Journal Entry 1 by safrolistics from Newbiggin-By-The-Sea, Northumberland United Kingdom on Thursday, July 27, 2006

Synopsis
Mark Thomas is one of the UK's most effective and best-known political activists, as well as being a highly successful stand-up comedian. His show, "The Mark Thomas Product", ran for six highly acclaimed series on Channel Four. Amazingly, this is his first book. "As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela" is a deeply funny, deeply disturbing account of Mark's rampage through the arms trade. Under a fairly flimsy disguise and with the use of some worryingly poor accents, Mark set off on a journey of discovery in the company of arms dealers, torture victims, politicians, cops, crusties and geeks. The result is a shockingly entertaining read. Managed to set himself up as an arms exporter. His account of his encounters, adventures and discoveries as he attempted to change the law provide a shockingly entertaining read. Embedded within the sharpness of his humour is the truth of an industry fraught with loopholes, complacency and greed; that allows corrupt regimes to kill, maim and displace, but whose deals are often subsidised by the British taxpayer. Hard-hitting, laugh-out-loud funny and extremely unsettling, "As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela" is never anything less than compulsive.

I will be offering this out as a bookring, mainly because I bought two copies! 

Journal Entry 2 by safrolistics from Newbiggin-By-The-Sea, Northumberland United Kingdom on Thursday, July 27, 2006

Bookring list so far.

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Journal Entry 3 by carocharlton from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Sunday, August 13, 2006

Received from Safron at Coventry meetup. Really pleased to be first in the bookring. 

Journal Entry 4 by carocharlton from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Friday, September 15, 2006

Returned to safrolistics last Saturday for her to pass it on to the next person in the ring. 

Journal Entry 5 by DaveyMF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Friday, September 22, 2006

It was quite good... would give it higher, but much of the content was in his live show last year, so not new to me. Definite recommendation for anyone who hasn't got the chance to see him live. 

Journal Entry 6 by dolph1n from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Saturday, October 07, 2006

Sorry, I forgot to journal it when it arrived. I am reading it now. Many thanks for sending the comics with it. I love them and will pass them on to my son when I have finished with them. 

Journal Entry 7 by dolph1n from Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on Sunday, October 08, 2006

Very entertaining book but also deeply disturbing.
I will be passing it on to ScaryFaerie. 

Journal Entry 8 by ScaryFaerie from Wolverhampton, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, October 12, 2006

Arrived safely this morning, thanks...and next on my list to be read once I've finished the last teeny bit of what I'm reading now.

--------------------------
OK, finished the book and found it both amusing and alarming. I'm still chuckling about the nuns though. I've seen MT live several times, often in one of the debate tents at Glastonbury and he's as funny and intense in print as he is in the flesh. Definitely worth a read! 

Journal Entry 9 by RonOren from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Just arrived and I'm really looking forward to it. Unforunately, I'm already reading two books at the moment (one of which is a ring too) and I don't think I can take more without actually going potty...
So I'll curb my impatience for a week or so; will report more about this one later. 

Journal Entry 10 by RonOren from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, December 10, 2006

It wasn't quite what I expected! Maybe it was a little naive, but I expected it to be a bit more funny and less disturbing. Of course, arms trade is hardly anything funny, so I should really be impressed Mark Thomas got this many laughs out of it. He certainly is a good writer with a quite wicked sense of humour (the only kind that's really good, in all fairness).

Having said all that, the disturbing parts is actually quite scary, isn't it? I'm not opposed to arms trade as such; after all, legimate armies and police forces do need their arms (OK, in a perfect world, they wouldn't and we wouldn't need them at all really. But the last time I saw the world as a perfect place, the alarm clock intruded, so there you go).
But it is horrifying to see how easy it is to avoid the rules. Or, for that matter, if we're talking about a big company, to change them to suit yourself. I wouldn't go as far as to say this shocked my confidence in governments (I refuse to lose whatever trust I have), but it did jolt me to be a little more critical, where possible.
Luckily, there were a few good things in the book, too. Of course, there's the quite obvious moves towards better control of the arms trade. But more importantly, the stories of the schoolkids who did the sting-operations gave me a little hope: at least there's people out there who care and are willing to work to get changes done. Well done to those kids! (And to Mark Thomas of course)

I can't quite say I enjoyed the book (although I certainly did enjoy parts of it), but it was good to have read it. Thanks for sharing it, safrolistics! I've got Xanthe-pup's address, so I'll get it moving again soon. 

Journal Entry 11 by Xanthe-pup from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Have had this book since before Christmas - sorry for the delay in journalling. Will start reading it today. 

Journal Entry 12 by Xanthe-pup from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Well. After reading this book, half of me wants to quit my job, grow my hair into dreadlocks, aquire a wardrobe full of various tie-dyed garments and start chaining myself to things as a protest at the monstrous way the arms trade is cossetted and accomodated in this country. The other half of me wants to grab a teddy, get snuggled under the duvet and never come out, in case I have to start thinking about the huge problems caused by the monstrous way the arms trade is cossetted and accomodated in this country.

Ok, we all know politicians are pretty much all corrupt (expect the late, great Mo Mowlam who I really liked), and we all know they would sell their grandmothers without much provocation at all. But I am constantly surprised by the depths they will sink to, and for little or no benefit to the country.

This is a real eye-opener. As an armchair supporter and avid letter writer for Amnesty, I have a reasonable idea of the torture that is perpetrated in other nasty regimes - but it's that much more difficult to take when our government is supplying the instruments of torture.

If nothing else this is an excellent book to raise our awareness, as well as to remind us that we have every right to demand politicians make themselves accountable to the electorate.

Down of my soap box now. It's also pretty damn funny.


Have PM'd MrsDanvers for an address to get this moving again. 

Journal Entry 13 by Xanthe-pup from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, February 05, 2007

Sending to MrsDanvers today. 

Journal Entry 14 by MrsDanvers from Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Arrived today - that was swift!
I've one ring in front of this so it shouldn't hang around here too long. 

Journal Entry 15 by MrsDanvers from Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Monday, April 02, 2007

Firs of all huge apologies for hanging on to this for so long. I've been working away from home rather a lot recently and after-work dining and socialising means little gets read when I'm away.

This is a very scary book as it demonstrates how easy it is to get weapons and instruments of torture despite apparent restrictions on sales and/or distribution.
Written in Mark Thomas' usual humourous style there are some serious points about the proliferation of arms sales; the ease of obtaining virtually anything "nasty" and the refusal to see anything immoral in their trade by dealers. "It's a free market and we've got something to sell" seems to be their mantra.

For laugh-out-loud black humour you can't beat Mark Thomas "live" and he's currently on BBC Radio4.
PM'd PurpleElephant for an address, so this shoudl be on it's travels again soon. 

Journal Entry 16 by PurpleElephant from Glastonbury, Somerset United Kingdom on Saturday, April 14, 2007

Thanks Mrs Danvers, the book arrived this morning and I'm looking forward to reading it! 

Journal Entry 17 by Shimmy-crazy from Finchley, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 04, 2007

arrived this morning, at the top of my tbr pile 

Journal Entry 18 by Shimmy-crazy from Finchley, Greater London United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Really quite disturbing but also very funny in places.

I have j4neyo''s address so will post it on ASAP 

Journal Entry 19 by j4neyo from Whitchurch, Shropshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Arrived safely in the post. Many thanks to Shimmy-crazy! 

Journal Entry 20 by j4neyo from Whitchurch, Shropshire United Kingdom on Monday, September 10, 2007

An excellent, if disturbing, read. Despite the subject, it still made me laugh out loud. 

Journal Entry 21 by j4neyo at BOOKRING in Controlled release, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Released 4 yrs ago (9/26/2007 UTC) at BOOKRING in Controlled release, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to microsquid 

Journal Entry 22 by microsquid from Cobh, Co. Cork Ireland on Friday, October 05, 2007

Arrived in the post yesterday - can't wait to read it. 

Journal Entry 23 by microsquid from Cobh, Co. Cork Ireland on Monday, November 26, 2007

I'm still working my way through this... I thought I'd fly through it but I haven't - it's very good though and I want to finish - please? 

Journal Entry 24 by microsquid from Cobh, Co. Cork Ireland on Monday, December 03, 2007

Finished! Very enjoyable although saddening and maddening by turns. In fact I'm not sure the Irish government has done anything about brokering (will post back with updates if I find out). Will be recommending it to all my pinko-lefty pals ;) ... and come to think of it, a few of the others as well.
On its way to Klair asap...