Tory Contenders and Covid Deaths
Reflecting on the shameful vote this week by the majority of Tory MPs to support disgraced Tory MP Owen Paterson, and then for the Government’s immediate volte-face, my sense is [...]
New dictionary word: “Phillip-Allott-ed”
Verb (transitive) To be “Phillip-Allott-ed” is a four-staged test. First, during a stream of consciousness, you brain-dump your most bizarre, innermost thoughts, at the most insensitive of times, in full [...]
Living Adventurously, in Settle
Typing this blog on my phone, in Settle Quaker Meeting House, North Yorkshire, I can hear an English language lesson taking place, one on one, in the room above. The [...]
Live on BBC Radio: Resigned to No Resignation
Here in North Yorkshire our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is Phillip Allott, a Conservative. Until the last few days, almost nobody in this area knew his name. That’s not [...]
Up and Out in Middlesmoor and The Dales
Thankfully and inexplicably, for a few days now, my health returned, almost back to normal. But how long it will last, I don’t know. So, let’s enjoy it whilst I [...]
Lord: where’s the flies?
As a teenager, during the summer holidays I would wash cars with my mates, for cash. Never have I felt so flush, handling all those one-pound coins. Great times. Although [...]
A New Vocation
This chronic illness lark is like having a new job. So many appointments to attend. So many biological readings to document. So much research to undertake: a never-ending, insurmountable amount [...]
Return to the Office
Quite rightly, Covid has given us the chance to reconsider our lives. Nobody, it seems, wants to return to commuting. Environmentally, this is indisputably a good thing. Home working – [...]
Improved Online Schooling During Lockdown
My children have now been away from school for two months. Disappointingly and surprisingly, their teachers have not called to check in on them. Via email, we have received exercises [...]
Local Tory-Imposed Austerity
Conservative Councillor Skidmore, of Ripon, celebrated our council's 16.7 per cent drop in funding by telling our local paper: "Everybody is feeling the same pain, perhaps some more than others, [...]
