This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in the Yorkshire Post see here "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch...
This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in City A.M, see here “The world is not interested in the storms you encountered, but did you bring in the ship?” So wrote the twentieth-century writer of sea stories, William McFee. While the quote has some of the barnacles of...
This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in City A.M, see here Shrimp salad and a gin and tonic for lunch, then back to bed for a snooze. The relaxed recipe for creative genius, as told by Liccy Dahl at a literary event last week, on the...
This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in City A.M, see here The year is 1989. Ronald Reagan on his last day at the White House makes his farewell address. His message is one of the recovery of morale and national pride during his presidency. He puts it...
This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in City A.M, see here After us, the deluge. These are the words not of our Prime Minister, but from another troubled time and uttered by Madame de Pompadour, the lover of King Louis XV of France. The French Revolution...
This piece by Michael Hayman originally appeared in City A.M, see here Last week’s local elections were a democratic amuse bouche. A mere mouthful of popular sentiment, sending a message to the political elite that an offering meant to delight the taste buds has fallen as...
This piece by Michael Hayman MBE originally appeared in City A.M, see here Public morality, but private depravity – a time when keeping up appearances on the outside was very much the order of the day. You have to wonder if Brexit has turned this Victorian...
This piece by Michael Hayman MBE originally appeared in City A.M, see here Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose. So sang Janis Joplin in what sounds like a 1970s version of the Prime Minister’s “No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal” refrain. Perhaps this...
This piece by Michael Hayman MBE originally appeared in City A.M, see here Houston, there is no problem. America is back in the space race. "We're really at the forefront," says US President Trump. "Nobody is doing what we're doing." He’s right. But in a break with tradition,...
This piece by Michael Hayman MBE originally appeared in City A.M, see here The thing about the 1970s – if you lived through them – is that they were for the most part dull and dour years, devoid of political and economic energy. And as for the...