Saturday Snippet: Recessional

  Rudyard Kipling composed a poem in 1897 for the Diamond Jubilee (60th year) of Queen Victoria’s reign.  It was a sobering, come-back-down-to-earth call in the midst of widespread rejoicing, and as such was not very popular at the time.  Nevertheless, it has become one of his best-known poems, and is sung as a hymn… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Recessional

No Snippet this morning

  I had a very late night, sorting through various bits and pieces at home and reorganizing storage.  I’ve only just woken up (with catly assistance – she hadn’t had her usual morning milk, and was highly indignant at this untoward turn of events!). Therefore, I’ve had no time to prepare the usual Saturday Snippet. … Continue reading No Snippet this morning

Saturday Snippet: A very English poet

  Continuing our occasional series on poetry, this morning I’d like to mention G. K. Chesterton.  Well-known for his thousands of articles, Christian apologetics and his Father Brown novels, he was also a prolific poet.  Some of his poems are popular to this day, and several collections are available. I’d like to start with one… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: A very English poet

Saturday Snippet: Notes on Inflation

  We’ve heard from investment guru John Mauldin in these pages on several previous occasions.  He’s one of the few economic commentators whom I read regularly.  He’s able to summarize critical issues into a few paragraphs, and make sense of interlocking factors affecting the economic world we live in. In his latest weekly newsletter, titled… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Notes on Inflation

Saturday Snippet: Nelson evacuates Corsica in the face of revolutionaries

  Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson is perhaps the most famous of Britain’s “seadog Admirals”, earning a brilliant military reputation at battles such as Cape St. Vincent, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Nile and Copenhagen, before his final victory – and death – at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. One of his accomplishments was as a Captain in… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Nelson evacuates Corsica in the face of revolutionaries

Saturday Snippet: One woman’s nightmare experience of hyperinflation

  The news that natural gas costs in Europe are already ten times higher than a year ago, and likely to go higher this winter, has sparked near-panic in European governments.  Electricity generation is directly affected, so overall energy prices are likely to reflect a similar increase.  The average consumer in Europe simply can’t afford… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: One woman’s nightmare experience of hyperinflation

Saturday Snippet: A hunting blast from the past

  I mentioned earlier this week that Cedar Sanderson’s hunting anthology “How Not to Shoot Fish, and Other Deer that Got Away” has just been published. I have a story in this anthology.  It’s one I told more than a decade ago in these pages, so I’m sure most of you won’t remember it.  I… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: A hunting blast from the past

Saturday Snippet: One of the legends of the Victorian era

  Following last Saturday’s look at Jingoism and the poetry of Sir Henry Newbolt, I’ve had several requests from readers for more from that period.  I’m happy to oblige. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era and the entire 19th century.  He was Poet Laureate of Britain for most… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: One of the legends of the Victorian era

Saturday Snippet: By Jingo, we’ll do it!

  The term “Jingoism” has become an epithet for hard-line, extreme nationalism, and as such has fallen out of favor.  However, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common among all levels of British society, and was the philosophy that informed much of the British Imperial system and its colonies.  (America had its… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: By Jingo, we’ll do it!

Saturday Snippet: Eerily prescient

  In my comments about the raid on President Trump earlier this week, I said: I believe we have never been closer to the outbreak of Civil War 2.0 than we are right now.  May God prevent it, if that’s still possible. I’ve seen nothing since writing those words to make me change my mind. … Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Eerily prescient