Author Archives: johngsmith

Believe it or believe it not, it’s over 70 years since I first did what I did today. With life’s whirligig, how satisfying that at least one thing never changes. Under instruction from Dad so long ago, but alone now, … Continue reading →

Wading through The Times of Saturday 23rd April 2022 I read under the birthdays’ column the “On this day” and nearly fell off my chair. “In 1927 the BBC’s first radio broadcast of an FA Cup Final came live from … Continue reading →

This morning whilst sitting outside I became aware of a birdsong. Loud, piercing but beautiful. It started with a staccato-style beat, beat, beat and ended with a twittering trill. Not unlike part of the repertoire of a thrush. But this … Continue reading →

Of birds When I was a small boy, I often wondered where they came from and where they went and what they did in private. It seemed to me they were so secretive. Only in Spring did they stay in … Continue reading →

Luke the hero? I thought I was being futuristic. I was wrong – well, partly, at any rate. Luke, the central character in my concluding novel of the Whitby trilogy, took inspiration from the Covid 19 epidemic. He dreamt of … Continue reading →

Let’s say you’ve promised to hand out more money than you possess (e.g. the new Chancellor), one solution is to ask The Bank of England if there are ways and means to fulfil the promise. The bank will mention an … Continue reading →

The answer might depend on its size. If it’s large enough, for example as incurred by the NHS, then £13.4 billion could be re-classified as “public dividend capital” which, apparently, is an asset. Think of it as an equity investment … Continue reading →