Golf Tango Foxtrot

Amidst all the Waterloo commemoration silliness which played up to Brit nationalism and an anti EU "little England" jingoism I was surely not alone in wondering how differently our history might have played out if Napoleon had won. Would there have been two world wars? Sorley Maclean's poem Two MacDonalds muses on the MacDonald who "shut the gate at Hougoumont while behind it your brother did the spoiling". Lieutenant Colonel James MacDonnell commanded the troops at Hougoumont Chateau.  Attacking French infantry had broken into the farmyard, the key to the entire Allied position.  MacDonnell and a Sergeant of the Coldstream Guards showed great personal bravery by shutting the gates to further French intrusion.   The unfortunate French soldiers who were now trapped INSIDE the Chateau were slaughtered, the only survivor being a Drummer Boy. All the while that the brave Lieutenant Colonel was in action at Waterloo, his brother was looking after the shop...

Ajax Amsterdam is a football team with a proud heritage. A team that was popularly identified with the Jewish community. When I lived in Amsterdam (in the 1980's) the "Golan Shawarma" was my local fast food joint in Staatsliedenbuurt, the neighbourhood I lived in. The flag of Israel was proudly displayed behind the counter, not as I first assumed as support for the Zionist state but for Ajax the football team. The guy who owned the place was Turkish and held no truck for the Zionist state. He loved his football though.  As one walked round the city in these times, many bars and houses would display an Israeli flag to indicate their partially to Ajax. In my last  few brief visits to the city, things are different. It's rare now to see an Israeli flag. Even the Ajax Ultras the self-styled "Super-Jews" (most of whom are not Jewish) seldom fly the flag any more. In November 2024 Ajax hosted Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europe League. In the ensuing riots...