What a difference a panic makes. Last Thursday, I decided I’d go shopping on my way home. As I approached the turn, I noticed that there was a queue of cars going the same way; they were coming in from every conceiveable direction. Reluctantly, I joined the stuttering, coughing procession and turned up Radio 3 […]

George Galloway shouldn’t be a Member of Parliament. Apart from his overblown theatrics, his comic turn as a cat on Big Brother, and his incessant desire for the limelight, he simply is not an effective representative for his constituents. As the non-partisan “They Work for You” website makes clear, when he was the MP for […]

I remember 1997. I know what it was like to live under the last Conservative government. I recall when “Tory” and “sleaze” were synonymous. I recollect with disgust the antics of Neil and Christine Hamilton, Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick and “Cash for Questions”. I also remember Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer perjuring themselves and […]

On Monday, David Cameron made a rather rambling and long winded speech; my other half and I watched snippets of it on the BBC News at Ten. I sighed; she said, “I’ve been to so many of these,” with a touch of weariness in her voice. While I don’t have her experience of working for […]

Every so often, I use an iPad app to listen to American talk radio: I believe it’s a good way to find out what people on the other side of the Atlantic are thinking. This past week, I wanted an explanation for why Rick Santorum was doing so well in places like Alabama and Mississippi, […]

I haven’t written much through the course of 2011 as it has been a year of massive change. As I type out these words, I’m living in a different home than I was a little over a week ago. On Monday, I’ll be starting a new career with a new company. And all this is […]

Far from being happy about the violence, most of the students at Demolition 2010 were outraged by what happened, such as the throwing of a fire extinguisher off the roof at police, as this video demonstrates clearly:

I am writing this a few hours after arriving home from the Demolition 2010 demonstration in London, which was organised to protest the tripling of student fees. So far as I can tell, the narrative about the event has been decidedly negative: pictures of students attacking the headquarters of the Conservative Party at Millbank Tower […]

It’s long been forgotten, but there was a mini-recession between 2000 and early 2003. It occurred largely due to the dot com bust, an event which seems a mere firecracker going off in comparison to the nuclear detonation that is our present crisis. However, I was negatively affected by the downturn: the company for which […]

This blog post is being written as the sun is setting over the Mersey. Outside my hotel room window, I can see the last hints of orange and pale blue fade out on the horizon: the streetlamps are lit, there is a distinct chill in the air. Another day is over, and the city is […]