Month: January 2026

I had a sweet moment with a good Twitter friend of mine, Casey, yesterday. In response to his post on the divide between temptation and duty, I commented how messy I find it all. We are pulled in many directions.

But they say comparison is the thief of joy. 

What is potentially magical about social media is how we can help each other and also reveal, in a real, vulnerable way, is that we don’t have all the answers, we can be honest about it and let possibly millions of other people know that that’s fine. That it’s okay. That, in fact, it’s a requisite and necessary part of the journey.

It really touched me, the interaction (partly because he’s such a good man) and the rest, that we don’t all have to be the same, we don’t have to do the same thing, we don’t have to imprison ourselves by thinking we ‘should’ be doing things in a particular way.

I say it again, forget ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way, find your way, stick to it, have more faith and trust in yourself. You are doing fine and you can continue to be stronger and more consistent.

Godspeed and happy Wednesday.

Maybe I’m not being particularly strategic about it but in the last few weeks, I’ve been ticking DIY jobs off the list. There’s still more to do and the realisation you make is when a job seems finished, you start noticing other things that need an upgrade.

One might say relentless but, nonetheless, it’s satisfying. I far better understand my father’s obsession with home improvement during my childhood.

This morning I took the electric sander to a final section of wall, it’s now beautifully even for a completing coat of paint (daffodil white for a spring of colour! See what I did there). It raises the testosterone levels in a manly move to make one’s home presentable – leaving no stone unturned.

I once heard a great saying (allegedly attributed to David Bowie) that a work of art is never completed only abandoned. We search not for perfection but for getting the job done. I like it. And as much as possible, I am taking a calm and easy approach to things. We find our own answers and we live our own lives – ideally!

Forget ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way, find YOUR way!

At the end of last year, I started doing daily press-ups (so it isn’t a New Year’s Resolution). I have continued the habit into this year and every day I do one more consecutive rep. This morning, it was 34. I aim to get up to 100 in one go.

It’s a satisfying practice, gets the blood pumping, puts me slightly out of breath, a teeny bit of ‘good pain’ and we’re talking mere minutes every day.

And I’ve talked many times about ‘bringing everything together’. Somedays, the content creation pops. Sometimes, I have a killer day of commenting, I get out for a proper long walk, I get to gym. It’s about consistency, growing steadily and confidently – so you can do it for a long time.

And, also, remembering that no one has all the answers, no one knows just what the exact formula is, because things shift and slide and upgrade all the time.

Do not try to play catch up, just focus on the way that works for you and your life and remain wholeheartedly faithful to it. 

You’re doing better than you think, build on it.

Another politician has defected to the UK Reform party. It’s causing much consternation as the politician in question is pretty shit, like all of them really.

Many are feigning surprise for clicks and relevance. It’s a powerful drug getting involved in ‘how to get things sorted by deferring to others’. It’s all too distant. Anyone wishing to occupy a position in the halls of power can never be trusted. No sane or healthy human wants to wield that much power over so many people.

The more I stand for myself the better my life becomes and scale that out, I provide a good example and encourage others to do the same for themselves.

I grew up with the phrase ‘shop locally’, support your local community and that starts with you.

Always ask what you’re being expected to believe. Question authority and influence. Knowing what’s real or false is exceptionally difficult these days.

You can rely on what you know, what you do and the influence you wish to have. 

Are you in or out?

…And it’s called the rest of your life!

As much as I can, I try not let panic creep in, don’t want to be living this life desperately or frantically.

But I don’t want to rest on my laurels either.

Balance, try as we might, living steadily often feels like a fight.

Responsibilities, wondering what the ‘right’ thing to do is, the bombardment we feel by politics and social media, I often wonder where I am. I’m sure you do too.

The wisdom that I impart is, one, to assure you that you can have what you want and live life your way but it’s also, two, the things that have worked for me in harder times.

I’m one man out in the wilderness, maybe our paths will cross at a certain point, I love exploring and it’d be great fun to encourage each other on our ways.

Learn to see it all as an experiment, an adventure, it’s a wild ride and you have the resilience within you.

Forever we try to fit ourselves into boxes that simply aren’t authentic. We know what this feels like.

Force, claustrophobia, nothing but fulfilling imagined expectations.

“Yeah but that’s what society dictates.” There’s a massive amount of assumption, we don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we see ourselves.

I have nothing against going down the rabbit hole, I do it myself but it’s essential that we are truth-seekers and not just negators. No one likes a contrarian – heavy energy and please avoid smugness.

Be your own man, live your own life.

I like being honest with you. I like sharing what’s really going on. Some say to avoid this like the plague, others say just be open. I veer towards the latter.

Things are messy, no getting around it and there are many times I wonder what the fuck I’m doing. Will I ever actually make it? Will I be able to stick the course? Am I focusing my energies and talents on something worthy and rewarding?

Genuine questions.

Overthinking much? Oh yes, my friend! Constantly frankly but that’s okay. I can’t help having standards, I’m just training myself out of letting them override taking decisive action.

You’re walking your own path, remember? Read the books you want, listen to the podcasts you want, work in the rhythm you want. And remember, when things slipped, get back up again, dust yourself off and keep walking.

Your pace, Your life.

I’ve been having some really vivid dreams recently! Since the suggestion of turning off the internet at night (and actually wondering why I wasn’t remembering dreams as I had done in the past), the full colour of my dreams has returned to me.

Last night, my sister and I were receiving a reward, it was in the stately home and The Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah Mitford was presiding. Throughout the dream, she kept on barking orders at us, being rude to my sister and after we abandoned the event to go elsewhere, she came up to us and told us “I am sorry I was so rude.” to which I replied “Yes! You were actually!”

It was after this that my sister uttered the line which serves as this post’s title.

What was nice about recalling this phrase was how it resembled ‘master’ but the title of ‘mayor’ pleased me as it’s something official, it’s about taking a definite position, standing for something and being recognised for it – a mayoral position is usually one invoked by public opinion and support.

I am establishing what I really stand for, regardless of the opinions of detractors. I’ve worried for a long time about ‘getting things right’, rather than just getting on with my own thing and learning at every step of the path. Imagine what you could do if you weren’t worried about failing!

I didn’t feel compelled to write on a particular subject today but I’ve just watched Neil Oliver’s monologue (check him out, he’s fabulous!) and it’s come to me.

Many talk of moving countries, things are fucked in the UK, they’ll say, and they’ll run off a list of potential escape routes.

I can’t imagine it. I can’t imagine or contemplate living anywhere else. I am a definite ‘somewhere’ man as opposed to the globalist ‘anywhere’ emigré. I love England. I adore the British Isles. The magnificence of the landscapes and the cute quaintness of our villages and churches and farmland. It’s magical to me.

When we hear ‘my place’, usually it’s about what we’re allowed or not allowed to do – permission but where are you doing it? Are you rooted in your current environment? Are you connected with it physically and psychologically? Do you belong?

I realise I need to do more to assert what matters to me.

I don’t believe in pride for things I’ve been born into, I believe in gratitude for it and standing up for it. This is a noble stance and one that requires eloquence and articulation as well as confidence and principle.

What is your place? Are you embodying what it means to be a man?

And another line from a dream. This time me saying it.

We all feel like storming off in a huff sometimes. The mute and block buttons are often a way of doing this online, apart from the times when you’re clearly chatting with a robot (those accounts that just retweet everything!).

It’s an easy thing to say you’re not bothered about what people’s opinions are of you but in practice, we feel it. To varying degrees of course. 

Someone cut in front of me in the queue for the bus this morning. It was a bit of an unexpected thing , maybe it was malicious, maybe it wasn’t. But I did feel the teeny injustice of it. Battles, we need to pick ‘em. There are noble struggles in this world and then there’s the irrelevant. 

The truth is, what do you think about you? 

Are you your own best friend or enemy?

Are you satisfied with your efforts?

Could you be doing more?

Questions worth answering.

These words I read in Iron John by Robert Bly. The phrase has penetrated my mind.

Born big, live small. I believe we can agree that is the general way of things. And I’m not talking about fame. Don’t let the size of babies fool you into believing they’re insignificant. By many reports, we are born capable of basic speech if only people could interpret it.

We spend much of our lives feeling unheard, insignificant, it becomes the norm.

“Do what you’re told!”

“Do as I say not as I do.”

“Protect Granny.”

“Look him in the eye and tell him you’ve never bent the rules.”

Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

What I love about the quote from Iron John is how it captures both the sense of size and scale of our person and also the sense of opulence. When we talk of grandeur, we conjure images of interiors that take our breath away, glorious works of architecture, the ‘WOW Factor’ that was mentioned often when I grew up.

I love neatness (a place for everything and everything in its place) but I am not a fan of minimalism. Grandeur implies warmth, richness, abundance. Minimalism proffers coldness and soullessness – devoid of personality, it wishes everyone to be a carbon copy of everyone else.

No, grandeur seeks to elevate, to make shine and glisten, to take ourselves to the highest point, a world of plenty and fullness. I believe that is what we have lost consciousness of.

I believe grandeur, finding our inner spiritual standing, is what we need to remember and regain. That’s what purpose looks like and it will look and feel different to you and to anyone else. It’s a practice, a way of viewing the world. We’ve become obsessed with ‘fighting for’ rather than standing up for and defending our culture.

A desire for peace and prosperity is the shift. Most believe a fix for the financial system would be to tax people more, steal more, red-tape regulate more, spunk more money up the wall on war and eco-fascism. We know it’s fuelled by resentment not principle, not virtue.

Think, too, of what puncturing is – it’s a wound and a wound we must heal from. We do this by finding support, regaining our trust in the process and being willing to admit where you are and where you want to go.

It’s up to us to live large, spread our positive influence, we can, do you?

I want you to imagine an idyllic English village. At the heart, by the river, there is the church. It is ancient, it is solid, the stained glass windows glisten in the early evening light.

Then there is the post office, it connects the inner workings of the community with the outside world. It creates a sense of excitement at what one might be delivered by surprise.

There are the older workman’s cottages, mature, upright trees, new areas of housing for those that want to have a ‘place in it’ but’ll never have the quintessential charm of those unique, merchants’ mansions built decades and even centuries before.

But, of course, under the quiet, peaceful tranquility (and the charm), there is a current, a maelstrom, of storms brewing, of conflicts, of resentments, those who do not wish to participate, how scoff at traditional customs, a mutation in the Vox populi, a glitch in the system.

There is nothing perfect. Walled gardens and picket fences prevent the spread of disdain, they provide privacy and safe haven and the boundaries must be protected.

We all innately know what happens when the sacred garden is defiled.

I’ve always said that willingness comes first. You can’t be brave if you’re not willing to ask difficult questions. You can’t be strong if you’re not willing to accept where you are, exactly as you are now. You can’t be principled if you’re not willing to do the work many believe others should be doing.

Over the last ten years I have been learning all manner of lessons from lots of different experiences and people, I’ve made decisions that work in my favour but I’ve felt rather rudderless in the face of my accumulated knowledge and wisdom.

It’s a process, we’ve all heard it over and over. There’s only a handful of men who are really moving the needle and they face enormous ridicule and hostility for it, enormous like you couldn’t even comprehend.

I know at some point I’ve written about having a solid sense of self, vital but that will only come when you’re willing to accept your unique direction of travel. It’s the one thing we always know is where we want to go, our personal mission yet we allow circumstances to get in the way.

You must remain true to what you want to do otherwise you are somebody else’s tool. Strength, virtue and progress are forged when you refuse to be thrown from your path.

In the book I am reading, Iron John by Robert Bly, there’s a fantastic phrase that has stuck with me of circumstances “puncturing my sense of grandeur.”. You are born big and it is that which we must remember. You were born for great things and you achieve them solely from great actions.

Walk your path.

Another year is over. A new one begins.

I’m writing this as the sun is setting on the first day of 2026. It’s a romantic time to watch the sky fill with colour. There’s a satisfying intensity to it.

Thoughts in my head.

Dreams in my heart.

What to do with the energy!

Purpose. I’m rereading a great book, Iron John by Robert Bly. It’s on Men and Masculinity and the truth is, in the last century, we’ve been hollowed out. 

We are looking for guidance.

We search for meaning.

We have lost a sense of community, particularly men. Masculine spaces are systematically being taken over by women and politics as at the heart of it.

Everything must be equal, nothing can be exclusive. Exclusive is meeeean. You aren’t allowed to say “No.”

We look to places we can convene but it feels like there are long distances between everything. And you may say this is because I have left the city and moved back to the country. Indeed, no. When I was in London, there was a vast pointless to it all. Nothing stuck, nothing lasted, people weren’t willing to invest.

It could be we’re at a point of more hermitage, more individual spiritual musing, a sharper focus on finding the handful of men that want to progress peacefully and prosperously and the likelihood that we’ll be mocked for it.

Who knows?

Old structures seem derelict and neglected.

It’s up to us to revive the inner King of our psyches, charging ahead in battle, providing example.