Category Archives: opinion
SHEDNOTES 145: Labour’s losers keep on missing the point
An episode of Pointless reminded The Shed of a great Johnny Cash song, Twenty Five Minutes To Go, about a condemned man waiting on the hangman’s trap, which would make a good soundtrack for the countdown to the Labour leadership … Continue reading
Observations from The Shed – How Left Can Look Right
The Labour Party thinks a groundswell of support for Jeremy Corbyn is evidence of a fatal belief that its problem is not being Left enough. The Shed concurs that anyone who does not share some of the sympathy for capping … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 128: Thanks to Frank …
Frankie Boyle seems to have dropped out of favour as a comedian but he is getting some commissions for writing and The Shed enjoyed some of his observations (Guardian) on the Labour leadership situation, such as … ** Jeremy Corbyn … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 122: Doping in sport – The Future?
The doping allegations against Mo Farah’s coach, Alberto Salazar, gave the Telegraph’s James Kirkup an opportunity to air the libertarian view that the thing to do about performance enhancement was let it rip … http://tinyurl.com/q6fp9sh/ He said (among other things): … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 119: Charlie’s toots
A lot of us want to know … Just how pissed, how often, was Charlie Kennedy? A lot of functioning alcoholics must have been involved in the solemn reporting of his drink problem, which never again went unmentioned once it … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 118: A little bit of Seppticism
The Shed is instinctively suspicious of a hue & cry and feels obliged to make a point or two about Sepp Blatter being hounded into resignation from the presidency of Fifa. Shed experience includes some time in newsrooms and it … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 118: Words lose out to war
The Shed has always been a bit curmudgeonly about the tendency to see politics as just another marketing challenge and notes with dry eyes that Tony Blair has given up trying to organise peace in the Middle East. Can’t blame … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 104: Another lie they told us
The Shed’s admitted Guardian habit was rewarded by a great report by Ed Pilkington at http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/21/fbi-jail-hair-mass-disaster-false-conviction/ on the “dirty bomb” which is about to go off concerning men serving life sentences for murder and rape on the strength of what … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 85: Separating sex and politics
The Shed has reluctantly accepted that it should comment on the business of inappropriate sexual behaviour, which is driving a lot of politics and civil service effort without dissent from any direction. Theresa May said in a recent article that … Continue reading
SHEDNOTES 83: Understanding Mandy
Mark Gatiss plays Peter Mandelson in an upcoming doc-drama called Coalition and has been studying his man. He told the Telegraph 1.3.14: “There’s this lovely old clip where he’s eating a yogurt and drops a bit on his tie. He … Continue reading
