A S H Smyth › On <i>Uncertain Ground</i>

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Tag Archives: Journalism

On Uncertain Ground

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

In which I, ASH Smyth, High Anglican atheist, descendant of Huguenots, dissenters, Presbyterians, Church of Ireland types, and maybe even Quakers, make my Catholic press debut, on Phil Klay’s Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War. — For The Catholic Herald

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Afghanistan, America, Americans, Barack Obama, books, Catholicism, citizenship, Iraq, Jesuits, John McCain, Libya, movies, Navy Seals, Niger, non-fiction, Pakistan, Penguin, Phil Klay, politics, Somalia, St Ignatius, Syria, The Catholic Herald, Ukraine, USMC, veterans, war, writers, Yemen | Comments (0)

A Hitch in time

Sunday, May 15, 2022

On the late, great Christopher Hitchens, and the role the Falklands may have played in his political development. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged 9/11, Admiral Graf von Spee, Adolf Hitler, Afghanistan, Africa, Alexander Haig, Argentina, Barack Obama, Battle Day, Borges, Britain, Caspar Weinberger, Christopher Hitchens, coffee, Commander Eric Hitchens, conservatives, Cossacks, Covid, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Cyprus, Denis MacShane, Falklands Radio, football, Goose Green, Hector Timerman, Holland, Human Rights Watch, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jacobo Timerman, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Jews, Jorge Videla, La Opinion, Lebanon, Lincoln's Inn, Lt Nick Taylor, Margaret Thatcher, Nazis, New York, Nicholas Henderson, Palestine, Robert Cox, Ronald Reagan, Salman Rushdie, terrorism, The Critic, The Falklands War, the Inquisition, the Junta, the left wing, the Mediterranean, The Nation, The New Statesman, the Pacific, the Royal Navy, The Spectator, the UN, the Union Jack, Ukraine, Washington DC, WWI, WWII | Comments (0)

Insecurities fraud

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Get Rich or Lie Trying: Ambition and Deceit in the New Influencer Economy by Symeon Brown, Atlantic Books, £16.99 . Born when we were born, and embarking on writing ‘careers’ (LOL) just as the web ripped the financial guts out of the paper industry, my idea of a good time is to phone my best […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged 50 Cent, Atlantic Books, Black Lives Matter, books, Cardi B, Channel 4, China, Clubhouse, Covid, crime, cryptocurrency, dropshipping, Facebook, fashion, Fashion Nova, finance, influencing, Instagram, Jordan Belfort, Kylie Jenner, LimeWire, LinkedIn, livestreaming, music, non-fiction, plastic surgery, pyramid schemes, rap, religion, social media, Soulja Boy, Symeon Brown, Texas, The Critic, The Wall Street Journal, TikTok, Tottenham, Turkey, Twitter, YouTube | Comments (0)

To the beat of her own conundrum

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Conundrum by Jan Morris Ukemi Audiobooks read by Roy McMillan . Born in 1926, into Anglo-Welsh upper-middle comfort, James Humphry Morris was educated at Christ Church, Lancing, and Christ Church again, served in the dashing 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers during WWII, climbed much of Everest and broke the news of Hillary and Tenzing’s successful 1953 […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged Adolf Eichmann, audiobooks, cabbies, cars, Casablanca, class, gender, identity, in-laws, Jan Morris, Lancing College, memoir, men, Mount Everest, Oxford, Perspective, Roy McMillan, Suez, surgery, the Olympics, the Queen's Royal Lancers, transsexuals, travel, women, writing, WWII | Comments (0)

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, India, James Mill, Jean-Henri Fabre, Jeremy Bentham, John Milton, John Stuart Mill, 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)

The One That Got Away – Sandranathan Rubatheesan

Sunday, October 18, 2020

The Sri Lankan journalist 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 Anuradhapura, cameras, Chavakachcheri, Colombo, farming, fire, Harold Peiris Gallery, health, Hinduism, hospitals, Jaffna, parents, peacocks, photography, police, Sandranathan Rubatheesan, Sunday Times (SL), Tamils, train-travel, University of Colombo, war | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Munira Mutaher

Sunday, October 4, 2020

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

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged anthropology, army, Belipola, cameras, Colombo Design Market, family, Germany, GIZ, Harold Peiris Gallery. Goethe-Institut, holidays, LTTE, Malaysia, men, Monash, Munira Mutaher, Olympus, Philippines, photography, Ranil Senanayake, Roar Media, Sarah Kabir, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Switzerland, trees, war, work, Yemen | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Malaka Pathmalal

Sunday, September 6, 2020

The Sri Lankan street 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 Anuradhapura, Castle Hotel, Colombo, drugs, food, Galle, Instagram, Jaffna, Japanese, Malaka Pathmalal, Narahenpita, nattamis, Pettah, photography, riots, Roar Media, saints, sex, slums, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), tailoring, teaching, violence, Wanathamulla | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, April 27, 2020

. A banker’s license in the United Kingdom costs £30 per annum. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Friday, July 17 1908 . Sri Lanka has only 500 cases of the Coronavirus. Germany has no elite universities. There are a lot of porno videos featuring Scarlett Johansson’s face. Mexico City is a good place to be an […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged America, army, boys, Chaucer, coronavirus, Danes, education, finance, Genghis Khan, Germany, Hamlet, health, Mexico, Muslims, Nelson Evening Mail, Olympics, pornography, potatoes, satire, Scarlett Johansson, Scooby-Doo, Simone Biles, space travel, sport, Sri Lanka, Søren Kierkegaard, the internet, the Maldives, The Spectator, the UK, writers | 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, India, James Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John Milton, 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)