I am 73 and spent four-fifths of my working life in the Australian and British armed forces (my 39 years in uniform produced seven medals that I continue to wear on Armistice day in the so far unrealised hope that they will win me a free coffee somewhere). Service probably ought to have endowed me with a rightwing perspective, although I remain comfortably left of centre – making the Guardian a good fit. I have been reading it since arriving in England in 1969 and I greatly missed it during a period of retirement to Australia.
Our new home is in Retford, Nottinghamshire, where I devote a fair amount of time to local history. Retford has a Sebastopol cannon, one of 30 awarded to towns after the Crimean war for exceptional numbers of local volunteers. This sparked my interest in the forgotten Retford men, whom I hope may yet be recorded at the site of the cannon.
I was attracted to the Guardian by the balance of the reporting, the political stories, and the humour that underlines much of the content. Catherine Bennett’s columns are a must-read and, although atheist, I look forward to Giles Fraser’s Loose canon articles. I especially follow the Middle East coverage and often note the courage with which the editorials censure Israeli excesses in Gaza and the occupied territories. Other editors seem to keep their heads well below the parapet on this.
The Guardian lead on the WikiLeaks and HBSC stories is representative of a sound policy of printing the facts and allowing the readership to decide. Long may it continue.
If you would like to be interviewed in this space, send a brief email to good.to.meet.you@theguardian.com
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