Just in

News

The End Of The Year Show

Reflecting upon what by any yardstick has been a crowded and extraordinary 2020 – viewed in two tranches from the inside of supposed lockdowns but otherwise generally (as usual) from my habitual sedentary position in front my television and computer screens – I have been struck repeatedly time [...]

December 16, 2020 // 0 Comments

A first hand account

At noon midday this week on Thursday 17th December in Knightsbridge the auction house Bonham’s will be holding its latest auction of fine books, atlases, manuscripts and historical photographs. Included in the sale is the handwritten account of the famous siege of Rorke’s Drift in South [...]

December 15, 2020 // 0 Comments

Stuff happens

Yesterday, in furtherance of his quest to return to work urgently after a three-week trip to the UK (14 days of it spent in quarantine), I took my son Barry to Terminal Five at Heathrow so that he could catch the one available flight that was going to Madrid. Or rather, I didn’t do that. The [...]

December 8, 2020 // 0 Comments

A sign of the times perhaps …

One might venture to suggest that one of the plusses of the global Covid-19 pandemic is that it has forced the human race to confront – or revisit – some of the threats to its way of life, if not existence. Most of them can be summarised or epitomised by the description “itself” – namely [...]

December 8, 2020 // 0 Comments

Keeping a perspective

As most Rusters will be only too well aware, we oldies often have to make difficult decisions in order to negotiate a careful balancing act between – on the one hand – expressing our bewilderment that the young seem to delight in disregarding or overturning all we know and can teach them about [...]

November 27, 2020 // 0 Comments

On Women And Sport

I’m risking the wrath of female Rusters everywhere – never mind our esteemed lady columnists who, it may be said here without fear of  contradiction, are more than capable of looking after themselves in matters of opinion – but my theme for today is a push-back against the fashionable modern [...]

November 25, 2020 // 0 Comments

Yet more on yesterday’s announcement

Without wishing to overload our readers with more views on yesterday’ s official announcement I too was initially utterly confused. This government would not win any plaudits for clear English but after an hour of poring over the official announcement I reduced it to one paragraph: The [...]

November 24, 2020 // 0 Comments

All change for Christmas!

Yesterday – no doubt like many who, bored with their routine of taking afternoon exercise, have taken to having afternoon naps instead and thereby regained the half stone that they’d previously lost – I tuned my radio to listen to the Prime Minister’s early evening press conference on [...]

November 24, 2020 // 0 Comments

And another thing …

For someone as cynical as myself about the world of politics and “the Establishment” there is little more fascinating that a good old-fashioned newspaper expose of hypocrisy, double-dealing, “do as I say, not as I do”, “one law for the rich, another for everyone [...]

November 23, 2020 // 0 Comments

Tragedy at sea

A few months ago some good friends of mine recommended a fresh fish delivery company called Pesky fish. Every morning at around 8 am I receive an email with today’s market of fresh fish caught. This is so popular that by 8-10 most of the catch is sold out. I especially enjoy the plump and [...]

November 23, 2020 // 0 Comments

1 34 35 36 37 38 85