Blogs

It’s a free country, I told them. It isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else. I’m getting a real sense of deja-vu. 30+ years ago, I trekked into school to hole up in an office off the library where one of the few non-striking teachers ran a handful …

To lose one parent is unfortunate. To lose two seems like carelessness Why it is so hard for people in public service to just, you know, do their jobs. Properly. Thoroughly. With some idea of consequences, either for them or other people if they get it wrong. Is that so …

it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but takes away the performance. We’ve all had it. That slightly sweaty feel at the base of your spine, the wobbly feeling in your abdomen as you wonder whether it’ll be as good as expected, whether it’ll last long enough, or once …

the result of a series of choices, the sum of state neglect and corporate wrongdoing across a variety of areas, the epicentre of myriad defects in our social fabric I’m reading a fantastic book at the moment. Honestly, it’s one of those books that has the reader gasping with every …

The return of what has been stolen from us. The childhood of our children, the peaceful old ages of our parents. The year is 2035. The venue is the Fig and Duck Pub in the market town of Middle Whingeing. Yes, they do still have a few pubs – we’re …

Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. This is, I’m afraid, another rant. It’s a rant about infrastructure. Or rather, the lack of it, and the way what little there is seems to have completely broken down. Forgive …

I’ve written before about the Government’s new-but-not-exactly-revolutionary scheme to encourage householders to take up the challenge of making their homes more energy efficient. About how any publicity campaign is going to have its work cut out to make people prioritise insulating their lofts over spending on the garden, the car, …

Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. I spotted my neighbour the other morning, unplugging his electric Volvo before heading …

It’s that time of year again. The cold weather is officially here. As the temperature continues to drop, our DIYers will start thinking about those RMI tasks before the arrival of harsher weather. So, what advice can merchants be offering to customers to support this? Fence posts Now’s the time …

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Government is launching a new funded scheme to encourage householders to properly insulate their homes. Hurrah and huzzah. We’re all saved. The planet is saved. Except…it’s not …