Authoritarianism
Apollo 13 (Revised)
I wrote a few notes on Warble Gloaming recently, and with the gloomfest that is COP26 looming I thought it might be time to revisit them. Here’s the second, on that well-known danger to Life [more…]
Blog
Arts
Playing in the Band (For Fun), Part 1
As someone who never reads the comments, it’s strange how I’ve got to know that a number of Puffins have played in bands at one time or another, just like myself, so I’ve put together [more…]
Economics
Corruption of the currency and decivilization, part 2
Gold-backed civilization vs. the Welfare State Many rational economists and students of history have written countless analyses on the gold standard and the terrible impact that its end has had on the world economy. However, [more…]
20th Century
The .303 Pattern 1914 – the Best Battle Rifle the British Army Never Had?
Introduction The humiliations suffered by the British Army at the hands of untrained Boer irregulars during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 caused a great deal of concern at the War Office where questions were soon [more…]
Authoritarianism
Extinction Rebellion Writing UK Local Government Policy
Whilst the public are affixed to the distractions of COVID politics, climate politics, Alec Baldwin, the ‘Far Right’ and structural racism, Extremist Rebellion cling like ivy to their focus – implementing public policy in the [more…]
20th Century
Postcard From Summer 1954, Part Two – Brighton
In 1954, the Manchester Evening News launched a “Special Investigation” and tasked my uncle, John Alldridge, with answering the question – Holidaymakers, do you get value for your MONEY? What follows is his report on [more…]
20th Century
The Desert War – October 1941
We reach October 80 years ago and it is still fairly quiet on the ground in North Africa but the Royal Navy is still busy. The big news this month is that there is a [more…]
Economics
Corruption of the currency and decivilization, part 1
The rise and fall of the Roman Empire is arguably one the most studied, written about and theorized over subjects in academia, with fiery debates raging for hundreds of years among historians, sociologists and political [more…]
Fiction
The Colombian Sojourn – Chapter 9
Edge had been on enough operations to know that the work was ninety per-cent routine and ten per-cent sheer terror and exhilaration. Two days later he had gone up in Huey that was doing an [more…]