The final leg of the South Downs Way, from Alfriston to Eastbourne via the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head #southdownsway #sevensisters #beachyhead

My latest long-form post, together with the accompanying photographic record, describes our week-long walking holiday in Italy's Cinq Terre. We hiked the trails between the five historic villages, and visited some of the most beautiful spots along Italy's Ligurian coast.

Some unfinished business for Tracy on the very first leg of the #SouthWestCoastPath, which has changed greatly since I walked it in 2017. Plus a section of the #WestSomersetCoastPath for good measure.

Two Serious Ladies (1943) by Jane Bowles: a cultish curiosity or an undisguised classic?

Here's a new #Dracup family history post, exploring the convoluted marital history of Arthur Dracup (1887-1975). It explores diverse issues including female pickpocketing; the impact of WW1 on sexual behaviour and female employment; and misrepresentation on birth certificates and census returns.

We really have been dawdling along the Thames Path, a project we began seven years ago, in 2019. Earlier this month we squeezed in a day trip, completing the section from Maidenhead to Datchet. There is so much to see on this comparatively short stretch of the River. timdracup.com/2026/04/21/t...

It was high time we returned to the Thames Path. This is my account of a one day walk from Maidenhead to Datchet, a section that is steeped in history but with several contemporary touches.

But the fact remains that Starmer wanted Mandelson appointed at the time, thinking he'd be the pre-eminent 'Trump whisperer'. And of course he was... It is only belatedly that Starmer has come to realise that toadying to Trump in that fashion is morally wrong, and not benefiting this country either.

And now Starmer reveals that he asked Cabinet Secretary Wormald review the full Mandelson appointment process in September 2025 and Robbins STILL didn't tell Wormald the fact of Mandelson's failure to pass developed vetting. It will be interesting to hear Robbins explain why not tomorrow.

That's even before he - Robbins - allegedly then decided to keep shtum during the entire humble address furore. That stretches credulity even further.

Starmer would have us believe that, two weeks into post as FO Perm Sec, not only did Robbins decide not to tell his Foreign Secretary, Lammy, that Mandelson had failed vetting, he also kept this information from his Cabinet Secretary boss Chris Wormald. That stretches credulity beyond all limits.

This latest book review deals with 'Underworld' (1997) by Don DeLillo.

This mishmash of contradiction and hyperbole is desperation writ large. Trump increasingly resembles Kurtz, corrupted by power. Bombing Iran to smithereens isn't some third way out of his self-inflicted dilemma. It's a vicious war crime. In attacking a pariah state, the US is fast becoming one.

He's angry at himself really, isn't he? And, though half deranged, he's still self-aware enough to know that his own hubris led him into making such a catastrophic mistake. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

The cost mounts daily, as does the case for other nations to demand reparations from the US, to compensate for the huge costs of this illegal war. Meantime, despite our own financial pain, we can enjoy Trump's impotent rage, for he is still impaled on the twin horns of a dilemma he alone has forged.

I hear that all other NATO members will be pressing for reparations from the US, equivalent to the impact of its foolhardy illegal war upon their economies.

It may end up a Pyrrhic victory, economically speaking, but Trump is now hoist by his own petard. He has no good choices: either a humiliating climbdown via negotiation, where Iran holds all the cards, or losing military lives in a risky ground invasion that will likely escalate into a forever war.

In late February we spent a week with HF Holidays near Derwent Water in the Northern Lake District. timdracup.com/2026/03/20/n... #HFholidays #HFDerwentBank #HFNorthernLakeDistrict #Penrith #Keswick #CapBells #GrisedalePike #CauseyPike #Buttermere #DerwentWater #CrummockWater

During a difficult and stressful time, immediately following a family bereavement, we spent a week with HF Holidays near Derwent Water in the Northern Lake District. The overwhelming natural beauty was occasionally an assuaging balm though, all too often, made abrasive by tempestuous wind and rain.

Trump is on the ropes now, ducking and weaving. His punches have no weight. The only way he can escape is by landing low blows, like sacrificing Ukraine to Russia maybe. Keep throwing punches. Don't let him escape. Be vigilant for incoming low blows. If he resorts to them, be sure to reciprocate.

The Chagossian Double Volte Face isn't a new ice-skating manoeuvre, but the latest sign that the most powerful man in the world has completely lost his marbles.

Braverman as Reform's education spokesperson...for crying out loud. Enough with this buffoonery!

Orchidry XIV

Orchidry XIII

Orchidry XII

Orchidry XI

Our 2026 walking programme commenced with the stretch from Plumpton to Alfriston on the South Downs Way. It was a memorable excursion for many reasons, by no means all of them positive.

The Kites – Romain Gary Romain Gary (1914-1980) was born Roman Leibovich Kacew in Vilnius, then part of the Russian Empire. His parents, both Jewish, divorced in 1925. After periods in Moscow and Warsaw, he and his mother arrived in Nice. He studied law before joining the French Air Force in 1938,…

timdracup.com has had a makeover for 2026! Free, meticulously researched longform writing, exclusively by humans. Specialising in #dracup #familyhistory #ukwalkingtrails including #southwestcoastpath #northdownsway #southdownsway and #thamespath and 'the road less travelled' in #englishliterature

It should be compulsory for anyone who posts a paywalled link on here to say it's paywalled in their post. It's good social media etiquette and it would save us all a great deal of wasted time. For the avoidance of doubt, all my writing is free to read - and will remain so. timdracup.com

That Was 2025 on timdracup.com Two last expeditions to the South West Coast Path Walking holidays in the Lake District, Swiss Alps and Gran Canaria 12 Ouroboros episodes about music that's important to me and 15 book reviews too Old school; long-form; no paywalls! timdracup.com/2025/12/23/t...

Winkworth Arboretum

Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man – Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was born in Lübeck, Germany. His father was a wealthy Lutheran grain merchant; his mother, a Brazilian-born Roman Catholic with German and Portuguese ancestry. When his father died in 1891, the family moved to…

This twelfth and final post in my Ouroboros cycle is dedicated to 'Sadou' by Le Grand Maitre Franco et le TPOK Jazz. #FrancoLuambo #TPOKJazz #Sadou

Second and final part of a family history post about the not-so-humdrum lives of Henry Dracup, his wife, five children and assorted grandchildren. By emigrating to the United States, circa 1880, did Henry boost the living standards of his family and descendants, or did he set them back?

This is the first of a two-part study of four Dracup siblings who migrated with their families to the United States between 1890 and 1910. It explores what became of them, their children and their grandchildren. It complements an earlier study of four more siblings who chose to remain in England.

Ouroboros 10: 'Cantique' by Kanda Bongo Man, from his 1989 album 'Kwassa Kwassa'. It was originally recorded in 1987 and features 'Machine Gun', aka guitarist Diblo Dibala, at his superlative best.

'Disgrace' by J.M. Coetzee won him the Booker in 1999 and clinched him the Nobel Prize for English Literature in 2003., but is it any good?

Courtesy of Saga, we enjoyed an amazing walking holiday in the stunning island of Gran Canaria, staying well away from the touristic hotspots and visiting instead many unspoilt areas of outstanding natural beauty.

William Trevor's second novel is a tragicomic miniature; almost a masterpiece.

It Can’t Happen Here – Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was born in rural Minnesota, the youngest child of a doctor. When he was six, his mother died and his father remarried. Lewis attended Yale, graduating in 1908, after which he worked as editor for a variety of newspapers and…

Ninth in this series of twelve posts about pieces of music that form 'the soundtrack of my life'. This one was released in 1967, shortly after the 'Summer of Love'. It was written by Mike Nesmith before he became a Monkee and sung by Linda Ronstadt before she became a solo star.

My final post in the 'South West Coast Path' series. For this last section, we based ourselves in Swanage, walking from Osmington Mills to South Haven Point (Poole Harbour) where the Coast Path ends.

Ouroboros 8: Black Diamond Bay by Bob Dylan Eighth in my Ouroboros series, about pieces of music I particularly value. This time round it's 'Black Diamond Bay', from Bob Dylan's 1975 album 'Desire'.

Portrait in Brownstone – Louis Auchincloss Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010) was born into a privileged family of businessmen, lawyers and stockbrokers. Though, according to him, the Auchincloss menfolk owed their wealth, not to inheritance, but to advantageous marriages and their personal acumen. He…

The seventh in my series of twelve posts, each exploring a piece of music I love. This month it's disco, as represented by Sister Sledge, but reimagined by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. 'Thinking of You'.

Penelope Fitzgerald – Offshore Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000) was born Penelope Knox, her parents being Edward Knox, a poet and later Editor of 'Punch' and Christina, nee Hicks, daughter of the Bishop of Lincoln. She graduated from Somerville College, Oxford in 1938, and in 1942 married Desmond…

In early July we spent a week in the Bernese Oberland, based at Adelboden. We were on a group walking holiday with HF Holidays. This is the record of our adventures.

Penelope Lively – Heat Wave Dame Penelope Lively was born Penelope Margaret Low in Cairo, Egypt, in 1933, to Roger Low, a bank manager, and Vera, nee Greer. When her parents divorced in 1945, her father sent her to an English boarding school, from which she proceeded to St Anne's College, Oxford,…

South Downs Way: Washington to Plumpton, with an overnight stop at YHA Truleigh Hill. timdracup.com/2025/07/11/s... Old school long-form writing, open access, no subscriptions #southdownsway