LOUGHBOROUGH Market Place was ablaze with colour and social chatter on Boxing Day morning in the 1980s. Huntsmen and women looked smart and glamorous in their red tunics; the horses a magnificent sight to behold. Crowds chatted merrily. Some toasted friendly faces they hadn’t seen since the very same event 12 months before. Here we […]

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DONALD TRUMP’s ‘warning’ of another deadly chemical weapons attack to be launched by the Syrian government has awful and familiar echoes about it. Remember ‘weapons of mass destruction capable of getting here in 45 minutes’ and all that? The comparison is I can assure you totally genuine. Saddam Hussein had no such weapons and couldn’t […]

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Many Royalists still have reservations about Camilla becoming Queen. In their view, the idea of an adulterer who was around the scene at the time of the late Princess Diana taking a title they assume to be associated with the highest moral standards (not quite sure which history book they have been reading!) is beyond […]

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FANS of the iconic BBC comedy Dad’s Army will recall with fondness the character of Private Pike, played by Ian Lavender. We laughed as he was frequently patronised as a ‘silly boy’ by Captain Mainwaring, aka the late Arthur Lowe. In truth, none of them knew very much about what they were doing – certainly […]

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ANYONE who still believes the Conservative minority government can yet steer themselves out of their current post-election mess presumably hasn’t yet watched Theresa v Boris. The BBC documentary, currently available on BBC iPlayer, is given extra relevance as, astonishingly, Boris Johnson remains the bookies favourite to take over as Prime Minister from dead-woman-walking Theresa May. […]

Read more "Never mind the politics, how about the country?"

IT’S simple, Simon, the song’s not very good – and it’s not even in the best possible taste. Couldn’t help cringing when I heard Bridge over Troubled Water, the makeover version promoted by Simon Cowell and his celebrity contacts book in aid of the Grenfell Tower victims. That’s so 2017. Doesn’t matter what happens in […]

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IT was long odds against me writing about Ant and Dec this week. But things happen in life that take you by surprise and reading about the current plight of Ant – aka Anthony McPartlin – in the papers yesterday left me genuinely very moved. For those who haven’t caught up with the story, the […]

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OCTOBER 12, 1984 is a date that sticks in the memory. Not quite in the same class of the deaths of Elvis and Princess Diana or 9/11 in terms of ‘where were you when….’ moments –  but highly significant in terms of modern British history nevertheless. The Brighton bombing shocked the nation – didn’t matter […]

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THREE terror attacks in a few weeks, followed by what history may well confirm to be one of our worst-ever disasters…. The ‘sins’ of the establishment are coming to roost in a way few seemed possible – with ordinary, innocent people, as always, paying the price for the disgusting decisions of the elite few. It’s […]

Read more "‘SINS’ OF THE ESTABLISHMENT LAID BARE BY SERIES OF HORRIFIC EVENTS"

TIME is racing by these days…..I mean not just going by quicker, but positively racing. On Thursday, I spent 15 hours-plus working as a poll clerk for the General Election. Usually, there are points during such a day when time seems to be standing still. Not last week; no sooner had we set the room […]

Read more "Why is time going so quickly? Here’s an alternative view……."