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Trouble at’ Mill

Monday, May 31, 2021

Notes on the life (and afterlife) of JS Mill, philosopher . The classical liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill was born and died this month – in, respectively, 1806 and 1873 – and in between he wrote (or co-wrote, with his wife, and then his step-daughter) On Liberty, Utilitarianism, Principles of Political Economy, Considerations of Representative Government, […]

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Amazon Kindle, Avignon, Bertrand Russell, bookshops, champagne, Charles Darwin, Colombo, death, Dilsiri Welikala, economics, education, Edward 'Clerihew' Bentley, Eliza Jarvis, Falkland Islands Radio Service, finance, Florence Nightingale, France, Frederick Langmead, furniture, GF Watts, Greek, Harriet Taylor Mill, health, Helen Taylor, Homer, housing, James Mill, Jean-Henri Fabre, Jeremy Bentham, John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Journalism, Joy Lo Dico, Kalpitiya, Latin, Matt RIdley, medicine, Millicent Fawcett, Monty Python, obituaries, philosophy, politics, Rupert Jarvis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sri Lanka, the Chapman brothers, the East India Company, the Falklands, the London Stereoscopic Company, The Spectator, The Times, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, Tom Holland, UCL, Utilitarianism, Vernon Bogdanor, Westminster, women, writing | Comments (0)

Beneath the mountains

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Review of Alexandria: the Quest for the Lost City, by Edmund Richardson. — For The Spectator

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Afghanistan, Alexander (‘the Great’), Alexander Burnes, army, Bagram, Bamiyan, Bengal, Bombay, books, Buddhism, Charles Masson, China, Edmund Richardson, Harappa, Josiah Harlan, Kabul, Kharosthi, London, Macedonia, non-fiction, Pakistan, spies, the British Museum, the East India Company, the Great Game, the Hindu Kush, The Spectator, tigers, war, William Loveday | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Sebastian Posingis

Sunday, August 9, 2020

The globetrotting architectural photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged air travel, Architectural Digest, architecture, Batticaloa, Dominic Sansoni, Elle Decor, Financial Times, flamingos, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, islands, Jaffna, Kalpitiya, photography, Richard Simon, Sebastian Posingis, serendipity, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), tennis, Thailand, the UK, tsunami, Vanity Fair | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Thusith Wijedoru

Sunday, July 12, 2020

The Sri Lankan sports photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged advertising, Alex Hales, Australia, Bangladesh, Carlsberg, Chandrishan Perera, cricket, England, Hong Kong, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, New Zealand, Percy Abeysekera, rugby, security, South Africa, sport, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Thusith Wijedoru, Tillakaratne Dilshan, United Arab Emirates | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Kesara Ratnavibhushana

Sunday, June 28, 2020

The Sri Lankan artist and photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged Aishwarya Rai, architecture, Arthur C Clarke, Barbara Sansoni, canals, Canning Town, Chamber Music Society of Colombo, CHOGM, death, fire, Galle Literary Festival, Geoffrey Bawa, Keir Hardie, Kesara Ratnavibhushana, London, Mahela Jayawardene, photography, police, Pune, reportage, SHUNT, Sunday Times (SL), weddings | Comments (0)

The Pelican

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Or; Some Further Notes Towards the Bestiary To the researches of the antiquary and scholar Jorge Luis ‘Vintage’ Borges, a few points offer further context on that most peripatetic of birds in this, our present century. . Learned reports come from South Asia, where the spotted-bill Filipino pelican (phillipensis) is found, with no small irony, only in Cambodia, the Indian peninsular, and in Sri Lanka (or the contemporary […]

Filed in Fictions | Also tagged America, animals, army, babies, basketball, Borges, British Library, Cambodia, Captain Scott, children, Colombo, Corpus Christi College, daughters, death, Egypt, employment, fables, food, Gartagena, General John Guise, Hebrew, hieroglyphs, Horapollo, Jesuits, John Grisham, Joseph Hall, King Lear, murder, oil, pelican, Post-modern Bestiary, psychology, Roald Dahl, Spain, Sri Lanka, St James's Palace, St James's Park, St Jerome, stupidity, the Bible, The Spectator, Thomas Aquinas, US Supreme Court | Comments (0)

Trouble at t’Mill

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The curious life of John Stuart Mill, philosopher . When JS Mill was born, his father, James, challenged a friend to ‘race with you in the education of… the most accomplished and virtuous young man.’ That other child has not gone down in history – but he may well have dodged a serious bullet. Learning […]

Filed in feature, Journalism | Also tagged Avignon, Bertrand Russell, Blackadder, crime, education, Edward 'Clerihew' Bentley, England, fathers, Florence Nightingale, France, Greek, James Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Milton, Journalism, JS Mill, love, Milicent Fawcett, Monty Python, philosophy, Poetry, politics, Reading, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Smith, sons, the East India Company, the Liberal Party, The Spectator, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Thomas Carlyle, UCL, Utilitarianism, women's suffrage, Wordsworth | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, November 4, 2019

. The Government of India collects about £7,000,000 from the sale of opium. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Thursday, July 19 1906 . Jacob Zuma is the only black South African president never to lift the rugby world cup. At Morrisons, your opinion gets rewarded with a £500 voucher. Vegetarianism, which is based on false hypotheses and ideas, […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged basketball, blindness, Canada, CENS, children, construction, cookies, death, democracy, drugs, Dublin Zoo, fathers, fruit, government, Jacob Zuma, lions, Mahler, money, Morrisons, Necessity, Nelson Evening Mail, news, philosophy, property, Rugby World Cup 2019, satire, sex, South Africa, the Soviet Union, trees, vegetarianism, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne | 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, books, California, cats, coffee, construction, Devon, emotions, Ethiopia, garlic, George Best, George III, horticulture, hygiene, 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)

A biographical note on Duncan Grant (apropos one of those Facebook challenges that do the rounds occasionally)

Monday, March 4, 2019

A weapons-grade Bloomsburyist, Duncan Grant (1885-1978) spent much of his early childhood in India (natch), where his grandfather had been Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. He ‘became interested in Japanese prints’ while still at prep school. After attending St Paul’s, Westminster School of Art and the Slade School – interspersed with stints in Italy and France, of […]

Filed in Non-fictions | Also tagged Abyssinia, art, Bengal, Bloomsbury, Clive Bell, David Garnett, Duncan Grant, fancy dress, France, Horace de Vere Cole, Italy, Leonard Woolf, painting, portraits, Royal Navy, St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's School, The Slade School, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Westminster School of Art, WWI, WWII | Comments (0)