sootalluresOct 10, 20212 min readGet me to the Match on TimeGet me to the Match on Time The day started well enough: a walk to town In the soft light of soft autumnal sunshine, Ridge and furrow...
sootalluresOct 4, 20212 min readTory Culture WarsTory Culture Wars I have developed a habit of reading as I walk, And today on my way to walking football, I read the report on the Tory...
sootalluresOct 2, 20215 min readNotes on The Brutish MuseumThe Brutish Museum: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution Dan Hicks I have chosen selections from this scholarly...
sootalluresSep 30, 20211 min readStroud StrollersStroud Strollers: The Sun Shines on the Righteous When I was a kid, I lived for football. Kicking a ball against a wall, Playing in the...
sootalluresSep 24, 20212 min readLancaster and the Slave TradeWhat’s in a Name? The Naming of Parts The Grave at Sunderland Point There’s an embarrassment in walking to the grave, Out there at...
sootalluresSep 13, 20212 min readPunish the PoorPunishing the Poor: It’s for Their Own Good Don’t’ You Know? That’s Levelling Up. Punishing the Poor. So here I am in September 2021, In...
sootalluresSep 5, 20211 min readREVOIRREVOIR At Andy’s wake The decades dissolved Immediate recognition Clear memories. But Forest Green! You’ve strayed Adulterously. A...
sootalluresAug 26, 20212 min readHorns RoadHORNS ROAD Ye Prologue: The late 19th and early 20th century Saw a red brick suburban terrace street building boom, All over the country...
sootalluresAug 25, 20216 min readA Short Account of the Destruction of the IndiesA Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies Bartolome De Las Casas I came across this book again after a gap of a fifty years after...
sootalluresAug 11, 202126 min readStroud Valley EmigrationEmigration from Stroudwater in the 1830s and 40s ('Documentary Fiction') Foreword My emigrant’s passage started in Bisley Along a...
sootalluresAug 6, 20212 min readWe've Got Our Club Back‘We’ve got our Club back’ It’s a great feeling when you feel and say this, The years roll back and you’re young again, Walking through...
sootalluresAug 2, 20214 min readStroud and Abolition AftermathStroud and Abolition after 1834 (Derived from a reading of Slave Empire How Slavery Built Modern Britain Padraic X. Scanlon) I’m sure you...
sootalluresJul 22, 20214 min readEast India Company WalkEast India Company Walk The information boards at Chalford intrigue, Because of the lack of information: At Chalford Vale and along the...
sootalluresJul 20, 20215 min readRadical Road TripRadical Antiquarians on Tour The Antiquarians’ Road Trip Plus ca change Look! There’s Mr Jingle and Mr Pickwick in Stamford, A town...
sootalluresJul 3, 20211 min readIt's Coming HomeEngland v Ukraine When the working class was first given the vote, The Home Secretary said: ‘We must educate our masters’; The result was...
sootalluresJun 30, 20213 min readComing HomeI wrote these about twenty years ago and dug them out as museum pieces from an age before social media, UKIP, Brexit, and BLM. But...
sootalluresJun 27, 20211 min readDetained and ExplainedLines scribbled at the MShed June 27th 2021 So there you lie, supine, Edward Colston, A somewhat Ozymandian reminder Of ineluctable...
sootalluresJun 19, 20213 min readGet your book out refAt the end of the day There are no easy games at this level And two-nil is a dangerous lead When It’s a game of two halves But goals win...
sootalluresJun 14, 20212 min readMemories are Made of This Remember when the Likely Lads Wanted to avoid the final score? Well, this was the exact opposite: A twenty first century digital version...
sootalluresJun 7, 20212 min readA Stroud BroadsheetIn the year of our Lord, 1649, England became a republic, And that word: ‘Commonwealth’ (‘In the beginning was the Word’), Another...