Bring on the Angels
My first stage appearance was at the age of six—not exactly a starring role but a solid and supportive member of the cast. Supportive because my job was to lean on the cardboard stable door to stop it falling over Read more »
Humphrey Walwyn
Laws to Leave Behind
It’s a general truth that the more complex an organization, the more regulations it needs to be able to function. This is particularly true of the EU. Amid all the Brussels sprouting and to-ing and fro-ing, there are loads of Read more »
Are we nearly there at the end yet?
As another North Korean missile soars high over Japan and plops somewhere into the Pacific amid a global chorus of anger, I take a quick look at the calendar. My-oh-my! The Cuban Missile Crisis took place exactly 55 years ago Read more »
Ban Everything
Well, if they’re all talking about custom tariffs, foreign imports and border controls, then so can we. There are lots of things that should clearly be prohibited. Some of these are obvious like illegal drugs and the odd nuclear weapon Read more »
What shall we talk about
Apparently, not that much. Talking is a dying art form. Human beings no longer chat to each other: they prefer to text or Facebook each other even if they’re in the same room. Like many of us from an older Read more »
Disneyfication
I read that trouble continues to bubble in Cornwall where English Heritage is accused of commercialising Tintagel Castle, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. In recent months they’ve commissioned a sculpture of Merlin carved into the rock face plus an Read more »
Fake News
There’s been a lot of trumpeting recently about so-called ‘fake news’ – disinformation and spoof stories which purport to be real news stories when they are in effect anything but… Mr Donald Trump (the new US President—you may have heard Read more »
The Year Ahead
After the shocks and excesses of last year with Trump and Brexit, what we really need in 2017 is a period of calm and peaceful stability. I can however safely predict that we’re not going to get it. With a Read more »
Frozen Solid
There’s been a lot of talk recently about cryonics—freezing your body after death to preserve it for the future in the hope that you can be ‘awoken’ many years from now and be cured of your current illnesses and live Read more »
Aggressive Trousers
I’ve been reading about the strange goings-on at Esh Parish Council in Durham. Apparently, one councillor has been reprimanded for wearing ‘aggressive and intimidating’ trousers to a council meeting. The afore-mentioned trousers are of a mottled green camouflage pattern—passively informal Read more »