Memoir, Travel and Working Life | Gerald Bratley Archives -

Why West Yorkshire Historical Fiction Matters

20 September 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A chimney stack, a chapel door and a steep cobbled street can say more about a society than a page of official statistics. West Yorkshire historical fiction has particular power because the county’s past was neither genteel nor uniform. It was made in mills and workshops, on farms and in crowded terraces, in Nonconformist chapels and boardrooms, by families whose prospects could change abruptly with a trade cycle, a war or an injury at work.

For readers who want more than a costume drama set against northern scenery, the best fiction from this landscape offers a way of seeing how industrial Britain actually operated. It can show the pressure beneath prosperity: the discipline of the factory bell, the dependence of a town on one industry, and the sharp distinctions of class that were often visible in the street where a person lived.

Who Benefits from Inherited Wealth in Britain?

12 September 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A house sold at the right moment, a deposit offered without fuss, or school fees paid by grandparents can alter a life more decisively than a modest pay rise. Asking who benefits from inherited wealth is therefore not merely a question about large country estates, titled families or the very rich. It is a question about how advantage is passed on in ordinary British families, often quietly and often long before a will is read.

Inheritance is commonly discussed as a single event at death. In practice, much of its force lies in assistance given during a parent’s lifetime: help with a first home, private education, university costs, an interest-free loan, childcare, introductions to useful people, or the confidence of knowing there is a financial cushion if employment goes wrong. These forms of support do not always appear in official figures, but they can shape an entire working life.

What Makes a 1950s British Historical Novel Work?

17 September 202610 September 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

The Britain of 1953 was not a sepia photograph. It was a country in which a coal fire still dictated the rhythm of a winter day, an outside lavatory was unremarkable in many streets, and the arrival of a television set could alter an evening’s conversation. Yet tractors were changing the countryside, motor cars were becoming more attainable, and younger people were beginning to imagine lives less governed by custom. A 1950s British historical novel has real force when it holds those contradictions in view.

This is not a period best served by ornament. It requires an understanding that post-war Britain was neither wholly austere nor comfortably prosperous; neither frozen in the past nor liberated from it. People lived among institutions, manners and class assumptions that could seem immovable, even as the foundations beneath them were beginning to shift.

Are Electric Vehicles Practical for Britain?

1 September 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A car is not a statement of intent when one is standing in the rain beside a motorway service area, trying to reach a family event, a client meeting or a ferry. It is a working tool. That is the sensible starting point for asking: are electric vehicles practical? For many British households, the answer is already yes. For others, particularly those without home charging or with demanding long-distance travel, the answer remains qualified.

The debate has too often been conducted in absolutes. Enthusiasts sometimes imply that every hesitation is ignorance or resistance to progress. Critics reply as though a difficult charging experience proves the whole technology useless. Neither view is much help to a motorist deciding what to buy for the next five, seven or ten years.

Guide to Export Credit Insurance for Exporters

22 August 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A profitable export order can become a costly lesson if the buyer fails after the goods have left Britain. The paperwork may be correct, the product accepted and the customer well known locally, yet recovery across borders can be slow, expensive or impossible. This guide to export credit insurance explains where insurance fits into sensible export practice, and where it does not.

Export credit insurance is not a substitute for choosing customers carefully, agreeing sound terms or controlling documentation. It is a means of protecting the balance sheet when commercial failure or political events prevent an overseas buyer from paying. Used properly, it gives an exporter more confidence to offer credit and pursue markets that might otherwise appear too risky.

Why Travel Writing From Real Experience Matters

17 September 202615 August 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A hotel lobby at midnight, a missed connection, a meeting changed without warning and a cable sent home after days of silence can tell us more about a country than a polished itinerary. Travel writing from real experience begins there: not with an attractive view, but with the practical reality of being away from home, trying to understand people, institutions and a market that does not operate to British assumptions.

For much of the post-war period, overseas travel for work was neither quick nor frictionless. It involved long journeys, uncertain communications and the personal responsibility of representing a firm, or sometimes a government interest, without an office full of colleagues behind you. That experience deserves to be recorded plainly. It explains how international business was actually conducted and, equally, how travel changes the traveller.

Working Memoirs: What Work Teaches a Life

17 September 202613 August 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A good career may look orderly when reduced to job titles, dates and achievements. The reality is usually less tidy: a lost contract, an unexpected meeting, a difficult posting abroad, a manager who took a chance, or a journey made with too little information and no easy way home. Working memoirs matter because they preserve that reality. They show how professional lives are actually built – through judgement, persistence, error and circumstance.

For readers interested in business, government, engineering or overseas trade, this is more than personal reminiscence. It is a form of practical history. Policies, markets and institutions are often described as though they operate independently of the people within them. A working memoir restores the human element: the individual trying to interpret a market, persuade a customer, manage a technical problem or represent a country under pressure.

Export Is an Adventure, Not a Spreadsheet

11 August 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A cable sent from a hotel desk could take days to produce an answer. A missed connection might add another week to a journey. A prospective customer in a distant market could be the beginning of a lasting contract or a costly waste of time. Export is an adventure, but not in the light-hearted sense sometimes suggested by modern business language. It is an undertaking that tests judgement, stamina and the ability to remain useful when the familiar support of home and office is a very long way away.

For those who entered international trade before digital communications, distance was not an abstract matter. It was physical. It meant long flights, uncertain local arrangements, unfamiliar food, imperfect information and, frequently, weeks or months apart from family. Yet the basic truth has not changed. Selling overseas still asks more of a business than selling down the road. It requires a willingness to understand another country’s commercial habits, institutions and expectations, rather than assuming that a successful British offer will speak for itself. See the authors’ journey in The Export Adventurer

Export Documentation: From Carbon Paper to the Cloud

27 July 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

The way we produce business documentation today bears almost no resemblance to the methods used when I entered international trade.

Today, an invoice can be prepared on a computer, corrected without leaving a trace, converted into a PDF and transmitted to several people around the world within seconds. Identical copies can be printed whenever required, and the electronic original can be stored, searched for and retrieved years later.

In the 1960s, producing export documentation was a considerably more physical—and sometimes exhausting—exercise.

How Exporting Worked Before Digitisation

10 July 20269 July 2026 by Gerald Bratley MCIEx

A young exporter today can send quotations to three continents before breakfast, track a container on a screen at lunchtime and receive payment advice before the day is out. That convenience makes it easy to forget how exporting worked before digitisation. For a long period, overseas trade depended on paper, patience, trusted intermediaries and a good deal of judgement that no software could provide.