The New Conservative

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The Blitz

Lest They Died in Vain

During the borefest that is the post-Christmas not-yet-back-to-work scenario, I was rooting around on YouTube looking for some interesting social documentary and I happened upon this little gem: I absorbed myself in this 1964 BBC Archive documentary for half an hour, transported to the days of my childhood and the two channels of television we

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Gareth Southgate

Sir Gareth Southgate?

I have a love-hate relationship with football. I love watching a midfield player curve the ball into the penalty box so that it lands with missile accuracy on the head of a forward who then nods it into the goal. I love too the great amount of charity work that clubs do, which is underreported.

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Happy new year

The Year in Review

The strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT Me being one of my favourite topics, I am always fascinated to see how many hits I get searching for myself on Google (it’s hundreds), or how often my Wikipedia page has been read recently (157 in the past 30 days; which makes at least seven by other people).

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York Minster

Empty Words

According to Peter Rohde’s biography of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), the great Danish philosopher recorded in his journal how a highly educated preacher was once invited to the King’s opulent court to speak to the richest and most powerful people in the land, and he chose to talk about how God chooses the humble and rejected.

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Old Books

Off With Mice and Men 

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men has been removed from the school curriculum across the United Kingdom, marking the end of its long-standing role as a staple of English literature education. The Welsh exam board (WJEC) was the last to offer the novella as part of its English Literature GCSE syllabus, but it has now

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The Offended Jihadi

Terrorists and Taverns

A convicted Islamic terrorist has taken offence at the name of a pub, one of the many pubs in the UK called The Saracen’s Head (in Glasgow, always referred to as ‘The Sarrie Hied’). The terrorist in question, one Khalid Baqa, is suing the landlord for £1835 and plans to extend his campaign to another

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