Another city, another 50 people murdered by some nutter. This time the city was Christchurch New Zealand, the people who were targeted were Muslim, killed in mosques while praying last Friday (15 March). The person who murdered them will, and should, remain nameless. Back in 2016, soon after a mass shooting in Orlando Florida, I… Continue reading What Jacinda Ardern said
As former Home Secretary Amber Rudd learnt last week, “coloured” is not an acceptable word to describe people of black and minority ethnic background. It is not acceptable here in the UK in 2019, and has not been for many decades, assuming it ever was. I have encountered many people over the years who had… Continue reading Word of the week: coloured
You will be familiar with the work of Ed Sheeran, a staggeringly successful singer-songwriter. His world tour last year grossed more money than any other live tour, $432m according to this piece in the Guardian. Yes, you read that right: four hundred and thirty two million dollars, paid out by people all over the world… Continue reading Sometimes the formula doesn’t work
Rest in peace Dean Ford, who has died in the last few days. He was lead singer of Marmalade, the first Scottish band to reach the top of the UK charts. Their cover of the Beatles song “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da” was #1 exactly 50 years ago, in the first week of 1969. In the days before… Continue reading “Reflections of my life”
Last Friday’s edition of BBC2 quiz show “Mastermind” included the following question: “The name of what form of aerial transport comes from the Greek for spiral and wing?” It was during the final general knowledge round, which you can see at 24:44 on this BBC iPlayer link for the next 26 days. The answer is… Continue reading Word of the week: helicopter
This piece from last week, by Sirena Bergman in The Independent, begins, “Ten years ago I’d never heard the term ‘gaslighting’.” She discusses it in the context of a recent news story regarding two contestants on the most-watched show on UK television, “Strictly Come Dancing”, as you can see by following the link above. The… Continue reading Word of the week: gaslighting
According to this piece in yesterday’s Guardian, “The stricken cakes and café chain Patisserie Valerie is teetering close to collapse after admitting it needed ‘an immediate injection of capital’ to survive.” My immediate thought was that, at the prices they charge, any customer buying half-a-dozen pastries and a couple of large hot chocolates would inject… Continue reading Patisserie Valerie
The website for BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs” has changed. Back in 2016 I referred to “the indispensable ‘Desert Island Discs’ archive” in this piece and included a link to it. That link no longer works. It used to direct you to a page where you could search through every episode of the show… Continue reading “Desert Island Discs” and an unwanted technical change
Well, this is exciting. Earlier this week the Tate Modern began screening “The Clock”, described on the gallery’s website as “a mesmerising masterpiece of contemporary art”. It was created by Christian Marclay, is 24 hours long, and, again in the words of the Tate’s website, “the installation is a montage of thousands of film and… Continue reading “The Clock”: this is where we came in, over and over again
Rest in peace Burt Reynolds, the Hollywood star who has just died, aged 82. I have happy memories of his films; not “Deliverance” of course, terrifying on so many levels, but most of the others, including lesser-known comedies like “Nickeledeon” and “Paternity”. The latter was a much-watched treat in the 1980s, one of the first… Continue reading Burt Reynolds, “Paternity” and something from the bread group
The Compartments 