I am NOT the Beastmaster!: back when I was new to the Interweb I read the comics USENET groups. One of the most reliably perceptive writers there was a guy called Marc Singer, and when I stopped reading the newsgroups I… forgot all about him. U[…]

David Gill (Man. Utd. Chief Exec) is advocating the re-organisation of the Champions League again (towards the foot of the piece). Fundamentally, what they’re after is a competition in which the largest, richest clubs play each other very regul[…]

Full Circle: some of you may remember my top 100 singles of the 90s*, which I put together to stave off the onset of a depressive episode back in Summer 1999 and give myself some self-discipline. It worked, and also got this website up and running, p[…]

Greyhounds
We all have romantic notions of travel. Often it’s best to keep them this way. Reality can pinprick those dreams. Mine was a Greyhound tour of the States. For years I’d thought about it; the interesting characters I’d mee[…]

Coming to Club Popular on Thursday? Well, now you can sing along![…]

So if you’ve taken my advice and wandered up to Cork Street in London’s Mayfair to look at the giant jelly babies, please take a few minutes to have a look at the Redfern Gallery. The main show at the moment is a series of very simple wor[…]

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM GROWING MY OWN BASIL
1. Pinch off the top of your plant after 4 sets of leaves to make it more bushy and less beanpoley
2. If you buy cheapo compost from Poundland, you will get a bonus crop of mushrooms[…]

ANTHEMS (Part 4 of 4)
Continued from New York London Paris Munich
—
ENVOI
A conclusion to this somewhat forced ramble might better belong somewhere else than here, but there is no political blog as such (or at least not a permanent one) here an[…]

ANTHEMS (Part 3 of 4)
Continued from Do You See?
—
DURUTTI COLUMN
“Royal Infirmary”
MARK HOLLIS
“A Life (1895-1915)”
PIANO MAGIC
“Artists’ Rifles”
The extent of World War I’s impact in the British[…]

ANTHEMS (Part 2 of 4)
Continued from The Brown Wedge
—
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Dir. Lewis Milestone
The first version of this story I saw — though I barely remember anything about it, I was only eight at the time and didn’t h[…]