In January 2000 I wrote this to my unborn son looking towards the future when he would be a similar age that I was at that time: There will be many changes in 35 years time, but one thing that will not change is the fact that I love your mother and no matter what happens I always will with every piece of my heart. Hopefully we will provide a constant for you in this rapidly changing world. To give you some idea of the speed of change,  I was born in 1967, at that time there w

In this 8th and last piece about Marsh Fen and Town and Class I comment on where we are in 2026.

ASPIRATION is the most misused and abused term when referring to working class people. Here is the problem of our time in that we have a university educated class that see the world through their values, standards and experiences in a very narrow view. This dominates in politics and business to the detriment of all in an age where stepping stones of social mobility are being removed.

Here I look at Pigeon End Spalding, how labelling of the area and its people changed over time and some of its effects.

Gang labour has repeatedly been a means of exploiting workers and suppressing wages driven by a food system that loads costs to the producer creating a race to the bottom on the value of labour.

Rural class structures are very misunderstood. A popular history I was taught was that these people migrated to cities to work. This is a little misleading as in fact that they migrated into industry to work, not all industry was city based, especially coal mining as any visit to the former coal mining villages of the Midlands, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland will reveal.

“It’s terribly difficult to explain in England to people how much class distinction there is. Its only when you go away and look back that you see it.” Michael Caine

In December 2024 I explained how the USA was the arsenal of democracy and wondered whether this would continue. It appears we have our answer.

As Morrisons has Christmas veg for sale for 5p is this something to be celebrated?

In this short piece I describe the "boomer boys" from Nigeria post WW2. A piece of social history that has been lost.

Allotments  have a variety of forms and uses. They are important today as they were in the past. The purpose of them and their function may have changed, but as fiscal pressures become greater they may become even more significant to people by reverting to their original purpose: To enable those not receiving enough renumeration from their labours to support themselves and their families.

Last night I watched an interview on Channel 4 about last year's anti-immigrant disturbances with a panel of three people, Dr Lisa...

After much work I have now published the full version of my book "Marsh Fen and Town South Lincolnshire and Beyond". It is a hard back book just under A4 size consisting of 450 pages, over 250,000 words and over 200 pictures and illustrations.

 Recently PM Sir Kier Starmer has used the phrase “Island of Strangers” in a speech about migration. Here I explore the potential origins of the phrase most possibly from a children’s story.

So in both Northumbria and Lincolnshire I see a reduction of income, hours and working opportunity for people as a direct result of government policy. Added to this is decreased job security and increased uncertainty combined with rising cost of living. Effectively all this is combining to increase hardship and poverty of working people.

Here I consider the stresses of 24 hour news; relate a tale of how an old farmer was affected by a bad news story; and consider that the solution to avoiding such stress may be the humble newspaper.

Farming is a keystone industry benefitting many as well as feeding us all.

Here I explain my envy of Grayson Perry and John Caudwell.

Please vote -  whatever the election whether for an MP, a mayor, a councillor or a commissioner it is so important. The simple fact is...

I cannot swim. I do not trust anyone to teach me to swim. My experience of learning to swim at school (amazingly many schools had...