Rocking horse manure

The news that David Miliband is going to retire to the backbenches and take no part in brother Ed’s shadow cabinet took me a bit by surprise. A recent comment on here suggested that I was dead wrong when I proposed in an earlier article that some sort of ‘pre-nup’ carve-up by the brothers had [...]

Blimey…

…I wasn’t expecting that…

Ed and David Jong-Miliband

There’s a nice little earner currently being enjoyed by those in the UK media – broadcast, DTP and blogosphere. It’s only available for a limited time, but there’s plenty of goodies for everyone. Yes, it’s the ‘Ed and David Industry’… Since Ed Miliband was elected the new (small ‘n’) Labour leader, speculation has been rife [...]

Bullshit and gardening

One day soon I’ll blog about our whole experience re house buying here in France. However we still haven’t signed for the house so, until hopefully after sometime in the week beginning 10th October, I’m going to omit the details – I don’t want to offend anyone involved just quite yet. What started out as [...]

Mr Crow, is it OK if I say I’m my own man?

Fucking hell… …some people really do hang about like a stale fart in a lift, don’t they? Cue Hattie Harperson – acting Labour leader after Gordon jumped ship and drive-by car bender and mobile phone user. She was on the ‘Politics Show’ on BBC1 this morning being interviewed about yesterday’s news that Ed ‘I’m My [...]

Joke du jour – Q. What do you call the abolition of 177 quangos?

A. A start. With 1164 quangos costing enough to make an extremely large dent in the UK’s massive budget deficit, this coalition government needs to go much further than it currently proposes, Yes, people will lose their jobs, but where is the sense in perpetuating a system of public spending by stealth and proxy which [...]

Jimi – the last post

Yes, I know that I’ve written a lot about Hendrix of late, but 2010 is the 40th anniversary of his death after all and thus a good time for myself as well as the film makers to remember one of the all time greats. No more – at least for a while – I promise. [...]

Jimi, the Pope and Nick Clegg

I watched a new documentary on Jimi Hendrix last night (‘Voodoo Child’ BBC4) and was pleasantly surprised by it. Normally, virtually everything produced by ‘Experience Hendrix’ – the company set up by Hendrix’s half/step (?) sister to brand Jimi’s legacy – is a cynical cash-in devoid of any merit whatsoever, but this was a better [...]

Riding the gravy train

Fucked if I remember when it first appeared, but the old nationalised British Rail used to use the slogan ‘Let the train take the strain’. Well, that might have been true then, but every UK train trip I’ve ever taken over the last decade or so has been marred by lateness, discomfort and inconvenience. OK, [...]

My Dad, Jimi, the Pope and Carlos Santana

Saturday the18th September marked two anniversaries – it would have been my late father’s 84th birthday and it was also 40 years since Jimi Hendrix died. Once, briefly and in a manner of speaking the three of us ‘met’… I’m not exactly sure which year it was, but dredging through my memories it was round [...]