The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

According to Dr Johnson, That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer amid the ruins of Iona. There is something moving about the windswept little island just over a mile off the Ross…

Speranza back on form in Glencoe Speranza almost spoiled yesterday. Her 'engine management system' was out of sorts and went into the Ferrari equivalent of Windows "safe mode." This switched off her automotive awesomeness so that, for a while, it was like driving a pretty Reliant Robin. I reset the…

Once the final match of the Premier League season has been played at Craven Cottage, I shall be off to the Scottish Highlands for a week. I have no agenda but to drive on wonderful empty, winding roads and – in photographic terms – to "stand in front of more…

The organisers made a video slideshow of the best work of the participants in last week's Joe McNally photographic course in Vienna & Prague. It was only temporarily available to us for download but I asked for permission to host it here permanently. Please click this link to view it.

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How does such an orderly and compliant society as Germany come to be the last one to allow its citzens to use their intelligence to decide how fast to drive? It was an extraordinary feeling to be free, just for a while and in one small respect, from the State…

I left my hotel in Prague on Sunday morning and after a few confused circuits of the city centre escaped north to get some value from my Czech motorway "vignette". I drove to Usti nad Labem (Usti on the Elbe) to have tea and buns with blogger, journalist and businessman…