Showing 1 - 10 of 32
Hedgehoppers in search of good news
Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/02/2026
» Being the very first day of February it would have been nice if there was some good news worth celebrating, but unfortunately nothing immediately springs to mind. Cheerful news is an increasingly rare commodity these days. It all seems to be gloom and doom and hardly portends a joyful 2026. It can get a bit wearying grappling with news reports featuring contradictions, cover-ups and cock-ups, often accompanied by half-truths, prevarications and porky pies. But this is the world we now live in.
A 10-day journey across snowy Iran
Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/06/2025
» Watching events unfold in the Middle East last week sparked memories of the brief time I spent in Iran a long time ago in more peaceful times. In February 1969 I travelled across the northern part of the nation during an overland trip from London to New Delhi. The country was still run by the Shah who was overthrown 10 years later in the Iranian Revolution.
Slow horses playing a strange game
Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/03/2025
» Last week's account in PostScript of the painfully slow horse I bet on at the Epsom Derby back in the Dark Ages prompted a reader to enquire if I had seen the British television series Slow Horses. I'm pleased to say I have and for those who are unfamiliar with the production I should point out that it has nothing do with the equine world but is an absorbing British spy thriller laced with dark humour.
You can look, but please don't touch
Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/09/2024
» When we were kids, most of us heard the words "don't touch that!" from our parents if we were in the presence of something breakable and possibly valuable. That's probably what a father wishes he had said when he took his four-year-old son to a museum in the Israeli city of Haifa last week.
Those pesky pigeons and a plastic owl
Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/07/2024
» Fond as I am of our feathered friends I admit to getting in a bit of a flap over the rapidly increasing number of pigeons (nok pilab) that have been descending on our residence in recent times. Some people call pigeons "rats with wings", others more generously "doves without the PR". I must confess to be leaning towards the first of those opinions.
Take this tea tale with a pinch of salt
Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/02/2024
» Last month a US scientist caused bit of a stir in Britain when she suggested adding a pinch of salt was the secret to a perfect cup of tea. Not surprisingly this bold assertion from someone across the pond did not go down too well with the traditional tea-drinking English public. In some cases the reaction almost reached "boiling point".
The dictionaries have a word for it
Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/11/2023
» It's that much-anticipated time when dictionary publishers come out with their "words of the year". In recent times such words have become increasingly depressing. You may recall last year Collins Dictionary went for "permacrisis" which has turned out to be uncomfortably accurate in light of world events over the ensuing 12 months.
Those elusive influential persons
Roger Crutchley, Published on 29/10/2023
» Most intriguing news of the week is that according to a parliamentary House committee there are only 180 "influential people" in the kingdom and in 10 provinces there are none at all. For those unfamiliar with the term "influential person" in Thailand, it is usually interpreted as someone who is powerful enough not to worry about the "long arm of the law" and can go about their sometimes shady business without fear of arrest.
When the answer is just a click away
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/02/2023
» When I was about 12 I committed some misdemeanour in class and as a punishment the teacher ordered me to write a thousand-word essay on baseball and hand it in the next morning. This was something of a challenge as being an English kid I knew absolutely nothing about baseball other than it was some weird ritual they indulged in across the Pond.
Words you don't really want to hear
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/12/2022
» It's that time of the year when publishers of major dictionaries bombard us with what they regard as the "words of the year". They rarely agree on the same offering, but there is one common theme -- nearly all words selected are frankly rather depressing.