I haven’t blogged in a while; I’ve been busy changing nappies and singing nursery rhymes, but buckle in lads because I’m about to talk you through the absolute shit show that I’ve had to deal with for the past two years. By way of introduction this story is all about maternity discrimination. The very sad…
Trade, what’s the deal?
I know it’s the major sticking point on the progression of Brexit negotiations, and I get that it is absolutely fundamental to economic security once we leave the EU, but I am fed up to the back teeth of the ongoing discussion about trade deals. It’s not trade deals per se that I have an…
The gender pay gap; it’s about more than the BBC
I find it very hard to get exercised about the revelation of salaries at the BBC. To be perfectly honest, I am not that bothered that the Beeb pays their ‘talent’ large amounts of money to front their TV shows. To think that they shouldn’t, or couldn’t, is to ignore the reality of television and…
About this election…
I suppose I ought to write something about the upcoming general election… I’ve been avoiding it really; avoiding thinking about it, avoiding talking about it, basically I’m trying to pretend it isn’t happening. Because it looks like this election is going to be an absolute disaster for the Labour party, and with the Conservatives set…
The Northern Powerhouse – or is it?
I was at a work thing in Newcastle this week talking about the Northern Powerhouse. We all know, or think we know what the Northern Powerhouse is all about. We used to hear George Osborne carping on about it all the time. But what I found out this week, from people who actually live there, is that…
Not again.
The SNP are back at it I see. Pretending they’ve got the best interest of Scots at heart, when really there’s only one thing driving their agenda: independence at all costs. It’s hard to describe just how much the SNP lusts for independence. It goes beyond a belief in self-rule, it even surpasses nationalism; it’s…
Copeland
If you don’t think the by-election result in Copeland is an absolute catastrophe for the Labour party then you’re living in denial. It is nothing short of awful. A clear 2,000+ majority for the Tories. A swing of 6% made it the best by-election result for a governing party since 1966. It’s the first gain…
A few words about Jury Service
For the past two weeks I have been fulfilling one of life’s important civic duties; jury service. What a funny thing it is. A system based entirely on random selection of strangers, who are then charged with administering justice. Far be it from me to criticise our legal system but my first impression of the…
The humiliation of fellow human beings
Do you ever get that overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, a feeling that is not really attributable to you but all of a sudden makes you realise just how small you are, how totally unable you are to change things? I had that last week. I was in Ireland on a bit of a jolly and…
When a plan’s not really a plan
Yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May set out her 12 point plan outlining Britain’s route out of the European Union. You might have been fooled into thinking that this speech was a move by the PM to reassure us – the voters – about what’s coming down the pipeline. That really wasn’t the case though. Her…
Why you won’t hear me moan about the tube strikes
There are two things that bring London to an absolute standstill. The first is snow. We just cannot cope with it. The second is a tube strike. When workers on London’s underground system take leave of their posts, the city goes into total meltdown, and it does my head in. Not the strike, no, that doesn’t do…
2017: the year of Trump
He might be Time Magazine’s man of 2016, but 2017 is all set to be the year of the Donald, and I am dreading it. There have been some pretty horrible leaders in the world. Dictators, despots, murderers, tyrants – all of them hated by the West. But now here we have something completely different….
Politics on the side 