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Articles by Lavinia Thompson

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About Lavinia Thompson

A university lecturer for many years, both at home and abroad, Lavinia Thompson retired in 2008 and has since taken up freelance journalism. She is currently studying for a distant learning degree in geo-political science and lives in Norwich with her partner. More Posts

The art of not helping yourself

Sometimes your public reputation precedes and defines you. For four decades now, no doubt fuelled by my willingness to believe the ever-more outlandish press stories published about him, Prince Charles has struck me as being a prat of the first order. Down the years a host of impressionists and [...]

June 30, 2014 // 0 Comments

What’s the bloody point of it all?

After reading Keith Lowe’s review of a new book War: What Is It Good For? by Ian Morris, I cannot help reflecting – against the raft of 21st Century conflicts and crises such as that now unfolding in the Ukraine – that maybe the concept of Western-style democracy is little more than [...]

April 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

Court drama thrills

Yesterday, having nothing to achieve beyond booking my car in for an MOT and egged on by my brother who telephoned to recommend it, I spent most of my morning watching the Sky News coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial, live from South Africa. Well, I say ‘live’, but (according to the screen [...]

April 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

Remorse is also a dish best served cold

As a reasonable and logical lady, I naturally doff my hat to the notion that all men are innocent until proven guilty. I also acknowledge that, not having been in court to actually see the evidence being given, I probably have little basis upon which to make judgements about the key participants [...]

April 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

Variety is the spice of life, but sometimes also puzzling

As the weather clears again today, and the multi-country search for the missing Malaysian airliner MH370 resumes in the southern Indian Ocean, I venture with some trepidation into the world of media comment, mindful of the anguish of the relatives of those have been lost as they seek closure upon [...]

March 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Big ‘Can’t Pay’ Debt Debate

Last night, channel-hopping whilst waiting for something (anything) to watch on my television, I chanced upon a truly awful television programme called The Big ‘Can’t Pay’ Debt Debate [Channel Five, 6.30pm]. I came to it at about 6.50pm, so witnessed only the last one-third of it. Richard [...]

March 19, 2014 // 0 Comments

In the absence of policy, try handwringing

Yesterday, as the Ukrainian crisis vied with the opening of the Oscar Pistorius trial in South Africa for the attention of the world’s media, the West’s confusion over how best to exert pressure upon – and ultimately restrain – Russia became more evident than ever. However, apart [...]

March 4, 2014 // 0 Comments

It ain’t finished yet

I do hope that my National Rust colleague William Byford is feeling better after his post on the flooding crisis yesterday [‘Maybe there is no solution …’ 14th February]. Although I cannot agree with his proposition that the world is sliding towards the Apocalypse, the current ‘national [...]

February 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

Go if you wish to – but don’t come back

Just seven months hence, on 18th September this year, the referendum on Scottish independence will take place. There are huge historical, political, economic and social aspects involved and none of them will feature in this short piece, despite the fact that – it seems to me – few people are [...]

February 8, 2014 // 0 Comments

Politics and the military – an uneasy mix

Prime minister David Cameron strayed onto dangerous ground earlier this week when, during a lightning visit to British forces in Afghanistan, he stated that our official withdrawal from that war-torn country by the end of 2014 would be with heads held high and a sense of ‘mission [...]

December 19, 2013 // 0 Comments

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