Arts
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It is time to light the first candle. #Hope. O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of [more…]
Culture
Arts
The Swaling, Part Thirty One
Sharp elbows approached us across a crowded reception room at the British High Commissioner’s annual bash. Mrs Belinda Wong, of the Wong Address Forwarding Company, myself and my wife, Nicole, wait in anticipation. I’m rather [more…]
Arts
A Christmas Movie that reflects 2020
As a very strange Christmas swings around, we’ll soon start to see a plethora of Yuletide films appear on television. From the great and the good (films like The Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful [more…]
America
Film review: Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder was born in Austria in 1906 , but became a screenwriter in the late 1920s when living in Berlin. Appalled & concerned about the rise of the Nazi Party, he moved to Paris [more…]
Arts
Blotto or Blotter?
Since the Spring of 2020, we’ve all had to forego certain things that were dearer to us than others. I particularly miss live debates and political rallies. The last event I attended was the Brexit [more…]
Arts
Confessions of a campsite courier, Part 1
Background For some of you, the title of this piece has probably resurrected memories of certain quality films from the 1970’s. Here, however, I have used the word “confessions” mainly for alliterative purposes. Not that [more…]
America
Check the Edges, Bite the Middle
Part way between Del Mar (Where the Surf Meets the Turf), Reno (The Biggest Little City in the World), and weird Portland, lies the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California. San Francisco itself is [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Thirty
The Diplomatic Corp are jammed into the reception rooms at the British High Commissioner’s residence at Eden Hall. The weather is against us. Not only is there a swaling wind (from the crop burnings in [more…]
Arts
Stir Up Sunday
The last Sunday before advent begins (22.11) is traditionally known as ‘stir up Sunday’. This is when families would come together to make the mixture for their Christmas Pudding, all taking it in turns to [more…]