When I look at the fate that has befallen the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, I feel obliged to see it through two separate lenses: firstly my own, and then that of the millions of other voters who elected the Conservatives with an 80-seat majority back in 2019. The reason I wish to make this…
If you’ve driven on the roads in Britain during the summertime, you’ll be familiar with a process road workers call ‘surface dressing’. This involves spraying bitumen binder (a sticky tar-like substance) on a clean, dry road surface, over which stone chippings are spread (small, consistently-sized aggregate). The surface is rolled to embed the stones into…
When the whole furore surrounding allegations of bullying was first made against Dominic Raab, I was reminded of a scene in the most recent series of ‘Happy Valley’. For those who recall the series aired earlier this year, it was when Catherine Cawood (the local Halifax police sergeant) was called to her grandson’s school when…
When the late Ballard Berkeley played Major Gowen in the epic comedy series ‘Fawlty Towers’, we laughed at his bungling attitude, his forgetfulness and his ignorant opinions. You see, back then witless folk were the objects of comedy ridicule and light-hearted banter. Today, they’re elected to the most powerful political position on the planet. How…
Union Pacific. No, I’m not talking about Cecil B DeMille’s 1939 classic starring Barbara Stanwyck. I’m referring to yesterday’s declaration that Britain had signed its biggest trading agreement since Brexit. It was a glorious moment watching all the usual media and academic celebrities going into Twitter meltdown when the announcement came through that the United…
‘Strangers on the Shore’ is the penultimate episode of the evergreen classic ‘Only Fools and Horses’. During the course of the storyline Del Boy, Rodney, Trigger and Denzil accidentally sneak what they assume to be an illegal migrant from France to the UK. Unable to speak English, the migrant is called ‘Gary’ by the brothers…
When I was a teenager, passing my driving test was my ultimate ambition. When arriving at school, I had to pass the teachers’ car park from the playground to the main school compound and I would look enviously on whilst my tutors arrived in an array of impressive automobiles (my favourite being a black Alfa…
‘Will they or won’t they?’ Those are the questions the media are feverishly asking themselves of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party as they pore over the latest offer on the Protocol devised by the government in conjunction with the European Union. Their answer should become clear in the next few days. Understandably, they have refused…
It was memorable song when released in the spring of ’68. It’s become a karaoke classic since. In chart trivia terms it was yet another failed attempt by Tom Jones to recapture the success of his first two releases. Alas, unlike ‘It’s Not Unusual’ and ‘The Green Green Grass of Home’, ‘Delilah’ did not make…
Having riled millions of British people with their intense coverage of the ongoing situation regarding the invasion on our southern shore, the mainstream media have now fallen silent on the subject once again. It’s made me wonder whether our news channels (and I include GB News and TalkTV in this) are interested in anything other…
Those with considerably more modern tastes in music than I (my interest tended to peter out after ‘Figaro’ by the Brotherhood of Man) will remember a tune from 2011 called ‘I’m Sexy and I know it’ by American duo LMFAO. The chorus of this 3-minute assault on the earholes goes as follows: ‘Ah… Girl look…
In January 2010, the Guardian ran a story following an interview the BBC’s Andrew Marr had with the, then, leader of the Conservative Party. David Cameron, once seen as the suave figure who would restore the Tories to government, told Marr his aim would be to limit the amount of net migration into the UK…
Andy Mac Have a listen to my conversation with LBC breakfast show host, Nick Ferrari, a few days ago. With the censorious nature of the society we presently live in, it was refreshing to be allowed to be so candid in a broadcast with some 1.5 million listeners. As you would expect, Ferrari had to…
There are often new words created on the hoof that go on to make a major impact on our everyday discourse. For example, 15 years ago nobody had ever heard of ‘Brexit’. Thanks to our vote to depart from the European Union, ‘Brexit’ experienced a 3,400% increase in usage in 2016 alone, before going on…
On Saturday, 20th August I paid a visit to the fine city of York for the first time since the COVID pandemic hit us. The city was its usual bustling self. Queues of curious tourists were evident at all the usual spots such as the York Dungeon, Jorvik Viking Centre and around the Minster. We…