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JUST STOP
Of all my blog posts, I don’t think that any has had the topical immediacy of today’s. Yet again, I am moved to write about the ongoing test series between England and Australia, but sadly, for the wrong reason. This morning, those who care about such things were excited by the resumption of hostilities after…
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Criticism Is Just Not Cricket
If you ask any English cricket fan to name his or her top ten test matches, they will almost certainly name a goodly number of English victories over Australia. Their list would probably include “Botham’s match”, played at Headingley in 1981, England’s victory by three runs at Melbourne in 1982-83, their two-run thriller at Edgbaston…
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“Down With Oxfam”
In 1968, the author John Braine published his novel, The Crying Game. It is a satirical view of London in the “swinging 60s”, as seen through the eyes of Frank Batcombe, a young, Conservative journalist. One of our hero’s housemates is an eccentric character named Basil. One of the most memorable things about him, is…
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The Government Should Play Our Cards Right
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, gave a speech in Dover. His subject, at least officially, was legal immigration. In reality, he seemed to be conducting an experiment, in order to find out how many times he could say “small boats”, before people either told him to shut up, or punched him in…
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The People Are Being Conned
In 1972, the record-buying public made Johnny Nash’s song, There Are More Questions Than Answers, a big hit. The song always pops into my mind when discussions of electric cars take place. The latest aspect of that discussion, is the lack of public charging points for these horrors. In the north west of England, owners…
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Manners Makyth Man, Woman, Child … and Geriatric
Manners, we are told, are deplorably lacking in the young. Perhaps it has always been, or always thought to have been, the case. One imagines that William of Wykeham, one-time Bishop of Winchester, and twice Chancellor of England, might have thought so. After all, not only did he establish two prestigious seats of learning –…
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Life Stinks
Is the sense of smell not a wonderful thing? The pleasure of the scents of flowers, or freshly baked bread, or good coffee, or hay, or the sea, or spices, or the ecclesiastical combination of incense and beeswax candles, is indescribable. A smell can also evoke other times and places. Seven or eight years ago,…
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Spiteful Champions
Imagine, dear reader, that you are settling down to watch a romantic film, or read a romantic book. The plot is a fairly unremarkable love story, that goes something like this. Our hero falls in love. The object of his affections is not thought by many to be especially beautiful, but nevertheless, she captures his…
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Council Candidates, Quote Hank
As I write, the leaders of the main political parties are campaigning for tomorrow’s local elections. None of them are up for election, and it is quite possible that none of them know those people who are candidates. It is also quite possible that those candidates wish that their party leaders would stay as far…
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Misery, Apparently, Loves Competition
When I was sixteen, and thoroughly fed up with school, I went to a Royal Navy recruitment office. I knew that it was, at best a fool’s errand, but I didn’t care. “Yes?” barked the man at the counter. Government institutions always seem to have counters, rather than desks in their reception areas. Why is…
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