Back in the early days of NASCAR that circuit of hard driving, pit row fighting, Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, pedal to the metal high speed oval track racing had two basic rules: try not to kill anyone, and the cars actually had to be street legal right down to working...
For once in my life I am going to write a book review like a proper football match report and put the final score in the lead paragraph. Scott Murray's history of the Football League's First Division, The Title is as fine a book on English sport as will be...
If you have come to this article looking for a dispassionate appraisal of the news that Sarah Champion MP has resigned her position as Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, then you have come to the wrong article. If you have come to this article expecting some generalities...
The late George Carlin, a man who knew well the subtle trickery of language, used to do a routine based on the shifting terms used to describe the same condition. The easily understandable shell shock gave way to the slightly vaguer battle fatigue, ending up with today's post-traumatic stress disorder....
There are these peak learning moments in all our lives that don't necessarily happen in classrooms, or from reading books, not even from sitting on your grandfather's knee while he teaches you the good rules of living. Certainly all those can all apply, yet sometimes true learning moments come out...
As we move into what by rights should be a relaxing summer weekend – the Premier League is back, the trees are still green, books to read and lawnchairs to sit on – unless we choose to completely ignore the news our nerves are as frayed as a university student...
"Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” That was a quote from Samuel Johnson, a man who knew a thing or two about snappy aphorisms in times of crisis. And, as befits the reputation of a...
It was Frank Zappa who described politics as 'the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.' I mention that wonderfully cynical observation by the late musician as if there was ever a time for cynicism, we're living in it. Cynics aren't the same as pessimists or satirists. A pessimist looks at...
There is one great truth that ties all revolutions in common and that is they never burst out in surprise. History, or at least when current events have been aged in the cask long enough to be classified as history, always has shown that there were warning signs, hints, foreshadowing...