A S H Smyth › On <i>Uncertain Ground</i>

Skip to content

Tag Archives: war

On Uncertain Ground

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

In which I, ASH Smyth, High Anglican atheist, descendant of Huguenots, dissenters, Presbyterians, Church of Ireland types, and maybe even Quakers, make my Catholic press debut, on Phil Klay’s Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War. — For The Catholic Herald

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Afghanistan, America, Americans, Barack Obama, books, Catholicism, citizenship, Iraq, Jesuits, John McCain, Journalism, Libya, movies, Navy Seals, Niger, non-fiction, Pakistan, Penguin, Phil Klay, politics, Somalia, St Ignatius, Syria, The Catholic Herald, Ukraine, USMC, veterans, writers, Yemen | Comments (0)

Crimean punishment

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Attempting – unsuccessfully – to get my head round the roots of the Ukraine war, via Orlando Figes’ magisterial Crimea. — For Perspective

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Alaska, Alexander Morrison, Andrey Kurkov, audiobooks, Austria, Bessarabia, Blackadder, Britain, 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, WWI | Comments (0)

Longdon pride

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

In the run-up to the 40th anniversary commemorations, a review of James O’Connell’s step-by-step first-hand account of one of the Falklands War’s bloodiest battles. — For Perspective

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged 3 Para, Aldershot, Argentinians, audiobooks, bayonets, Brian Bowles, Brigadier General Julian Thompson, christenings, Colin Mace, communications, death, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Freddie Gaminara, Geoffrey Lumb, grenades, helicopters, Huw Parmenter, Ian McKay, injuries, James O'Connell, Joe Gaminara, Korea, landmines, Max Hastings, mental health, Moody Brook, Mt Longdon, non-fiction, Oseloka Obi, Paul Panting, Penelope Rawlins, Perspective, plastic surgery, Port Stanley, Sam Newton, shit, Simon & Garfunkel, tea, the Falkands War, the Victoria Cross, the Victory Bar, Union Jack, youth | Comments (0)

Eerie-Ness

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Review of Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood’s poem/song/story/play on where past and present meet at Orford Ness. — For Perspective magazine

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged audiobooks, fiction, Hugh Brunt, landscape, Max Porter, music, non-fiction, Orford Ness, Penguin, Perspective, Poetry, Radiohead, Robert Macfarlane, Scarfolk, Stanley Donwood, Stephen Dillane, Suffolk, the Falklands | Comments (0)

Turned out nice again

Friday, January 28, 2022

With the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict imminent, two Brits – one Stanley-based and one in Buenos Aires – discuss that ‘hottest’ of all conversational potatoes… the weather. — For The Emigre

Filed in Journalism, podcast | Also tagged Argentina, bars, Buenos Aires, children, Covid-19, Dominic Hilton, Falkland Islands Radio Service, farming, free speech, hair, holidays, landmines, maps, marriage, quarantine, sheep, shipping, Stanley, The Emigre, the Falklands, trees, vaccination, Virginia, walking, weather | Comments (0)

Hiroo-worship

Monday, October 25, 2021

Review of Werner Herzog’s Das Dämmern der Welt – or (probably) The Twilight/Dawn (of the?) World. — For Perspective

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged army, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Audible, audiobooks, Emperor Akihito, Ferdinand Marcos, German, Google Translate, Hanser, Hiroo Onoda, Japan, kochbananen, Lubang, non-fiction, Perspective, Philippines, the Falklands, the moon, the Stasi, translation, TS Eliot, Vietnam, Weltanschauung, Werner Herzog, WG Sebald, WWII | Comments (0)

A Kentish field (June 6, 2019)

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Between the dungheap and the budding field of rape, a line of poppies.

Filed in Poetry | Also tagged haiku, Kent, poppies | Comments (0)

Beneath the mountains

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Review of Alexandria: the Quest for the Lost City, by Edmund Richardson. — For The Spectator

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Afghanistan, Alexander (‘the Great’), Alexander Burnes, army, Bagram, Bamiyan, Bengal, Bombay, books, Buddhism, Charles Masson, China, Edmund Richardson, Harappa, India, Josiah Harlan, Kabul, Kharosthi, London, Macedonia, non-fiction, Pakistan, spies, the British Museum, the East India Company, the Great Game, the Hindu Kush, The Spectator, tigers, William Loveday | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Sandranathan Rubatheesan

Sunday, October 18, 2020

The Sri Lankan journalist and photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged Anuradhapura, cameras, Chavakachcheri, Colombo, farming, fire, Harold Peiris Gallery, health, Hinduism, hospitals, Jaffna, Journalism, parents, peacocks, photography, police, Sandranathan Rubatheesan, Sunday Times (SL), Tamils, train-travel, University of Colombo | Comments (0)

The Gentleman’s Marathon

Monday, October 5, 2020

On my attempt to run 26.2 miles, in Pheidippides’ footsteps. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Afghanistan, army, artillery, Athens, Bosnia, Brett Raymond, champagne, Chariots of Fire, Charlton, Classics, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, death, gentlemen, Google, Greece, Haruki Murakami, health, hills, Homer, Honourable Artillery Company, Iraq, Joseph James Prosser, kilometers, London marathon, Lucian, Marathon, Merrell, miles, Olympics, Panathinaiko Stadium, Persians, Phaleron War Cemetery, Pheidippides, running, Silverstone, the Aegean, The Critic | Comments (0)