The lack of an obvious name is kind of a tell. It’s a gerrymandered, artificial idea. As you say, the attitude toward Swindon is political and cultural. It’s a new town plonked in the middle of an un… (View Post)

The government has buggered it all up again, with Treasury-inspired gibberish on the supposed optimal size of a regional unit. Late Soviet Britain strikes once more. Swindon is part of Wiltshire, whe… (View Post)

I was thinking of Wessex as Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset; and West Country as Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Greater Bristol. (Gloucestershire I put into the West Mids, which obviously wouldn’t be… (View Post)

David Walliams is widely known as a creepy, sick fuck. Open secret for years and years. His kid’s books suck, too. (View Post)

Walliam’s books aren’t bad because they are badly written per se. Just that, like all of Walliam’s comedy work, they have a mean-spirited “punching down” tone. Compare with Dahl who is of course horr… (View Post)