'Sneeze' brings tears to the eyes

8:42am Wednesday 19th November 2008

I don’t usually pay much attention to slogans, so when I first saw the words ‘credit crunch’ in print, I just assumed it was some kind of discount offered by credit card companies. Unfortunately, the name has come to symbolise the world’s financial market falling faster than a drunk on roller skates.

America’s sailing with the wind of change

9:20am Wednesday 12th November 2008

I was born in Bradford and lived there until I joined the Royal Marines in 1967. I have lived in America since 1979 and the changes I have had the privilege to be a part of have been enormous.

Humour’s the ideal companion

8:45am Wednesday 22nd October 2008

It didn’t feel like a laughing matter when I realised, with mounting dread, the personal challenge I had set myself was actually about to happen.

Turning the other chic to model misery

8:52am Wednesday 15th October 2008

The recent London Fashion Week saw us once more being bombarded with images of super-skinny waifs marching down the catwalk. As a result the size-zero debate has been ignited once again.

Children’s telly hasn’t changed

8:23am Friday 26th September 2008

It is the an end of an era. Grange Hill has closed its school gates for the last time.

Tracing our past through

9:04am Friday 19th September 2008

As a boy living in Skipton, it was a with a sense of adventure that I caught a double-decker bus (on which the stairs were exposed to the elements) and alighted at Bradley road-end for a walk into the village to see William John Mitchell, my grandfather.

Why I’ve fallen for the joy of judo

8:28am Friday 12th September 2008

An internet definition of judo, meaning “gentle way”, describes it as “a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport, which originated in Japan in the late 19th century. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw one’s opponent to the ground, immobilise or otherwise subdue one’s opponent with a grappling manoeuvre, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or by applying a choke…”

White House the destiny for Obama?

4:40pm Friday 5th September 2008

Do many readers have tucked away their childhood ‘golly’ badge acquired after dedicated consumption of jars of Robertson’s marmalade and jam, etc, or alternatively a battered Rupert annual in which one of the delightful bear’s friends was a rather naughty ‘golly’ or, in a slightly earlier incarnation, ‘golliwog’?

Toughen up for a return to pedal power

8:30am Friday 29th August 2008

Bradford is currently receiving criticism from several quarters. While it is true that the city has fallen into decline of late, where is the Yorkshire grit and determination?

Saltaire can really go for gold

8:38am Friday 22nd August 2008

Saltaire’s uniqueness has now been publicly acknowledged, according to the Best Western Hotels survey in the T&A. It is with pride that I can say my home village beats Alnwick, Aldburgh and Romney Marsh. It is Saltaire’s distinctiveness and uniqueness that has won it these plaudits.

More »