Mike Packwood

I know that there is a piece of paper, some 200 years old, that guarantees the right to bears arms, but really – it’s a very old piece of paper, and like all rules and laws, you’re allowed to change them from time to time. I also know that it’s a hopeless argument. If private guns were banned outright today it would take centuries to get rid of them all. There are, I understand, more guns in the US than people. The gun lobby is so politically and financially powerful that change is unlikely anytime soon. But, people of the USofA, I’ve got to tell you that from where I’m sitting – 3000 miles away admittedly – your stance is completely impossible to fathom. Every day there are mass killings in the States, and every one of them is perversely used to perpetuate the myth that allowing everyone to have a gun will somehow stop the bad guys from using theirs. There is simply no evidence for that. Give me one example where the horror of a mass shooting has been stopped because ordi...

Two things you're never meant to discuss in public - politics and religion. Well I've had a crack at politics recently and so hot on the heels of that, I have a question about religion. My little space on the internet is normally filled with holiday snaps, pictures of my latest car or a good moan about my football team. I never attempt anything particularly serious and actually I’m a bit worried about posting this – but if you’re reading it I guess I have. . I shouldn’t be worried. I live in the UK. I can say what I want and believe what I like so long as I don’t deliberately offend anyone or break any laws. That’s one of the best things about living here - generally speaking, despite all our faults, we usually rub along really well with our neighbours. We do, don’t we? So the question is: Why? I’m not a racist, or as far as I’m aware, not any sort of ’ist’. I guess I’m fundamentally a liberal. I try to see anyone’s point of view. I can see and...

Driving into work this morning, we were discussing a fundamental and long lasting decision we're about to have to make about our future. No, I'm not referring to whether we should catch up with Hinterland tomorrow, or watch Young Montalbano, (that's easy, Hinterland every time), but about the future of the UK and the yes or no decision on leaving the European Union. The general consensus was that at the last general election in May the Conservatives were forced to promise a referendum because if they hadn’t, we might all have voted for UKIP , which would in turn have led to another hung parliament. The Conservatives didn’t want that and so promised a referendum of their own over Europe to ensure they won the election.  Whether or not that is exactly how it came to be, we’re about to be faced with the most important (voting) decision we’re ever likely to be asked to make. Unlike a general election where you can get it wrong, on the basis that another one will be a...

Cardoza, David. Two words that are going to live long in the memory of Northampton Town fans, and for all the wrong reasons! Even if you were previously a supporter of his, it's now impossible to present him in a positive light. The man appears to be single-handedly hell bent on destroying a football club that is dear to thousands of people. And for the rest of Northampton, who don't really care, he's the person who appears to have 'lost' over £10million of public money. So whether you're a Cobblers fan or not, this week is huge for Northampton.  For the past couple of months anyone with NTFC close to their hearts has done their level best: The staff at the club are working without being paid. The Supporters Trust have raised the best part of £50k, As we speak close on 2000 people have signed a petition pleading with him to sell. And on top of that, almost unbelievably given the circumstances, the team are in an automatic promotion spot. DC has been rightl...

….we're getting what we pay for! The Chronicle and Echo (and Mercury and Herald) building in the market square Northampton As a fascinating  aside to the continuing  financial woes at Northampton Town FC there’s an online spat taking place between a number of twitter and forum posters about the role the Chronicle and Echo has played in reporting (or not) events at Sixfields over the past year or two. In one case the spat has become personal between the editor and an ex-employee, where an ill thought out letter from the editor has found its way onto a public forum, The Hotel End. I have been very critical of the Chrons coverage of this story myself and recently emailed the editor with a plea that he ‘grow some balls’ to which I got a long and detailed reply about  the apparent ‘size of his balls’ which I presume was intended to firmly put me in my place. (Incidentally he didn't reply to the one I sent him last week asking how much the C...

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey, so please, don't take my Northampton away..... The end of NTFC could possibly be taking place as I type .  Today, not only is the £10m loan repayable to the council that lent it, but we also hear that HMRC has issued a winding up order for non-payment of tax. All in all, from a financial point of view, it really couldn't be much worse. I was born under the Hotel End. I was one of the 942 v Chester. I've put money in buckets before. I was in the Exeter rooms that night. I was in the pub in Southend when the police horse nearly came in. I was there the last time we played at Newcastle (not the other week - the time we nearly beat them). I was at Liverpool on 'that' night - sitting in with the Liverpool fans oddly. I was at the match at Shrewsbury when we said  'this must never happen again'.  I was on the cricket side when we knocked Coventry o...