IN THE COURSE of tracing my paternal family through the fenland parishes of south Lincolnshire, one crude, recurrent declaration stood out above all others: Occupation: Ag-Lab. Two blunt syllables. Generation after generation, the same entry appears in parish registers and census returns. Agricultural labourer. Not farmer. Not landowner. Not even cottager. But labourer. It is …
When a Song Disrupts Official Narratives SOME SONGS RESONATE with us through life—songs that entertain, comfort, or simply remind us who we once were. There are some, however, that do something more unsettling: they ask us to confront uncomfortable truths. Singer/songwriter, Harvey Andrews wrote one such song in 1972. It was called 'Soldier.' Its simple, …
A Warship for Uncertain Times IN MY PREVIOUS post — 'May They Both Flourish' — I looked at what it was to be sailor aboard the Royal Navy's County Class cruiser, HMS Shropshire, during World War Two. Here, in a post that will draw a curtain on the series covering my father's wartime naval experience, …
A Sailor's Life Aboard HMS Shropshire & the First Arctic Convoy IN MY RECENT post, “Wet, Cold and Always Tired,” I explored the harsh realities faced by ratings who served aboard Britain’s corvettes during the Second World War. Now, I turn to a very different warship — the Royal Navy’s County-class heavy cruiser, HMS Shropshire. …
Life Aboard a WW2 Corvette THEY WERE NEVER meant to be heroes. Small, hastily designed, and built in civilian shipyards more accustomed to whalers than warships, the Royal Navy’s Flower-class corvettes were born out of urgency. In 1939, Britain faced a familiar nightmare: the slow strangulation of its lifelines by German U-boats. What was needed …
Ravens: Observers at the Edge IN JUNE, 2023 I was visited by a Raven. I wrote of this experience and the life-changing transformation heralded by the bird's appearance in my June '25 post, 'The Raven.' In that post I wrote about the raven as symbol and companion—an archetype that has dwelt beside humanity for centuries. …
When the Mind Turns Against Itself AS I'M SURE you know, the human brain is often described as the ultimate supercomputer. Not only is it extraordinarily efficient and adaptable, it possesses a processing power which beggars belief. Our brain's 86 billion (or so) neurons each form thousands of connections, processing vast amounts of information simultaneously …
Using Tarot to Explore the Inner Life IN OCTOBER last year I published my post titled 'Threads of Fate.' It's purpose was to showcase the Tarot deck I use — the Runic Tarot — and to explain how it combines two divination traditions, Tarot and Runes, to create a unique and comprehensive system: 'Each card …
Bruce Springsteen's Painful Reveal in 'The Tunnel of Love' FOR BRUCE Springsteen, 1985 was one hell of a year. After storming the global music charts with his seventh studio album, 'Born in the USA,' he blazed a trail around the world with a sensational sell-out tour. [For my own personal reflection of that tour, see …
THERE IS something unmistakably British about the Scout movement. Khaki shirts, wide-brimmed 'lemon-squeezer' hats, Bob-a-Job week and 'Ging Gang Goolie' sung around campfires. These things have long been part of the national imagination. Yet the origins of what eventually became a worldwide youth organisation lie not in a humdrum committee room, but in war, national …
RAVEN MOON 