As a growing child, the one thing that I experienced in abundance was 'second chances.' In fact, I'd go as far as to say that without having had my fair share of second chances, my life would have taken a much different course. Second chances were my life saver Not surprisingly, one of my favourite books was Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables, ' a story that was chiefly responsible for transforming me from 'Thief' to that of 'Probation Officer' in later life. I was also fascinated by the bible story of Christ telling His followers to 'turn the other cheek' in circumstances where it seemed more...

In dealing with the theme of this first story in the 'Action Annie' series of stories from the book of the same name, I wanted to address that perennial question that has perplexed the minds of millions of children ever since 'Father Christmas' became a prime feature of their Christmas Day celebrations. "If there is a Father Christmas, and he is a Christmas visitor to the home of every boy and girl across the world to give them a present; then why does he always give the most expensive presents to those children whose parents are the richest and the cheapest presents to those children whose...

As we enter the Third Millennium, the world faces challenges which no civilised country can ignore. The greed and material consumption by people living in the most prosperous parts of our world become more conspicuous and effectively impoverishes further, those poorer, third-world nations in want of basic necessities in order to survive. As long as richer nations are prepared to continue building and increasing their wealth upon the debts of poorer nations, the advancement of the rich will be made at the developmental expense of the poor. As long as profit matters more than people, there can...

Horace Catchpole is an only son who was brought up in a single-parent family in Wigan. He is 28-years-old and still lives in the same house as he has always lived with his mother, Melissa. Melissa is a woman who dislikes her son intensely and is cruel and greedy in disposition. She has always ill-treated Horace and has reared and treated him far worse than any other Cinderella ever experienced at the hands of a tyrannical mother-figure. While the frugal Melissa lives well herself, she does so at the expense of making other economies in her life where Horace is concerned. Horace is clothed in...

'Greed' contains two stories: one set in the days of 'The Californian Gold Rush' and the other in Wigan during the 1950's. Both stories illustrate the triumph of the good person over that of the greedy one who seeks to get what want through thieving, cheating, lying and bullying. The stories have a thief, cheat, liar and bully and an honest person as characters whose lives impact on each other. In 'Four Crude Dudes and the Land of Hope', the story is set in the days of the Californian Gold Rush. It tells how the lives of five characters who are strangers, impact upon the lives of each other...