Category Archives: This sceptred isle

When cheap food becomes costly

My sister is sat working out which vegetables she will plant for the winter. Beds are now becoming clear and the prospect of rain next week brings an opportunity to sow root vegetables for winter harvest. Having been in Somerset … Continue reading

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Civil war rights

The Battle of Naseby in June 1645 and the Battle of Langport in July 1645 marked the destruction of the armies of King Charles and the First Civil War drifted to a conclusion the following year when the Scots handed … Continue reading

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The end of a populist Prime Minister

Anyone who cares to read The Great Outsider: The Life of David Lloyd George, Roy Hattersley’s account of the life of the last Liberal prime minister, is led to the unmistakable conclusion that Lloyd George was not a pleasant man. … Continue reading

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Voltaire in the village

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

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Middle class music

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

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