Category Archives: This sceptred isle

We were always people who kept the law. From an early age, my father would say that we obeyed the law because we expected other people to keep the law. He would ask, with good reason, “what would happen if … Continue reading →

The students in the class talked about their experience of the police. “If you wear a track suit, sir, they will always stop you. If you are a middle class person, in a shirt and jeans, no-one will bother you, … Continue reading →

“When is a door not a door?” “When it’s ajar?” “What’s big and red and eats rocks?” “A big red rock eater.” “How do you make time fly?” “Throw the clock out of the window.” The silly riddles from childhood … Continue reading →

Our village is so rural that it has no street lights. Stand and look from the upstairs window of my mother’s house and for miles around the surrounding landscape is entirely agricultural, yet farming hardly features in the conversation. To … Continue reading →

Siegfried Sassoon was an extraordinary character. A soldier whose reckless regard for his own safety and his sacrificial concern for his men earned him the nickname “Mad Jack,” he was awarded the Military Cross for bringing back the wounded in … Continue reading →