Book Review : THE WALLS HAVE EARS by Dr Helen Fry

THE WALLS HAVE EARS  is the second book that I have purchased and read written by Dr Helen Fry and once again I learnt about it on Social Media where I "follow" Dr Fry.

The cover of the book states THE GREATEST INTELLIGENCE OPERATION OF WORLD WAR 2 and through the pages of the book we really learn it was exactly that as we discover while reading the book just how !   I have put the !,  because once more Dr Fry takes the reader into the world of intelligence at the time and the real people involved, the good and the bad, friend and foe.  

Of the many things that I loved about the book was how the intelligence was obtained, the many ways which I found astounding and astonishing and that I didn't know and I politely suggesst that most wont know unless they read this book or have other means of getting the information.

The "human and inhuman" side of what happened during the world war, is told and reading the book I wondered how I would have reacted to hearing the evil evidence given by those guilty of it as the listeners did.  Honestly I am not sure if I could have controlled my anger and at the very least would have had a lasting emotional and mental scar, which I wonder how many of them did.

The importance of the many ways of the gathering and confirmation of the intelligence is shown throughout this book and you know that it saved lives.

I was horrified to learn from this book, that evidence gathered could not be used at the Nurumberg trials of some who took part in the crimes,  that however is, as is stated in the book, still a matter of debate, but also as the book tells us one of the reasons why was because of the "Cold War" that followed.

Such is the writing of the book, that we become ears as the listerners did and we can hear the words as they were spoken,  over 80 years ago as if we're hearing them now (naturally they have been translated into English for us to understand).  Yet we are left as well with, what more could we have listened to that we are now made deaf to?

In conclusion.

In The Walls Have Ears Dr Fry has done what she does best, tell the facts, the story and makes us think.  Like all great authors she leaves you interested to learn more about the people mentioned.  I have no hestitation in saying that for my first completed book of 2025 it is a great read and a great start to the year of reading ahead.  

Women in the Valley of the Kings etc. Kathleen Sheppard. The Cure for Insomnia, my honest review

 When I first leant about a new publication about the Untold Story of Women Egyptologists,  I was really excited and ordered it from my local bookstore as I always do.  I had to wait and wait for it, but I didn't mind as I thought it would be worth it and the book would add to my knowledge and open up new areas for me to explore.  I have never been so disappointed by a book in my life and in truth, I have found it hard to complete and in the end gave up on, because well I don't have insomnia but if I did this would be the cure for it.

If you care to "plow" through it there are some interesting things, the trouble is that you'll be so bored that you probably will miss them.  What a person's sexuality has to do with Egyptology and why the mention of it is beyond me and this completely put me off the book, but I carried on in the hope that it would get better - it didn't.

In comparison to this book, I have recently read Women in Intelligence  by Dr Helen Fry, which gave the facts about the women as well as the work they did.  Dr Fry kept the narrative going and I learnt much that I did not know and enjoyed reading this book so much I have now purchased another book by Dr Fry.  The author of this book could do well by reading and learning from Dr Fry.

I really don't have much more to say about this book and this is my honest review of it - well intentioned but misses out on so many levels and I honestly couldn't recommend it to anyone. 

Time for Men to Support XX Women and not be silent about what is happening to them

 I have watched with increasing anger what is happening to XX women, I really should not have to put the double X here and just say women and everyone know what I mean,  to a point where I can no longer be quiet about what is happening to them and nor should any XY male either.

We men can no longer remain silent as women are increasingly having to face daily threats to their safety in toilets and other public places, nor their life long dreams in sports stolen from by cheating males who pretend they are female, when quite clearly they are not, they don't even look like a woman nor even a male in so called "drag".  

We men can not rely on our governments, those that we have elected to represent us,  to protect women, because these governments increasingly  use "equality and human rights " for a very, very small minority to take away the "equality and human rights" of the majority of the population that is women who are 51% of it (approximately).

We can not rely, as stated above on sports governing bodies to protect our women from being hurt by these ones who are men in their shape and size and have an unfair advantage because of it when against women who are XX women.  I fear that soon a XX women will be seriously hurt or even killed by one of these types "competing against them.

We can not remain silent when others put our wives and female relatives, or any female in danger, because of a pervert claims to be "a woman" when quite clearly they are not.

We must stand with women and say a "law" does not determine what sex you are biology does. A law makes for a "safe hiding place" for the paedophiles  (pedophiles) who claim to be women as is being shown time and time again in every country in the world. 

We must stand with our women against those who are indoctrinating our children when their young minds and bodies lack understanding and yes confusion about their own sexuality, we had those periods as teenagers for example.  Right now women are leading in this and saying louder and louder enough is enough. 

We must stand with women like the author J.K. Rowling who has faced on line abuse by the so called transexuals who really aren't that at all and have no feminine features at all.

We can not stay silent when rapists who "identify as a woman " are allowed to use the same toilets that are meant for the exclusive use of women.  Nor can we remain silent if these ones demand to use changing places that are meant for women.

We men must support our XX women who are having their "rights" taken away by twisted men who are pretending to be women.  Yes I am using the terms twisted men and pretending here, because that is what they are.

We can not speak out about other nations which take away women's rights, because of "religion" when it is happening in our own countries and we mostly remain silent about it. 

This is not a political thing, nor about taking the "rights" of others away. IT IS ABOUT SAFETY OF OUR WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

I know that many will disagree with me, yet I do not want to have to think that the only place that my wife can safely use a public toilet is when she takes me to use the Disabled Toilet with me and we are the only ones able to use it.  I am sick of seeing men steal and cheat women out of medals in sports, because they "identify as women "this is completely wrong.  

I CAN NOT NOR WILL I REMAIN SILENT ANYMORE ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING AND I WILL SUPPORT REAL WOMEN FOR MY MOTHER, MY WIFE, MY SISTERS AND THE MANY WOMEN WHO ARE MY FRIENDS AND FOR THE WHOLE OF WOMANKIND BECAUSE IT IS THE CORRECT THING TO DO.  

IT IS TIME FOR ALL MEN TO SUPPORT XX WOMEN AND NOT BE SILENT ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM - IF WE REMAIN SILENT THEN WE AGREE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR ETERNAL SHAME  

A STAR - BIG SIS SUZI

A STAR - BIG SIS SUZI

MY STAR

HAS LEFT MY SKY

TO CONTINUE HER JOURNEY

ALTHOUGH I DIDN'T ALWAYS SEE

HER

I ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS THERE

SHE WAS MY GUIDE 

WHEN I WAS BUT A CHILDE

MY LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

WHEN NO OTHER SHONE

NOW IN A FLASH  SHE'S GONE

NOT FOR EVER 

FOR THAT COULD NEVER BE

JUST NO LONGER EARTH BOUND

IN THE CONSTELLATION GEMINI

IS WHERE SHE'S FOUND

FAREWELL SUZI

BIG SIS

FOREVER MY STAR

LOVE

LITTLE BRO

KEVY

©️Kev T Brown 2024 - for Suzi 

A DEATH

 On 4th of September 2024, Andrew Winston Murgatroyd , known as Andrew Winston Ostle, died as the result of, as we found out heart failure.  He had been missing for a few days and concerned neighbours called the police, who then tried to enter the home and were prevented from doing so until some of the piles of rubbish had been moved.  Andrew was found in the bath semi-naked as if he'd been trying to wash himself, no one will ever know why he was that way or what he had been doing in the bathroom when he breathed his last breath on earth.  He was, just 76 years old and would have been 77 years old in November, by which time all of his remains and belongings which have been removed from the house and his ashes ?  Who knows where they will be,  for on 23 September 2024 his corpse will be burnt at the crematorium at an unattended ceremony as none want to attend.  Then nothing will be left of him and his time on earth and all the will remain of him is the memories of those who knew him and were left to sort out the selling of the house and all the other bureaucracy that goes with the death.  Soon even that will be completed and like billions of others Andrew will never be known, or perhaps one day some one might look and see his name on some search engine for some reason or another. 

I knew Andrew in life,  that is I met him in person, perhaps a few dozen times in the last 29 years,  because he was the ex-husband of my wife.  Having broken with my ex-wife I had some empathy for what he would have gone through and over the years we tried to let him be part of our extended family for the sake of the boys.  I did not particularly like him and he tried many times to cause friction so we stopped inviting him to our home for a meal.  If it had not been for this relationship,  I would not have had anything to do with him, because I did not think he was very likeable something so many others have said about him.

Aly was relieved on hearing of his passing with very good reason as even after all these years the last time he was here visiting his son,  he tried his same old tricks with her and she became fearful of being left alone with him, particularly in any small spaces like the kitchen at Darren's garage.  The abuser had not changed in any way and without me being around thought he'd get away with it once more.  

The sad thing is that Andrew had a long history of being "odd" and nasty long before Aly met him and none in his family really liked him or loved him apart from his grand mother withwhom he lived for the first 3 years of his life.  His youngest sister, still has a love for him, but not a like.  

From what we have heard, far from being heart broken at Aly leaving, after the initial shock of her doing so, he had the happiest time of his life, able to do what he wanted, when he wanted and all of his money to himself.  This seemed to fit in with what he once said to me about Aly and I quote it,  "I no longer had a use for her and you do" which is a very strange thing to say.

So now Andrew has left and no matter how many chances he had to change to make a good life for himself and others, he never did and now has no more chances left.  

A death brings so many questions, that are impossible to answer for do we ever really know a person? There are so many whys and wherefores and what ifs about the life now gone.  There is also the greater sadness of knowing that ultimately the person who at one time had everything most people ever want in life rejected them all and died the way he did leaving others to clear up his mess one final time. 

The death certificate has been issued and the bill for the cremation will be the final acts of his life apart from those other legal details and once those have been completed it will be as if had never been here just like those other billions of souls whose names and faces and lives we will never know and that ultimately is the fate of us.  When we are born we are given the first of many numbers and when we die the numbers are all that is left of us and that is really sad, as it is the reality we all face.

Mum Please hold me again

Please can you hold me again

Can you comfort me as you did when I was young

Will you hold me and let my tears fall as I tell you

of my fear.

Will you cuddle me once again and tell me

you will always love me like you did back then

Will you let me be the child in your arms just for

a little while

because I am afraid and frightened of what lays ahead

I need some time not to be the adult, the husband and everything else.

Please can I hear your voice, telling me it will be alright

and have a cup of tea

Please can I know you are near

Oh please can I be the child again

safely in your arms and being rocked to sleep

because I am really frightened of what lays ahead

so Please can you hold me again

Kev T Brown

Sure Isle of Man - my experience of moving to them from Manxtelecom

 I am now into my second month of using Sure IOM after changing from Manxtelecom and so I thought I would do a blog about my experience.

SURE INTERNET PAGE

Sure has branches elsewhere so you need to put in Isle of Man to get to the correct site if you live here, once you do that, just bookmark it to take you back there.  The page is orange and the writing is white on that colour, other wise it is the usual black and white.  I found it easy to navigate around and the information is clear and easy to understand.  There are the usual sections, advertising products and services, again these are clear and easy to understand.  There is also a very clear FAQ section and the site also includes how to contact.  Once you have a MySure account,  log in is easy and this section was by far the best of its type that I have used as it is, those words again, very clear and understandable. I congratulate Sure for this.

SURE SHOP 

If you have never been into the Sure shop on Strand Street,  it is worth taking a look at.  From the point of view of a disabled person it is more welcoming and better set out than the MT shop.  It is well lit and the music level is okay.  The information desk or welcome desk is centrally located and each time we have been in some one has been on it to welcome you.  As you go in the desks are located on the left hand side and this is where you get customer service in the shop, this also leaves plenty of room for those who need to look around or wait to be served to do so.  As I am Autistic I like the fact that the noise levels are not beyond my coping range and there is, on times that I have been not too much visual things on like televisions.  I further like that information is clear and leaflets well displayed and within reach and they are easy to understand.  The reason why I am mentioning this here is because I feel that if you don't feel comfortable in a place you are unlikely to purchase from or use the services they provide.  I need to add here, that as it can get very busy it is advisable to try and make an appointment with Sure as this will save you from waiting.  We were lucky as it was early morning, I did however notice that others had done so and were advised to do so. 

MOVING FROM MANXTELECOM

After I had shown my latest bill from Manxtelecom, they showed me a "bundle" which would include the same internet speeds at home as well as mobile internet to a certain limit and the same mobile calls and text messaging that we had with Manxtelecom, but because they were shared (the mobile bits) it meant they were within my budget.  

I went to Manxtelecom to see if they could match what Sure had proposed and while the person we saw was okay with us,  they really didn't seem interested and said that the deal they had would be a lot more.  After finding out that we were free from our contract and that we had a lot of credit on the account,  I thanked them and left to return to Sure to ask if we could set things up to move across to them.

  CHANGING OVER TO SURE

It does take about an hour to move over to Sure as there is a bit of "paper work" and other things to do, so be prepared for that.

Rather than being "pushed" into something I was impressed that the person helping listened to what we thought we needed,  our price range and our need to have a standing order.  They then,  showed us the correct match for us which we were delighted with.  After that we went through things, which included keeping our telephone numbers (which were "ported" changed from MT to Sure Service) and being told we would get a new router for the home internet which would arrive in about 10 working days (it actually took less than that to do so.  

Once the mobile telephone numbers  had been ported over, (as you can chose to keep your telephone number or get a new one) which due to MT took some time, due to the response from MT to the text message for the port,  we had new sim cards put in and these were tried to make sure all was okay with them.

Naturally we had to provide proof of identity, bank details and the last bill from MT to show the state of our account.  So just be prepared for that. 

We were also told that due to the date of our changing over that our first bill would be higher to take into account of that (so be prepared for it) and that after that it would be as we agreed on signing the contract which was for 2 years, with an increase each year aligned the RPI which is similar to MT.

This was a lot easier than I expected and a lot less. stressful as well.

INTERNET CHANGE

We received an email from SURE to ask us to inform them when we had the MAC Code from Manxtelecom, so that when that was here we could connect to the internet using Sure not MT.  The router from Sure arrived within a week of it being ordered which was a surprise.  The MAC code from MT came a few days later and I sent an email to Sure informing them of that fact so that the change could be done.

The only problems that we had with this were due to Manxtelecom, cutting off the internet without warning and nothing to do with Sure.  With the help of a nice lass, we were able to get the internet back up running and what is more thanks to her help, rather than the connection being something complicated she guided us into having a better connection and password for that, something MT had never done.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & HELP 

Through out the whole of this process the Customer service given by the staff that we had dealt with has been great.  Perhaps a little bit more training on Hidden Disabilities as I need a bit extra time to understand things, but that is only a minor thing.  When I have asked a question it has been answered by the person I was dealing with at the time which impressed me and I have told others how great it is.  As an example; I could never remember my mobile number from MT so I went and asked about changing it and the young lad I had helping me said it wouldn't be a problem and we went through a few numbers and I now have one that I know and is easy to remember.  There are other examples I could give, this one however is enough.

BILLS 

I have set my bill to come through email as I always do with my bills.  I have just received my first bill and as expected it was larger to take into account when I moved across from Manxtelecom.  I used to find that the MT bill could be quite confusing, this bill from Sure was better set out with each part of the usage and costing highlighted.  The type face used, for me was also very good and I think it would be for anyone who has sight differences.  I particularly liked that the help section was included in the main set out and you don't have to hunt for it.  

SINCE MOVING TO SURE

Internet at home:  The internet at home has been very good, I am getting speeds better than I ever got with MT and I have tried it at various times of the day.

Mobile:  No problems with making or receiving telephone calls while we have been out and no drop out either.

Mobile Data:  I am new to using this, with help from the team at Sure I have been able to use it again without any  problems. 

CONCLUSIONS

I really hate change and only do so if completely necessary at to do so  there is also the fact that I am extremely loyal to businesses,  so it was hard for me to even think about making a move away from Manxtelecom.  To be fair to them some of the staff, particularly in billing have been very good and that was one of the reasons why we remained with them.  With some exceptions, the shop staff have not always been the same and lately it has been 100% of them who are 'just doing their job". 

So now we come to the difference that Sure is.  As the store is the first point of communication, the staff need to be good as that is the first impression you have of the business and the people in it.  Our experience with them has been very good and that has meant that when I've been unsure of things I didn't feel uneasy about going in to ask for help.  The store staff have always been very kind and patient not only with me, but I noticed it was the same with every customer and I also noted that customers were dealt with quickly, without being rushed. Everyone we have spoken to have had the same impression.

On the telephone, which has been my other point of contact has been excellent,  unlike my recent experiences with Manxtelecom, there is a "joined up" approach and the people I have spoken with have been very kind and understanding of my disability and have kept "tech- terms" to a minimum for me.  The problems (not caused by Sure) that I had with the internet connection was dealt with so well I was actually smiling as I told others about how good it had been.  

To balance I would say that perhaps a little bit of training on dealing with disabled people, particularly with Hidden Disabilities, would make things a bit better as some staff didn't seem to take that into account.  Then you can not expect perfection can you?

Before we moved to Sure we had asked others what they thought and each one of them, said it was worth doing and they had had a good experience with them.  There was little negativity about them, which is why we went into see them and ultimately why we have moved across.  

So would I based on my experience honestly say to another to move to Sure?  My answer is yes,  I would do so.