If a day is a long time in politics; how long is a few measly hours in the housing market. Last night’s Evening Standard bore the headline that ‘house prices are plummeting’ due to the new stamp duty. Yet this morning’s Times, just a few hours later, informs us that ‘house prices are rising’ due – Read More-
I’m setting up a new charity. Its really great. I want to improve the lives of savages living in the wilds of the Third World, because they’re not very civilised. And I’m not talking Radlett here, but really wild places like Birmingham and Scotland. Oh, apparently Africa is more needy, so we’ll go there instead. – Read More-
This is Shayan Moradisohi. He walked past the commemorative site in London where tributes had been laid in honour of Mr & Mrs Stocker who had died in the Tunisia beach massacre, and helped himself to a couple of bunches of flowers. Well they were just kind’a lying around on the floor. Hundreds of them. – Read More-
The picture of the Duke of Windsor performing a Nazi salute in Germany in 1937 is far more telling than those of Princess Elizabeth performing the same act in her back garden in 1933. Writing your name on a piece of paper is of no consequence. Unless that piece of paper is a cheque for – Read More-
I generally like Australians. They’re good people. Upbeat. Happy. Bright. Fun. Optimistic. There are always exceptions; you can’t like an entire nation, but for every revolting Mel Gibson, there’s always a Kylie to redress the balance. For every Kerry Packer there’s an Olivia Newton John. For every Shane Warne, a limp Jason Donovan. But when – Read More-
Every now and again I need an ‘old git’ moment. You know: ‘why is the world so different’, ‘nostalgia was so much better back in the old days’, ‘who needs more than three tv channels anyway?’, I prefer to watch football in black and white cos that’s when Spurs win’. Dating. Courting. Going out. Pulling. – Read More-
I’m interested in the election of Tim Farron (who?) as the new leader of the Lib-dems. Very interested. He was voted on Thursday, it was in the papers yesterday. By this morning it has been relegated to the ‘un-newsworthy’. No longer of interest. They’re talking about Pluto, they’re talking about cricketing catastrophes, they’re talking about – Read More-
I wish I understood where ‘anti-austerity’ comes from. I really do. In my over-simplified, semi-random, firing-on-three-cylinder mind there’s a deep-seated understanding that if you borrow money you pay it back. Unless you can get out of it, obviously. But pay it back you must. Otherwise you’ll get arrested/jailed/beaten up/have fingers removed with wire-cutters. Metaphorically if – Read More-
President Obama wants to ‘leave a legacy’. They all do. Presidents, that is. They want to be remembered. They want history to label them as ‘the person who inspired this’, or ‘the man who did that’. Its a high-level vanity thing. You’ve got the most powerful job in the world, how can you manipulate things – Read More-
They’ve sent a probe to Pluto. I hope that makes you happy. The last planet (?) of our solar system is about to be revealed, in all its distant glory. They’ve argued for years whether Pluto should be admitted to that rather exclusive club, the ‘planets of our solar system’ because its not really that – Read More-