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It’s been almost a month since Mrs H assumed responsibility of DH book sales – using my social media platform and creating a new raft of content, which you may have noticed.

So far, so good, but not because of any discernible uptick in sales, but because I can now share the burden of something that is difficult and inherently disappointing.

A moving target is how I like to imagine such things.

The internet is a remarkable tool – ‘free’ for everyone to use – and with a global marketplace, it creates an intoxicating cocktail of possibilities. But as tantalising as this is, hitting the bullseye is elusive. Most will fail, while the hallowed few can gorge on their success and create even more income by making videos about their method and how you, too, can become a squillionaire…

Hmm.

But despite the long odds against me, I am enjoying this new process.

Followers are up, which is welcome and fine, but only useful if they are the right kind of followers – ones who read books and can be persuaded to take a punt on one of mine.

But my hopes are more about validating my writing (and time) than about creating wealth, although, of course, the two are linked, and an income from past efforts is the Holy Grail in the arts.

This brings me to Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. One of the great modern-day thinkers, and one of those fortunate few who hit treble twenty with every new book. He proposes that efforts are rewarded at an inevitable yet unpredictable tipping point. No input fails or is ever wasted. It all contributes to momentum, overcoming inertia until a point is reached and success abounds.

Which reminds me of a cliché…

You never fail at anything until you give up.

And all these ideas and themes point to us ploughing on with DH Books despite some inevitable criticism, which I want to address, as Nikki is new to this. She is less battle-scarred and more vulnerable.

Ill-thought-out criticisms, mainly about our use of the technology which everyone is talking about.

AI, of course…

That we are destroying jobs, using too much power, and not employing real people to create posts, especially when we have an artist in our family.

I have many concerns about our world and its increasing dependence on technology.

An emblem of our modernity is fast food and what we eat.

Being ‘fast’, it is mainly pre-cooked and merely warmed up on site. It is mass-produced, highly processed, and inherently bad for health. Oh, and its sugar content makes it highly addictive.

KFC, Subway, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A…

Increasingly delivered directly to people’s homes via apps like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat…

And every time, politicians conjure up new laws and initiatives, more workers are replaced with yet more machines.

The façade of a McDonald’s is now a series of touchscreens with the only employees in the kitchen, but for how long will this last?

And how long before the food is delivered by a drone and not a person on an Uber bike?

Wealth is being increasingly accumulated by a tiny proportion of individuals. Musk, Altman, Thiel, Bezos, Ellison, Zuckerman…

The technology bros might just be the most powerful people who have ever lived.

Politicians are said to be the mouthpiece of the people. We decide on which politicians have power via our elections and democracies, and this is how the people always prevail.

Really?

Because how reliable is this contract, and can it ever guard against corrosive self-interest?

I don’t think it can.

Politicians of all hues appear to be incapable of not feathering their own nests.

Nick Clegg, former deputy PM of the UK – now a multi-millionaire from his stint at Meta, which employed him for his rolodex. The CEO of the SNP in Scotland has just been jailed for 5 years for embezzlement. Tony Blair, former PM, now a multi-millionaire. John Kerry’s son, along with Biden’s son, made millions from Ukrainian gas fields. Nancy Pelosi has real estate way beyond her income. Said to be gained by share dealing with information that is not available to you and me. Oh, and information which happens to be illegal, but good luck to anyone picking this fight. Trump and his family, of course, are said to be getting fat on the money teat…

But politicians come and go.

The real power lies with those individuals who transcend the political cycle and do not go anywhere. They might morph and adapt, but they always remain.

I try not to become too depressed by this and by our growing impotence as we live more online and cede our lives to the people who own these pesky apps.

Technology can’t be repealed or constrained by politicians (see self-interest examples above).

Not using technology to help us take aim and hopefully hit our ‘moving target’ is folly. As silly as I am using a typewriter to write my next novel, but not as silly as asking Paddy to spend three days of his time creating a cartoon for an Instagram post.

Even if I paid him the minimum amount of money our politicians insist on, it would be a waste of his time and my money.

As with all things that we create – in the hope of finding an audience – there will always be advocates and detractors.

I explained this in a recent blog about my first novel, Only in America.

Nikki and I control our content, how it is created and how we present it to the world. And all within our moral framework, and why we must not be dissuaded by errant comments. Anyone disgruntled should follow accounts in keeping with their lofty ideals.

This might be a good place to sign off on this post, but it feels a little blunt.

What about the funny sign-off or my customary message of hope?

The Billionaires mentioned above – have you noticed how the ‘b’ is always excessively stressed when referring to them – and now with the launch of SpaceX, the solo Trillionaire in their midst – are not the most powerful men who have ever lived.

That would be a man who lived over 2,000 years ago, before any technology existed. A man who was born in poverty and died at only 33, leaving a Judeo-Christian legacy that is greater than that of any other person and is the foundation of so many successful societies.

In this internet age, when people are increasingly lonely and isolated, it might be that

religion and faith are needed more than ever. Given human nature and its insatiable need for more, a spiritual presence might be the only guardrail against this formidable modern power.

I am encouraged when I see men whom I greatly admire talk about their faith. Men like Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns and Cameron Young – the best golfers in the world.

I wouldn’t say that I have a rich faith. I am not a devout Catholic, but there is no doubt that Christianity has informed almost everything in my life. Everything that is good anyway. My marriage, fatherhood, friendships, my standup, the books I write and the stories I tell…

Taking my mum to mass every Sunday morning is something I cherish.

There are other religions, of course…

But I am only familiar with mine, which I am told is on the rise, particularly so among younger people.

Love thy neighbour, be kind, treat others how you wish to be treated yourself… these are tenets which are hard to argue against.

And it might just be that a celestial force is the real power broker, and will come to our aid, to make sense of this new technology we have unleashed.

This is something worth praying for, I think.

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