This is a collection of Brian Redhead's journalism, written over the last decade, in which he entertained his readers with his own highly idiosyncratic opinions, anecdotes and reflections. Brian Redhead brings a combination of outspokeness and humour to bear on great British obsessions, institutions and customs: the Welfare state, military bands, train travel, Bank holidays, opinion polls, charities, honours, pensions and urban development. His appetite for local and global history is also apparent, with peices on his adopted region, the North West, alongside articles on the Battle of the Somme and Thomas Jefferson. On the personal side, there are recollections of wartime evacuation, trips abroad and reflections on being a grandparent.