Selected articles
The Pale Abyssinian: A Life of James Bruce, African Explorer and Adventurer by Miles Bredin
"The Pale Abyssinian" leaves the moral character of James Bruce in tatters. He has however brought the ruddy, oversexed, 6 foot 4 inch Scotsman, vibrantly to life.
The Houthi are Highlanders
Until a few months ago, the Houthi were an obscure footnote to the complex history of the Arabian peninsular, but now due to their habit of firing rockets at ships using the Red Sea … they are very much at the centre of everyone’s attention.
Book review: “Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires” by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Mackintosh-Smith is not just immersed in this history, he has been endangered by it. Alongside his fellow citizens of Sanaa, he has witnessed the violence and individual tragedies of three Yemeni civil wars, evidence of which is sadly etched in the book's dedication.
Birds began it all - journal notes on Islam in Ethiopia
Apart from the odd wrecked tank, or half-truck with a tree growing through the windscreen, the wars and tribulations of Ethiopia now seem a whole generation away.
The blameless Ethiopians
The miraculous is seldom far from the surface in Ethiopia.
Abyssinian Adventurer - James Bruce in Ethiopia
James Bruce was a big, lusty snob who filled notebook after notebook with accounts of his travels in North Africa and Abyssinia. The trousers fitted me perfectly.
Ethiopia – no one smokes in public
The faith in Ethiopia still retains something of the purity and passion of those apostolic saints, in a way that the British Isles has not seen since St Columba dwelt on Iona.
Aksum - Queen of Sheba
In between these great complexes, fixed like so many stars in the sky, there were bare meadows which in season filled up with the emphemeral tents and hut cities of the tribes drawn to the city by the great markets and festivals.
Sage of Sanaa
Muhammad told us not to be concerned if we were kidnapped, for he had been held for 18 days (in the company of a delightful-sounding English geologist) and had found the food to be plentiful, with a fresh goat slaughtered every morning.