Monthly Archives: January 2015

When I was a kid I wanted to be Rod Taylor. He had a square jaw, a chin-dimple, twinkling eyes, wide shoulders, an Australian accent and a sense of fun about him, and he was therefore far more interesting than Hollywood heroes, most of whom I had no way of relating to. I score a […]

The appalling events in Paris are still unfolding after the Islamic extremists’ attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine, but one thing is clear; around the free world a deep sense of outrage is overcoming the usual liberal breast-beating. The attitude of ‘Why did we fail these people?’ is for once notable by its […]

There’s a famous Edwardian quote about Afghanistan, that the more you leave the country alone the better things are for everyone. This has been borne out by a number of war films in the last three or four years, and while many were good (I couldn’t say ‘enjoyable’) they still teetered on the gung-ho militaristic […]

A couple of days ago a chap called Matt posted a comment on the piece about headphones which struck a chord with me. He pointed out that my idea of mid-range items and his were the line between Haves and Have-Nots, which is an ever more pertinent topic of discussion here in London where the […]

As we enter the PBTTF period of 2015 (Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?) I am already realising that certain things are happening without my knowledge. I know this will occur at a greater and greater speed, partly because I am not hanging out with The Youngs as much as I did and partly because I don’t actually […]

I’ve now been seen by my surgeon and have been referred to a specialist about my eye condition. Here’s the gruesome bit: Because I was unusually young to qualify for the surgery I had, my aqueous humor is still ‘sticky’ and thickened over my eye; it will disperse in time, but there’s no time limit […]

This is a new occasional series in which I attempt, in my own inept manner, to impart ‘wisdom’ on tools of the trade and ancillary items. It involves me making years of fundamental mistakes, then passing the summary on to you. In these pieces I won’t be discussing price as  if you care about anything […]

There are certain literary traits I don’t much care for; over-earnestness, sentiment, nostalgia and manufactured ‘edge’ being among the worst – TV crime dramas seem to believe that everything should be grim and shouty – Tony Hancock once said ‘You can get away with anything if you keep a straight face’ – but I’ve never […]

I hope you all found suitably cheery ways to launch yourselves into the new year. We hit the chilly streets of Barcelona (where even the local vegetable store was mixing cocktails and people on street corners were selling bottles of champagne) not realising that it’s customary to wear evening dress for the occasion or at […]