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Into the future, come what may

The second section of The Times yesterday featured a lengthy piece asking how much the Covid-19 pandemic – specifically the effect of the lockdowns – has aged us before then going on to provide tips as to how we might ‘recover’ some of the lost ground. In my own case I have to admit [...]

March 7, 2021 // 0 Comments

The dilemmas of uncertain times

The other day it occurred to me that in these uncertain and troubled times one of the few advantages of being an oldie is that one doesn’t have to worry about how to obtain a decent job and make one’s way in the world. For good or ill, whether by now one has become a multi-millionaire basking [...]

March 6, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Happy Haven/John Arden

Bob Tickler recently received an unusual item by email from an old school friend – namely, the programme of a play The Happy Haven by John Arden which was a school play by his junior school in which he had a non-speaking role as a Lady Mayoress. He forwarded it onto me and asked if I knew [...]

March 4, 2021 // 0 Comments

Black market in white goods

The great comedian Jackie Mason many of whose best jokes were observations of Jewish people once remarked: “A Jew can put 7 companies together but cannot assemble a hoover …“ How true I thought. I took delivery of a flat pack bookcase last week and its assembly was beyond me. I sat [...]

March 3, 2021 // 0 Comments

Another fine modern mess

Recently I had an extraordinary brush with the way the digital world works – so remarkable that it invites the comment “You couldn’t make it up!” It ran as follows (and here I will add that I am avoiding identifying any of the parties in order to protect both the innocent and the less [...]

February 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Keeping in touch with modern life (up to a point)

I suspect in common with many Rusters from time to time as an oldie I find myself engaged in an unequal and often unsuccessful struggle with the inevitable onward march of developments in modern technology. My contributor colleague Michael Stuart has blogged in the past about his watershed moment [...]

February 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Robert Maxwell

I neither knew nor had any dealings with Bob Maxwell but I knew well two he did. A recent biography by John Preston called The Fall has received good reviews but I do not really want to spend the time reading it. However the BBC serialised it over 5 episodes and it was read by actor Henry Goodman. [...]

February 24, 2021 // 1 Comment

A sporting life

The news of Tiger Wood’s serious car accident in California yesterday has been dominating the world’s news media outlets since it happened and will have saddened many – and not just golfing and sports fans. At this stage – before the investigations are completed and the facts established [...]

February 24, 2021 // 0 Comments

Another milestone on the road back to where we were?

This is an important day. At some point the Prime Minister is going to formally announce his heavily-leaked “road map” by which the UK will gradually emerge from Covid-19 Lockdown 3 and ascend to the sunny uplands of its post-Brexit prosperity and world domination. Or possible not. Overnight I [...]

February 22, 2021 // 0 Comments

Covid injection appraised

I support the consensus view that the rollout vaccination programme has been extremely well organised – the cynic might say the government’s sole success to date. My letter of eligibility arrived a week ago, I made the appointment at the local racecourse for early morning last Thursday. [...]

February 20, 2021 // 0 Comments

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