Category Archives: This sceptred isle

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 →

Emmerdale has changed from times past. This evening’s episode included a policeman charging a woman with multiple murders, attempted murder, false imprisonment, and assault. Soaps in the past never had such dramatic occurrences. Life was usually altogether more mundane. Crossroads … Continue reading →

The BBC carries news of the demise of another energy supplier.  Perhaps the proper term should be re-seller, for the insolvent firms have been locked into contracts where they had to buy the energy at a price far higher than … Continue reading →

“We believe in constitutional action in normal times; we believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times. These are exceptional times.” The words of James Connolly are at the head of a poster pasted on various street electricity boxes. Revolutionary action? … Continue reading →