Musings of a REAL Tank Commander – Part 22 Noddy suits, a shock of pink, and gravy trains

AND SO 1991 ARRIVED and found all of us at Headquarters British Forces Middle East (HQBFME) in reasonably good spirits. By now we realised that the chances of resolving the crisis in the Gulf without ...

The Mummy Diaries – Christmas orders, the Great Escape and the Santa ‘Claus’.

WELL, after last week's parenting treat of little to no fights, everyone getting along and generally being happy and content, it was only a matter of time before a fresh batch of hell was waiting ...

Musings of a Real Tank Commander – Part 21 Shemaghs, Wooly Pullys and Whisky shampoo

ON MY FIRST DAY of posting to Gulf War I arrived at Headquarters British Forces Middle East (HQBFME) and reported on arrival to the Chief of Staff, Col Ian Talbot (Google him, it’s interesting). He had ...

The Mummy Diaries – Christmas Crafts and murder’s afoot!

I’M PROBABLY going to get on your parenting nerves straight away here. It’s actually been a good week. A nice week. Yes, we’ve had a few minor spats but in general, everyone has got on ...

Hong Kong’s future relies on democracy being relevant and trusted

SOME DAYS AGO, the Government of Hong Kong and the Government of Singapore confirmed creating an air travel bubble between the cities that they govern. This air travel bubble effectively means tourists and expatriates can ...

Taking out the trash: some thoughts on International Men’s Day

FOR SOME TIME, the concept of an International Men’s Day, which, at time of writing, it still is, was a bit of a joke used only to shut down the cretins who would respond to ...

Now is the time to make your own Christmas pudding

LIKE MY Christmas cake a few weeks back on ThinkScotland this is the favourite that I just go back to year on year, it's fail-safe and tastes delicious.

Ingredients

The candour and courage of a pillar of Irish journalism

Burning Heresies: A Memoir of a Life in Conflict, 1979-2020,  Dublin: Merrion Press, 2020, 320 pp, ISBN 9781785372612, £18.99

By Tom Gallagher

KEVIN MYERS has written a riveting account of ...

The Mummy Diaries – Letters to Santa, Peppa is banned & bribery will get you everywhere!

IT’S THAT FUNNY time of year when Halloween is over and finished – woo hoo! So when is it acceptable to put the Christmas decorations up? If it was up to me, I would start ...

Should our universities choose impartiality or appeasement?

IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Errata: An examined life, the literary critic, essayist and philosopher George Steiner, described his first encounter with Martin Heidegger’s monumental, Sein und Zeit.  Steiner related how he was unable to grasp even the most ...

The Mummy Diaries – Bye, bye naps, techie disasters and hallo Peppa Pig

I LOVE this time of year. The trick or treating round the houses, the run up to Christmas, the shopping, the extra hour in bed…

…but back to the year 2020 and ...

Baking your own foolproof and delicious Christmas Cake

THIS IS the cake I have made for years and is fool proof as well as being the best  tasting Christmas cake I make, despite me being swayed to try something different now and again. I have made ...