Culture
Personal Situational Awareness
Anyone who’s ever taken a moment to watch animals in the wild – birds in particular, can’t fail to have noticed they are constantly on the lookout for danger and predators, and are always primed [more…]
Month: June 2026
Politics
YooKay2026…… A State broken by Corruption (Part 1)
When a bank flags a transaction as suspicious, it is not usually because someone has confessed to a crime. It is because the numbers do not make sense. A property sells for three times its [more…]
19th Century
Timothy Hackworth: The Third Northumbrian of the Railway Revolution
Born in the same village as George Stephenson, 5 years earlier. The man who saved the Stockton and Darlington when the engines kept breaking down. The man who built Russia’s first locomotive… and then vanished [more…]
Labour
No reflection in the mirror
And there you all were thinking this was going to be about vampires, sorry to disappoint but it’s far more down to earth. ‘Er indoors had an aunt who never stopped talking. I always thought [more…]
19th Century
The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 5/6: The Wolf Man of Mayfair. Part 2 of 2
Part One can be read here: The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 5/6: The Wolf Man of Mayfair. Part 1 of 2 It was fortunate for us that George lived only a few minutes’ brisk trot [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Three Hundred And Thirty-One
Monday Good morning, my happy readers. The heat wave is over and it is back to normal temperatures here in London, and it is actually forecast to rain this evening. Legohead is back in town [more…]
19th Century
One Hundred Years Ago This Very Day
The ‘Grim up north’ trope reminds of Northern England’s story of endless decline. In reality, the region produced immense wealth through the likes of textiles, steel, coal and shipbuilding. Influential industrialists’ fortunes rivalled those in [more…]
Fiction
Bombs and Betrayal, Chapter Four
The Prime Minister picked up the phone on the desk. “Find the Home Secretary and ask him to return to the meeting room.” It was five minutes before he seated at the table. “Peter, Mr. [more…]
Arts
Ivory Cutlery’s Day Off – We Need To Talk About Bordeaux
Greetings pop pickers (from the hot and steamy Côte d’Azur on the stunning Mediterranean coastline of southeastern France) and please be welcome to tonight’s Fabulously Flamboyant Friday and yet another of our groin-polished googlies from [more…]