Sitting cross-legged outside makeshift shelters, the men pore excitedly over tide charts, trying to plot the most favourable time to cross the English Channel. The new Jungle camp in Calais, a scrubby field near the main hospital, is a kind of tented waiting room. So few made it to Britain from the infamous old encampment, … Read more
Walking through the City of London last week was an eerie and disturbing experience. This is an area I know well through my long career in finance. It is usually throbbing with life. Pavements are crowded, roads congested, offices packed, entrance doors in perpetual motion. Yet, on Monday afternoon, I felt as if I had … Read more
Walking through the City of London last week was an eerie and disturbing experience. This is an area I know well through my long career in finance. It is usually throbbing with life. Pavements are crowded, roads congested, offices packed, entrance doors in perpetual motion. Yet, on Monday afternoon, I felt as if I had … Read more
Standing on a hill above Calais, with Dover’s White Cliffs sparkling in the sun 21 miles away was the moment it finally dawned on me that Britain was losing control of its borders. In the French ferry port below, 1,100 migrants were waiting to cross the Channel to the UK. Mingling among them were shadowy … Read more
Pubs are where you meet people and it’s well documented that at least 90% of all relationships start by getting drunk – usually where alcohol is readily available in unlimited amounts. Was it a smart move by Boris Johnson to reopen pubs and bars as the weather warmed up and the holiday season (at least … Read more
Pubs are where you meet people and it’s well documented that at least 90% of all relationships start by getting drunk – usually where alcohol is readily available in unlimited amounts. Was it a smart move by Boris Johnson to reopen pubs and bars as the weather warmed up and the holiday season (at least … Read more
Grounded in dubious science and cowardly politics, the grievous wounds we have inflicted upon ourselves with the Covid-19 lockdown are becoming more evident every day. Britain’s economic outlook is dire and job losses are mounting daily. It is clear many of those currently bankrolled by the Government’s furlough scheme to lie on the beach, lawn … Read more
Grounded in dubious science and cowardly politics, the grievous wounds we have inflicted upon ourselves with the Covid-19 lockdown are becoming more evident every day. Britain’s economic outlook is dire and job losses are mounting daily. It is clear many of those currently bankrolled by the Government’s furlough scheme to lie on the beach, lawn … Read more
Rage, rage against the dying of the Light. These eight words from Dylan Thomas’s magnificent tirade against the unforgiving power of death are, and will forever be, memorable because they are part of a poem. For the word ‘light’ in that short masterpiece, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, we can now substitute … Read more
Good news: the Government has finally cleared up the confusion about whether or not over-50s will be locked down (or up, depending on your point of view) in the event of a second wave. It turns out we won’t be. This comes as a relief not only for people like me, aged 53, with a … Read more