It’s disappointing to see a Labour chancellor regurgitate “regulations bad”.

Reeves says rules and red tape are ‘boot on the neck’ of business

I’m sure ministers will be queuing up to get their generously subsidised meals from cafeterias relieved of those pesky food standards regulations. And I have no doubt multinational corporations are lobbying hard for the removal of the thicket of intellectual property regulation they use to avoid tax.


Hot evening on the Dock:

  • Kidding myself. I’m not running 1 metre over the water let alone 50.
  • Fuck me!
  • I crashed into the Dock, maybe 3 metres out: did I paddle there? No, I ran!

The wing-pack is heavy and hurts my shouders but I am running. I’m running on the water. Fuck me! I’m screen gliding.


Here’s a tip: if you have a packaged salad meal, throw the dressing away.


Just dropped a Duralex glass on a concrete floor…. And it bounced. Totally unscathed. These are amazing bits of kit.


You just have to take a look at the absolute state of Canning Town Station to know that no one “important” at the GLA takes public transport to City Hall.


I bought some Fiio Snowsky Anytime Bluetooth ANC headphones from Advanced MP3 Players. They are nothing transformative, but are a very nicely designed headset that sounds a lot better than the £28 list price. If you are looking for a stylish, faff-free commuter headset, give them a listen.


Bought me some Nanoleaf Solar Garden Lights. Very nice. I’ve set them as dim as I can so as not to disturb the local pigeons.


This tree is an interloper in the reeds

A tree in the reed beds of the Lea, colourful blocks of flats in the background


Crucial Track for 31 May 2025

"Home" by David Byrne & Brian Eno

Listen on Apple Music

When I was a kid, I remember standing on a pebble beach on the south coast with my dad as the Isle of Wight hovercraft glided in to, uh, land. I got pebble-dashed. I loved hovercrafts - I was so excited when my parents sprung for the much-more-expensive-than-the-ferry hovercraft across the Channel to France. I wasn't much older when I discovered ekranoplans - screen-gliders (ground effect vehicles). Something better than hovercrafts, and proper mysterious behind the Iron Curtain.

I had just started in secondary school when our biology teacher told us about birds flying in ground effect. That wasn't in my bird-watching book! So I watched the coots and the gulls more closely...

Life was, life was hard at that time - but the coots ran across the water, screen-gliding: close but free. I came to hear music in that way: how close were my wingtips to the water?

View Miles Metcalfe's Crucial Tracks profile


Crucial Track for May 24, 2025

"The Giver" by Chappell Roan

Listen on Apple Music

What's not to like about this country and western lesbian anthem from Chappell Roan? Bold, on point and laugh out loud. It's nice and concise, so I just played it twice. It gets the job done.

View Miles Metcalfe's Crucial Tracks profile