About

Who is the old gaffer, and why is he bleating?

Fair question. I was born just after the First World War, lived in the late 20’s and early 30’s in the British Raj in Africa, was a latchkey, single parent child, evacuated until the Blitz, when I returned to London. I fire-watched in Docklands, had four and a half years in the Royal Navy, have been a designer, a builder, a tunneller, a helmet diver. I lived through, and was a policeman, in the NI troubles, a design consultant, and was a joint winner of the British Design Award.

I do not consider myself an authority on anything, but like most of my contemporaries, from their experience of life and what he considers basic common sense, I question so much of what is happening today, like the loss of heavy and light engineering and so, the loss of a training ground for future manufacturing.

My worry is not for myself, nor my children, but those still unborn or under 40 years of age.
Everything I write is a question which asks am I, myself, right in what I question.

It is up to you to decide.