Postcard from Bishkek

Back in the autumn of 1962 a film was released which was to have a significant effect on the genre of espionage movies in the West: Dr. No, based on the James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.  Indeed, Bond is not just a Western icon, even here everyone knows about James Bond. Although it was […]

Today, 22nd March, marks World Water Day – and has done so ever since 1993 having been approved as such by the General Assembly the previous year.  The idea of the day is to encourage member nations to implement measures regarding the world’s water resources.  Perhaps one of the most concrete aspects of the day […]

A short while ago, one of my correspondents sent me a link to an article by John Daly on the Jamestown Foundation’s website, China and Kyrgyzstan Discuss Rail Projects, and asked if I could comment … The article is about the discussions that are going on about the possibility of developing the country’s railway system […]

It was a year ago that Chicken Little came to Russia … at about 7:30 in the morning, the dark sky over Chelyabinsk in the Urals brightened, but it wasn’t the dawn breaking … An glowing object appeared in the sky, leaving a white plume in its wake … and was followed by two loud […]

I have absolutely no idea where the phrase comes from … and it seems that I am not alone.  There are several references on line that suggest a link with the ancient Olympic Games … but no-one seems to be able to quote an origin for the catchphrase … I seem to remember Sherlock Holmes muttering […]

Triskaidekaphobia – what mouthful … ! If you split it into its component parts then its meaning becomes immediately apparent: tri, kai, deka and phobia. tri = three, kai=and, deka = ten and phobia = fear of … it’s the name of the fear of the number 13.  For some reason, (apparently tied in with […]

Although Ian is a Scottish name, as far as I am aware I have no Scottish blood flowing through my veins, (however there is some Celtic blood there, because some of my mother’s forebears came from South Wales). I mention my ancestry, (or, at least, my lack of Scottish ancestry), because today happens to be […]

Earlier this week I came across an interesting post on the kloop internet portal …  although the site has a blog in English, this particular post was in Russian – which makes sense because it was really aimed at a local audience.  Even so, I thought it was particularly interesting and well worth sharing with a wider […]

As a former schoolteacher, I always take an interest in news reports about education … so, I was intrigued last December to see a report of a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy addressed by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science who quoted a number of very interesting statistics – another of […]

Over the New Year we got a piece of surprising news … Some enterprising thieves decided to help themselves to a painting hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts.  It seems that a corporate event was being held in the Museum and, once it was over, the curators noticed that a painting, (Crimean Seascape painted […]