The New Conservative

Roger Watson

Old man writing furiously

From the Man Cave X

Either I am going mental or the world is going mental. If it’s a bit of both, then the world surely has the upper hand. The man cave is back where it belongs, in the back garden in Hull. At least we’re here for a week, before Mrs Watson and I take our old bones […]

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old College, Edinburgh university

Old College, New Guilt

The University of Edinburgh’s comedy show, aptly performed during the Festival Fringe, continues. In June, it brought us the highest-paid Scottish vice-chancellor who does not know how much he is paid. Now it presents us with a report enticingly called Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh’s History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism. It is

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Nuclear power plant

Net Zero Ponzi scheme 

I don’t know if children still learn the cumulative rhyme about the old lady who swallowed a fly. Perhaps not as it could be seen as advocating exploitation of animals. In case you have forgotten, it goes like this: There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don’t know why she swallowed a

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BBC

Comedy in a Time of Compliance

I have almost given up on late-night comedy on BBC Radio 4. In fact, I have almost given up on the station entirely. The news is biased, and the comedy—studiously avoiding the tripwires of the woke and hypersensitive—is rarely funny. One of my favourite programmes used to be Dead Ringers, the topical satirical impressions show fronted by

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Old man writing furiously

From the Man Cave IX 

The portable man cave is being dismantled and packed ready for transport back to the UK. Tomorrow, I fly from Chongqing to Hong Kong and then to Manchester. Very familiar with this journey, I know on the way out of China and through Hong Kong I can expect to be processed by smart young men

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Old man writing furiously

From the Man Cave VIII

The man cave has upped sticks and moved from Hong Kong to mainland China. I am however a day late arriving here, as Hong Kong was hit by a typhoon on Sunday – the day I was originally due to fly to China. A Signal No 10 warning was issued and briefly intensified up to

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Old man writing furiously

From the Man Cave VII

This does not come from the man cave as I am working in the Far East for two weeks: one in Hong Kong and one in mainland China. However, the man cave is more a state of mind than a location. You can take the man out of the man cave…etc.  My office window overlooks

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