Tat London Journal

'Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.’  So said the great Taoist thinker Lao Tzu.  I don’t know where I sit on the enlightenment scale, but I have taken his advice and recently found myself chopping a lot of wood.

There has been a rise in chatter about London of late. It seems to have become one of the world’s cesspits — at least, that’s how it’s spoken of. The far right in particular seem to hold a special disdain for the city, convinced that to take any joy in the capital is to somehow endorse the melting pot that it undoubtedly is. I’ve lived here for most of my life, walking more or less the same six-mile radius the entire time. Adventurous? No. But you can take from that a certain

I first met the word “Millennial” on the front of a weekend paper, attached to a tirade about millennial pink. It was hitchhiking on a piece about millennial pink. The very small and secret Tat site wore that exact shade, which tells you everything about zeitgeists. After that, I could not open a paper or a magazine without another indictment of the Millennial generation - Lazy. Naïve. Obsessed with Avocado toast. No work ethic. Too woke. All such tosh to help enrage almost e

Penpont, the family run estate, set on the banks of the River Usk in the heart of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park, has that tantalising, electric feel.  The estate has been in the family since 1665 and there is a far-reaching sense of hundreds of years of history blended with the youthful energy and dynamism that the current custodians, Gavin and Vina Hogg and their sons Forrest and Josh, are bringing.