Drinking
The Navy Tot
My daughter kindly presented me with a bottle of rum “to remind me of my time in the Navy”. It says quite clearly on the label that it is Pusser’s Rum and was the “original [more…]
History
20th Century
A History of Pop Music – 1970
Featured song: Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge over troubled water 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 [more…]
20th Century
Desert Mystery: “Letters from Afrika”, Part Six
In Part 5, I described how Afrika Korps Obergefrieter, Hans Walden, had written to Hildegard Bronnold about being strafed by the American Airforce, visiting the theatre in Tunis and staying at the home of an [more…]
21st Century
Renditioning Dissidents
28 December 2024 While Kenyan authorities deny their involvement in renditioning Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, a blood-stained history of collaboration in Western-backed renditions speaks dubiously for itself. Above: Ugandan opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye [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…]
20th Century
A History of Pop Music – 1969
Featured song: The Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Women 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 [more…]
20th Century
New Year Past
Beneath the headline London’s Joyous Welcome to the New Year, the Daily Mirror of 1st January 1925 showed a ‘special Daily Mirror photograph’ snapped as revellers welcomed in the New Year at the Albert Hall. [more…]
21st Century
Gen Z, Riggy G, and the Kenyan Pornocracy
Gen Z, Riggy G, and the Kenyan Pornocracy In a political landscape defined by opportunism, spectacle, and betrayal, Kenya’s youth-led protests offered a fleeting glimpse of change – only to be ensnared by the same [more…]
20th Century
Boxing Day Past
Yes, I know it isn’t Boxing Day, it’s the day after, but not being around a century ago I can’t repeat the newses from those days with the usual mildly exaggerated and slightly embellished personal [more…]