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Not just a load of old bollocks…
Read more: Not just a load of old bollocks…Notes from Japan: 2 In Innsbruck there is a memorial to the Emperor Maximilian in which a series of statues, larger than life, clutter the side walls of a little church. They all represent heroes of one kind or another and are cast in gunmetal black. Curiously, one of them is our own – or… Know More
Bums on seats
Read more: Bums on seatsNotes from Japan:1 Cultural differences have their honeymoon period in the eye of the visitor, during which there can be a clarity of detail that, over time, melts back into the flux of the every day. Living with family members rather than as a tourist enables one to stay clear of the well worn grooves… Know More
In praise of NCIS
Read more: In praise of NCISI don’t like fictional programmes based upon current or recent events. I squirm from a disgust at what we humans do and also because these productions feel like exploitation. Dramatisations of 9-11 or soldiers lives in Iraq or Afghanistan, for example. I wonder about family, friends and acquaintances of those who have suffered. When it… Know More
Im-Putin-g the Russian Bear
Read more: Im-Putin-g the Russian BearThe appalling death of Alexander Litvinenko, amid a trail of polonium-210 residues has led many commentators to talk of a new Cold War. Fortified by its gas and oil, Putin’s Russia is chesting it out with all its clients, neighbours and global partners. Its hard-nosed attitudes and complete lack of empathy for other traditions is… Know More
Carbon guilt
Read more: Carbon guiltIs it just me or is this continual barrage of guilt-making publicity about how each of us is killing the planet beginning to pall? The ordinary person appears to have become the major target and repository of cause and effect syndrome. I catch a plane. Have I planted a tree as a consequence? Do all… Know More
Banksy and George Melly
Read more: Banksy and George MellyThere is much debate about Banksy in the Art World. In today’s Guardian, the critic Jonathon Jones gives a somewhat sniffy and disparaging account of Banksy’s work and its place in the territory that the apparatchiks of high art assume for themselves. He mentions the fact that young people rated Banksy third in the list… Know More
Tony Blair: the last days
Read more: Tony Blair: the last daysSo, the guitar and all the other bits of glitz are leaving Number Ten. Greyer, no wiser, and underlining his status as a populist Prime Minister, Tony exchanged his last major PM photo-calls and sound bytes with Arnie Schwarzenegger. No doubt they discussed their respective roles in the Terminator films and how closely life has… Know More
Brasyl
Read more: BrasylOn a lighter but much happier note, I”d like to recommend a book to all readers of this blog! Brasyl is science fiction and high literature and contains pleasing explorations of quantum physics, parallel universes, many selves and three narrative timelines. Ian MacDonald should be revered here because, as in his last book, Rivers of… Know More
Is the Pope a Catholic?
Read more: Is the Pope a Catholic?No more than Tony Blair, apparently. Our almost late Prime Minister has been genuflecting in public and then private for maybe thirty years. Why didn’t he make it a public talking point? After all he does that with most things, doesn’t he? Actually, no. I remember now. He uses every means to conceal, selectively promote,… Know More
The operation was a success but the patient died…
Read more: The operation was a success but the patient died…The chances of becoming more diseased in UK hospitals has increased, according to hospital self-assessments released today. MRSA and its fearsome ilk propagate virulently, in unwashed corners of wards, equipment and hands. Why? It goes like this. Once, hygiene was recognised as the major combatant against diseases spreading. Bugs could be, literally, washed down the… Know More