Category: Travel

A Brief History of Ukraine

Present-day Ukraine was initially inhabited by Scythian tribes from Central Asia who were displaced by Sarmatians and nomadic invaders, namely Goths, Huns and Avars that overran the Ukrainian steppe nearly two millennia ago.

And Quiet Flows the Dnieper

The Dnieper is the fourth longest river in Europe, rising in Russia near Smolensk and flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea; a journey of 1,400 miles.

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St Patrick’s Day

The Today programme has a habit of sending its presenters off on location. Recently Martha Kearney has been in a refugee camp in Lebanon and on the edge of the Arctic Circle. This morning Blog Bellew has dipped into its meagre travel budget.

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Walkers

Gladwyn Jebb was a distinguished civil servant, diplomat and politician. References to him abound in Kenneth Rose’s Journals and, to a lesser extent, in Harold Nicolson’s Diaries. Curiously Chips Channon only mentions Gladwyn once in his Diaries.

Out for the Count

An unusual feature of voting in Moldova is the mobile voting box. Voters may request that the ballot box comes to them if they are bed-ridden or in prison, for example.

A Day in the Field

F and I got to our first polling station at 6.25 am – thirty-five minutes before opening time. All the election staff were there making preparations.

Culture in Chisinau

I bet you are bored with Election Observation protocol, so I will reward your patience with what really happens in the field.

Election Day

After a day travelling and three days of briefings and preparation it is time for the STOs to do their job. It’s as well to have an alarm clock because an STO and his partner arrive at the first polling station between an hour and thirty minutes before it opens – typically at 7.00 am.

Day by Day

It has been customary to hold General Elections in the UK on Thursdays since the 1930s. The tradition originated because Thursday was often Market day and voters would be in town. Now, as a result of the ill-advised Fixed-term Parliaments Act of 2011, they are held every five years on the first Thursday in May.… Continue reading Day by Day