Category Archives: war

The Cannon, and Torpor

Posted on July 1, 2024 by jonathan trustram

The big brown cannon that sits on the cathedral green at Ely puzzles me. The plaque beside it says that it’s a captured Russian cannon from the Crimean war given to the people of Ely by Queen Victoria in 1860 … Continue reading →

Posted in crude satire, history, politics, war | 1 Comment

Hand baked from locally sourced ingredients No 8

Posted on November 26, 2023 by jonathan trustram

I’ve been told that going on about Thames Water is boring and I agree but what can I do – the other day I got up and opened the curtain and look: There they are again, making yet more improvements, … Continue reading →

Posted in community politics, London, losing, mountains, flowers, landscapes, my life, war | Tagged , | 1 Comment

a time for national reflection

Posted on November 9, 2023 by jonathan trustram

Often as the Bakerloo line train from Oxford Circus to Waterloo stopped at Charing Cross I have looked out through the windows at the posters which line the platform in an impressive display advertising the National Gallery and the National … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics, London, war | Tagged | 1 Comment

more on Germany and the war

Posted on December 18, 2016 by jonathan trustram

(see also remembering and forgetting, the bombing of Dresden Victor Klemperer tells the story of a woman who worked alongside him in the factory – but first I should explain that the handful of Jews who remained in Dresden were not … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics, language, war | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

more on Dresden

Posted on December 18, 2016 by jonathan trustram

I left off in the Gemalde Gallerie.   It’s not crowded. It’s not too big. Like the city, it’s full of surprises. Here’s the rest of the painting by Cranach which includes the man with the spectacular trousers, who seems … Continue reading →

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back on familiar ground

Posted on November 9, 2016 by jonathan trustram

see also remembering and forgetting, the bombing of Dresden I was soon back home on familiar ground, where the obligation to remember certain things in certain ways grows ever stronger. Mrs May is outraged that the England football team is not … Continue reading →

Posted in and the city, crude satire, history, politics, war | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

remembering and forgetting, the bombing of Dresden

Posted on October 23, 2016 by jonathan trustram

‘I had to leave there in a hurry       I only saw what they let me see’ Bob Dylan, Trying to Get to Heaven (before they close the door) It depends where and when you begin. 1940, shortly before … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany, history, politics, war | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

scum

Posted on January 9, 2016 by jonathan trustram

Shakespeare’s history plays. 1315. The middle of the Hundred Years War. Henry V, uneasy in his possession of the English throne, because his father killed Richard II to get it, has decided to assert once more an old family claim … Continue reading →

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Poppies 3

Posted on November 18, 2014 by jonathan trustram

A fascinating – and beautifully written – piece by Richard Mabey in Flora Britannica on the common poppy, Papaver rhoeas. It is one of the world’s most successful weeds and  spread from Asia to Western Europe with the development of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics, mountains, flowers, landscapes, war | Tagged | Leave a comment

poppies 2

Posted on November 16, 2014 by jonathan trustram

An answer to my question – what’s happening in France and Germany? -in an article by Gavin Stamp in the new London Review of Books. Near Arras, where there are already French, German, Canadian and British cemeteries, an international memorial … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics, war | Tagged | 2 Comments