United Kingdom Books

YORKSHIRE POST. MAY 2ND, 2005.
The railway marvel that beat the world
For those who marvel at the British star of the National Railway Museum, a new book contains some startling disclosures. The Nazis and an Italian car designer played their part in Mallard's world speed record.

John Woodcock reports.

In the age of steam, the footplate rather than a football, was the route to celebrity. Unbelievable though it seems now, engine drivers on the East Coast Main Line were almost as famous as today's soccer stars.
The London & North Eastern Railway saw valuable mileage in promoting those who propelled their expresses. A man entrusted with Flying Scotsman and the other classic names had his face featured on all kinds of marketing material. Biscuit tins, playing cards, jigsaws and posters. Few jobs were as prestigious in any sphere.
Among the sooty, oil-stained heroes was Joe Duddington, based at the Doncaster depot, and making a flambuoyant fashion statement 70 and more years before David Beckham.
He almost always wore his cloth cap back to front, in traditional racing style, a particularly appropriate gesture given the place in history he was to claim on the afternoon of July 3, 1938.
He was 61 at the time. How many individuals approaching their old-age pension today would be given the chance to a break a world speed record?
Duddington and his colleague, fireman Tommy Bray, had been informed they were needed for a secret mission. Its outcome would reverberate around the world, not least in Nazi Germany, and owe much to the influence of a brilliant Italian who out of economic necessity had switched from building racing cars, to designing and manufacturing trains.
Adolf Hitler's propaganda machine, and the genius of Ettore Bugatti, are two of the lesser-known factors behind Mallard's immortal fiery dash between Grantham and Peterborough on that Sunday afternoon.
Their impact on events over those few miles, and on a Derbyshire vicar's son, Nigel Gresley, who designed the extraordinary locomotive, are detailed in a new book about the record-breaker.
It was an era of political and social crisis that produced fertile ground for uplifting diversions. There was an almost fanatical obsession with breaking air and land speed records, not least in Germany where the feats of the Reichsbahn's steam engines and diesels were trumpeted by Joseph Goebbels as symbolic of Nazi power.
At one point Gresley, the innovative chief mechanical engineer of the LNER, but receptive to the ideas of others, thought an adapted version of the Germans' 100mph Flying Hamburger could have a role on the East Coast route. He was also facing fearsome domestic competition from the LMS, the company with a rival route to Scotland.
In the end Gresley found a conqueror of both on his own drawing boards at Doncaster works. It was an improved version of Silver Link, an A4 Pacific whose curved, wedge-shaped front, "more dart than tube", owed much to his association with Bugatti and his streamlined motor designs.
What names should he give his new fleet? Apart from golf, Gresley had a love of wild birds, and in his office at King's Cross, a clerk saw him jotting down names on the back of an envelope.
Suggestions included Guillemot, Herring Gull, Wild Swan, Gannet and Seagull, all "strong on the wing" in keeping with the imageof the railway's fliers.
Come the day, No. 4468 Mallard was chosen for what had officially been scheduled as a brake-testing run, but which, to the few in the know, was also to be an attempt on the British steam speed record, held by the LMS.
Even without fare-paying passengers the train looked majestic; locomotive in garter-blue, its enormous driving wheels a rich Coronation red, six carriages from the Coronation Pullman, and a teak-pannelled dynamometer car, packed with recording equipment. Destiny beckoned, and with typically-British elements. Those on board had a packed lunch and cup of tea, a stink bomb was added to lubricants to provide an early warning if the engine's middle
big end overheated, and the record bid began with a speed restriction of 18mph at Grantham caused by Sunday track maintenance.
Driver Duddington described what happened next. "I accelerated up the bank to Stoke summit and passed Stoke box at 85. Once over the top, I gave Mallard her head and she just jumped to it like a live thing."
In Stoke Tunnel one of those taking measurements recalled how they "were treated to a thrilling display as the whole
car was lit up by a torrent of red-hot cinders streaming back from the locomotive's twin chimneys".
Up front, Duddington and his fireman were pushing ever closer to the previous national best of 114mph. "After three miles the speedometer in my cab showed
107 miles an hour, then 108, 109,110... before I knew it, the needle was at 116 and we'd got the record'.
There was a momentum to press on and challenge the world mark of 124.5mph, set by a German steam locomotive. Could Mallard beat it? She "took wing" and Duddington told later how he urged her on. "Go on girl, I thought, we can do better than this. I nursed her and shot through Little Bytham at 123..."
As the train shook violently, crockery crashed to the floor, and "given the chance the guard would have happily got off" according to official archives, monitoring machines revealed that the locomotive reached 126.1mph for a few moments before a distinctive odour indicated that the stink bomb had done its job.
Mallard limped into Peterborough, all but exhausted, but with a new name, "Blue Streak", courtesy of an ecstatic media, and a record that would never be broken.
Gresley, who had already received a knighthood for his achievements in railway technology, was not on board for his finest hour. While his deteriorating health kept him at home, the driver and fireman he'd chosen for the task became national celebrities.
Duddington responded by heaping praise where it was most deserved. Mallard, he said, was "the best engine ever built, and which ever will be built".
Hard as he tried, even spinmeister Goebbels couldn't undermine the universal acclaim for Britain's first conquest of the Nazis, an event, incidentally, which is still much debated among German rail enthusiasts.
The book's author, journalist Don Hale, became as nationally famous as his subject through his campaign to clear the name
of Stephen Downing, imprisoned for 27 years for the murder of
a woman in Bakewell, Derbyshire.
Researching the Mallard story, much of which had not been told publicly before, took Hale to Germany and into the records here of a time when luxurious steam trains contrasted with soup kitchens, Mosley's Black Shirts and the Jarrow Hunger March - whose 200 protesters were transported home from London on a special train, courtesy of LNER.
Mallard was finally withdrawn from service in April, 1963, with a total mileage of 1,414,138, and five years before the last steam trains ran for British Railways.
She is now the most popular exhibit at the National Railway Museum, unlikely ever to steam again, but a memorial, as Hale points out, to intelligent, startling design, brilliant construction, and the pride of those who drove, fired, repaired and cleaned her.
Still ahead of her time, too. With the exception of the Eurostar service, no everyday passenger trains in Britain exceed her record speed.
(...)

(...)

This book is a must for all steam enthusiasts. Not only does it tell the story of Mallard, but also the story of Sir Nigel Gresley one of Britain's finest railway engineers. The chapters flow effortlessly into one another recalling the golden age of steam with such realism, that you can virtually smell the coal dust and hear the sounds of Britain's greatest steam engines. The rivalry and tension between competing rail operators, and also the German railways, builds up into an exciting climax. Mallards record breaking day is recalled in great detail leaving the reader with a complete sense of that exciting day in British history. It's packed with detail, accurate information, and some rare photographs.

I have read it from cover to cover and thoroughly recommend it.

Chris Williams - Stoke-on-Trent.

One of the greatest books on THE greatest music in the world. Visit my site on the history of Salsa musicians at www://hometown.aol.com/SalsaSupreme

MAMBO KINGDOM IS AN EXCELLENT RESOURSE ON THE HISTORY OF LATIN MUSIC (SALSA). THE AUTHUR WALKS YOU THREW AN ERA THAT HAS LONG BEEN FORGOTTON,FOR LATIN MUSIC HISTORY MAX SALAZAR IS THE GODFATHER!!

This is an account of Alfred Loewenstein, a 1920's-era tycoon who was involved in many high-stakes business dealings. In 1928, while flying over the English Channel from England to Brussels, he "accidentally" fell out of his airplane while using the restroom. His body was recovered several weeks later and he was buried in an unmarked grave, and the world went on.

The author does some research and establishes that it is very unlikely that Loewenstein could have "accidentally" fallen out the door of the plane. Even if he had intended to commit suicide, it would have taken superhuman effort to force open the door in order to get outside, due to wind resistance. The author examines a museum exhibit of the plane, interviews people who flew it, reconstructs Loewenstein's business dealings, interviews people with memories of the time, and develops a theory about how and why Loewenstein really fell from the plane. The author does not have all the answers but leaves the verdict to the reader, or perhaps to future researchers. Certainly he has raised "reasonable doubt" about the "accident" conclusion.

Since most of the people involved have taken the secret to their graves, the truth will probably never be known. But this book is a fascinating glimpse into the social strata of the moneyed class of the 1920's just before the stock market crash.

I also feel that the author did not mention another very plausible way for the act to have occurred - if the pilot had momentarily rotated the plane onto its left side, Loewenstein would have simply dropped down from the lavatory through the door, like a bomb from a bomb rack.

..Aviation History, and a very mysterious flying death 4000 feet over the English Channel on July 4, 1928. The author researches this strange death, the history of the times, some incredible stock market wheeling and dealing, and the personality and activities of Alfred Lowenstein. A great ride that opens up a mysterious case, and some speculative "who done it" answers. I think it was an accident, but this is a great ride with the author that you'll be glad you read!

Being an avid reader of true crime and a born a bred manxman I decided to buy this book and found it fascinating. The book itself is well written and has a high level of detail and research information. There are many different cases to read and the style of writing enables you to pick it up as and when enabling you to be immediately immersed again. Some crime writers over complicate the structure which makes you have to back-track but not this one.

For a small Island synonymous with safety and a secure lifestyle this certainly opens the eyes.

A must buy and a great piece of work!

Being an avid reader of true crime and a born a bred manxman I decided to buy this book and found it fascinating. The book itself is well written and has a high level of detail and research information. There are many different cases to read and the style of writing enables you to pick it up as and when enabling you to be immediately immersed again. Some crime writers over complicate the structure which makes you have to back-track but not this one.

For a small Island synonymous with safety and a secure lifestyle this certainly opens the eyes.

A must buy and a great piece of work!

While she was still Leader of the Opposition, Margaret Thatcher paid a visit to Yugoslavia, where she had a meeting with President Tito. The conversation turned to China, where Chairman Mao's widow had recently been stirring up trouble for the leadership. Tito remarked that he disapproved of women interfering in politics. "I don't interfere in politics, " declared his guest, eyes ablazing, "I AM politics."

Therein can be found both the secret of Margaret Thatcher's success and the seeds of her downfall. Her supreme confidence helped overcome widespread doubts that a woman could lead her party and her country, but in the end her arrogance alienated the very people she needed to retain power.

Thatcher's story presents a unique challenge to political biographers, largely because her overpowering personality and strident views make a fair assessment difficult to achieve. The writer has to tread a fine line between hagiography and demolition job. Happily, John Campbell's book manages to avoid these pitfalls, and his account of Thatcher's life and times is even-handed, thorough and highly readable. The first volume
of Campbell's biography - The Grocer's Daughter - covered Thatcher's early life and career, concluding with her arrival on the threshold of Number Ten. This second volume concentrates on her entire eleven-and-a-half years as mistress of Downing Street, as well as the aftermath of her removal from power.

The first thing to say is that it's a huge read - over 800 pages. But this is no more than the subject deserves, given Thatcher's dominance, not only in her role as Prime Minister, but also as an inveterate meddler in the work of her ministers. From health and education to local government finance and foreign affairs, there was barely an aspect of policy which Margaret Thatcher did not seek to influence.

All the important events of her premiership are there - the three election victories, the Falkands, Westland, the miners' strike, the Poll Tax, and her dramatic departure at the hands of her own party. But the book goes beyond the big stories to put her premiership in a wider context. Take housing: Campbell shows that Thatcher's policy of encouraging council tenants to buy their own homes, while prohibiting local authorities from building new houses with the proceeds, led to a massive shortage of affordable housing, and by extension to the high
numbers of homeless people still seen on British streets today.

Campbell's thorough research shines brilliantly throughout the book, but U.S. readers may find this depth of detail just too much information to take in. During some passages, even my eyes started to glaze over at so many references to obscure events and personalities from Britain's political past.

Of greater interest may be the sections covering Thatcher's dealings with Ronald Reagan. Thatcher apologists often claim that Britain's standing in the world grew taller as a result of her strong support for the U.S. President. But Campbell makes good use of Reagan's archival papers to reveal the true relationship of these political soulmates.

While they undoubtedly got on well, the President rarely let their friendship get in the way of his policy objectives. Thatcher believed they were working as partners to save the world from tyranny, but Reagan failed to consult her even on such important matters as the invasion of Grenada (a British Commonwealth territory) or his suggestion to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Reykjavik summit that the US and USSR should abolish
all nuclear weapons. Even so, Thatcher never lost an opportunity to catch the presidential ear. Campbell recounts Reagan breaking off from one of her many telephone rants to observe: "Isn't she marvellous!"

One of the most enjoyable sections of the book focuses on the burnishing of the Thatcher image, especially in the later years of her premiership. Campbell documents the change from the clothing of a "middle-class mimsy" to the power-shoulders of a leading lady, and her increasingly imperial airs. The regal touch was most memorably on show when she emerged from Number 10 to announce "We have become a grandmother." But
the author also offers a reminder of her qualities as a consummate actress. In 1990 she delivered a conference speech in which she compared the new bird of freedom logo for the Liberal Democratic Party to the dead parrot from the Monty Python sketch. She had never seen the routine, but delivered it with perfect timing to laughter and cheers from her audience. The following month, she was an ex-Prime Minister.

Margaret Thatcher's fall from power was pure political theatre, and those of us who watched it unfold on our television screens will never forget those dramatic days. The big question in my mind was: could Campbell's account rise to the occasion? The answer: a resounding yes. Every twist and turn of the spectacle is followed, without recourse to melodrama or purple prose, and what could easily have been a disappointing damp squib of a section turns out to be a fine account of a political career in meltdown.

For me, the most intriguing part of the book describes Thatcher's life after leaving Number 10. Politically-speaking, she was dead in the water - there is no role in the British constitution for an unemployed prime minister. But Campbell is astute enough to highlight the human aspects of her new situation. Only days earlier, she was being feted by
President Mitterrand at Versailles. Now, shorn of the Downing Street machine, she had difficulty even using the telephone to find a plumber. Thatcher's refusal to adapt to her new situation caused her successor much grief, and the book relates the despair which John Major felt at her off-stage sniping , especially when he was trying to rebuild bridges
to Britain's European partners.

Having already documented the lives of two former Prime Ministers - Lloyd George and Edward Heath - Campbell is able to view the Thatcher years with a historical perspective. The conclusion of this book, however, is disappointing. A work of this magnitude deserves a resounding finale, but instead it runs into the sand, offering little more than a couple of pages to sum up Thatcher's impact. It's not a bad ending, but I feel that the author could have done justice to the rest
of the book by bringing together more effectively the various strands of Thatcher's life.

That said, the book is a masterpiece of political biography,
meticulously researched and written in that enviable style which both informs and entertains. It may be too soon to call it the definitive biography of Britain's first woman prime minister, but the next time an author sets out to write Margaret Thatcher's premiership, this is the first book they should turn to.

The mid-90's pop band Spice Girls called the ultimate Girl Power as Margaret Thatcher. The British singers were on the money because Thatcher was a revolutionary Prime Minister. She kept her own counsel and could not be manipulated by the popularity polls. This account of her political career is the ultimate study in what Henry Kissinger once said "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac". Churchill and Thatcher proved that Britain produced two formidable leaders who survived Machiavellian daggers over and over again and got their way before being ousted.

Market-driven politics - part two of review
There is a great wood and trees problem in understanding the politics of this process. Unlike the textbook models of markets, every single real market has its own unique features. Individual cases then enable us to see some of the common features of this process. Leys does not make the case that each of the four conditions have a distinctive politics. Instead he shows the roles of lobbies, of personal networks of influence, of political funding, of the infiltration of political parties, the state and institutions of global regulation, of the resourcing of partisan research and think tanks, of the interested peopling of advisory councils and public boards. Their purposes, in a spectacular denial of conflicts of interest, are to weaken public regulation in relentless cycles of pressures for incremental change, to weaken enforcement and/or quality standards (but to apply them selectively to disadvantage public services), to weaken sources of resistance and stoke support, to restrict public capital and current expenditure, to re-structure the sources of public revenue, to claim risk-minimising contracts with residual state providers, to present the transformations of service into commodities, supply and demand as a `technology' transfer and abolish the concepts of public service. In both broadcasting and health conglomerates diversified, concentrated and differentiated; pay became spectacularly more unequal, product quality was shaped by commercial interests and residual services deteriorated and were rationed. New labour politicians, whose party is increasingly funded by corporate interests, operate in centralised and `depoliticised' ways which take them away from the electorate, unions and activists and enable them to naturalise markets and audit and to de-democratise the state..

At a time when Tony Blair has called public service unions `wreckers', Colin Leys shows just who the real wreckers are. He argues that public services are a key aspect of a democratic society; they express such a society's collective interests and they help shape it at the same time. There is never no alternative. Public services can be provided in many ways, from voluntary work, through non-profit trusts to state provision. These can be more efficient - not simply in costs but also in the quality of outcomes - than are firms dominated by short-term shareholder interests. Leys indicates what is to be done: public services need a clear philosophy that is publicised, celebrated and funded through taxation. They need practical policy, encouraging innovation and dynamism where it can be justified on public service grounds. They need active political protection and defence from the constant attempts to invade which `markets', aka capital, are bound to make.

This is a richly researched, well structured, beautifully written and compellingly argued book, and one which offers an original analysis of the hegemonic politics of markets. It could not be more relevant to our times. Buy this book, but do not add it to the gently groaning shelf. Keep it much closer to hand; read, reflect and act on it.

Market-driven politics

Followers of the debates on globalisation will be well aware of a surge of recent books associated with the anti-globalisation movement which explore corporate brands have reshaped consumption and culture (Naomi Klein's No Logo) have infiltrated the state (Noreena Hertz Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy)and have also consumed political parties and refashioned them in their own image (George Monbiot's Captive State).

Colin Leys, the reputed scholar of third world development and of British politics, has entered the fray on behalf of a socialist alternative with an investigation of the response of national politics to global economic forces. He uses the experience of Britain for this project, but his story spans the world and is of world-wide relevance. The book moves its lens systematically from the global system towards the detail of rapidly proliferating real markets. Leys peers through two key holes to see the politics involved in the penetration by markets of areas of society formerly ring-fenced for non-market forms of provision and values. The two cases are public service broadcasting and health care; both regulated in distinctively British ways but now being privatised and commercialised in ways only too familiar worldwide.

Leys starts where most critics of globalisation leave off. The economy is replacing society as the subject of politics. In low intensity democracies (the phrase is Samir Amin's) ruling parties find it increasingly difficult to direct the terms on which governments regulate the economy, though there are conditions under which some do it better than others. Their politics is driven by corporates which operate not nationally but globally. Leys has a wealth of evidence with which he fleshes out this profoundly political process (globally in chapter 2 and in Britain in chapter 3).He asks: how do states get voters to endorse policies which meet the demands of capital? How do states pull off the theft of sovereignty from their citizens? How are markets to be naturalised and democratic politics to be insulated from demos? This book answers such questions.

There is a general logic to the process: capital must expand. `Accumulate, accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets'! proclaimed Karl Marx. Capital expands in many ways, some primitive (resources are seized by force, peasants shoved off the land) others are sophisticated and carefully planned (the seething life cycles of products and their substitutes). Markets appear to slither into households (domestic service) and out again (`DIY', but read the book, for DIY is not what it seems..). Markets proliferate (markets for derivatives, markets for advertising, for management consultancy, legal advice, repairs..).

Leys follows markets expanding into the non-market public sphere. This is the arena for public goods, for national culture and for democratic expressions of citizenship. The novel insight powering Leys' analysis of market-driven politics is as follows. For markets to take over, four political conditions have to be achieved. First, public services have to be broken down into sets of private commodities (hip replacements, laundering, current affairs programmes popular with advertisers....) each of which can be supplied at (more or less) known prices. Second, needs and delights have to be reworked into effective demand expressed through purchasing power alone. Third, workers with collective values and a public service vocation have to be transformed into profit-makers and on less secure terms. Lastly, business requires and usually gets the risks of this transformation to be underwritten by the state. Those remnants of public services that cannot be completely abolished will be left as services of the last resort.

After this first phase looks like being successful, the general dynamic starts to grind; the costs of labour can be reduced; less specialised labour may be shed, components may be subcontracted to cheap sites. Products will be standardised for scale economies and a mass market. `Flexible production' usually masks a standardised technological core. All other labour, all other costs, will be transferred to consumers. (And the buck stops with women.)

Private contractors do not have to be efficient to notch up rates of profit attractive to shareholders. Public resources will be transferred to retain poorly functioning private firms up to the point where the costs of maintaining an inefficient status quo exceed those of exposing deficiency or delinquence, together with the transactions costs of replacing the contract.
- to be continued - in part two of review

This biography of Mary Shelly offers very moving insights into the life (sorrows, defeats, triumphs) of the young enfant terrible who brought us the world's first truly "modern" monster, literature's most famous abandoned child. Nichols deftly conjures the fears and desires that allowed young Mary to dream such a terrible vision, and offers invaluable insights into the legacy Mary would ultimately sow. Strongly advised for all fans of Lit, Horror, Gothic Romance, and good old fashioned storytelling.

Couldn't resist the temptation to write that headline. It's true that this book brings Mary Shelley to life as a fascinatingly modern person; it shows the world she grew up in and how it ended up in Shelley's most famous book; and it brings up, through Shelley's concerns, questions of very modern import. As an adult I enjoyed this book thoroughly and hope it finds a variety of readers who will find in Shelley a kindred spirit. I thought the reading level was pitched a little low for teens, but that shouldn't bother them and the content is definitely appropriate for Young Adults. In fact it will probably offend a lot of parents who are not, shall we say, on Shelley's level... Shelley and her circle of friends might have made some mistakes; they took lots of risks; but they did all this in attempting to be true to their own ideals. A great story which has fascinated scholars for years is made accessible here, in all its gory detail, to teens (and, as I say, adult readers can enjoy it, too).

My parents both immigrated from Scotland and I inherited their "The Broons" and "Oor Wullie" books. I also cook for a living and have taught culinary classes for several schools. I am a HUGE cookbook fan, and in addition to having very fond memories of many of the dishes in this book, it is incredibly fun!

Many of my chef friends got a kick out of how it was designed. If you have any interest in traditional Scottish fare and the desire to interpret Scots' dialect, you'll love this book. There's nothing else like it on the market!

Anyone who grew up in Scotland in the post-war era, or who has parents who grew up there during that time, should order this book immediately. It is brilliantly written and put together with affection and humor. It looks just like my mother's real cookbook, with cutout recipes, bits of advice, slivers of dried herbs and comments written in the margin by all and sundry. but it is the family cookbook of the Broons, that archetypal Scottish family, whose dinner table conversations were brought into our homes with the evening newspapers for decades, and whose comments on life, love, politics and post-war conditions fueled many a spirited conversation around our own dinner tables. But, in addition to bringing back all those memories of the whole funny family, including the twins and The Bairn, it is filled with real, authentic Scottish recipes, from tablet to Cullen Skink, from tattie scones to fish cakes, from victoria sponge to cloutie dumpling.
Order, read it and laugh, and then cook yourself and your family up some memorable, and memory-laden, dishes.

The book was mentioned on the Anglo-Saxon Heathenry email list (I am a member). I ordered it based on the initial review by another member. My thought and that of many is that it should be a book that should set next to the Poetic Edda (in importance). The information is very well formated. It is easy to read and understand. The joke was passed around that now we could get rid of Bauschatz. If you be an Anglo-phile or Asa-tru this is a very good book. I cannot reccomend more highly.

Focusing on the Anglo-Saxon institution of the mead-hall, the author leads us to a view of what may have been a basic building block of Germanic culture.

While culling his evidence primarily from the wealth of A/S literature (which he translates himself), Pollington enhances his material with data derived from archeological finds. The accuracy of his presentation sets his book squarely in the history/anthropology section of one's library.

The book is an exploration of what these early Anglo-Saxon people were like and how the mead-hall was a reflection of their society. The book explains a Germanic culture and worldview in simple, concise and elegant terms with easily followed arguments. This is added to by a pleasing writing style.

Few books of late have left me feeling my time was so well spent after the reading.

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK A GREAT DEAL. IT WAS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM
MARY STEWART'S FOUR BOOKS AND OF COURSE FROM SIR THOMAS MALLORY'S
LE MORTE D' ARTHUR. THE DIFFERENT POLITICAL VIEWS ARE INTERESTING AND THE WAY MERLIN EDUCATED ARTHUR. I MUCH PREFERRED
MARY STEWART'S BOOKS OF ALL OF THEM BUT THIS IS AN INTERESTING
ONE TO HAVE IF YOU ARE INTO KING ARTHUR AND MERLIN.

This is an outstanding retelling of the legend of Merlin, but it is not for everyone. It is quirky, kinky, and in places may offend people of faith. Stylistically, it is very imaginative; chapters vary wildly in length, and it may contribute to your store of stock phrases.