If you’re like me, most of what you know about ancient Rome comes from repeated viewings of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Maybe even seeing Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus. I never received a “classical” education when I grew…
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Last weekend, as part of our wedding celebration, we invited guests from all over the world to come to Highgate Cemetery and to visit the grave of Karl Marx. (Doesn’t everyone do this?). Here is…
This a wonderful book. No, really. I was a bit concerned as I don’t always enjoy anthologies, and the only author names I recognised were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzerald, and Dorothy Parker. But that…
For some time now, the consensus in the mainstream media in Britain and elsewhere has been that Ukraine has effectively lost the war with Russia. Slowly and methodically, Russian troops have taken village after village…
I recently saw (again) the film, starring Michael Caine and the late Donald Sutherland, and this awakened in me an interest in reading the original book. There were a couple of pleasant surprises. For one…
This thoroughly-researched, engaging book is full of stories that I didn’t know, showing the vast extent of disinformation campaigns over the last century or so — and not only done by the Russians. Rid has…
Rachel Collinson knows a lot about how non-profit organisations and charities can improve their fundraising and campaigning — but she only shares some of it in this short book. This is understandable because she earns…
This is an early book by Stephen King and when I read that it was his take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I thought — why not? But it’s not King’s best effort (he improved as…
At first glance, Serbia seems like a great place for trade unions. Under the country’s labour law, a union need only sign up 15% of the workforce in order to compell employers to bargain collectively….
This very short book has some real gems in it. Some quite famous authors and historians explain not only why they read but also why they buy books, and why they write. And while so…