Category Archives: This sceptred isle

One of the most memorable things about growing up in our small Somerset village was the inculcation of respect for the values and beliefs of everyone, no matter how odd those beliefs might seem to those of us who took … Continue reading →

Friday on my mind was played on the radio. David Bowie’s 1973 cover of the original 1965 version by Australian band The Easybeats. Of course, Friday night was a moment to relish if you worked the “five day drag” of … Continue reading →

Only in recent years did I discover why the tax year began on 6th April. Because we were always a sceptical race, suspicious of innovation and resentful about change, it took the England one hundred and seventy years to accept … Continue reading →

Searching for an email address, I somehow stumbled upon a clipping from an edition of the Shepton Mallet Journal from October 1924. The reason the clipping had been sent to me has disappeared from memory, but it is a piece … Continue reading →

“Sir, why all this fuss about Ukraine? Why didn’t anyone make the same fuss about Afghanistan, or Syria, or Yemen? Don’t those people matter?” The honest answer to the student’s question would have been to say, “No, they don’t,” for … Continue reading →