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Continue reading →: Metz day #2
“Breakfast near me” typed into Google Maps this morning yielded several better prospects than yesterday’s mediocre fare in my hotel. I was delighted with my choice — a brunch spot favoured by young French families. The only disadvantage was it made me feel old! Polite young children sang along quietly…
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Continue reading →: Metzing about
I put the automotive issues to the back of my mind today. It's the weekend in a country that still celebrates it and there was no chance of any update on Speranza anyway. I had some online duties to perform first thing and then headed down to breakfast – slightly…
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Continue reading →: Verdun to Labry and then Metz
I awoke this morning in the most dilapidated surroundings I have seen since I foolishly booked my family into a Communist-era holiday cabin in Mazuria in 1993. I shall spare you the details, gentle reader, and simply remember how grateful I was to have somewhere to be last night after…
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Continue reading →: Alternator update
It was a mistake to leave my bags with the car. The AA did not call as promised to report on next actions. When I called for an update they reported the car had been moved to a garage 32 miles away that had agreed to evaluate the issue and…
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Continue reading →: First drama
Ok I didn’t even make it to the autobahn this time! Pulling away from the Aire de Verdun St Nicolas Sud on the A4 in France I got an alternator failure warning light and a dramatic burst of smoke from the engine compartment. Not good. Not good at all. The…
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Continue reading →: Day One – to Épernay
I woke an hour before my 5am alarm and decided I’d had enough sleep. The weather was bad so I thought I’d make an early start. The drive to Folkestone was uneventful and the heavy rain promised didn’t show up. I had never visited the main Eurotunnel terminal before as…
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Continue reading →: Travel mode ON
Not that there’s been much of non-travel mode recently. If you follow me on X (formerly Twitter) then you’ll know why. It’s an election year and there is no one to vote for who represents my views. The nearest politician who appeals to me is presently President of Argentina —…
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Continue reading →: An enemy of sanity
An Enemy of the People starring Matt Smith extends at the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre | West End Theatre. Things are better in my world. The Misses P are back in my life and that was the only real reason (my divorce having gone through with goodwill on…
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Continue reading →: The origins and consequences of “hate crime”
In the wonderful 2006 TV series Life on Mars, Sam — a modern detective inspector — is mysteriously transported back to the 1970s. He finds himself working for tough-guy Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt. Writers intended Hunt as a bad guy example of the horrors of the un-woke past, but…
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.”
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One can only hope his neighbours, fellow lodge members (?) etc give him the cold shoulder.
The problem is that they already know about the blog and some read it. Why is that an issue? If…
Conversationally, I already operate on NATO “no first strike” principles. I am not going to start a political discussion with…
Why don’t you stick with what you are doing on the blogs but simply withdraw from discussion on politics with…
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The Last Ditch by Tom Paine 
They are servants. Just not of the public. He gets a full pension because he did his job for his…