Blogs

The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn’t been here twelve hours and already they loved me There are some things that the British do better than anyone else. And Monday September 19th was one …

This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-Paradise. Some weeks nothing happens. You get up, go to work, come home, shout at the children, go to bed and start all over again. Nothing of note happens. Last week …

The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope. OUT: Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries, Dominic Raab, Greg Clark, Johnny Mercer, Grant Shapps IN: Kwasi Kwarteng, Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat, Teresa Colley, James Cleverly It’s over, finally. The long hot Summer, the dying embers of the Johnson era are doused. The …

It was a hot summer nightAnd the beach was burning Back in the good old days – pre-2013- the definition of ‘fuel poverty’ was someone who was regularly spending 10% or more of their household income on fuel to run their homes. Since the surging energy bills of the last …

What can extreme temperatures mean for masonry construction – and what advice can merchants pass onto customers working with bricks and concrete over the summer months?  The weather is always the go-to talking point for us Brits – the recent heatwave and blanket media coverage reinforced for us just how …

A statesman in these days has a difficult task. He has to pursue the policy he deems advantageous to his country, but he has at the same time to recognize the force of popular feeling. Popular feeling is very often sentimental, muddleheaded, and eminently unsound, but it cannot be disregarded …

Chris Hayward, CEO, NMBS looks at the issue of housing   This week the news has broken that both Conservative leadership contenders have ditched the party’s manifesto promise to build 300,000 homes a year in England by the mid-2020s.   Cue a certain amount of eye rolling among independent builders …

“It’s coming home, it’s coming home” Just over 10 years ago, I sat, starry-eyed and briming with pride and sheer joy, as the Opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics took place. On Sunday evening, I did the same thing, watching the Lionesses – in current parlance – bring football …

Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule. There are so many phrases to describe the situation that we seem to be in at the moment with regards to the leader of our great nation. Horns of a dilemma, Hobsons Choice, lesser of two evils…. In essence, …

Yes I am a dreamer For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, sees the dawn before the rest of the world. Complaining about the weather is a very British pastime: it’s too cold, it’s too wet, it’s too foggy, too snowy and now, too hot. …