Urban Noir: The Scabrous City Stories
"Let’s face it, most travel guides are boring. Read of my escapades and rants as I explore cities from the comfort of a bar armed only with a notebook. No Karens allowed!"
The Low Countries: Low Behaviour
Exploring the "Darkness" and the heavy beers across Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Darkness of Bruges – Beyond the chocolate shops: A rainy night of brutal honesty in Delaney’s Irish Bar.
Antwerp: The Alternative City Break – Our writer takes aim at the patrons of a city centre bar. Diamond.
Delft: Beer, Bars, and F. Scott Fitzgerald – A slow descent into drunkenness and literary envy by a Dutch canal. Bittenballen not optional.
Krakow: The Trilogy
The Schindler Factory: Krakow’s Living Museum – Moving past the Hollywood narrative to the raw reality of the occupation.
Krakow: What to Do, See, and Avoid – Travel tips, where to eat, what to see. No Karens allowed.
The B.O.H.O Bar - The girl in the red dress. The vodka. Thoughts from a couch.
Americana: The Deep Blues
Blues in a Long Overcoat: Chicago 1996 – A winter’s tale of hotdogs, corporate stiffs, and being Eric Clapton at Kingston Mines.
The Rambler’s Rant: Imperfect Walks & Lots of Rain
"Handy hikes, poor maps , Robson’s Ramblings stumbles through landscapes both rural and urban."
Northern Trails: Cumbria
Kirkby Lonsdale: Not Ruskin’s View– 5 mile walk into the countryside. Then out with locals in Kirkby.
Southern Slopes: Downs & Coastlines
A Walk in The Downs by Burgess Hill – Beautiful Burgess Hill said no-one ever. But, the countryside around it is.
A Nostalgic Walk around Brighton – From the station to Kemptown and back. Pubs and memories.
The Wey & Arun Canal - On a rainy day walking along and away from the restored canal. Economic history.
Up Wolstonbury Hill - Iron age fort, great views across the Downs. Margaret Thatcher.
London Trails
Harrods to Victoria – Quick Belgravia walk. You can do it easily with your Harrods shopping bags.
Haymarket to Victoria - Traverse the original manosphere of Jermyn Street, avoid the pelicans in the park, wave to Charlie.
London Bridge to Blackfriars Circular - Borough Market, The Globe Theatre, The Shard. The Thames, beards and tats optional.
Lavender Hill - Up and down this Sarf London thoroughfare. More urban, great vibe, Alec Guinness becomes just ‘Guinness’.
Paris - Escape the Metro! Get your lardy butt out into Le Paris Profond. Bar tips.
Music Reviews
“As the lead singer of a shockingly bad band in the 90’s (see below) I know good music when I hear it. You might agree. Don’t care.”
The Architect Series: 60s & 70s Legends
From Crosby and Clark to Mick Taylor. And then more Mick Taylor. Yes; I’m the Mick Taylor guy.
David Crosby: The Last High Flying Bird – Examining the harmonic legacy of The Byrds and CSNY. RIP David
Mick Taylor: The Greatest Rolling Stone?– Why the Taylor era remains the gold standard of blues-rock.
Gene Clark: The Tragic Genius of The Byrds – A tribute to the life and death of the Byrds’s songwriter.
The Memoir: On Stage & On the Road
First-hand accounts of a life lived through music and the occasional tequila.
Blues in a Long Overcoat: Kingston Mines 1996– The night I was mistaken for Eric Clapton in a Chicago blues dive.
Why my group was called Shambolic – Not all 90’s bands were Oasis.
The Deep Cut Archive
Exploring the underground tracks and B-sides that history almost forgot.
13th Floor Elevators et al: Garage-Rock Pioneers – Underground 60’s classics. Overlooked but not here.
The Roots of Rock – My curated list of the early 60;s tracks that started ‘rock’.
Ancient Rome: The Serious Stuff
“Here I delve into Roman history from the battles that shaped the Empire, the economics of the time through to book and screen reviews"
The "Five Battles" Chronology
A strategic timeline of the wars that defined the Republic and the Empire.
The 3rd Century BC – From the Punic Wars and Hannibal to the rise of a Mediterranean superpower.
The 2nd Century BC – Being written! Carthage's & Corinth’s twin fall through to the Gracchi & Marius.
The 1st Century BC – The death of the Republic, featuring Caesar, Pompey, and the crossing of the Rubicon.
The 1st Century AD – The early Empire, the Claudian invasion of Britain, to the siege of Jerusalem.
The 4th Century AD – The twilight of the West: Constantine, the Goths, and the beginning of the end.
Scholars & Screens
Mary Beard’s SPQR: A Review – A critical look at this popular history.
Barbarians – Acting more wooden than Teutoburg Forest
The Jewish War - Josephus writes a contemporary account of the fall of Jerusalem
Julian The Apostate - Great or grating?
Roman Articles: General
The Crash of 33 AD – The first century quantitive easing.
The Theatre at Lillebonne– A look at this 19th century discover theatre in Normandy.