Culture

There’s a game to be played with airline names. BA, British Airways, is re-named, ‘Bloody Awful’, Alitalia become ‘Always Late in Take-off and Landing’.  And if you don’t realise SAA stands for ‘Sodding Awful Airline’ then [more…]

Tangled up in the Vizconde massacre investigation, I’m having to lie low in a place called Sipalay on the Island of Negros. I keep myself busy in the provincial home of an extended family, a dynasty founded by eight brothers, whose decedents include the [more…]

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’? If not, as usual, put this nonsense to one side and find a copy. I realised that I wasn’t particularly well read the day I dropped the iPad in the bath. Don’t laugh, it was plugged into the [more…]

Tangled up in the Vizconce massacre investigation and having just escaped from a Filipino jail, I’m now on the run and heading south to lie low long enough to be forgotten about. I have a letter of [more…]

At 5227 San Augustin Street, Makati City, after dark, there were no yellow ribbons for me nor a line of concerned people praying and clutching the rosary. A maid answers the door and looks surprised rather than [more…]

If we’re ever in the same place at the same time, I’m the quiet one standing in the corner, keeping his own council, people-watching, shy (or even just plain rude). I might be in my own little [more…]