Author Archives: j futrell

FIVE STARS – i think

Posted on May 1, 2026 by j futrell

After how many years, it’s a good few, I’m back reviewing again. Just as I was becoming accustomed to the idea that nobody gives a hoot what I think about any more I’m back in the driving seat of hyperbole … Continue reading →

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Kim In Form

Posted on April 27, 2026 by j futrell

spot Asta! text from May issue Seaford Scene When it comes to the spirit of the seaside Seaford’s Coastal Collective has it – in artistic buckets and spades! The group’s latest show Form & Figure at Seaford’s Crypt Gallery May … Continue reading →

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She knows…

Posted on February 24, 2026 by j futrell

    Asta may be getting on a bit (I regularly decline to reveal her age to commiserative dog walkers seduced by her looks and temperament, both of which remain sublime, on the grounds that it is impertinent to inquire … Continue reading →

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What Was That?

Posted on February 16, 2026 by j futrell

I am not a one for citing memorable quotations. Being something of literary philistine as a consequence of attending possibly the most backward, ill-equipped and under achieving private school to have ever undermined the education of west London boys I … Continue reading →

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smells like we’ve all all been here before – maybe.

Posted on November 3, 2025 by j futrell

All of it seems so, well familiar. I barely make a turn without knowing, or think I know that I’ve been there before even though in all probability I haven’t. Or there is the possibility that I have. Could it … Continue reading →

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money money money

Posted on May 6, 2025 by j futrell

I have history with retail sales, little of which is any good. I was ruminating upon my experiences of sale shopping whilst at the back of a queue for a Margaret Howell sample free-for-all outside a handsome red stone building … Continue reading →

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Anybody Need A Fix?

Posted on January 27, 2025 by j futrell

To tell the truth, I need to brush up on my lying. But more of that later. In the meantime or because just when I feared all was lost I discovered four maybe five years ago a glimmer of light … Continue reading →

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The saddest dog

Posted on September 9, 2024 by j futrell

This began some weeks ago as a sort of tribute to the saddest dog I’ve ever known. A dog with a quality of life many  less fortunate creatures could only dream of. Yet despite everything he seemed forever glum, his … Continue reading →

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Marley and me.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by j futrell

I never met Bob Marley, which isn’t such a ridiculous admission given I was the deputy editor of a music paper called Echoes (formerly Black) that among championing a variety of rhythm driven music fancied itself a ‘Burning Spear’ head … Continue reading →

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in praise of geography teachers

Posted on February 6, 2024 by j futrell

  What is it with corduroy? Why after over 100 years since emerging as the worker’s ‘poor man’s velvet’ is it still so contentious? Is it in or is it out? Is it cool or is it beyond naff? Is … Continue reading →

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