Well bugger me with a croquet mallet. What fresh hell was this? What seismic shift had occurred in the universe to cause so many hard-grafting, no-nonsense people, known for their common sense, humanity and integrity, to chuck their weight behind a person who embodies everything that they have railed against…

“WHAT MAKES A GOOD LEADER?” It’s pretty timely to be asked that with a general election in a fortnight or so. and not just any election either, the election to end all elections. The outcome of this one will affect generations, not just land us with a few years of the same rubbish. Take the…

Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but ‘sex sells’ feels like an old-fashioned notion, a thing that belongs at the bottom of the enormous (and still growing) crap-heap of outmoded seventies relics along with pervy TV presenters, racist comedians and crass sitcoms. Gone — thank the Lord — are the days of…

Drive down a Kent country lane and you can smell it in the air. There are food festivals happening all over the place and apples are everywhere, in boxes and baskets by the side of the road and lying on the grass under trees in orchards. They’re talking about it…

Here I sit, after the world and his dog has gone to bed, about to have yet another go at setting up a website for my work. Both Wordpress and Squarespace tell me I already have accounts set up, and I do seem to be experiencing a vague sense of…

Who am I? Well, I’d better get the obvious thing out of the way first. There’s no denying it: I’m on the mature side/have been around a bit/am no spring chicken; without doubt the oldest student in the group, possibly on the whole course. …