Blogs

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day… the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question. Wow, it’s a bit grim out there. For once, I’m not just talking about …

Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety. Some weeks there are so many things happening ‘out-there’ that require comment, that I’m never sure where to start, nor which to choose. This is one of them. So, this week’s missive will be something of a smorgasbord, a picnic, if …

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. Like any right-minded middle-class girl, I went to the sea-side on my holidays. Shame it was the weekend where the south coast was beset with 45 …

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery Has the UK home-owning love-affair with all-things DIY and renovation cooled? Have the charms of the new bathroom, the redesigned garden or the outdoor kitchen paled in …

On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones. Looking back over the last few UK Prime Ministers, each one of …

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely Some people go into politics because they want to make a difference. To make the world a slightly better place for the people around them. Others go into politics because they want to be in power, for it to be their …

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing I don’t really know where to begin with this one. Is it a part of being human that we get used to things that once horrified us? Are we hard-wired to become inured to …

Because no matter who we are or where we come from, we’re all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy land to call home. Dr Crane must be spinning in his grave. It was the eminent Georgian physician who, along …

‘Til we have built JerusalemIn England’s green and pleasant land The battlelines are being drawn up, the weapons of choice hard-hats, architects’ plans, planning directives and bulldozers. Sir Kier Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, is putting part of his push to be our next Prime Minister onto the side …

The longer it takes, the more time I get to spend with him I was chatting to someone yesterday who asked me where I get the ideas for these blogs from. They wanted to know whether I had a lot of topics to cover, or whether it was more on-the-hoof, …