Current Affairs

The Great Terror in Russia and how it influences thinking to this day: I believe that you cannot comment about a country or a society without knowing something about where it has come from. In Russia’s case, not to examine what was perpetrated on the population during the Soviet years would be to ignore the elephant in the room. When I lived there, I did many road trips around the country. Once, I was visiting the towns and cities in the Golden Ring and in a small town called

I don’t usually write political articles but a few people asked me to say something about Donald Trump’s victory in this week’s US Presidential Election, so here goes: I’m trying to approach this issue from an objective and neutral viewpoint, and the first thing that must be said is that Trump was re-elected in a fair and democratic contest because he was adjudged by the majority of voters as the better candidate. As much as many people may not like it, that’s democracy. Ther

I have written many articles about Russia over the years and, more recently, in the context of the war they have waged on Ukraine. One of the recent articles was read by a lady from Ukraine who complimented me on it. I was delighted to get the positive feedback but it reminded me that before I ever lived in Russia, I had spent two and a half great years working in Ukraine, in Kyiv. This was in the late 1990’s, relatively soon after independence from the old Soviet Union. The

Most people are aware of the horrendous events which have been happening in Gaza over the past few months and the seemingly intractable hard line stance taken by both sides in this seemingly never ending conflict. I am not going to go through the rights and wrongs of either side here. The Genesis of this article is that despite wall-to-wall media coverage, nothing brings a story, particularly one of conflict, closer than an account of someone’s first-hand experience. Last wee

I have written before about the seeming imbalance of articles on Medium since I started contributing. Ever since I wrote an article on Ukraine, I have been bombarded on a daily basis with articles about the war – in fact, at times, it appears as if there aren’t any other articles on there at all. There are of course but the danger in reading too many cynical accounts is that you risk becoming infected with their rhetoric. The ironic thing about most of them is that it is obvi

New Mexico - another seemingly endless straight road I don’t think you would describe this as a travel blog, but the reader can be the judge of that. I get bombarded with articles on Medium, most by Americans. Nothing wrong with that of course, but many of them are critical of other places. I have to say at the outset that these writers are not stating that the US is perfect although there is an inference that perhaps things are better there, and maybe they are. I have trave

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