19th Century
Gertrude Bell: the uncrowned Queen of Iraq
This is the first article since the railway series went into the sidings, and we are now well overdue an article on the fairer sex. So, this week we bring to you a lady who [more…]
Blog
Conservatives
Tory Bad Boys – the Intro
Conventional wisdom used to be that Labour’s scandals always involved money and Tory scandals were always of a sexual nature. The last few decades have blown that out of the water. All sides, including those [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Three Hundred And Thirty-Nine
Monday Good morning, my happy readers. Well, the weather seems to have changed for what, to me, is much improved. The sky over Downing Street is clear blue this morning and it’s pleasantly warm. But [more…]
Literature
Postcard From Jerry, Part Four
A Tokyo love hotel cuddling a pristine metro station would have been ideal. But hard to find in a de-industrial northern English town during the twilight zone that lies between last orders and sunrise. Usually [more…]
Fiction
Bombs and Betrayal, Chapter Fifteen
Sally and Dave were both quiet, before they went to bed, she asked if he had decided what to do. “Yes, I will see Jane first, try for more money, make sure everything is agreed, [more…]
Business
Plutocracy, Power, Property and Place
The phrase ‘grim up north’ lingers in the national imagination and conjures images of soot-stained skylines, struggling towns, and industries long past their prime. Yet this caricature of tired decline obscures another, less frequently told [more…]
20th Century
TANKFEST 2026 & The Tank Museum, Pt 2
The Tank Museum itself is worth a visit, regardless of whether there’s an event taking place or not. It’s a very large museum and could easily take a full day to explore if you want [more…]
Conservatives
Labour’s bad boys – Part 25 The Outro
Well we reach the end of our squint at the misdemeanours of our elected representatives of the socialist persuasion. This is far from an exhaustive list or there would have been hundreds of names. I [more…]
Elections
Opinion Polls – The Methodology and Reliability
The previous piece on opinion polls looked at who commissions opinion polls and what might be their motivations. This second piece is about how opinion polls are conducted and how reliable they are. Let us [more…]