Ear, ear!

I don’t have many features that may be considered by the opposite sex as standout sexy. Although a lady did ask me once if I’d had my ears pinned back as a kid. I hadn’t, but I treated this as a back handed complement as, in my opinion, my ears are rather well positioned on … Read more

Getting the lowdown on Down’s

The older I get, the crankier and more miserable I appear to become. I would like to be able to put this down to old age, yet the reality is that I have sometimes allowed my mindset to perpetuate this notion, since not everyone I know of a similar age is necessarily so. COVID-19 has … Read more

Imagine that …

What a goal! Off the upright, into the bottom corner! A Les Bradd piledriver from just outside the box with only minutes remaining! I couldn’t contain my excitement and did a lap of the garage in celebration. My Notts County Subbuteo table football team were invincible! Each plastic figure, hand painted in the famous black … Read more

NHS: SWALK

I admit that I clapped under sufferance. Not because I wasn’t in awe of our brilliant NHS but more so the nagging feeling that this was no more than an orchestrated token of appreciation. Formed on 5th July 1948, a result of the 1942 Beveridge cross-party report, and launched by Labour’s Minister of Health Aneurin … Read more

Oh, what a lonely boy: Dismissing the M*A*S*H doctrine

When I first heard ‘Lonely Boy’ by Andrew Gold I was instantly hooked on the simply brilliant rock ballad. In 1977 a fair few people agreed with me since It peaked at number 7 in the US and reached 11th spot in the UK charts. According to its discography the lyrics which engaged with the … Read more

Shafted: good karma wears sensible shoes

Being deceived, duped, conned, or shafted isn’t pleasant. But if you have been you are in damn good company. In 30 BC, according to Plutarch, Cleopatra misled her protector Epaphroditus and committed suicide. Prime Minister Anthony Eden was duped by Harold Macmillan during the Suez Crisis of 1956 resulting in the latter getting the top … Read more