In March 1807, the British Parliament passed an Act making the trading & transportation of slaves illegal. It was many years before slavery, as it was known then, was abolished, & slavery still continues today in different ways, but it was a big step forward towards the empancipation of a people.

Malorie Blackman has drawn together some of the finest of today's writers & poets to contribute to this important anthology. Their short stories & poems sit alongside first-hand accounts of slavery from freed slaves, making a fascinating & absorbing collection that remembers & commemorates one of the most brutal & long-lasting inflictions of misery that human beings have inflicted upon other human beings.

...

Jade is usually a confident young lesbian, very aware of what she wants, & what she doesn't, Unfortunately her taste for being bullied can very easily get out of h&, & when she decides to compete with her filthy uncle Rupert in collecting the uniforms of sex partners, they quickly do. What starts out as a playful if provocative hobby leads to her finding herself obliged to accomodate men as well as women, & ending up in a seriously sticky mess
- literally.
...

Jade is usually a confident young lesbian, very aware of what she wants, & what she doesn't, Unfortunately her taste for being bullied can very easily get out of h&, & when she decides to compete with her filthy uncle Rupert in collecting the uniforms of sex partners, they quickly do. What starts out as a playful if provocative hobby leads to her finding herself obliged to accomodate men as well as women, & ending up in a seriously sticky mess
- literally.
...

This is a story straight from the heart of a lifelong uniform fetishist & conveys the sensual delight to be had from wearing uniforms & enjoying others in uniform. Whether it is the smartness & authority of military dress, the sassy temptation of a naughty schoolgirl, or the possibilities offered by an airhostess, policewoman or even a traffic warden, it is all described here in sumptuous & arousing detail, along with unabashed accounts of kinky sexual encounters. ...

Neither Commissario Brunetti nor his wife Paolo have ever had much sympathy for the Italian armed forces, so when a young cadet is found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy, Brunetti's emotions are complex: pity & sorrow for the death of a boy, close in age to his own son, & contempt & irritation for the arrogance & high-handedness of the boy's teachers & fellow-students. The young man is the son of a doctor & former politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. Dr Moro is clearly & understandably devastated by his son's death; but neither appears at all keen to talk to the police nor involve Brunetti in any investigation of the circumstances in which he died. As Brunetti
- & the indispensable Signorina Elettra
- investigate further they are faced by a wall of silence, as the military protects its own & civilians are unwilling to talk. Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is Brunetti facing a conspiracy of silence?

...

July 30, 1966. Bobby Moore is lifting the Jules Rimet trophy, Denis Law is playing golf, & a young boy in Edinburgh is being taught the most important lesson of his life: no matter who England are playing, you support the other lot. If the opposition have a dodgy human rights record, or are cruel to wasps, or can't even be located on a large-format map
- too bad. You support the other lot.

Forty years on, & Aidan Smith has done a pretty good job of supporting the other lot. But these days he should be old enough, & ugly enough, to be above petty, playground-formed sporting squabbles. Besides, the World Cup is coming, Scotland haven't made it, & he's about to marry an Englishwoman. Maybe it's a sign. But can a Scotsman ever cheer for ' Ingerland'?

In Union Jock, Aidan Smith investigates the age-old Engl&-Scotland emnity, both on & off the football field. The Scots may have suffered at the hands of the Auld Enemy for centuries
- Braveheart, Culloden, Jimmy Hill calling David Narey's goal a 'toe-poke' (against Brazil in the 1982 World Cup, top right-hand corner)
- but now they're a nation on the rise, with a spanking new parliament to prove it. But what do the fans, players, politicians, & Sassenach invaders really think about their English neighbours? Would supporting England be a denial of their Scottishness?

Join Aidan Smith on his quest to put an end to centuries of not-so-friendly rivalry. That's if the Scots don't get him first. Or the English.








...