Culture

St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow - old Soviet days I guess if we examine what the foreign services departments of countries do, apart from diplomacy and trying to maintain good relations, the logical assumption would be that they try to learn as much as possible about other nations. Of course nowadays, technically, all knowledge is available at the touch of a button on the internet but I reckon foreign intelligence services have a more refined, more focused version. The first t

What inspires us to write? Why do some of us feel an overwhelming need to put our thoughts down in print? Personally, I’ve always felt that I could express my thoughts better in writing than through the spoken word. If I had a view on anything, I often tended to write it down as well as expressing it verbally. But writing is not easy. You can sit for hours playing around on your computer and produce nothing. Then on some days, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get your

This is written in response to Chris Snow’s excellent article on present day Russia, which we have corresponded on. Chris — there’s no doubt that your and Peter Zeihan’s estimate of young men leaving Russia is accurate. I know quite a few of them personally. They are people I worked with and unfortunately from Russia’s viewpoint, they are among the best and the brightest. Where I do disagree is in relation to your assertion that Putin is evil or that his regime is evil. He ha

Sliabh Liag in Co Donegal, Ireland When writing travel blogs, people try to keep them general or generic as opposed to being critical of or praising individuals or specific places, hotels or destinations. I am no exception to that. I realise most people do their best and while that might not always reach people’s expectations, it’s best not to individualize criticism of it. It is therefore with some caution that I’m writing this article. There is no criticism of any individua

I told this story to someone a few nights ago, just in passing, and they were fascinated by it; not just the details but the background information and the conditions pertaining at the time. They suggested I write it down and publish it, so here goes: The story relates to my time in Russia and to the relatively brief period after the Soviet break-up and prior to the implementation of what I would call western style regulation. Many people refer to this period as lawless but i

Today’s tale is not a travel blog but it is  a story about travel, particularly permanent or semi-permanent travel for work. Having been a working expatriate in multiple locations for many years, I can empathise with both concepts. I have always been fascinated with the way people adapt to new environments and cultures (or not) and how some can integrate seamlessly and take to their new domicile like a duck to water whereas others struggle and long for their home place. I am

Motorway Interchange near Frankfurt In addition to writing travel blogs, I have always been fascinated by cultural differences and local customs in places I have visited and I have speculated on and sometimes investigated their origins. I hope to expand on this in future articles but let’s start with an anecdote which demonstrates the contrasts between Ireland and Germany.  I once had a conversation with three Germans about road safety. We were in Russia at the time and the c

Elephants in the Masai Mara, Kenya. Small nations have always suffered at the hands and feet and weapons of larger, stronger and wealthier nations. I need only mention my own country’s occupation by its larger neighbour for 800 years. But we won’t talk of Ireland in this article. Looking at the history of the world, there is nowhere that has suffered as much as Africa. In this instance, it was a case of an entire continent being bullied by a more powerful neighbouring contine