I was feeling a bit rough before Christmas. A complex tooth extraction, ongoing tinnitus, and a general sense of fragility conspired to make me feel vulnerable, weak and for the first time, properly my age. Someone said to me that the real problem with getting ailments and taking longer to recover as we get older is that we’re not used to it, so we don’t know how to cope. Nailed it. For those of us from the “just get on with it” ...
I hear plenty of people tearing strips off the NHS. Yes, it has its flaws. It’s overstretched, underfunded, and sometimes feels like it runs on goodwill and duct tape—but here’s the truth. My recent experience was brilliant.
It all started in spring when I went deaf in my left ear. Like any self-respecting British man in denial of mortality, I panicked. Convinced it was a an electrical fault in my head or a brain spider, I booked an ...
There are few things more depressing than watching a Simon Reeve documentary with the dawning realisation that your country has been run like a car boot sale by people who think “long-term strategy” means making it to Friday without a scandal. His recent journey through Norway was one of those eye-popping, blood-boiling spectacles that leaves you shouting at the telly, then Googling ‘Norway Wealth’ just to confirm he’s not lying.
A ...
Nothing says “we mean business” like a government press release dripping with righteous fury at water companies… followed immediately by doing absolutely nothing to change the rotten system they helped create.
Ministers are once again donning their hi-vis vests of performative outrage, promising fines, accountability, and tough talk about “cracking down” on those naughty water firms who—oopsie!—keep pumping raw sewage into our ...
You might want to start getting used to the idea of 40°C heat in the UK—because according to a new Met Office study, it's becoming less of a freak occurrence and more of a recurring nightmare. Yes, I know, climate change, yawn, fake news, “it was hotter in 1976”, etc. But before you finish typing “scaremongering” in the comments, allow me to explain—with facts, not what a bloke in a foil hat and a YouTube account thinks.
What ...
