Author Archives: admin

I wanted to be a scientist when I was a child. Or a magician. Or a detective. One of those things. I hadn’t yet learned that life really was as dull as it appeared to be on the surface. I … Continue reading →

City parks aren’t terribly subtle in their juxtaposition of life and death. They have the swings and the slides and the children shouting, but alongside them they place memorials to the dead. In Cannon Hill Park as well as the … Continue reading →

A few months ago I visited the Hack Green Nuclear Bunker. Such is the breakneck pace at qanik, where a mere 18 months have passed since my last ‘update’ (the word seems hardly adequate), that it has been just three … Continue reading →

I seem to have lost the ability to cross the road. Historically I was one of the great road crossers: adventurous, brave and with split-second timing I would run out in front of oncoming traffic, always just making the far … Continue reading →

I seem to have spent a lot of last month writing about Birmingham. I think this was more due to the coincidence of receiving two different commissions about the city, rather than anything in the March air. The first piece … Continue reading →

Here’s another article I did for the Birmingham Post about auctions and markets. I apologise once more for the slightly breathless, cub reporter style. I can’t quite explain why they come out this way…. Biddle and Webb auction house and … Continue reading →

I went to the offices of The Guardian newspaper yesterday. In the course of the visit I was given a copy of today’s Review section. Pete and I spent the rest of the afternoon in London. We sat in various … Continue reading →

I’ve started doing a monthly column for The Birmingham Post. It’s just a way really to legitimate the various tragic day trips and explorations I carry out in and around the city. I wanted the column to have the title … Continue reading →

I drive along the city’s arterial roads. I see nail parlours, pound shops, chicken disposal units, mobile phone unblockers, and then I see balloons – a blossoming of red and yellow fluttering from the crash barriers and lamp posts. This … Continue reading →

The burning of effigies is one of those things that I’m only aware of through news stories. I’ve never done it myself, or seen it done, but it seems to go on somewhere out there. I don’t really dislike anyone … Continue reading →