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PARTISAN GOVERNMENT OXYMORON
Presumed Dead is a novel authored by Martin Knox about the elected governments of a large Australian city, which are duopolies, each pretending to have an opposition, like in a Westminster system. When the two sides are deadlocked, it is unlikely but possible that a contest could be resolved corruptly or even criminally. The novel crime fiction reveals the fragility of partisan government.
When tie-breaker Jane Kenwood, an iconic parliamentarian, disappears before a hung parliament votes, her partner Phillip Keane, a forensic scientist, leads an investigation. A team of friends reconstructs events by a Euler Walk strategy. They expose the perpetrators in a denouement. Will the government be shamed into becoming non-partisan? This is thrilling story of political skulduggery that will keep you guessing, in the wake of think tank meetings, that explore scientifically and logically, with expertise and humour.
Available from Amazon. Reviews at martinknox.com
Information didn’t reach anyone
Today my post on the WordPress platform has not brought any hits on my website nor interest in my novel Presumed Dead, a political crime fiction thriller. The book is set in a hung parliament. The title of my post was Must Parliament be Hung? It was inoffensive, apolitical and informative. I have received no complaint about the content of my post. I am disappointed that my information didn’t reach anyone..
I assume reach to my 130 followers was suppressed by a WordPress algorithm sensitive to political issues. I am alarmed that my post offering analysis and alternatives for Australia’s democracy has been taken out at a time when discussion is wanted. In the opinion of most people, a healthy democracy allows its political processes to be discussed respectfully.
Guy Debord, a French philosopher, wrote in The Society of the Spectacle (1967) that the people are exploited by the leaders for profit, with images created by the media and others. The spectacle is totalitarian. This theory would explain the suppression of my post, because discussion of a hung parliament could increase or decrease profits and leader interests.
If the algorithms would stop my post earlier today reaching anyone, then the spectacle could stop this one, because it exposes the monetisation intent of WordPress in allowing reach. Our future could be bleak.
martinknox.com
MUST PARLIAMENT BE HUNG?
If the Australian Parliament is hung, it could be an artificial impasse created by representatives who are prevented by self-serving parties from separating and compromising on issues because they want to force a change of government. Could the incumbent government better organise the parliament’s business to operate a minority government and avoid deadlock?
Presumed Dead is a crime fiction story with a hung parliament, resolved by an independent woman politician who opposes and ends partisan politics.
Reviews: martinknox.com
WHO ABDUCTED JANE?
In the fiction novel Presumed Dead by Martin Knox, Jane Kenwood is a feisty politician in a hung city council where her vote is needed to stop a casino being approved. She disappears before a crucial vote. When she is found, she is too badly affected by an assault to identify where she had been taken, what was done to her, nor characteristics of her assailants. Her friend Dr Phillip Keane leads a forensic team who gather evidence for every alternative they can imagine, by Euler’s theory, in a think tank. Phillip pieces together a logical reconstruction of the crime that reveals the perpetrators. The investigation is explorative, the evidence is surmise, the suspects are at large and cover their tracks until the dénouement.
This is an exciting whodunnit story of city hall politics and systematic forensic investigation that will keep you turning the pages to the very end.
Available on Amazon. Blog with reviews: martinknox.com
