With the commemoration of the first day of the Battle of the Somme coming up tomorrow, here is one of the most outstanding snippets of radio from the last few years. An interview with Britain’s oldest war veteran, Henry Allingham on the Today Programme two years ago. For a man of 108, he pulls no punches on the reality of war.
This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death [...] read our review »
Writer Christopher Hitchens has died aged 62. He was as contrary as he was brilliant. Here is a brief In Memoriam from Vanity Fair (his outlet of choice since 1992) and, here, a longer tribute from his friend Christopher Buckley Stanley in The New Yorker. Better, perhaps, though to post one of Hitchens’ own writings in [...] read our review »