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My first venture abroad was an exchange with young Eric de Lavigne. His mother was the worst cook in the whole of France, and he was the naughtiest nastiest boy I’ve ever met.   A lot happened to me between then and the following entry from my journal. Not only did I grow from a somewhat precocious 12-year-old into an 18-year-old young man; I travelled alone or in company to Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy. I had my first serious love affair, initiated on the afternoon

Chocolate has never been more expensive to buy in the UK. Readers from further afield will also notice steep rises in the price of their favourite confectionery. The increases are bigger than you imagine because chocolate manufacturers are fond of shrinkflation. That 200g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk, the UK’s favourite, is now 180g. The sharp rise in the cost of chocolate has caught the attention of the press, but for reasons that are less to do with the fabled “cost of living

Several readers have told me they enjoyed the innocence in the lines from my journal of boyhood in smalltown Cheltenham. So here is another extract as preface to an event in Lima: Friday, January 6th 1956 I went to town dressed as a girl, because I didn't want to wear my school uniform. Valerie lent me her scarf to wear on my head, and said I looked like a girl. That's how the idea came. We met Rosina (my sister) and Ian (her boyfriend) in the Promenade, and he did not reco

“Dad, you’ve had a lot of adventures in your life. Now you’re getting on a bit, could you write some down so I can read about them after you’ve gone?“   Thus my daughter a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how adventurous my life has been. I know plenty of people who have gone further in all directions and a major sign of my getting on is that I no longer have a yen for going off to faraway places (full of tourists) or taking risks on the mountains or on the road. But her comme

US forces attacked Venezuela on the 3rd of January 2026 and kidnapped its President, Nicolás Maduro, and its First Lady.  They rendered the President and his wife to the US against their human rights and against international law; US Law Enforcement has charged him with various crimes against the US under the US legal system.  Trump will, no doubt, prevent President Maduro ever returning to power.