The Barmy Army Explain the Rules of Cricket
Today in Adelaide saw the fifth and final day of the second English-Australian Test cricket match, to the outsider one of the most bewildering sporting...
Category: People
Hearts and Minds
We meet Cam and The Big O on a WWII amphibious landing craft in a coconut grove outside the island’s capital. They are surrounded by...
The Last Soldier
In parts of Halmahera, they remember Teruo Nakamura as the good Japanese. You know. The one who didn’t rape and kill and pillage. Didn’t enslave...
King of the District: Part 2
Governor Hein’s clove cigarette fizzes hypnotically, dipped in the incense, and from the utter darkness the ancestral Moro talks the Tobelo language in an old,...
The King of the District: Part 1
Governor Hein’s people pick us up early. 9.30pm, not 10. It’s a big, slick, maroon people-carrier, a Toyota, I think, not quite as pristine as...
One Man and His Dog: Death of a Serial Killer
It happened during the second gold rush they had, here in Eastern Halmahera, in Indonesia’s Wild East, back in the 90s. When parties of twenty...
Tales from the Moluccas #3: Ibilihi’s Nutmeg
We pick up Ibilihi from his home on a narrow strand of yellow beach, backed by jungle sprouting out of coral cliffs, where he lives...
Tales from the Moluccas #2: Happiness on the Riverbank
Lima has just discovered clothes. Three months ago, in fact. Compared to the itchy bark loincloths he used to wear, they’re remarkably comfortable. An excellent...
Tales from the Moluccas #1: MIA
In the village, they’re still a little mystified as to what happened to Jeff. He was a missionary, you see. At least, he said he...
The Coolest Fairground Worker Ever?
Of all the places in which to find a “UK Funfair”, complete with British registration plates on the lorries, Bintulu, Sarawak, would come pretty low...