I didn’t sleep well last night. I woke up laughing. Strange, I thought. Never had that before. For the first time in my life that I can recall, my dream was apparently sufficiently entertaining that I started to giggle and woke me up. A friend was solemnly telling me that Vladimir Putin was trying to […]
The Black Swan at Bedtime Read More »
Handshaking was not the sort of event at which victory was possible. The end of term meeting with one’s tutors (sometime in the presence of the college’s Master) was the sort of thing where survival was the best that could be hoped for. The aim was to get out unscathed. Mission Accomplished, I thought when
Everyone’s a Teacher Read More »
Now Keir’s end is near and so he faces his final curtain. Regrets he has a few (MANDELSON), but of this much we can be certain. He did it his way. It is, I think, unlikely that politicians of future times will see the Starmer ministry as a blueprint; more likely a cautionary tale. Even
You could probably tell me about the first time you had sex (although I would prefer you didn’t). You probably couldn’t tell me about the seventh. That’s not to say you didn’t enjoy it. It may, indeed, have been better – practice, as they say, makes perfect. But if familiarity does not, in this particular case, breed contempt, it does breed forgetfulness. The first time
Trapped on the Hamster Wheel of History Read More »
Unlike the sixties, being able to remember the nineties is not a reliable sign you weren’t there. It is not that there were no drugs around, but with the noticeable exception of the rave scene, that generation didn’t decide to base their entire culture on them. Which may explain why we produced Take That and
The Politician of Futures Past Read More »
It’s coming home. They say. All it took was one match for England’s fans, and Britain’s media, to start inscribing the country’s name on the World Cup trophy. Sixty years of hurt are definitely coming to an end. They say. If you detect a slight tone of scepticism here, you would not be wrong (there’s
It’s Coming Home. Apparently Read More »
I have taken to watching Cathy Newman’s show on Sky News. A slightly strange beast, it has some news but most of it is Cathy and a couple of her chums discussing the day’s events. I say chums because although there is always a leftie and a rightie, the former is of the “don’t scare the horses” variety,
The Sneering Style in British Politics Read More »
It started in a wine-shop one November, one of those where, come lunchtime, they find some tables, rustle up some charcuterie and charge you corkage. The sort of place where you pair the food with the wine, not vice versa. My host had bought a decent bottle. I think. I couldn’t drink it. Even the
The Sense of An Ending Read More »
Neither of my parents were exactly space buffs but if, back in the heady days of Armstrong and co., you had asked them when their offspring would first see man in the general vicinity of the Moon, they probably wouldn’t have picked the early years of his sixth decade. Back then, there was a general
The Social Contract Read More »
Being a Homeric hero was, my tutor once opined, quite a sweet deal. Few of them actually die in battle, but they get huge amounts of status. And they spend most of their time eating roast beef. The Iliad shows both sides sacrificing a hecatomb (100 oxen) at the drop of a hat to win divine
Copyright © 2022 The New Conservative
Powered by The New Conservative
