“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

The Didact’s Top Ten Posts of 2016

Before anyone says anything, yes, I know, this is some serious navel-gazing, but I don’t do it very often. And it’s my blog anyway. As with past years, the idea here is to present a selection of what I think was my best writing from all of 2016. The...

Super Mario Marriage

Some enterprising chaps with mad programming “skillz” (and probably far too much time on their hands) decided to have a go at creating a video-game depiction of modern marriage. It’s a right hoot, it is: I don’t necessarily agree with...

Clear out the trauma unit…

What happens when a manly man of righteous manliness, whose opinions are completely unfair, unbalanced, and unmedicated, takes on a harpy and a banshee in a single interview? Well… this does. Crank up the sound to full surround, grab a beer in one hand...

The price of female freedom

The New York Times The Carlos Slim Blog Pravda published what they call an “op-doc”, which I suppose is Millennial hipster talk for “first-person documentary”, a few years back featuring a 35-year-old single Argentinian Jewess and...

Ol’ Blood n’ Guts is BACK!

The more I see and hear of the likely future Secretary of Defence of the United States of America, the more I like him: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” – from a speech Mattis delivered to Marines arriving in Iraq in 2003. This...

Thanksgiving

There is a heart in America — a good, deep, loving, and true heart. It’s always been part of our land, from the time the pilgrims first bowed their heads to thank the Lord for His bounty to this day. You only need eyes to see and ears to hear, for there...

“Didact, a few words of comment please?”

Julian Langness, proprietor and author of the excellent blog European Civil War, wrote a book a while back that I read and found to be really rather good. Shortly after I posted my review and comments, Julian got in touch and very graciously asked if I wouldn’t...

And that’s how it’s done, lads

The very first episode of THE GRAND TOUR finally hit Amazon Prime earlier this week, and of course I was practically bouncing off the walls in anticipation when I sat down on Friday night to watch it. I had some idea of what to expect, but what I actually saw...

Victory

It has been a damned nice thing- the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. — Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, to Thomas Creevey on 18 June 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo At long last, brothers, it is done. The God-Emperor has triumphed- and so too...

A prayer before action

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, but...