Great crime films

Today I thought I would write a short list of crime movies that I love.

• The Godfather Trilogy I know it's a bit of a cheat to have three grouped together but they are really one long film. I had seen the original a long time ago but had avoided the sequel in the naive belief that it couldn't be as good as the first film. How wrong was I? Pacino's finest hour, the second part of the trilogy is my personal favourite. Brando's iconic performance in the first, the classic dialogue that crackles all through the three movies and the set piece violence that defines the story of gangland America make the trilogy one of the finest achievements in the history of cinema. Although many will say that the third is weaker than the first two parts, taken on its own merits, it's still a fine film.
• The Big Sleep Regular readers won't be surprised to see this appear on my list. It's got Bogart and Bacall, it's got a complicated story, Chandler's dialogue and evokes the era so beautifully. The violence and sexual blackmail must have seemed quite shocking when the film was released but will seem tame to modern audiences. I love it.
• Double Indemnity Billy Wilder's classic tale of lust, adultery and pre-meditated murder is one of the best films nominated by the academy not to win an Oscar. The screenplay was adapted by Wilder and Raymond Chandler from a short story by James M. Cain. The 'femme fatale' played by Barbara Stanwyck persuades her lover, Fred MacMurray, to kill her husband to make a claim on an insurance policy. The plan fails thanks to the investigator, Edward G Robinson but the plot was thought to be shocking and one critic even called it the recipe for the perfect murder. One of the very best in the 'Film Noir' genre.
• The Italian Job One of the best British films of the sixties, this tale of a gang of bank robbers is filled with quotable dialogue. It features one of the classic car chases of all time as the very British minis are pursued through the streets of Turin. The film is one of Michael Caine's best in a career packed with great performances. Least said about the dreadful Americanised version from 2003, the better.
• The Ladykillers Another British bank robber caper, The Ladykillers is a different style of crime film. The robbers, including Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom, hole up in a boarding house. Mrs Wilberforce, the owner, believes them to be a group of musicians. The gang believe that she has seen too much and decide to kill her. The incompetent criminals only succeed in killing each other leaving their landlady with the proceeds of their crime. A charming movie with a dark edge, it's the kind of film we used to do so brilliantly in Britain. It's another British classic that got a Hollywood reworking in 2004. The Coen brothers directed it, with Tom Hanks in the Guinness role and it is a good movie, even if not quite up to the standard of the original.

I'm sure I have missed some that deserve a place on the list but I'm hoping you'll help me out.

Remembering 9/11

September 11th is my birthday. Obviously it's always been a date I remember, little did I think it would become a date I would remember for a very different reason.
On my birthday ten years ago I attended hospital to be told there was nothing they could do for a post-operative problem. I was feeling less than happy but when I returned to the car, switched on the radio and discovered that the first plane had hit, all my problems were put into perspective.
That evil act changed our world and the effects are still being felt. The 2,977 innocent people who lost their lives in those vile attacks have been joined by hundreds of thousands of others across the world.
I hope that somewhere, somehow we can all find leaders of compassion and tolerance, no matter colour or creed. I wish that understanding and dialogue would replace the bomb and the gun but I won't be holding my breath. Those who preach hate based on their religion, no matter which creed they claim to represent, should maybe read their holy books more closely and find the true message that lies at the heart of every major religion, love.
My thoughts are with those who lost a loved one that day.

Peace be with us all.

Are we British having a laugh?

As we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the first showing of 'Only Fools and Horses', I wondered what makes you laugh today. Is there a British show launched in the past couple of years that we will look back on with the same degree of fondness as Del Boy and the gang?
Two shows that I have discovered recently are 'Not Going Out' and 'Miranda'. Lee Mack who stars in and writes 'Not Going Out' has spoken about his desire to write an American-style comedy where the jokes come quick fire and not at the end of some elaborate set up. I certainly feel that the American shows have an edgier feel than most of the British output and I can see why Lee would want to follow their lead.
Miranda Hart has gone in another direction, finding her influence in the classic British comedy of yesteryear. In 'Miranda' she wears her comedic heart on her sleeve. She is an admirer of Morecambe & Wise, the Two Ronnies and judging by the end titles, Perry & Croft who penned Dad's Army. She's populated the series with eccentric and engaging characters, laugh out loud gags and ridiculous situations.
So folks what tickles your funny bone? I'd love to know if there's a great new comedy that I've missed.

A question of morality

I won't often write about subjects that have a political aspect to them but today I have to make an exception.
The British government is trying to get a bill passed in parliament that will begin the dismantling of the NHS in this country. The NHS has served the people of the United Kingdom since 1949 and offers universal healthcare to people no matter the size of their bank balance. It's not perfect but nothing is. What is proposed will see private companies running our hospitals and more. Private companies care about one thing, profit. Profit has no place in healthcare.
As many of my readers know I lost my son to meningitis four years ago. In the three days that Calum was in hospital he was attended constantly by a specialist nurse, paediatricians, neurologists and a host of other medical staff. He was hooked up to expensive medical machines and was administered expensive drugs. All of the incredible care he received was not enough to save him. That same level of care had to be given for a full day after we knew that there was nothing more to be done for him as we had agreed to allow his organs to be used for transplant.
I would hate to think what would have happened if we lived with a private healthcare system. Would my family have had a bill dropping through our door immediately after we had buried our son? Would that bill have meant we had to sell our house if we did not have enough insurance to cover it? Would we have had to say no to the transplant of Calum's organs to save money, which would have meant five other people dying as a result? It doesn't bear thinking about.
Is it morally right for people to profit from other people's illness and tragedy? I have to say no and hope that human decency wins out over ideological dogma. The death of a loved one brings enough pain and heartache without private companies adding to it.

Musical accompaniment

I love listening to music almost as much as I love reading. A family member commented on how there is always music playing when they visit our house.

Music accompanies me in every activity I do, well there's one exception but we won't go into that. It is no surprise that my musical taste finds its way into my writing. There is a great tradition of Scottish writers bringing popular music into their work to add texture and atmosphere. Ian Rankin has a page on his website dedicated to the music that appears in his books, Val McDermid thanked the artists she was listening to while writing Beneath The Bleeding and Iain Banks drips in musical references throughout his fiction.

Unlike some of my peers, I don't believe that there has been no good music since 1989. I love to find something different, a new artist who can produce exciting music, good melodies with genuine emotions behind them. Believe me when I say that there is a lot of great music out there and you don't have to settle for the mass produced tripe that Cowell and his cohorts foist upon us.

I thought I would share some of the albums that I have enjoyed so far this year.

I'll start with The Vaccines. The Londoners debut, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines, is full of vitality from the Ramones influenced first track 'Wreckin Bar (Ra Ra Ra). I dare you to listen and not smile.

Next up is Canadian band Rural Alberta Advantage. I first heard them a couple of years ago and their second album, Departing is full of gorgeous melodies. I personally love the singer's voice but it might not be to everyone's taste.

Elbow have followed up 2008's Seldom Seen Kid with the sublime build a rocket boys. I didn't think they would be able to top SSK but the new album is as good if not better.

Noah and The Whale's debut album, Last Night On Earth is filled with great pop tunes delivered in a laconic vocal style that reminds me of They Might Be Giants.

Scottish band Kassidy have produced an album with strong seventies influence. Hope St. is populated with tunes to lift your spirits.

Finally, Jon Fratelli's  solo debut is Psycho Jukebox. Jon, with the rest of The Fratellis, was a hero of my son and was an enormously generous in our fund-raising efforts in the wake of Calum's death. Apart from being a superb human being, he is an accomplished tunesmith with an ability to write new songs that sound like old friends.

I'll write some more about my musical choices in future blogs. If you've found something new that's worth a listen, I'd love to know.

My Top Ten - Fictional Detectives

I thought I would share with you my personal choice of favourite fictional detectives. It turned out to be more difficult than I first thought. I'm sure you'll have different ideas and I'd like to see who I've missed.

• 10. - V.I. Warshawski Sara Paretsky's feisty Chicago private-eye was the first female gumshoe I discovered. She's a tough cookie and I love the way she tackles the Chicago underworld with gusto.
• 9. - Charlie Resnick The Nottingham police inspector, created by John Harvey, has a love of strange sandwiches, Notts County football team and jazz. Some of the books were filmed by the BBC with Tom Wilkinson of Full Monty fame as Resnick. Brilliant.
• 8. - Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's shoulders are the ones that almost every other crime writer stands upon. I still find him an amazing and beguiling creation despite his 130 years.
• 7. - Kurt Wallander The Swedish detective is the protagonist of a series of books by Henning Mankell. He is the curmudgeonly battering ram that helped to open the floodgates for a host of high quality Scandinavian crime fiction and I am very grateful to him.
• 6. - Endeavour Morse Colin Dexter's brilliant but lonely police inspector is one of the most loved of British detectives. The perfect casting of John Thaw in the television series was one of the few times when the character I had in my head when I read the books appeared on the screen.
• 5. - Sam Spade I wanted to be Humphrey Bogart from the moment I watched him in the Maltese Falcon as the suave, womanising Spade. Most writers of hard-boiled fiction would agree that they owe a debt to Dashiell Hammett.
• 4. - Harry Hole Norwegian detective Hole has moved up my personal list of favourites very quickly. The multi-talented Jo Nesbø has written a cracking character who battles his own demons as much as he battles the villains he tracks.
• 3. - Philip Marlowe The private detective with the best dialogue ever penned appears in some of the finest crime novels ever written. I can't help but admire the acerbic wit, the sense of time and place that Raymond Chandler brought to his novels. The detective that turned me into a crime fiction addict.
• 2. - John Rebus It's not only because Ian Rankin is a fellow Scot that his police detective appears so far up my list. Ian's work has the same quality that I so love in Chandler, an engaging character who moves effortlessly from the upper reaches of society to its underbelly and shows equal disdain for both.
• 1. - Lew Archer This is where I lose many of you as you wonder who is Lew Archer. Some of you may have heard of Ross Macdonald but I wonder how many have read his novels. His books, set in California, are often tragic tales of dysfunctional families told from the perspective of the private detective, Archer. The dialogue sparkles, the plots are brilliant and more than any other detective, Archer is the one I love. I'm on a bit of crusade to help people discover him for themselves.

Honourable mentions must go to Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne, who is a recent discovery and may well find a place in this list by this time next year. Also Arnaldur Indridason's Detective Erlendur and Hakan Nessers Inspector Van Veeteren.

Just outside the top ten is my own Craig Campbell. Well, I couldn't ignore him after all I've put him through over the past year. Lew Archer had a huge influence on Craig's creation although I wouldn't put myself on the same planet as Ross Macdonald, my Glaswegian private-eye is my tip of the hat to the books I love so much.

It would be great if you could give me some more suggestions and if I get enough I will compile a readers' top ten.

Why do I write?

Calum

It's a question I was asked a couple of times when I was out on my Glasgow library tour, why do you write? There is a simple answer, I have stories I want to tell that I hope people will enjoy but for me it goes beyond that. I write for my son or to be precise I write in memory of my son.

I had started around fifteen writing projects before 2007. Most of them stalled after a couple of chapters, my motivation dissipated as I discovered a new book to read or work was too busy or any other excuse that I could find. The stories were in me but there was nothing pushing me to finish them, no drive to complete what I could always return to at some point in the future.

In 2007, after 23 years, I left my job in the railway. The corporate grindstone had milled away everything but bitterness and resentment. I had to leave for the sake of my health and my family. Just two months after I had left, my new life was shattered beyond comprehension. My son Calum died from bacterial meningitis. At ten o’clock one Tuesday night he was a healthy, happy twelve year-old on the cusp of beginning his journey to become a man. By ten o’clock the following morning he was virtually gone, although it would be two days before his death was official.

Our family was ripped apart, my daughter robbed of her precious brother, my wife and I having to face the worst grief there is. For a year that grief engulfed us and life went on hold but no matter how difficult it was, we had to start living again. Not only for our own sake but in memory of a young lad who had lived life to the full. He crammed more into his twelve years and ten months than many people do in eighty years.

My wife poured her energy into helping others by setting up her own business to give people the tools to help contend with life's difficulties. Her positive nature has depths that amaze me every day and she is an inspiration to everyone who meets her.

Calum’s loss gave me a reason to complete those stories I had started. The realisation that life is far too short and precious to delay your dreams focused my attention and ensured that I had to complete at least one book in memory of Calum. I have gone beyond that and finished a second and I am now embarking on a third. Writing has helped me to deal with the toughest thing I will ever face, it has given me a reason to keep living, to keep Calum’s name alive by dedicating every word to him. He is my inspiration. My regret is that I left it until after he was gone before doing something that would have made him truly proud.

If you are asking yourself why you should write, I would say that don't wait until you it's too late and you have regrets, let people read the stories you have to tell. Life's too short to wait until tomorrow. 

To learn more about how my wife has focused her energy, you can visit her web site.

If you would like to know more about this devastating disease, the Meningitis Trust web site has loads of valuable information including how to recognise the symptoms. You can also make a donation to the trust in Calum's name.