Bring on The Clowns! Picture the scene: London is ablaze; rioters rule the streets; The Speaker is sitting on a woolsack, in a woolshop, presiding over a few mangy-looking MPs, desperately hoping to qualify for expenses and a new cardigan. Meanwhile plotters gather in dark corners planning how to exploit this state of affairs to … Continue reading The Pedants revolt
Category: social history
0-40 in 15 NHS institutions or so
There’s plenty of talk about the NHS at the moment, and it made me think about my own experiences, starting pretty much from its day zero. Now, the catalogue of NHS interventions in my 72 years is just too heavy to contemplate in one mouthful, so I thought I’d break it down. This is, … Continue reading 0-40 in 15 NHS institutions or so
Poverty? What the Dickens does the UN mean?
I have been looking at some stuff covering the recent series of reports on poverty by the UN Rapporteur, which made comparisons between the UK now, and the mean-spirited approach of 19th Century workhouses that Dickens wrote about. How much has really changed? On the face of it, there are certainly similarities in attitudes that … Continue reading Poverty? What the Dickens does the UN mean?
When I’m Cleaning Windows
What's in a name? I grew up in an age when names were different. Some seem ludicrously naive these days, like my aunt Puss. Everyone called her Puss. Couldn't imagine that these days. Her given name was Kathleen, or Katherine, I'm not sure now, so I'm guessing that when she was young, she was Kat … Continue reading When I’m Cleaning Windows
Plumbing the depths
One of my children and her partner have recently had the dubious pleasure of having their bathroom remodelled. Their travails have reminded me of my own experiences of the plumbing fraternity over the years and they have not all been happy ones. In fact, some of them have driven me around the bend! While you … Continue reading Plumbing the depths
Have a Great Grand Fathers Day
This was a new bus the year my dad was born! My father, Les, was born in May 1910, I became his first-born child in March 1947, my first child was born in October 1967, and my first grandchild was born to my oldest son, in April 2002. That’s four generations born within 92 years … Continue reading Have a Great Grand Fathers Day
Mickey take and more 