20th Century
Desert Mysteries Redux – Part One
In the original Desert Mysteries series, I wrote about a 1939 edition of Blackwood’s magazine bought at an antiques fair that led me to research the lives of the men who had read it and [more…]
Literature
Hobbies
Cruising From Malta, Part One
I won’t bother taking you through all the preliminaries for this cruise except to say this time I choose to fly to Malta to pick up the cruise ship, P&O Azura. It cuts out a [more…]
20th Century
Report From Kenya, 1955 – Part Three
In 1955, at the height of the Mau Mau Rebellion, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of reports from Kenya for the Birmingham Mail and the Manchester Evening News – Jerry F Fort Hall, [more…]
Arts
Postcard From The Scotsman
Mrs AWS and I are enjoying our May day-trip to Edinburgh, but time is tight. After walloping down (£10) ice creams, we must hurry to Waverley station if only to watch our train depart the [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 27th June 2024 The Panel: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) Yvette Cooper (Labour) Stephen Flynn (SNP) Leyla Moran (LibDem) Venue: Birmingham In recent QT reviews, we’ve spotted an over-representation of the never-had-a-job community in a [more…]
Fiction
Jinnie’s Story – Book Seven, Chapter Two
Jinnie felt she was on the road to recovery. She was being pushed in a hospital wheelchair by a porter and alongside her was Paolo, and behind was a uniformed Barbados Police Service officer armed [more…]
Democracy
A View (Miles Away) From The Greenhouse…The Reform Conundrum
I recently spent a long weekend in Llanberis celebrating my eldest daughters birthday, she chose the area because she wanted to climb Snowdon, which she did along with six of the other guests. I had [more…]
20th Century
Report From Kenya, 1955 – Part Two
In 1955, at the height of the Mau Mau Rebellion, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of reports from Kenya for the Birmingham Mail and the Manchester Evening News – Jerry F Nairobi Terror [more…]
Conservatives
Which Leader?
Can you guess the leader each of these poems refers to…? Sir A. Tool I’m not a wealthy toolmaker I’m a wealthy toolmaker’s son. He made A Tool, not much cop That the UK he [more…]