Highlights
Nearly half a bicycle
The atomic theory in Kilburn — This place (on Kilburn High Road) has been morphing steadily from dry cleaner’s to bike shop over the last few years. I remember being surprised one morning to see a few kids’ bikes lined up for sale outside but I’d say the shop is now approaching 50% bike shop. […]
Where is my patriotism?
Come, love of country, fill my heart… — I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag […]
Some bullet-points about regulation
In case you’d got the wrong idea about how the ’regulatory state‘ is supposed to work — UPDATED 23 May 2025. I could update this thing daily. Regulation is always a news story in the UK (Search any news service for ‘regulation‘ right now and you’ll get a long list of current news stories about […]
Browse by year
Latest
-
The film industry is the least of our problems
I watched an interesting feature about the flakey British film industry tonight on BBC 4. As you’d expect, it was mostly whinging and hand-wringing from all sources ? hyper-interventionist culture-boosters…
-
and another thing…
What’s happened to all my links? All my lovely links over there on the right have stopped working (likewise the stylesheet for that bit of the page?). Blogger seems to…
-
What’s wrong with being an elite?
A lot of the debate about the Best British Blog comp seems to centre on this word ‘elite’. Maybe I should have said ‘vanguard’ or ‘enlightened’ or ‘pioneers’ or something.…
-
A too-careful commentary
The soon-to-be-abolished ITC’s contribution to the imminent Commons debate on the Communications Bill is a book of essays by The Great and The Good (G&G henceforth) from the media and…
-
On being a parent
tigerchild.com is one of the many treasures unfairly knocked around by the ‘great crash’. Running a content web site these days must be a thankless task but the tigerchild people…
-
A ragged-trousered elite
When a figure of authority (this is me, but not really me because in this I’m just standing in for The Guardian) reaches out to offer ‘validation’ to an emerging,…
-
Obscure? Irrelevant? Moi?
It’s always difficult to persuade an elite that the great unwashed might have something useful to contribute. Looks like bloggers are no different. How many weblogs are there in the…
-
Sleepless in the blogosphere
Thanks to The Guardian for two consecutive sleepless nights scoring dozens of Great British Weblogs. I’m in awe. Not a turkey among them. I’ve over-dosed on clever, useful, ironic, sometimes…
-
Brother, sister, mother and father
A Mother’s Love, The MetersAll Your Sisters, Mazzy StarBig Bayou, The Flying Burrito BrothersBroken Little Sister, Death In VegasBrother Can You Spare A Dime, George MichaelBrother John, Cannonball AdderleyChristine’s Tune,…
-
Miss, Mr and Mrs
I Don’t Want Your Millions Mister, Pete SeegerMiss Chatelaine, kd langMiss Lucifer, Primal ScreamMiss Punta Blanca, Jane SiberryMiss Sadie Mae, John Lee HookerMiss Sarajevo, George MichaelMr E’s Beautiful Remix (Butch…
-
Weblogs go mainstream. Some bloggers don’t like it
I’m busy judging entries to The Guardian’s Best British Blog competition. It’s not easy, not least (of course) because these things are weblogs so they’re full of interesting links. As…
-
I’m and you’re
I’m Still In Love With You, Al GreenI’m the One (live), Average White BandI’m Waiting For The Day, Beach BoysI’m Only Sleeping, The BeatlesI’m Serious, Beenie ManYou’re Gonna Make Me…