London
-
Review: Heart of Darkness – by Joseph Conrad
I love Apocalypse Now. It is one of my most favourite films. I learnt that apparently, Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is the literary work that provides the basic narrative of the film. Apocalypse Now, however is set in war torn Vietnam, with the US Military hunting down an insane, erratic, murderous, rogue officer in… Continue reading
Africa, Apocalypse Now, British Empire, cannibal cannibalism, Caucasian, classic, Congo, Conrad, death, Great Britain, Heart of Darkness, Imperial Britain, insanity, ivory, Joseph Conrad, Kurtz, London, Mad, madness, Marlon Brando, Marlow, Mental Health, Poland, Polish, racism, racist, River Congo, sailing, ship, Travel, tropical, U.K., United Kingdom, Victorian, Victorian Age, Vietnam, Vietnam War -
Review: Life After Dark – A History of British Nightclubs & Music Venues – by Dave Haslam
I got excited when this book arrived on my doorstep. At first glance it has all the key ingredients for a great book. Hacienda DJ author, history of British nightclubs – I expected lots of gory detail and exciting anecdotes and couldn’t wait to get to the acid house chapters….The history begins back in Victorian… Continue reading
Acid, acid house, Amazon jungle, Antarctica, Astoria, authorities, birmingham, Bonds, bouncers, Bristol, Britain, British, Britpop, Chicago, China, Chuff Chuff, Club a Go Go, club culture, Clubbing, COcaine, Communist, coomunism, Daddy G, dance music, dancefloor, danny rampling, Dave Haslam, Detroit, DJ, djs, dress code, ecstasy, Encyclopedia, Engels, entertainment, Fredrich Engels, garage, Gary Glitter, guitar, Hacienda, House Music, Ibiza, jazz, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Saville, judge jules, Liverpool, London, LSD, Manchester, Massive Attack, Ministry of Sound, Miss Moneypennys, Mods and Rockers, music, music industry, narcotics, New York, Newcastle, Newport, nicky holloway, nightclubs, norman jay, Paul Oakenfold, promoter, records, rock and roll, Routledge, Sahara, Sasha, Shelleys, Shoom, SPectrum, Summer of Love, superstar DJs, The Animals, The Beatles, The Cavern, The Crawdaddy, The Rollimng STones, TJs, Trip, U.K., UK Music, USA, venue John s9icolo, venues, Vinyl, Wild Bunch, working class -
Review: Red Notice – How I Became Putin’s No.1 Enemy – by Bill Browder
There is irony in this tale as Bill Browder was following in his grandfather’s footsteps in some ways but was also radically poles apart. Browder’s grandfather had stood for Presidential election in the USA on a Communist ticket. Bill Browder was drawn to business possibilities behind the Iron Curtain and in the post Cold War,… Continue reading
Barack Obama, Berlin Wall, Bill Browder, Capitalism, capitalist, City of London, cold war, Communism, Communist, corruption, crime, Eastern Europe, Europe, European, finance, Gangster, Hermitage, Hermitage Capital Management, Hermitage Fund, Human rights, international business, Iron Curtain, jail, Jew, Jewish, John Kerry, John McCain, justice, Kremlin, law, lawyer, London, Moscow, murder, oligarch, parliament, President, President Obama, prison, Putin, Red Notice, Roberrt Maxwell, Russia, Russian, sanctions, Sergei Magnitsky, Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, Soviet Union, Stanford, U.K., United States, USA, visa restrictions, Vladimir Putin, Washington, xorruption -
Review: The Great Game – On Secret Service in High Asia – by Peter Hopkirk
The Great Game, as immortalised by Rudyard Kipling in ‘Kim’ was the nineteenth century adventures in espionage between Russia and the U.K. across Central Asia. Both sides were on the verge of a full on military confrontation and sought advantage. The Russian Tsars sought territorial expansion across Asia and always had their eye on the… Continue reading
Afghanistan, Anglophobe, Asia, Britain, British, British Empire, British Geographical Society, China, CrimeaN WAR, espionage, exploration, Geographical Society, Geography, Great Britain, India, intrigue, Kim, London, Persia, Queen Victoria, Rudyard Kipling, Russia, Russian, Russophobe, spy, St Petersburg, The Great Game, Tibet, Tirkmenistan, Tsar, U.K., Vodka -
Review: Russians Among Us – Sleeper Cells & The Hunt for Putin’s Agents – by Gordon Correra
I’ve read Gordon Correra’s previous work in espionage literature and for this reason I was drawn to seek out this new offering. In the current climate of the Russian invasion of Ukraine under ex KGB spy, Vladimir Putin, I felt that this relatively recent work would highlight some of the ongoing dangers of Russian spies… Continue reading
Alexander Litvinenko, Alexander Poteyev, CIA, cold war, Communist, coomunism, DOnald Trump, espionage, FBI, FSB, Gordon Correra, GRU, illegals, KGB, London, mi6, Novichok, Polonium, Putin, Russia, Russian, Salisbury, Sergei Skripal, sleeper cells, Soviet Union, The Americans, the west, U.K., Ukraine, USA, Vladimir Putin, war -
Review: Putin’s People – How the KGB took back Russia and then took on The West – by Catherine Belton
The author of this, the best study of Vladimir Putin that I have read to date, is Catherine Belton, a Financial Times journalist that was based in Moscow. It is a comprehensive study of the rise of Putin and how he has cemented a Tsar-like power as head of the New Russia. We go from… Continue reading
Belton, Boris Berezovsky, Boris Yeltsin, Brexit, Capitalism, Catherine Belton, cold war, Communism, Conservative, Conservative Party, Conservatives, corruption, crime, DOnald Trump, Dostoyevsky, espionage, Financial Times, FSB, Gangster, KGB, Kremlin, London, Londongrad, mafia, Mikhail Khodorkhovsky, Moscoow, Moscow, oligarch, Organised Crime, organized crime, Panama Papers, Putin, Roman Abramovich, Russia, Russian Mafia, siloviki, Soviet Union, spy, St Petersburg, Tambov, Tambov Group, Trump, Trump Towers, Tsar, U.K., Ukraine, USA, USSR, Vladimir Putin -
Review: Black Russian – by Vladimir Alexandrov
This is an exciting tale from the turn of the twentieth century of an eccentric man of the world who encountered directly some of the most important global events of that era. It is a biography of Frederick Bruce Thomas or Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas. He was born to former plantation slaves in Mississippi, USA in… Continue reading
20th century, abolition, AMerica, Atatürk, Atlantic, Black Russian, Bolsheviks, Chicago, classist, Clubbing, Constantinople, entertainment, Europe, Frederick Bruce Thomas, French, French Army, Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, istanbul, jazz, London, Mississippi, New York, New. York City, nighclubs, Odessa, ottoman Empire, race, racism, restaurant, Revolution, Russia, russian revolution, slavery, slaves, Soviet Union, Soviets, theatre, Turks, US Embassy, USA, World War 1 -
Review: Blood, Gun, Money – How America Arms Gangs and Cartels – by Ioan Grillo
This is the third Grillo installment that I have tackled and Ioan is an author who is a gritty investigative journalist who tends to put himself into quite dangerous situations in order to explore very controversial and often violent global subjects. Following on from Grillo’s groundbreaking work on Mexican cartels, this book, which explores the… Continue reading
-
Review: How to Change the World – Tales of Marx and Marxism – by Eric Hobsbawm
This is the second Hobsbawm book that I have tackled and I find him to be a detailed, erudite, intelligent author and his obvious left-leaning politics readily assist him in compiling this study of Karl Marx and his work. The first part of the book looks directly at Marx’s work, specifically his writings with Engels.… Continue reading
-
Landlocked – Mental Health in the UK and the Prevention of International Travel, Translation and Foreign Language Education
On the Second of April 1997, at the point of my first contact with the Mental Health Act, I had my life’s dreams shattered. On that day, my parents had been persuaded to take me to see a psychiatrist at the local mental hospital, St Cadoc’s in Caerleon. I hadn’t wanted to attend the meeting… Continue reading
Blog, Cardiff University, Dragon Translate, end of terror, Mental Health, Shuffle, Translation, Travel, Wez G‘Delusions Of Grandeur, Balkans, Brexit, Caerleon, Cardiff University, Chinese, Cuba, DJing, Dr Tyson, Dragon Translate, education, end of terror, Foreign Languages, France, freedom of movement, French, Human rights, landlocked, LEARN, Liverpool FC, London, Mandarin Chinese, menytal health act, Ministry of Sound, New Zealand, psychiatry, Schizophrenia, St Cado’c’s Hospital, totalitarian, University College London
… reposted this!
… reposted this!
… reposted this!
… reposted this!
… reposted this!