Saturday, December 25, 2021
‘The Journal of Victor Emmanuel Smyth, made on a Voyage to Australia’ . Ever since I found a battered typescript in my parents’ house, about a decade back, at this time of year my thoughts quite often turn to Victor Emmanuel Smyth (1856-1947), the younger brother of my great-great-grandfather, who in 1875, set out on […]
Thursday, September 2, 2021
Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World by Emma Marris Bloomsbury £20 (hardback) . Stepping slightly sideways from where she left off in Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World, Emma Marris now turns her attention to a series of ‘exercises in practical philosophy’ on the ethics of humans versus(?) wild animals. From […]
Filed in Journalism, review
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Also tagged biodiversity, birds, books, chimpanzees, death, ecology, Emma Marris, ethics, evolution, food, Geographical, Hawaii, nature, non-fiction, philosophy, polar bears, rats, the Arctic, the Royal Geographical Society, veganism, Yellowstone National Park
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On South Africa’s historic 1995 Rugby World Cup win, its aftermath, and the sad death of James Terence Small . On Sunday morning, the first big international rugby fixture – All Blacks vs the Wallabies – was played since Covid halted the Six Nations back in early March. This will be followed by the other […]
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged Andre Joubert, Andrew Mehrtens, apartheid, Australia, Bledisloe Cup, Butch James, Chester Williams, Chris Hani, death, drugs, Ed Morrison, Eric Cantona, Francois Pienaar, James Small, Joel Stransky, Johannesburg, John Smit, Jonah Lomu, Jonny Wilkinson, Joost van der Westhuizen, Kent, Nelson Mandela, Os du Randt, parents, Paul Gascoigne, Robben Island, rugby, Rugby Championship, Rugby World Cup 1995, Sean Fitzpatrick, Six Nations, Siya Kolisi, South Africa, sport, Springboks, The Critic, Tom Hardy, TV
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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
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Also tagged advertising, Alex Hales, Australia, Bangladesh, Carlsberg, Chandrishan Perera, cricket, England, Hong Kong, India, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Percy Abeysekera, rugby, security, South Africa, sport, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Thusith Wijedoru, Tillakaratne Dilshan, United Arab Emirates
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Review of Andrew Fidel Fernando’s debut book Upon a Sleepless Isle, which has just won Sri Lanka’s Gratiaen Prize (2019) for English-language literature. — For The Critic
Filed in Journalism, review
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Also tagged Andrew Fidel Fernando, Anuradhapura, beards, beer, Booker Prize, children, Colombo, colonialism, cricket, elephants, English, ESPNCricinfo, Gratiaen Prize, humour, Jaffna, John Still, Kandy, LTTE, Michael Ondaatje, Minneriya, Nuwara Eliya, Picador India, Polonnaruwa, Shehan Karunatilaka, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, tea, the British, The Critic, the Victorians, tourism, travel, tuktuks, Uva Rebellion, writers
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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
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Also tagged baseball, beauty, birds, books, Caucasians, Central Park, China, Communism, death, Fernando Po, fire, grandmothers, Joseph Conrad, knives, MAGA, manufacturing, men, MILFs, Nelson Evening Mail, 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
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Thursday, November 15, 2018
The Spanish Inquisition, and other matters unexpectedly arising. — For Queen Mob’s Tea House
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Angola, anthems, Bosnia, Brazil, cricket, Croatia, De Selby, death, Denmark, Ecuador, film, Finland, Fox News, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, housing, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Laos, libraries, money, Mongolia, Nelson Evening Mail, Nepal, November, peace, Portugal, Queen Mob's Tea House, rainbows, religion, roosters, satire, Senegal, sex, sexting, Spain, Spike Lee, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the Forth Bridge, the Marseillaise, the Victorians, Tonbridge School, train-travel, Trinidad and Tobago, trousers, UK, Venezuela, writing, Yorkshire
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Trailer for the ‘new’ and ‘improved’, all-singing-no-dancing, NEWS AT A GLANCE – coming soon to a Queen Mob’s Tea House near you! — For Queen Mob’s Tea House
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged air travel, America, anthems, Austria, children, death, Donald Trump, Dutch, Hinduism, Johannesburg, marriage, Nelson Evening Mail, Queen Mob's Tea House, satire, singing, sleep, translation
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. Last year 15,391 persons kept bees in this colony. The number of hives was 74,341. — The Nelson Evening Mail, April 10 1907 . It’s not every day a virgin conceives and bears a son. Indifference to facts is not confined to the alt-right and the hyper-liberal Left. The word ‘minge’ is of Romany extraction. […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged Alcoholics Anonymous, alt-Right, anatomy, apiarists, bees, Bill Wilson, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, British Empire, chronology, computers, cricket, Dr Bob Smith, drink, elk, empathy, England, Erith, Europe, Gamini Jayantha Molligoda, hashtags, health, India, intelligence, Nelson Evening Mail, offspring, politics, Queen Victoria, religion, Romany, science, sex, Sri Lanka, Truth, weather, women
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. From the deepest pit we may see the stars. — The Nelson Evening Mail, August 28 1906 . Armadillos are incapable of irony. Greek prostitutes bill their clients in six-minute units. One of the stars of early-Nineties cult TV show Twin Peaks was called Suburbis Polaski. It is rarely useful to have studied Latin. A ‘wineglassful’ is an […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged apothecaries, armadillos, astronomy, Call The Midwife, cars, chess, children, China, cookery, drink, eyes, finance, Greece, Humpy Koneru, India, James Dyson, Latin, measurements, meat, Nelson Evening Mail, real tennis, sex, soap, Suburbis Polaski, Trevor Nunn, TV, Twin Peaks, urine, vegetables
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