Formerly Known as The Rights of Fans
by Chris Harris Day 3 of a week aboard Cunard’s Queen Anne, sailing from Southampton to Norway and back. This is not a cruise review so much as a diary of what actually happens when you put 3,000 passengers on a floating hotel, give them unlimited food and, in our case, a drinks package. The … Continue reading Cruise Control 3: Kristianstad
by Chris Harris Day 2 of a week aboard Cunard’s Queen Anne, sailing from Southampton to Norway and back. This is not a cruise review so much as a diary of what actually happens when you put 3,000 passengers on a floating hotel, give them unlimited food and, in our case, a drinks package. The … Continue reading Cruise Control Day 2: A Day at Sea.
Day 1 of a week aboard Cunard’s Queen Anne, sailing from Southampton to Norway and back. This is not a cruise review so much as a diary of what actually happens when you put 3,000 passengers on a floating hotel, give them unlimited food and, in our case, a drinks package. The good, the bad, … Continue reading Cruise Control Day 1: Southampton. Setting Sail.
by Chris Harris 21/8/26 For a while, Zack Polanski looked as though he had pulled off something close to a political miracle. He had made the Green Party interesting. For years the Greens had an image problem: worthy, principled and occasionally influential, but also earnest, predictable and, frankly, rather dull. Then along came Polanski, energetic, … Continue reading Zack Polanski: The Man Who Made the Greens Interesting and is Now Their Biggest Problem
by Chris Harris There is something slightly different about Nigel Farage at the moment. For years, whatever you thought of him, he possessed an extraordinary political instinct and ability to turn almost any controversy to his advantage. Scandal, outrage, resignation, comeback. It was all fuel. But the £5 million affair feels different. The questions surrounding … Continue reading Are The Vultures Beginning to Circle Farage?
by Chris Harris 19/8/26 Is Andy Burnham Serious – Or Is He Just Father Christmas? Remember Christmas Day when you were a kid? You wake up ridiculously early, run downstairs and there are presents everywhere. For a few glorious hours, life is absolutely brilliant. New toys, new clothes, chocolate for breakfast and nobody telling you … Continue reading Is Andy ‘Vibes’ Burnham Serious – Or Is He Just Father Christmas?
by Chris Harris 18/8/26 Would work better with the 'H' ! I should probably establish something from the start. I am not a Reform voter. Politically, I sit considerably further to the left, and there is plenty about Nigel Farage and Reform that I disagree with, but also some things that make common sense. I … Continue reading While Labour Takes August Off, Reform Is Setting the Agenda
by Chris Harris Splitting Hairs: Why We Still Love This Centuries-Old Idiom We all know a hair-splitter. You say the meeting started at ten o’clock and they point out that it actually started at 10:02. You say a politician broke a promise and someone replies that technically it wasn’t a promise, it was a commitment. … Continue reading Popular Idioms and Phrases: Splitting Hairs
This is Patch, my two month old rhubarb plant by Chris Harris Mention rhubarb and most of us immediately think of pudding. Rhubarb crumble drowning in custard. Rhubarb pie. Stewed rhubarb with enough sugar to make your dentist wince. Rhubarb and ginger jam. These days we instinctively put rhubarb alongside apples, strawberries, plums and other … Continue reading Rhubarb: The Poisonous Vegetable and Laxative We Somehow Turned Into Pudding
by Chris Harris In December 2025 an application by Lidl to build a new superstore on the old Caffyns site was turned down. That same month, an application from Aldi to expand its store, literally a stone's throw away from the proposed Lidl site, was approved. Was this a coincidence or the dark arts? The … Continue reading Coincidence or Commercial Ambush? The Curious Battle Between Aldi and Lidl in Lewes
by Chris Harris 16/8/26 There was something almost perfectly absurd about Sadiq Khan condemning the “public hounding”, abuse and public shaming surrounding the tragedy of Jason Arday — and then choosing X as the place to tell us about it. His sentiments may be entirely sincere. Indeed, the central point is difficult to argue with. … Continue reading This is Bullshit Khan. The Left’s X Twitter Problem: You Cannot Condemn the Cesspit While Swimming in It.
by Chris Harris 15/8/26 If you follow the British media, you could be forgiven for thinking Nigel Farage is already measuring the curtains at Downing Street. Reform dominates political coverage, every opinion poll is treated as another staging post towards government, and remarkably little attention is paid to what would actually happen in 650 individual … Continue reading The Useless British Media’s Bullshit and Reform’s Real Electoral Prospects