The Corruption Trade

TL; DR – Trump owns a bunch of Bitcoin and because he’s corrupt he’ll pump it. I’m a believer of Bitcoin. I believe in its central proposition. A currency that can’t be debased because it converts energy into a store of value, that is anarchic and has decentralised control, and thus solves the issues emerging […]

Starmer’s Boomerang

The year is 2010. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in an almighty election scrap to keep Labour in power after the 2008 financial crash. He is taking part in a campaign event in Rochdale. He meets an elderly woman, sixty-five at the time – Gillian Duffy. She rattles off a number of questions across a […]

Long Ball Patriotism

It’s been an unedifying year for Birmingham. Alongside our interminable bin strike, we’ve now got something else littering our streets. ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ has seen cheap flags popping up on lampposts across the city, and we’re credited by some of kicking this whole thing off. Lovely. Subtle (and not so subtle) racist motivations aside in […]

The Punk President

What social progressives fail to understand is we’re no longer the counter-culture. Socially progressive ideas are the ‘cultural hegemony’. And Trump represents a counter-cultural challenge to a perceived left dominance. Trump is the new punk. Over the last 30 years huge social progress has been made. And rightly so. It was needed. We should all […]

Bern There, Done That

In the fallout of the election, some people are still failing to see what is right in front of their faces. I’m seeing some terrible takes – but the most frustrating goes something like this: “Who knew that this non-traditional media / podcast space was so influential? Who knew we needed a candidate who was […]

High Horse and Crying Wolf

In the immediate fallout of the Trump victory, we’re already seeing much of the left do what it does best – refuse to accept reality in the most sanctimonious way possible. Harris’s concession speech was bizarre. She came out laughing. There were cheers, chants. Her focus on ‘continuing the fight’ was somewhat surreal. She spoke […]

Learnt your Lesson yet?

Trump’s won. Cue collective shock from the usual quarters. The Mystified – “How can this man have been elected? I just can’t understand it. America is so racist.” The Amateur Anthropologists and pop psychologists – “I don’t understand it, but I’m going to analyse Pennsylvania as if it were a mob of wild animals and […]

Give What You Get

14th October 2023, White Belt Diaries VII At this point I’ve been doing jiu jitsu for sixth months or so. I still take my licks from the higher belts, but I feel a degree of competence and understanding in the sport. It becomes clear to me that one of the largest learning curves you have is […]

A Good Big ‘Un

10th October 2023, White Belt Diaries VI It’s an old boxing cliche that quickly proves to be equally true in my BJJ experience – ‘a good big’ un, always beats a good little ‘un’. It was a favourite of my dad’s when I would complain as a boy about coming off worse from a bruising wrestling […]

Hammer and Nail

28th September 2023, White Belt Diaries V Over the summer my second stripe comes shortly after my first. I beam with pride over the two little strips of fabric on my belt and I bore my girlfriend with boasts of how I feel like I’m naturally well-suited to the discipline of BJJ. Finally, the years […]