t's always the little things that make you stop and wonder. For me, it was the moment in the 1980s when the noble, dignified two tone klaxon of British emergency vehicles began its tragic extinction, replaced by the unhinged wailing of electronic sirens straight out of an American cop show. Supposedly, these newfangled noisemakers were better...
By Michael Rainsborough Reading Between the Lies So, what does my SAR file expose about 'them'—and the entire mess? If you're determined enough to dig, there are some nuggets of truth buried under layers of nonsense. It's essentially like discovering the draft of a painfully bad novel: a lot of cringe-worthy drivel that only underscores...
By Michael Rainsborough The Rise of the Dark Lord Had the Free Speech Union had been around back then, I would, no doubt, have stormed in with lawyers, righteous indignation and the soundtrack of Rambo (First Blood, not the later lesser movies). When I spoke with the Dean again the following week, I reiterated my disagreement with his facile...
By Michael Rainsborough But I am mulling over of the idea of the GDR as an article of faith. Communism, at least of the East German variety, was a closed system of belief. It was a universe in a vacuum, complete with its own hells and heavens, its punishments and redemptions meted out right here on earth. Many of the punishments were simply f...
Analysis by Prof MLR Smith & Dr Niall McCrae Before the coronavirus pandemic, who knew that the country with the largest Chinese diaspora in Europe is Italy? The leather sofa in many a British living room may have arrived with the label 'Made in Italy' but was quite possibly sewn by Chinese hands in the employ of a Chinese company. Let us expla...
In Quentin Lett's estimable tome, 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain (2009), there was one surprising entry for a writer of such conservative leanings: Margaret Thatcher. The rationale for inclusion was her government's aggressive attitudes towards trades unions, especially the rough handling of striking miners at Orgreave in 1984, along with her lo...
