The Meaning of Geese by Nick Acheson

 I started reading this book at the end of last winter just as the wintering geese on the Solway were departing for their breeding grounds.  I was so enthralled by the content and so much liked the direct but nevertheless lyrical writing style that I temporarily shelved it.  This was because I wanted to be immersed in my local north Cumbrian wintering flocks of geese while reading it.  The past few weeks have seen vast flocks of Barnacle Geese return to the Solway from their Svalbard breeding grounds and returning Pink-footed Geese from where they breed in Iceland.  The scene was now set for me to finish the book.

This book is generally to be found under the 'Nature Writing' section in bookshops.  This category is one with which I have some difficulty.  I would have a preference for placing it somewhere that reflects its degree of specialisation and authority.  This is no run of the mill 'Nature book'.  It is interesting and probably significant that while Nick has written columns in some prestigious publications this is actually his first book.

The form that the book takes is by progressing through the winter starting in September with the earliest arrivals of geese and concludes at the end of April when most have departed.  It recounts Nick's journeys on an old red bicycle around the lanes of north Norfolk as he searches for flocks of geese.  He is a native of that part of Norfolk and keeps in contact with James McCallum that wonderful water colourist whose speciality is geese and also with a few other knowledgeable observers and ringers of geese.

The narrative while being based on Nick's travels around his local area also brings in a wealth of information related to when the different species of geese arrive and depart and also where their core breeding areas are located.  The whole text comes across as being completely honest; it is sprinkled with details that give atmosphere while it never seems forced or includes unnecessary embelishment.

This is undoubledly one of the most enjoyable, inspiring and informative accounts that I have read.  I would have little hesitation in awarding it my wildlife related book of the year.

The Kremlin's Noose by Amy Knight

 I have long had a fascination with Russia from reading Sholokhov novels in the late 1960s to several visits to Russia in the 1990s including sailing out of Vladivostok on a fishing boat into Peter The Great Bay and passing by the Russian fleet in complete openness.  How times have changed.

This book was a delight !  The author is an authority on Russian politics with a PhD in the subject from the LSE where she later taught and followed that by a couple of decades at the US Library of Congress as a specialist in Russian and Soviet affairs.  The writing is good and clear and marred by the only occasional 'gotten'.

The book traces Putin's career from his rather less than prestigious days as a KGB Colonel through to his apparently reluctant appointment as Russia's President under Yeltsin's direction up to the present time.  It is not just about Putin however.  It gives us insights into the complex manoeuvrings of Russian politics with a dizzying array of players who rise and fall with an intensity that makes British politics seem incredibly civilised in comparison.  The falls are in a different league from those that we see within western politics - exiles, killings and apparent suicides predominate and the advice not to drink the tea is less of a cliche than a stark reality.

It was interesting to be reminded that Yeltsin was a real advocate for democracy and that Russia was heading in a very good direction in those days when we felt that the world offered real optimism.  Even Putin's early days as President involved constructive meetings with western leaders.  How did it all go so wrong ?  The idea that Russians have a slave mentality was suggested as being a contributory factor and that brings to mind the frustration shown by the protagonist in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

I was puzzled by the reference to the US Congress adopting the Magnitski Act by a surpisingly reluctant Obama.  This act had been promoted by Bill Browder who writes persuasively of its value - so why the reluctance ?  Perhaps I have much to learn !

Despite the clearly negative tale that is told of the Russian decline into authoritarianism this was nevertheless a very uplifting read that showed the command and understanding that the author brought to the subject and the way that she conveyed it so eloquently.

In Search of One Last Song by Parrick Galbraith

This title appealed to me when I came across it in the Gairloch Bookstore because it had 'disappearing birds and the people trying to save them' on the front cover.  That was to a large extent because of my fifteen year involvement with monitoring and protecting Hen Harriers in Cumbria.  I wanted to read about the ways that other pople were trying to give protection to threatened species of birds.

Beyond that I had looked in the index and found the names of people whom I'd either met or heard about.  This was going to be interesting !

On embarking on the text I found the style quite quirky, it certainly wasn't mundane.  There was a lot of incidental detail designed no doubt to set the scene and make the reader feel part of the conversations  taking place.  Some of these became rather waring and  repetitious - how many times did I want to hear of the sweat trickling down an assorted selection of arms, brows and more.  The people he had conversations with all seemed to have a propensity for 'sucking air between ther teeth' - again not something that I felt I needed to know about.  All in all the writer seemed to want to add colour to the narrative - but for me that was all a bit too forced and just too much.

The writer travels Britain and meets quite an array of rather marginalised characters.  There was little doubt that these people shared concerns about disappearing species, but were they really trying to save them in a purposeful way - it didn't seem like it.

There was nevertheless some interesting information of a historical nature sprinkled among the many unusual interactions but these took rather a lot of finding and many got buried under much seemingly irreleant detail.  On a few occasions I was just getting interested in his conversation with a particular character in some remote location when suddenly the narrative had jumped to somewhere completely different and new characters and locations were introduced in a confusing way without sufficient context.

Ultimately if you like flights of fancy with endless questionable detail then this is a book for you.  If on the other hand you want to learn about some of the many people who are working hard to save species through hard work on the ground or habitat requirement research then you should probably look elsewhere.

 

Not another one - podcast

 

This represents an unusual departure form the usual content of this blog in not being a book.  It does satisfy the disclaimer 'Mostly' and certainly conforms to the stated content in that it is a political podcast.

I find politics a difficult sphere to understand and one in which it is difficulkt to get meaningful perspectives.  I don't find the BBC particularly insightful although I did enjoy Politics Live for a time when Jo Coburn was in the chair.  The printed press and online political platforms are generally highly partisan.

I had quite a long period of enthusiasm for the podcast Oh God What Now particularly when Ian Dunt, Dorian Lynskey, Alex Andreou and Ros Taylor where regular panelists.  This podcast arose from the former Remainiacs.  Then times changed and the cast became less to my liking.  Beyond that I grew aware of the 'echo chamber' element of this along with so many other platforms.  A wider perspective on the world of politics seemed an important thing to look for.

'Not another one' references Brenda from Bristol in her response to the news of another impending election.  This is not particularly pertinent but it does give a flavour of the podcast which includes a nice thread of humour.  The main tenet is to provide a cross section of political thought and for the discussions among the team members to be completely respectful.

The four protagonists shown in the image are, from left to right -

Tim Montgomerie.  A former Tory and indeed the creator of the website ConservativeHome.  He has written for most of the major broadsheets and has had advisor roles for the Tory party.  He has recently Joined Reform.

Miranda Green.  Writes for the FT and had former politcal roles within the LibDem party.  She brings a lively ingredient to the podcast.

Steve Richards.  A well known political journalist with a history with the BBC, Guardian, Independent and the New Statesman.  He runs a very good podcast 'Rock and Roll Politics'.

Iain Martin.  Has links with the Times and Telegraph.  He also brings a wine buff element and advocates Co-op wine choices.

So here we have two shades of the right in Tim Montgomerie and Iain Martin and two shades of the left in Steve Richards and Miranda Green.

I find the episodes refreshingly lively and they give a broad political perspective.  It is stimulating to hear political views that don't align with my own interrogated and all this in very good humour.