.


No prizes for guess who will be having the royal sword dubbed on his proud shoulders, it's Mister Chris for his three cycling golds. But Liz didn't take poolside advice from the Water Cube proffered by Miss Cassie by only making 'Dame' Rebecca Adlington only an OBE. Paralympian Miss Ellie Saunders becomes the youngest ever recipient of the MBE at just 14. F1 World Champion Mister Lewis picked up an MBE. Many of the tops coaches were also honoured as was Chris's mother Carol for their services to sport.

As the sunlight slowly moves across the Discworld to herald another dawn, the creator, known on our world as Mister Terry has been awarded a Knighthood.

Sara Payne who has battled for better safeguards against sex offenders following the kidnap and murder of her daughter Sarah was also awarded an MBE.

However, in the year that the economy took one hell of a pasting there is anger that the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury picked up his knighthood as part of the automatic promotion through the merit system that comes with rank not performance.

Pratchett Not Doing a Mark Twain

As has been noted before on this blog I am an avid reader of the novels of Terry Pratchett. So it was with shock that I read this morning, that not only had he had a minor stroke but had also be diagnosed with a rare form of early Alzheimer's.

The Author says he still has a few books in his yet. Nation is nearing completions and Unseen Academicals (possibly based on Saturday's performance at the football) is well annotated ready to roll. I shall be treasuring these and however many more he can produce from now on. I just hope they can find an equivalent of Dried Frog Pills with which to treat him.

Having had a Grandmother who suffered Alzheimer's I know that if they have diagnosed him early he may well have many years and many novels left in him yet. However, for those who want to know more or want to know how to give to research into trying to find a cure for this yet incurable disease I have provided two UK links below.

The Alzheimer's Society

The Alzheimer's Research Trust

The Very Model of a Modern Post Master General

I always marvel at the relevance of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the latest Making Money is about Moist van Lipwig who we first met in Going Postal when Lord Vetinari appointed him the new Post Master General for Ankh Morpork. He has now been given control of the biggest bank and mint in the city because he has turned around the post office making it reliable, efficient and profitable. As the title suggests he has now been charged with making money.

It appears that possibly Terry in his infinite wisdom has taken a look at the current Labour government's policy on Post Offices and twisted it towards this logical conclusion. Yesterday when I returned home after writing about the closure of Post Offices coming to parts of Scotland I turned on the news to be bombarded my 'loyal' Labour Glasgow MPs being up in arms about the reduction of access to their constituents of much needed services, especially the elderly and those without access to private transport.

But what have they stood on at the last three elections as far as Post Offices are concerned. (Parenthesises mine)

In 1997 Labour promised in their manifesto:

'We will ensure that self-financing commercial organisations within the public sector - the Post Office is a prime example - are given greater commercial freedom to make the most of new opportunities.

'Life in our countryside

'Labour recognises the special needs of people who live and work in rural areas. The Conservatives do not. Public services and transport services in rural areas must not be allowed to deteriorate. The Conservatives have tried to privatise the Post Office. We opposed that, in favour of a public Post Office providing a comprehensive service. Conservative plans would mean higher charges for letters and put rural post offices under threat.'

In 2001:

'The Post Office and postal services

'We are committed to high-quality, universal postal services, and a dynamic Post Office which can thrive in a world of technological change and increased competitive pressure. Labour is working with the banks to offer a new universal banking service. This will allow all benefit and pension recipients to receive their payments, at no charge, in full at the post office after the switch to Automated Credit Transfer in 2003.

'We also intend the local post office to become an invaluable resource for access to government information. There will be increased incentives for people to take over and modernise post offices. Business customers, representing by far the majority of the Post Office’s turnover, want a full range of express, parcels and logistics services. We have given the Post Office greater commercial freedom in the public sector. It needs to be able to gain an advantage in the new postal market and become a leading force in domestic and international postal services through alliances and joint ventures. We want to help the Post Office keep up with the best in a fast-changing market.

'Rural life

'Labour is pledged to a rural services standard to set out specifically what rural people can expect from 21 public service providers - with annual auditing and commitments to service improvement. The rural school closure programme has been ended; 3,000 new, affordable homes a year are on the way; a £30 million police programme will help cut rural crime; £239 million over three years has been set aside for rural transport services; and the Post Office is now obliged to prevent closure of rural post offices except in unavoidable circumstances, with £270 million to help achieve this and recruit sub-postmasters.'

And in 2005:

'Thriving rural areas

'Since 1997, Labour has made it more difficult to close rural schools, put in £750 million to support rural post offices and introduced a 50 per cent rate relief on village shops.Through our £51 million Rural Bus Subsidy Grant we have delivered over 2,200 new bus services in rural areas this year.'

Whoops!

Not only has Labour been saying less an less about Post Offices over the last 10 years they have also clearly not been delivering on their own promises. Promises about how important the post offices should be, how everyone should still be able to get their benifits in full from their 'local' post office and that the Post Office will become a leading force in industry to take but three.