...I was in Paris.


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I was surprised and very moved to come across this Remembrance Day article about my home town of Stornoway in The Guardian this weekend. The article briefly tells the story of the tragic loss of the HMY Iolaire, the ship that was wrecked within sight of Stornoway harbour on Hogmanay 1919, resulting in the death of 205 sailors and service men ( Read more... )

Dulce Et Decorum Est read by Sam West for the No Glory In War campaign.

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Sam West is a vocal supporter of No Glory In War, you can find out more about the campaign and read their open letter here.

I'm sure many of you will have seen this before, but it's new to me and it's rather lovely so I'm posting it here. This clip, which is allegedly one of the first same sex kisses filmed, is from the 1927 silent film Wings starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, and Richard Arlen. (The music is modern.) There's a fascinating wikipedia entry about the ( Read more... )

No poetry for Remembrance Day this year, but I would urge you to read this article in the Guardian by Second World War veteran Harry Leslie Smith - This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time.


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While reading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower the scenes describing the wreck of the Spanish ship on the Devil's Teeth at the end of "The Duchess and the Devil" forcibly reminded me of a naval tragedy suffered by the Western Isles in 1919. Clearly we're way off Age of Sail here, but this is a significant episode of naval history which is relatively ( Read more... )