Word has it that Sophia, Queen of Spain and sister to the exiled King of Greece, has been advised not to go to London to join the British…
Montenegro: beauty and independence
This place of almost unequalled beauty used to be the smallest of the constituent republics of the former Yugoslavia. It borders on Serbia in the north/east, Abania to…
The Luck of the Byngs, father and son
George Byng, Viscount Torrington was born in 1663. After school education he headed straight for the Royal Navy to make his name as a sailor. Having a nose…
The ‘Indignants’ and Anarchy: what it is all about
We see on the daily news programmes that ‘Los Indignados’ have returned to the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza de Cataluña in Spain, and various other municipal…
Ian Fleming & the Count’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
The suave inventor of James Bond had already suffered a heart attack at the age of 52 when he began writing about a magic motor car with rather…
The Cabinet System
Many students are accustomed to using the terms Prime Minister and The Cabinet and even The Cabinet Rooms in their studies and essays, but do not know much…
Going Olympic: countries that might
Very shortly you will watch the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. Each country competing in the Games sends its athletes into the grand arena wearing blazers…
Comédie-Française: the French Elections
Today Monday I see that Monsieur Hollande has won the French presidential elections by 51-49%. How very French. M. Hollande claims to be a Socialist, though he is…
Sunday philosophy; the paralysing discomfort of air travel
Though more people travel regularly by air than ever before; while international airports spring up at vast cost though not required (Spain has recently built two particularly pungent…