Archive

  • Radar 3 May 2021: Granta, Interstellar, European Super League

    Radar 3 May 2021: Granta, Interstellar, European Super League

    Trying to impose an American model of financing football in Britain is a broken one


  • Labour using Tory sleaze won’t cut it with voters

    Labour using Tory sleaze won’t cut it with voters

    Over the past week since the Guardian exposed the farce of the prime minister’s flat refurbishment the leader of the opposition, Kier Starmer, had made it his mission to maximize the embarrassment factor for Boris Johnson. There was the bizarre photo opportunity in a store with wallpaper to ram home the message.


  • Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Leeds United 0: we do not like to be beside the seaside

    Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Leeds United 0: we do not like to be beside the seaside

    We went into this game on the back of a solid run without losing in six games to big teams. However, with the loss of two key players, a secure mid table place we were probably not as prepared or as hungry as Brighton who were looking to secure their place in the premier league…


  • Intrusion by Ken MacLeod: dystopian rules

    Intrusion by Ken MacLeod: dystopian rules

    Intrusion is a meditation on a near future where life is regulated with a high level of morality and ethics. Extrapolated ideas on what that may look like a quite restrained with the occasional AI toy and truck. The main debate centres on a medical “fix” for pregnant women and their forthcoming child. The conversations…


  • Gearbest.com: a case study in customer experience

    After six months of no progress I have attempted to nudge Gearbest into escalating the matter to a senior customer service person but it seems impossible to go beyond the robotic responses in their ticket process. Now their customer service staff have stopped “supporting” the resolution of my complaint.


  • Manchester City 1 Leeds United 2: 10 Men

    Manchester City 1 Leeds United 2: 10 Men

    Cooper changed everything. In spite of being first to the ball his follow through was judged dangerous and after the ref had his own look at VAR the yellow card was upped to a red – the letter of the law. Leeds ended the first half on ten men. Bamford had to sacrificed so Struijk…


  • Vaccine Passports – ID no one wants

    Vaccine Passports – ID no one wants

    When there is so much goodwill from the UK population in getting vaccinated, in that over half the population is already vaccinated, in that the infection rate and death rate are both down to a safe level, and staying there despite the return of the lockdown and a third wave in Europe, why then impose…


  • Leeds United 2 Sheffield United 1: Almost

    Leeds United 2 Sheffield United 1: Almost

    Leeds defence was assured without any evidence of being vulnerable to set pieces. Llorente was a rock in defence picking up so many balls coming into the box and filtering them out. Midfield with Harrison, Roberts and Raphinha surged into the Sheffield United box with over 20 shots reigning in goal, but finishing was missing…


  • Granta 154: I’ve been away for a while – Remembering our mortality

    Granta 154: I’ve been away for a while – Remembering our mortality

    With reportage and memoir for the industrial revolution, cholera, and coronavirus pandemic and fiction about a wandering father this was an inconsistent edition but with enough to justify it.


  • Ashnaa Hair and Beauty website launch

    Ashnaa Hair and Beauty website launch

    New website for Ashnaa Hair and Beauty salon. Today I have completed the first version of the new website for our Ashnaa Hair and Beauty salon. This is a hybrid retail website for the salon that drives online bookings to a third party website – Treatwell. I have moved from a static website design to…