So, was Sunday’s World Cup final at Lords the greatest cricket match ever? Some are certainly calling it that. Others stop short with “the greatest ODI final ever.” Sky commentator Ashley Giles slipped in a qualifying ” one of the”, but the Sky website (after all, they were the broadcaster) called it the greatest… Continue reading
How the looming battle over Oxford to Cambridge Expressway might be won
Could the purposed Expressway be the next big road battle in the UK? And is it winnable? Until last month (June 2019), few opponents would have held out much hope of resisting the combined forces of the Highways Agency, which first advanced the £1.5 bn project, and the Westminster government, which almost without fail wins… Continue reading
How BeaconLit was built – creating a book festival in an English village
BeaconLit, a literary festival in Buckinghamshire, was launched in 2013. This year (July 13, 2019) is the seventh festival. People keep coming back, to be inspired, informed and to enjoy the beautiful mystery of what happens when you turn a page (in books both physical and virtual). http://www.beaconlit.co.uk Authors and moderators this summer include Quentin Bates, a… Continue reading
Festivals in fields – how WOMAD catches the spirit of Woodstock
As final preparations proceed for the 2019 music, books and ideas festival season, I’m republishing an account I wrote earlier on one of the most international, cheerful and animated jamborees that break out in random, rural corners of Britain, regardless of the weather, throughout the summer. 50 years on, Woodstock cannot be matched. But WOMAD, with or without the mud,… Continue reading
Big Issue founder wants politicians to think long term
There’s the hint of political change in the air. I don’t mean a resolution of the Brexit agony, or the result of the Tory Party leadership election. Although there is a link. It’s hard to believe that the current chaotic system that led to an enormously divisive referendum, and the opportunity for a tiny number… Continue reading
The great (rail) way west – to Pembrokeshire
The holiday express: through trains are running from Paddington to Tenby and West Wales this summer (2019), continuing a link which began in the days of Queen Victoria. “If there be any one train more than another, the sight of which stirs the patriotic pride of an enthusiastic Great Westernite, it is the Tenby express leaving Paddington… Continue reading