Blog

Whose last enemy? The BBC may be the last enemy of the Conservative Party, according to some. Recent events have played well for the enemies of the corporation. Here's a sketch about how things might have gone. Who knows? Down with the Last Enemy: the BBC Prime...

Make History History? Why? How? There has been a lot of controversy about the teaching of history and the preserving of national myths and monuments. This sketch is my contribution to the debate. MAKE HISTORY HISTORY! Prime Minister [Sid James]: Cor blimey! What a...

A Fishy Tale is the title of a short sketch I have written. inspired by recent events. You might like to compare it with my two previous forays into this genre. Carry on Prime Minister and Och Aye! First Minister. Any comments would be welcome. A FISHY TALE Prime...

Old Money? What old money? Old Money is the second novel in my series Accounting for Murder. It is free on Kindle as an e-book from tomorrow, Saturday 8th May for five days, to Wednesday 12th. So too is Double Entry, the first in the series. I want to let you read...

Och Aye what? Och Aye First Minister is my contribution to tomorrows Scottish Elections, just so I'm being evenhanded, having written Carry On Prime Minister recently! Ken Dodd once said he kept trying to give up doing political jokes  "But they do such silly things!"...

Why Carry On? Carry On occurred to me while I have been trying to write something about the present state of politics. The other idea I had was based on Yes Prime Minister. I combined the two and the result is here. I have been finding it difficult to outdo actual...

When were the Russians our Allies? The Russians were our allies in both World Wars. There is an account of an incident involving some of them in the diary of my father-in-law, Bert Mathers, covering his time as a prisoner of war. I published the whole diary recently,...

The Battle of Monte Cassino - what do I know? At the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 my father-in-law, Bert Mathers, was wounded and captured. It led to his spending a year as a prisoner of the Nazis. I have published his account of that time in Came the Dawn, the...

World War II has been in the news again War hero Captain Tom, one of the last of the many who fought in the Second World War, was laid to rest yesterday, and the other day Lucy Worsley explored the Blitz Spirit, showing how civilians experienced warfare in a new way. ...

Locked down may be getting you down Most of us have had enough of being locked away from places we want to go, things we want to do and above all people we want to be with. For some, the worst of it is not knowing when it will end or what will come next. I hope you...

What Pembrokeshire Murders? The Pembrokeshire Murders is the title and subject of an ITV series that I've been watching this week. It's fascinating and, although a drama, is closely based on fact. Some of it is stranger than fiction. They have also shown one of...

Who says GM Police have failed the public? GM Police have made news because HM Inspector of Police has issued a report listing many failings. The police in Greater Manchester have failed to record a lot of crimes and have failed to investigate others. They have failed...