Food for thought: adding relish to speedway

Does speedway really deliver the full customer experience? In terms of the on-track action, spectators are treated to around 15 minutes of full-blooded, adrenalin-charged entertainment. But what of the remainder of the spectacle, and how better can promoters exploit the lulls in between the action to ensure that additional revenue streams are maximised and that … Read more

You’re gonna have to face it you’re addicted to … something.

Smugly tucking into my steak, I looked across the table at my dinner guest and uttered a stunningly stupid question, “What made you an addict?” My friend sublimely staved off any urge to punch me in the face and simply responded, “You first. What made you an addict?” My enforced silence no doubt accompanied a … Read more

Affairs of the heart: a nutritional guide to elicit nookie.

An affair should be, I assume, a combination of lurid lust, scintillating sex, frenzied fantasy, and riotous risk. The pulsing of the typically in and out experience, with secrecy secured by perhaps a preference for a backdoor entry, requires an energy that needs a ready supply of ─ literally and metaphorically ─ fucking fuel. So, … Read more

Calling out the Big C

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Cancer – there, I said it. According to the most recent research reported in the British Journal of Cancer, over half of us under the age of sixty-five will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in our lifetime. If you manage to dodge this bullet there is a significant chance that you will know … Read more

Beating the bully

My first recollection of the term ‘bully’ was from the pages of The Dandy, my must-read childhood comic. “Bully Beef and Chips,” created by Jimmy Hughes, first appeared in 1967 and reflected the story of two boys in seemingly constant conflict – the aggressor, a pudding basin haired brute called Bully Beef, and the victim, … Read more

Fame! I’m gonna live forever … “How close to immortality can we get?”

Who hasn’t, at some time in their lives, contemplated immortality? Fiction is littered with such characters – Count Dracula, Dr Who, The Highlander, to name but a few – so I guess this question has fascinated many authors too. According to the peer reviewed ‘Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy’, “Immortality is the indefinite continuation of a … Read more

The Bard and broccoli: it’s an age thing …

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” As these magical words, uttered by Romeo, swirled around the intimate auditorium of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, on the banks of the River Thames, my mind wandered – to broccoli. The reason this unassuming vegetable dominated my thoughts … Read more

A slide into swinging …

I recently linked my in-car audio system to Spotify. How rock n’ roll am I? I often create my own montage of hits whilst thumping the steering wheel and singing aloud, or just humming when I don’t know the words. I’ll even fess up to getting a few lyrics totally wrong, although to be fair … Read more