Jack Russell and Edward Hogg
Immaculate in spotless cricket whites, Keeping wicket on the village green, Up past Slad’s crossroad war memorial, Betwixt Purgatory and Paradise, To where 7323 Private Edward Hogg’s name (7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment), Returned, after dying with 300...
The Deserter in Cider with Rosie: Questions
A Retrospective on ‘British Army Mutineers, 1914 – 1922’, by Julian Putkowski At first glance, it must seem obvious That as there was no explosion of mutiny Until after the conclusion of conflict, Then the British Army must have been, On the whole, loyal to King and...
The Sainsbury’s Advertisment
It’s a bit Herbert Marcuse, A bit One Dimensional Man: A unification of opposites, A harmonisation of contradictions, Where liberal-democratic capitalism Gives that tantalising illusion of freedom, Whilst simultaneously appropriating opposition. It’s...
The 1914 Truce in Context
The 1914 Truce in Context It wasn’t, in fact, a bolt from the blue, Instead the 1914 Truce was part of a pattern, That both preceded that Christmas and continued beyond: There were ‘cushy’ sectors, involving ‘laissez-faire’, ‘Rest and let rest’, ‘Let sleeping dogs...
Stroud 1914
Stroud 1914 Stroud, like so many places a century ago, Was an unconscious microcosm of the whole nation: The sloping slate roofs of the red-bricked terraces, The new suburban villas with their monkey puzzle trees, The grand country houses with their uninterrupted...
A Guide to the War Memorials of Stroud and the Five Valleys
My pilgrimage started in those dirty days of late winter, When the wretched rain fell incessantly, It was just as damp as ‘Bleak House’: It dripped through the branches in Rodborough Churchyard, It dripped through the branches of the yew trees In St Lawrence’s in...