20th Century
This Is My England, Part Nine
From the tip of Land’s End on a fine spring morning you may look down on a sea that can be as calm and clear as a mill pond. From that height the Atlantic is [more…]
Literature
Animals
Larry’s Diary – Week One Hundred And Eighty-Four
Monday Good morning readers and welcome to another exciting week in No 10. Well, it’s back to more rain this morning and there are puddles on the garden path and the grass is soggy, typical [more…]
Fiction
The Parrot Lady II
Her breakfast was spoiled by the knowledge that, at some point, she would have to tell the waif about the ‘team’s’ visit: not only how to break the news, but when. She decided that it [more…]
Biography
Trade Plating Around England, Part Four
Driving the minibus, a bit of racial tension and a near punch up. Brief recap, I spent two and a half years trade plating round England with the occasional foray into Scotland and Wales. Part [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 20th April 2023 The Panel: Jeremy Quin (Conservative) Wes Streeting (Labour) Carla Denyer (Green) Lord Sentamu (Christian Aid) Merryn Somerset Webb (Finance Journalist) Venue: York John Sentamu (not his real name, The Right [more…]
Fiction
Jinnie’s Story – Book Five, Chapter Eight
Ro rang Jinnie and said she hoped she didn’t mind but she had suggested to Nigel that he and Jed should move into what had been Aimee’s office as it was much more suitable for [more…]
Culture
Postcard From Marrakech
Introduction For my 50th birthday, as I didn’t have my children all available, I decided to experience Marrakech. A lot of people recommended it, so decided it was a good time of year to visit [more…]
Book Review
Furst amongst equals
There are spy novels…. & novels about spies. Fleming, Deighton & Le Carre definitely wrote the former (& in doing so laid bare their inner classist prejudices) , whilst Ambler, Greene, & Conrad constructed far [more…]
20th Century
This Is My England, Part Eight
Look at Tolpuddle now, with its neat thatched cottages, its tall chestnuts in splendid flower, all in all as pretty an English village as ever found its way on to a Christmas card, and you [more…]