History
The Birth of the Angry Young Man
In 1956 the play Look Back in Anger was first staged in Britain. Written by John Osborne, it was the story of Jimmy Porter – who came to symbolise a new force in postwar Britain – the [more…]
Politics
21st Century
Debt and the Gen Z protests
31 August, 2024 A generation after the 1980s debt crisis triggered the rebirth of democracy on the continent, will Kenya’s youthful idealists spark a pan-African revolt? The protests in Kenya mark a turning point [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse; Edizeone Apulia (Prima Parte)
And so to Italy, but not before making sure the Buildings and Maintenance team had been fully drilled in the routines required to ensure I didn’t return to any kind of disaster. I needn’t have [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Four – Berlin
When my friend Alfred Friedel comes off duty it’s usually somewhere around one o’clock in the morning. For Alfred is a newspaperman. And morning newspapermen the world over live like owls. Take a good look [more…]
Elections
Aspirations
One of the things that has puzzled me over many years is why governments don’t reverse laws they don’t approve of that have been passed by another party. It seems that in our unwritten constitution [more…]
Animals
Larry’s Diary, Week Two Hundred and Forty-Nine
Monday Good morning everyone from my first diary of the autumn. Overnight the weather forecast seems to have changed. Yesterday, this morning was going to be nice and sunny, but I have woken up to [more…]
21st Century
Building on Sand? The Perils of Peacemaking in Sudan
After 16 months of civil war, Sudan increasingly resembles a ‘failed state’, with displacement and man-made famine driving one of the ‘worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory’. Following early setbacks, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) [more…]
20th Century
European Journey 1953, Part Three – Hamburg
You climb into an aeroplane at Amsterdam Schiphol and as soon as you are comfortably airborne, you order an excellent dry sherry and nibble at a picnic lunch which you don’t really need. You try [more…]
Politics
Local Gummint
Local government in England is a mess. I have recollections of films from the 1940s where there was an insignificant looking little man called the Town Clerk who used to run the show. These days [more…]