History
Postcard From Birmingham
Myself and my wife fussed over our Kitkats and coffees and peeled off the Standard Premium antimacassars to make it look as though were travelling First Class. Little did we realise our day trip to [more…]
Literature
Fiction
Those Who Play With Fire, Chapter Six
While Dave was waiting, drinking coffee in Euston station Major Joe Cullen was sitting across the desk from Mark James, there was only the two of them in the room. The meeting was to be [more…]
Fiction
Jinnie’s Story, Book Seven – Chapter Nine
The Barclays area manager had kept his word and arrived on time and offered Jinnie a special savings account, through a Premier Account. She asked why she had never been offered a Premier Account before [more…]
21st Century
Last Bastion of the Colonial Home Guard
The Home Guard is institutionalised at the National Police Service and is evident in the lives that have been claimed through state-sanctioned violence during the ongoing Gen Z protests. 14 August 2024 According to a [more…]
Authoritarianism
A View From (The Tap Just By) The Greenhouse; Show Edition (Can I Still Say That)?
The middle of August and, as I type, we have 30mph winds and rain that could penetrate plate armour. I’m putting it down to “Global Warming”, I’m sure it has little or nothing to do [more…]
20th Century
Report From Kenya 1955, Part Nine
On his way home from reporting on Kenya for the Birmingham Mail in 1955, my uncle John Alldridge filed this report from Uganda – Jerry F Colour problem in reverse Almost 50 years ago another [more…]
Arts
Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
The ‘Flower Moon’ is the term the Osage Indians of Oklahoma use to describe that time of year with a full moon in May when the plains around them suddenly burst forth in millions of [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Two Hundred And Forty-Five
Monday Good morning and hello from a not very happy cat this morning. I thought that Legohead was supposed to be going off on his holidays and I was going to have a nice peaceful [more…]
Journalism
Boiling Point
July saw a series of high-profile racial attacks with white people as the victims. Anthony Esan, a black man, was charged with attempted murder over the stabbing of Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton near Gillingham’s Brompton [more…]