Rick Brindle

  The apocalypse would be a big equaliser. I think that while they’re in their bunkers, and provided they did their jobs and kept them alive through whatever apocalypse happened, they’ll be fine. You’ve got to hope that the bunker builders didn’t rip them off and cut any corners. but that aside, the bunker itself will offer whatever degree of survivability to luxury it’s been built for. Once they step outside? Well, they’ve still got a bolt hole to base from, but life on the outside might be tricky. There’s only so much tinned food etc that can be stored underground, it’ll be a case of surviving, like everyone else. It’ll probably be a good thing to make friends. To begin with, it might not be a good idea to advertise the bunker either, because it’ll likely be valuable for others, maybe bad people, who might want to live there. So if it was me, I’d make friends with as many survivors as possible, then go socialist and share ownership with everyone. After all, sharing is caring, and...

They’ve been around for ever, the jokes that is. And it’s fair to say that they go both ways. Taking the piss and being in the military kind of goes hand in hand, and the general rule of thumb is that any unit other than your own is shite. The Army being the Army, they’ve got loads of regiments that will typically shower metaphorical shit at each other, so it’s not just one that attracts more negative attention than any other. And as for Royal, well, you know. And much like the booties… The RAF Regiment are a singular infantry type unit within a service that doesn’t have any other such unit within said service, so they tend to be a focus for more piss taking than normal. But then again, they could all be jealous. It's Not For Everyone   Cold Steel on the Rocks   We Are Cold Steel   Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard   Sister Alex

  It depends what you call expensive, but pickup changes can definitely help. Pickups will change the tone of your guitar, but they won’t on their own turn you into the next Tony Iommi. That takes practice, practice, and even more practice. And a shedload of raw talent. I’ve got a Squier Affinity Strat, definitely a cheap guitar at two hundred quid. I quickly realised that the music I like to play, stoner rock and metal, isn’t really suited to single coil pickups, unless you’re a Hendrix or a Blackmore, which I’m not. There was no way I could change my guitar, as it was a present from the Mrs, so as well as changing the pickguard to a more scary black one, I changed (well, paid someone to do it for me) the pickups for a three piece strat set of hot rails, which cost me about the same as guitar did. So for just under five hundred quid (two hundred from the Mrs for the guitar, and two fifty from me for the pickups) I’ve got the sound and the tone that I want, thanks to the pickups an...

  In the UK it has been settled since 2010. The Equality Act protects lots of people in our society from discrimination, and it’s been a legal thing for sixteen years now. As you can imagine, it was brought in by a labour government. I mean, no way would the tories introduce something that actually protected ordinary people, unless there was something in it for them and their rich mates as well. Interestingly though, they didn’t repeal it, even after a 14 year car crash in power, including the living disaster that is brexit. The act mirrors and implements he four major EU Equal Treatment Directives. There’s also the Gender Recognition Act, 2004, also a labour achievement, which gave people the legal right to change their gender. And let’s be clear, trans people have been around, like, for ever, so it’s not exactly a new thing. What is relatively new is that weird thing called tolerance. Of course, it’s not there everywhere, and it’s fair to say that we’re on a journey, but hopefull...

  Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard , the third novel in the Cold Steel series, is free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now! Cold Steel are back! Their new album has just been released. Their previously cancelled Spanish tour dates have been rearranged, with the female trio and Spain’s biggest metal band, Damas Infernales, supporting. Cold Steel’s biggest asset though, is Johnny Faslane, their brutally talented manager. But even Johnny can’t fully eliminate Cold Steel’s innate ability to spectacularly destroy their prospects, and even before their second concert ends, the tour is scrapped after an ill-advised trip back to the eighties, and the band are put into creative deep freeze by their record company. Only an unprecedented event and a lot of money can possibly turn their fortunes around. Like a five hundred year old treasure hoard that a long dead pirate once offered in return for his life, treasure that has never been found. Cold Steel fin...

Military: If we’re talking best made, as in most likely to get you back home, then this bad boy must be up there. The Vickers Wellington. This aircraft was designed in the 1930s and was built using what was called a geodetic airframe. This made it very durable, and crucially, able to take a lot of damage while remining flying. At the end of World War 2, there were jet aircraft being used, but the Wellington was both built and used for the whole war, and that tells you a lot about its versatility. And the best civilian one was another Vickers aircraft, the VC10 It was designed to operate from short runways and fly long distance. It held the transatlantic speed record for 41 years, and served as both a civilian airliner, and in air forces as a cargo plane, air to air refuelling, passenger flights and aero medical evacuation. Both aircraft were really good examples of excellent British aircraft innovation. It's Not For Everyone   Cold Steel on the Rocks   We Are Cold Steel  ...

  We Are Cold Steel , the second novel in the Cold Steel trilogy is free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now! A day after their historic concert on the Caribbean island of St Clements, heavy metal band Cold Steel are heroes. Now, all they have to do is stay out of trouble and enjoy a well-earned holiday until they start work on their next album. Except that the owner of the recording studio hates all things Cold Steel. Except that Cold Steel’s record company has blackmailed the studio into accepting them. Except that not all reporters are as friendly as band manager Johnny Faslane’s girlfriend, Rachel Shaw. With a tight deadline, Cold Steel have to get the next album out before their tour starts. They can’t afford any delays, and Johnny has his work cut out keeping the band in line. Feral former soldiers, reporters with an agenda, cake-obsessed studio execs and international criminals all work their way into the mix as the band hurtle from one improba...