Democracy
Keeping It in The Families
Your humble author and Imelda Marcos have been in the same place at the same time only once. Thirty years ago the trade winds had tempted a much younger me to a dusty road beside [more…]
Always Worth Saying
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Journey’s End
As every schoolboy knows, off the southern coast of the province of Cadiz the 3rd August 1704 ended briskly as Sir George Rooke’s fleet bombarded the Spanish isthmus of Gibraltar. The following morning, 1,900 English [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 23rd June 2022 The Panel: Rachel Maclean (Conservative) Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour) Anne Boden (Starling Bank) Ben Habib (Businessman) Mick Lynch (RMT) Venue: Stratford-upon-Avon Don’t mock our football team. Yes, three of us are [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Nineteen
Parador Torremolinos As we near journey’s end (can Puffins tell where we’re going to yet and why?), the final photo from the previous edition of Nostalgia Album is reproduced below. Depicted, is an unprepossessing single-story [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 16th June 2022 The Panel: Robert Jennrick (Conservative) Matt Vicars (Conservative) Thangham Debbonaire (Labour) Ella Whelan (Commentator) Richard Walker (Iceland Foods) Alison Thewliss (SNP) Venue: Newcastle Upon Tyne Your humble reviewer once lived [more…]
Arts
Blair’s Reset Britain Coup d’État
A Suburban Street in South London Guess which will be the most well-financed political party in Britain in 2022? You’re wrong. Read on. While researching rubber-faced horror movie butler Rory Stewart for the weekly hour [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Eighteen
Reaching The Coast Standing beside the Mediterranean after a monster journey from Carlisle at the other end of the European continent, we spy a railway line. The year is 1952, the location is near Málaga [more…]
Journalism
Outing An Agenda
I struggle to warm to Jurgen Klopp. Until a recent unseasonably chill Monday morning, I wasn’t sure why. Friends assume it’s because he is Liverpool manager. Far from it. Although the club, capped by fans [more…]
20th Century
Nostalgia Album, Part Seventeen
Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid As long-suffering Puffins were finishing off last week’s episode of Nostalgia Album ( Aranda de Duero to Madrid) which terminated at the Plaza de Cibeles, thousands of Madridistas were gathering at [more…]