As each Christmas approaches, I think of William Onion, the East End Poet and possibly Britain’s most convicted man who was born on Christmas Eve in 1834 and ended a fifty-year addiction to alcohol in December 1898. Afterwards he became a minor celebrity, preaching temperance. One thing didn’t change. He remained poor. The most Onion […]
Engagement is a key focus for many companies, but they disagree on how to achieve it. Some measure anonymous surveys, others run expensive initiatives, and many link it with other buzz words. Generally, it is about trust. People are with you if they believe you. You can build that trust with the right approach, which […]
Mr Company ran along the corporate path. His brain relayed directions to his legs and they kept him ahead of the competitors. One day Mr Company had a vision that inspired him to glide so he took half the money earned by the legs and hired worms to help him develop. The worms employed more […]
Today is the 55th anniversary of Doctor Who. Since the first episode was broadcast on 23 November 1963 there have been 847 episodes telling 283 stories, plus novels, audios and countless pieces of merchandise. It is an unique part of British popular culture that has motivated me for most of my life and continues to […]
This week’s EFL trophy game between Walsall and Port Vale attracted less than a thousand spectators. Two thousand less than the last time they met in the same competition. This is partly due to supporter unease about the presence of academy teams from bigger clubs in a competition designed for the lower leagues. One of […]
130 years ago, today a woman who called herself Mary Jane Kelly was murdered by Jack the Ripper. Her true identity, like that of her killer, is unknown. All genealogists have to work with is a story given by her ex-boyfriend, Joseph Barnett, at the inquest. Extensive searches have failed to trace her with that […]
The book I am most looking forward to in 2019 is a study of Jack the Ripper and the Thames Torso murders by Drew Gray and Andrew Wise. Gray currently runs the police magistrate blog, covering cases from the 19th century courts. As the subject of my next book, William Onion, was a frequent visitor […]
Anyone looking for inspiration this week should have found it in the fourth Invictus Games, taking place in Sydney. Athletes from eighteen countries participated, all being wounded, sick or veterans from the armed forces. Each has their own personal story of overcoming, and defying, adversity to compete in sports that many able-bodied people find difficult. […]
Last year there were 68 calls from British MPs to the immigration hotline. A group of charities have requested that MPs pledge not to inform on illegal immigrants who seek their assistance, arguing that they have the same rights as everyone else. MPs have a duty, like all citizens, to report illegal activity. However, the […]
