Arts
Birth Of The Cruel
Note: This is a personal account of my experiences and opinions of the last few years (and perhaps an introduction of sorts). As such, general statements will refer to my perspective and no inference is [more…]
Politics
Diary
View From The Greenhouse; No Gender Change Please, We’re British
Another year comes around and, with it, a couple of days for quiet reflection, mostly to let the pudding settle. I don’t normally make a start in the old greenhouse much before February, the weather [more…]
19th Century
Crimean War, Part Four
In 1954, as the centenary of the end of the Crimean War approached, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of articles for the Manchester Evening News which vividly described that campaign. In this article, [more…]
Judaism
J.K. Rowling And The Anti-Semitic Goblins Of Gringotts Bank
I did not come to the Harry Potter books early and, in truth, I did not come to them easily. One of the gifts that old age bestows is the ability to make up your [more…]
Authoritarianism
Tears & Teargas
Those of you with longer and good memories may remember my article from January 2019 about protests in Hong Kong and titled ‘The whiff of teargas’. After recovering from the said tear gas, I wrote: [more…]
19th Century
Crimean War, Part Three
In 1954, as the centenary of the end of the Crimean War approached, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of articles for the Manchester Evening News which vividly described that campaign. In this article, [more…]
Conservatives
COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report analysis
The tables below have been taken from the COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report Week 51, which can be downloaded here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-weekly-surveillance-reports The report states “By 19 December 2021, the overall vaccine uptake in England for dose [more…]
20th Century
Joyeux Noël – The Film & The Reality
“What would happen, I wonder, if the armies suddenly and simultaneously went on strike and said some other method must be found of settling the dispute ? ” — Winston Churchill to his wife, Clementine, [more…]
19th Century
Crimean War, Part Two
In 1954, as the centenary of the end of the Crimean War approached, my uncle John Alldridge produced a series of articles for the Manchester Evening News which vividly described that campaign. In this article, [more…]