Ms Russell’s opinion
|February 22, 2008|
Who knew that our Ms Russell reads the Guardian? Here’s the evidence:
In his useful review of Jonathan Steele’s Defeat: Why They Lost Iraq (Review, February 16), Oliver Miles refers to Gertrude Bell as a pro-consul. Is this diplomatic-speak for spy? Bell was an archaeologist who worked for British intelligence in Baghdad from 1917 until her death in 1926, supplying her superiors with names of Iraqis who, she felt, might give them grief. “I’m getting to be rather a dab at Arab politics,” she wrote, “but it doesn’t make them seem the easier.” When will Britain learn?
Mary Russell
Oxford
(With thanks to Barbara for bringing this to my attention.)
Posted in Blog
This delighted me this morning. I have two words — Royal Jelly.
Alice
Both the subject and the tone are wonderfully Russelian. Who knows how many other topics she is still commenting on without us noticing?
Oh…wow…*blinks, reconsiders how the game is played*
I luv it 🙂 .