Democracy Matters

As you probably know, there will be a presidential election in the United States on the first Tuesday after 1st November. Four years ago my friend Ned misread the runes. He’s more than welcome to have another go this year. 

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Categorised as Politics

Royal Reflections

  Yesterday, at the Savile Club, I asked Michael Bloch about the Dukes of Windsor and Sussex. His insights are too interesting to keep to myself and I prevailed upon him to write today’s post; thank you Michael.

The Queen’s Beasts

Sometimes I talk almost complete rubbish and this happened on Saturday at Holland Park. I was talking to somebody who works at Kew Gardens and she feigned interest that the ten Queen’s Beasts outside the Palm House had been designed by my great-uncle to stand outside Westminster Abbey at the Queen’s coronation.

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Categorised as Sculpture

Singing in the Rain

Yesterday evening I went to Opera Holland Park for a concert performance of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music; a return to normality? Not quite.

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Categorised as Music

Living with Alan Brooke

It’s May 1943 and I’m with Alan Brooke in Washington. A diarist, a blogger too, likes to show their best side although Chips Channon never seemed to have a best side.

History Repeats Itself

Western democrats are reluctant to read history. The same mistake is made over and over again. Tito, Gaddafi, Hussein, Assad, et al were not promoters of democracy but they did in their way run their countries quite well. Western democratic opposition to their regimes has resulted in bloodshed and misery. In my opinion a price… Continue reading History Repeats Itself

Uncle George Remembers XIX

“At the coronation of King George VI there had been a moment of hesitation at a very important point in the ceremonies which could have been embarrassing but for the presence of mind of the then Archbishop of Canterbury (Cosmo Gordon Lang).

Daydream Believer

Quentin Letts is a prolific journalist; he’s been at it for more than thirty years. These days his mainstays are as a theatre critic for The Sunday Times and parliamentary sketch writer for The Times. Both jobs require much the same skills.