IT'S MY LIFE, MAKE IT INTERESTING! AND HELP PEOPLE

June 1, 2026

BARRY'S FUNERAL WEDNESDAY 3RD JUNE 2026

In Memory of Barrington James Lauder

One of my good friends, Barry, has passed away. It is incredibly sad news, but he fought the good fight against cancer with a smile on his face right until the very end.

I actually wrote about Barry in my book about Ossie Clark, "The Highs and Lows of a Legendary Fashion Designer", because he was simply unforgettable.

A former costume designer, he loved Pink Cigar, the band I was managing at the time, and he always brought great energy to the gigs.

He would...

May 23, 2026

MONEY TALKS BUT IT CAN'T

A reminder of what truly matters!

May 21, 2026

GUESS WHO'S BACK

You know who ?

Enjoy the Bank Holiday break!

After a stint out in Mexico writing his next record, Steve Dior is back on home turf. He’s stepping out of the studio for one night only to play a raw, intimate set at one of Notting Hill’s finest traditional boltholes, the Stewart Arms.

If you need a refresher, Steve is true punk royalty. He was right there at the birth of the 1976 London scene, teaching a young Steve Jones how to play guitar before heading to New York to form The Idols with Jerry...

May 14, 2026

4-YEAR CREATIVE WRITING DEGREE WITH FOUNDATION YEAR AT BIRKBECK UNIVERSITY OF LONDON AND WHAT IT ENTAILS

Birkbeck, University of London
Two Centuries of Radical Education
For more than 200 years, Birkbeck has stood apart.

Founded in 1823 by Dr George Birkbeck as the London Mechanics’ Institute, the college was built on a revolutionary belief: that world-class education should belong not only to the elite, but to working people with ambition, discipline, and intellect. While traditional universities closed their doors to ordinary Londoners, Birkbeck opened them at night.

Two centuries later, that...

May 12, 2026

NOTTING HILL PONCES STAND AGAINST RACISM - JOE STRUMMER THE CLASH

"We weren't parochial, we weren't narrow-minded, we weren't 'little Englanders'. We were looking at the world, and we were looking at it from a point of view of being interested in everything. We had the suss to embrace what we were presented with. Which was the world and all its varieties."

Also, I think People ought to know that we're Anti Fascist, we're Anti Racist, and we're pro-creative - we're against ignorance.'

Joe Strummer

The Clash.

May 11, 2026

FABIO WARDLEY BOXER 'WHAT A STORY' DANIEL DUBOIS FIGHT

The Fabio Wardley Story

The Office Desk and the Canvas

You don't plan to become a prize fighter when you are wearing a cheap suit and selling office supplies. You plan for the weekend. Fabio Wardley grew up in Ipswich with a single mother who grafted to keep the lights on and the fridge stocked. The plan was football. It is always football in working-class towns. You kick a ball against a brick wall until the leather peels and hope a scout walks past. Wardley had the feet for it. He played...

May 6, 2026

HOWARD MARKS THE WORLD'S LARGEST HASH SMUGGLER AND PRISONERS ABROAD, AND I, TOMMY KENNEDY IV.

https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/

Howard Marks, Prisoners Abroad, and I
Finsbury Park isn’t exactly where you’d go looking for a miracle, but that’s where Prisoners Abroad has been holding the line for years. For me, they were the bridge back to reality. When I finally got out of the General Penitentiary in Jamaica and landed back in London, the air felt thin and the streets felt too fast. When you’ve been locked up overseas, you don't just walk back into your old life; you’re like a ghost...

May 3, 2026

SOHO BASTARDS!

A good day was enjoyed by all yesterday at the Soho Bastards' monthly meeting in the Duke of York. Organised by David Palfreyman and film director Alan G Parker, which also happened to be Alan's birthday celebration. Nice to see all the familiar faces and the new ones, too.

Happy Easter to you. I wanted to say a quick thanks for the support lately; it means a lot. We’ve seen a surge in sales for the Ossie Clark book over the last few months, and that is down to you lot spreading the word.
I’ve always put more stock in a personal recommendation than any flashy advert. Word-of-mouth is everything in this game.
I’ve been buried in books myself lately. If you’re looking for a deal, there are some proper bargains on Kindle Unlimited at the moment. I’ve been using it...

March 24, 2026

GRENFELL STEPHEN ASLIN'S ROUND THE WORLD BIKE RIDE FOR GRENFELL VICTIMS

I met Stephen through friends at the Stewart Arms in Notting Hill. Theresa and her husband, Simon, were having a leaving party for Theresa's daughter, Ruby, who was taking a 3-month trip around Southeast Asia. And Stephen told me about his round-the-world bike trip.

Thirty thousand miles. It sounds like a made-up number when you say it out loud, the kind of distance you fly over while watching crap films and eating stale plane food. But Stephen Aslin is doing it on a pushbike—every single...

March 14, 2026

THE HANGING DEATH ROW AND THE LASH

Concrete, Rope, and the Tamarind Switch
I stood outside the General Penitentiary on Tower Street and let the heavy reality of the place sink into my bones. You smell the salt from Kingston Harbour mixed with the sour tang of old, sunbaked concrete. The British built this fortress back in the colonial days to warehouse people with low incomes, and they did a proper job of it. They wanted to cut the costs of their empire, so they threw thousands of working men into a stone box and locked the...

March 13, 2026

DUBAI HORROR STORY

Reading Emily Brook: How a Welsh Mother Survived a Dubai Nightmare

I just finished reading a book that demands your absolute attention and refuses to let you look away. It is called Fu...d Up in Dubai! One determined Welsh mother's real-life nightmare: a memoir about love, sex, drugs and life in a Dubai jail. Yes, the title is a proper mouthful. Emily Brook earns every single word of it, though, across 432 raw and unfiltered pages.

From the Valleys to the Desert

Brook comes from a tight-knit...

March 3, 2026

STOP !

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Your Party
Dear readers .
The US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran has set the entire region ablaze. Innocent people, like the girls whose primary school in the Iranian town of Minab was obliterated, are paying the price.We want no part in this illegal war. Your Party’s initial statement, published hours after the bombing began, zeroed in on the issue of British military facilities and resources being...

February 27, 2026

DRUMSHEDS THE UK'S LARGEST SUPERCLUB

TELETECH

[BUY TICKETS / VIP TABLES]

Sold out.

Venue: DRUMSHEDS LONDON

Date: FRI 27 FEB

ROOM X (A-Z)
AZYR B2B BLK.

EMILIJA

FANTASM

HOLY PRIEST

MARCELDUNE

NOVAH B2B HANNAH LAING

ODYMEL

RESTRICTED

ROOM Y (A-Z)
JAZZY

KLOFAMA B2B SLVL B2B USH

KORSE B2B MIKA HEGGEMANN

NIKOLINA

ONLYNUMBERS

THE MUFFIN MAN

TOXIC MACHINERY

VIEZE ASBAK

ROOM Z (A-Z)
2HOT2PLAY

CYBERSEX

DJ CRINGEY B2B TOXIMAMI

FENRICK B2B JOKESONYOU

NINA PIXINA

SIM0NE

Drumsheds Tottenham: Inside the UK's Biggest Superclub
Forget everything you remember about dragging...

February 25, 2026

LORETTA HEYWOOD AND FIVE SHADES

Absolutely buzzing to announce the very first gig with our full 8-piece band. We would love to see you down there.

We are bringing a massive new sound to the stage. Expect a heavy live set packed with 80% original tunes that bridge the past, present, and future.

The Details

Date: Sunday, 26th April
Venue: Jazz Train, Shoreditch
Doors: 2 PM to 8 PM
Live Band: 4 PM to 6 PM

The Lineup

Guest Vocals: The brilliant KJ Anita and Louisa stepping up to the mic.
DJs: Prince Fatty, Russ Jones,...

February 20, 2026

FROM KINGSTON TO KINGS CROSS MEMBERS WANTED

Pints, Pianos, and Welsh Consonants: Joining the Gwalia Male Choir

Back up North in Warrington, the only time you catch a mob of blokes roaring a chant in unison is freezing on the terraces watching The Wire. I never pictured myself spending a Wednesday night standing in a room full of Welshmen in London. I am not exactly from the Valleys. My only real connections to Wales are my friendships with two absolute legends. The first was the late, great drug smuggler Howard Marks. The second is Rob...

February 15, 2026

I'VE BEEN INVITED TO REHEARSALS ON WEDNESDAY

The Gwalia Male Choir

'The Welsh Male Choir '

Cor Meibion Gwalia
A welcoming Welsh male voice choir based in London since 1967.

We began as a breakaway group from the London Welsh Choir. Since then, men from the Welsh community and far beyond have joined us. If you love to sing and enjoy good company, you will fit right in.

What We Sing
Our repertoire moves across styles and moods.

• Traditional Welsh hymns
• Folk tunes
• Opera choruses
• Spirituals
• Pop songs
• Broadway favourites

One night you might...

February 12, 2026

SCUM CLASSIC 1979 FILM WITH RAY WINSTONE

The Daddy: Scum, Winstone, and Full Circles

' I’d already served two terms in Borstal by then. I knew the smell of those places and the taste of the fear. Then Scum came out. It hit the screens like a sledgehammer'.

eople talk about gritty realism, but for some of us, it wasn’t just a film. It was a mirror. Ray Winstone played the lead, Carlin, and he didn't just act the part. He inhabited it. He captured the raw violence and the hierarchy of that life in the 70s perfectly. He played a...

February 9, 2026

A RUM TALE

The homework topics get passed around in a hat. Little folded scraps of paper. I shove my hand in and pull one out. Rum. Just my luck.

I can’t stand the stuff. I got smashed on it as a teenager. My birthday, October 16th. I blacked out and woke up in my girlfriend’s mum’s front room, covered in sick. Then I remembered I had a court date.

The smell still makes me gag. It brings it all back. Like that morning standing in the dock for shoplifting. I didn't do...