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NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, September 30, 2019

. Football was a crime in England during the reign of Henry VIII. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Tuesday, October 2 1906 . The moon is up for longer than the sun. Your antivirus expires in 29 days. The Dogmata Theologica of Petavius are a work of incredible labour and compass. The steep limestone walls of a […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged America, anatomy, astronomy, eggs, England, expectoration, football, geology, health, Henry VIII, homosexuality, humanity, law, money, Nelson Evening Mail, Oscar Wilde, pachyderms, Petavius, religion, Russians, satire, scholarship, Sri Lanka, the Chinese, university, war | Comments (0)

The future starts… in Brighton

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Review of John Higgs’ The Future Starts Here: Adventures in the Twenty-First Century. — For Geographical

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Brighton, dystopias, Elon Musk, futurology, Generation Z, Geographical, John Higgs, Mad Max, Mars, Millennials, mythos, non-fiction, Quentin Tarantino, social media, Star Trek, trees, Universal Basic Income, Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, July 29, 2019

. Leather trunks were used in Rome as early as the time of Caesar. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Friday, September 28 1906 . Tilda Swinton has been elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour began outside a kebab shop in Kent. The complete works of James Joyce are available for £0.75. ‘Twirly’ […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged air travel, California, cats, coffee, construction, Devon, emotions, Ethiopia, garlic, George Best, George III, horticulture, hygiene, India, Ireland, James Joyce, Julius Caesar, kebabs, Kent, Kew, leather, Nelson Evening Mail, Rome, satire, sex, Søren Kierkegaard, The Beatles, the Liberal Democrats, Tilda Swinton, World Tiger Day, YouTube | Comments (0)

Ivory-tower thinking

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Review of Future Cities: Architecture and the Imagination, by Paul Dobraszczyk. — For Geographical

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged architecture, art, film, Geographical, non-fiction, Paul Dobraszczyk, Reaktion Books, Royal Geographical Society, slums, the future | Comments (0)

All good things must come to an end

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Some Trick: thirteen stories by Helen DeWitt New Directions, £22.95, pp.197 Certain American States by Catherine Lacey Granta, £12.99, pp.190 Hostages by Oisín Fagan Head of Zeus, £8.99, pp.269 Notes from the Fog by Ben Marcus Granta, £12.99, pp.266 The Abyss and Other Stories by Leonid Andreyev Alma Books, £8.99, pp.315 . Only Helen DeWitt […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Alien, Alma Books, Americans, Anglo-Irish, art, Ben Marcus, Berlin, Bertrand Russell, bombs, Britishness, Catherine Lacey, children, coffee, computers, Cotton Eye Joe, crucifixion, death, domestic affairs, footnotes, genius, Granta, handjobs, Head of Zeus, Helen DeWitt, humour, Ireland, Islam, Leon Wieseltier, Leonid Andreyev, linguistics, madness, maths, mental health, music, New Directions, New York, novels, Oisín Fagan, Oxford, painting, parents, plays, Poetry, publishing, revolution, Roy Keane, Russians, short stories, South Park, Spectator, terrorism, the Kaddish, Tolstoy, torture, WWI, xkcd | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE #4

Thursday, November 29, 2018

No alternative facts to see here, people! — For Queen Mob’s Tea House

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged anatomy, army, asbestos, Barbara Cartland, bathrooms, children, dairy, dancing, death, dreams, England, French, George VI, incarceration, insanity, Kaiser Wilhelm, lions, meteorology, music, Nelson Evening Mail, Norfolk Showground, Queen Mob's Tea House, Royal Norfolk Show, rugby, Russians, Saigon, satire, Spinoza, St Leonard, Tacques Tati, the Blitz, the internet, trombone, Tula Province, vodka | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE #3

Thursday, November 22, 2018

A little bit more idiocy from around the global village. — For Queen Mob’s Tea House

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged baseball, beauty, birds, Caucasians, Central Park, China, Communism, death, Fernando Po, fire, grandmothers, Joseph Conrad, knives, MAGA, manufacturing, men, MILFs, Nelson Evening Mail, New Zealand, parenthood, petroleum, politics, PornHub, potatoes, Queen Mob's Tea House, Roxy Jacenko, satire, saxophones, science, teenagers, the internet, the ocean, trivia, University of Iowa, widows, women, Yiddish | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE #1

Thursday, November 8, 2018

A lad named Rogers, and other true-ish stories. — For Queen Mob’s Tea House

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged Alcoholics Anonymous, animals, assassins, babies, Beethoven, Caractacus, China, cricket, crime, Dhingra, Epping, Evelyn Waugh, fireworks, geography, health, heroes, horses, music, Nelson Evening Mail, news, Plutarch, pumpkins, Queen Mob's Tea House, race, Rain Men, Regulus, sailors, satire, shit, Sweden, taxes, the Bible, the Congo, theatre, Tom McIlwaine, travel, TV | Comments (0)

Did The English Patient send me to Afghanistan?

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Two nights from now, by way of (ahem) a birthday present, I will be attending a live-orchestra screening of The English Patient at the Albert Hall. I had invited an old friend, a raven-haired young lady (named in Debrett’s) of impossibly romantic tendency, who first exposed me to the film in, I’d say, about 1998 […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Afghanistan, Ahmed Hassanein, air travel, American University in Cairo, anatomy, Anthony Minghella, Arabic, army, Banana Republic, bedouin, Benny Goodman, Booker Prize, bookshops, Brighton, Bruce Chatwin, Byron, Canada, Charing Cross Road, Christopher Hitchens, clothing, Debrett's, deserts, Dorset, Egypt, Egyptology, exploration, film, French Foreign Legion, Gabriel Yared, Geoff Dyer, Geographical, Geographical Journal, Herodotus, Hungarian, Hungary, JM Coetzee, John Ball, John Hare, Joseph Conrad, Justin Marozzi, Kensington Gore, Kristen Scott Thomas, László Almásy, London, Long Range Desert Group, Lorenz Hart, love, Michael Ondaatje, mountains, music, novels, Orientalism, Oscar Wilde, Oxford, Picador, plums, Ralph Bagnold, Ralph Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes, Richard Bermann, Robert Twigger, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society, Saul Kelly, Sinai, SOE, song, South Africa, the Himalayas, the Nile, The Oldie, the Sahara, the Western Desert, war, WG Sebald, William Golding, wind, women, WW2, YouTube, Zerzura | Comments (0)

Monty’s trouble

Monday, May 28, 2018

A footsoldier’s review of Antony Beevor’s Arnhem: the Battle for the Bridges, 1944. — For The Oldie

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged 1st Airborne Division, Allied Expeditionary Force, Antony Beevor, army, Arnhem, Britishness, engineering, Field Marshal Montgomery, Flanders, General Bradley, General Eisenhower, General Patton, Germans, history, Holland, Nijmegen, non-fiction, Operation Market Garden, paratroopers, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, the Dutch, The Oldie, the Schutzstaffel, the Wehrmacht, WW2 | Comments (0)