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As King Charles might well have said if he'd been affected, not an auspicious start, or even end, to one's 75th birthday. A balloon might have been preferable. My phone will be in an appropriate sand bucket.:frown:

I still won't use the abbreviation 'uni' in speech. It wasn't in use when I first should have gone to university, but didn't, in the 1960s, nor when I actually got there in 1984. Of course, university attendance wasn't as great then, before other institutions had their status upgraded, but I...

Absolutely, this is just a 'holding move' and has as much permanence as a Johnson relationship, whether with a person or the truth. In any case, our discredited voting system will doubtless militate against him losing the seat, with myriads of A.N. Others of various hues scooping up thousands of...

I'm assuming you are referring to the state pension retirement age being raised from 62 to 64. It's amazing how many journalists in this country are decrying it as anti-democratic, considering (a) it was in Macron's manifesto and (b) in the U.K. it is entirely within the government's gift to...

Trump's new strategy is to claim 'racist' bias in advance by any judge, potential prosecutor etc etc who is not Caucasian in any case involving him: it remains to be seen if he'd attempt to use this ploy if the Head of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas ever pronounced sentence on him, Thomas...

Slough Borough Council has been under the control of government-appointed commissionners since 2021, though both have just left. A bankrupt authority wouldn't get too many friends by allocating cash to providing evening bus services as a social service in those circumstances.

It used to be so easy to have a career in television news and then go on to be a Tory politician, no questions asked! Take Chris Chataway, a moderately successful athlete in the days of Roger Bannister and Chris Brasher who decided on a career in TV on leaving Oxford and went on to becoming...

It's an unwritten rule that almost all those who say ''of course, he's entitled to his opinion'' actually mean the exact opposite. Among two I heard this afternoon, one on 'Any Answers?' on Radio Four could be heard frothing at the mouth while he intoned that, rather spoiling his cause by...

Nick Robinson is one of the presenters of the BBC Radio Four 'Today' programme, and was President of Oxford University's Conservative Association before starting his career in broadcasting, which led to his appointment as BBC's Chief Political Correspondent when Andrew Marr stood down. I have no...

No - literally pointless!

what's that commentary playing in the background? Oh, someone's saying 'they think it's all over : it is now!'

I remember some furore in 2015 when David Starkey, a lightweight historian inclined to hissy fits who nevertheless seemed to have a good enough relationship with BBC bosses to be allowed to present various mediocre TV series on British history, claimed that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP were...

So, let's get this straight - a tweet inviting comparison between the language used by a German government in the 1930s and certain politicians either in the current UK government or part of the governing party has caused outrage, some of which may be genuine, in certain circles. The outrage...

When I went to work for London Transport the mantra was 'all Tube lines are part of the Underground network, whereas not all Underground lines are part of the Tube network.' If Mr Charles Cope came across you, chose to interrogate you and you couldn't differentiate to his satisfaction, you might...

Might a certain West London MP worried about his re-election there suddenly pronounce himself the only Tory who can hang on to those Red Wall seats and accordingly switch to stand in Altrincham and Sale? It's far enough away from Liverpool both geographically and in societal terms to avoid any...

It sounds far more likely to me that you saw a Huddersfield trolley, not that I have personal knowledge of the areas concerned.

I support the death sentence for those most responsible for the commission of war crimes, regardless of whether they ever personally slaughtered anyone, both for the reason you've given and in the fervent belief that it might just cause the next potential Putin to reflect on the potential harm...

The man who also electioneered the day after Jo Cox's murder despite the main parties agreeing to suspend it, and had the gall to defend his actions. A shameless individual who deserves anything that may be coming his way. As he had the Tory whip suspended, he'd have to stand as an 'independent.'

Without CCTV, and of a quality sufficient to read the number plate of a stationary car, Wayne Couzens might still be a free man emboldened to commit further heinous offences. Happily TfL not only insist on their use but still provide sufficient Sunday evening services to further the opportunity...

They couldn't have done, as there was no physical connection between the two systems.