Arts
The Swaling, Part Fifty Eight
Back in London, I struggled to touch base with my colleague, Miss Natasha Williams, the other half of my nascent Operation Swaling, neglected by myself as I was sent north to play my part in [more…]
Culture
Culture
Rough Growing In A Pandemic (The Scottish Question)
The weather has been atrocious. In many ways it’s been a problem in the greenhouse, tomato plants are stressed, evidenced by the yellowing lower leaves and my red onions have bolted, caused, I’m sure, by [more…]
Arts
The Avila Gold
The Avila Gold is a novel by David Westheimer, who also wrote, amongst other things, “Von Ryan’s Express”, later made into a very good film, with Frank Sinatra in the eponymous role. The Avila Gold [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Fifty Seven
In the Sleescale constituency office of Major Sir Fergus McDee MP, I have read out from my Royal and Industrial Insurance Company notebook a list of names inscribed on a nearby mining tragedy memorial. I [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Romania – Part Three
Part Two of the Postcard from Romania saw me waxing rhapsodic about the Museum of Pharmacy at the Mauksch-Hintz House in Cluj. After a fantastic visit, when we spent hours marvelling at the extraordinary collections, [more…]
Arts
Wolf Country: A Spiritual History of Iran
Introduction Paropamisidae, Arachosia, Gedrosia, Hyrcania…what strangely mellifluous names were given to the provinces of the Persian Empire conquered by Alexander, whose name became synonymous with evil in the Iranian mind. Hyrcania had echoes even in [more…]
Arts
Defund the BBC, letter 1
The following letter is not intended to be legal advice. I am particularly interested to hear about any successful fraud cases against TV licence investigators. NOTICE TO AGENT IS NOTICE TO PRINCIPAL – NOTICE [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Fifty Six
My colleague Captain Davies and I are in the constituency office of wet Tory grandee Major Sir Fergus McDee MC MP. Three hundred miles to the south, former Prime Minister Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Fifty Five
Myself and my colleague Natasha Williams are at our department’s private election night party at a packed and noisy Dolphin Square bistro. In the early hours of the tenth of June nineteen eighty-three, a colour [more…]