Communism
Venezuela’s Wasted Potential
Flash, bang stuff Last week, we visited British Guiana for our Railway Review and, as is sometimes the case, found ourselves in the wrong place but at the right time. We tootled along some 15 [more…]
History
Arts
Art for Art’s Sake
If the Boss has passed this for the consumption of the knowledgeable crowd on here it will be my first time in the public arena. Fulsome praise will be accepted graciously (and possibly cause the [more…]
19th Century
Railway Review
Following the outpouring of joy over the street cars of Paramaribo – complete with a trip to Kabelstation (where a rope-worked gondola spanned the Suriname River), and a railcar ride with the Queen of Holland, [more…]
20th Century
The History of Pop Music – 1993
Featured song: Pet Shop Boys – Go West This is a series of articles looking at pop music from 1955 when in my opinion proper pop music began up to 1999 when they stopped making [more…]
Christianity
Christmas at Christmas With Christmas
Spending Christmas at Christmas with Christmas sounds a very Puffin thing to do. First of all, we’ll have to decide when to meet. The eagle-eyed among you may point out that we’ve missed our chance, [more…]
20th Century
Labour’s bad boys – the intro
A series on Labour’s bad boys has been suggested. At first sight it seemed akin to climbing Everest, there are just so many but on reflection, as one of the current phrases goes, it is [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mystery: Wrecked in The Desert
Amongst my collection of original photographs taken during the Desert War by members of the Deutsche Afrika Korps, I have several of wrecked aircraft but most are usually burnt out and, except to an aviation [more…]
Arts
The Accidental Strength of the English Constitution
The English constitution is often described as ‘unwritten,’ yet it has proved more durable than almost any codified rival. Its resilience does not stem from philosophical elegance or the vision of a single generation of [more…]
16th Century
Tracy Borman: Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I
It is always a bonus when a book takes one or more well-known figures and makes you see them in an entirely new light. Tracy Borman has achieved just this with her dual biography of [more…]