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
Postcard from Lille, Part 41
There’s a very good story about Alan Hansen, who played for football Liverpool and Scotland in the days when Liverpool were winning European competitions (some things never change) and Scotland were qualifying for World Cup [more…]
Arts
The History Of Christmas Number Ones 1952 – 1999, Part One: 1952 – 1975
Holy mince pies and brandy butter Batman! Is it bauble and tinsel time again already? It seems like we just got the last of the pine needle out of the carpet and here we go [more…]
Arts
In Praise of Mono-Culturalism
What is “monoculturalism”? Take a trip around the internet and you’ll find out that monoculturalism is defined as “the cultivation of a single crop in a given area”. That’s all well and good and the [more…]
Arts
Home Alone
This Christmas Day I shall dine alone, in fact hopefully, I will spend the whole day with the single person that I trust the most in the entire world, myself. No let downs, no drama, [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Lille, Part 40
Later on, I was sent to International Business School to brush up, get myself up to date, match my experiences to theory and get some of (what I now know to be) ‘competences and resources’ [more…]
Arts
Dill and Coriander Gravlax
Here’s a recipe for that can be used for Christmas – we use it all the year round. I prefer Gravlax to smoked salmon – it’s cheaper and very moreish. I always wait until the [more…]
Arts
Writing and Publishing a Novel
In life you meet many people who say they have a novel that they want to write, but how many ever even start, let alone finish? A tiny percentage I would guess. I know someone [more…]
Arts
Preventing age and ageing? Better not, sez I!
I’m old. I should therefore welcome all news about the latest wonder drugs which are claimed to stop ageing or even reverse it. Allegedly. Well – they would if you’re a mouse. If you don’t [more…]