Therapy For Me

W/C 6th July 2026 At first I thought the marketing algorithm might have lost the plot? I say that because this week I have been getting some very extended posts about the benefits of collagen, and the difference it can (and has if the posts are to be believed) made to the lives of many suffering the symptoms of the menopause. As you would expect my first thought was how and why are these finding a...

W/C 29th June 2026 Never, ever, did I expect to be using this song as a title inspiration for TFM. I do have previous with it, because back in the day it was a third-set-staple when I was out playing the pubs and clubs of a weekend, in various parts of Yorkshire. But that still makes tacking it on as a reference to a section all about Brexit a little bit of a stretch, but there we are, that is how...

W/C 22nd June 2026 No word of a lie, I popped out yesterday to try and buy a fan... And of course you are right to ask the obvious, what kind of a lunatic tries to buy a fan on day three of a heatwave. Well after a near-military effort to keep the house cool Josh's room was still in need of a bit of assistance, partly due to user error, partly due to house design and aspect. And, for what seems li...

W/C 15th June 2026 Toyah took me to the Beatles, and the Beatles took me to Sarah McLachlan. (Of course it starts with a Apple TV box-set, but that will become obvious as you listen to this weeks episode…) It could so easily have been Toyah, as ‘It’s a Mystery’ is one of the earliest chart tunes I can remember being fixated on (thinking about it, if you throw in Prince Charming and Stand & Del...

W/C 8th June 2026 Because this week is a bit of an 'on location' episode I didn't get around to mentioning a few other things. Firstly, the parking notice appeared for APCOA who handle the parking at Manchester Airport, a cool £100 fine for genuinely forgetting to pay the £5 charge. As it turns out I was in the parking zone for 2 minutes and thirty-five seconds. I may well still share my thoughts...

W/C 1st June 2026 So I was in a hotel on Tuesday night, and I did that thing where I was just flicking through the TV channels and I chanced upon a film I hadn't seen in a long time. In this case it was The Hunt for Red October, and although I hadn't planned to, I settled back and gave myself over to a film I had seen many times before. Personally I think it is a belting movie, great cast and real...

W/C 25th May 2026 I like things in group of threes or fives is possible. So the fact that naming this week's pod Thunderstruck means I have four touchpoints to the AC/DC classic is a little unsettling. The first is the song itself, absolute banger - no disagreement allowed. The second is the fact that it was used spectacularly well in the soundtrack of the Pixar film Planes. The third is excellent...

W/C 17th May 2026 There is something so satisfying about wandering around selecting the wood I need for a project, getting stuff cut to size and whipping out my 5m measure to check some widths. I appreciate it's more than likely a bloke thing, and probably only one that hobbyists get a buzz from, but we have a cracking example in Huddersfield and the cohort that work there are super helpful. This...

W/C 11th May 2026 A thought struck me as I was walking through Charles de Gaulle airport last week. I wondered how far I was standing (at that precise moment, in that exact spot) from somebody that I knew, but was unaware of. And not just that moment, maybe the last time I was in London or in Leeds, or on holiday or on the train, etc, etc. Clearly with the tech we have at our disposal we can (to a...

W/C 4th May 2026 There are so few opportunities to use this particular song as an episode title (this is certainly the first since I started TFM) that I snatched at it, without hesitation. As a guitar player as was well aware of Gary Moore, and whilst not a card-carrying devotee, I was certainly more than aware of the range and depth of his work. I got to see him play live once, at the Montreux Ja...

W/C 27th April 2026 It will become obvious when you listen to my week why I have picked this particular song as the title track. As you will hear I had considered A Legacy by Marillion, or In A Lifetime by Clannad, both of which would have captured the spirit of what I was talking about. But instead I went for the Jason Isbell one, because to me it talks more to the journey from the initial concep...

W/C 20th April 2026 I think I might be going through the summer with a red nose, for a number of reasons. a) I have now spent a couple of days at Headingley for the cricket, and on both occasions the sun has been shining. b) spending a lot of time reading around the pool in Gran Canaria. c) the design of my sunglasses and a definite-sized nose The result is that my nose always catches the sun (irr...

W/C 13th April 2026 Nothing fancy in the notes this week, just an explanation as to the track I have chosen for the title. It's a Paddy McAloon song, recorded by Jimmy Nail as part of the Crocodile Shoes project, which was a TV show about a songwriter in the North East. Had I not mentioned it as part of a discussion about Prefab Sprout it may never have come up in conversation, but that would also...

W/C 6th April 2026 As we were driving to Manchester Airport last week we realised we had left the newly-purchased suncream at home. Even though we had only been travelling a few minutes we decided not to turn back, but risk picking some up at the departure lounge, irrespective of the fact it would probably be at an eye-watering supplement. As it turned out it was pretty much the same as buying fro...

W/C 30th March 2026 I am hoping you will forgive me if the edit is a little off compared with normal. The good news is that I have managed to assemble and export this week’s TFM on the iPad for the second week on the spin, and the first where I didn’t have a fallback option. The not-so-good news is that I can’t work out how to fine-tune the episode length (I like the episodes to end in a double di...

W/C 23rd March 2026 I appreciate I have said this before, but one of the challenges of TFM is that some weeks what goes through my head just isn't that interesting. Take this week, twenty odd minutes of stuff but honestly, nothing that is going to give you any deeper insight or philosophical clarity. You could summarise it as something I have taken a shine to, and something I haven't, something I...

W/C 16th March 2026 On the back of using a Cliff track for a recent TFM I went back and listened to 'those' albums all over again, which is why it was easy to join the dots and get to this track whilst trying to come up with something for this week, specifically the on-location recording bit. Of course that then took to me back to that very 'of it's time' video, that has the man himself roller-ska...

W/C 9th March 2025 I am now in two minds. Having mentioned this tune toward the end of this week's TFM I am not sure it is in fact the right choice because equally I could be the problem in the integrity of this figurative dam. But you have got to pick a side and I do like this track so I am sticking with it (don't worry it will all make sense as you listen, or at least it should...). I don't know...

W/C 2nd March 2026 As you are about to hear I went somewhere a bit special this week, and it took me right back to early 1983, as I approached my twelfth birthday. At that stage I was desperately waiting for the day to arrive, because I was hoping to get a ZX Spectrum (16KB) and join the cyber-generation. In preparation, and as a way of increasing my sense of anticipation and excitement, I had bee...

W/C 23rd February 2026 It's been a long time since I have watched Pulp Fiction, but it came up in conversation when I was asked by my eldest if I could suggest something for him to watch. At the beginning of lockdown I began the process of ripping my DVD collection and having everything available as easy playback and sharing, and having got about 80% of the way through it before getting bored, it...

W/C 16th February 2026 I am bringing you a bit of a story this time, so here isn't much I can really say about it in advance...I need to just let it all unfold, so to speak. What I can say is that the track that gives the episode its title is by Dave Lee Roth, and is from an album called A Little Ain't Enough released in 1991. It is memorable for me because I went to see DLR on that tour, and it r...

W/C 9th February 2026 In between recording and note-writing Wikipedia has provided one of the answers; St Andrew's Church is a redundant Anglican church standing in an isolated position, in fields about 2 kilometres to the north of the village of Woodwalton. The isolated position of the church is thought to be due to its central location between Woodwalton Castle, a motte and bailey castle to the...

Time disappears for me on a Saturday morning. I like to be out for a run around the seven thirty mark, which means that the alarm is usually set for between six and six thirty, so I can start the process of recording the weeks TFM. In theory that should be enough time to record a c.20 minute podcast, make a brew, write the notes and get myself ready. It's currently 07:38 and I have got this far. I...

W/C 26th January 2026 OK so this is a very particular phenomena to mention, but there is something about that first blast of UK air when you get off a plane that is really quite reinvigorating. It is probably down to nothing more than the welcome release from the stale air of the aircraft, but when I was met by what was comparatively fresh and chilly air as I stepped into the air bridge, it didn't...

W/C 19th January 2026 Friday Night. I have just collected some take-out food and returned to my hotel room on the top floor of the Sheraton Park Resort, to eat Spaghetti and watch The West Wing. After three days of meet and greet I am spent, I just want be quiet for a while. The Friday 'night-in' has become a regular feature of this trip over the last few years, and it is neccesitous if I am going...