Pensioners v’s Millennials
The Times now includes a column written by a millennial, a young woman who can identify the terrifying prospects of modern life. Not wanting to demur, it strikes me that no Times columns are [...]
What is Tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis emerged 17,000 years ago and has never been eradicated. London is now the TB capital of Europe. We are not aware of it because it is underground. The capital and other large cities [...]
Wildwood of England
The wildwood of England sounds rather like a Robin Hood film but stay with me. The wildwood describes the original forest after the Ice Age. None of this now exists in England and only a small [...]
The Unsustainable Lawn
In my forthcoming book I mention that Zuri, in 2200 BC, never knew a lawn, that lawns never existed in prehistory. In truth, that might not be strictly correct. A lawn is defined as a flat area [...]
Signs of Prehistory
For me, signs of prehistory reside in three areas of the UK. I spent my early years in Shropshire. It has bad memories but I loved the countryside. The Stretton Hills include Caer Caradoc, a [...]
British Flowers
“I promise that I will never buy you a bunch of flowers.” It’s a promise that I have kept to my wife because British flowers have disappeared. It doesn’t make me seem [...]
Is Community Good or Bad?
Is community good or bad? Perhaps the first question is what constitutes a community? The people of Glasgow see themselves as a community, and comedian Billy Connolly is their icon, their leader. [...]
Why Was Stonehenge Built?
Why was Stonehenge built? Many experts have put forward reasons, principally related to the seasons and the cycles of the sun and moon. Perhaps less supported have been theories about the stones [...]