Fiction
Those Who Play With Fire, Chapter Four
Over breakfast, there was very little conversation, Dave returned upstairs with a mug of coffee and a packet of biscuits. He fired up the laptop and got to work. He went down the list on [more…]
Blog
Arts
Fabulously Flamboyant Fridays – The Day The Music Died
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards pop pickers to be born… Welcome back my friends, to the flamboyance that never ends, as Fabulously Flamboyant Friday sashays up to the [more…]
Capitalism
Postcard From Antebellum Birmingham
“You know there isn’t going to be any war,” said Scarlett, bored. “It’s all just talk. Why, Ashley Wilkes and his father told Pa just last week that our commissioners in Washington would come to–to–an–amicable [more…]
Arts
Jinnie’s Story – Book Seven, Chapter Seven
Jinnie found her lunch guests waiting for her in reception and while Paolo popped upstairs to get the twins and Izzy for lunch, Jinnie chatted to them. On his way back, Paolo spoke to the [more…]
Authoritarianism
The road to Serfdom: are we on the final stretch?
An attempt at an analysis from the perspective of a free Swiss individual What you’re about to read is the abridged and condensed English translation of a speech I gave in Munich in November 2023. [more…]
20th Century
Desert Fox: Erwin Rommel and the Deutsches Afrikakorps
The “Deutsches Afrikakorps” (DAK) were formed in 1941 after the failure of the Italian defence of their North African colonies against the British advance in Operation “Compass”. The Germans sent out the DAK, initially composed [more…]
21st Century
Smartphones and Dance-Moves
In May, there were public discussions on the Finance Bill and although concerns were raised on taxation of essential services and other issues connected to it, public participation became a facade and concerns of taxpayers [more…]
Cooking
A View From (The Shed Just By) The Greenhouse; Murder Most Foul
Hello faithful reader! It’s that time of year again, when the whole community reaches a fever pitch of anticipation at the impending village show. Consequently, I’ve selected the onions, grown outside for the first time, [more…]
20th Century
Report From Kenya, 1955 – Part Seven
In 1955, at the height of the Mau Mau Rebellion, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of reports from Kenya for the Birmingham Mail and the Manchester Evening News – Jerry F Nairobi The [more…]