I am a new member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. On a recent visit, I made use of the vast resources of a very well-stocked library at Chatham House and this book is the first of the loans that I have finished reading. It…
I wrote this complaint back in February. Gray Hill Surgery, Caldicot, does not allow email complaints. Their complaints process is so difficult to negotiate. What I did is contact the main local NHS health board and they said that even though Gray Hill was independent, that they did have an…
View More Einsatzgruppen Caldicot Gray Hill Surgery
At the end of World War 2, after, in particular, the disaster of the Holocaust becoming apparent, many leading Nazis were hunted down and brought to trial to face justice for war crimes. One of the main international trials, indeed the biggest international trial to date, occurred at Nuremburg in…
View More The Nuremburg Code 1947
Henry Kissinger, a prominent figure in U.S. foreign policy, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 27, 2023. Known for his role as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, he is credited with pivotal moments like U.S.-China relations renewal and criticized for human rights issues in Latin America. His insights remain relevant in contemporary geopolitics.
View More Happy 100th Birthday Henry Kissinger
I randomly found this book on the shelves of Caldicot library. I read a lot of books on U.K. Intelligence services: MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. During the war…. Mt grandfather (GaGa) was in 618 Squadron RAF and 143 Coastal Command. He didn’t really speak to me much about World War…
View More Review: MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War Two – by Helen Fry
This book is quite old, first published in 1951, it dates from a period when the totalitarian reality of Hitler and Stalin were very much fresh in the mind. Hannah Arendt was a German Jew and this work is both philosophical, enlightening and gives a valuable educated insight into the…
View More Review: The Origins of Totalitariansm – by Hannah Arendt
If you were a hermit living in a remote cave then I expect that even you would be well aware that Prince Harry and his wife have been in the news recently quite a lot. Initially I decided I was going to avoid the mass hysteria and not tune into…
View More Review: Spare – by Prince Harry
This is a weighty tome (800 plus pages) and the authoritative history of perhaps the least glamorous of the U.K.’s principal security services. However, the facts illustrated in this book clearly demonstrates the critical role GCHQ plays in national security and perhaps one could argue is more relevant and more…
View More Review: Behind The Enigma – The Authorised History of GCHQ – Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency – by John Ferris
Graham Greene is a classic early twentieth century English novelist. I remember studying Brighton Rock for my school GCSEs.The Third Man is set in the murky underworld of post World War 2 Vienna. The Austrian capital has been quartered into four allied zones: English, French, American and Russian. A front…
View More Review: The Third Man and The Fallen Idol – by Graham GreeneThis is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read, a first witness account of some of the most important world events of the first half of the twentieth century, a rich period for revolutionary events and the author, Victor Serge, a Belgian born Russian, is perfectly poised…
View More Review: Memoirs of a Revolutionary – by Victor Serge
Tuol Sleng or S-21 was the secret prison of the communist Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Comrade Duch and his workers put to death in S-21 over 14000 enemies of the State. These enemies of the party centre were treated like they were subhuman and animals and eventually all prisoners were…
View More Review: Voices from S-21 – Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison – by David Chandler
This book focuses on the role of French women during World War 2 and the immediate aftermath. It is clear that the women of France bore the brunt of dealing with the occupier, very often their men away, detained as prisoners of war or, for example, sequestered to work abroad…
View More Review: Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-1948: Choices and Constraints – by Hanna Diamond