04 October 2011 08:12
Human nature being what it is, we cannot help being more affected by stories – whether cheerful or tragic – that are closer to home.
That is why issues like the bid to build a Tesco store in Sheringham and a wind turbine at Bodham capture more interest...
posted by Steve Downes with
05 July 2011 10:56
Children are not all the same.
It seems such an obvious statement. But, embroiled in an education system that forces them to jump through the same hoops and a society that seeks to fashion a generation of clones, it is worth repeating.
This none-too-incisive...
posted by Steve Downes with
14 June 2011 09:26
We are in an instant era. It is a time of instant heroes, instant "stars" and instant villains.
Norfolk singer Ronan Parke went from nowhere to everywhere in the time it took to belt out a song. And Norwich City fan Luke O’Donoghue went from anonymous...
posted by Steve Downes with
14 June 2011 08:47
Hats – and saucy corsets – off to Mothers’ Union boss Reg Bailey.
Reg is not a name that I expected to see as the chief executive of this institution. But his report and recommendations about the commercialisation and sexualisation of children are suitably...
posted by Steve Downes with
17 May 2011 08:48
If I was a bit more photogenic, I could be a poster boy for David Cameron’s Big Society.
Despite knowing all the words to the 1980s Grange Hill song Just Say No, I am not very good at rejecting requests.
If someone needs a volunteer, I’m your man. (Although,...
posted by Steve Downes with
11 May 2011 10:45
I have a problem with the recent local elections. I’m probably a little embittered because I missed an entire night’s sleep as I waited for the North Norfolk District Council results to be declared.
But that is not the chief reason for my problem with...
posted by Steve Downes with
03 May 2011 08:14
Mahatma Gandhi had a decent turn of phrase and a fair degree of common sense.
One of his real gems is "an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind".
That was what came instantly to my mind when I heard of the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan....
posted by Steve Downes with
26 April 2011 08:47
Spring has sprung and it’s high time for us to take up our trowels, don our gloves and get grubby in our gardens.
Not likely. I cannot stand gardening – at least not the faffing about with seedlings, pruning, edging and low-level weeding that make it...
posted by Steve Downes with
19 April 2011 08:14
I hate it when food is wasted.
When my children were younger and fussier – before they started to eat me out of house, home and positive bank balance – I used to polish off my own meal, then turn my attention to the scraps left on their plates.
And,...
posted by Steve Downes with
29 March 2011 08:15
I sometimes wonder how we survived without mobile phones while we were at school.
What did we do if we missed the bus home? Oh yes, we either walked or used the telephone in the school reception to contact our parents.
And if we had an urgent message...
posted by Steve Downes with
16 March 2011 08:08
Hands up if you have ever flashed your lights to warn other drivers about the presence of a mobile police speed camera?
I have, plenty of times. And I’m guessing that most other drivers have, too.
Now for the tricky bit. Hands up if you know that you...
posted by Steve Downes with
09 March 2011 11:00
As a Cromer lad raised on fierce football pitch battles against Sheringham, I understand the roots of local rivalry.
I’m not averse to jokes about "shady Shannocks" or a barbed reference to Suffolk or Ipswich. But when it goes beyond good-humoured sparring...
posted by Steve Downes with
01 March 2011 08:35
My faith exhorts and inspires me to turn the other cheek to provocation. And, on most occasions, I do just that.
Growing up with ginger hair, you get used to choosing between fight or flight. More often than not, I have chosen the latter.
But there...
posted by Steve Downes with
23 February 2011 10:22
Higher education is in a state of funding flux. The government has slashed teaching grants by up to 80pc, and is threatening to slaughter the sacred cash cow by limiting the number of overseas students that universities can recruit. Any extra money is...
posted by Steve Downes with
22 February 2011 09:27
I don’t like being told what to do. Ask my mum and dad, or any of my old schoolteachers.
In common with many other strong-willed (stubborn) people, I find that the one way to make me do the wrong thing is to tell me that it’s the wrong thing.
Which...
posted by Steve Downes with
