After a rain shower a couple of days ago, my little courtyard garden here in Lewes smelt fragrant with mingling rose perfumes. A familiarly sensuous experience in the Summer months but highly unusual for mid-November. Here in Britain, we are…
This has been a week of funerals and mourning but amidst the gloom, there was a poignant and inspiring interlude when, at one of our family gatherings, the phenomenal Scots piper James Stewart demonstrated not only his exceptional technique and…
There are now signs of success for the 32 Colombian University’s students who brought the centre of Bogota to a standstill recently with their colourful and delightfully humourous demonstrations against government privatisation plans. I think these young people must have…
image by Beefactory There are so many ways to play the music of J.S. Bach and the spirit of the man survives even if the musical method is something that he could never have imagined. I think he would have…
I think I must be an odd mix of high-tech and low-tech because my writing routine involves my beloved i-Mac computer, of course, but I often resort to that most enjoyable and trouble-free pieces of technology, the lead pencil –…
I have been around a number of strong women over the last week, all praise to them. It made me think about some of the common misunderstandings about Victorian women that make them seem like limp and wilting violets dependent…
Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) I know Enrico Caruso has been dead for 90 years but he is the voice of my childhood. His was the first Italian tenor that I heard – in recordings I made from the radio – and…
DULCE ET DECORUM EST Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many…
Brodie Clark, the senior civil servant formerly in charge of Britain’s passport control system has resigned accusing the British Home Secretary of casting him as the scape goat over the growing scandal of who ordered a lessening of Britain’s scrutiny…
Friends, Romans, Italian countrymen and women, lend me your ears. I come not to bury Berlusconi but to celebrate his parting. You, the citizens of my favourite country, allow me to celebrate with you now that your vile Prime Minister…