Attempting – unsuccessfully – to get my head round the roots of the Ukraine war, via Orlando Figes’ magisterial Crimea. — For Perspective
Filed in Journalism, review
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Also tagged Alaska, Alexander Morrison, Andrey Kurkov, audiobooks, Austria, Bessarabia, Blackadder, Christianity, Circassians, Cossacks, Crimea, Florence Nightingale, France, imperialism, Islam, Jerusalem, Kalmuks, Malk Williams, maps, NATO, Nicholas I, Nikita Kruschev, non-fiction, Orlando Figes, Perspective, religion, Russia, Ruthenia, Tatars, the Army, the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Danube, the Falklands, the Great Game, the Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire, the Pacific, the press, the Royal Navy, the Soviet Union, trade, Turkey, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Wallachia, war, WWI
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On the late, great Christopher Hitchens, and the role the Falklands may have played in his political development. — For The Critic
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged 9/11, Admiral Graf von Spee, Adolf Hitler, Afghanistan, Africa, Alexander Haig, Argentina, Barack Obama, Battle Day, Borges, Caspar Weinberger, Christopher Hitchens, coffee, Commander Eric Hitchens, conservatives, Cossacks, Covid, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Cyprus, Denis MacShane, Falklands Radio, football, Goose Green, Hector Timerman, Holland, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jacobo Timerman, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Jews, Jorge Videla, Journalism, La Opinion, Lebanon, Lincoln's Inn, Lt Nick Taylor, Margaret Thatcher, Nazis, New York, Nicholas Henderson, Palestine, Robert Cox, Ronald Reagan, Salman Rushdie, terrorism, The Critic, The Falklands War, the Inquisition, the Junta, the left wing, the Mediterranean, The Nation, The New Statesman, the Pacific, the Royal Navy, The Spectator, the UN, the Union Jack, Ukraine, Washington DC, WWI, WWII
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Saturday, December 25, 2021
‘The Journal of Victor Emmanuel Smyth, made on a Voyage to Australia’ . Ever since I found a battered typescript in my parents’ house, about a decade back, at this time of year my thoughts quite often turn to Victor Emmanuel Smyth (1856-1947), the younger brother of my great-great-grandfather, who in 1875, set out on […]
Friday, December 10, 2021
Forever and a Day: a James Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz (Random House Audiobooks, read by Matthew Goode, 7hrs 36mins) . Around the final Daniel Craig installment, there’s been inevitable talk of who should be the next James Bond. Well, I’ll tell you who it shouldn’t be, and that’s Matthew Goode. Three years ago, Anthony […]
Filed in Journalism, review
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Also tagged Anthony Horowitz, audiobooks, cars, CIA, Corsica, fiction, food, French, German, Ian Fleming, James Bond, languages, Matthew Goode, McDonald's, MI6, Norway, Radio 3, Random House, Russians, Scots, wine, women, WW2
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Monday, September 23, 2019
. John Stow, author of the Survey of London, was rewarded by James I with a licence to beg. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Friday, August 17 1906 . In Germany, young ladies have no sex. ‘Silver Billy’ Beldham was blond, and is said to have fathered 39 children. Thom Yorke’s left eye is made […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Alexander von Humboldt, anatomy, children, Chinese, cricket, Edward Said, eels, fairies, Germany, James I, John Stow, law, London, money, Nelson Evening Mail, Nevada, Poetry, satire, sex, ships, sport, stupidity, the internet, the Middle East, Thom Yorke, vegetables, William Beldham, women, words, writers, Xerxes
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. There are more Jews in New York than there are in Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland put together. They worship in 37 synagogues. Every fifth person belongs to the family of Abraham. — The Nelson Evening Mail, December 1 1906 . Coleraine Blackjack is the cheapest porter in the world. Thomas Nelson […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged anatomy, Australia, Ben Affleck, books, Bruca Chatwin, Canada, Coleraine, Colombo, computers, crime, Cuba, death, Devon, drink, East Africa, emojis, flags, France, Germany, health, hyenas, Italy, Judaism, London, Microsoft, money, Nelson E, New York, Northern Ireland, philosophy, religion, River Dart, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, tattoos, Thomas Nelson, West Africa, West Dart, Wittgenstein
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. The German army has the healthiest troops in the world. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 13 1908 . In January 2001 a BBC documentary crew filmed the everyday goings on in a typical workplace. The skin of fantas melons smells of BO. There’s 25% off Rovic floors. Philip Hensher will read any old crap. […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged army, BBC, bees, China, chips, computers, construction, criticism, Devon, eyes, fruit, Germany, health, Journalism, London, Mesopotamia, Nelson Evening Mail, North Devon Journal, Philip Hensher, pronunciation, rivers, Russians, sand, smells, Tibet, work
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. Only about three in every hundred amateur novel-writers find their way into print, except at their own expense. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 22 1907 . The erection of a verandah is a useful way to extend one’s living quarters. Seven American states observe Abraham Lincoln’s birthday as a public holiday. There is only one […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Abraham Lincoln, America, architecture, atheism, babies, Barack Obama, breasts, Chiang Kai-shek, China, Christianity, class, Comic Sans, Communism, crime, domestic affairs, education, Eskimos, finance, French, Germany, grammar, holidays, John le Carré, Judaism, Mormonism, Nelson Evening Mail, novels, religion, sharks, synthetic fibres, the Irish, the Soviet Union, translation, vision, war, writing
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Monday, February 20, 2017
. In many parts of Africa gin is the only currency. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 6 1909 . James Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister of Great Britain three times. Water is a better conductor of sound than air. A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged acting, Africa, agriculture, books, crime, drink, fishing, geography, horses, ice hockey, law, Led Zeppelin, Liechtenstein, liquorice, Paul Auster, physics, poets, political correctness, politics, Ramsay MacDonald, Ravel, Socrates, Teletubbies, the Swiss, unicorns, virgins, waste management
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Wednesday, February 1, 2017
I NAT. TEL. JESMOND 343. Imperial Hotel, Jesmond Road, Newcastle on Tyne 15th Dec 1907 . My dear Victor, …………………..It is my good fortune once more to ask you for your congratulations! This time it is on a very fine appointment as Navigating Officer of H.M.S. “Lord Nelson”, a battleship almost completed, and which is […]
Filed in Non-fictions
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Also tagged Adrian Holt Smyth, brothers, Dublin, Dudley de Chair, Ireland, letters, marriage, Newcastle, Royal Navy, the Thames, Victor Emmanuel Smyth, WW1
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