About the Grumpy Welshman
My name’s Paul. I’m a 71-year-old Welshman living on the side of a mountain in Italy.
Over the years I’ve been a soldier, a father, and, more recently, a fairly dedicated observer of how things go wrong.
I also run a quieter blog where I write memoirs and the nicer side of life.
This is not that.
This site is where I try to make sense of things that don’t quite add up.
Sometimes that means looking at serious failures, events where “tragedy” turns out to be a series of decisions made by people who should have known better.
Other times it’s more modern nonsense: life coaches, productivity gurus, and the endless stream of confident advice that collapses the moment you look at it properly.
And occasionally, it’s both.
You’ll find a mix of:
Satirical pieces Usually written very seriously. Often best not taken that way.
Breakdowns of things that went wrong. Not just what happened, but how it was allowed to happen
General observations On bad ideas, worse decisions, and the slow decline of common sense
At some point between Aberfan and Grenfell, I lost patience with the idea that these things are just “unfortunate”.
Most of the time, they’re not.
They’re choices.
This is where I write about them.
Sometimes calmly. Sometimes not.
If you’re after something gentler, you’ll probably prefer the other site.
If not, you’re in the right place.
— Paul