11 Jul 2026

Count Binface and electoral theatre

Don’t be a costumed loon — It’s trivially easy to stand for Parliament in the UK. Any loon can do so. You need ten electors to nominate you and £500 for a deposit – and it’s actually been getting easier. The deposit was introduced in 1918 (£150 – quite a lot of money then). Before […]

3 Jun 2026

I hate this

But does it matter? — I don’t usually say that sort of thing here. I try to be more measured, less personal. I’m talking about the police face recognition vans obviously. This might not surprise you: I mean that I don’t like them. I’m an old git after all, a man who’s written here before […]

13 Jan 2025

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 […]


  • Facial hair?

    I’m thinking of growing a moustache.

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  • Good books

    Some really good books from O’Reilly have arrived lately. The Hacks series is going to some really interesting places, taking in Google, Amazon, TiVo and now eBay (I reviewed the…

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  • Going to Cambridge?

    I’m going to be at the RTS’s Cambridge Media Convention on Friday 19 September. The event looks fascinating. Let me know if you’re going.

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  • Say it loud: ‘No. I do not have a Nectar Card’

    So, thanks to Robin and his idle mates, I now have a big enough Nectar logo and I’ve set up my Cafe Press shop so you can actually buy a…

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  • Say it loud

    Last time I went to the little Sainsbury’s round the corner I told the kid on the till that I was going to make a t-shirt saying “No. I do…

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  • Hallmark to bid for ITV?

    It says here, in a pretty good scoop for Andrew Neil’s The Business (they don’t seem to have a web site, though), that David Elstein ? top broadcasting wit, former…

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  • A day at the races

    Drag racing is unbelievably noisy, toxic (“Remember, ladies and gentlemen, cover your children’s eyes as we spray the track…”), decidedly unsophisticated and about the least green pursuit I’ve ever witnessed…

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  • We went to the beach…

    Dunwich, in Suffolk. Beautiful…

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  • Wi-fi obstacles

    A bit of fairly well aimed Wi-fi cynicism from Richard Wray in The Guardian. Wray’s principle objections are: the total lack of roaming and a potential boom in laptop theft.…

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  • Help my family see Mars

    Mars is whizzing by, the skies are clear ? and I can’t get my telescope to work! If you have a manual for a Tasco Starguide 80 telescope (or the…

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  • Healing the health service

    Ideology may have created it ? ideology of the purest, most saintly kind ? but it won’t be ideology that saves the NHS. It will be management ? creative, inspirational…

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  • Electricity

    Flows of electricity are obviously going to be a big deal over the coming decades. According to Wired Magazine, in the kind of euphoric article that wouldn’t be possible since…

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