Increasing taxes and death are the only constants in our lives and it follows that none of us very much care for either. No one likes paying tax – and especially not a wealth tax like the mansion tax. We already have a direct tax system which is very broad. Our income is taxed. Then…
The greatest legacy of New Labours 13 year reign is that they kept us out of the Euro – albeit by fluke because Tony Blair was elected on adopting the Euro and it was central to his ambitions – but he was scuppered by Gordon Brown out of spite and not for any economic or…
The preponderance of ‘posh’ actors is a subject of an ongoing debate. Rather appropriately, ‘posh’ actors are in the spotlight? Indeed, such ‘posh’ success could easily be extended to all areas of public life, (half of our Olympic medal winners hailed from private schools) – politicians and the media are mostly ‘posh’ and don’t get…
I was recently asked by one of my boys – ‘Dad, what is politics?’ I sighed because what a huge question and thought, where to start? But this morning, the answer hit me with the news that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died – a death which I imagine few people listening to BBCR5…
A period drama to me means two things. It is either a dowdy film where actors usually take things far too seriously and almost always speak too poshly – or it is a time of the month (not each month) that I will ‘never understand’ and where I can do nothing right for the lady…
This is a picture of me today. Unless I am in Cuba or Miami – whenever I see a man with shoes, trousers and no socks then I always think – ‘what a knob.’ I once saw Brian Ferry on Wardour Street without socks and I even thought it then. So why me now and on…
It is good to have a novel on the go. Writing one I mean as well as reading one. And having just published my latest, Open Links, I have a few ideas for my next book but nothing concrete and I have no plans to start typing and tinkering away my up the mountain that…
Whether we have freedom of speech or not was amply demonstrated this week by the fact that not a single media outlet dared to publish the cartoons that were apparently so offensive that people have been executed because of them. I am now crowing about a gutless media here. If I had copies of the…
As a family of six – we are heavily armed with mobile phones. Gone are the days of the landline, the answerphone, the pay phone not-to-mention the idea that thinking our kids are safe. Now we all have phones including our kids. And with phones comes contracts and with contracts comes direct debits from companies…
It is that time again. Time when we all take a little moment to reflect on the previous year and possibly regret what we have not managed to sustain or achieve – and if so, then to look ahead with some optimism – real or imagined? I start every year with an abundance of determination and…
