The Last 10 Movies – March 2026 edition. 

My movie watching has been really slow of late so it's basically taken me 3 months to watch 10 movies! I am about half way through another one with a further two lined up so, maybe, the gap to my next movie post won’t be SO long. One of the nice things about this set is the fact that there’s a sprinkling of new (to me!) movies between the old favourites. New films are in BOLD. 

Death of a Unicorn (2025) 

Passable comedy horror father/daughter bonding movie that had a few moments but was only just about watchable. 

Clueless (1995) 

Still amusing modern riff on Jane Austen’s Emma. Alicia Silverstone is both cute and funny. 

Kiss the Girls (1997) 

Still solid thriller based on a James Patterson novel... and it has Morgan Freeman in it, so.... 

Palm Springs (2020) 

Very funny and very clever ‘Groundhog Day’ of a group of people stuck in a time loop during a wedding. Rather philosophical at times and (for a change) a reasonably well thought out ending that made sense. 

Die Hard 2 (1990) 

I really wanted to watch the original, but it wasn’t available free, so.... It had its moments but didn’t have the zing and the tight plotting of the first movie. Nice try though... 

The Hunt (2020) 

A surprisingly good film about rich people hunting poor people for sport. Rather violent (as you might expect) and a little too ON the nose but definitely entertaining. I particularly liked the female lead, Betty Gilpin. 

Where Eagles Dare (1968) 

Need I say more? I’ve been fan-boying over this since I first saw it at age eight. 

The Big Short (2015) 

I finally saw this and was quite disappointed. Not a patch on Margin Call I thought. 

Underworld (2003) 

Still a reasonable film (and it has Kate Beckinsale in TIGHT leather) but starting to age a bit now. Some of the acting is VERY poor but I largely forgive it for the action scenes and Kate doing her thing... 

Dune Part 2 (2024) 

I was going to watch something else, but this dropped on Prime so... Rather long but still very impressive. It was only my 2nd viewing so I picked up on a few things I missed the first time. Looking forward to Part 3.  

Happy Birthday: Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three British Academy Film Awards and nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards. His films have grossed over US$11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time.

Oldman began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance (1982). He appeared in the Royal Court Theatre in London and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with credits including Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Saved, The Country Wife and Hamlet. He rose to prominence in British film with his portrayals of Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). Regarded as a member of the "Brit Pack", he achieved greater recognition as an American gangster in State of Grace (1990), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Oldman portrayed villainous roles in True Romance (1993), Léon: The Professional (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), Air Force One (1997) and The Contender (2000). He has also played franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series (2004–2011), James Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012), Lord Shen in Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) and Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Sir Winston Churchill in the historical drama Darkest Hour (2017). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayals of George Smiley in the thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Herman J. Mankiewicz in the drama Mank (2020).

Oldman also wrote and directed the film Nil by Mouth (1997). He starred in the BBC television film The Firm (1989). Since 2022 he has starred as Jackson Lamb, a cantankerous British spy, in the Apple TV+ thriller series Slow Horses, a role for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his guest role as an inebriated actor on the NBC sitcom Friends in 2001. He has also acted in music videos for David Bowie, Guns N' Roses and Annie Lennox. He was made a Knight Bachelor by King Charles III in the 2025 Birthday Honours.

Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: Camelot and the Vision of Albion by Geoffrey Ashe (FP: 1971) [220pp] 

It seems that whilst growing up in England you absorb the legends and myths surround King Arthur simply by breathing in the air. Even without doing TOO much research I came probably name most of the characters and most of the highlights off the top of my head. I actually picked this book up decades ago (long after its publication date though!) and have, finally, gotten around to reading it. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t what I was looking for. 

The author was well placed to discuss all things Arthurian – and I do mean ALL (which was the main issue I had here) - having been the editor of a book on the subject with contributions of eminent scholars and being involved in the archaeological dig at Cadbury Hill fort where Arthur (the real one) apparently had his headquarters. So, things started out pretty well... 

The author made some interesting observations about the ancient origins of the Arthur legend – going back to Ancient Greece no less – which I kind of went along with (for the most part) but I think he hit his sweet spot with the discussion of the REAL Arthur in the 5th Century and the evidence for his existence and where exactly some of the storied locations might have actually happened. Unfortunately, after this, things got a little.... weird. Not only did the author bring in the Vikings, which seemed reasonable, there were diversions into early British Christianity and then into the Russian Revolution, Zionism and Ghandi.... So, weird...  

Although SOME of what he said was interesting – from a general standpoint – the problem I had was the authors growing lack of focus on the subject at hand: Arthur and the legend that surrounded him. More discussion on how the legend arose (there was some of that here but nowhere near enough) as well as how it changed over time to suit changing times (ditto) without the distractions from other parts of the world would have helped a LOT here. But much to my annoyance such an investigation was largely absent. 

No doubt there are much better books out there on Arthur and his Round Table etc.. I do have one more (much more modern and substantial – at least on page count) which I’ll see to include this year but, for the time being, I might see if I can schedule in some of my fiction/fantasy Arthurian reads. Regrettably not recommended. 

"Air power is an unusually seductive form of military strength because, like modern courtship, it appears to offer gratification without commitment."

Eliot Cohen, 'The Mystique of US Air Power', Foreign Affairs 1994.

Just Finished Reading: Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb (FP: 1935) [201pp] 

The Western Front, France. It was a mistake, just not the one they suspected. After only 5 hours at the rest area, the 181st Company were on the way back to the front line – although a different section than before. Even the officers didn’t quite know why they were marching back so soon after being relieved. After weeks of exhausting combat, they certainly needed, and deserved, their rest but the veterans were cynical enough to shrug their shoulders, grumble and keep moving. On arrival at their new trench the Colonel finally received his orders. In two days, they would assault and take the German position known locally as ‘The Pimple’ and hold it until relived. This would be the third attempt and would not fail, indeed the General’s reputation and hoped for promotion depended on it. The attack, as everyone suspected, failed in spectacular fashion and with significant French casualties. Not satisfied with the effort, or lack of according to the General, a court martial was called and four of the attackers would be put on trial for cowardice in the face of the enemy – a capital offence. With the weight of the General Staff ranged against them is there any hope or will they all be shot at dawn? 

I’d seen the 1957 movie adaptation directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas a few times so was looking forward to reading this. I was not disappointed. Although the movie is somewhat different the main core of the story remains the same – with the attack, the longer court scenes and the ending making it across media largely intact. The biggest change I think was the inflation of the role of Colonel Dax (the regiments commander) from a fairly peripheral role in the book to a central one in the movie as befits the star of the film. Being a quite short book, it doesn’t have any time to pad the plot and this spareness intensifies the tension as the unit involved come to terms with the objective they’re about to attack (from the perspective of a great deal of experience) and their incredulity at standing trial accused of a cowardice they did not commit. Each section leader was given the task of choosing one of their men to stand trial, knowing exactly what the outcome would be, and their choices of how to do so was fascinating – especially that of the devoutly Catholic Major. We also get to know the men on trial and how each reacts to their predicament. Again, sparse text results in excellent characterisation. 

I was honestly hooked on this story from the off. Despite being dropped straight into things – mid march from the Front before being called back – there is no need to settle into things, and you fall right into the action. I’m guessing that this is because, at least looking back on the events over 100 years ago, we have enough cultural touchstones so little explanation is required. On publication, less than 20 years after the event, many of the readers could draw on personal experience to fill out any background. Despite being written by an American who served with the Canadians on the Western Front this brilliant novel has a very French feel to it and actually reminded me of Under Fire by Henri Barbusse. Although not exactly an anti-war novel per se, this narrative hits HARD. Don’t expect to come away from this untouched emotionally but do expect to find yourself in the days and weeks after finishing it pausing for thought. Quite excellent and therefore definitely recommended. 

Happy Birthday: Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

Born in the German Empire, Einstein moved to Switzerland in 1895, forsaking his German citizenship the following year. In 1897, at the age of seventeen, he enrolled in the mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the Swiss federal polytechnic school in Zurich, graduating in 1900. He acquired Swiss citizenship a year later, which he kept for the rest of his life, and afterwards secured a permanent position at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. In 1905, he submitted a successful PhD dissertation to the University of Zurich. In 1914, he moved to Berlin to join the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Humboldt University of Berlin, becoming director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in 1917; he also became a German citizen again. In 1933, while Einstein was visiting the United States, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Horrified by the Nazi persecution of his fellow Jews, he decided to remain in the US, and was granted American citizenship in 1940. On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential German nuclear weapons program and recommending that the US begin similar research, later carried out as the Manhattan Project.

In 1905, sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (miracle year), he published four groundbreaking papers. In them, he outlined a theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced his special theory of relativity, and demonstrated that if the special theory is correct, mass and energy are equivalent to each other. In 1915, he proposed a general theory of relativity that extended his system of mechanics to incorporate gravitation. A paper that he published the following year laid out the implications of general relativity for the modeling of the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. It introduced the cosmological constant and is further regarded as the first step in the field of modern theoretical cosmology. In 1917, Einstein wrote a paper which introduced the concepts of spontaneous emission and stimulated emission, the latter of which is the core mechanism behind the laser and maser, and which contained a trove of information that would be beneficial to developments in physics later on, such as quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics.

In the middle part of his career, Einstein made important contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory. Especially notable was his work on the quantum physics of radiation, in which light consists of particles, subsequently called photons. With physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, he laid the groundwork for Bose–Einstein statistics. For much of the last phase of his academic life, Einstein worked on two endeavors that ultimately proved unsuccessful. First, he advocated against quantum theory's introduction of fundamental randomness into science's picture of the world, objecting that "God does not play dice". Second, he attempted to devise a unified field theory by generalizing his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism. As a result, he became increasingly isolated from mainstream modern physics. Many things are named after him, including the element Einsteinium. In 1999, he was named Time's Person of the Century.

Just Finished Reading: Witchcraft – A History by P G Maxwell-Stuart (FP: 2000) [150pp] 

Witchcraft and the witches who perform it have been around for a very long time. They were written about in Antiquity and, no doubt, existed long before the written word. So why is it that the European witch ‘craze’ and the trials that followed suddenly explode in the Late Medieval/Early Modern Period? It's a very good question and the lack of a glib answer impressed me. 

As with most cultural phenomena, the ideas circulating around witchcraft are complex. The turn against the practice has no easy answer. No doubt the turmoil of the period heated up any witch hunting – we are notorious for our scapegoats after all – but it was more than that. Extra complexity is provided by the fact that not all countries, or regions within a country, or towns within a region responded to the ‘problem’ in the same way. There was a similar diversity of opinion both between and within Catholic and Protestant beliefs after the Great Schism. An equally complex and rather mysterious question is why the craze for witch trials passed into history after around 150 years of periods of panic and recovery. Was it the growing so-called Enlightenment which resulted in a feeling of scepticism sweeping across Europe? Was it growing prosperity or a feeling of being more in control? Was it growing literacy and a more general understanding of how things worked without the need to conceive of magic or supernatural interventions? The author was brave enough to leave the answer largely unconfirmed. Both the origins and demise of the witch panic in Europe are complicated, diverse and unconfirmed. 

Magic, in its MANY forms, has existed for as long as humanity itself. It did not emerge in the late Middle Ages, nor did it vanish with the coming of the Enlightenment and the Modern age. Magic, and indeed witchcraft, is still practiced today all across the world. Even so-called ‘normal’ people cross their fingers, throw salt over their left shoulder, avoid cracks in the pavement and a thousand other things that humans have been doing to ward off ‘bad luck’ or evil spirits all across the globe. Nothing has really changed. Modern witchcraft, often referred to as Wicca, is a booming business with books, websites, conferences, equipment and consumables available at the touch of a button. Without an overarching belief system or dogma witches, in groups or solitary, can create a system that fulfils their needs and craft both spells and ceremonies that works for them. Defining a witch today is no easy task!  

I picked up this slim hardback book decades ago and have only just plucked it off my shelves. I was impressed by the author’s even handedness as well as his clear acknowledgement that the subject is complex and that research into it is far from complete. It was both a useful refresher for me and a prompt to read further into this fascinating subject. Recommended and much more to come.

"Cartography is another name for stories told by winners."

Elif Shafak, The Island of Missing Trees.

Just Finished Reading: American Cultural History – A Very Short Introduction by Eric Avila (FP: 2018) [126pp] 

American culture has dominated the world throughout most of the 20th century and beyond with movies, music and other media being instantly recognisable in country after country despite cultural and language barriers. Part of the reason for such a wide appeal has been the cultural melting pot in the US itself aided by the original mix of cultures from England, Spain and France as well as local Native culture and the, no doubt unintentional, importation of African culture from the slave population. 

With the arrival of newspapers, the railroads and increased immigration the culture of America both exploded and diversified across the continent along with the waves of migration westwards supported by ideas of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the idea of the Frontier. The following ‘Gilded Age’, fuelled in no small part by the philanthropy of Robber Barons resulted in some of the iconic architecture still standing today as well as the rise of advertising, magazine culture and lavish events such as World’s Fairs.  

The post-WW2 suburbanization of American culture produced Film Noir, TV and Disney. But it also produced The Twilight Zone and the House Committee on Un-American Activities and shopping malls – to say nothing of Motown music and Las Vegas gambling.  

Covering this and much else – I don’t intend to precis the entire (if short) book – this is a fast, high-level and broad brush look at American culture from its earliest days to the edge of the 21st century. For those paying attention I don’t think you’ll learn much new here. We’ve been drowning in American culture, from Coca-Cola to Hollywood blockbusters for generations now. But this does provide some structure to the outpouring and, as is often the case, a more than decent Bibliography to dig deeper into the subject if so desired. As both a long-time fan, and long-time critic, of American culture I shall be doing just that. More to come. Reasonable.        

Happy Birthday: Robert Dennis Harris CBE (born 7 March 1957) is a British novelist and former journalist. Although he began his career in journalism and non-fiction, he is best known for his works of historical fiction. Beginning with the best-seller Fatherland, Harris focused on events surrounding the Second World War, followed by works set in ancient Rome. His later works are varied in settings but are mostly set after 1870.

Several of Harris's novels have been adapted into films, including The Ghost Writer (2010) and An Officer and a Spy (2019), for which he co-wrote the screenplays with director Roman Polanski, and Conclave (2024).

After leaving Cambridge, Harris joined the BBC and worked on news and current affairs programmes such as Panorama and Newsnight. In 1987, at the age of 30, he became political editor of The Observer. He later wrote regular columns for The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph.

Harris co-wrote his first book, A Higher Form of Killing (1982), with fellow BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman: this was a study of chemical and biological warfare. Other non-fiction works followed: Gotcha! The Government, the Media and the Falklands Crisis (1983) covering the Falklands War; The Making of Neil Kinnock (1984), a profile of Kinnock just after he became leader of the Opposition; Selling Hitler (1986), an investigation of the Hitler Diaries scandal; and Good and Faithful Servant (1990), a study of Bernard Ingham, press secretary to Margaret Thatcher while she was prime minister.

[Harris is an auto-buy for me. I've either read or at least own most of his novels including Fatherland (1992), Enigma (1995), Archangel (1998), Pompeii (2003), Imperium (2006), The Ghost (2007), Lustrum (2009), The Fear Index (2011), An Officer and a Spy (2013), Dictator (2015), Conclave (2016), Munich (2017), The Second Sleep (2019), V2 (2020), Act of Oblivion (2022), Precipice (2024), Agrippa (2026). I've enjoyed everything I've read by him with one notable exception. But I haven't let that put me off reading more. I'll just stick to his historical novels!]

Just Finished Reading: Confessions by Saint Augustine [347pp] 

If you have read as widely as I have (or for as long) you couldn’t help but hear about this classic work – in more sense than one – of early Christian text. Like most other such work I had, until recently, no intention of actually reading it. Surprisingly I did, however, find another foundational text The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius more than a little interesting, though mostly because of the quality of its writing and its philosophy. So, why did I choose to read this? Essentially, I discovered that Stephen (over at Reading Freely) was doing a re-read and thought it might be interesting adding myself to any group doing so (it actually ended up with just the two of us) adding an Atheist perspective to the reviews and, presumed, debate. 

So, what did I think? It all started with an age-old philosophical debate on the question “Who was I before I was born?” Which can be a fun debate before you start adding science and what we understand about reproduction – human or otherwise. No conclusions were reached (no surprise there) because what debate could exist was happening in a factual vacuum. It wasn’t long after that we reached the first significant speed bump when the author said: “For it is better for them to find you [God] and leave the question unanswered than to find the answer without finding you.” This goes against my fundamental beliefs and my suspected problem with the text became a confirmed one. 

The text however was scattered throughout by interesting things. One thing I did find interesting was just how LONG it was before Augustine was baptised despite his mother being a Christian. I had presumed (wrongly?) that baptism took place ASAP after birth to ensure the child’s entry to Heaven if, in all too many cases, s/he died in the first weeks/months of life. [Side note: Although both my brother & I were christened as infants I have a distinct memory of my sister WALKING to her christening in her best outfit]. 

Augustine spent a great deal of time talking about his youth and student experiences in Carthage. It sounded pretty normal to me – hanging out with questionable people, having ‘fun’ at others expense, drinking too much, gaming and chasing women. Although I did think that some of his ‘acting out’ was for the attention maybe his parents (and especially his mother) seemed not to have given him. 

At this point I started skimming bits. The CONSTANT praising of God at the beginning and end of every paragraph or section got increasingly tedious very quickly. Even the occasional good metaphor didn’t really help here. 

One thing did surprise me - already in his late 20’s he had been aware that his understanding of things was inadequate and deeply lamented the idea. Yet... he seems to have made only minimal efforts to seek the truths he was looking for. Despite having access to documents from some of the best thinkers of the age – either owning them already or having access to them through friends – he was ‘too busy’ to read them and then debate others with what he had found. That seems a little odd especially when I have been reading everything I could get my hands on for the last 50+ years in that self-same quest. His supposed motivation didn’t really match his actual effort. 

Probably the highlight of the entire book (for me at least) was when he delved into Astrology in order to disprove it. He actually ran quasi-scientific experiments which, with some more effort, may have actually been valid. His comments of outcomes of a slave and a ‘middle-class’ man born very close together and at approximately the same time being VERY different as well as the lives of twin brothers (from the Bible I think but the concept of Twin Studies stands) made me both nod in approval and laugh out loud. If only he used this level of reasoning elsewhere! 

Near the end of the book things got very philosophical with debates about Memory, Language and much else. As an introduction to Greco-Roman ideas, it might be an interesting source document but wasn’t exactly heavy on content. Yet again the author warned against the danger of being TOO inquisitive and wanting to know things – which was both kind of ironic from such a supposed seeker of Truth and kind of what I expected. This was followed by pretty constant verbal self-flagellation about being unworthy. 

Then we were back to philosophy again with a debate of origins of the Universe. Interestingly the questions mused upon still come up today including what happened BEFORE the Universe came into being. It did catch my eye when he talked about ‘pauses’ or God ‘resting’ between creation events – of course being completely unaware of the HUGE time gaps between the Big Bang, the formation of the Earth and the arrival of humans. Pause just doesn’t do it justice. But as the discussion ranged around the ideas of ‘before’ and ‘after’ there followed a LONG (and pointless) discussion about the nature of time itself. As far as I know, Time can only really be fully discussed (if not completely understood) using mathematics WAY above my paygrade. So, MUCH skimming was done here! 

Lastly there was a rather in-depth series of arguments over semantics in the Bible. Not being an English Lit person, I’ve never (fortunately) undertaken a serious course in textual analysis, so I have no clear idea if the debate in Book XII held any water. So, much skimming etc.. 

As you can probably tell by now (I hope!) I was rather less than impressed by this book. If I hadn’t been buddy-reading with Stephen I most probably would’ve DNF’d it around the halfway mark. Overall, I thought it was very light on content and often only borderline interesting. Skimming bit was definitely a necessity. Apart from the Astrology bit (which honestly made me chuckle) the only thing that stuck with me was the fact that Roman civil servants who converted to Christianity – or at least those mentioned in the book – left public service to pursue their new Religion. This brain drain couldn’t have been a good thing for an already failing Western Empire. I think (not having read it yet) this was one of the factors Gibbon cites in his ‘Decline and Fall’ as a cause of that decline. Maybe he was right? So, definitely not a recommended read from me but might appeal to those less cynical and less atheistic than I am. 

Translated from the Latin by R S Pine-Coffin 

Happy World Book Day! Go READ something - if you're not already!!

Just Finished Reading: 1983 – The World at the Brink by Taylor Downing (FP: 2018) [344pp] 

1983 was another big year for me. After three attempts (yes, I know!) I finally managed to get my ass to (Lancaster) university which I started in October of that year. Unknown to me, and most of the rest of humanity, the world almost ended in nuclear fire just a month later – or so the author suggests in a very well-made argument. 

For anyone who lived through the 80’s one of the things they’ll remember if the turbulence and uncertainty around just about everything. It was not the most stable of times. With Reagan in America and Thatcher here the neo-cons were having a field day with the economy and (radical) change was most definitely in the air – except for Russia unless you were talking about the leadership. After Stalin’s death in 1953 Soviet premiers had been coming and going at alarming speed. The thing they had in common was age and their hardline agenda. When Leonid Brezhnev died (in office of course) in 1982 he was replaced by ex-KGB chief Yuri Andropov who died in 1984, to be replaced by Konstantin Chernenko who died the following year, to be replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev who presided over the end of the Soviet Union. Next exactly a stable period in global politics. 

The Soviets had over this time much bigger fish to fry. They were more than aware that a stagnating economy and massive defence spending could not long coexist. But at the same time Reagan was increasing US defence spending in eye-watering amounts. With the proposed deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe as well as cruise missiles in the UK (I remember going on student demonstrations about them!) the Soviets were becoming terrified about a NATO first strike to decapitate their leadership before a proper response could be attempted. The only possible course of action once this became a reality was to fire first. As tensions rose on both sides – although FAR more on the Russian one – they intended to do just that. 

In deep ignorance of Soviet thinking at this time the Americans continued to ‘poke the bear’ in speeches and in regular violations of Soviet airspace which, as some of you will remember, resulted in the shooting down of Korean airline KAL 007 when it (for still mysterious reasons) entered restricted Soviet airspace on 1st September of that year. To add fuel to the fire, if such was needed, global tensions increased further with the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut on October 23rd. Premier Andropov with his KGB hat firmly in place was becoming daily more convinced that an attack was coming and all of the intelligence his agents throughout the west were feeding back seemed to confirm it. Then came the straw that almost broke the camel's back – a War Game. 

On 7th November Exercise Abel Archer 83 began. It was an exercise that NATO had run before and its primary function was to test systems and people in the event of a nuclear exchange. This year, 1983, a few new wrinkles had been added. Where possible actual world leaders were involved and code systems were changed at certain points in the exercise to simulate real conditions. The Soviets, already deeply paranoid at this point, half convinced themselves that the ‘exercise’ was simply a cover for an actual attack and took a range of precautions in response including having both fighters and nuclear armed bombers on runways ready to go and the dispersal of around 50% of its mobile nuclear missiles across the East. You can imagine what might have happened if something had gone wrong and someone, somewhere, in good faith pushed the button...  

I’d never heard of any of this before. I knew, as we all did living under the threat of instant annihilation, that the threat level fluctuated and them sometimes you could actually taste the tension in the air, but I never appreciated how close that near miss was in late 1983. It was, according to the author, closer than during the Cuban Missile Crisis partially because it was, effectively secret (or unappreciated) until much later. We dodged a bullet without even knowing. Well written and well-argued this might very well keep you up at night. It certainly enhanced my knowledge of that period of the Cold War and made me appreciate just how lucky I was FINISHING my degree with the world still intact. The only (slight) niggle I had was the authors moderately irritating habit of repeating himself a little too much for my liking. Apart from that this was a solid read and is, therefore, definitely recommended for all Cold War fans. 

As its St David's Day....