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In defence of the unspeakable

I’m aware I’m straying above my pay grade here, but the apparently bemused and incredulous worldwide reaction – covered with such relish by the British media – to the announcement that Boris Johnson has joined Theresa May’s government team leads me to offer a word or two in defence of our [...]

July 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

Reflections upon a sunny day

The way I see it, the issue of the moment is whether in the wake of the EU Referendum the UK is now in the grip of worrying or exciting times. The true answer may be probably be both – and I guess it may depend upon which side of the political spectrum and indeed Brexit argument you stand. We [...]

July 14, 2016 // 0 Comments

World at War: the history lesson

At schools a history essay often set is whether history repeats itself. I always considered no, as we might learn from our mistakes, but now I’m not that sure. I have been revisiting the series World  at War. Made in 1973, produced by Jeremy Isaacs and narrated by Laurence Oliivier, it was [...]

July 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

Not raining, but pouring

We like to keep a varied window on the modern world at this esteemed organ but today, despite the UK’s recent political scene rather dominating recent posts, I make no apology for returning again to the topic. Hopefully, when readers buy their value-for-money Christmas stocking filler copy of [...]

July 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

War in Val d’Orcia/Iris Origo

A contemporary chronicle or journal is of considerable historical value as a primary source but has its disadvantages too in terms of authenticity and good writing. Iris Origo, an English born aristocratic wife of a landowner in Tuscany, has written an account of her times (1943-44) which were [...]

July 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

The long-term effects of living life to the full

Beyond the familiar issues of corruption and performance-enhancing drugs (drugs cheats) that bedevil the governing bodies of major world sports, one of the biggest coming up fast on the rail for physical contact sports and games is that of concussion and its long-term effects. Here’s an [...]

July 9, 2016 // 0 Comments

The right stuff

Hats off today to Valerie Adams, New Zealand’s double Olympic gold medallist shot putt champion, for her uncompromising black and white attitude towards sportsmen and women who cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs. See here – article by Donald McCrae that appears today on the [...]

July 5, 2016 // 0 Comments

Somme thoughts

My grandfather won his MC on the Somme in September 1916 and I spent yesterday, the occasion of the centenary of that Battle’s opening day (in terms of casualties the greatest catastrophe in British military history), in the company of my father. Mr grandfather – by then a Brigadier – was [...]

July 2, 2016 // 0 Comments

View from the bunker

There exist theories that reality is a dream and vice versa; that there is a parallel universe, or indeed several existing simultaneously; that time is a human concept, and only a human concept, devised to explain something else quite different but I cannot quite remember what that was; and, of [...]

July 1, 2016 // 0 Comments

Not waving but drowning (again)

One of the issues for columnists upon an organ like the Rust is that when current affairs are as fluid, fast-moving and extraordinary as the aftermath of the Brexit vote in the UK’s EU Referendum campaign there’s not a lot of light that we can shed. Or at least, that we can shed that won’t be [...]

June 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

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