Archives
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
My Facebook page
Monthly Archives: November 2016
A Coming Storm, June 6th, 1885; e pur si muove, tre
In the first week of June 1885, London’s beloved horse-racing festival, the Derby Day meeting, was taking place on Epsom Downs. The era’s greatest jockey, Fred Archer, came home first in the two premier races — both the Derby and the … Continue reading
Cherished by the Puritans
This is how Chambers Book of Days in 1869 explained Thanksgiving to the British. You just have time to read this before settling down to an evening of “rustic games and amusements”. THANKSGIVING DAY IN AMERICA The great social and religious festival of … Continue reading
“Not a novel experiment”
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but it appears there are those citizens out there today who believe a majority of street people are in some way comfortable with hand-outs. Those who blame the poor often wonder why do-gooders aren’t practical-minded enough to try to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged absinthe, Paris, Paris 1888, Petit bleu, philanthropy, vagrancy, vagrom, work
Leave a comment
You’re not the boss of me, or are you?
Has not the British Constitution changed so much since the Act of Parliament allowing admittance into the European Common Market in 1972 that some old rules cease to have application — and the myth of Parliamentary sovereignty is one? EU … Continue reading
Diamonds are Forever
Though it’s by no means the full story — to find that you might want go to my book, An Infinite Deal Of Nothing — and it does not even reveal the name of the man who was actually guilty of … Continue reading
Even the bad times are good
An irony of the lust for content to fill up hours of broadcast, megabytes of digital and pages of newsprint, is that one bad thing ‘done good’ for a Presidential candidate, while a good thing ‘done bad’ for the other. The bad thing? … Continue reading
Posted in Not history
Tagged Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ronald Reagan assassination
Leave a comment
Mia constitutional crisis e sua constitutional crisis
We are spectators as some settled precepts of democracy come unglued. It is happening in the two countries where you’d bet the farm it would not have happened. Might it be that old, comforting representative democracy is just town crier in a … Continue reading
Posted in Not history
Tagged brexit, British Constitution, constitutional crisis, european union
Leave a comment
Telephone’s early adopters
An aside into Victorian business life is the fact that when a London solicitors sent a letter on April 27 1885, its headed paper quoted the firm’s telephone number. The number was 1095 and there genuinely were another 1094 phones … Continue reading
