At a meeting of fans who supported a large football club, a man in his forties once stood up to speak. “This is our club,” he said. “Let’s face it, nothing matters quite as much as this – wife, family, whatever. For me, the club always comes first.” There were mutters of agreement, a smattering… Continue reading A father’s fancy footwork
Read moreIt seems only minutes ago that it was a good and progressive thing to be local and active. Suddenly the wind has changed. A report on the energy industry, to be published next week, will reveal that the number of onshore wind farms to be granted planning permission dropped by a half in the 12… Continue reading At last, the wind of change is blowing in favour of local power
Read moreI so so love you. With five unlikely little words, uttered within seconds of being elected, the new leader of the Labour Party showed the world that he was a sympathetic kind of guy who was prepared to let his feelings show, whether he felt them or not. Not so long ago, this kind of… Continue reading Must love be all around?
Read moreLast Friday, my Independent column was about our great age of nannying – in politics, on TV, in life – and how it seemed to be drawing to a close. I opened the piece by drawing a comparison between Mary Portas, the BBC’s bossyboots shop expert, and Harriet Harman. One contributor to the Independent’s message-board… Continue reading A woman-hater writes…
Read more“Simplistic” was the word used by the Advertising Standards Authority to describe an ill-fated government campaign to raise awareness of climate change. It was a polite way of describing the smoothing out of inconvenient truths in order to deliver a hard-hitting message in a series of public service announcements. But it was the advertisements themselves,… Continue reading The march of playground morality
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