Showing 1 - 10 of 50
What the world needs now is…
Roger Crutchley, Published on 15/02/2026
» With yesterday being Valentine's Day it seems appropriate for PostScript to have a brief word on matters of the heart. I admit to not being a huge fan of Valentine's Day but in these crazy times anything that promotes love over hate seems worthy of a mention. Although it is one of the most blatantly commercialised celebrations on the calendar it serves as a welcome break from the daily diet of depressing news we have been subjected to lately.
Let's hope 2026 is not too amazing
Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/01/2026
» Well here we are on the fourth day of a brand new year. I trust everyone is holding up well after the festivities because it can be quite gruelling pretending to behave in a jovial fashion if you are not feeling jovial at all.
The time I really put my foot in it
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/10/2025
» A half-hearted spring-cleaning session at home during the week came to a welcome halt when I unearthed a couple of my father's wartime RAF books under a pile of disintegrating paperbacks. The Air Ministry books, published more than 80 years ago, always serve as a reminder of when as a kid I made a faux pas of embarrassing proportions.
Great debates… and some not so great
Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/03/2025
» No-confidence debates similar to that which took place in the Thai parliament earlier in the week have become something of a tradition in the kingdom, but I can’t recall any such motion ever being successful. Still, at least it gives the MPs an opportunity to share their words of wisdom with us hoi polloi.
I heard it on the radio, a long time ago
Roger Crutchley, Published on 23/03/2025
» News reports suggest the future of Voice of America (VOA) is seriously in doubt. I haven’t listened to VOA in five decades but there was a time I tuned in during my teenage years back in the Stone Age. It might seem strange for a spotty English kid to switch on VOA so I will attempt to explain.
The lonely songbird in a gilded cage
Roger Crutchley, Published on 09/02/2025
» A few words on singer/actress Marianne Faithfull who died last week at the age of 78. I have followed her career with some interest because she lived in my home town of Reading in the early 1960s, attending St Joseph's Convent school.
It's getting to be tough at the top
Roger Crutchley, Published on 25/08/2024
» In these turbulent times around the globe you wonder why anyone would aspire to be a prime minister, president, dictator, despot, tyrant or whatever. Even in Amazing Thailand it can't be much fun being the PM. Just imagine waking up every morning and realising you are responsible for 71 million Thai citizens, all probably with some kind of grievance. Most of us have enough problems looking just after ourselves … and maybe the dog.
A perfectly British public paradox
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/07/2024
» Much has been made of the "working class" background of the newly-elected government in the UK and how very few of Sir Keir Starmer's Cabinet attended posh "public schools". This brings us to one of the paradoxes of British and particularly English culture. The institutions which are called "public schools" in England are anything but public and are actually elite private fee-paying institutions.
The art of rolling out the red carpet
Roger Crutchley, Published on 23/06/2024
» Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to enjoy the red carpet treatment he received in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang this week. Over the years the Russian leader will have become quite familiar with walking on such plush carpets, but one wonders if he knows why they are red.
Asterisk more than just a footnote
Roger Crutchley, Published on 09/06/2024
» In the ladies golf major tournament last weekend one of the top American amateurs was 15-year-old Asterisk Talley. I don't recall ever coming across Asterisk as a name before. Apparently her mother is Greek and the word asterisk in Greek means "little star". So it would seem quite an acceptable name for a baby.