David Marsden

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 22:21:55 +0100

England. Bloody hell!

You know, we might just win the World Cup

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:49:22 +0100

VAR instigated a retake of my old retake of Billy Bragg’s “A New England”.

I wasn’t even born when we won the World Cup I’m fifty-nine soon and all hope I’d given up My wife asks me now ‘Why don’t you be a better fan?’ But all the players I loved at school already failed for Ing-erland

I loved you then, and I love you still I bet you’d beat Ghana, it ended nil-nil I don’t feel bad about letting you know I just feel bad about letting you go,,.

You know we might just win the World Cup If we play like a new Ing-erland And win in normal time

I loved the games in Italia ‘90 But that was thirty-six years ago! I can’t believe what I’ve seen since then Every time we go down to ten men…

I saw two shots on goal last night I looked at them, they were the only highlights Is it wrong to wish on the BBC? I wish, I wish, don’t go to penalties

You know we might just win the World Cup If we play like a new Ing-erland And win in normal time

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:24:56 +0100

I think it’s fair to say that Starmer led an authoritarian Labour Party and government that was morally bankrupt and utterly corrupt.

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 20:23:34 +0100

Starmer anounces another plan for change.

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:08:00 +0100

Little kid saw a sign advertising the purchase of National Lottery tickets outside the corner shop by his school this morning which read:

PLAY HERE

I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t a kids' play space, but an invitation for grown-ups to play on online game (but nothing fun or challenging like Geometry Dash or Roblox), but where, instead, all you have to do is pick six numbers, and if you are lucky — if you are insanely lucky — you could win millions of pounds, if you pick the “right” numbers. Or you might win ten pounds. Or more likely nothing at all.

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:01:03 +0100

Eighteen months in and I finally figured out how to make perfect fried eggs.

Wed, 27 May 2026 10:36:15 +0100

Just tried Kombucha lemonade for the first time. It’s really very nice.

Sat, 23 May 2026 15:11:52 +0100

29.5 living. 27 bed.

Sat, 23 May 2026 12:20:26 +0100

Up half a degree inside, one whole degree outside. Pleased to discover that the boiling frogs analogy is false. But we have nowhere to jump. And it’s only getting hotter.

Sat, 23 May 2026 11:23:35 +0100

More bloody bonfires, ffs!

Tbf, we our front windows closed and blinds down, but still getting cooling breeze at the back.

Stable at 27°C in the living room, 25.5°C in the bedroom.

Drinking tea.

The Last Screw

Fri, 22 May 2026 19:41:51 +0100

Another DIY victory to add to my ever growing list.

Mum had her friendly neighbourhood gardener attach the two blocks of wood to the bench feet to raise it up so she could get on and off.

She then decided she didn’t want the bench after all, but it was too high to sit on comfortably for anyone else.

The blocks were attached with numerous long screws. Some came out. Some didn’t.

Having learnt from my earlier tortuous experience fitting a new toilet seat (full story still to come), I knew the best way to remove the remaining screws was to saw them off.

And (now I knew where it was) my trusty saw did the business right down until the last screw (it’s always the last screw).

I just couldn’t cut the last screw!

Of course! My trusty saw was a wood saw, not a hacksaw, and by now it could barely cut through butter (although it would certainly have melted butter, the blade was so hot). It was as blunt as the blocks I was trying to remove.

New hacksaw (and a few days to rest up) later, a couple of strokes of the fresh blade did the trick.

Now the bench is frankly a little low, but at least my bare feet can touch grass.

Fri, 22 May 2026 17:54:24 +0100

My neighbour: “It’s the hottest day of the year, a beautiful Friday evening after work, and the start of the Bank Holiday weekend and the school half-term. Everyone is ready to unwind and cool down a little.”

Also my neighbour: “TIME TO LIGHT A BONFIRE!”

Wed, 20 May 2026 22:28:32 +0100

Rather a confusing “economic migrants in small boats—good / extremists trying to stop them—bad” story, in the current scheme of things.

The deadly plane attack at the centre of Castro's indictment: bbc.com
Home - BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3pz43k99xo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

Live at the Counter Eurovision '79

Sat, 16 May 2026 23:42:41 +0100

“without the knowledge of your history you cannot determine your destiny”

Forty-seven years ago, Misty In Roots played at the Counter Eurovision rock festival in Brussels, in response to the Eurovision song contest being held that year in Jerusalem, and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Less than a month later, Blair Peach was murdered by the British police on the streets of Southall while defending the town from the National Front.

Ealing Council allowed the march of the fascists to go ahead despite a 10,000-strong petition from local people opposing it.

Clarence Baker, Misty In Roots' manager, was violently assaulted by police that day and left in a coma for five months.

Organist Vernon Hunt was jailed for six months on trumped up charges. He was so broken by this experience of state oppression that he never rejoined the band.

Today the British government allowed another fascist march in London on the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

Today I dragged my 11 year old down to the Dominion Centre and Library in Southall to meet Misty In Roots in the entrance foyer and learn a little history.

The Dominion Centre is the site of the former Dominion Theatre where Blair Peach’s lifeless body lay “in state” for six weeks while thousands visited to pay their last respects.

This iconic photo of Misty In Roots outside the entrance now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

We came home with a signed limited edition red vinyl copy of arguably the best live album ever recorded. We spoke to some very nice people. And we bumped into my friend Happy.

And we met Poko, Kazi and Tunga from the band.

“if you’re not conscious of the present you’re like a cabbage in this society”

Sat, 16 May 2026 21:49:47 +0100

A proud dad moment yesterday.

Little kid’s year group had their annual “Dancing with Don” day — learning and rehearsing all morning, and culminating in a performance for parents in the school hall at the end of the school afternoon.

Halfway way through the show, my lad took centre stage.

To everyone’s surprise and delight, and especially mine and his mum’s, he performed a Michael Jackson moonwalk!

Sat, 16 May 2026 21:39:56 +0100

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Tue, 05 May 2026 07:57:05 +0100

My @SouthallStories piece has been picked up by @thecanaryuk.

Cactuses Never Die : southallstories.uk
David Marsden https://southallstories.uk/2026/05/03/cactuses-never-die/

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:11:36 +0100

🥕🌿 Spiced Honey-Carrot & Coriander Soup recipe.

Apocalypse Now Then

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 15:47:13 +0100

Finished reading: In Plain Sight The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies 📚

In a preview to the dramatised television series of his biography, author Dan Davies says:

There is not a day that passes where I don’t wonder why I chose Savile. Of all the people to become obsessed with, to follow and agonise over, why did it have to be him? It is a question that provides no answer. The only consolation I can find is that my instincts were right.

I wonder why I keep being drawn back to Savile, but I will trust my instincts.

The opening chapter of Davies' book, “Apocalypse Now Then”, reads, deliberately so, as a litany: a nefarious late night excavation of Savile’s dead body; eulogies from the great and the good that followed his death; the absence of any knowing of the person who carried out the good deeds that earned the tributes from family, friends, and colleagues; the eventual and inevitable exposure of his lifetime of money-grabbing, psychopathic criminality; Savile’s ultimate immunity from it all.

The Magic Faraway Tree

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:15:30 +0100

Took my boys to see The Magic Faraway Tree. 📺

I always remembered my favourite primary school teacher reading The Enchanted Wood and The Magic Faraway Tree just before home time every day. I loved the idea of climbing up through the clouds into a new magical land. I’ve had my head in the clouds ever since!

My boys both enjoyed me and their mum reading the books to them, too. That’s so long ago for big kid now that he didn’t want to go to the cinema and miss out on his “device time”. So he was very pleasantly surprised and amused to find himself laughing out loud all the way through. He particularly enjoyed the school/prison scene which he said was “just like” his high school, haha!

Little kid got very excited/frightened when little Fran(nie) got stuck in the Land of Goodies and he thought she might not make it back to the ladder the the Magic Faraway Tree in time. He was shaking and jumping up and down in his deluxe reclining viewing chair. Later, he leaned over to me, clawing at me. I put my arm around him and tried to comfort him.

“Are you all right?”

I asked.

“I want to eat.”

He said.

“You want to leave?”

I asked, doing my best Saucepan Man impression.

" I want to eat, silly."

“You want your feet up?”

“DAD! I’M HUNGRY!!!

I magicked a bag of his favourite cheese and onion crisps from the darkness.

I found the whole thing very charming, funny, and really quite emotional.

I wished I’d brought more tissues with me, but it turned out that I had just enough in the end.

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:00:10 +0100

Little kid came over to me, sat on my knee and gazed lovingly into my eyes.

Smiling sweetly at me, he gently stroked my forehead and said:

You’re even more bald than I thought!

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:12:43 +0100

Little kid has been finding, photographing and naming plants at school, so we did a little homework this afternoon.

He knows what a daisy looks like, but he thought that dandelions were sunflowers. “How does the lion get in?” he asked.

Pictured: Red Robin. Dark Star. Purple Archangel.

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:02:49 +0100

I got April Fooled by my 11 year old.

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:01:15 +0100

Apologies for the break in transmission. Last month I went out for a couple of pints with @andyc@mastodon.me.uk and it took me this long to recover.

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:53:37 +0100

Why am I suddenly seeing everyone using the word “revert”?