Christophe​r Stone: Interviewed by Mark Antony Raines

What inspires you to write?

What inspires me to write? Everything inspires me to write. I’m interested in most things and have a compulsion to communicate that interest. That’s the essence of writing: being interested and then being able to communicate that interest in an accessible and open-hearted way. 

Currently I’m working with this guy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bolton, Steve Bolton, on his autobiography. The reason I’m interested in this is that it’s like my own story to some degree. It’s the story of post-war Britain. Steve was a rock and roll star. He’s been there, done that, got the tee-shirt, taken the drugs, lost the tee-shirt, and ended up in a field in Reculver playing guitar by an open fire. How interesting is that?

What are your plans for the future?

My plan for the future is simply to keep writing. I’m approaching my retirement now and don’t have any pension sorted out. What better an occupation for a retired person than writing? It doesn’t involve any physical work, just mental work. All you have to do is to sit on your arse and be interested in things and then interesting in the way you express them.As for what it’s like to be a writer, well it’s not a lot different from being a plumber I imagine. Both of them are skills. Both of them are trades. You can earn money from either and there is a certain amount of demand for both. The only difference is, really, that the writer can express his life through his work, while the plumber has to wait till he gets down the pub. http://christopherjamesstone.wordpress.com/

"Stone writes with intelligence, wit and sensitivity." Times Literary Supplement

Publications *The Guardian Weekend*The Observer*The Big Issue*The Independent*The Independent on Sunday*The New Statesman*The London Review of Books*Mixmag*The Sunday Herald*The Times Literary Supplement*Prediction*Kindred Spirit*The Whitstable Times*Saga Magazine*Kent Life*The Whitstable Gazette*

Books *The Trials of Arthur (with Arthur Pendragon: Big Hand Books 2010)*Housing Benefit Hill (AK Press 2001)*Last of the Hippies (Faber & Faber 1999)*Fierce Dancing (Faber & Faber 1996)*

"Wry, acute, and sometimes hellishly entertaining essays in squalor and rebellion." Herald

"The best guide to the Underground since Charon ferried dead souls across the Styx." Independent on Sunday

"Passionately serious, irresistibly compelling, and hilariously good-humoured." Professor Ronald Hutton, Bristol University

"Searching, funny, intelligent and illuminating." Deborah Orr, The Independent

Webcam video from February 22, 2014 3:02 PM

Webcam video from February 22, 2014 2:47 PM

EARTHQUAKE HITS SOUTH WEST

FURTHER INFOA earthquake that measured 4.1 magnitude hit parts of the SOUTH WEST on THURSDAY 20/2/2014.It is believed to have started in the BRISTOL CHANNEL at 1.21pm and was felt in DARTMOOR,SOUTH MOLTON,BARNSTAPLE,GLOUCESTER,SWANSEA,LLANELLI.

Master monkey's brain controls sedated 'avatar'

The brain of one monkey has been used to control the movements of another, "avatar", monkey, US scientists report.

Brain scans read the master monkey's mind and were used to electrically stimulate the avatar's spinal cord, resulting in controlled movement.
The team hope the method can be refined to allow paralysed people to regain control of their own body.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, have been described as "a key step forward".
Damage to the spinal cord can stop the flow of information from the brain to the body, leaving people unable to walk or feed themselves.
The researchers are aiming to bridge the damage with machinery.
Match electrical activity The scientists at Harvard Medical School said they could not justify paralysing a monkey. Instead, two were used - a master monkey and a sedated avatar.
The master had a brain chip implanted that could monitor the activity of up to 100 neurons.
During training, the physical actions of the monkey were matched up with the patterns of electrical activity in the neurons.
The avatar had 36 electrodes implanted in the spinal cord and tests were performed to see how stimulating different combinations of electrodes affected movement.READ MORE

Tourism best hope for critically endangered lemurs

Madagascar's lemurs - the world's most threatened primate - could be saved from extinction by eco-tourism, conservationists say.

The big-eyed fluffy creatures are unique to the island but their numbers have declined dramatically in recent years.
Now researchers have unveiled a survival plan that combines tourism with increased conservation efforts.
Writing in Science, the team says the project will cost £4.6m ($7.6m),
There are over 100 species of lemur known to science, the majority of which are at dangerously low levels, largely due to habitat loss from illegal logging.
Madagascar is the only known home of these species as its unique location, split off from the African mainland, has allowed the primates to evolve in near isolation. READ MORE

HARPY EAGLE-FOOTAGE