You might have read some of the other entries here and thought "what is this guy on about". That’s for sure the way I feel when reading many blogs! So here’s an idea to do something about it. There are 2 tests that give a good idea of what a […]
Recent Posts
Why Europe (but not the people) will run the 21st century
It is seldom that you come across a political book as clear and straightforward in its prognosis as Mark Leonard’s "Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century". The chapters flow with a clarity that is unusual for such a book, and it for sure really makes you think. But there […]
If CNN is the face of globalisation??
??then we have to be quite worried. I am thankfully sheltered from CNN at home in London (the joy of terrestrial TV, and choosing your news sources on the internet) but come across it from time to time on my travels and never cease to be shocked what a heady […]
The ending of youth – now even in political terms
Each and every one of us has to cross the bridge at some point. From the security in the relative innocence of youth, we traverse to arrive in the hard world of adult life and realise all of what we have been ‘building’ for years actually counts for very little. […]
The End of Faith
Some sort of deep scepticism about religion – not in terms of definition of whether God exists, but rather a concern about the institutions of religion – has been growing in my thoughts for some years. The book “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason” by […]
Glorious Britain? Don’t think so
I am on my way out of London for a fortnight. I have been looking forward to this escape so much, and my determination to get away has been hugely amplified by the total mess that is Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3 on a Friday afternoon. It is beyond me how […]
The NHS – almost too swift?
I wrote about my first experiences of the NHS in Lambeth / Clapham in a post a little while ago. Referral to the minor surgery clinic in Grantham Road, Stockwell, took a little more than a week to sort out, and getting the appointment made was very swift.
Fat people in the air, luggage and duty free [UPDATED, 29.07.2005]
Following on from my other post about getting on planes… What are we supposed to do about other problems that afflict flying, namely luggage allocations, overweight passengers, and duty free?
Fear on the Tube
It’s quite a horrid place at the best of times, but travel on the London Underground has become really more fraught than ever now. This article from BBC News Online is an excellent summary of how people are feeling, and how odd the situation can become. I have a particular […]
Welcome to multi-lingual blogging with gimmicks!
From today you will notice a whole series of new links at the end of every post – machine translations into the languages that people visiting this blog are likely to speak. The technology is of course not perfect, but I hope that there links will be more than just […]
London attacks – we must not lose our heads [UPDATED, 25.07.2005]
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…"Rudyard Kipling, 1910 Never before have those words seemed so apt. For my fear today is that the country is starting to lose its head in its reaction to the second round of attempted bombings (21st July) and […]
Boris Johnson and the world of UK & EU political blogs
It seems that blogging has not really taken off in UK politics yet. Boris Johnson, now free from the mistress and the work he had to put in on the Conservative front bench has given it a go though, and in typical style his comments about how the UK should […]
If you wanted to usher in an autocratic new regime, I can't think of any better pretext than what 'Yellowhammer' lays out. Chaos and shortages, riots and delays. https://t.co/J6R4ZhotcW
Super fun few hours discussing railways and Serbia with @fabianvendrig and Dejan from @KlubBeograd - at Dunav and Pancevo. Fascinating history!
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