Author Archives: davidsberry

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About davidsberry

Local ex-councillor, tour guide and database designer. Keen on wildlife, history, boats and music. Retired in 2017.

All Men Are Created Equal?

Posted on March 29, 2021 by davidsberry

Because of a need to forge millions of disparate peoples into a coherent country, history was simplified: the North won that war and subsequently freed and emancipated former slaves, before readmitting states of the conquered Confederacy back into the Union. … Continue reading →

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No Life on Mars

Posted on March 14, 2021 by davidsberry

On Tuesday, BBC4 broadcast two excellent Horizon documentaries from a few years back. An hour of “Mars: A Traveller’s Guide” from 2017 at 9pm followed by an hour of “Mission to Mars” from 2012/13at 10pm. Given that, fifty years ago, … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Environment | 3 Comments

Fire-arm-ageddon?

Posted on March 10, 2021 by davidsberry

A huge swathe of Americans have a love affair with guns. Despite having spent two decades enjoying their wonderful country, I met few such people, nor Republicans, KKK, Proud Boys or anyone with NRA membership. They exist in some number. … Continue reading →

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Trump: Democracy’s Kryptonite

Posted on March 4, 2021 by davidsberry

The reappearance of Donald Trump as the darling of the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida is making a lot of people uneasy, and not just because they had enjoyed  whole month for the first time in five … Continue reading →

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The Ice of Texas Is Upon You

Posted on February 18, 2021 by davidsberry

Texas has never forgiven Alaska for joining the Union over sixty years ago and taking its title as the biggest of all the United States. But that’s the only way it has been surpassed. Outsiders may see New York as … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

Trumpistas Should Learn from Limeys

Posted on February 14, 2021 by davidsberry

With his conviction quashed, Donald Trump is riding high. He has survived two impeachment attempts, garnered over 70m votes and kept his narrative that his re-election was stolen alive among a huge proportion of those people. The once-proud Republican party … Continue reading →

Posted in Commerce, Politics | Leave a comment

Coming Out of Our SHelll

Posted on February 10, 2021 by davidsberry

(Published in East Lothian Courier, February 11th, 2021 Until a year ago, Scottish seafood had grown into a £1bn business, with half exported to the EU. East Lothian harbours contributed to this, landing prawns, crab and lobster, much of it … Continue reading →

Posted in Commerce, Politics | Leave a comment

Wind Farms or Windbags?

Posted on February 6, 2021 by davidsberry

The Scottish energy strategy published in December 2017 sets a 2030 target for the equivalent of 50% of the energy for Scotland’s heat, transport and electricity consumption to be supplied by renewable sources. By June of last year, Scotland had … Continue reading →

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Closing the Augean Stable Door

Posted on January 30, 2021 by davidsberry

It is hard to evade media wall-to-wall coverage of the Covid pandemic. To the casual observer, every niance of statistics are reported daily in meticulous detail. Who could want more coverage or more data? A conspiracy theorist might think the … Continue reading →

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Today’s Thirty Years War

Posted on January 21, 2021 by davidsberry

The original Thirty Years War occupied the attention and wealth of Europe for much of the 17th ©. Like most wars, it was an exercise in greed and ego that settled little. Given the carnage possible with mass use of … Continue reading →

Posted in Military, Politics | Leave a comment