Like many, I have been willing on the ‘minnows’ in the current World Cup of cricket. Of the 14 nations participating, 8 have full test playing status and so half the initial pool games involve an ‘Associations’ nation playing against their ilk or a much better resourced and experienced full time professional team. Already we’ve seen...Read More
The long English suffering cricket fan had another reason to shake their head and shrug a saddening smile yesterday as their one day side subsided to their equal worst ever defeat, and in an important World Cup game, against New Zealand (population 3 million, lest we forget England & Wales’ combined population of 56 million, plus...Read More
OK, one of my favourite topics – education. I was a classroom teacher for 13 years (3 jobs on 3 different continents) which gave me an insight into perhaps (along with health) the most important of all industries. When I began my first teaching job way back in 1986 (almost 30 years ago, my goodness) I...Read More
Firstly let me say I was one proud parent the other day when my daughter was presented with the Principal’s Prize at her Year Seven “Graduation” ceremony. I never won any awards at school, and she’s gone and done it at the first opportunity. However, sitting through the 150 minute assembly the other got the mind...Read More
About 15 years ago, I remember watching a real bad Bruce Willis movie – I mean really bad – The Story of Us, don’t watch it, it’s dreadful . But it had one saving grace. The family depicted always sat down for an evening meal together, and every night the Dad (Willis) made his kids tell everyone one...Read More
I have been fortunate (twice) to see the best rock and roll band that ever strutted the planet, the Rolling Stones, in concert. The first time, 16th July 1990, at Cardiff Arms Park, was possible only because the band had to cancel a few Wembley gigs due to Keith Richards’s injured hand, meaning they threw on the Cardiff...Read More
The signs are that the vote for Scottish independence this week is going to be close. The NO vote (or ‘No thanks’ as the posters politely put it) has been ahead for years, but as the voting day drew close the YES camp crept up, and for a time took a slight lead. I don’t...Read More
The #icebucketchallenge is the viral social media event of the year, and unless you’ve been hiding under a rock these past few weeks, you’ve probably seen countless videos in your news feeds or read about it online, in the paper or on TV news. I succumbed last Sunday. My kids enjoyed the set up and...Read More
Fifteen years ago, Lisa and I attended an unforgettable ‘Night with Barry Humphries‘ at the Regal Theatre with a few friends. Having just graduated with my MBA I was back teaching full time and for some reason I was not enjoying it anymore. I didn’t know why, but I was getting around to the notion that a...Read More
100 years ago today an assassination occurred on the streets of Sarajevo that would lead 37 days later to the outbreak of the ‘Great War’ (later renamed ‘World War One’ after the world was embroiled in another, even deadlier one, a quarter of a century later). The ‘war to end all wars’ became quagmired in a muddy...Read More
