What should we talk about today?
The world according to Kirkey
If Part One was the warm up lap, this is where the memories start sprinting. Bracknell in the 80s wasn’t just a place — it was a full contact sport. Robberies, dodgy motors, youth clubs, blasting The Specials, and me trying to look competent in a Vauxhall Chevette that handled like a shopping trolley with … Read more
Some towns never really let you go. Bracknell is one of mine. I left it, returned to it, loved in it, worked in it, and lost in it. I went for a stroll around Bracknell then like a budget Forrest Gump I kept on going – well at least for 9 miles. What propelled me … Read more
In my later years I’ve become a seasoned crier – not just at football, but in the full, messy, human sprawl of life. Films, family moments, unexpected kindness, the odd existential wobble… they can all set me off. Sure, I’ve shed a tear or two at matches over the years, but I’m not the sort … Read more
There’s a particular kind of moral contortionism doing laps on my social media feed — a sort of ideological Pilates where people bend themselves into shapes the human spine was never designed for. Anything, it seems, to avoid confronting the central, unavoidable truth: That Nigel Farage’s rhetoric preceded — and in my view helped inflame … Read more
A story for my children and those that fear loneliness. Recently I attended a networking event that reminded me why I don’t like these affairs. In an effort to shell out at least two of the business cards I’d remembered to bring, I struck up a conversation with a fellow attendee. I did my best … Read more
We’ve built a culture where generosity waits for a spectacle, as if suffering must be performed before compassion can be released. Are you a sucker for the spectacle? There’s a particular British ritual that plays out with the reliability of rain on a bank holiday weekend. Someone linked to your social structure who inevitably engages … Read more
Luck is the unreliable strike partner we never asked for but can’t drop. From philosophers to psychologists, everyone’s been trying to explain why some people seem to ride its wave while others get flattened by it. There’s a moment every football fan recognises. You’re in the away end, rain slicing sideways, the pitch looking like … Read more
An exploration of sunk costs, stubborn loyalty, and the psychology of sticking with things long after they’ve stopped serving us. There’s a moment – usually around episode three – when I know. I instinctively grasp that the Netflix series I’ve committed my evening to is going nowhere. The plot is staggering around like a Notts … Read more
I was a late entrant into the cyber world of social media. Like a reluctant guest at a party who ends up hogging the karaoke machine, once I was in, I was hooked. I became a cheerleader, pom poms aloft, shouting into the digital void. But let’s be clear: my online persona – save one … Read more
I still fill up when Notts County emerge from the players’ tunnel. That moment, the roar of the crowd, the ritual of anticipation — it should be shared with the man who was always beside me. My best friend. My dad. But he isn’t there anymore. The void he left never truly goes away. In … Read more