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 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.
Paris - optional bonus! Maurice Chevalier tap dancing through the boulevards. Not.
-
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.
-
Blues in a Long Overcoat: Chicago 1996 – A winter’s tale of hotdogs, corporate stiffs, and being Eric Clapton at Kingston Mines.
Between West Street and Bleeker Street - On the Trail of Paul Simon and Bob Dylan in 1994
The Rambler’s Rant: Imperfect Walks & Lots of Rain
"Handy hikes, crap maps , Robson’s Ramblings stumbles through landscapes both rural and urban."
-
Kirkby Lonsdale: Not Ruskin’s View– 5 mile walk into the countryside. Then out with locals in Kirkby.
-
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.
-
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’.
MeetThe Dead Pubs of Clapham. Clapham Common, Wandsworth Rd, thoughts on working in South London.
-
Paris- Escape the Metro! Get your lardy butt from Gare du Nord to Palais Garnier. Bar tips.
Paris - Gare du Nord to Bastille. Some Haussmann, some 1664
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.”
-
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 main songwriter
-
Taylor Swift Hyde Park 2015 - Tim gets down wiv da kidz
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.
Meat Loaf, Tony Mills of Shy and Brian Greenhoff A Rochdale karaoke!
Lucie SIlvas - Live in London 2018 and album reviews
-
Beatles. Worst tracks. Best tracks All debatable!
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’.
The Top Britpop Songs - From Oasis to Blur (94 to 97)
Face of Yesterday - The Curious Case of Renaissance
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 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.
-
Mary Beard’s SPQR: A Review – A critical look at this popular history.
Domina - TV series review of Livia & Augustus’ rise to power
Barbarians – Acting more wooden than Teutoburg Forest
The Jewish War - Josephus writes a contemporary account of the fall of Jerusalem
Whatever Happens, Happens Rightly. A review and musing on Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.
-
The Crash of 33 AD – First century quantitive easing.
The Theatre at Lillebonne– A look at this well preserved theatre in Normandy.
Trier - A guide around this late empire capital of Constantine, Julian & Valentine
Julian the Apostate - Great or just grating?