Author: Max Frances
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Nacho Concern
I had thought that the demise of Debenhams – entirely self-inflicted but precipitated by the COVID catalyst – would rest at the pinnacle of premier-league self-pity. And then I read about Cineworld who are temporarily battening down the hatches, ostensibly owing to further delays to the release of Bond 25, No Time to Die. Now,…
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Bitter Ex
I made a trip to the opticians recently, which considering the now mandatory COVID re-engineering of processes went essentially smoothly. Professional and organised staff, hassle-free, and frames that nestled peacefully on my asymmetric features. To top it off, I saved a hefty chunk on my last similar purchase. A fat, juicy tick in the customer…
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Down in One?
Momus, the god of satire and mockery, must be sitting on a cloud somewhere, pleased with his day’s work. President Trump, who had reportedly played down COVID, has acquired the germ. And it was confirmed on The National Day of the People’s Republic of China. The old Kung Flu is not so funny now, I’ll wager.…
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Lacquer Integrity
So now we know why Donald Trump didn’t want his tax information in the public domain. The whole caper reflects either a colossal commercial car crash or some egregious, cynical loss generation in order to avoid IRS liability. If he’s gone cap in hand for bailouts, I wonder who would be propping him up? I…
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Collars and Cuffs
Tragic news from Croydon where a Police Custody Sergeant has been shot dead in a secure custody suite. Nothing can detract from the awful reality that a man has lost his life. Most telling, though, is the gamut of reactions on social media. Pro-police commentators have trumpeted that the Sergeant was ‘murdered’. Others are beyond…
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The Golden Shirk-All
The plot of the second ‘Kingsman‘ movie centres on a psycho drug dealer holed up in the jungle, who infects her product with a deadly virus and blackmails the world for in exchange for the vaccine she’s already developed. Her gang is the self-styled ‘Golden Circle’. All those who believe in conspiracy theories, snag a…
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Any Scheme Will Do
I’ve always been sceptical about COVID mask diktats because adherence to face coverings has inexplicably landed squarely in absolutist territory. Veiled criticism doesn’t feature when it comes to masks (chortle). Donning a vizard of whatever type is good. Not wearing a mask of any type is bad. And that wasn’t the case a few months…
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Square One
The great baseball coach Yogi Berra once said, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else’. While ‘girly rounders’ might be anathema to Boris, it must be evident that his ‘any road to nowhere’ rationale has transported us all well beyond the looking glass to a place for which alignment with…
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Bored Harder
The hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic is once again back centre stage, now that Blondie and the band have driven a bus through respect for International Law. But hang on a moment. While those shameless rogues backslid unflushed down the diplomatic pan, the monopoly on charlatanical chicanery did not end at…
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The Competitive Hedge
Not many have been impervious to boorish professional sports stars banging on about how they hate to lose games with their colleagues – and even their kids – because they are ‘so competitive’. These dullards merrily recount how they storm off in a strop at any ‘defeat’ inflicted on them, wearing their hissy chagrin like…
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