80s – Five Miles Out

Triple Lock or Triple Threat?

To start with I will confess my bias. I am in my late 50s so getting to the stage where a big state pension sounds like a wonderful idea. I am also ill health retired on a defined benefit pension scheme and unable to work again, so I have a vested interest in keeping myContinue reading “Triple Lock or Triple Threat?”

Everything we see just fades away

Yesterday the Government said it would update ministers on their internal report into Sue Gray moving to be Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff. A few problems with that: Making Sue Gray obey higher standards than almost every minister or Civil Servant over the last (at least) 20 years would be unfair. Made a day’s headlinesContinue reading “Everything we see just fades away”

And now open your eyes and see what we have made is real

I have said before that I hate musicals. Except Grease, which I saw twice at the cinema when it came out. My sister, Alison, and I were taken to see it by my stepmother (my brother, Mike, and other sister opted for something else instead). This was not my usual kind of film, but itContinue reading “And now open your eyes and see what we have made is real“

You’d better run from the Devil’s gun

I will declare my bias right here at the start. I am a Max Verstappen fan and I predicted that he would be a future world champion the first time that I saw him race in the rain. He stayed on slicks as every other driver either crashed or changed onto wets. It was likeContinue reading “You’d better run from the Devil’s gun”

I Don’t Care What Society Wants

loyalists. The former group fall in love with songs for days or weeks and then abandon them for something new. Loyalists find songs they love and love them forever – I am very much a loyalist. This means that my friends and family will not be surprised at the track that tops this list. ItContinue reading “I Don’t Care What Society Wants”

I’ve never done good things

I am not usually affected when famous people die. It is sad if it is someone whose work you admire, especially if they die when they are young (Kurt Cobain https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1855 , John Lennon https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/617 or Bob Marley https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1677 to name a few). I really hate the hysterical outpouring of grief for someone people haveContinue reading “I’ve never done good things”

Kill the king

A lot of British people are bemused by how Donald Trump won in 2016 and the Republicans remain a strong force in the USA, despite getting less votes than the Democrats. I suggest that they look closer to home for an electoral system that does not work. Britain’s political system is totally broken. Only twoContinue reading “Kill the king”

Just hold your heading true

I like Mike Oldfield, but you have to weigh up the legacy of his music against the fact that without him Richard Branson would probably be an obscure ex-Hippie and not the annoying utter twat that he is. Without the phenomenal success of Tubular Bells there would have been no Virgin Music, Virgin Airlines, VirginContinue reading “Just hold your heading true”

To describe the way I feel

Without the Stone Roses I probably would not be writing this blog (take that as a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of it). I was thoroughly not enamoured with the music scene of the late 1980s. Following Punk, New Wave and the New Romantics nothing happened in popular music. It got blanderContinue reading “To describe the way I feel”

Those were the best days of my life

Whilst our first couple of nights in Kos 1991 had been good, it had really just been drinking excessively and dancing to heavy metal. Dave thought that there had to be more and found out that, whilst Bar Street was the hangout of choice for the Scandinavians, most of the British tourists went out atContinue reading “Those were the best days of my life”