Brian Martell 1938-2026. A slightly revised version of what I said at my dad's funeral. Brian was born in 1938 in Wolverhampton. He kept a trace of black country in his accent through his life. Of course, he supported Wolverhampton Wanderers, and even in his last days in hospital was asking about the Wolves scores....

Shortly before the 2026 World Cup I bought Jonathan Wilson's new book The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup. I'd read his Inverting the Pyramid on the history of football tactics which is more interesting than it sounds. I'm actually interested in football tactics. But apart from that it covers...

Continued from My World Cups: Introduction I've spent my life regretting that I missed the iconic one and only time England won the world cup - 4-2 in 1966 at London's Wembley stadium against West Germany. I was too young (just turned 2 at the time of the 1966 final) and we lived in Africa with no TV. What a shame...

Note: This has been cross-posted to my company's blog, in case you think there is some use in sharing with someone in a format that looks more authoritative. Link here. I strongly believe there are entire companies right now under heavy AI psychosis and it’s impossible to have rational conversations with them about...

The eleventh track of My Top Tracks When I was doing A levels at my local college in the early '80s the were two groups of students that hung out in the common room. One was the trendy types into Culture Club and so on with floppy fringes and fashionable clothes. The others were the weed-smoking hippies. I was in...

Pre-script: I've got a podcast episode out with Ed Zitron available here. It has been a year and a half since I quit my job to start a consultancy. It took me years to build up to quitting, and I had not only a chip on my shoulder, but to quote Seth Sentry, “the guac and the dip and the salsa.” The people that read...

so im not generally a smoker i used to smoke socially and the number of cigs i have a month hovered around like 4-8 per month depending on the number of gigs i would go to. but i think i might have had my last cigarette and joint ever on April 10th 2026. i think ive fucked up my tonsils quite badly. im heavily at...

On the book Half-Earth Socialism, an advocacy of a utopian ecological society that can stop the catastrophe of climate change. Lots of big problems hang over humans and other life on earth. I was born in the 1960s and this feels like the worst period in my country and world society I have lived through. But amidst...

These are some of my favourite albums I listened to in 2025; not all I listened to, just some highlights for me. Quite a few were new releases in 2025, but not all by any means. I use the music streaming app Qobuz which doesn't have any 'wrapped' or 'most listened to' features (I like that it doesn't) (more on Qobuz...

I hated my very conservative school. At age 16 the other pupils all went on to the sixth form except, I think, one other person who left education altogether and me who left to do my A levels elsewhere. I went to the local further education college where things were more relaxed and less reactionary. When I finished...

These notes on these two books by Fenner Brockway were originally in Books I Read in 2025 Part 2 but I've taken them from there and put them here in their own post. Fenner Brockway, Towards Tomorrow To return to the High Wycombe theme from the Martin O'Neill book outlined in Books I Read in 2025 Part 1, I met Fenner...

It’s my last day of writing for the year, so I’m going to try keep this one quick – it was knocked out over three hours, so I hope you can forgive me if it’s a bit clumsier than my usual writing. For some strange reason, one of the few clear memories I have from growing up in Malaysia is a particular moment when I...