All the things I do instead of writing…
I had a call with Hong Kong yesterday morning. They had been rather chippy about someone in my team being "too direct", so I was making an effort with the niceties, wishing them a happy new year of the rooster. I have no idea about the Chinese zodiac, so I looked it up. There was... Continue Reading →
We are sitting on the 6.53 train, slightly later than planned, on a Monday morning. It is forecast to rain all week. The world is hurtling towards mutual destruction. We don't spend enough time with the kids. We never have enough time to feel on top of our chores. My job is too hard. Boo... Continue Reading →
In these days of uncertainty, where the only news seems to be confirmation that the world is losing its mind, I start thinking again about all the skills I would need to survive without the comforts of the modern world. Nearly every time I open the paper, and read about Trump, or Putin, or Assad,... Continue Reading →
I was walking to work through Green Park as usual the other day, early on another sunny morning in what should already be Autumn. It is a strange pleasure wearing summer skirts as m feet brush through the falling leaves. Not exactly unwelcome, but does add to the general sense of foreboding about the future.... Continue Reading →
I enjoy Melanie Phillips columns; we clearly need more divisiveness and intolerance with our Marmite and cup of tea. Yesterday she writes - again - about the insidious nature of Islam. She seems to take a journalist's arrogance to a hugely complex problem, and as usual draws many parallels with our society's modern concepts of... Continue Reading →
The EU referendum is rather like picking mushrooms in the forest. It'll probably be fine, but since the downside is death, it is in most people's opinion too big a risk to take, and they leave the mushroom picking to Sainsbury's. It seems that on this occasion, people decided they didn't believe their Sainsbury's government... Continue Reading →
Time hasn't so much stood still as gone backwards, rejoining the endless loop of stupid choices and the inescapable barbarity of human nature. For a little while, things branched off, developed a parallel reality in which differences were accepted, the greater good was a tangible ideal and not every favour was granted on a purely... Continue Reading →
History proves that intelligence is no bar to narrow minded bigotry. I always like to think that exponents of any kind of extreme ideology just be stupid and ill educated, but the Cambridge spies prove me wrong. They were all intelligent, and all decided that not only was communism worth dying for, but it was... Continue Reading →
I've become quite addicted to yet another daytime TV staple, a reality programme called "Wanted Down Under". It's a rather irritatingly structured show about people who want to emigrate to Australia. They're given an introduction to employment opportunities, house prices, and whatever lifestyle opportunity they think their move will open up to them. They are... Continue Reading →
Idealism is not exactly original. Pretty much every slightly geeky 15 year old is a blank slate of dreams; they all think the world is a bit magical, and populated by people who think deeply about the same things they do. They also think their thoughts on the meaning of life are highly original, and... Continue Reading →
The resting writer 