Flat Earth: Looking homeward

ECHOES of Kipling and of dominion over pine and palm waft to us from faraway Medicine Hat, Alberta, where last week almost 100 Tommies ended up brawling fearlessly with one another and with the locals in a bar in the centre of town. The incident prompted some local bars to ask British commanders to make them off-limits.

But the owner of the bar where the fight broke out is far more understanding of our lads and their nostalgia for Merrie England: 'These guys spend a lot of money in Medicine Hat and we hope we have a place they can call a home away from home,' said Jeff Wenaas, the sounds of breaking glass slowly fading in the summer night.