Uncategorized
What is a Real Football Fan?
I was told the other day that I’m not a proper supporter of Reading FC. This life-altering judgement came after I had the audacity to suggest that until the playing style improves, I won’t be paying to watch it. A reckless opinion, clearly. There was a time when that sort of accusation would have ruined my week. I’d have come back swinging with a full catalogue of loyalty. Cold Tuesday nights, grim away days, matches so dull they ...
Dirty Business – The Great Sell-Off
I am old enough to remember water privatisation in the late 1980s. It was sold as modernisation. Crumbling Victorian infrastructure would be renewed. Efficiency would improve. And as a bonus, ordinary people could make a quick profit by buying shares. Fishermen, rowers, surfers and nature lovers were worried. Banks, hedge funds and speculators were delighted. Most of the country shrugged and changed the channel, wondering what Den and Angie ...
Billionaires and the Cult of Jealousy
I’ve realised something over the years. A fair chunk of billionaires don’t just want to be rich. They want to be untouchable. Question them and you’re either jealous or a communist. That’s the playbook. Take Jim Ratcliffe. Raise concerns about tax, integrity his divisive (let’s face it, racist) rhetoric and the comments fill up with frothing defenders who can barely write, telling us Jim is only saying what we’re all thinking. ...
So This Is Fine: Trump, Term Two, and the Calm Before the Midterms
Donald Trump is now well into his second term, the desk once again occupied by a man who treats the Constitution like terms and conditions he didn’t bother to read. We are now trundling cheerfully towards the mid-terms like passengers on a bus with no brakes not knowing what is coming next. If it feels surreal, that’s because it is. This is no longer a warning from history, this is the bit that future documentaries will pause on, lower ...
The Watchtower Café at Greenham Common – History with a View
There aren’t many places where you can sip a latte and eat a sausage roll whilst sitting in the garden area of a former Cold War control tower. Well, that’s exactly what I did with a couple of dog walking friends, Dave and Paul, at Greenham Common today. The Watchtower Café, part of the Greenham Common Control Tower visitor centre, is what a tourist information centre would describe as having a unique blend of heritage, community, and ...