As I predicted in a recent blog, a few days of fine sunny weather have released the coiled Spring. Within 72 hours, bare branches have become green, flowers have bloomed, cherry and magnolia blossoms have brightened our gardens. It’s raining…

The past winter was at its most severe during March, so spring is late. Resident birds were cranking up their mating songs during the blizzard five weeks ago, and migrants such as curlews returned to the moors from the marches…

Much has been said in the West (and in Russia) against Vladimir Putin. His recent re-election to the Russian presidency by a landslide majority was a transparent mockery of the democratic process, with widespread vote-rigging, not to mention the rule…

On 4 March 2018, a former Russian military intelligence officer and British spy called Sergei Skripal, together with his daughter Yulia, both living in Salisbury, were poisoned with a neurotoxin identified by UK investigators – and subsequently by independent experts…

It’s more than a month since I posted a blog. There are reasons, or excuses – high work load, health problems requiring hospital visits and medication, a holiday – but a significant element of idleness has contributed. Idleness is something…