Showing 1 - 10 of 31
A magician from the trenches of war
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/09/2025
» Last month PostScript mentioned the strange phenomenon of how the 1950s British ventriloquist Peter Brough and his schoolboy dummy Archie Andrews had a successful radio show called Educating Archie. Although Brough's ventriloquist skills was a visual art and seemed wasted on radio it didn't appear to bother listeners.
Watch your step these stormy nights
Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/05/2025
» The rainstorms during the past week have been really refreshing. They've cooled things down a bit which is quite a relief after perspiring my way through April. I also appreciate the accompanying rolling thunder which provides a stirring theatrical soundtrack for the rain sloshing down. It's just another reminder of how powerful Mother Nature can be.
When tittle tattle lost the battle
Roger Crutchley, Published on 11/05/2025
» This past week there have been many moving ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) marking the end of the war in Europe. I was born shortly after the war (a "bundle for Britain") but this week's celebrations brought to mind wartime slogans and expressions that surfaced between 1939-45 and remained in use for years to come.
The trials and tribulations of Melania Trump
News, Maureen Dowd, Published on 23/04/2024
» Outside my office, there is a picture of the Slovenian Sphinx visiting the Egyptian Sphinx, taken during a 2018 photo shoot in Giza nine months after Melania Trump was blindsided by the steamy news about her husband and Stormy Daniels.
When people browsed in bookshops
Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/12/2023
» Earlier this week I watched the 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road. The reason for my interest was that the road has always been my favourite London thoroughfare. The film, which I won't go into, is about a long-distance literary friendship between characters played by Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.
The myth of global grain shortages
Oped, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 17/08/2023
» In recent years, soaring food prices and the growing frequency and intensity of floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events have prompted warnings of a looming grain shortage, potentially spelling disaster for the world's poorest and most vulnerable populations. Although climate change poses the greatest medium to long-term threat to global food security, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is frequently cited as the immediate cause of the current hunger crisis. But this is a red herring.
Bring hunger profiteers to heel
Oped, Jennifer Clapp & Phil Howard, Published on 17/08/2023
» The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have caused commodity prices to soar in recent years, severely undermining global food security. Now, global food prices are down from the peaks of a year ago, but no one should be complacent: the world's food woes are far from over. The risk of additional price volatility remains high.
Slippery stuff
Oped, Postbag, Published on 22/06/2023
» Re: “Yok as a political pawn”, (Editorial, June 19).
A crucial test for democracy
News, Editorial, Published on 14/05/2023
» Today, the people of Thailand will exercise their democratic right to choose a new government and determine the direction of the country's democratic future.
A temperature spike in the sea spells doom
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/05/2023
» There is a fever raging in the ocean. Last month it was worst off the eastern coast of North America, where the sea surface temperature was as much as 13.8C higher than the 1981-2011 average for this time of year. Not only was that a record; it was an astounding leap upwards: more than double the previous record.