Tony Hatfield's Retired Ramblings

Hooligans from plot #12

Last of this year's crop of squash- hooligans Read more →

Fatter, Dumber and more apathetic than ever?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Read more →

Two Brains- David Willetts and Dinosaurs

David Willetts is the Tory spokesman on Innovation, Universities and Skills. His nickname is "Two Brains" for his formidable intellect. It's not often known that some species of dinosaur also had two brains. Apart from that in its skull, a... Read more →

Creationists and Plate Tectonics

This morning "In our Time" Melvyn Bragg and his guests discussed the geological formation of Britain. You can download the podcast from this link. They inevitably touched on plate tectonics As I was listening to it, I wondered just what... Read more →

Glasgow taxi signage

Only in Glasga from the Gibbzer Read more →

Trafigura-Carter-Rucked

Last night at about 8:30, the Guardian's website published this article by one of its star investigative reporters, David Leigh. Leigh's piece contained this. Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this... Read more →

Why no EU flag?

I'm the first to admit, I'm no expert in diplomatic protocol. This morning US Secretary of State Clinton flew to the UK for a whistle-stop visit. She met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary, David Milliband. This is from... Read more →

'bout time you went Brucey boy.

This outburst from Bruce Forsyth shows just why this old duffer is well past his sell-by date. He introduces Strictly Come Dancing-SCD. For those unfamiliar with SCD, celebrities hitch themselves to a professional dancing partner and compete against similar couples.... Read more →

Tory Education Policy is really Uncooked

Michael Gove The centrepiece of Michael Gove's speech at yesterday's Tory conference was the idea of private institutions establishing schools. The Tories had clearly spent much time in Sweden looking at Kunskapsskolen- roughly translated "knowledge schools". Gove had announced this... Read more →

Delia's Chicken Basque-scrummy

Delia Smith is no superchef, but if you follow her recipes slavishly they always turn out well. One of our favourites from the sainted Delia is chicken Basque. We enjoyed it last night for supper. You can find the recipe... Read more →