Oddly, this is a blog page on a website dedicated to Eldred Pottinger, the Hero of Herat and the Coward of Kabul, spy, soldier, hostage, lover…
It is here to drum up interest in a book I’ve written about Eldred and the trials he faced when he went into Afghanistan as one of the first Europeans to venture across the Khyber Pass and into the more-or-less unknown.
If you read the book, you’ll get a good idea of why the incompetence of Brexit is nothing new. Indeed, given the incompetence of the top bananas in the British East India Company in the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, it’s a wonder Britain ever managed to run a whelk stall, let alone an empire.
The book comes out in March. If you’re reading this, let me know what you think of this site and whether you might be interested in the novel itself. Ta