20th Century
Labour’s bad boys – the intro
A series on Labour’s bad boys has been suggested. At first sight it seemed akin to climbing Everest, there are just so many but on reflection, as one of the current phrases goes, it is [more…]
21st Century
19th Century
Today’s 200th Anniversary of The Railway
This weekend sees the 200th anniversary of railways – or at least of the first steam locomotive-hauled passenger service, which took place on the Stockton to Darlington railway 200 years ago today (27th September). On [more…]
19th Century
Peter Mandelson – Something In The Genes?
Speaking at the launch of his memoir The Third Man, Life at The Heart of New Labour, which he only finished writing two weeks earlier, Peter Mandelson said, ‘It was a high wire act. Now [more…]
21st Century
A View (Some Miles Away) From The Greenhouse; We’re All “Far-Right” Now.
Recently I had occasion to visit the observatory at Langdale, a torturous ninety minute drive from home, along some of the very worst roads in Cumbria. It was almost all for naught, although the clouds [more…]
19th Century
The Shock of The Modern
Besides excitement and trauma, might the shock of the new also provide a synapse re-ordering adrenaline burst that remodels the brain? As a little boy the make-believe near-future modernist world of Thunderbirds (and the like) [more…]
20th Century
The Only One in The World?
I’m a great believer that surges of adrenaline reshape the connections in the brain in the way a deluge of flood water might reshape a river valley. You are not the same person after an [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1985
Featured song: David Bowie & Mick Jagger – Dancing In The Street This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 [more…]
20th Century
Always Worth Saying’s Railway Review
One tires of the streetcars of Paramaribo, the mineral railways of the Amazon, and even of rural Albania in the 1980s. Railway Review’s roving reportage shall change continents and seek excitement (but not too much) [more…]
21st Century
Big Boys’ Rules
In yet another BBC documentary on the subject, a Panorama edition entitled Special Forces: I Saw War Crimes dropped on 12th May and investigated serious allegations against UK Special Forces, in particular the SAS and [more…]