Shame on our Estate Agents: The “favoured South Side” of Harrogate slander
I should really name names, but I won’t. For now. I want to challenge one of the laziest and most damaging habits in Harrogate. Ever since my wife and I [...]
Empty shops, empty thinking
Each time I’m sitting at the traffic lights at the bottom of Parliament Street, with the former Rhodes Wood shop standing empty on one side and the still-empty Viper Rooms [...]
We need to talk about memorials
This opinion piece was published in The Stray Ferret on 10 June. I want to discuss the issue of public memorials and their proliferation in our area. By memorials, I’m [...]
Harrogate: Station Gateway
Any first-time visitor to Harrogate walking out of the station could be forgiven for thinking they had somehow ended up in Chisinau — the capital of Moldova. Now I’ve never [...]
It’s OK, Toby. It is ok.
(Published in The Stray Ferret here: https://thestrayferret.co.uk/news/latest/opinion-how-staying-at-harrogate-hospital-made-me-rethink-healthcare) The most beautiful moment of my life occurred in Harrogate Hospital in October 2024. I want to use this column to tell you [...]
A Tale of Two Cinemas: Odeon vs Everyman
Published in The Stray Ferret here: https://thestrayferret.co.uk/news/latest/a-tale-of-two-harrogate-cinemas-odeon-vs-everyman If Orange Wednesdays were still a thing, we all know where they’d happen. The Odeon. Not the Everyman. That was peak cinema for [...]
Op-Ed: in the Stray Ferret
Geopolitics comes to Harrogate (Published on 11 January 2026: https://thestrayferret.co.uk/news/latest/opinion-what-would-a-nato-wobble-mean-for-the-harrogate-district) May we live in interesting times. That old Chinese curse — or blessing — feels uncomfortably relevant, given recent [...]
Keir Starmer isn’t doomed. He’s just stuck in lawyer-mode.
(The below was written for The Yorkshire Post; perhaps they will print; perhaps they won’t) Merry Christmas, Sir Keir Starmer KC. As a former solicitor, I’m used to instructing [...]
A derogation of a moral duty
I was very unwell back in October 24, needing five days in hospital. During my time as an inpatient, I experienced the most beautiful moment of my life. In [...]
