John Erskine
@johnerskine.bsky.social
Semi-retired, with some occasional research interviewing to keep the wolves from doors. Interested in travel, reading, rugby, campervans, motorhomes, regional policy and politics. Cyclist. Morris Dancer. Confirmed non-influencer.
Holiday reading, Part 2. I've been promising this one to myself for a while. A joy, and the picture of the most beautiful car ever made on the cover is only one of thousands of reasons why. Hugely insightful on events and personalities of which I was only vaguely aware growing up in the 1960's.
October 31, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Holiday reading, Part 2. I've been promising this one to myself for a while. A joy, and the picture of the most beautiful car ever made on the cover is only one of thousands of reasons why. Hugely insightful on events and personalities of which I was only vaguely aware growing up in the 1960's.
Holiday reading, Part 1. David Mattingly's father taught me in my first year at Leeds University. I wasn't a great scholar then, but his son is. This is a cracking book. A rigorous and incisive examination of what Roman imperialism meant for Britain. History is never simple.
October 31, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Holiday reading, Part 1. David Mattingly's father taught me in my first year at Leeds University. I wasn't a great scholar then, but his son is. This is a cracking book. A rigorous and incisive examination of what Roman imperialism meant for Britain. History is never simple.
The lineal descendants of the fascists and Nazis are the primitive ghouls of Hamas. The IDF was founded by democratic socialists, has confronted racism, fascism and misogyny since 1947, and homophobia since 1991. First and only Pride Flag in Gaza, displayed by a gay IDF soldier - enough said.
July 19, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The lineal descendants of the fascists and Nazis are the primitive ghouls of Hamas. The IDF was founded by democratic socialists, has confronted racism, fascism and misogyny since 1947, and homophobia since 1991. First and only Pride Flag in Gaza, displayed by a gay IDF soldier - enough said.
The events of October 7th show the difference between a democracy and a primitive, barbaric, misogynist, homophobic and racist society. Two years on, deeply embedded antisemitism means too many people are backing the barbarians. It took a gay Israeli to raise a Pride flag in Gaza.
July 9, 2025 at 7:44 AM
The events of October 7th show the difference between a democracy and a primitive, barbaric, misogynist, homophobic and racist society. Two years on, deeply embedded antisemitism means too many people are backing the barbarians. It took a gay Israeli to raise a Pride flag in Gaza.
Just to help you out, here's the instigator of the Hebron pogrom with another friend. Of course the Hebron pogrom was antisemitic.
July 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Just to help you out, here's the instigator of the Hebron pogrom with another friend. Of course the Hebron pogrom was antisemitic.
More that any other event in its history, this event set off the current Middle East conflict. It was engineered by Haj-Amin Al-Husseini, leader of the Muslim Arabs of the British Palestine Mandate, who spent his war fomenting the Farhud (qv) and recruiting for the Waffen-SS. He's on the left.
July 4, 2025 at 1:44 PM
More that any other event in its history, this event set off the current Middle East conflict. It was engineered by Haj-Amin Al-Husseini, leader of the Muslim Arabs of the British Palestine Mandate, who spent his war fomenting the Farhud (qv) and recruiting for the Waffen-SS. He's on the left.
Apple blossom and Wisteria in the garden this morning.
April 28, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Apple blossom and Wisteria in the garden this morning.
I like ex-Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart's assessment of 30p Lee...
April 9, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I like ex-Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart's assessment of 30p Lee...
Sometimes he's just bang on the money. Here, on the ghoulish religious fanatics who think they do G-d's work by harassing women outside abortion clinics. J. D. Vance (sic), please note...
April 8, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Sometimes he's just bang on the money. Here, on the ghoulish religious fanatics who think they do G-d's work by harassing women outside abortion clinics. J. D. Vance (sic), please note...
I've rarely paid for a book written by a Conservative politician, except the late Robert Rhodes-James, but this, by Sunak's Chief Whip, Simon Hart is unputdownable. Witty, wicked and £2.50 from British Heart Foundation in Shrewsbury.
April 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I've rarely paid for a book written by a Conservative politician, except the late Robert Rhodes-James, but this, by Sunak's Chief Whip, Simon Hart is unputdownable. Witty, wicked and £2.50 from British Heart Foundation in Shrewsbury.
Seen at Wenlock Priory in Shropshire yesterday. Arabis Alpina?
April 8, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Seen at Wenlock Priory in Shropshire yesterday. Arabis Alpina?
Meanwhile, the Red Cross (that organisation that visited Auschwitz in 1944 and didn't see any gas chambers) are happy to be played. Institutionally antisemitic in 1944, institutionally antisemitic now.
January 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Meanwhile, the Red Cross (that organisation that visited Auschwitz in 1944 and didn't see any gas chambers) are happy to be played. Institutionally antisemitic in 1944, institutionally antisemitic now.
I went to Campbell. My Dad went to Methody. That's him, third from left, middle row in Methody's 1937-1938 1st XV. Dad reckoned that half of that team didn't come back from WW2. This appalling behaviour betrays their memory.
January 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I went to Campbell. My Dad went to Methody. That's him, third from left, middle row in Methody's 1937-1938 1st XV. Dad reckoned that half of that team didn't come back from WW2. This appalling behaviour betrays their memory.
Why Hoover Dustettes were removed from signal boxes - the fan is six inches from the end of the nozzle...
January 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Why Hoover Dustettes were removed from signal boxes - the fan is six inches from the end of the nozzle...
A worrying trend in Spain, @jayrayner1.bsky.social. The use of the word 'gastro' in bar titles. Spanish bars have beaten British ones hands down forever, without a delivery from Brake Brothers... Whatever next? Sensitivity to people who won't eat callos or rabo de buey?
January 13, 2025 at 7:33 PM
A worrying trend in Spain, @jayrayner1.bsky.social. The use of the word 'gastro' in bar titles. Spanish bars have beaten British ones hands down forever, without a delivery from Brake Brothers... Whatever next? Sensitivity to people who won't eat callos or rabo de buey?
Windmills at Tarifa in Spain, a reminder that for fifteen years the UK Government placed a higher value on the residential amenity and property values of geriatric Mail and Telegraph readers than dealing with the climate crisis...
December 25, 2024 at 2:21 PM
Windmills at Tarifa in Spain, a reminder that for fifteen years the UK Government placed a higher value on the residential amenity and property values of geriatric Mail and Telegraph readers than dealing with the climate crisis...
One of Europe's great views. The Picos de Europa, Santander and the Bay of Biscay from Pena Cabarga in Cantabria.
December 13, 2024 at 6:00 PM
One of Europe's great views. The Picos de Europa, Santander and the Bay of Biscay from Pena Cabarga in Cantabria.
Seen in Bordeaux today, and mercifully not defaced by the usual antisemites. A child, kidnapped by terrorists, and now held for 431 days. An unforgivable and inhuman act by people with no moral compass I recognise.
December 10, 2024 at 5:46 PM
Seen in Bordeaux today, and mercifully not defaced by the usual antisemites. A child, kidnapped by terrorists, and now held for 431 days. An unforgivable and inhuman act by people with no moral compass I recognise.
I strongly support the existence of an International Criminal Court, and want to see Putin, Erdogan and Xi Jinping in the dock, but Karim Khan has hardly covered himself in glory with this feeble attempt to distract from his ethical travails...
November 22, 2024 at 9:05 AM
I strongly support the existence of an International Criminal Court, and want to see Putin, Erdogan and Xi Jinping in the dock, but Karim Khan has hardly covered himself in glory with this feeble attempt to distract from his ethical travails...
I fear it's nothing of the kind, merely a wrong-headed attempt by Karim Khan to distract attention from his current legal troubles. In a UK court, the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant would get thrown out, and in international law they can justify everything they've done.
November 22, 2024 at 5:27 AM
I fear it's nothing of the kind, merely a wrong-headed attempt by Karim Khan to distract attention from his current legal troubles. In a UK court, the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant would get thrown out, and in international law they can justify everything they've done.
And a great sunset in Paphos tonight.
November 19, 2024 at 4:21 PM
And a great sunset in Paphos tonight.