"Cadets. Many cultures expel their young males at your stage of hormonal development into the wilderness, to mature on their own ... or die . We are not one of them. Currently." A Vulcan instructor shuts down an argument between two testosterone-fuelled cadets in the second episode of "Star Fleet Academy."

The novelist Len Deighton, author of Spy novels like "The Ipcress File," dystopian alternative history novels like "SS-GB" and a couple of superlatively detailed and accurate war novels, "Fighter" and "Bomber," has died at the age of 97. Born in 1929, he was a boy in London during the blitz, and once discovered an air-raid shelter which had been hit and contained 20 bodies. Another memory from the war which influenced his writing came when Special Branch raided the house next door and arresting his neighbour, a 38-year-old Russian emigre named Anna Wolkoff. She had fled to England in 1917 after the Revolution, with her parents. Secretly, she was a Nazi spy. Among her targets was the US ambassador, Joseph Kennedy. Wolkoff was sentenced to ten years for relaying secrets to Berlin. After the war, he served in the RAF before studying art at St Martin's College in London and the Royal College of Art. He spent a year as a cabin steward with the air...

"What do you do when after 444 lifetimes of grinding the faces of the poor, despoiling civilisation, fighting and killing heroes, you find that being the epitome of evil has become ... boring?   Is there a way for a lord of evil to actually - retire? "  This is the story of how an evil Demon ruler took the path of Cincinnatus. " The Demon Overlord's retirement plan " by MH Foster is one of the funniest science fiction or fantasy novels I've read in the past year or two. It's up there with the best of the " Dumb luck and dead heroes " books by Skyler Ramirez. This is the first part of a trilogy called "A Gentle Apocalypse" which consists of 1) " The Demon Overlord's retirement plan "   (October 2025, available from Amazon at Demon Overlord's Retirement Plan (A Gentle Apocalypse) : Foster, M. H.: Amazon.co.uk: Books ) 2) " Love, Politics, and Other Acts of War "   (January 2026, available at   Love, Politics,...

On this day in 1995, the last clan chief in history known to have led his men into battle died at the age of 83. Simon Fraser, the 15th Lord Lovat, was the Chief of Clan Fraser. He was described by Winston Churchill, quoting a phrase from an earlier century, as “ the mildest-mannered man that ever scuttled ship or cut a throat. ” The Scottish Commando chief whom Hitler placed a 100,000 Reichsmark bounty on, dead or alive. He was a well respected man who already had a serious war record before D-Day.  The night before D-Day, Lovat addressed his men. He closed with this: “A hundred years from now, your children’s children will say - they must have been giants in those days.” Then came June 6th, 1944. Sword Beach, Normandy. As Brigadier of the 1st Special Service Brigade, Lord Lovat waded ashore leading 3,000 commandos into hell. And behind him came the sound that made the whole scene unforgettable. The War Office had strictly banned bagpipes in battle. They said it was too conspicuou...

The Grand Admiral has let it be known that he was most disappointed to learn that the Imperial War Museum (IWM) had decided to permanently close the "Extraordinary Heroes" gallery housing Lord Ashcroft's collection of gallantry medals, and others.  When it was opened in November 2010, The Lord Ashcroft Gallery was the Imperial War Museum's first major permanent gallery for ten years, It was paid for by a £5million donation from Lord Ashcroft, and housed the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition containing the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses (VCs). The 164 awards from his collection, which range from the Crimean to the Falklands wars, went on public display for the first time alongside 48 VCs and 31 George Crosses (GCs) already held by IWM. The VC is of course Britain and the Commonwealth’s premier award for extreme gallantry in the face of the enemy, while the GC is Britain’s most prestigious civil decoration.  But in February 2025 IWM announced it was "...