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What is Populism and Why is it so Powerful?
Behind Brexit, Populism must be one of the most used words of 2016. If you watch TV or follow social media news outlets, you will have heard it several times, sometimes loosely, others sincerely, but it has been there throughout 2016, particularly after the referendum vote in June and the US election in November. I had never really heard the term much before this year, perhaps occasionally from France, courtesy of the Le Pen family, with ...
The Jolly Lives of Winchester Pub Racists!
Jennifer and I went to Winchester yesterday to do a bit of mooching around and generally to get in to a bit of Christmas spirit. Winchester is a nice old place but in my opinion, it does do 'organic' and 'bohemian' to the point of overkill. The thriving Christmas market was packed with little wooden huts selling all sorts of trinkets and I couldn't help but wonder that if you did a trolley dash around the Poundland Christmas decorations aisle ...
An Away Day at Fulham FC
I went to my first football match in almost a year on Saturday, travelling to Craven Cottage, the riverside home of Fulham FC, with my son, George. Going to Fulham away is always a pleasure as it involves a train journey into London and a trip to some great old pubs that still maintain a traditional feel about them. If I am honest, football is just an excuse for the day out. My journey started in Andover with a two mile walk to the train ...
Autumn Bows Out Under a Polar Vortex!
Well that's another autumn done with as the meteorological winter commences. It has been a funny old season, with temperatures in the south ranging between 34 centigrade in September and falling as low as -9 centigrade on the last day of November. I quite enjoyed the few hard frosts we had this week and as a measure of how desperate middle aged life is, I looked forward to trying on my new thermal socks with what can only be described as ...
Fidel Castro – One Man’s Freedom Fighter is Another Man’s Dictator
When I was young, I used to pick up a lot of alternative history and political ideology from music, which can be a good and bad thing because whilst some of it was well-meaning, much of it was a load of idealistic bollocks by musicians who later depressed the shit out of you by sending their kids to London's top fee paying schools. The Clash were a great band to pick up snippets of history and politics from and whilst the road to enlighten...