Early Soviet Photography‎: Max Penson

We’re firm fans of old photos here at EL Towers.  Looking at people and places long gone allows us some degree of historical reference to the events and news which we read and hear about …

Trotsky: A Biography

We’ve been long time fans of Robert Service’s work here at EL and the latest in a trilogy of biographies is about to hit the shelf. Trotsky has been a few years in he making following on from the excellent Lenin and Stalin books, each having a 4 year gap between them.

A treaty for our time?

The Lisbon treaty has become an almost mythical document which has had the power to defeat whole states.

To some it is the natural evolution of a system which created by the member states has simply become to unwieldy to operate correctly. It’s a correctional document to allow the system to function better, to better state what is EU responsibility and to better provide a single voice to the EU outside of the Union which the world needs.

Photographs from the USSR in 1985

I know, another set of photos from the former Soviet Union!
However when they’re this good it’s hard to put them away and these came across the desk here with some delightful smiles.
1985 was, in many …

European Train Travel

There’s not much to love about the mystique of train travel across unknown lands, soaking in the atmosphere, enjoying conversation with new people and sharing a meal while watching the countryside zip by.

May they rest in peace….

On 10 April 2010 on the way to commemoration ceremony of the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre the President of the Republic of Poland Mr Lech Kaczynski, the First Lady Mrs Maria Kaczynska, members …

Portuguese Caldo Verde Soup

There’s nothing quite like a good soup. In the summer it’s a great quick food, in the winter the comfort quality cannot be written down.

New bird flu outbreaks reported in Europe

Cases of the H5 type of the avian flu have been discovered in Romanian and Ukrainian fowl. Romania has banned hunting in parts of the country and Ukrainian troops have moved from house to house in villages rounding up chickens, ducks and geese for a mass cull.