Nov 25, 2020 | Family Matters
I’d like to tell you the story behind a tweet which was sent out late on a Saturday night but has had a far greater impact than I could ever have imagined. This is the tweet: Josie Jean Coates was born sleeping at 18.35 today, at 21 weeks gestation. She had an...
Sep 22, 2020 | Family Matters
Our family recently got a little smaller, following the passing of my Great Uncle, Norman Raw. Uncle Norman lived to be 100 years old and celebrated the milestone as a guest of Middlesbrough Football Club, who provided the image above. The notice that appeared in his...
Aug 22, 2020 | The Main Blog
The saying goes that “a week is a long time in politics” and there’s more than a grain of truth to that. Last Friday, I published a letter I’d written to my MP in this space (see A sticking plaster on a severed thumb). I shared it on Twitter:...
Aug 14, 2020 | The Main Blog
As will be evident to anyone browsing this site, I am passionate about non-League football. On Tuesday night, I wrote to my MP, Sir George Howarth, to ask him to lobby the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to #LetFansIn to non-League matches. My original...
Jul 31, 2020 | Family Matters
I’ve been working incredibly hard on our Family Tree over the last few months during lockdown and one of the most pleasing aspects of the research is how many paralels I have found between my life and those of my ancestors. It really has surprised me how many...
