ANN CLEEVE ETC

On cosy winter evenings I have read several books of varying genres. I have now finished my third Anne Cleeve´s book – Raven Black – which is one of her Shetland series. This was again a damn good read and I like the way she throws in a bit about wildlife. This was another story driven along by some superb characters for she certainly knows how to bring them to life (and to kill them!). I will be looking out for her other stories.

I am now reading Andrew Marr’s ‘The Diamond Queen’. It is no surprised that it is well is written. He moves it along at a very good pace so the reader is kept with him. There is so much to know about the history in my lifetime.

Previously to these two books I have been dipping in and out of selected writings from The Telegraph of John Betjeman’s ‘Lovely Bits of Old England’ I find that it is so refreshing to read something in this style of writing where he describes and comments upon ‘my England’. Before that I read, Janan Ganash’s, biography of George Osborne. What a superb writer this man is and it is another excellent example of very recent history that gives a good insight into how it works within ‘The Westminster Village’.

Staying with history, I have read Stephen Walker’s ‘Hide & Seek’, about Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty. He was the Irish priest in The Vatican who defied the Nazi Command. It is a superb story that again reminds me of the horrors of what Facism was capable of. It is also a love story in that Colonel Herbert Kappler, SS Commander of Rome was eventually rescued by his wife, from imprisonment, to be able to spend the last few months of his life in his native country. Perhaps it was not something that he deserved and there would have been many in Rome who would have wished him a very uncomfortable death. However he died a catholic, having been baptized into that church, by his former adversary Monsignor O’Flaherty. It is a marvellous story about faith, subterfuge, escape routes and executions.

One of the intriguing pieces in this story for me was that ‘our’ Irish priest – product of Cahersiveen in the Kingdom of Kerry – was a staunch republican without any sympathy for The British Empire or The Allied Cause. He not only places himself in considerable danger but changes his attitude from not supporting The Allies but to wanting them to win the war. From within The Vatican he wheeled and dealed to save lives. He set up escape routes for our servicemen who had escaped from POW camps. You could also say that he was ‘Ireland’s Oskar Schindler’ for he helped whoever he could whether Jew or Gentile. Several other books have been written on this piece of history and two films have been made. It is a serious reminder of what the Second World War really was about. Europe is free to do what it wants within its own democracies. I can write what I want.

On my personal side I have been writing about a period in my Police career and I will start another section soon. I have also ‘topped and tailed’ my first poem of the year, entitled ‘Skyscar’ which is about the plethora of unnecessary street signs and what to do with them. I am busy working on others that can appertain to news items. The Chris Huhne debacle may provide a source of something. It is worth watching the news just for the spark it can give.

I am also busy seeing what I have produce which could see them being resurrected from the very dark drawer that they are tucked away in. I have the ‘competition’ of The Poetic Republic in mind that other members of The Poetry Society Stanza Mar Menor are also considering.