Newsletter 1042
Best of the Moment
The Road To D-Day
Rick Atkinson | Foreign Affairs | 24th June 2013
Wonderful writing, overwhelming subject. Portrait of England in 1944, on the eve of the Normandy Invasions by which WWII would be won or botched. "The British government allowed men to buy a new shirt every 20 months. The monthly cheese allowance stood at two ounces per citizen. Many children had never seen a lemon. More than 50,000 British civilians had died in German air raids since 1940"
Only The Lonely
Stephen Fry | The Fry Chronicles | 24th June 2013
On experiencing depression, and attempting suicide. "It’s not that I want a sexual partner, a long-term partner, someone to share a bed and a snuggle on the sofa with – although perhaps I do and in the past I have had and it has been joyful. But the fact is I value my privacy too. It’s a lose-lose matter. I don’t want to be alone, but I want to be left alone. I suppose I just don’t like my own company very much"
Nigel vs The Lunatic Mainstream
Mark Steyn | Steyn Online | 25th June 2013
Funny, admiring, informative profile of Nigel Farage and the UK Independence Party, who want Britain out of the European Union. "UKIP is keeping certain important, indeed existential questions in play, and it's not inconceivable that Farage, who regards himself as a member of 'the Tory family', could yet engineer a reverse takeover of whatever post-Cameron husk remains half a decade down the road"
Deadly Triangle: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India
William Dalrymple | Brookings | 25th June 2013
"The hostility between India and Pakistan lies at the heart of the current war in Afghanistan. Most observers view the Afghanistan conflict as a battle between the U.S. and the NATO-led ISAF on one hand, and al-Qaida and the Taliban on the other. This has long since ceased to be the case. Our troops are caught up in a war shaped by two pre-existing conflicts: one local and internal, the other regional"
Video of the day: Duck Sauce — "It's You"
Thought for the day:
"They all laughed when I said I'd become a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now"— Bob Monkhouse