I've been off work ill for the last couple of days and have spent my time under a duvet on the sofa reading books and watching DVD's. I finished Joe Simpson's The Beckoning Silence on Wednesday morning and it left me feeling a bit melancholy; mountaineering books do as I live in flatland and miss the mountains of Scotland. I wasn't sure what I wanted to read next and being ill wasn't helping the decision. In the end I plumped for this Ben Elton novel and settled down to start reading it.
I've read most of Ben Elton's books and I must say I've really enjoyed them; I think he's a superb writer, funny and thought provoking. Even though I think he's sold his soul to do musicals his books have been consistently good. This one deals with the issue of drugs and on MP's efforts to legalise all of them.
Some of the issues that he brings up in the book should by rights be getting debated, but as usual these things are just brushed under the carpet. This country needs to wake up to the fact that eh war on drugs was lost a long time ago and half hearted measures to combat drugs wont work. However in reality legalising all drugs would probably not be the best way forward, the leaders of this country should be doing more than they are.
Posted by fatboab at May 14, 2004 01:48 PM
