This seems like an agency worth a shot. At least there is no reading fee.

http://www.chapteronepromotions.com/literary-agent/literary-agency.htm

Short Story Competition 

Entry Fee: £10 per story

Status: Unpublished

Word Count: Maximum 2500 words 

Deadline: Midnight on Monday 14th January 2008 

Prizes: £2,500, £1,000 & £500 plus publication

UK Poet

Friday 29th February 2008 is the deadline for our Novel Competition which will be held once every four years.  http://www.chapteronepromotions.com/competitions/novel-competition.htm

2 years to complete it, editorial support, 150 copies, ISBN number. £20.oo entry fee.

Ivor Griffiths Blog Poet UK

Managing

The copers manage the damaged –
by hand, deftly;
coping and hoping it won’t rain,

not today anyway,

me cat’s being buried today he is:
got squashed by a car.
We pried him loose from the wheel arch
with a pointy stick. His eye fell out,
a black hole, a purpled star, like it was cauterized.

I cried when my cat died.
I did.

Ivor Griffiths 2007

Blog Poet UK

I suggested that they do this some time ago. What better way to clear one’s name? Of course I am not suggesting they are guilty or that they are anything but distraught parents innocent of any wrong doing. To do otherwise would result in litigation. The treatment of them is in marked contrast to the alleged insurance fraud involving that chap who disappeared five years ago and mysteriously reappeared after the life insurance was claimed. The Police seemed pretty keen on that one.

Of course Lie Detector tests are only 98% accurate and not admissable in Portuguese or English Courts. This is the alleged reason for their refusal. They are of course determinative in the Court of Public Opinion. Like the UK Government are fond of saying:

“If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.”

Explains the Official Secrets Act then. I wonder if they have found the data they lost that belongs to 25,000,000 people: bank details, addresses, dates of birth, mothers’ maiden names: everything you need to steal money.

We got a letter from them about that. It said that if one is an “innocent victim of bank fraud” one will be reimbursed. But what exactly is an “innocent victim” then? By implication there must be “guilty victims”. I can imagine the pain that will be endured by anyone trying to make a claim. The same letter advised against changing banks. This means they won’t pay and you should change banks.

So if you live in the UK and you have had any dealings with the Inland Revenue change your bank, cancel your cards, change your passwords and then your name. Once you’ve done that write a letter of claim to them for the hassle. You will get a standard letter back that says in three hundred words what they could have said in one: tough.

 Are they to blame? No, they never do anything wrong.

Will someone get the bullet? No, they never do.

Is our personal data secure in the UK with HMG? No.

Will they lose our medical records next? Yes.