-
Continue reading →: Flash bang wallop
Nothing enthuses me more than being in the presence of a photography "great" and watching him experiment in front of my eyes. I have nothing to report by way of travelogue today because all I saw was the inside of an Edinburgh hotel's conference room where Joe McNally was conducting…
-
Continue reading →: Taking the high road
Speranza and I are off to Bonnie Scotland for ten days. I am taking part in two workshops with photography legend Joe McNally, whose work – if you don't know it already – you should really take a look at. You may have heard of his "Faces of Ground Zero" portraits –…
-
Continue reading →: Jewish Life in Poland
In 2013 a new museum opened in Warsaw. We visited it today. It is a public/private partnership between the Polish, German and Norwegian governments and many corporate and individual donors. It is in a magnificent building standing in what was once the Warsaw Ghetto. It is understated on the outside…
-
Continue reading →: Back to Warsaw for Shabbat
One of the Jewish members of our group evoked an embarrassed laugh this morning as we walked into the Jewish cemetery in Kielce. "Another perfect day; let's go visit some dead Jews", he said. It was dark humour to relieve the tension of an emotional week. At times, this tour has…
-
Continue reading →: Kraków and Kielce
After all the death and despair we have reviewed this week it was good to be regular tourists this morning. We visited the Wawel, seat of Polish kings. We toured the Royal Cathedral, of which John Paul II was formerly the bishop. We enjoyed the largest and, in my opinion…
-
Continue reading →: An icon of genocide
Auschwitz is the German name for Oświęcim in Poland. To the majority of its inhabitants before the Second World War, it was known by its Yiddish name, Oshpitzin. Because of the notorious concentration camp, Oświęcim's main industry is now – as the unpleasant jargon has it – "necrotourism". The number of visitors on…
-
Continue reading →: To Krakow, via beauty and horror
Museum-Memorial Site in Bełżec. We started our day in Zamość, visiting the synagogue there restored by the Foundation organising my tour. The Polish state has handed back such sites in the 1,200 places where there were Jewish communities in Poland before the Holocaust. There are now 10 places where Jews live…
-
Continue reading →: The road of life
This is not a jolly tour by its nature, though the people on it are mostly happy sorts. When we visit a site (like the Yeshiva at Lublin, pictured) we are glad it survives but sad the people it once served are gone. When we visit a death camp like…
-
Continue reading →: On the Polish road without Speranza
Tributes to the fallen of the Warsaw Uprising on the streets after the recent anniversary I couldn't spare the time to drive on this trip to I am reduced to planes and coaches. I am touring Poland for the next nine days with an organisation called The Foundation for the…
-
Continue reading →: Travelling broadens the mind again
Speranza took me last week to another place I have never been before. Cornwall. I know my home islands quite poorly, having spent twenty years abroad. If I had thought of Cornwall before, it was because of Rick Stein or Poldark or the dim notion that there was another set…
THE LAST DITCH
Your blogger
Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.
Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.
He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that
“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”
Socials
Subscribe
Receive content by email
Latest comments
I’ve always tried to live my life doing no wrong but life isn’t like that so you make compromised but…
Hate to tell you this, but it’s not going to end until you end it. You think people to whom…
[…] – Tom Paine […]
They are servants. Just not of the public. He gets a full pension because he did his job for his…
ARCHIVES
Blogspot Archive Mar 2005 – Sep 2006
TypePad/WordPress Archives Sep 2006 – date
The Great American Road Trip of 2013
The Great American Road Trip Posts
First post (in case you want to read it from the beginning)
The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
There are many reasons they’re not passed down, Tom. The Triune code, laid out in scripture in all reputable versions…