RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW2

Mental Health, Leadership and the Plan for That

They say the war is over. But water still Comes bloody from the taps. from ‘Redeployment,’ Howard Nemerov In April 1961 the BBC Light program broadcast the first episode of a new radio drama: The Avenue Goes to War. It was based on the R. F. Delderfield novel of the same name.  It’s the story of one suburban street in…

Continue Reading

Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb, WW1

The War is Too Much With Us

I thought of going back to France, but realised the absurdity of the notion. Since 1916, the fear of gas obsessed me: any unusual smell, even a sudden strong smell of flowers in a garden, was enough to send me trembling. And I couldn’t face the sound of heavy shelling now; the noise of a car back-firing would send me flat…

Continue Reading