Wisdom of the Ages

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Looks like having government officials who are Ignorant and Stupid is nothing new. Chinese poet Su Tung-Po nailed it centuries ago.  I was browsing through the International Times for 1969 – the way one does. And there – amid the fevered, underground, counter-cultural world of macrobiotics, head shop ads, rock and roll, anarchy, activism, and … Read more

Show’s over folks. It’s November

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November Show’s over, folks. And didn’t October do A bang-up job? Crisp breezes, full-throated cries Of migrating geese, low-floating coral moon. Nothing left but fool’s gold in the trees. Did I love it enough, the full-throttle foliage, While it lasted? Was I dazzled? The bees Have up and quit their last-ditch flights of forage And … Read more

Three Lords and a Lady

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A musical backdrop to Unreal City: the London of the Lonely Londoners When the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in June 1948 there were a good number of musicians on board. We know that Jamaican musician Delroy Stephens was there because he organized a fundraising concert to pay for the fare for one of the … Read more

A Bit of History

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I was pleased to be invited to contribute something to Trevor Day School’s 90th Anniversary magazine. This is what I wrote, with the addition of some photos from back in the day. How the High School Began At the opening faculty meeting in September 1990, Head of School Jack Dexter announced the theme for the … Read more

Unreal City: The London of The Lonely Londoners

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This is not really a book review, although I did re-read, and enjoy The Lonely Londoners as part of the #1956club. It is rather an excuse to pull out some quotations, share some research and images, and post a quite remarkable documentary. Along the way my journey took me deep into the North Kensington of … Read more

Hopeful Signs

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I am always a bit astonished when I see tRump signs at people’s houses. And I ask myself: “Who are these people? What on earth can they be thinking?” There’s three on our route to our usual walk  – not just signs of course, but mega flags trumpeting the household fascist tendencies, racism, and misogyny … Read more

From The Turn of the Screw to Strangers on a Train #SixDegrees

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As a starting point for a chain of connections #sixdegrees The Turn of the Screw has everything. Is it a mystery story or a study in overwrought and morbid psychology? There’s gothic horror, ghosts and governesses. Jane Eyre and Murdoch’s The Unicorn come to mind. It starts on Christmas Eve; there are strange children, one … Read more

The Book Chain: Six Degrees and the Invention of Sex

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Long before the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, bookish teens had Iris Murdoch. As the poet Philip Larkin (1922-1985) explained in Annus Mirabilis, sex was invented in 1963      Sexual intercourse began    In nineteen sixty-three    (which was rather late for me) –    Between the end of the “Chatterley” ban  … Read more

Anarchy in New York: The Mayhem Continues

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As we know the tRump misadministration has – for reasons of its own – declared New York City to be a jurisdiction of anarchy, violence and property destruction. This is Part Two. Part One is here. The Justice Department declared New York City A place of Anarchy, violence and Property losses. Live from New York … Read more

Anarchy in New York City

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The US Department of ‘Justice’ declared this week that New York City — along with Portland and Seattle — to be a “jurisdiction permitting violence and destruction property.”  Allegedly our state and local government are permitting anarchy, violence, and destruction So of course I had to take a look. So far, this is what I … Read more

A Heap of Broken Images

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What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only … Read more

A Street in London W11

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Six stops on the Hammersmith and City from Euston Square to Westbourne Park, up the stairs, along the bridge over the lines that run east to Paddington and west to Wales, Change at Didcot for Oxford, Change at Swindon for Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa. Turn right out of the yellow-brown station past the Extra! Extra! … Read more