Arts
The Year Turns, Part 1
In this series of articles, I’d like to meander through the roots of some ancient customs, beliefs and rituals that have shaped our culture. Many are still followed, though sad to say, a growing number [more…]
Arts
20th Century
A History of Pop Music – Albums 1963
Featured Album: Please Please Me – The Beatles This is a series of articles looking at albums from 1960 to whatever year we end up in. I will select a featured album for each year [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Question Time Review
Question Time 29th October 2020 Panel: Chris Philp (Conservative) Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour) Marie van der Zyl (Board of Deputies of British Jews) Anthony Scaramucci (Former Trump Advisor) Bonnie Greer OBE (Writer) Venue: Lincoln This week, [more…]
Arts
Going Postal with Question Time
Graphic EJ – Updated by Sam. Fiona Bruce presents another hour of BBC politics. On the panel are: Chris Philp MP, Home Office minister, conservative; Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, shadow home secretary, Labour; Anthony Scaramucci, American [more…]
Arts
The (Postwar) Fall of France, Part Two
The black and beur (French-Arab) communities have always had complicated ties with France. The early waves of European immigrants — the Italians, the Spanish, the Poles — came from proud, independent peer cultures, and the [more…]
Arts
Death, why are we so frightened of it?
There is one thing sure, death & taxes. We are all going to die, we all know that don’t we ? There are no exceptions. It is why we have car insurance (we might crash) [more…]
Arts
In Defence of the ‘Diversity Coin’
For anybody who may have missed it, in October 2020 a new ‘Diversity Built Britain’ coin was unveiled on the UK public sector information website GOV.UK to mark “the profound contribution minority communities have made [more…]
Arts
Always Worth Saying’s Presidential Debate Review
Presidential Debate 22nd October 2020 Contestants: President Donald J Trump (Republican) Former Vice President Jo Biden (Democrat) Venue: Nashville, Tennessee Tennessee sits in ‘rattle through’ as well as ‘fly over’ America. Your humble author has [more…]
Arts
The Swaling, Part Twenty Six
The first rule of diplomacy is to be nice to everybody all of the time, especially at Singapore’s social event of the season, the British High Commissioner’s annual bash. Even when cornered by North Korea’s [more…]