TULIPS
Few images are as indelible as the sight of new tulips bursting through the dark winter ground. In the Netherlands – the world’s largest exporter …
ANCIENT GREEK SUPERCOMPUTER
An ancient Greek supercomputer sounds a little unlikely to put it mildly, but a discovery in a 2000-year-old shipwreck off the island of Antikythera in …
CLAUDE MALHURET
In many opinions the transcript of this speech by Claude Malhuret speaking to the French Senate on Tuesday March 4, 2025, will live forever in …
ITALIAN CUISINE
Italian cuisine may be one of the most recognised and loved in the world. It is often imagined as a collection of ancient recipes and …
LECH WALESA
I thought that this letter from the Former President of Poland, Lech Walesa, to Donald Trump was worth publishing in its entirety. I can’t vouch …
TEXTILE WASTE
The level of textile waste in the world is truly staggering; 85% of the 100 billion items of apparel produced by the textile industry EACH …
A CONCORDE AND A SPITFIRE
I came across the photo of a Concorde and a Spitfire, above, and perhaps for the first time, was awestruck by the speed of technological …
WASSAILING
I encountered the remnants of Wassailing a few years ago in Tolpuddle, Dorset, U.K. I was looking for a cup of coffee during a trip …
UNDERSEA THREAT
I started to document Vladimir Putin’s undersea threat to communication and power cables a few blogs ago, but I had no idea of the extent …
SPRINGY POLES AND FOREHEAD STRAPS
Springy poles and forehead straps: How to carry more than your own bodyweight. The rural farm workers of Vietnam could be seen as almost …