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Toscanini once said, “If you want to please the critics, don't play too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow.”

The words you’ll find here are about life, betting, eating, drinking, having fun, getting angry, crying, and laughing. Here, we try to accept life is what it is - often too frightful for words, but we have to find them - and just as likely to be too funny to get the words out, but we have to try because making the next person down the line laugh is good for everyone.

I hope you’ll get some pleasure from reading my views on a wide range of subjects. I might make you smile, I might also make you think, and occasionally, my views might irritate you. All these things are possible because, in my 70+ years, I have gained some experience in life, from selling photocopiers to being a soldier, a roughneck, and a roustabout. I have travelled the world, designed and run over 20 restaurants, and been a PR consultant and corporate advisor.

I have been blessed to have many friends from many backgrounds, countries, interests, political views and levels of prosperity. Alongside some of them, I have met with Triumph and Disaster and, as Mr Kipling wished, have tried to treat those two impostors just the same.

I have remained resolutely poor financially, which may or may not be partly connected with a lifetime interest in horseracing, drinking, restaurants, and enjoying life. It was not necessarily the wisest path, but I hope it has been attacked relentlessly and with relish, a sense of humour, and sometimes irony.

I dislike bullying, big state, and the nonsense of modern morality, which tends towards self-aggrandising virtue signalling and the desperation of dopamine-fuelled likes on social media.

I fear for our future as a species because very few of our leaders have any genuine concept of either the laws of Sod or Unintended Consequences, resulting in woeful planning and a problematic perspective of future needs.

I hope we can occasionally point out the issues and possible solutions in this small newsletter whilst smiling with you on our collective path to Paradiso or Inferno.

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