Showing 1 - 6 of 6
A treaty for peace
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 23/11/2017
» Following the two-decade-long Napoleonic Wars, Europe, not least France, licked its wounds and agreed "never again". Then they set about making a lasting peace. They felt able to do it. It was the Age of Reason and they were was intelligent as one could be in 1815.
Renaissance history
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 14/07/2017
» I am so conditioned when I pick up a new book about Italy that I expect it to be a historical novel about Ancient Rome. That period seems to fascinate historians and historical novelists. This reviewer finds it no more than somewhat interesting.
The Chinese spy
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 10/02/2017
» If the majority of cloak and dagger scriveners are to be believed, look no further than the CIA for enemy spies (or MI6 as the case may be). In their espionage thrillers, both top secret intelligence agencies are infested with foreign moles and domestic traitors, often in high positions.
Criminals, cops, competition
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/11/2015
» One of the first things all living things realise is they must compete to survive. The planet has limitations. Not nearly enough of everything to go around. Competition defines who are the winners, who fall by the wayside. In sports and war, business and romance, the winners get what the prize is they seek.
Lose the poetry
Life, Published on 15/06/2015
» The statistical argument invariably put forward by the gun lobby is that far more people die from mistaken medical treatment than from accidental shootings. To be sure, the proficiency of doctors often leaves much to be desired.
To protect and serve?
Life, Published on 25/05/2015
» Civilisation came about when people put away their clubs, picked up their hoes and left protection and order to those paid to enforce it. Marshals and sheriffs tamed the Wild West by jailing or killing lawbreakers. Robert Peel showed how urban police forces ought to be organised and properly run.