Fiction
Jinnie’s Story – Book Three, Chapter Twelve
Larry woke early on Monday morning, he had a feeling that everything was OK and Jinnie would be back later this morning. He didn’t know why or how but he was certain she would be [more…]
Blog
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 25th March 2022 The Panel: Damian Hines (Conservative) Lisa Nandy (Labour) Kate Andrews (The Spectator) Dom Joly (Comedian) Mark Serwokta (PCS Union) Venue: Reading Puffins often wonder, in the unread comments nested below [more…]
Hobbies
Board Game Review: Twilight Struggle
If you think of board games, traditional favourites such as Monopoly, Cluedo or Risk probably come to mind. However, in the late 1990s and 2000s a new generation of board games started being developed that [more…]
20th Century
South Pole or Bust
Another chapter from “Special Assignment” by my uncle John Alldridge (published in 1960 and now long out of print) The special correspondent is a modest chap. He’ll tell you that he’s only a reporter watching [more…]
Arts
Playing in the Band (For Fun) – Epilogue
As my pair of articles about playing in bands accumulated a decent number of votes in the GP Autumn Competition, and there were some interesting reactions at the time of publication, I’ve written one more, [more…]
Economics
Is gold too expensive?
Over the last couple of years we witnessed quite an extraordinary ride in gold prices. An impressive ascent until the last quarter of 2020 was followed by a pullback that scared many speculators away, which [more…]
Collecting
A View From The Greenhouse; This Sporting Life
Life carries on much as normal, given the increasingly bizarre times we live in. The weather, thankfully, has picked up and jobs that have been on hold for a couple of weeks have risen to [more…]
Arts
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe & The Propaganda War Against Iran
The Mysterious Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe In the early hours of Thursday 17th March 2022, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire after a near six-year-long detention in her native Iran. Part of the time [more…]
Human Interest
The Driving Test
My daughter has just passed her driving test and I felt it worthwhile writing about the journey, especially the difference it makes. It took far longer than expected thanks to BJ and his clowns, nearly two [more…]