My Local Art Gallery

London is full of lesser known galleries and Barons Court has one. It is less than five minutes walk from my front door on the Fulham Palace Road, so really Hammersmith. 

A Column about Wellington

I am not done with Trim. Besides the cathedral with its Trollopian politics (see I’m a Believer?) two famous people lived just outside, on the road to Summerhill. Indeed my sister and brother-in-law live on that road too.

Introducing a Special Guest

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my first guest blogger, Ian Alexander-Sinclair. His post expands on a recent post, How To Be One-Up.

I’m a Believer?

I have known Trim since 1963. Its Norman castle is the best in Ireland. The gardens at Butterstream (above) are not the best in Ireland; saying that would cause uproar at Barmeath. However, they were good enough for the Prince of Wales to visit in 1995. Trim is a small city in Co. Meath. It… Continue reading I’m a Believer?

Democratic Principles

  My house has what estate agents call “all the usual offices”; a strange expression as it has everything except an office. This drawing was done by Mike Stiff, of Stiff + Trevillion, in 1984. It’s a late Victorian terraced house with some original features, including a functioning coal hole in the path leading up… Continue reading Democratic Principles

How To Be One-Up

If you are unaware that Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616, that state of innocence will not last long. The Bard will be impossible to escape this year, like a virulent influenza. I propose to inoculate you with a small dose that may protect you against getting the willies.

Let Us Pray

Increasingly, the BBC World Service provides less provincial and more interesting news than the BBC UK newsroom and their analysis is more intelligent. One such item caught my ear this morning.

The Little Blitz

I wrote recently about the Blitz. The worst of it was over by May 1941 but in 1944 there was what became known as The Little Blitz.

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Categorised as History

Soft Power

Lord Bates is a Conservative party Life Peer in the House of Lords. He is a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office.