Tag Archives: Soviet Union

The other day Neil Oliver made a point about freedom and Covid. I know Neil very slightly. He has sent a few kind messages, but I know him no more than that. I have watched his TV programmes regularly. We happen to agree about the constitutional debate in Scotland, but …

In Moscow Lavrentiy Beria head of the NKVD used to cruise around in his limousine looking for cute girls. When he found what he was looking for he would point her out and have her brought to his dacha. There would be wine and food and afterwards he would sleep …

There were always two types of empire. There were those like the British and the French that spread overseas. British and French people would move to Delhi or Saigon and pretend they were living at home only it was rather hotter. These empires were always fragile. The other type of …

The purpose of history is not to learn from it in the sense that it prevents us from making the same mistakes. When did that ever work? 1812 would suggest the dangers inherent in attacking Russia, but the lesson was not learned in 1941. The pattern repeated itself with Russia …

Does it matter very much that Alex Salmond has chosen to appear on Russia Today (RT)? No. I sometimes glance at this site. It has a perspective, but then again so does the BBC, CNN and the New York Times. RT has a Russian perspective. It’s not a perspective we …

Part 1 Russia famously was described by Winston Churchill as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. What is less frequently noted is that Churchill went on to solve his riddle. The key to understanding Russian actions was to look at Russian national interest. But is this not …

Most people in modern Britain have little or no experience of visas. Either we don’t need a visa or else it’s straightforward to obtain one by spending a few minutes on a computer.  Most people don’t want to go to the places, like Russia or China, which require visas you …

When I decided to move back to Britain I had to make sure my husband could come too. If he could not have come, I would have stayed in Russia. Now some years later it may finally be possible for him to obtain a British passport. It seems such a …