Health
Coronavirus – the first thousand days
The earliest stats on the coronavirus that I can find – numbers of cases and deaths – were recorded by John Hopkins university on 19th January 2020, with 204 cases and 3 deaths. There are [more…]
Politics
20th Century
Inquest on Aachen
On 27 October, 1944 my uncle John Alldridge reported from Aaachen for the Manchester Evening News. Six days previously, Aachen had become the first German city to be captured by the Western Allies. – Jerry [more…]
Democracy
OTF (Own Two Feet) Party, Part Ten
Introduction This article is a self-confessed flight of fancy and almost certainly impossible, but maybe can be a springboard to spark other ideas. We already have intellectual property rights for music etc etc. I propose [more…]
Authoritarianism
Evil beyond measure
Mrs R and I have a mutual friend of many years who knows both of us extremely well. For the sake of brevity, let us call her “A”. This came home when we were having [more…]
Labour
Labour’s greatest achievement
These days Labour claims the minimum wage as its greatest achievement. Prior to this they claimed starting the NHS was up there at the pinnacle and some still do. The minimum wage is the reason [more…]
Economics
Pipeline Sabotage and the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
In the course of history there sometimes occurs events that are monumentally important yet were hardly noticed by much of the world at the time. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 went [more…]
Economics
OTF (Own Two Feet) Party, Part Nine
Climate I think most of us accept that the world climate is mostly out of our control and the sun will do what the sun wants to do. There are local changes, but these are [more…]
Conservatives
The Frank Report XXXVIII
Welcome to another edition of The Frank Report – you find me reporting live from Westminster, where it’s been a busy week. They say you learn on the job, and let’s hope for Liz Truss [more…]
Authoritarianism
Burning heretics
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” We live in very strange times indeed. The United Kingdom applies some of the most draconian libel laws in the Western world, while [more…]