Social/Political Commentary – Page 2

Being a Dad. What you aren’t told

Becoming a father is, of course, a wonderful thing. I’m not setting out to suggest that it isn’t. So, don’t worry y’self. No, what I’m going to bang on about is the strangely secret things that you don’t get told about prior to becoming a father. There are lots and lots of fantastically horrifying thingsContinue reading “Being a Dad. What you aren’t told”

Should a fashion model ever model me?

There has always been an element of otherworldliness in the modelling world, where the walking clothes-hangers are encouraged to be ‘un-human’ and elevate themselves, and the clothing that they’re crowbarred into, above the common herd. Staring dimly or intently into the middle distance, poking elbows and hips out at strange angles and sucking in theirContinue reading “Should a fashion model ever model me?”

Politics and Religion

Politics and Religion? Phew, OK then, here we go. The benchmark of modern civilization, and the defining instrument which has pulled educated and responsible people away from bludgeoning one-another over the head with the discarded leg bones of their devoured foes, is the ability to discuss matters and reach conclusions, whether compromise or consensus, that makeContinue reading “Politics and Religion”

I’m not a jogger. I’m a runner!

Exercise snobbery for the masses and the predetermined illusion of ability over reality and it’s scabby claws of self-realisation. In the 70s and 80s ‘keep fit’ became a new vogue activity for the overpaid and under-occupied inhabitants of various western societies. America is the simplest target for this, as it was always the greatest nationContinue reading “I’m not a jogger. I’m a runner!”

Cars

I’ve never been a petrol-head of any note, and I don’t envisage this changing at any time in my life. It’s not that I don’t care about cars, or don’t see the value in them. It’s just that they aren’t a preoccupation, and I don’t have passion for them. What becomes almost an obsession forContinue reading “Cars”

Coffee

>In England, where people are good and noble, clean and impressive, tea is the drink of choice. Tea is balanced, healthy and of a heritage that is the envy of the whole world. It’s as ancient as civilization and the benchmark for its continuance. The development of tea drinking has accelerated over the last 30Continue reading “Coffee”

Beards

I originally composed this as ‘Facial Hair’ but, the more I thought about it, the more I realised what an enormous subject that truly is. So, I’ve started with the big one: Beards. Beards are the oddest of all stylistic accessories. They are theoretically accessible to any man (and some women of course), so areContinue reading “Beards”

Fighting

One of the most significant films of the 90s, a sleeper hit that people in the know really weren’t sure would gain traction, is Fight Club. The subtext of fighting as an anathema to 20th century consumerism would, they said, go over people’s heads. The brawling in place of meaningful existences would, they said, passContinue reading “Fighting”

Hats

There was a time, long ago now, when men wore hats. They wore hats, because they were men and they wore a hat. This was nothing more than the done thing. When you left the house, you put on your hat. When you got to work, you took it off. When you left work youContinue reading “Hats”

Hiring a Van

For most men in this day and age, an age of information technology and electronic communication, we go to work, sit at a desk and tip-tap away at our keyboards and feel all very clever and important about whatever mindless and irrelevant form-filling and box-ticking we’re engaged in. There are few people in white middle-classContinue reading “Hiring a Van”