Arts
Q&A Review
As if a disease or malignancy, BBC Question Time spreads around the world. I’m sure the people at Broadcasting House prefer ‘franchise’ or ‘licensing’ but I’m certain viewers of the British version of the topical [more…]
Blog
Fiction
Jinnie’s Story, Book Seven – Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jinnie lifted Millie so she could press Izzy’s ring doorbell. Izzy answered the bell and said, “Hello, please come up, the flat door is open.” The door lock buzzed, and the door popped open. The [more…]
Communism
Rejoice comrades! Net Zero Clean Energy is deliverable(ish)
Just as the US election grabbed all of the media attention (and subsequent tears and tantrums) ukelele-wielding, bug-eyed acolyte of Saint Greta Mad Ed Miliband announced with great glee that his plans to deliver us [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mystery: “Letters from Afrika”, Part Five
In Part Four, I described how Afrika Korps Obergefrieter, Hans Walden, had written to Hildegard Bronnold about suffering in a sandstorm, retreating back through Libya into Tunisia, and his hopes for Christmas 1942. In late [more…]
Democracy
Year in review: A tectonic shift has only just begun
As we’re approaching the final hours of 2024, it is a good time to take a step back and remember what this year taught us. History might not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, as [more…]
Diary
A (Re)View From The Greenhouse; That Was The Year That Were
Winter arrives in the northern hinterlands, with something of a vengeance, but enough of my snow shovelling tales. The greenhouse has (so far) managed to withstand the foot or so of accumulated snow loading. Grounds [more…]
Authoritarianism
Anarcho-Tyranny
Ed. NB Sent in BE (Before Elon). 10+ years ago, I was totally disinterested in politics, and my get-out clause was “they’re all the same”. The Brexit vote stirred me to get more interested and [more…]
Literature
An Old Man’s Musings, Part Eleven
Mention of snow of course leads back, for those that were around at that time, to the Winter of 1946/1947. I was six and the most vivid memory I have was walking between banks of [more…]
Economics
The Collapse of Prosperity in the West
OK Puffins. Shoulders back & full attention to the screen please. Some questions for you………….. Why are Western finances in such a dire state ? Why are so many people struggling just to exist ? [more…]