20th Century
The Death Railway
Most Puffins will have watched David Lean’s 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai which is based on a novel published five years previously by French author Pierre Boulle. Whilst both book and film [more…]
Month: April 2024
20th Century
In The Steps of The First Army
“Seven years ago today — on November 8, 1942 — Anglo-American forces landed on the coast of French North Africa between Casablanca and Algiers. It was the beginning of a campaign which could have been [more…]
Authoritarianism
A View From The Greenhouse; Fear & Loathing In Dumfries & Galloway, Hate Crimes….Innit?
It was great to meet up with old friends and meet some new ones at the “Northern” get together. The more intrepid amongst the august gathering braved a short, if wet, walk down (and back [more…]
21st Century
Kenya’s ‘Hustler Man’ Vs. Burkina Faso’s ‘Upright Man’
The differences in the performance of the “Hustler Man” in Kenya and the “Upright Man” in Burkina Faso is a function of genuine belief in transformational leadership, on the one hand, and mere self-serving populist [more…]
20th Century
Of Poetics and Politics
How do you like your Poetry? Richly allusive, with detectable rhythm, a certain musicality about it? Or do you prefer a stripped-down, unembellished terseness-to-the-point-of-inarticulacy, a Tacitean, telegraphic brevity? Whichever, preference is yours, would you consider [more…]