The Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Stephen Hester will decide whether to take his annual bonus soon and, therefore, set an example for other banker bonuses. In this era of recession and budget tightening, I do believe that he shouldn’t. As the Royal Bank of Scotland is over […]

“There he goes, one of God’s own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” – Hunter S. Thompson No matter what field of work you’re in anywhere in the world and no matter how hard […]

  Warning: this article will contain the ‘n-word’, and other similar words, because, put simply, it’s about the ‘n-word’. It relates to the recent story about the BBC editing out a scene of an episode of the repeated series of ‘Fawlty Towers’ because of censorship. Now I don’t like that word, and never have […]

I was in Waterstones the other day (while it’s still there). I was looking for a book for my wife’s birthday. I got her a copy of ‘Call the Mid Wife’,  the book on which the current Sunday evening TV ‘feel good’ slot is based. She likes that slushy sentimental stuff, she’ll be the first to […]

Facebook: Too late to turn back? Strange times. As I write this I flick up and down the Facebook homepage, across names and ideas, manipulated for reasons I’m unable to understand. Facebook say there’s a formula to it, you see what they want you to see and you see who you want […]

Aneurin Bevan, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party between 1959-1960 once said ‘‘No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. ..So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.’’ Quite […]

So this seems to be the month for heavy hitting political films based on great American presidents. Yes, that is what you get from Lincoln, but from Hyde Park on Hudson, you get meh. I was looking forward to it; it’s set during a fascinating period in history and centred […]

If you have ever been subject to a Residence Abroad lecture, or have ever considered living in another country for an extended period of time, chances are you will have heard the age-old “it looks great on your CV”, “employers love people who are flexible and confident mixing with all […]