Put Me Down I'm British: A Reporter's Notebook

Put Me Down I'm British: A Reporter's Notebook

A journey to the frontlines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ,West African wars and the bloody rampages of outlaw bike gangs in Scandinavia along with snapshots of encounters with Salman Rushdie, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Hillary Clinton and European royalty. There’s also a stay with Muslim guerrillas in the hills of northern Liberia and the shock of being bayonetted and arrested by Turkish commandos in occupied northern Cyprus. It is a voyage of self-discovery; of overcoming almost daily challenges and thinking on the hoof while retaining a sense of compassion and a sense of humour. Put me down I'm British is a fascinating book. Particularly reading it at the moment when there is fresh conflict in Israel and the middle-east. Written by Stephen Weizman, a former Reuters journalist...It focuses initially on the Palestinian intifada in 1987 and provides a balanced view of the bloody battles, albeit through personal accounts. "I wished the Israelis the courage to make a meaningful and realistic peace offer and wished the Palestinians the wisdom to accept something below their expectations as a foundation to build on....The world is still waiting." The book also covers Weizman's work in Liberia, Zaire and Congo, as well as gang warfare in Scandinavia and reporting on the border in Cyprus where he suffers a stabbing. He suffers personal injuries and near death experiences as well as bans on his reports and public humiliations at the hands of the governments not wanting the truths to be published. It feels like a battle not many people would have continued, not for a career and not for the truth. This is a fascinating book about conflicts, told by someone who lived through them. The complexities of conflicts and the interconnected politics is bewildering. So the personal accounts of incidents in his life during this period help to bring the events to life and help them make sense to the reader. A must for anyone interested in current events to understand the context of them. Emily Thompson - Discovery