20th Century
Postcard From Kaunas
As 2nd cities go Kaunas, seems at least, at first glance, to be a pretty unprepossessing sort of place regardless of whether you arrive by air, road or rail. Arriving by train reveals an industrial [more…]
Blog
Democracy
Kenya at 60: Field notes from the neo-colony
Despite the veneer of progress, what does a historical critique of East Africa’s capitalist beacon reveal? The linked photograph shows the spectrum of nationalist politics at independence: (from left) Achieng Oneko, who introduced Kenyatta to [more…]
Democracy
A View (Round The Corner) From The Greenhouse; Happy New Year……Innit?
Welcome to 2024 Postaliers. A new year, undoubtedly filled to the brim with the same old bollix. At least, so long as I’m able to maintain my concentration, you’ll have my fortnightly diary to take [more…]
Authoritarianism
Means of Communication and Suppression
The seed of this article came from this site, I was like many other GPers a poster on GF until banned, whether SB knew what he was creating I don’t know but he is to [more…]
Arts
A Few of My Favourite Things – Part 2
Part 1 of this series featured 3 glass pieces of art from my collection. In the second part I take a look at some other forms of art, the first of which is a print [more…]
20th Century
Teh 1970’s & all that
One of the problems with claims that our situation is “just like the 1970s,” is that very few adults of the period are still around to share the memory. It is only later in life [more…]
Fiction
Merry Christmas, Sergeant Edge
Edge knew that he was coming down with something. His head felt muggy and the back of his throat and soft palate felt enlarged and spongy. He had been unable to clear his left ear, [more…]
Language
No one is attacking me
Odysseus, when asked his name by Polyphemus, famously retorted ‘Outis’ – ‘no-one’, or ‘nobody’; thus, when the drunk Cyclops was having his eye gouged out by Odysseus and co., his call for help from his [more…]
20th Century
The Dreaming Spires
The 1949 page of our old family photo album is confidently captioned ‘Bournemouth’ but neglects any images of the Hampshire Riviera resort. Not to worry. They say that getting there is half of the fun [more…]