The Tragic End of the Man Who Shaped the ‘Trucial States’ — Today the United Arab Emirates…Captain — later to become Lieutenant-Colonel — Samuel Hennell was arguably the greatest of the British Political Residents to preside over…May 9, 2024May 9, 2024
The Funny Thing About Writing Advice is Often Where it Comes From…Isn’t it odd how so many of the people queuing up to tell you how to write books don’t sell, well, any books?May 5, 2024May 5, 2024
The little fort that fell to the British in 1819 — leading inexorably to the establishment of the…You’ll find Dhayah Fort by driving northwards from Ras Al Khaimah towards Musandam, passing the coastal settlement of Rams to your left…Apr 28, 2024Apr 28, 2024
Finding Eden — The Origins of Our Modern Humanity“For Dilmun, the land of my lady’s heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of…Mar 21, 2024Mar 21, 2024
How Bertolt Brecht wrote ‘Mack the Knife’. And I wrote another book…I’ve just hit the ‘publish’ button on The Dead Sea Hotel: A Moritat, six years after I first wrote the thing. It is, to be honest, a very…Feb 22, 2024Feb 22, 2024
Air Outpost — telling the story of Mahattah, the first airport in the Arabian GulfWe first saw the 1937 documentary film Air Outpost when we were visiting two very old friends, colleagues of Sarah’s at Choueifat School…Feb 16, 20241Feb 16, 20241
The United Arab Emirates used to be called the Trucial States.On the 25th November 1819, sails appeared on the blue horizon off the dusty port town of Ras Al Khaimah, the capital of the Al Qasimi…Feb 15, 2024Feb 15, 2024
That time when a British gunship fired high explosive shells at DubaiLet me take you back to 1910 and the arrival of HMS Hyacinth into the busy little creek of Dubai, then a bustling regional trading entrepot…Jan 18, 2024Jan 18, 2024
The Passing of Paper…I follow quite a few legacy publishers on Twitter and suffer from the not infrequent urge to block them as I stare, open-jawed, at their…Apr 3, 2017Apr 3, 2017
The Great Belfast British Airways Customer Service ExperienceSometimes an organisation’s priorities are all too evident in the way it comports itself. Let’s be clear here — comportment is what you do…Jan 2, 20171Jan 2, 20171