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Much benevolence of the passive order, may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain on oneself I’m currently sifting through my reams of notes from the NMBS Conference in order that our report in the July issue gives a proper flavour of what was said, by whom to those …

The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, What was he thinking? Was he badly advised? Where were the PR people who could tell him what the optics would look like? Did he ignore them? Think he knew better? Or just thought he could blag his way through it all? News …

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good luck! 6 am June 6, 2024. Gatwick Airport, Surrey. Thousands of people queuing, waiting – some patiently, some impatiently – for what is about to come. Clutching …

They have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the discourse. It’s a truth, universally accepted, that you …

the rain came plunging through the leaves as if every drop were a great leaden bead. We’ve known for ages that there would be a General Election this year. There has to be, as the five years since Boris Johnson’s triumphant ‘Get Brexit Done’ demolishing of the red wall, is …

At ev’ry word a reputation dies Future historians may well look back on the decades at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st as the Cover-Up Years. The decades when wrong-doing – whether deliberate or simply people doing a bad job – was hidden, obfuscated, …

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interest Are we in a recession or are we out of a recession? Were we in a recession or were we just teetering on the …

Water, water, every where Nor ‘eer a drop to drink It’s another rant about the water industry I’m afraid. Stop me (actually don’t) if you’ve heard this all before (and I’ve definitely used the quote before), but bear with me, I will get to it. We’re very used, in this …

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. When I grow up, I want to be a builder’s merchant. Said very few school children ever. Apart from the ones whose family name is over the door, I suppose. Even so, I …

And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England’s mountains green? For a party that started out as the champion of the downtrodden worker, the Labour Party is rather fond of gold. As in Golden Rules which have to be met before certain things happen. In some cases, these …