An ailing state
Sources tell me that the entire English cabinet has tested positive for coronavirus, and are showing symptons such as sad eyes and hebetude. The only one in Number 10 unaffected is Dominic Cummings.
Read More →journalist, writer and recovering physicist
Sources tell me that the entire English cabinet has tested positive for coronavirus, and are showing symptons such as sad eyes and hebetude. The only one in Number 10 unaffected is Dominic Cummings.
Read More →I am so proud of local technology and product development firm TTP, which has designed a ventilator system for coronavirus patients in NHS hospitals. In the news the ventilator is generally described as a Dyson invention, but that is inaccurate. TTP is based in Melbourn, a South Cambridgeshire village neighbouring Royston, where I live. I […]
Read More →A friend remarks that we can only do our best with what is within our control. Crisis can bring innovation, she says, and we must step up to the challenge. True enough. I shally be content with the ruination of capitalism, dissolution of the UK state, and introduction of a Universal Basic Income by the […]
Read More →I and my NUJ colleagues have been busy collating case studies of freelance journalists whose livelihoods have been crushed in the coronavirus emergency. Unlike employees, freelances are not entitled to sick pay or other benefits, and in many cases order books are completely empty following client cancellations of previously agreed commissions. A few publishers such […]
Read More →Today I was told that down my way they were queueing in their hundreds at dawn to strip bare the supermarket shelves. Contrast this with the scenes of solidarity witnessed recently in Italy. There is much good in humanity, but many of us are downright selfish cunts.
Read More →The following is a text on which the NUJ statement published on Monday 16 March 2020 is based. See the official statement for links to further relevant material. The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis that will affect everyone to some degree, whether or not they are infected with the COVID-19 virus. Workplaces are shutting […]
Read More →A letter sent to the Royston Crow, but as yet unpublished… Going by the Conservative Party election leaflet recently distributed to Royston households, I have to ask whether our longstanding MP Oliver Heald agrees with either its content or the party leader whose face adorns it. Sir Oliver is one of that dwindling band of […]
Read More →My MP, Oliver Heald, a Conservative who campaigned with me for Remain during the 2016 EU referendum, has written to say that blame for a no-deal Brexit will lie with those who voted against Theresa May’s deal. Below is my response to Sir Oliver. Royston, 30 August 2019 Dear Oliver, Transferring responsibility for a […]
Read More →As a freelance journalist I am disappointed by the close vote in the European Parliament today against the recommendations on copyright reform proposed by parliament’s JURI committee. Still, on the bright side I look at the vote as a minor setback that I and my fellow copyright holders could turn into an opportunity. The matter […]
Read More →The following is a letter submitted three weeks ago to the Royston Crow, but which they have declined to publish… The claim that EU accounts have not been signed off in over 20 years (Peter Chilvers, postbag 22 February) is what is known colloquially as ‘fake news’. It is an example of the adage often […]
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