Write Stuff
A film to beat summer blues
Published 13 May 2008
Roll on summer 2008. Weeks of blue skies, sunshine and sweltering temperatures. Or perhaps not, this being Britain. But one thing we can look forward to is the long-awaited Sex and the City film.
Taxing poor is beyond debate
Published 12 May 2008
It’s really difficult to understand why the 10p tax band issue has raised such a massive level of interest, which seems to have had a disastrous effect on the Government’s fortunes in the local elections.
Trumpet call to join our band
Published 10 May 2008
Residents or businesses within earshot of Gilwilly Industrial Estate in Penrith may have been puzzled to hear the sound of a rousing brass band march on a Monday evening in recent weeks.
London’s gone Boris bonkers
Published 8 May 2008
It’s official! London is an idiot city. I have suspected it for years, but I thought I was alone in my low opinion of a population which travels underground like moles in total isolation from their fellow men despite being squashed together like the proverbial sardines.
Mad English – let’s celebrate
Published 7 May 2008
Mad dogs and Englishmen, wrote Noel Coward many years ago. Well actually, I think our dogs are fairly normal, whereas the people are definitely quite mad.
Easy life? It’s just existing
Published 6 May 2008
So prison life is too easy. This argument has reared its ugly head again after Gordon Brown scrapped a controversial pay rise for prisoners.
Diet show was hard to take
Published 3 May 2008
What do maple syrup, cabbage soup and baby food have in common? Well, as I found out by watching Natalie Cassidy’s Diet Secrets, they are all types of diet.
Small price to pay for gems
Published 3 May 2008
What on earth is this country coming to? Terry Wogan and Chris Moyles are the two most-listened to people on the radio in this great nation of ours.
Don’t bank on a break later
Published 1 May 2008
The travelling public often complain that they have to wait hours for a bus to come – and then two will arrive at once.
Who cares if it is Boris or Ken?
Published 29 April 2008
Voters all over England and Wales will be going to the polls this Thursday to elect new local councils. But anyone who has picked up a national paper in recent weeks, or caught a TV or radio news bulletin, could be forgiven for thinking elections are only taking place in London.
Gordon, why not take it all?
Published 28 April 2008
Dear Gordon, I enclose herewith full details of my bank account – including my small savings – my debit card, my post office account with which you will be able to draw my weekly state pension, my house and car policies, my utility bills (hope there will be enough to cover them) – oh, and my bus pass.
Sir Alan knows what he’s doing
Published 26 April 2008
WITH his deep frowning and cantankerous manner, The Apprentice’s Alan Sugar gets plenty of stick.
Easy travel – is it just a dream?
Published 26 April 2008
Here’s a snippet of conversation I heard the other day: “Return to Herringbonetwistle sir? Will you be travelling today, next week or in 47 days’ time sir?
Behave, it’s just a car park
Published 24 April 2008
You may like to join me this weekend, standing in a queue at the top of a windy, pitilessly ugly car park in Newcastle.
Basking in the glow of Feebie
Published 23 April 2008
I love sunset. On a clear day, with the sun setting on the bosom of the Lake District fells, the last few minutes of daylight comforts me no end.
Ghettos, not communities
Published 22 April 2008
Communities. Damn communities! The word has become so overused and so misused in modern Britain as to be meaningless in the context of what we used to understand it to represent.
The customer is always last
Published 19 April 2008
It’s a moan, I’m afraid. Good old Allerdale have managed to get it wrong again. There are a host of issues I could take up, different topics in different towns – Cockermouth, Keswick and Workington – parking; shopping; planning...
A poor excuse for rail service
Published 17 April 2008
Imagine there were days the News & Star didn’t make it on to the streets, or if it did it was two hours later than people were expecting.
Kick the yobs out of our NHS
Published 15 April 2008
The problem with being a civilised country is that it encourages uncivilised behaviour from morons like those who assault and abuse nurses and doctors usually in hospital casualty units.
Rescued by Ken and Boris
Published 14 April 2008
When Jeremy Paxman announced this particular episode of Newsnight could be “all Greek to people watching in Gretna Green”, he was probably right. It was a special edition, a debate between the three main players in the London Mayor election campaign, taking place hundreds of miles away.
