: About Me

So far a very varied life: one marriage (ended!) an unbelievable range of jobs from banking, civil servant, professional rock musician, driver, gardener, market researcher, classic car specialist, proofreader, etc., etc.

I am English but left London three years ago and now live in rural France, which has many attractive aspects but also some frustrations - but of course this applies anywhere in the world I believe.

I love the English language and am a voracious if rather haphazard reader; I have a special interest in modern history, adore the writing of Evelyn Waugh and Raymond Chandler and hope that following many years of reading, enough will have rubbed off to enable me to make some contributions here.

Interests include, arts, music, classic cars, photography.

My passion is ...

My lover

I know too much about ...

Dreaming

My parents always told me ...

Don't answer back

My childhood ambition ...

Fighter pilot

My favorite memory ...

Too many to choose from

Why I write ...

It's good for me

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Elgar cello concerto

My first job ...

Bank

My best moment ...

Too many to choose from

My inspiration ...

My lover

Arts & Humanities > The World Wars The legacy of Stalin

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In considering the legacy of Josef Stalin, one must first consider the nature of the man. Stalin was the ultimate bureaucrat: efficient, brutal, cynical and ruthless. This latter quality was especially noticeable in his achieving total control of the USSR, as has been well reported elsewhere. He was paranoid by nature (confirmed after an examination by psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev subsequently rumoured to have been poisoned on Stalin's orders) and thus deeply mistrustful of all. In consequence, like Adolf Hitler, he adopted a divide and rule policy amongst his ministers and functionarie...

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Writing:

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