My formative years (my teenage years) were the 1980s. It was in the 1980’s that I really developed my deep interest in politics. I think it was always there but I became an ‘angry young man’ in the early 80s seeing my dad die of leukaemia. He was in and out of the Hallamshire Hospital… Read More »
Today seven Labour MPs resigned the party whip and have formed an Independent group in the House of Commons. The seven are not particularly surprising and it was probably only a matter of time before something like this happened. The seven include my own MP, Angela Smith the now Independent MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge. … Read More »
I enjoy using twitter. I’m trying to get into using Instagram. I’ve stopped using Facebook. What I’ve noticed over a significant period of time, particularly on twitter, is how debased debate (I use that word sometimes in its loosest sense) is becoming, particularly involving our elected politicians – particularly MPs. The rudeness, the vileness, the… Read More »
So over two years after the referendum it seems that Prime Minister May has finally reached an agreement with the EU for our eventual exit next year. The problem is that this deal pleases neither side of the remain/leave argument. Scanning the basics of the deal it seems to me to be BRINO – Brexit… Read More »
My final story of men with links to Sheffield is about John William Streets – one of the lesser know War Poets. William – or Will as he was better known – was born in 1886 in Whitwell in North Derbyshire, the eldest of 12 children. He was academically and artistically gifted and in a… Read More »
In my fourth of five posts looking at men with links to Sheffield and their experiences of the First World War, I look at William Barnsley Allen – a VC winner, doctor and almost certainly a PTSD sufferer. William was born in 1892 in Ecclesall, Sheffield. He attended St Cuthberts College – now Worksop College… Read More »
Today the third of five posts telling a brief story of a man with links to Sheffield and their experiences of the carnage of the First World War as we approach the 100th anniversary of its end. Today, Arnold Loosemore, a VC winner who was treated shoddily by an ungrateful government. Arnold was born in 1896… Read More »
Today the second of five posts telling a brief story of a man with links to Sheffield and their experiences of the carnage of the First World War as we approach the 100th anniversary of its end. Today, Vivian Sumner Simpson who played football for Sheffield FC and for Sheffield Wednesday. Vivian was born in… Read More »
Another year, another load of abuse hurled at footballer James McClean. This has been a yearly thing since James McClean signed for Sunderland in 2011. This year the FA has gotten involved. Not to investigate the abuse hurled at McClean but his response through his Instagram account. James McClean’s sin was refusing to wear a… Read More »
This is the first of 5 mini-stories of men with connections to Sheffield who fought in the First World War. Today the story of Jimmy Revill – the only Sheffield United player killed on the Western Front. Jimmy Revill was born in Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire on 14th June 1891. He was a good footballer and… Read More »