Reading one of Moor Larkin’s excellent posts the other night, an excerpt from the Pollard report caught my eye. I had seen it before, but in isolation; now I was reading it again in conjunction with
Continue reading →Class and the Common Girl.
Obama Vista Social Club
Family feuds can drag on for decades. We’ve all known siblings who had a big bust-up over something years ago, something nobody can even remember anymore, and still refuse to be in the same room as one another,
Continue reading →The Filth and The Fuehrer
Viewing the past through the prism of the present is slowly becoming accepted practice. At one end of the scale, we have the conspiracy industry that has now turned its attention away from the JFK assassination and
Continue reading →Straight to Hellas
With creditors at the door, Greece hovers on the brink of bankruptcy, is finally declared insolvent and then has to be bailed out by an international financial authority. No, not 2015, but 1893. I’ll refrain from saying
Continue reading →Flagged as Inappropriate
When Oasis signed to Creation Records in 1993, Liam Gallagher was asked why the sleeve of the band’s demo tape had featured a striking image of the Union Jack looking as though it was being sucked down
Continue reading →Hall and (Wild) Oats
Well, we have now had four episodes of ‘Wolf Hall’ and I read that audiences have been dropping faster than Anne Boleyn’s knickers. I have been glued to my recliner of late (not been too well
Continue reading →The Real White Queen – The Three Widows
A little while ago archeologists discovered what turned out to be the body of the last English King to die in battle. Richard III died in battle at Bosworth Field on 22nd August 1485 defending his
Continue reading →Who was the Man in the Iron Mask? – Part 2
A few weeks ago I commenced my quest to search for the truth behind the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask. Having tried to bring as much salacious gossip to the fore as
Continue reading →Who was the Man in the Iron Mask?
Some months ago, my dear French friend Dr. Firenza Pesta set me a challenge which has given rise to a certain degree of obsession amongst some historians and academics, particularly in France: who was the Man
Continue reading →Much abides
When Margaret Thatcher is returned to the dust whence she came from and where she shall return like all of us, a little bit of a bygone age will go with her. She will be eulogised — but,
Continue reading →Danse Macabre: The Black Death, Part I
Consider a world in which over the next three months, between 30-50% of the people around you have died of a horrible disease, full of fever and boils, often vomiting blood. What would that be like?
Girl in a Box.
This week I shall say a prayer for the late Elizabeth Mitchell, and maybe go to mass for her. You will probably never have heard of her. I had not either, until last week.
Elizabeth
Continue reading →Polly Maths
The Sunday Ramble
Welcome to both regulars and those new to The Raccoon Arms. Pick a pint of your favourite tipple (unless that happens to be wine or single malt in which case that might be a tad over the top)
Continue reading →Archbishop Cranmer and the ASA Holes
The Advertising Standards Authority has received a series of complaints about the above Coalition for Marriage advert running on Archbishop Cranmer’s weblog.
The complaints are about the claimed 70% figure
Continue reading →The advance of technology
I’m sure many of you will remember the tech of yesteryear. Yep, I mean the VCRs and tape recorders and record players that were
Continue reading →The French Experiment
We have a new experiment.
Monsieur François Hollande est Le Président de la République.
The most immediate effect is that we all have
Continue reading →Reasons to be Chairful
For 4 years I worked in High Wycombe, the one-time capital of the world chair industry, due to Buckinghamshire beechwoods and skilled craftsmen.
In Gloucester they roll cheeses down
Continue reading →Time for Republic Bye Byes?
The oldest human being recorded in modern times was Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived from 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997.
During
Continue reading →Skunk as a Lord?
Skunk: A person regarded as obnoxious or despicable.
But it was done with considerable input
Continue reading →Empty heads and empty tents at St Paul’s Cathedral #olsx
These #occupy demonstrations at St Paul’s Cathedral are brilliantly revealing.
It’s like a Continue reading →
How To Be Sectioned: Part 1
How difficult can it be to get myself sectioned under the Mental Health Act?
Not at all difficult, I suspect.
Probably all I have to do is write
Continue reading →Killer Queen
A mini convention of Raccoonistas occurred the other weekend, with various contributors to the blog turning up at Madam La Raccoon’s “chateau” in south west France.
My chief contribution to this weekend was
Continue reading →Gaddafi and MI6
The latest development in the relationship between MI6 and Muammar Gaddafi is a price of £1m placed on his head. Charles Crawford recounts the history of an ‘interesting’ relationship.
Soon after the US-led attack on Saddam Hussein began,
Continue reading →Euro: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
One of the greatest passages in the Bible:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I know not,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
When
Continue reading →Why we need to know the truth about Hillsborough
The e-petitions initiative is something that has clearly caught on, as demonstrated initially by the lively debate on the death penalty.
There has been another petition doing the rounds this month calling for
Continue reading →Life in the goldfish bowl.
I have always been fascinated by how the law, invariably shaped to deal with the ‘hard cases’ that make the headlines and force change, pans out to affect the ordinary, the mundane, the banal, that vast chunk
Continue reading →Carpetbagging the women of SOE
In this Question for Short
Continue reading →Fortean Times
A few days ago in the course of de-constructing the bogus science in a piece in the Daily Fail, regular Raccoonista and general stalwart SadButMadLad made a passing reference to the “Tunguska Event”.
Continue reading →Unlikely Heroes Of The Revolution
I was recently introduced to a character from recent history by David Farrer of the Libertarian Alliance who is an unlikely hero of the Classical Liberal Revolution and a
Continue reading →